Cousins Reunion!

 

Mckenna and her second cousin Liz have grown up together. You can imagine our surprise when Liz got called to the same England Leeds Mission! Kenna got transferred up North to the area of Darlington. She and Liz are in the same zone now! They had zone conference on August 16th. It was a happy reunion for them both!

On August 26th Kenna got to go on exchanges with Liz! She even spent the night in her flat. They took this cute bathroom selfie. 

Kenna said they stayed up way late talking and catching up. She said it was hard getting up early the next morning but worth it. 

Kenna said this about her experience with Liz, "This week was the long awaited exchange! I got to be with my cousin Liz (aka Sister Brown) for a whole Day! It was so much fun!!How many people get to go on exchanges with their cousin?! Not many! We had such a good day. It's weird how strangely normal it was to do missionary work with her. Knocked some doors, taught some lessons, said like 50 prayers. You know the drill. She is such a good missionary. Like honestly why am I her Sister Training Leader. She should be training me lol. 

They made this video for us to share in the monthly Grant Family newsletter. It is a tender mercy that they were called to the same mission AND get to serve together.  I know that grandma and grandpa Grant must be smiling in heaven to know that their two oldest great granddaughters are on a mission together. We know that Sister Foster and Sister Brown are both doing amazing things in England. We love them and miss them!

Mountain biking season

 

The boys had their first mountain biking race of the season on August 20th. The race took place in Cedar City. 

Hayden is on the Junior Devo 8th grade team. This is his second year of mountain biking. 

Hayden's bike had some issues on Friday night at the pre ride. Kev was able to find a mountain biking store nearby and rent him a bike for the day. 

We had fun cheering Hayden on that day.  We are happy that he did his best and finished the race. 

Parker getting ready for his race by drinking some Gatorade. 

Parker is on the Junior Varsity team. This is his fourth year of racing. 

It was hot by the afternoon and we found some shade under this tree. 

We had fun watching him come by and taking pictures. 

Parker enjoys riding on the slick rock of this course. 

Towards the end he got a painful leg cramp. He said it felt worse than when he broke his foot. 

He was having a hard time putting weight on his leg after he finished the race. I loved seeing his friends help him back to the pit zone. We are proud of both our boys. We are happy they can have this experience of biking together. 

Parker is a senior!

 

I went through all of Parker's first day of school pictures. This picture was taken on his first day of preschool. I remember how excited he was to start going to school like Kenna. 

This picture was on his first day of Kindergarten. I love how he is missing a tooth. 

Parker on the first day of first grade. He was ready to be at school all day and eat lunch there. 

Parker on his first day of second grade. 

Parker on his first day of third grade. 

Parker on his first day of fourth grade. He was really tan this year. 

Parker on his first day of fifth grade. 

Parker on his first day of sixth grade. 

Parker on his first day of seventh grade. He was looking forward to middle school.

Parker on his first day of eighth grade. I love this picture of him jumping in the air. 

Parker on his first day of ninth grade. 

Parker on his first day of tenth grade. You can tell he had a growth spurt since the year before. 

Parker on his first day of eleventh grade. It was also his first back to school pictures at our new home. 

Parker on his first day of his Senior year in high school! I have had fun looking back at all his pictures and remembering. I  have loved watching him grow from the sweet little boy to the handsome man he is now. He has so many fun things to look forward to this year! I love my Parker boy!

Back to school

 

The kids went back to school on Wednesday August 17th.  Addy is in 5th grade this year.

She has Miss Rubio for a teacher. She also knows some of the kids in her class. She is excited to be on Recess Duty. She gets to wear a vest and a lanyard. She will help the younger kids at recess. 

Hayden is in 8th grade this year. I laughed when he did this pose when I went to take his picture. 

He is happy to not be the youngest at middle school this year. He is taking a coding class which he is looking forward to. 

Halle is in 10 grade this year and is a sophomore. It is her first year at the high school. 

I told Parker that he needs to look out for her and protect her from the boys. 

Parker is in 12 grade and is a SENIOR this year! He is excited about his weight training class and being in Thunder Vision again. 

They were done with me taking pictures and this is the response I got. It makes me laugh to see their facial expressions. I'm glad that Halle gets to ride to school with Parker. It means a little less driving for me. 

Splash Summit

 

We went to Splash Summit on Saturday August 13th. I will always refer to the waterpark as "Seven Peaks" since that was what is was called when I was growing up. 

They made some fun changes and updates since the last time we went. The lazy river is now called the Rainforest River. I liked the addition of plants and flowers to make it look more jungle like. 

I went to take a picture of the kids and this is what I got. It looks like Parker literally swept Addy off her feet. 

It was a nice day at the waterpark. It was not too hot or crowded. 

The kids all had fun trying out the lily pads. 

Our favorite slides are mat racers and cave in. We also spent a lot of time in the wave pool. 

Parker and Kev were brave and went on the Free Fall slide. We had a fun day together as a family.  It was a great way to end our Summer!

Trial Lake

 

We went on our annual camp out to Trial Lake August 2-6th! Halle is the third owner of this bucket hat. Kev bought it on his mission, then Kenna wore it, and Halle took it over. 

It was our first time bringing our camper to Trial Lake. It barely fit in the camp site. It was so nice not having to use the out house this year. We slept comfortably and it kept us dry from the rain. 

I took this picture of Kev and Hayden by the lake. Hayden was having fun with his remote controlled boat. 

The battery ran out and Hayden's boat was stranded. Halle came to the rescue and waded out to get his boat.  It was extra nice of her since the water there is freezing cold!

The next day we had great weather to get out on the lake and do some fishing. 

Parker had the first catch of the day. We caught around 50 fish total while we were camping. 

Hayden was reenacting the Titanic scene. I can't get over the beautiful clouds that day. 

Hayden saved up his own money to buy this raft. It is bright orange and I like to call it "Nemo".  He took me for a ride around the lake. 

He eventually got tired of paddling we so we hooked onto Kev and Halle. Kev was nice to pull us back to shore. 

Kenna's raptor head also came with us to camp. At one point we had him on the camp site pole. A little boy walked by and started making dinosaur noises at it. It was hilarious! We always love watching strangers reactions to the raptor head. 

The Frost family came up on Wednesday night. They stayed in the camp site right above us. The next morning we went fishing together. 

Addy and Nayla also had fun fishing together. 

The Castagno's got to camp late on Thursday night. Everyone helped put up their tent for them. 

While we were out fishing we saw this Bald Eagle perched in a tree. 

Parker, Dylan, and Ryker had fun hanging out together. They have known each other since they were about three years old. I can't believe how grown up they are now!

The Frosts brought up their dog Willow. Our kids were obsessed with her! They walked her, carried her around, and snuggled with her. 

We got some afternoon rain showers. The kids had fun playing card games in our camping trailer. I love to hear them laughing together!

Kev was one of the few to hang out outside during the rainstorm. He took this beautiful picture of a rainbow right over the lake. 

Addy and Nayla had fun creating forts in the trees. I like how they put down pine needles for the carpet. It will be a sad day when they don't want to make forts anymore.

On Friday we had some cows come right by our campsite. 

Ben decided to take Willow out on the Kayak. She doesn't love the water so this was a site to see. 

On Saturday we took some pictures before everyone headed home. It's fun that our kids have all grown up together.

We had a memorable time camping with the Frosts and Castagnos!!