Saturday, September 13, 2008

Last of Summer Highlights for 2008

There are a few things I failed to write about that should not be forgotten from our great summer.



First is our garden. Dave put in a raised bed system hugging the side of our house that actually grew a bunch of beautiful plants and kept the deer out. I'm afraid we did have some bunnies eating our bounty though. Let's just say that our "Max and Ruby" did not fair very well once Rachel found them and pointed them out to Dave. (Did you know Ben got a BB gun for Christmas? Well, he did.) Thanks to them we have absolutely no peppers at all. Who knew rabbits like peppers so well?




We are still waiting for our tomatoes to ripen but it will be a huge crop if they manage to ripen before they freeze. This is a tough climate in which to garden! Thanks for all the hard work boys.



Next would be our visit from Papa Mertz and Grandma Bertha. They were here right after my dreaded wisdom teeth fiasco and so I was a terrible hostess but it was so nice to have their help and company. Next time I promise not to have any surgeries scheduled!





Thirdly, we had Anson come for a visit. Jake and Anson have been good buddies since third grade and Jake has visited his house each time we return to Utah. This time it was Anson's chance to visit here. It was so fun to have him. Thanks for spending some of your precious summer vacation with us! Before he left we were able to go the Flying W Ranch for dinner with his family. It's a great place to bring visitors. Come visit and we'll take you too.


Ben, Anson, Jake





At Flying W Ranch






Lastly, this summer Dave learned to do a frontside air at the Castle Rock skatepark. He's been quite obsessed actually. I'm so glad he is passionate about something that makes him so happy and keeps him in shape (he dropped down to 164 pounds!).




As a young girl of 16, I wished that I would marry a skateboarder. I now laugh about that. Be careful what you wish for! Who would've guessed that I would lose every Saturday morning and many, many days off to the skatepark? He's amazing by anyone's standards. People stand around to watch him at the skatepark because he's so good. Strangers even ask to take his picture while skating.



I love that guy. I'm so lucky that his mid-life crisis will likely involve a new board rather than a Porsche. He hasn't had a major injury this summer either, which of course is miraculous in addition to being a highlight. Thanks for making me smile!



Jake took all these photos today. Dave bribed him to get up early and accompany him to Castle Rock this morning with the promise of McDonald's breakfast. Nice photos, Jake.






A couple other things that I don't want to forget include the fact that Ben slept in Jake's room every night this summer and they called it a sleepover every night. And "the list" they made of activities to do all summer. When we were here and didn't have company, they got out the list and threw darts at the dartboard to decide what to do that day. Each item had a number that corresponded to the activity and the darts would land near a number to help them choose an activity. Too cute and soooo like Jake. Also, we went to Focus on the Family with Rachel for playgroup and the boys performed on the stage. This probably won't happen for much longer. They're growing up fast but not totally grown up yet. What a happy, fun-filled summer!



4 comments:

Rebecca Irvine said...

Your family had such a fun summer! I love the list/dart idea.

forgotgingkoba said...

A wonderful summer! (Just not the wisdom teeth part!)I hope you print all these blogs out on archival paper and keep them plastic coated in a vault somewhere. That way you can look back on your adorable kids and husband and dog (Was she mentioned? Did she have a good summer,too?) on the days they are obnoxious, for instance, (not speaking from experience or anything here...)when your family is forced to sit in the bright afternoon sunlight lit lobby at church with about 1000 other people because of overcrowding in the chapel and your oldest, dearest, sweetest son says from the other side of the lobby, "Mom, it looks like you have a moustache on your lip. Isn't that funny! Look! Doesn't she? Ha ha ha." Yes, you'll want to remember these wonderful children at times like that. Maybe, instead of saving it in a vault, you'll want to paper your walls with it, just in case you need a closer reminder. In any case, glad it was such a good summer and I AM ENTIRELY IMPRESSED WITH YOUR BLOGGING EFFORTS! You are an inspiration to everyone. Even Mormon wishes he could do it all again.
Love, Jill

Lori said...

love the pic of Ben and Rachel! and way to go with the garden... It's great to see it can happen here! We drove by the skate park at Memorial park looks awesome and we'll have to come down and watch that awesome skater dude hometeacher! (Jake you got a talent in photography)...

Annee said...

Good thing Dave dropped all those extra pounds he had been carrying around. Totally jealous of your Colorado garden!