Summer Has Begun!

So at the very beginning of the year, we (my mom, siblings/spouses, emily and i) were sitting around announcing our new year's resolutions for my mom to record and rehash in a year's time. It was decided that we do a large FHE event each month where everyone would come and we could do something fun outside of the semi-regular sunday dinners at my mom's house.

June was our month to plan/host our group FHE. It was a fun time all around. We got some classic, or should i say, classy, little caeser's Hot-n-Ready pizzas. After dinner we had a short lesson on baptism by immersion and then taught the kids the principle of immersion by dunking their ice cream scoops completely under their rootbeer in delicious rootbeer floats. Needless to say, it was probably more delicious than educational, but fun nonetheless.

(sitting for the baptism lesson)

After that, we broke out the lil weber grill and made s'mores. my nephew Zach was a pro at getting the mallows perfectly crispy, my niece Jane was pro at making them perfectly toasted, and my mom was pro at making s'mores for other people that she had no intention of eating.

Then we sort of sat around and had a good time. Kelli was challenged by all the kids to arm wrestling (not pictured below) and even almost put away Nick, which I think was more than just a little embarrassing for him.

While all this was happening, the Will and Simon show was in full display. Will loves his cousin Simon (about 9 months older). They followed, copied, and played with each other all night, totally oblivious to the rest of us. As far as the camera was concerned, that was the only thing that happened last night. The camera loves little kids, I guess.

Seriously, they played with each all night: trains, cars, you name it. Plus they laid on the ground looking up at the sky together. They kicked the pool around together. They took turns jumping on each other and others. They showed each other different things in the yard. seriously, best buddies.

loving his "baa" and first tastes of root beer

(like I said: the camera loves little kids)

Also this summer at work, we had our annual summer BBQ. As a fundraiser for the morale committee, people were allowed to place small donations that count as votes for people they would like to see get a pie in the face. lucky me, i was in second place, so i got a pie in the face. william was a little confused about the whole thing and wanted me to be well hydrated beforehand.

Also this summer, since Emily and I were in NYC for memorial weekend, we didn't get a chance to visit my dad's grave that day. So William and I went back the next weekend to take some irises from our home to put in the grave. Will also decided the grave would look nice if he put a carefully placed pinecone right in the middle of the headstone. I agreed.

All in all, the summer has started off well. Emily and I are doing our best to train up for the big saints to sinners bike relay at the end of July. We finally solidified our team and even chose an awesome team name: Deseret Demons... So if you live anywhere between here and vegas, look for us that weekend as we blaze by your place of residence...!