July!

The beginning of July and the official start of summer began with a Lowry family reunion at Bear Lake in Idaho. We all fell in love with Bear Lake and spending time with my side of our family was awesome! My parents did most of the planning and organizing for this reunion and they really did a great job of keeping us entertained and well fed. We had a two day washer toss tournament which Suzanne and Hanna won. Mark and Ken came in a close second place. We spent a lot of time playing in the lake, it was clean and warm and so shallow you could walk out waist deep for along way. The kids had fun connecting with their cousins and we all just had a really great time!

On the way home we travelled back through Lethbridge and spent a few days with Grandma and Grandpa D. They are both getting older. Grandpa's short term memory is basically gone but he still knows who we are all and his heart is as gold as ever. Grandma is trying to be independent but she is really worn out. She still works harder than most people half her age but trying to take care of Grandpa and do all the stuff around that big old house is a huge job. At the beginning of August Aunt Julie hired an in home care giver. It wasn't working out really well to begin with, but I think Grandma is coming to terms with the fact that she HAS TO have help. We love those two so much.

Back in Edmonton our garden was growing with out us and Harley was pretty darn happy to have us back again. Sam and I slept out on the tramp one night and Harley stayed close by and kept us warm, until about 4 a.m when the mosquitos and the sun came out and forced us into our beds!

Dallin and Sam went to NBC camp at Kings college for the second time. They stayed at camp over night this year and they both had a great time. NBC is a christian basketball camp and they focus on basketball as well as building the individual as a person. It's not a cheap camp though and I think next year we will look at some other options.

A few good child labor activities got thrown into the mix. 

I spent some good hours piecing quilt tops. This one is called Metro Rings and although it looks great from a distance, I am not happy with the piecing, its not my best work... 

Toward the end of July we drove back down to Southern Alberta for Magrath Days. Mark hadn't made that trip with us for over 15 years so it was time! The parade didn't disappoint with all the bucket loads of candy that we got and of course the fireworks on Saturday night are the best!!

From there we headed down to Montana to the Fairbanks cabin for a glorious 10 days of relaxing and fun in the sun! John and Mel were there when we arrived on Sunday night and for the first time ever we all got up Monday morning and went on a hike. It was a perfect day for hiking, a bit over cast and not too warm. We hiked a total of about 4 hours and just as we came back in to the parking lot to leave it started to down pour with some thunder and lightning too! We all said that this needs to be a yearly tradition... I'm already counting down the days till next year!

We did a lot of kayaking and SUP boarding. 

Dallin looking way to cool! How did he become so big all of the sudden?!

This isn't a good picture, but Sam tried wake boarding and actually got up! He didn't last very long but he did it! He tried to get up a few times before John got in with him and gave him some pointers and helped him to relax. The boating is fun, but honestly our kids have always been more than happy to just play in the water and hang out around the dock. It was great that Sam was brave enough to try!

Turtle catching was a highlight for Sam. He would load up the paddle boat with a net and anyone who wanted to go along for the ride and spend hours searching the shore line around the bay. It seemed like yesterday that Maryn Becca were the ones searching for turtles. Uncle Brent and Aunt Julie have been beyond generous to have us come to their cabin each summer, it is a little piece of heaven on earth. 

 July was tons of fun and our cabin trip continued on into August. I'll try to get more  posted soon! I haven't blogged in so long that I feel like I have to relearn how to do it... I don't think anyone really reads blogs that much anymore, I know I don't. Instagram is so much easier and less time consuming. But, I'm doing this more as a journal and a record for my family. I've missed a whole ton of stuff over the past few years, but I don't think I will go back and try to "catch up" I'm just going to start from here and hope I can keep going! Wish me luck!