Stake Pioneer Day Celebration - July 20

Kids having fun with pioneer props and....mustaches?

Primary kids singing the "Pioneer Song"

Our stake reserves a community pool and park pavilion right by our house every July to celebrate Pioneer day.  There is swimming, snow cones and cotton candy followed by a BBQ and live music and games and activities.  Ella ran off with my camera in the evening and these were some that she and Kaitlyn took. It was nice to check in and visit with friends and families.

Vacation Bible School - July 17

Andrew has been playing basketball in the Lighthouse Baptist Church League this summer.  They had a Bible School in the evenings for a week and the kids went to a few of the nights.  They had an army theme and this is a guys' military Hummer that goes to our school, that he brought as a photo opportunity.  The kids found it interesting to see how another church is and they had many of their friends go too that were participating in the basketball league.  This particular night, Andrew won, "most behaved" on his team and was picked to play a game.

Friday Night Park Adventures - July 12

We have a tradition of going to a park and having s'mores with our friends the Alva's.  It's usually pretty late when we decide to leave and the kids always talk us into "park rushing" a different park on the way home. So we went to the park right by the elementary school so they could run through it and do all the things at the play place.  James and I were talking to our friends and the sprinklers came on, next thing we knew- all of our kids are soaking wet!  They had a blast running through the open grassy field with these monster size sprinklers on!  It was 10:30 at night!  This is the perfect way to cool off on a night when it's still hot late at night.

Soaking wet after they found sprinklers!

Basketball Practice/Games - July 6-11

Andrew getting a free throw.

Second shot of free throw.

Doing drills at practice.

There is a baptist church that just built a new building which has a basketball court in it that is right by our house. They have had a summer basketball league that Andrew and his friends, Andrew, Sean, and Colton are all playing on the same team.  They have been undefeated in all of their games and there is only one more game before the Championship games!  The coaches are really nice and they have really productive practices.  Another benefit, is their facility is air conditioned so it's always pleasant for practices and games in the heat of the day.  Andrew has really enjoyed being able to do a sport year around here.  Soccer starts up in August, just after this basketball league is finished.  Hopefully they will do it again next year!

Swimming at Las Flores Pool - July 5

We went swimming the day after the 4th and there was hardly anyone at the pool.  Some of our friends came from church and school, so we knew 90% of those people that did come swimming.  The kids had fun cooling off, and the girls jumped off the high dive too.  Andrew got cold fast-he needs some more meat on his bones for insulation!  :)