summer in a blink

Summer is over.
*sniff*
I'm sitting in a TOO quiet house all alone.
It's nice but lonely at the same time.
ANYWAY
I will try to recap our summer in 1 post - could be a bit long.

{I believe I wrote those statements 1 month ago.  I will attempt to finish now}

Tayler turned 13 ~

 She had a fun party with her friends.

 Milly wanted in on the action...

 4th of July ~ 
Holidays are weird now that not all my kids are here.  Reece took off early so it was the girls, my parents, Kurt & I.  Still fun but weird.  

Our camping trip that was a bust ~
Going to Deception Pass with my parents and brother's family.
Look how beautiful.  So deceiving.  

 So much fun.

 The first day. 

Picture the rain starting about 1am, sounding like a megaphone in your tent.  Then getting drips on your face.  Then pouring down rain IN your tent at 3am.  The girls in 1/2 soaked sleeping bags, scooting around the tent trying to avoid the puddles in their sleep like little worms.  Pitch dark and mud, trying to bail out of your tent, dragging wet sleeping bags to the car {waking up Reece who slept in the car, smart man} Standing around a sad fire trying to get warm because we didn't check the forecast and not one of us brought a coat.  Trying to sleep in the car cranky & wet, then finally giving up and driving home, trying to stay awake the whole way.  {but not before the kids dragged the tent, still assembled, to the nearest dumpster}  YEAH.  Good times.  The best part is, the rest of the weekend was lovely.  It cleared up later that same day.  But no.  No way we were going to attempt it with everything soaked. 

So to try and recapture what was supposed to be a fun weekend we headed to Great Wolf Lodge.
We had never been and it was pretty fun.

 This was a little creepy.

 Not possible to get a normal picture of Reece.  Nope.

 Where the kids slept.  Not well I might add - obviously this was meant for a family with younger children.  : )  Reece had to curl up in a ball so he didn't hit his head.  haha

Road trip to Utah ~
My good friends daughter was married in July and Kenzie and I drove down with another friend and her daughter.  It was so special to be there.

  
Jamaica - basically the best place ever ~
 This really deserves a post all on its own... in fact I believe I will dedicate a post to the best vacation ever.  8 days in paradise, literally.  Out of country so no phones, just sun and unlimited food.  Can I go back now?

Dirty Dash ~
2 days after returning nice and fat from Jamaica we were signed up to run in the best. race. ever.  And when I say "run" I mean jogging a little in the beginning when they trick you and it's dry and you think "this isn't so bad" then you have to wade through lakes and mud so you're pretty much just trying to stay on your feet.  It is now an annual tradition. 

 Best slip-n-slid ever.

 Mud cannons.

 Almost done!

 Kurt hates HATES to be dirty.  Look at the smile on his face!  It was a blast!

 I can't wait til Matthew is home and he can do it with us!

  
FUN 20th reunion ~
20 years after high school I wasn't super interested in going to my reunion so some old church friends organized a get together instead.  SO FUN!

Girls Camp ~
 I drove some girls up to camp and stayed for the day.  I told people "in charge" that I want a job next year.  We'll see if they give me one - It was so fun!

A successful camping trip ~
with Brock & Shane's families and Cody came too!  Super fun even in the intense heat. 

Married 20 years ~
 Technically Jamaica was for our anniversary but we always celebrate twice or 3 times.  Whatever it takes ~ that's how we roll.  So we rented a kayak and paddled to Ivars on Lake Washington in Renton.  I was sunny but windy that day and it felt like we were in open seas!  Waves splashing over the boat onto us!  We were drenched but had fun.  I love that man of mine.

Another "adult" child ~
Yep Reece turned 18 this year.  Hard to believe but it's true. 

 I just love him to pieces that Reester Beester.

 Back to school ~
Doesn't Reece look thrilled to start his senior year?  

Sophomore Kenzie

Tayler the 8th grader.

So there you go.  Smack dab in the middle of all this {probably beginning just when school got out} Kurt started sending me links to houses for sale.  We have been talking about moving for a couple years but nothing really serious.  We want something bigger for when the kids come with their families, Kurt has dreamed of a shop for our whole marriage I believe and we wanted some property around us.  I really wanted to stay in our ward but that was just about impossible but it wasn't impossible to stay in the school district.  That was a must.  So I just thought we were looking for fun like we have been.  We found a few online and drove by them then I found one with this -

And Kurt said "We are getting that house, I don't care what it takes"

and the madness began.

We put our house up for sale early July and started loading 1/2 our stuff into storage.  So throughout all we did over the summer we were showing our house, hoping it would sell.  Also Kurt has been working like crazy, every day, all day on getting us into this house.  Finally our house sold in September, and we heard back from the bank on the short sale way earlier than expected.  Our closing dates on both houses worked out and we get to move into the new house on the 13th!  We actually get to be in starting tomorrow to clean/paint/fix stuff.  I'm relieved it's almost over and we can get the boxes piling up unpacked and get back to normal.  YAY!!!  Onto our new adventure!