Father's Day through the 4th of July!

 June 18th was our last day of our European trip.  Here is Steve in Bergen, Norway posing with a wooden fish.  We spent Father's Day traveling back to the U.S.A. and home.  Steve is such an amazing dad and grandfather.  Our children and I have been so blessed by his dedication and hard work on our behalf.  Love you, honey!
We spent the first couple of days unpacking, doing laundry, mowing lawns and resurrecting our SL yard.  I had clients waiting to list their home, etc. and other immediate work needs so we didn't make it up to CV until about Thursday.
Shortly after we arrived, Hilary stopped by on her way to the kids service project, a musical presentation at a local care center.  I was lucky enough to come along while Steve was fixing sprinklers.  The weeds just waited.

 The kids were so adorable as Hilary lead them in singing some fun songs like the Wise Man and the Foolish Man, etc.  There are many talented children in their service group.  It was a great program.

 After the program, the director had arranged to bring some animals for the residents to pet and enjoy.  One of them was this huge but gentle horse.  The kids loved petting him.  What a great for treat for the kids too.  Steve has been working hard making some major adjustments to our sprinklers at both houses as our yards have suffered greatly during our absence.
We also came back to two empty rentals and have worked hard getting those leased out the last 10 days of June.

 Jen and the kids arrived on the 17th and we were still out of town.  We were so excited to see them for a few minutes on June's birthday but June was asleep the entire time.  Jen so enjoyed visiting her family and her sister and joined us in CV on the weekend so we could celebrate June's birthday just a few days late.  She requested sprinkled donuts for her treat.

 Here is June in her birthday outfit.  What a cute, spunky 5 year old she is.

 Sunday evening we took Jenna back with us to SL so she could meet up with the Oakcrest group early Monday morning.  That saved her Mom a whole lot of driving.  Jenna and her friend, Kestlie, were so excited to attend the camp.  Of course, Hilary has many fond memories as an attendee and a counselor.  What's not to love!

Taylor arrived in town also.  I am sure he is jet lagged in this photo but his family was thrilled to have him join them.  Let the next phase of fun begin.

 The kids had helped us in the yard and garden on Saturday.  We picked strawberries from our garden and cherries from the neighbor's tree and made super fantastic low sugar jam.  Yum!

 The kids were so cute picking the peas from our garden.  Will and Korinne especially like working in the yard.  They are even willing to pull weeds.  June tired of picking the strawberries really quickly and declared that she would just "watch."

 These tiny strawberries weren't much to look at but combined with some blueberries and cherries, they became delicious jam.

 One morning we made pancakes and cooked them on the griddle in the garage and ate them with buttermilk syrup as a practice run for our annual Flag Day Breakfast on July 2.  We had to reschedule the normal middle of June date as we were on our European trip.

 Hilary's family came to SL on Thursday night so Adam and Hilary could attend the testimony meeting at Oakcrest.  We took Jameson with us to one of two wedding receptions we had back to back nights.  He was really good and enjoyed the refreshments immensely.  On Friday morning, we took a trip to the zoo while Adam and Steve worked.  The zoo has been remodeled and improved in recent years so we enjoyed some of the "new" features.

 Jameson actually petted the tortoise too.

 The bird show was very enjoyable and entertaining.  Korinne was so eager to pick up Jenna that we had to keep reminding her that we had plenty of time to see a few more animals.

 And of course, we rode the train but I don't have any photos of that.  Check Hilary's blog.  Jenna arrived home just after noon.  Everyone was excited to be reunited.  I think they all missed her.

 The next morning was our annual client event patriotic breakfast.  Wendy joined with some of her clients this year.  Her help was really appreciated.  Steve K also does a ton to help us with this event.
We weren't sure how our attendance would be on the 4th of July weekend but we had more people than ever.  We used over 100 plates and pretty much all of the food eaten.  We had a little fruit and pancake batter.  We gave away a lot of prizes and the weather was perfect.

 One of the real highlights of the event was our friend Mike S. playing the Star Spangled Banner on his trumpet.  It brought tears to my eyes.  I love it.

 Here Steve chats with our long-time college friends, Clark and Nadine, who are serving a local mission.  I helped their son purchase a home nearby last year.

 Taylor and Jen returned from a few days of R & R in PC while Jen's sister watched her kids.  Their original plans to ride bikes in southern Utah changed after Taylor had a mountain bike mishap during their first ride on the mountain bikes.  They needed to ease into the mountain biking sport rather than doing an all out extravaganza.  It requires some different skills from rode biking.  They are loving it though and of course, it didn't take long to get into the flow.

Tiffany and Abigail arrived the morning of the 4th.  We picked them up at the airport and drove straight to the Hyrum parade.  I love it when a plan comes together.  We were right on time to salute the flag.  The kids were so excited for the parade and for the candy, of course!

 After a bite of lunch, we finally decided to head to a local small reservoir called lst dam.  There are so many beautiful spots in CV that we are still discovering.  It was a pleasant, restful afternoon and the kids had a ball wading and playing in the water with only some water swords to shoot water at each other, a blanket to sit on and a box of crackers.  Adam played a game on his phone with the Jenna and Britton.  Everyone enjoyed the excursion.

Back at the house, we had our BBQ of fresh corn and brats and dogs, salad and ice cream bars.  Easy does it was our plan for the day.

 I had the kids help shell peas from the garden.  They loved shelling them as much as eating them.

 Jenna took this selfie from our deck while we were waiting for it to get dark enough for fireworks.  Pretty cute kids!

 I loved this flag display on the roundabout of our community.  I'm a patriotic junkie.  I love the principles the USA was founded upon.  I just hope and pray, we can maintain them.  There is so much corruption creeping into our government that I am greatly concerned.  It is just like a chapter out of the Book of Mormon.

 Jenna took this gorgeous sunset photo off from our deck.  As usual, the fireworks were plentiful and fantastic.  We don't need to go anywhere else to enjoy and panorama of sparkle and pop!