The winds of change . .

Here we have the newly released bishop of our ward and his beautiful young daughter. A day of mixed emotions to be sure. He won't be resting long though (especially on Sunday mornings!)He was sustained as the new stake executive secretary today and will now have meetings beginning at 6:00 on Sunday morning instead of 7:00. :p

A very merry birthday. . . to us!

On our birthday Amy and I met at Angies for our traditional birthday breakfast. It was a lot of fun!
I should have waited a few minutes longer to get the traditional early morning milkshake she orders. It was a beauty this year. Blueberry with whipped cream and real blueberry on top. but you will just have to believe me since we didn't get a picture.

...and the rains came down and the floods came up

Saturday we started out hiking with the top of Timp in mind for our destination. Mother Nature had other ideas.
Some where up in those clouds is the top of Timp.





And no, that is not a river, it is the trail.
We reached the first waterfall and stopped for a Kodak moment before parting company with the littles and their parents.
The first waterfall is beautiful and a great hike for little people.Aren't they fashionable in their rain ponchos?
After the falls the path is unpaved and as we headed up the mountain the rain created some mighty slick mud as it mixed with the dirt, so here we are running back down the mountain soakin' wet! We'll have to return and conquer sometime next month!

Moving Day

Thursday Daniel & Sharon took Stephanie and headed up to get their apartment packed and ready to be moved. This is a picture of the building they were living in.
This is a picture of the . . .

um ...

...the work crew?
. . .guess if you use the term loosely . . .
NOT! Actually everyone worked hard and because they had worked so hard getting packed the day before, once Steve and I got up there with the van and trailer it only took a couple of hours to get everything loaded and the apartment ready to turn back over to the landlord. It was a quick trip, but it will be great having them back in town!

A little bit of wave running fun

Daniel and Sharon talked us into going waving running Mondy evening. It's a good thing they are around to remind us to go and have some fun once in a while! They are so convincing even Grandma came along.


Floating in the choppy waters of Mantua

& laughing on the shore.


Going for a ride . . .


and getting ready for more . . .



Being careful not to make waves . . .



At least some of us were. . .



Okay, that second to the last picture is not really what the camera makes it look like, but wow! talk about amazing timing!He is even looking the opposite direction which makes it look even more realistic. And the last one Daniel was just demonstrating how cold it was outside of the water.

~SuMmEr FuN~ ...Biking

The evening of July 10th we set out for a 22 mile moonlight ride. It was a blast! Started at 10 at night, finished about 2am, and we got home at 3 in the morning. Soooooo tired the next day.

Not everybody who wanted to be there could make it; :( I guess there is always next year. Those that did had a great time.

And the guy who never wins anything won the grand prize... a brand new mountain bike! That is him there in the center holding his certificate, surrounded by his admiring fans. (I don't know how come they always line up in the same order for pictures)

Here he is with his new mountain bike geting ready for his first ride which we did last Friday.

Went to Mantua and took Daniel and Sharon along. Discovered a trail that will challenge us for the next... hundred years!(not the one in the next picture, that was just a little hill the gugs decided to play on)

Daniel showed off his tricks; jumping with great skill and finesse. Too bad the camera didn't catch it.
Ain't life great!

My Turn with Mom

Well, last week was my turn for doing something with Grandma Vollmer. With the busyness of the the week (girls camp Monday-Thursday and the Moonlight Ride on Friday)I kind of cheated and we did lunch just this past Monday & went to Joanne's and shopped around for a while. I think she enjoyed it; shopping is one of her favorite things to do. You have to watch her though because she will literally shop 'til she is ready to drop if you don't. (I had to set her down in the shoe department at Wal-mart and march up front for a wheelchair once. Now I know better.)Would have taken pictures of our most recent outing but I never remember the camera.
Here is a recent picture though, taken the next day, Tuesday, at Carissa's birthday party.
Tried to get a smile on her but it proved to be impossible.She is sitting behind me in her chair looking at pictures right now and just told me when you tell kids to smile so you can take their picture they have the funniest little smiles. Well, I don't think they have a lot over on her.