Summer Wrap-Up & Las Vegas

Now that we're almost a month into school I thought it might be best to get around to finishing up our summer record.  So, here goes . . .

We bid farewell to "Wildcat" our trusty mini-van for the last 6 1/2 years.  Before you shed too many tears please know that he went to a good home and paved the way for all of Alex's dreams to come true -- his very own Toyota Tacoma.  He's officially cool now.

One of Camille's patented hugs: squeeze tight and dig the chin in (while wearing Lydia's shirt I might add).

We had an unusually rainy summer which means the little canal/ditch across the road filled up frequently.  The frogs were fun to listen to and one evening Carter caught this little guy for our enjoyment.

After looking through some old family photos Carter couldn't resist re-enacting this scene from when he was 3.

Brad has taken up photography.  He took pictures of our goats -- Chuck, Charlotte & Chiquita -- for me so I could post them on craigslist.  He did such a fantastic job that they sold within a few hours.  The kids were all excited to boost their bank account balances with the proceeds.

another Brad photo -- this time of our cow Joey Christine. 

Camille is a regular napper and if we don't get her in bed on time she takes matters into her own hands. Sometimes a girl's just gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

August 22-25 Alex, Camille, Eve, & I went to Las Vegas along with our dental assistant, Jess Walker.  Alex & Jess attended a 3 day seminar on bone & soft-tissue grafting culminating with surgeries on cadaver heads -- always a lovely event.  Camille, Eve & I did a lot of hanging by the pool, napping and a few errands.  Jess watched the girls for us on Thursday night so Alex & I could go to the Las Vegas temple.  The temple there is almost the same floor plan as the Portland temple so it felt a little like going home.  On Friday night we met up with our old-time UofA friends & next door neighbors the James's.  It was so so so fun to see them again.  We were sad that the night had to end.  We got back to Queen Creek late Saturday night.  Brad, Lydia & Carter had their own set of fun staying at Grandma & Grandpa Matheson's while we were gone.  When not in school they did super 'boring' stuff like watch Ninjago, buy Ninjago legos, going spending sprees to the Dollar Store and attending Johndavid's birthday party.   It was awfully fun to reunite as a family on Sunday and even better to be done with our vacationing for the summer.  It was a fun summer but Home Sweet Home is our new motto.

Some of our favorite people:  Sydney, Mark, Amy, Max & Sam James