Summer Trip Part Three, Utah--Hiking Squaw Peak

After we stayed two nights with Andrea and Alex and their family in Montana, we drove down to Utah.  Corey drove up from Texas and met us there.  We spent a couple of days there and ran a lot of errands and visited as many people as we could.  While we were there, Westley passed off a hike for the hiking merit badge by hiking with Allison, Marianne, Christine, and Caleb to Squaw Peak.  That is a hike I haven't actually ever done myself, though I did hike other places when I was a BYU student, like hiking the Y.  They enjoyed it, although they weren't really equipped with the right shoes and their feet hurt later.  But we enjoyed our time in Utah, however short-lived it was.

Summer Trip, Part Two, Montana

Our first destination was to see our cousins in Montana.  It was a three day drive there, so that's why we threw in Mount Rushmore, but the destination was our cousins.  Jordan's ex-wife Andrea remarried last summer and moved to Montana, so we got to see where she and the kids are living now and meet Alex and their step-siblings.  The kids loved it and I did too.  They live in a nice little town in Montana called Fort Benton. Alex is a farmer and they even own horses!  The kids thought that was great.  The scenery was beautiful and we enjoyed seeing the sights of the town with Andrea and the kids.  I'm glad we got to visit them there and now can have a picture in our heads of where they are when we think of them.  Alex is a great guy too and we enjoyed getting to know him.

Summer Trip, Part One, Day Two Mount Rushmore

After leaving church in Alliance, NE, we drove on to Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.  It was such a pleasant drive the first couple of days, driving through America's heartland.  I loved the scenery and seeing all the small towns.  Mount Rushmore was incredible and we took pictures of each of the kids by their states on the pillars leading up to the trailhead and lookout point.  We did stop in the gift shop and buy a book about Mt. Rushmore and a magnet for our fridge.  Since San Antonio in March, we decided that any National or State landmarks that we see, we will get a book and magnet.  So far, that's two.  We then drove on and stayed the night in Gillette, Wyoming, which is where I discovered the missing life jackets.  We passed Devil's Tower on our way into Wyoming and I wish we could have stopped, but we really needed to get to our destination. 

Summer Trip, Part One, The Long Drive

We left early on Saturday morning and drove up through the central states, stopping in Lexington, Nebraska for our first night's stay.  One of our stops was at the last Braum's that we thought we'd encounter for some ice cream.  I made sure to choose hotels with pools so we could swim as much as possible.  Unfortunately, I left Annmarie and Nathan's life jackets at the first hotel we stayed at.  They did mail them back to us, but it took forever and we didn't get them until after getting home.  We went to church the next morning in Alliance, NE, a small town that was the right distance from where we were with a ward/branch meeting at the time I needed.  They had the cutest little chapel that was just big enough for their small branch.  Westley and Caleb helped pass the Sacrament. 

High Adventure for Westley

Westley got to go on High Adventure instead of scout camp this year, since he turned fourteen in May.  They went tubing and ziplining.  Unfortunately, their trip ended early due to severe weather in Arkansas, where they ended up going, so they came home early.  That was good for us though, because it allowed us to leave early on our trip.  Corey stayed behind to work a few more days and then joined us in Utah.

Formal Wear Sewing Project

I got to try my hand at making formal wear.  I've made a lot of dresses, and some even fancy (like my niece's baby blessing dress) but this was the first time really making a fancy formal dress.  We signed Eliza up for a pageant with National American Miss.  They focus on girls being confident and no makeup is allowed and it's all about how they present themselves, so we thought it could be a good experience.  Well, there is a formal wear category.  I managed to find some fancy fabric and I already had the pattern, so I went ahead and made the dress.  It was much harder than I thought and there were some parts that I had to unpick multiple times, but I think it turned out rather well!  I'm excited to see her in it on stage.

Luana's Shaved Ice

For the past two summers, we have gone to Luana's on the last day of school to celebrate.  Well, this year we didn't because school got out earlier and it wasn't open yet.  So we went a week later.  It sure is yummy!

Summer Means Cooking

I started this last summer and it worked out so well that I think we will just continue doing it every summer.  The kids each have a day assigned on a rotating basis and they have to plan all the meals and then cook them.  Well, last summer we included lunch, but this summer we changed it to not include lunch.  It was too hard and more expensive to plan lunches, so the kids are on their own for lunch and I will always have different things stocked that they can have.  But here are three kids making some of their meals.  Jonah was slicing some strawberries and bananas for a fruit salad; Travis was pounding out some chicken to flatten it to make some Italian chicken; and Eliza was making snowman pancakes (pancakes in the shape of snowmen with chocolate chip features and a light dusting of powdered sugar when they are served). 

Cousin Baptism

The first weekend in June we got to celebrate the baptism of our cousin A.J.  When we turn eight years old in our church, we can choose to be baptized.   It was great having so much family there (Grandpa and Grandma came out for the baptism, of course).  This is a picture of all the Texas Fowles cousins.  Seven of us--Westley (14), Caleb (12), Travis (10), Eliza (9), Jonah (6), Annmarie (4), and Nathan (1); four from my brother Aaron--Maggie (9, almost 10), A.J. (8), Sakura (5), and Nozomi (almost 1); four from my brother Adam--Alex (almost 8), Lily (6), Elliott (4), and Luke (almost 2); and one from my brother Austin--Autumn (2).  It sure is fun living near all these cousins.