Some Demolition, Some Camping and Some Birthdays in June

June started out with an Iceland treat taste testing movie night as a family.  The treats were pretty delicious! 

And then a little family room demolition occurred.  Here is the thing with me: I always have really great home improvement ideas and I'm really good at doing the demo for those great ideas.  And here's the thing with our house: It's 64 years old and the previous owner did a lot of really bad home improvements.  So, all my ideas (that do start out simple, by the way) end up becoming much bigger projects.  The family room is no exception.  I thought we could paint the walls, get rid of the tile ceiling and add some recessed lighting.  But we found problems (like how the previous owner took out the studs that were supporting the stairs) and now it is a bigger job that we are slowly working through.  And my preschool has become the storage room!

 Happy on demo day!  Ryan is my destruction friend.

Maren turned 17!!  Her friends surprised her with breakfast on her birthday.

And we had family over that night for coffee cake (her favorite).

Maren has grown into such a responsible, smart, mature daughter!  She is a huge help to me with errands and cleaning and taking care of many things.  She is a senior this year and it is hard to believe in another year she will be moving out!  She is a joy to have around!  She started working this summer at Mrs. Cavanaugh's Chocolates.  She is running cross country and stays busy with work and sports, plus a very active social life.  She is an awesome example in our young women group and I have loved being one of her leaders.  Everywhere she goes, she brings light!  We love her!

A couple of days later, it was Girl's Camp for our ward.  I was in charge of the food this year, so I got to be there the whole time.  We went to the Box Elder Campground in Mantua.  The first two days were super cold, and the last day got really hot!

This was a homeless guy's puppy.  He befriended us at the park and we were in love with his dog.

We went to the temple to do Baptisms for the dead, and toured the Brigham City Tabernacle (including the creepy attic!).

We did crafts, played games, hiked, swam at a lake, roasted hot dogs and tons of marshmallows, had a fun photo shoot at the poppies nearby, sang a lot of songs, and overall just had a great camping time.

The food tasted great and nobody got food poisoning, so it was a success!

Dustin came up for the last couple of nights.  It is always better when he's around.

We got home on Saturday, and later that day we went back up to Cache Valley for Dustin's step-brother's son's wedding in Logan.  So we stopped at the poppies again with our kids for another photo shoot.  The poppies were pretty amazing.

The next day was Father's Day!  We sure love this messy dad!!

And then, just like that, it was Avery's birthday!  She is 19!  (Technically, we celebrated her birthday a couple of days early because the boys had Young Men's Camp during her birthday).  She and I worked together on her "naked" red velvet cake.  

It has been so fun to have Avery back from college this summer!  And we are so excited for her as she serves her mission!  She is organized, motivated, funny and fun.  She has stayed busy all summer working two jobs and preparing for her mission.  Avery is a hard worker!  She loves to laugh and brings a lot of joy to everyone she knows.  We can't wait to see the good she will do in Seattle on her mission!  We love her!

We've had some amazing sunsets this summer!

While the boys were having fun camping (during Avery's actual birthday), the girl's and I had fun, too.  We did pedicures and watched cheesy movies.  We went to dinner at Cheesecake Factory to celebrate Avery's birthday.

And the boys had fun camping, playing in the lake, shooting, and doing general boy camping stuff.  Unlike Girl's Camp, I doubt there was much singing going on...

And, Grant buzzed his hair.  My favorite kind of haircut!  It was a great first month of summer!