Burnetts at Bear Lake

Our big summer vacation consisted of a trip to Utah to see both sides of our family. First, we went to Bear Lake to spend a week with the Burnetts.

Day 1: Saturday, June 20 - fly from Austin to Salt Lake City, rent cars to drive from SLC to Bear Lake (about 2 hrs away). Meet up with Nana and Papa, and Angela and her 2 little girls.

Day 2: Monday, June 21 (Father's Day) - church in the morning, resting and playing in the afternoon, dinner, and "Glow in the Gospel" family night presented by Nana & Papa

We made Father's Day pancakes for lunch!

This little playground was right out the back door from our room,
The kids spent A LOT of time here.

 Day 3: Monday, June 22 - Minnetonka Cave, arrival of Doug & Emily, baby shower

We were so excited to celebrate the upcoming birth of Doug & Emily's 1st baby.

Doug's all ready to be a Daddy.

 Day 4: Tuesday, June 23 - beauty spa, swimming, tea party, and princess ball

The only male cousin in the family was unable to attend, so we took advantage of our all-girl crowd to do some pampering -
face masks, pedicures, manicures, and hair styling.

My beautiful girls.

SO nice to have a swimming pool on the property where we stayed.

Tea Time!

Nana's homemade play doh.

For our fancy princess ball we crafted dresses for the girls out of plastic tablecloths and streamers.

   

   

   

Day 5: Wednesday, June 24 - Bear Lake!!!

   

We rented a paddle boat . . . 

and a kayak.

And Russ's feet paid the price for his day out in the sun.

Day 6: Thursday, June 25 - family history games

Doug & Emily were in charge of Thursday's activities. They did an awesome job of coming up with games and activities revolving around family history - long past or more recent.

   

Re-enacting a story about Great-Grandpa Ivan Burnett playing the piano.

Another re-enactment, this time about when Great-Grandpa Jay Foley met Great-Grandma Eva. 

In this activity we compared each of the kids to a bunch of ancestral photos to look for family resemblances.

Day 7: Friday, June - cleaning up, packing up, driving down to Utah County

Kaylee's 10th Birthday

Miss Kaylee turned 10 on June 7th.

She had a very Harry birthday this year.

She woke up to this familiar face in her bedroom.

She requested a Potter party with her friends.

These are the invites we sent out.

 The party started with the kids being "sorted" into houses - 

either Gryffindor or Slytherin.

We had HP themed food for dinner: 

Hogwarts hot dogs, Potter potato chips, Weasley watermelon, Granger grapes, 

Voldemort vegetables, and Snape soda.

We played a bunch of games, like HP trivia and Quidditch practice.

And for dessert Kaylee requested a replica of the cake 

Hagrid brings to Harry in the 1st movie.

She was one happy little wizard!

                         

Ashlyn's 8th Birthday

This cute girl turned 8 on June 6th. 

For her birthday party she requested snow cones and an outing to the swimming pool.

Her gifts included a rolling suitcase (she and the other girls play "vacation" all the time), books, money, and lots of fancy things like purses and scarves.

We had a great time celebrating with our spunky gal!

End of School

The final few weeks of school were BUSY. We were over at the Elementary for various events nearly every day. Kaylee and Ashlyn had a great year there, and Brenna did awesome in her final year of preschool.

The 4th Graders participated in a Texas Living History Museum. They each chose a famous Texan to research, write a report about, find a costume to represent, and memorize a short speech on. Then they were placed around the school and other students (and families) took tours of the "museum". Kaylee's person was Cynthia Ann Parker. She looked great and delivered her memorized speech so well.

The 4th Graders also participated in an Author's Reception. They've done a TON of writing this year and their teachers compiled their collective essays into a published book, which they each received a copy of. 

Brenna and McKell especially enjoyed the refreshments at the Author's Reception.

The Elementary school hosts awards ceremonies at the conclusion of each 6-week marking period. Kaylee and Ashlyn each earned Honor Roll awards (all A's) for the entire year. Way to go girls!!!

Goodbye to Preschool . . . and on to KINDERGARTEN! 

This girl is so excited and so ready to move on up.

Ashlyn has officially finished half of her time in Elementary School, on to 3rd grade in the Fall.

And when Kaylee goes back she'll be ruling the school with the other 5th graders.

Utah

My brother's wife, Bonnie, who has been battling breast cancer for the past 2 years passed away May 13th. We were all able to fly to Utah for the funeral the following week. 

Even though we were there for a sad purpose, we were so thankful we could be together with my family those days, and we did enjoy some nice times (especially a late-night game of Telestrations!)

Cousins enjoying popsicles on Grandma & Grandpa's porch.

We had fun seeing all the neat animals and fish, etc. at Cabela's.

Kaylee was introduced to "Settlers".

Lina & Jared made us some authentic Persian food (Jared's Dad is from Iran).

McKell made friends with all her uncles. No, really.
She asked Adam to put her shoes on to go outside.
And she wanted Nate to take her to the potty. 

Morning donut run to Krispy Kreme when the Hot Light came on.

We were there right around Memorial Day and took time to visit
my maternal grandfather's grave with some of my Mom's family.

We miss you, Bonnie.