"Let me 'splain. No there is too much. Let me sum up." --Inigo Monteya

So.....we were ready for summer.  Seriously.  It had been a crazy, busy, wonderful spring, but we were ready to hit summer hard - and we did.  Really hard.  I got my cast off and was dying to get out and enjoy the summer.  Now it is the first day of school and I'm grateful for the break, because summer was crazy.  Great, but crazy. 

You see, Emma had been busy with school.  She ran for class president and didn't make it, but instead she was made the ninth grade treasurer.  She also made the audition choir Mad Jazz.  She also had soccer competitions, piano recitals, end of year concerts, and in the midst of all of this she made the National Junior Honor's Society.   

Lincoln was also busy - he had track, soccer, piano recitals, and he quickly became Ted's biggest supporter for going out on the boat. 

Sam had a great end of the school year with playing the king in his class play, piano and violin recital, and spring ended with his team winning the soccer championship.

 Tessa finished her first year of preschool, and most of all was a good sport and was patient (mostly) and went to every concert, every game, every play, every recital, etc., etc.  In short, she was ready for summer too. 

When it finally got here we were off and running.  Here is the "sum up" of summer: 

SEATTLE

We began the summer with a trip to Seattle to see the concert we had been waiting to see for 18 months:  U2 360.  It was totally worth the wait!  We spent the weekend there taking an electric boat ride around to see the sights listening to music, eating an awesome chocolate bundt cake, and enjoying the beautiful weather.  It was amazing!

 Then came the actual concert.  Lenny Kravitz opened, and he did fine, but when U2 came out - Holy Cow!!!  It was AWESOME!!!  Totally worth the wait.  Totally. 

Lake Powell

We met Greg and Lisa and their family down at Wahweep for some fun in Lake Powell.  We were so new using the boat that we were nervous, but it all turned out just fine.  By fine, I mean we loved it.  We did lose our swim platform, broke a light, and even killed our battery once by mistake - but despite that we fell in love with Lake Powell....again.  The only thing the kids said they would change is that they would stay for one day longer.  We'll have to see about that......

Dave & Jessie

We were so excited to find out that Dave, Jessie, Noah, and Gage would be able to come stay with us for a few days - we don't get to see them nearly as much as we would like, especially now with them living in Singapore!  It was great having them here. 

Frank and Suz

After Dave and Jessie left we were excited to have Frank and Suz and their kids come up and stay for a few days.  It is great because the kids all join up together and disappear to play together - leaving us with some much appreciated time to hang out as adults (and we let Emma hang out too!).  Carly and Tessa have a love/hate relationship- right now they are loving each other. 

Checketts Cabin

Following our fun visits we headed to Island Park, Idaho to stay for a week at the Checketts cabin.  I swear the kids look forward to this all year long - they LOVE it, and so do I.  I go to bed each night with my cheeks hurting from laughing so hard.  We had a great time!

This year we were there over the fourth of July and went into West Yellowstone to watch the fireworks. 

It took the boys approximately .03 seconds to turn the glow sticks into light sabers - it was funny because nobody said anything about posing like they were holding light sabers, but being boys they knew what to do instinctively. 

Even Jack went out on the wave runners - I don't think he was a huge fan.  :)

We were home just enough for a piano recital (my camera died so I only have this one picture of Lincoln):

And then we headed to Five Star Ranch for the Wagner family reunion.

 It didn't take long for this game of "mild" water sports to go from this.......

 To this.......

 To this!

                       As moms we knew where the safe spots were.

 This was the end result - happy, exhausted kids.  Priceless!

Sprinkle in many, many trips out on the boat and you have our summer - more or less.  It has been one of those "go, go, go" summers, but we have had a good time. 

And now we are in the midst of dealing with this.....but more on this later. 

Right now the kids are at school, so I am going to go clean a room just so I can watch it stay clean for five whole minutes.  I loved summer, but school has its perks too!  :)