Wow...Summer flew by!!!!

Well, I'm not sure how summer flew by so fast, and reviewing the pictures I'm not sure I realized how much fishing my family did this summer! It was definitely, busy, fast, and most of all HOT.  So let's go back to the beginning and review!

Tyler went to MORP (a dance where the girls ask the boys and they dress up as pairs) and Tyler and his date had the cutest costumes.  They were Kevin and Russell from the movie, "Up."  They looked amazing and definitely had fun playing it up.

"Here, Snipey snipey...."

It's fun to see him getting to enjoy some of his senior year, especially after last year with Covid shutting everything down!  It certainly hasn't been back to normal, but it could have been worse!!  

Once again all my pictures will be out of order....I don't know why they don't upload in the order I put them in but with this post there are too many pictures to try to rearrange so you will have to stay on your toes to keep up.

Tyler really loves fly-fishing.  Jacob is getting more interested in it as well. I'm not even sure where this is, but Eric got some shots of Tyler fishing the river....

Eric also took the boys on a guided fly fishing trip in Montana.  It was technically Tyler's graduation gift but Jacob got to go too.  I'm so glad he did, because he LOVED it.  He has already said he wants to go again.  This is an out of order picture, but it is Jake with a fish on while on their trip....

Since we're on the subject of Jacob, he is still mountain biking.  Each race he gets better and better.  He had a race at Snowbird but he didn't feel that great.  It was probably because I had to pick him up early from Youth Conference to go and he had been staying up all night and eating junk food for the 2 days before the race.  Ha ha.  He still did good and the scenery was awesome.  His last iCUP race was about a week ago in Powder Mountain.  He had a great race...he came in 15th!  And it was a really hard course.  So he was thrilled.  It's fun to see him be passionate about something and also to see his hard work pay off.  His team races (NICA) start in 2 weeks.  He's excited!

We took a trip with Eric's family up to Island Park.  We rented a big cabin right on the reservoir. It was great.  Lots of (mostly unsuccessful) fishing, playing games, and eating.  Joey set up his crayfish trap and caught one.

Joey also went out on the boat early in the morning with dad and caught a fish!

We cruised around a lot on the reservoir.  It was really beautiful.

Okay, now I'm going to skip around a bit...  Joey had his first guitar recital!  He did AMAZING.  I can't believe how fast he is catching on to guitar.  If he keeps it up he will be better than Tyler!  He played perfectly and didn't make any mistakes.  We were so proud of him.  

And big news!  Tyler graduated!  I still can't believe I have a high school graduate.  Part of me still feels like I am back in Maryland with Tyler as a little toddler.  Time flies.  It was touch and go for a bit because Tyler had probably the worst case of Senioritis I've ever seen.  It took a few visits with the school counselor and some schedule shifting but he managed to graduate with exactly the amount of credits needed.  Ha ha.  I won't lie-- it was stressful.  Ugh, teenagers!  But we are so proud of him and excited to see where he goes from here.  He is working on his mission papers.  Almost done!

Tyler with his best friends Max and Cassie....

They did it!!!!

Joey still loves riding around on his tote goat.  The brakes barely work so that's fun.  He rides up to his friends house and I tell him to be safe.  But who knows.  It is hard but you have to let kids have some freedom--just make sure they wear a helmet!

One way you know it is summer is when you have to haul hay.  Ugh.  It is one of my least favorite things to do.  If you've hauled hay, you need no explanation. But Grandpa came and helped, many hands make light work....

Pepper has grown into quite a fun little dog.  She loves to play, barks too much, is very floppy and ungraceful, but she is very sweet.

She also loves to get very dirty then try to come in the house....

More out of order pictures of fishing at Island Park....unsuccessful mostly.  But the views were great!

They had this sign in the cabin we rented.  If you know Joey, then no explanation needed.  Very appropriate.  

We spent a day in Yellowstone while there.  Of course it was beautiful as always.  Very crowded.  

Joey loved spending time at the cabin though, doing cool tricks and twist jumps off the dock in the back of our place. 

We also spent lots of time cruising on the boats.  Fishing not so great, views were amazing.

Jake managed to get lucky...

Uncle Mat took the kids out kneeboarding.  It was a hit!  Joey did some 360 turns and rode the wake....He was pretty much in heaven.

Jacob got the hang of it quick too!  He got really good at riding over the wake.

A family shot at Yellowstone canyon.

Looking for animals...I'm sure Joey was a huge help.

Maggie finally got up the courage to knee board as well.  She was a little more timid than the boys but had a blast!

Two of my favorite teenagers...

The whole gang...

Let's hear it for siblings!

On a sad note, not too long after we got back from our trip Joey fell on his bike and broke his arm. Poor guy.  He just got his cast off in time for school to start next week.  So his summer was a bummer.  He got down at times but mostly handled it like a champ.  We were proud of him.  

But the world better watch out because Jacob got his permit!  AAHHHH!  He looks like a homeless person.  

This summer we added an addition to our list of kids who can mow out giant lawn.  Yup, Maggie is now an official Swenson lawn-mower.  She isn't happy about it, but the boys are thrilled.  She did make the most of it by listening to music and grabbing a selfie with everyone's favorite dog!

A random picture from the Montana trip....

Eric and the boys went on a Jeeping trip with one of Eric's old army friends.  They said it was fun but also a lot of driving!  

Carrie, Becky, Sammy and Kate came for a visit.  We crammed a lot into a few days!  Tie-Dying was a favorite and we came out with some pretty cool stuff!

We also went to a place called Evermore.  It is like a real life video game in a medieval town where you have quests and stuff.  We talked to a lot of interesting people, got inducted into the Dragon Guild, became honorary pirates and more.  Bonus--when the kids were naughty there were several disciplinary tactics to use...

We also got to fight each other with foam weapons in the battle arena, try our hand at archery and axe throwing....  I'm a dead shot, watch out Robin Hood!

We went to eat with the older kids, the boys had fun goofing around at an eclectic outdoor area...fighting aliens and making friends with Ronald.

Maggie and the girls made a haunted house for grandma.  The sign on the door said something like "Are you ready to die!"  Yikes.  They went all out with the makeup and decor.  Grandma said it was scary!

We also did an escape room--a new family favorite activity.  This was a jailbreak at the OK Corral!  We got out with time to spare!  No match for these braniacs.

The whole fan-damily.

And a lot of good-looking grandkids!  Jacob must have though it was a gun-show.  

We also spent a day in Kemmerer digging for fossils.  We had tons of success--too much in fact.  We couldn't bring it all home.  It was some back breaking work but fun.

We have continued the tradition of taking Maggie and her friends to a musical.  This year we went to see "The Sound of Music" starring one of Maggie's dance teachers.  It was adorable.

A picture from the Jeeping trip.

One Sunday morning a couple weeks ago, Joey surprised Eric and I with breakfast in bed!  It was really sweet.  It's always nice when your kids are nice unsolicited.  Maybe I did one thing right?  Ha ha.

Jacob went axe throwing with some of the family--only he and Maggie could go.  I hope he represented the Swensons well!

Tyler with one of his catches....

Jacob has been a biking fool.  Here's a couple shots of him doing his thing.

Maggie had girls camp!  Last year's was cancelled so she was really excited about it.  It was only one night but they filled it full of fun!  River rafting, games and testimonies.  And lots of giggles!

Joey helping on the "farm".  He's growing into a pretty good little helper!

Sammy came out to is it for a week.  We had tons of fun and it was fun to spend time with her.  We did ANOTHER escape room--this time we got out with 20 minutes to spare!  Next time we will have to do something harder.  It was fun!  The Hoarder's Attic...

We also went on a horse ride.  Fun and beautiful.  

A couple pics from the Montana trip.  Eric better watch out or his boys will start out-fishing him!

Well, that is a very brief recap of summer.  Sorry for the brevity, but it's too much info!  But it was a summer filled with fun and family--the two best things.