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So this is a very long post of our summer fun. Jeff goes back to school in 2 1/2 weeks, and we are so desperately going to miss his presence, and adventurous spirit.

I'll do this in chronological order. May garage sales were good to us as we found this stellar table and chairs (with a leaf) for $125. Thank you Stacey and Greg for loaning us your table for the last three years (and sorry about the crayon/paint/glitter on your table).

McKenna Reese had her first bath in the big tub with Lauren in the month of May. It is a little tricky because McKenna is such a stander.

Our first visit to North Platte this summer saw a couple of projects; The picture above is building a swing set. (Which Jeff did very little of, since he only worked on it one day). And also fixing up an old pick-up truck his Grandpa gave him. It had been sitting outside for pretty much 30 years, so basically it is a piece of rust. Or I should say that it was. Jeff, Calvin and Bill took it all apart and sanded it down to nice shining metal. (Well, two fenders and the hood). I got to help for a while and it was pretty fun using power tools.

Just a side note on Jeff's projects; He has a rocking chair sitting in my parent's garage that he has sanded and primed and started painting for Lauren's room (well it was for Lauren's room when we were going to buy a house).

Side note B- Much of our Summer was devoted to the process of buying a home. We found one that we really liked and made an offer. We didn't get approved for the loan that we wanted, but we did get approved for an FHA loan. We prayed and fasted about it and decided that we should just wait, after all we don't have an income. After all the phone calls and the faxing and the questions, we were a little bummed about not getting a house. I joked to Jeff that maybe an older couple in our ward would go on a mission and let us live in their house. I used this same joke when we were on a picnic with some friends from our ward (What can I say, if it is good joke I'll use it more than once) Anyway our friend called me the next day and long story short, Jeff and I are going to house sit while her husband is in Iraq (she'll be living at her Mom's in another state). So many blessings.

Back to side note A- Jeff also bought an outdoor glider on craigslist for $25. It needed a lot of work so he has been working on it in Jeremy's garage while they are out of town. (Sounds like we need our own garage, huh)? Jeff is a very good wood worker and strives for perfection.

Our first trip to North Platte also saw lots of fun, here are the cousins at the rodeo. It rained for the first twenty minutes or so, and it made the ground all muddy and soppy. I HATE MUD.

We went to a fun little water park, Lauren loved, loved, loved it.

Here is evidence.

Here is a picture of Marlene with all of her grandkids. Lauren Loved them so much. And still a few times a day she'll say "Connor far away" in a really sad voice, and continue through each of her cousins saying that they are far away.

In between trips to North Platte my brother Daniel and his wife Jessica and kids came to Nebraska for a visit. It was so fun to see them. We roped Jessica into taking some familia pictures for us while she was here. A couple of weeks later my nephew Dillion was in town and went house shopping with us and gave his expert opinions (the house we made an offer on did meet his qualifications).

Now for the second trip to North Platte. We went for the family reunion and one of the days we went to the lake. Lauren as you can see preferred to eat her fish on the sand then to play amongst them in the water. (I don't blame her though, lakes have the funniest smell). She did one time go on the rope swing with Jeff.

Lauren got so dirty everyday that we were there and when I would tell her that it was time for a bath she would recruit her cousins to take a bath with her. Here is one very crowded tub.

The 27th was Jeff's birthday. He started the day off right by going golfing with Calvin and his Dad. It started pouring on the 7th hole so they came back soaked and were welcomed with omelets that I made. (I'm not sure if that was a treat or a punishment, I had never made omelets before).

Later he got to do an experiement. You'll have to go to his blog for the science part of it, but here is a little teaser for you:

This is a picture of Jaylin and I (you can't really see it, but we are sporting Zac Efron rings that came on the high school musical cupcakes that I bought Jeff for his birthday (okay so they were more for me)

And here is a picture of our photographer.

Sweet Ava was in love with McKenna and loved to hold her. One morning McKenna decided to just take a little nap in Ava's arms.

And this last picture is just for a laugh. We were getting ready to go somewhere last night and I came out of the bedroom and Lauren had packed everything we needed into McKenna's carseat; four pairs of jammies and two pairs of shoes. Looks like we were all set.

I'm sure that has been more summer fun, but at the moment they allude me. So this will have to suffice on our summer journey-ings thus far.