1st day of Bliss..er I mean School!!

Yes, we are enjoying school and yes, it is now November and I am just barely getting these up.:)

So, so, SO much to catch up on...

Okay, so I'm just going to combine our summer into one post with mostly pics.  I know, I am TOTALLY slacking on the blog.  But I have a lame excuse:)  Have any of you heard of Pinterest??  It is literally my new favorite thing.  You just "pin" all of the awesome things you see on the web to your boards and look at all of the other awesome things other people pin to their boards.  Sound confusing??  You'll just have to trust me - it is totally addicting:)  If you want an invite, let me know and if I don't have your email, send it on.  Click here to see what all the pinning is about!  So, there is my excuse!!  Sorry to my fam (Cindy and Brent and Mom) who like to see what's going on!

Our Summer....

West Virginia..
We were able to go to West Virginia with Spencer's whole family in July for a week.  All 40 of us!!  We were all in the same hotel and totally took over the pool when we went swimming and totally took over the breakfast area when we ate as well.  We had eight cars traveling at all times together - it was funny and crazy but an adventure.  We were doing a family history trip to learn more about Spence's grandma and where she grew up.  We did a lot of fun little day trips, like float the river, hike the Organ Cave, and we saw the house his grandma grew up in and other places that their ancestors lived. It was really neat and fun to be all together.  Rebekah (Spence's sister) organized the whole trip and put a ton of work into it.  The cousins had a great time being together and Grady still talks about going back to W. Virginia...

Thurgood Family Reunion..
I LOVE my family!!  We have such a good time together and this year did not disappoint!!  We got together at Spence's parent's cabin which is such a great place to have a reunion.  We played "minute to win it" games courtesy of Heidi on Wednesday night and it was SO funny.  The next day we all trekked it up to Lagoon and spent the whole day there with a night dinner with my mom's side of the family that night.  Friday, we went out on the boat and did some wakeboarding, surfing and good old tubing for the kiddos.  That night we did the dreaded family pics, but it had a been awhile and my cute cousin and his wife did a great job and got some great photos.  The next day, we cleaned up and came back to our house for a lunch with my dad's family.  It was totally crazy and busy, but we had a great time and loved being together..

Bear Lake..
One last trip we took was to Bear Lake with our good friends the Glines!  Her parents own a house right on the lake and we were able to stay there for a couple of days.  They have 5 girls and our girls get along really well.  We pulled off some great lunches and dinners, went jet-skiing, knee boarding, tubing and surfing - Rick caught on super quick  -  and had a yummy Raspberry shake!  The boat had a few problems up there, but all in all, it was a great trip.  My kids were bummed to leave their friends and that gorgeous lake.  I completely forgot to take ANY pics, but we got one day in there.  Thanks for the trip Rick and Rosemary!!

Lot's of fun stuff as you can see....Luckily today still feels like summer, so I'm not too sad just yet:)

Just Keep Swimming...

We have been swimming SO much this summer!!  I love it and the kids love it - especially when there are plenty of cousins to swim with:)  All of the kids took swimming lessons this year at the Rec. Center and I was really impressed with their teachers and lessons.

Grady of course, has no fear and is now jumping off the diving board sans floaties or ANYTHING!!  He scared me at first, but now it's just fun to watch.  His favorite thing is to have Spence take him down to the deepest spot and touch the bottom.

Adri is the queen of the diving board for our fam.  She goes off and shouts things hopefully we can hear, like "Grandma is the BEST" and "I love mom" - super funny!  She doesn't do any flips, just legs out, or twirls or dives.  

Kendalyn just swims.  She doesn't like the diving board anymore, but she is a great swimmer.  She loves using her mask and flippers.  Lately they have all been using the boogie board we got years ago from Hawaii and they have been trying to "surf" on it.  Grady is the only one who has been able to stand so far..

SO sad to see the summer end - going to miss the pool for sure!