Gone Fishin'

For my Dad's birthday, we went out to the lake and let the kids swim and play, cooked burgers, and had delicious homemade ice cream and cupcakes.

After dinner, we got out the fishing poles and hit the jackpot.  Everyone was catching fish right after another.  The kids had a lot of fun, and  I think the dads did too.

I had to just sit back and smile at how great it is to have all my siblings back in Texas :)

Happy Birthday Pops!

We left something behind...

The purpose of the trip was to take Scott off to BYU-Hawaii for fall semester.

So glad we got to go spend time with this weirdo before he starts college, and head off for his mission.

I was trying to explain to Abigail that Scott was staying in Hawaii for college. Grandma chimed in, "Yeah, Scott is the lucky one. He gets to stay here!"

Abigail quietly said to me, "Scott isn't the lucky one, I am.  I get to go home with my whole family.  I would miss Ellie so much if I had to stay here without her, I would cry and cry and never stop."

Ok, she melts my heart. And I informed Charles that if our kids want to stay at home for their whole lives, I will encourage it. Because when they leave, I will definitely cry and cry and never stop.

Grandma and Baba handled it better than I would have :)

If you are dying to see a few hundred more pictures from our trip, here you go!

We went to the Temple

We visited the Laie Temple grounds and got to go the the Visitors Center there.

It was such a great experience, so glad we took the time to check it out.

Abigail didn't want to leave, I wish we would have taken more time to stay there. The grounds are BEAUTIFUL.  I could have taken pictures all day long there.

We Cleaned up and Took Pictures

Almost the whole Himmer Clan, we missed Stuart and Jessica :(

Got to love on Baby Penny!

Trying to keep the girls happy

We Played in the Water

We found out that Abigail can swim by herself.
She hasn't ever tried it before, but she wanted to try, and she did GREAT!
She was a little fish the whole time, even swimming in the waves without floaties.

We played in the Sand

Nomads

I have seriously felt like we are a family of Nomads this summer.  We had a month of homelessness where we wandered around family, followed by a niece being born, that I just couldn't miss.  Then we moved into our new house.  Then we left for two weeks to go to Hawaii with the Himmer clan, then came home for a day and a half, and headed to Fort Worth for Pops' birthday and Baby Charlotte's blessing.

It has been a fun, crazy summer, 

and we have enjoyed every minute of it- but now we are home.

And we are never leaving again.

Lots of photos to come. Get ready.