August 2025

 Dear friend, 

At the beginning of August we headed back to Utah for the Erickson family reunion.  We had a great time with all of the Ericksons!  We missed Davis and Melanie and Kate's family.  

We had a few days between reunions to spend some more time with cousins and friends.  We enjoyed seeing the Coxes and the Lundeens.  

Then it was on to the Christensen reunion.  

The Coxes gave us some peaches so Mom and I made a huge fresh peach pie.  We had a blast playing games and catching up.  Chelsea was in charge this year and she planned some awesome activities.  It got even better when we met up with the extended Christensen family.  I loved seeing my cousins.  It was helpful when I threw out my back for the first time and we had two chiropractors and two physical therapists on hand.  

Right after the reunion we made the drive back to Connecticut.  

Joy wrote this graphic novel on the way home.  

I celebrated a wonderful 41st birthday with my favorite people.  Elias made an incredible meal.  

The next day the boys headed off for Young Mens Camp.  

The girls and I had a blast having girl time with each other and with our friends.  

The boys enjoyed camping, swimming, mountain biking and adventuring in Cape Cod. They even participated in a Spartan Super.  

They returned Saturday night and on Monday morning Summer and I headed off for the Girls Camp I was in charge of.  We had glorious time in Vermont camping, crafting, hiking, milking cows and connecting with God.  We had 13 girls and Summer designed the sweatshirts.  

Meanwhile Joy and Rose had some delightful day adventures.  My friend Jennifer took them for a "day on the job" at her law firm in New York City.  

We were able to sneak in a few last adventures before the start of school.  Summer and Smith took the train to DC for a weekend.  Boyd stayed here for his best friend's epic birthday party.  We enjoyed a day at Narragansett. We got some paddle boards and have loved spending time out on the sound.  Summer and Joy both threw back-to-school parties with friends.  

Here are some of my favorite quotes from the summer: 

Elias: Joy…you’re going through a phase where you are trying to be sneaky and…

Joy: (screams) I know! It’s called puberty!

Rose sat next to her uncle and asked, “Hi Uncle Matt. So what’s special about your marriage?”

Joy:

"And my friends will say I didn’t know you were going to Slovenia and Italy, and I’ll tell them I have secrets that I don’t even know about."

Summer: you think you have rizz Joy!?

Joy: I have tons of rizz.

Summer: K, you be the boy. 

Joy: Hey there. What’s your name?

Summer: My name is Summer. 

Joy: And you’re as hot as your name.

While driving in the car:

Rose:"Truth or dare? Do you want to lick my shoe or roll yourself out the window?"

While meeting up with a friend in London:

Rose: "Do you wanna know if a few new things about me? 1. I love corgis 2. I’m way more into chasing pigeons now 3. I hate walking 4. My dad still handsome."

Rose to the lady sitting behind her on the plane: "What’s your favorite dog? What’s your Chinese new year animal? What was the worst part of your childhood?"

Rose got to ride in the front of the car on the way to white water rafting. On the way home Joy got to sit in the front seat. 

Rose, pouting in the back: Joy is up in front being better friends with them. 

Me: No she’s not. 

Rose: Yes she is! She’s up there at level five friendship and I’m back here at level zero.

Smith: “come on Mom! Ride the see saw with me.  You’re wasting all your ‘fun mom’ on kids that aren’t me”

Dad: “Rose, really, you can’t lick the water off my arm. Please stop.”

Joy: "I hear no laughter. I hear no fun. You need Joy Joy, number one."

Rose: “ I like my new shoes, I just wish they had a little more (sigh) pizzazzz.”

While we were driving through Wyoming, Smith said: "The sky is so large. It’s like it’s right on top of you and there’s nothing holding it up."

Elias: "Boyd, please keep your pants on in the car."

Elias: "Did someone take their shoes off recently? That’s a pretty salty stench."

Smith: "It may be my drink. It has lots of electrolytes in it."

Rose walked up to a stranger that was smoking and said "Don’t litter that." I quickly told her he won’t. She said, "You don’t know him. He did last time." I responded, "How do you know you’ve never seen him before."  She said, "Yes, I have. I saw him in my dreams." I said, "Oh yeah and what did he do in your dreams?" She responded, "He killed me." 

There was a lady in line at the carousel and Rose asked her which horse she was going to ride on and she responded that she would ride on whichever one her grandson chose.  Rose offered that she could leave her grandson and go sit in the chariot with Elias.  She said her daddy is a lot of fun.  

We held our annual back-to-school party as a family and each chose a word we want to focus on this year.  We had 2-on-1s and father's blessings.  I can't believe another school year is starting.  

It was an adventure filled and truly epic summer.  My heart is filled with gratitude.