I Press On

What a whirlwind of a summer. Mike and I spent as much time as we could on the boat, with or without kids.

But always with Max!

Zach's band, HAK, played at the Fourth of July picnic at our local park. They received a very positive reception.

Ben joined a group playing freesbie to the music.

Many of our friends were there to hear them for the first time.

Maddie and Dad cheered from the audience.

Maddie was a counselor for day camp for two weeks with our church.

Then, she and I went to Sonshine Festival, a Christian concert that lasts for three days. There were hundreds of tents, but we just went for the day.Then we went with friends to the Beth Moore Conference, and I flew to Colorado.

Mike and Zach in the meantime were in the play "Annie Get Your Gun." It was so cute and Mike got to play opposite of a Broadway star, Jen Burleigh-Bentz.

He was a fantastic Chief Sitting Bull and had so much fun with his friends from the show.

Zach was in a quartet and danced opposite another great star from their high school school who graduated before he could act with her.

Ben and Zach worked for True Value Hardware this summer. But after about a month, Ben left to go be a camp counselor at Trout Lake Camp.

He had a great time with all of his kids and really let loose. My shy guy was in several skits and sometimes just acted crazy on his own.

I loved being back in the beautiful mountains of Colorado.

I got to stop and see my brother, Nate, and his family in their new home. I adore his kids, Anna and Cooper.

I also went to my 30th high school reunion. It was fun to see all of my old friends and get caught up on the last 10 years of their lives.

Mom and her friends took me up to the place my dad used to hunt. I had heard that he'd carved his and Mom's initials in the blind, but had never been in good enough shape to hike there.

Mom showed me where the elk was that she shot.

There it was, "Pat and Joe." My dad's been gone for 6 years, but the stake that he used for his tent cover was still tucked into the tree.

While I was in Colorado, Maddie left on her mission trip to Pineridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

She and the group did so many things including hosting a literacy day and making quilts for all the new babies on the reservation.

I joined them for the second week where we piled into two vans and trucked 13 1/2 hours to Montana. We stopped to see Devils Tower, Yellowstone and the beautiful mountains of Montana along the way.

Now Ben is back in school and Zach is soon to follow. I'm exhausted from travel and ready to settle in for awhile.