Stanford Museum

One Saturday afternoon we decided to go to an on-campus museum to get some air conditioning. It was fun but there are some crazy things on display!

Lights?

No idea why I should be impressed.

Scary.

The Thinker by Rodan

Kids Swimming

Aren't these the cutest kids?! I went up to visit for a day and it was super hot. They loved being outside!

Yeah, not really enough room for 2, eh?

Girl's Camp

So I categorized this under vacation but I'm not sure it really falls under that...

In June we went to a camp with teenage girls from church. It was up in the Sierra's at Rucker Lake and so much fun. I went to be the nurse and Scott came up later to help with a zip line. There weren't any serious injuries but one girl did get a nasty cut when she was whittling with an xacto knife...

We camped at a lake and the girls would go swimming and canoeing every afternoon.

 A warning that we took seriously. (Instead we just had an adult stand in front of the tree!)

Scott coming across.

Sadly I couldn't upload a video where Scott was under the line in a raft and I attempted to drop into it from the zip line. 

Operation failure.

Our fearless camp director dropped in fully clothed in an attempt to get her daughter to go.

A morning canoe ride.

5 cute girls decided to do a morning swim across the lake. It was 6:30am and so windy but they did it! 

Camp was so much fun and it was great to have Scott there. We didn't spend much time together but we can still laugh about things we saw or heard.

4th of July

To celebrate Independence Day Scott and I drove up to the National Cemetery near San Francisco. We weren't there long but just looked around and thought about the sacrifices made so we can enjoy so much freedom.

The pretty gate entrance.

Scott had a good eye and found a Mormon grave.

This guy just wanted to make sure he wasn't wrong about any religion when he died!

So much sacrifice! We are overwhelmed with gratitude. 

Sewing Projects

Look at these super cute bags I made. I made the bigger ones to take for a shopping bag but the smaller ones I made for my nieces. (However, I haven't given the bags to them yet so don't ruin the surprise!) The bags are reversible too. I'm pretty happy with my renewed interest in sewing but I am about to acquire my second sewing machine. I'll now have one for sewing Scout shirts and another for thinner materials. No one told me not to use my cheap-o machine on thick materials...

Rock Climbing

Well, I opened this post to blame Scott for never posting but turns out it's my fault. This is from probably last year when we went up to Santa Rosa for Labor Day. (Is that right Melissa?)
We drove out to Bodega Bay to go rock climbing and it was fun.

Scott climbing with Jake as belay.

Rush was not a big fan of the cold and not being able to do what the boys did.

Melissa making the climb.

Scott.

More Scott.

Jake.

More Jake.

And even more Jake.

A dirty little boy that was finally having a good time.

Here we have Idaho...

So in a previous post I talked about my Grandma Hanks passing away. After the services were over we drove around Burley, Idaho and just remembered good times.

This is the house my grandparents build and that I would visit so many years ago. We spent many afternoons walking up and down the fence. 

I love the fields all around.

The "pond" where we would play in the mud and then in the winter we'd play on the ice.

The mountains you'd look at from their window. I loved that view and it still makes me think of America the Beautiful. In the evening the mountains would look purple and it was so beautiful.

This is what the summers looked like: kids walking on the fence!

My cousin MacKenize and I.

Jake and Bryce taking in the scenery...

Caleb and Parker looking for any trouble to be found.

Scott's favorite part: windmills.

 

 

And what more do you need then a spitting contest? 

 We love and miss Idaho!

Good bye Grandma Hanks

My sweet Grandma Hanks passed away at the end of March and we got to go to Burley. Idaho for the funeral and one last visit.

My mom gave us some books about China and I brought them for my nephews to read since we gave them Terracotta Warriors and they took them to school for show and tell!

My FAVORITE girls: Maren, Hailey, and Macey.
(Aren't those the cutest names too!)

Hailey had lots of help crawling and exploring. 

All the grandson-in-laws waiting for the casket.

The grandsons as pall-bearers. Everyone was able to come except one cousin who was in the midst of graduating, changing jobs, and moving from Wisconsin to Washington. We missed Warren & fam but totally understand! 

Siblings, spouses & grandkids.

My mom and her favorite friends.

Siblings: Louise (#3), Gary(#5), Marie (#2), Gordon (#4), and Carol (#1). 

An awesome photo of one family. Aren't they all totally photogenic?!

Scott was in charge of the boys and somehow they ended up in the tree!

My brother's family.
I know I've said it a hundred times but I still think they're so cute!

Hailey was so friendly and just went from person to person.

This is how I ate lunch. Do you think I had enough help?

Mae & Ted Hanks grandchildren minus 2 who were dearly missed!

Thomas first cousins minus a few.

We had such a good time together. I'm so glad we were able to spend such a fun weekend together. I know it was a funeral but I feel like it was more of a celebration. We took over a hotel in Burley and had such a great time. I'll be posting again about the amazing scenery and other beautiful things we saw up there. I'm going to miss Idaho but hopefully this won't be my last visit!