Lainey's Ballet Recital

 The essence of Lainey is dance.  So she loved dressing up every  week for a dance class taught by one of her favorite young ladies, Abby.  These pictures were from her end-of-summer recital.

Church Picnic

At the end of the summer our ward from church did a picnic with lots of games and a watermelon eating contest.  It was all yummy food.  The primary sang a pioneer song for everyone and also brought their bikes to decorate them with balloons and streamers for a mini-parade.  So many kids and so many bikes!  This activity was JUST before the wards were split.  We had 202 children on our roll and a descent percentage of them came to the activity.  I'm over the Primary so I was herding the bikers and in charge of the song and the various children's activities with my counselors.

Here's the youth/adult watermelon eating contest. 

Our friend, Tim won!

Then the children's contest.

The Primary was in charge of games for the the kiddos.  

Egg Race

Wheel Barrel Race

3-Legged Race

Tug Of War

Stick Pull

We also had Horse Shoes and Potato Sack races. 

Alaska

Home where I grew up!  Todd and Ashton standing in my parents driveway.

Playing on the hill in the front yard.

The swing out back.

One very patient German Shepherd. 

Alaska Native Heritage Center.

This is the Ancient American Lion Skull that my family found while on a week-long canoe trip in Northern Alaska.  I was 14 years old.  We went to show it to the kids and enjoy the rest of the museum it is on display in.  It was carbon dated 21,000 years old and was very rare.

Stopping by the health fair in Wasilla where my dad would normally be working so that we could meet his work-friends.

This lake is the "beach" in Wasilla.  We swam here any day the sun came out for while growing up.

They put a park in at Wasilla Lake a week or two before we came up to visit.  So we helped break it in!

Then we went to Wasilla Wonderland Park, a park that our community created in a combined effort.  Our mayor, Sarah Palin, had the elementary children brainstorm their ideal park, what things it would have, they drew pictures of it, and the community built it together.  My dad showed the kids what he helped build.  It is a VERY cool park.

The ice rink (in the winter time) right outside Wonderland Park.

We went to the Alaska Club to work out several days and took the kids this day to play in the pool/kids water area.

A lady called my dad saying she had a bull moose in her yard.  It was bow hunting season and she knew my dad had a bow.  He came over to get it for her, but she had been mistaken about it being a legal bull.  It was a fun brief excursion, though!

We attended my mom's ward for Church and also the Grey's son's mission farewell.  They are very good family friends.  After the farewell, we went to the Grey's beautiful new home on Wasilla Lake and got to see a bunch of friends and familiar faces there at the farewell open house.

Lainey enjoyed playing with all the little girls.  It was fun for me to see because they were all the children of my friends.  

I got a laugh from this one.  Her pig tail looks like her finger like she's flexing but acting like she's pointing which way to go or something.  But she does have some guns!

Brielle and April had some friends there too.

Ashton was a little more shy...

Our very good friends, the Pettijohns.  Kali (center) was in school with me.  

LOVE that family!

Back at my parents, the kids had fun on several occasions trying to catch the chickens.  Ashton declared Lainey a "professional chicken catcher"!  She really was good at it!

For Family Home Evening, we drove up Hatcher's Pass and hiked around a little bit.  The trail we meant to hike was completely covered in a cloud.  So we opted to play around and explore down below and then head to my parents' property to roast some s'mores.

This is "Bee Bopping"- bouncing from spongie tundra covered rock to rock like a traversing skier.

Walking in the clouds!

My parent's Sutton Property on Granite Creek.

Stuffing their pant pockets with rocks.  They LOVE to collect all the rocks they can sneak past Mom.  Where luggage weight is concerned.... was not gonna happen...

And he thought I wouldn't noticed his pockets...

Pants falling off due to said pockets full of rocks...

Dad showed us where to find tons of raspberries on his property.  Some that he planted and many that were wild.

Hiking Thunderbird Falls.

Throwing sticks down into the river to play "Pooh Sticks".

Potter's Marsh

Turnagain Arm

Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center

Portage Glacier River Run-Off skipping rocks.

Such an awesome stained glass window at the restaurant we ate at in Girdwood.

The Northern Lights Hallway in the Anchorage Airport.