I wanted to go camping one more time before school started. On a Thursday night, we headed out to Willard Bay. Our campsite was gorgeous. We made dinner over the fire, walked around and played at the beach. And the kids actually slept pretty well that night. It was an easy, little adventure.

When I started the summer, I knew I was signing up for too many activities. Playgroups, two storytimes, swim lessons, summer camp, and garden club. It was hard to choose so I errored on the side of too much, knowing I could just not go. But when I already have something scheduled, I go.

We’ve had a great summer. But part of me wishes we would have had more time to go hiking, explore places, got out the sprinkler outside, invited friends over, or just do nothing. I took the attitude of doing what was in front of me, without a lot of planning. A lot of fun things in the summer take planning, though.

Should I have planned more or better? I don’t know. I enjoyed many things we did this summer: spending time with family, going to crystal hot springs, or the lake, having lazier days at home, geocaching. Next year, though, I think I want to be more intentional with what I do and make time for the things that I think are the most meaningful.

Curtis was nervous and excited about soccer. The night before he kept asking repeatedly when his soccer game was. He did pretty well for his first ever game. During the practice beforehand he did a great job of dribbling and scoring against another teammate. At the game, he didn’t kick the ball much, but learned a bunch and got all sweaty.

We’ve been watching Peter (who is getting a break from playing soccer after goofing off a bit too much last time), and it’s a bit hard to go backward. Peter’s age was finally getting it, and now we are back to telling kids which way the goal is. I do think Curtis has a lot of potential to be really good at soccer, so we’ll see how it goes.

We went to the lake to play at the beach and swim . Peter was brave enough to jump off the dock. I was brave enough to go up to my waist in the water. (I don’t like cold water so this was an accomplishment for me.)

The boys and I went up to Willow Park Zoo in Logan with friends. They’ve made some improvements since we were there last, including a new petting zoo. We enjoyed seeing all the animals and petted turtles, snakes, goats, sheep and a rabbit.

There’s a friend in this picture. He’s hard to find. My boys are often overbearing.

At the park after:

I’m often far too task oriented. And then when I’m not working on my to-do list, I’m often reading a book or on my phone. But not all the time. Sometimes I forget about everything I have to do, I don’t worry about how tired I am and take time to dance with the kids. I watch as my little toddler copies every move I do. I let the kids run under my long legs again and again and again. I’m just present and enjoying my family. That’s joy.

The boys and I traveled down south to visit this small amusement park and visit Grandma. Henry, at three feet tall, was just barely tall enough to go on all the rides. I put him on this frog hopper. It started, and his face filled with fear and apprehension. This was not fun!

But he looked around and found his Mom. And she had a smile on her face and told him it was just fine. The fear left, and gradually it was replaced with joy! He laughed on went on multiple times. Sometimes it just takes one reassuring look to make all the difference.

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My husband has a habit of calling a misbehaving child, “You little punk.” Curtis now uses that phrase in his vocabulary all the time. Make sure you only say things you don’t mind your kid’s repeating.) When Peter decided to use his bumper boat to squirt the crowd, I used the same phrase to describe him!

Peter made cloud dough at summer camp, and when he found out we had the ingredients, he wanted to make it at home too. It’s really simple, just a mix of shaving cream and cornstarch, so I agreed. But we did take it outside. That was a good decision because the kids basically dumped it all over when I had my back turned.

Watching the boys play together is often waiting for a fight to explode. The youngest two get along really well, but the older two do not. They are constantly mad at each other for little incursions. I have to play referee and break up a lot of fights. But when they do get along, it is joyful to seem them look after each other and care about each other. They are actually really good friends, even if we can’t get through a day without some sort of fight!