Visitors we had this summer

 

See?  I came back.  Took me a few more days than I planned, but I am doing this…

So…when you live in one of the corners of the continental United States, you tend to not get very many visitors.  (When we lived in Utah, I think we had people in our guest room every 3 weeks.  Seriously.)  But this year we LUCKED out.  We had so many different people head our way and it was such a treat!

Visitors #1:  The Seeley family

My uncle Cade and his wife Stacy and kids were so nice to take a little detour on their way to Canada at the end of June.  (We impose on their hospitality quite a bit when we travel to Utah, so I was so happy to repay them.)

Unfortunately June weather in Spokane in crazy and we went from 80 and sunny to 50s and rainy in one day and then back to 80s.  We had to be creative and flexible as we rearranged our plans to match the weather.  See if you can guess which activities were Rainy Day and which were Sunny Day?

Local farm team baseball game:

Games--both families are big board-gamers:

Coeur d’alene’s famous restaurants (Hudsons for their yummy simple burgers and the huge Gooeys at Dockside for dessert):

 

The movie, Brave:

Riverfront park:

Thanks for taking a few days to visit the lovely….

 

Visitors #2: The Johnson Family

Ryan’s sister and brother-in-law drove all the way from Oklahoma to hang out with us!  We see those southwestern relatives so rarely that we think it’s such a treat to spend a few days with them.  Brooke and Spencer are so easy to talk to and so enthusiastic and positive.  It was fun to share our life with them for a few days.  The weather was unbeatable…Spokane in late July is truly the best place in the country.  We went on some runs and bike rides and did a lot of the same things we always do with visitors:

Hikes (a new loooong one):

Visits to the lakehouse on Hayden Lake:

Riverfront park (again!):

Swimming at Doug and Marcy’s:

I was teary when they drove away.  Anyone know of an optometry school in the Northwest where Spencer can teach?

 

Visitors #3:  The Greg Romney Family

This one is hilarious because Greg and Christy live in Texas.  Friday morning we get a call—“Hey what are you guys doing this weekend?”  We told him what our plans were, and he says “Well, we’ll be there tonight!”  Compete surprise and everyone was cheering.  Heather (Ryan’s sister) secured her family’s lake cabins and we all stayed together about 30 minutes away on a gorgeous lake for 4 days.  It was the most fun, little mini vacation.

It included LOTS of tubing, volleyball, Gabe and Seth’s birthday celebrations and so much fun cousin time:

Visitors #4:  Grandpa Mike and Grandma Genie

Gabe was ordained to the Melchezidek priesthood the weekend the Greg and Christy came and my dad and Genie were already planning a visit to be a part of it.  Luckily, our families are very interconnected after originating in the same ward and town many, many years ago and so no one felt awkward (I hope?) when Mike and Genie joined the Lake House Party. 

I’m so grateful that they came to participate in the special ordinance and that we had such a fun opportunity to play at Hayden while he was here. He was SO FUN about swimming and joining in the tubing.  My kids have a good Grandpa and I have a good Dad.

 

Visitors #5:  Grandma Dorrie and Bekah

We were so glad that they squeezed in a trip over Labor Day weekend.  The kids are heaven while they are here and they are always up for anything.  We conscripted them to be judges on our Amazing Race birthday party for Gabe and took them on our new favorite hike and they even ate at Golden Corral as part of Gabe’s birthday celebration.  My favorite part was temple baptisms for the first time with Gabe and with much of our extended family.

See?  See how much fun we had?  We were so lucky this summer!