June Part II - What we've been up to

We're into our typical July activities now. We're in Ashton, Idaho with Jared's family this weekend (kids rode in the parade yesterday and we had a fabulous firework show last night plus we've had, wonderful times floating the river, doing watersports at the reservoir, playing games, all the good stuff). This evening we take off for Bear Lake. The Eyre reunion is July 8-12 - everyone will be there for those days except Jonah and Aja's family since they're still in Europe - then whoever can stay around will stay until around July 24th. I captured our time in Ashton on Instagram (and blogged about very similar wonderful 4th of July weekends here and here). And I'll be Instagramming Bear Lake stuff.

But before moving on, I want to capture hightlights since my last "summer so far" post. So here's what I can recall off the top of my head. Photos on Instagram if you want to get some visuals (search sarenloosli).

• Twilight concerts: This summer, Ogden launched a series of really excellent concerts with big-name bands at the amphitheater downtown. We were able to go to 3 of the 4 concerts and they were so great! Wonderful atmosphere - families, singles, young and old, amazing talent. So fun to have some concert experiences with the kids - and we went with friends and saw so many friends there which made it extra nice.
• Football for Ashton: Ashton decided to join the Ogden High football team. He figured it all out himself, biked himself there, and signed himself up. He came home from each practice the first week describing all the grueling workouts they did - but he loves it! He's met some great kids that he'll be going to school with next year and seems to have suddenly started to embrace the mantra I've been suggesting all his life - "Hard is Good." He sold all these discount cards to raise almost all the money he needs to pay the team fees and has been getting himself to the school and back on his bike, even when I've told him I'm happy to drive him. I love seeing him take so much responsibility and really be excited about it! And he got quoted in the Salt Lake Tribune in an article about how Ogden High is doing some exciting new things to revitalize their struggling football program (you can see the article and some photos with Ashton in them here).
• Weber State Leadership Academy: Eliza had the opportunity to attend this wonderful week-long program at Weber State with her Junior Junior League group. They learned a ton from some top-notch instructors and had so much fun. Such an awesome group of girls.
• Loosli Kid Camp: For the 5th year in a row, the big kids put on a "Kid Camp" for all the little kids in our neighborhood and ward. This year, Ashton had football camp during the one week we could do it so he helped make the fliers and recruit attendees but Isaac and Eliza conducted all the activities. They did such a great job! They had 21 kids sign up and come and showed them a wonderful time - for three hours on three afternoons they did art, building, sports, science, music and water activities. I helped a bit with snack time and helped if there were kids that needed a little one-on-one attention (acting up or feeling sad or not wanting to do the activity at hand), but Isaac and Eliza really took the lead, coming up with all the activities and executing things so well. Our house was pretty busy and noisy and messy with so many cute little kids around but everyone was pleased with the outcome and the kids made some good money while providing a great service for quite a few families.
• Deborah's wedding: One of my dear friends and companions from my mission got married in the SL Temple. It was SO wonderful to see her so totally happy. She's had a really hard few years after a difficult divorce, mothering her five children in the midst of some hard stuff. Then she found this wonderful guy and the wedding was deep and beautiful in a whole new way. Loved seeing a bunch of missionaries from my mission at the wedding and reception - especially meaningful after getting back from our trip to Bulgaria recently.
• Mount Ogden Hike: It's been on our bucket list for years to climb Mount Ogden so when we had a free Saturday a couple weeks ago, we decided to go for it. It was a hot day and we got a late start but we packed up lots of water and snacks and headed out. We made it to the 1/2 way point, wetting the boys' shirts in streams and splashing ourselves to stay cool. The second half was going strong until the trail got fainter and fainter until it disappeared. But GPS showed the trail up on the ridge above us and we figured we'd just missed a turn off. So we bush-wacked up a steep slope through the underbrush to try to meet up with the trail and continue on. After over an hour of serious climbing through brambles and shrubs (wishing we had a machete...), we made it to the ridge where the trail was supposed to be according to the map. But it wasn't there. We searched the area. No luck. We climbed higher to see if we could see trails from up there. No trails to be seen anywhere. We were pretty
• Will and Lori's wedding: Jared's oldest sister Kathryn's son Will got married in the SLC Temple and we had so much fun being with family and being part of the rehearsal dinner with great toasts, lovely wedding ceremony and picturesque and fun reception. We threw in an impromptu game night after the rehearsal dinner and everyone danced up a storm at the reception. Great, great event.
• Trek for Ashton and Isaac: Our stake pioneer trek for the youth ages 14-18 at Martin's Cove was week before last. The boys had such a great experience learning about their ancestors and their faith while building their own understanding of the gospel and getting to know a lot of great youth and adults in our stake. 
• Mountain biking: The three oldest kids have been practicing with their mountain biking team every week plus Jared has been taking them on quite a few rides to improve their skills and endurance. Ashton and Isaac did their first real race at Snow Basis last week and placed 5th and 6th in the adult beginner category - so they're off to a good start. The mountain biking team is such a great group of people - most of the team members and coaches came to see Ashton and Isaac start the race and wish then well even though Ashton and Isaac were the only ones doing that race. Oliver and Silas raced as well (in the same division) and their little bikes and lack of opportunity to practice much before hand made for a pretty tough ride for them but they finished and we were so proud of them!
• We sent Eliza off to DC:  Jared's sister Michelle lives in Washington DC and has invited all the Loosli grandkids who are close to 12 years old to join here there for a week of learning and fun and bonding around the 4th of July. Ashton got to go with the grandkids closest to his age a few years back. Isaac got to go two years ago. And this summer it was Eliza's turn! She was SO excited to go with her cousins Abbie and Annika and they have been having the time of their lives with super-fun Aunt Michelle who's taken them to Jamestown, Williamsburg, Smithsonian museums, Mount Vernon, the beach, Busch Gardens, you name it! Plus they got to see the fireworks on the Mall last night. SO grateful for Michelle and this awesome tradition she started that has provided such a great experience for all the grandkids. Out of 29 grandkids, after this group gets done, there will just be 5 left to go on their big DC trip! 
• Launch of Joy School 2.0: After TEN YEARS of working on revising the Joy School lesson plans off and on, I've spent a lot of time over this past year working with my sister in law, Aja, to finally completely overhaul and update this great program. We launched the program last week and I'm so excited to share this excellent co-op preschool program with a whole new generation! Here's the info on the program.