June

June was an exciting month. As Tom noted, every single picture here for June is from our phones. My response: "with three kids, we can't bring a camera, too!" 

Tom participated in the annual bike-to-work Anchorage day. He bike commutes a few times a week anyway, but on bike-to-work day, he gets free food at different stations on the way. He also got to pose with this fish who was wearing a matching bike-to-work shirt. Adorable.

Tom and his dad did another fishing charter this year. This time they went for King Salmon. Tom caught one small King. (It was pretty slow fishing, of the twelve of us from our charter who went out on two different boats, I was the only one who caught. The after all that, once we cooked it, we all decided we like our Kenai river sockeyes better.)

The girls also got to see some fish and other animals at the new Cabela's while Grandpa was here.

Also in June, our friends invited us out to go kayaking at Goose Lake Park and the girls went swimming while we all took turns kayaking.

The girls discovered a field full of dandelions on the way to the neighborhood park and went exploring.

My mom came to visit and babysit while I drove up to Girl's Camp for a couple evenings. We went downtown after the kids went to bed one night and got dessert. We took this selfie around 11pm. 

Girl's camp this year was the first ever all-state Alaska girl's camp. I was in charge of all the transportation for getting 1000 girls from all over Alaska to the fairgrounds for the week-long camp. This involved a few hundred plane tickets and several dozen ferry tickets. Because Caleb was still so young, I was only able to go up to camp for a few evenings, but it was an amazing experience. We even got a shout-out at the general women's conference from Sister Marriott who was in attendance for the whole week!

On Father's Day, Tom proved he had this whole parenting thing figured out.

We took several bike rides this summer. Celia rode on the half-bike attached to my bike and Sabrina and Caleb were in the bike trailer. At one point, mid-ride, I managed to reach my phone back and snap a picture of Celia without looking. She looks angry, but it turned out pretty good. I always tell Tom it's like riding with a female Olaf on the way out. She's full of energy and talking non-stop. She's observing, asking questions, making up songs, etc. On the way home, she is still super happy, but pretty quiet. This picture was taken on the way back. Her mouth is closed. 

And here are Tom and the other kiddos on one of our trails from our house. We love how great the trails are here and love riding tons every summer.