Ok, so much for that resolution to post more frequently! :) Life has a way of getting away from me, and I rarely think to update our blog, but I've been catching up with some different friends' blogs lately, and I'm feeling more motivated to post (at least for today).
This summer has been good. We had an amazing family vacation with Meghan's family in May--we went to Florida to stay in a nice vacation house and spent a week at Disney World. So hot, but so fun! Although, Skyler, Meghan, and Abby didn't spend as much time at Disney World as the rest of the Reneer family; if you ask most of them, they'll tell you they got a little "Disney World-ed out." It was sort of a marathon, but it was a great experience, and we hope we'll get to go back someday. Thanks, Mom and Dad!
We also got to spend a fun and memorable few days with Skyler's family in Fort Collins, CO. We had the annual Christensen family reunion, which was supposed to be mostly a camping trip on a lake. However, since it
poured rain that first night and everyone was camping literally right at the lake's edge, and the lake was rapidly rising and tents flooded and kids were wet and parents were cranky, well, everyone decided to ditch the campsite and take shelter at Brent and Zora's house. Lucky for us, we (Skyler and Meghan) planned on arriving late that first night, but the weather was so yucky that we ended up staying by ourselves at the house, instead of in a flooded tent. Thanks, family, for pitching our tent for us even though we didn't end up using it! :) And thanks, Mom and Dad, for letting all of us crash at your place (I think we had about 23 people there total for a bit--big crowd!)! The rest of the trip was lots of fun though, getting to hang out with brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, parents, and Grandpa Christensen. It's a fun group, and we had lots of great camping food, adapted for cooking indoors. :)
Meghan was feeling pretty bummed after that trip was over, because we didn't have any other big plans for the summer and she was seeing herself sitting at home all day with Abby while Skyler took a summer class and worked. Ah, but life doesn't always turn out the way you expect, and in this case that was mostly a good thing. Skyler
is taking a summer class, but he's not working for now (that might change really soon), so he's been home a lot, which is wonderful. And then, Noel, Meghan's 11-year-old sister, came out to stay with us for the summer! Yay! I've loved having the company, and so has Abby. Mom gets boring after a while, but Aunt Noel is great fun!
I just have to share a couple cute pictures of Abby from earlier this summer. She and Meghan have been taking walks/hikes up the Provo canyon on a fairly regular basis, and we usually get a little farther each time. We discovered last time we went that pretty far up the trail, there's a delightfully cold natural spring that's been made into a continually running drinking fountain. It's tricky learning how to get a drink from it without getting a faceful of water, but Abby was determined. Here's the before, as she's tentatively leaning in for a drink:
And here's the after, as she assesses the results of her approach:
Meghan's good friend, Angie Self, took the pictures while Meghan held Abby over the spring, and we were both laughing so hard we were crying as we watched Abby do this a few times. She was a thirsty girl and wasn't about to give up easily! In fact, she was very unhappy with Meghan when it was time to head back down the trail. The girl's determined!
Another bit of news, our Chevy Malibu is currently out of commission--Meghan got in an accident on I-15 trying to take Noel and Abby to the zoo. :( This was back on June 25th. We were actually very blessed things went as they did. Meghan was driving in the far left lane next to a cement barrier, and ahead of her in the far right was a tow truck, towing an SUV. The back of the tow truck started fishtailing and then lost a few big tires and big metal rods off the back of the bed, which flew across the highway and landed in our lane. Meghan was able to avoid the tires without leaving her lane, but one of the metal rods was laying across the lane, so she hit the brakes hard to avoid running over it and blowing a tire. She didn't hit it, but she got rear-ended by the car behind her, and he got rear-ended. No one was hurt besides the last guy who got burned by his airbag, no other traffic got involved miraculously, and nobody lost control of their car. We are SO grateful that everyone, especially Abby and Noel, are alive and unhurt. The Lord was definitely watching out for all of us. I was a little shaky immediately after the accident, but not really scared. I actually started realizing a day or two afterward how easily things could have gone differently, and I've become more and more grateful that it went as it did. My car may still be sitting in the driveway, unfixed, but I can deal with that. :) Plus, it's been a good opportunity to learn to drive stick, as now I'm just left with Skyler's car, which is a manual. I've felt like a teenager all over again as I've stuttered and stalled out all over town. :) But, I'm actually pretty decent at this point. Yay, for independence!
Well, for now, that's a wrap! I'll probably be back to post in a year! ;)
