Graduation, Camping and a Nekked Butt!!!

Summer posts are fun. My parents came to visit I got ZERO photos for some reason. It was a good visit as Laura graduated from school. She is amazing and wonderful.

I am so proud of her and all she has accomplished. She has worked so hard to make it through the last year of high school. A couple of the classes were particularly difficult, she spent many nights in tears working on her homework and studying so hard. through a lot of prayer and study she made it through. Its a hard thing, high school. Not to mention she has been diagnosed with some medical issues that have exacerbated the difficulty to learn as she gets very tired and spends a fair amount of time in bed trying to get herself in a good position to study. She has really worked hard to work with the issues that have come up. Senior year was more difficult then expected, but she did it. I am so proud of her. There is something to be said about perseverance and strength that comes from inside when you are suffering. She will have a long life of working with this particular illness, of which i am not at liberty to discuss with out her permission. Just know that she amazes me. She plans to go on a mission for our church after she turns 19 next March.

Summer also brings us to our family camping trip. Skyler was not able to come with us and Makayla had to work so we brought Brenda and Axel with us as well.

Jill looking majestic as usual.

This plan was growing in the tree the purple with the green was so beautiful.

The flower in the tree. lovely.

we camped on a reservoir this year and it was so lovely. Panorama photos do not do it justice. This is what i saw. i was standing by the water and took the photo. Its so beautiful.

the first night we were there we had a fire. It was absolutely glorious. I so needed the time to sleep as well. I must have slept 10 hours the first night. Then woke up for a bit and slept some more. It was definitely a wind down for me. Shane and I spent so much time just resting and relaxing. 

Axel was adorable and wonderful. It was nice to have him with us. 

There is nothing better than having grandpappy feed you when you are camping. When Axel was really fussy Shane would take over. Axel just wanted his daddy...so Shane stepped in. that is a good man. 

Shane and the boys decided to take Axel and go look for squirrels. Axels first hunting trip!!! It has been documented. Yes that is Shane with a baby carrier on!!!

then we found a frog and Axel was so happy! The reservoir was full of pollywogs and Axel had so much fun poking at them. 

we saw a bear track on our walk. Shane and i had been walking down a road, then turned around to walk back and came across this...um scary....but i always feel safe with Shane.

 we found this sweet spot to go fishing. Shane didnt catch anything, we didnt have a lot of time to be there but look at how beautiful it is. the following are some photos i took of him fishing.

This is a filter on my phone, i love how this turned out. I am so touched by his love for me. After our difficult year we are celebrating newness of love and appreciation for each other. 

This is the actual photo, the colors are amazing and there is my hubby. The man who is so happy with a fishing pole in the mountains. My heart was so happy and full to just watch him find joy. He finds the same in me often.

This is the view down the opposite of where Shane is standing. It was so peaceful. It had rained and there was rain on all the grass, this photo does not do it justice. The smells were incomprehensible, fresh, new, aromas of the earth, then i look and there is my husband. He has taught me to see the beauty of nature, the joy of being together. I sure love him for that. 

What would this post be like if there were no nekked butt photos from our sweet boy. He was pulling on momma cause he wanted to be picked up but he enjoyed being nekked.....