August

August always arrives so quickly and reminds us that summer really doesn't last forever. Suddenly we are trying to cram in activities that we thought we had plenty of time for and now we realize we just don't have enough time.

Kendall attended his second year of band camp the first week of August. This time he had a much better experience. It was still exhausting and lots of hard work, but knowing a lot of the other band members and having gone through it all before made it a lot more enjoyable. This year he was able to really be himself and participate more in the fun stuff like Skit Night where he had people cracking up with his performances (they loved his rap!). 

The second week in August was the one we had all been waiting for. We were able to travel down to Nauvoo, Illinois for our annual Potter Family Reunion. The Bramhall's were in charge this time and they chose the location. We were able to pool our resources to rent the Hyrum Smith farmhouse. Between several bedrooms, pullout couches and a bunk room we had plenty of room for A LOT of people. We had mom and dad, our family of 6 (we sure miss Taylor!), the Bramhall's family of 7, Jonathan, Susannah and her two kids, Melissa and her 4 kids made the trek up to join us (it was so awesome to see them again and have our kids get to know their cousins from Texas!), Timothy, David, and Samuel. We missed Andrew and his family and Nathan who had to work that week.

Nauvoo is so beautiful and even though we had a few days to spend there, we still had to pick and choose what we wanted to do because there is just so much. We took a wagon ride around the outskirts of the city, toured the old historical buildings and shops and learned a ton, we saw a musical called "Old Nauvoo" that was fantastic, spent time learning about pioneer activities at the Family Life Center and then got to dress up in pioneer outfits at Pioneer Pastimes where the kids participated in old fashioned games and activities including some stilt racing, some of us did a session at the temple followed by a sealing session which was awesome, we visited neighboring Carthage where we toured the Carthage Jail and listened to an emotional retelling of the last moments of the Prophet Joseph Smith's life before being martyred by the mob in the very room where it took all took place, and we were able to go on a handcart trek that was way more challenging than we had imagined but that gave us a small taste of what that might have been like for those pioneers. When we weren't off doing all of that, we found time to visit and relax and play back at the house. The kids had fun in the hot tub room and concocted a fun video that involved all the cousins and which they posted to YouTube to share with each other. It was just such a fantastic trip.

 

After Nauvoo, most of us traveled up to Chicago (a few skipped that part and went the rest of the way to Michigan). The girls visited the American Girl store for a fun few hours of exploring and a yummy dinner while the boys went to eat and then visited the Lego Store next door. It was a second Chicago trip to AG for the older girls who had fun but for the younger girls going for the first time it was magical and they had a ball. I was glad that Melissa was able to join us for this part of the trip too. Jenna is such a sweetie and it was so much fun to see the quick friendship that developed between her  Kaya, Rebecca and Lydia on this trip.

 Spencer was in Lego heaven with his fellow Lego-loving cousins!

 After Chicago, we had to say goodbye to the Chambers so they could get back for their kids football and cheerleader activities. I hope we don't have to wait as long to see them again!

The rest of the family journeyed to Michigan for a few more days of visiting and playing at our regular favorites. We visited the Marshall Fountain, Ketchum Park, Victory Park, Swain's Lake, Kids n Stuff museum, the nature center, and a fun kids concert at the band shell.

                                       

Meanwhile, Taylor got to have the amazing experience of hearing Elder Bednar speak to the missionaries in his area. He was able to meet him and have a great conversation with him so that was a big highlight of his mission so far!

After all the fun and adventure, we wound up the month with Kalen heading back to work at Albion College and me starting up babysitting again and getting the kids all ready for the new school year. That was a fast summer!