I'M BACK!!!!

Well we have had an extremely eventful summer, to say the least, and just last week I realized that it's August already and summer is nearly over. I've been a very neglectful blogger (you'll understand why) and need to catch you all up on our last couple of months.
June - beginning of June we decide to move out of our condo and in with Ric's parents to make selling easier. We had an understanding with an acquaintance of Ric's that he was ready to have his daughter move out of a house he owned and he wanted us in there. A few days later a friend calls with someone she wanted to have look at our place. With the condo not "show ready", but clean [mostly], a few days after that he looked at it and wanted it. Sell our place, check! Whew, that was easy!
June 27-30 - I spend with the young women up at Girls Camp. Waaay fun, but came home exhausted and had only a few days to pack everything up and get out of our condo.
July 4 - Ric's 31st birthday.
July 5 - Move out of the condo and into Ric's parents' house. They graciously scoot over and rearrange and give us 2 bedrooms. Number of people in the house goes from 4 to 9.
July 7 - Ric's sister, her husband, and 4 children arrive from CO to spend the next 3 weeks with the family. Also at Mom and Dad's. Number of people in the house goes from 9 to 15. Though, her husband had to leave after a few days to go back and work :(.
July 8 - We take family pictures because this is the first time in 7 years that we've all been in the same place long enough to get one. (Done by a friend in our old ward, will post some another time - fabulous job!) Just before leaving, Ric manages to catch the guy we're planning to rent from on the phone and finds out the guy isn't ready to kick his daughter out and has no timeframe on that for us. Ric and the guy decide we need to move on and get things settled because Stratton needs to get registered for kindergarten. I throw a minor fit with only a few tears (we have pictures in just minutes, after all). This guy was going to give us an amazing deal on renting a 4 bedroom home with a fenced back yard and all - it was going to cost the same as our condo. We sold our condo based on what he'd been telling Ric for the last 6 months!
The next 2 weeks were blissfully spent playing with cousins and having a grand old time: late nights playing games around the kitchen table, long hot afternoons with the kids playing in the sprinklers and jumping on the trampoline, a trip up to Ogden to the Treehouse Museum (awesome!), gourmet meals made for 20 or more Rogers' at a time, dollar theater, McDonald's, morning walks, virgin margaritas on the back porch swing, and just generally savoring each other's company. We LOVE it when Candace and the kids come! :)
We left the ongoing party to spend the 24th of July down at my grandparents' cabin in southern Utah, near Bryce canyon, with my family. The cabin is a nearly pristine paradise (except for the occasional cowpie) on 100 acres, nestled in a canyon with forest service property on 3 sides, and a rancher down the road at the mouth of the canyon. We enjoy the seclusion and the chance to just spend time in nature and with family. My kids were in heaven: dirt and rocks as far as the eye can see, and an abundance of horny toads to catch this year (actually a horned lizard, but we've been catching them every year since I was a little kid going there and have always been a highlight to little ones).
We almost didn't make it out on Tuesday because of the rain not being conducive to a van full, driving down dirt roads. But we made it home uneventfully, in time for me to wash a couple of loads of laundry, make a quick run to Walmart to restock my driving snacks, and catch a few hours sleep before the kids, my mother-in-law and I caravaned out to CO with Candace to stay for the rest of the week. We got to stay in their beautiful new house, play at their cool neighborhood park, help with the weeding, and spend more time with cousins! I was introduced to "Everybody Loves Raymond" and "The Marriage Ref" and Magnum bars (gourmet Belgian chocolate covered ice cream...did I ever really live before partaking?!).
Mom and I drove back with the kids late Saturday night, arriving in SLC about 3:30 am. The next morning we got up and went up to church and a baby blessing and family party for my side in Bountiful.
The next day my sister, Karina, and her husband, Devin, and baby, Becca, arrived in SLC. The trip for Karina and Becca was already planned, but altered to include Devin because his father had unexpectedly passed away in a car accident while I was in CO. Oh Devin! How my heart goes out to him and his sweet family! Devin's dad's funeral was the following Thursday and although we were grateful to be able to have Devin home here with Karina and Becca that week, to say the circumstances were tragic just doesn't seem to do it justice.
But Devin and his family are amazing! They came over to my parents' for dinner and games one night and we loved being able to spend time with their fun family. They all did a beautiful job at the funeral and our thoughts and prayers are ever with them right now.
Karina and Becca stayed another week after Devin and the rest of his family had to leave (most to TX). We spent all last week with them - sleepovers up at my parents' house, luncheon with aunts and cousins, watching "Pride and Prejudice" (the short version) while doing self-pedicures, morning walks, nighttime partying... can you tell we just never get enough family time!? And we had to give little Becca all the loves and kisses that we possibly could to last her until we get to see her at Christmas - but by then she'll be nearly a year old!
Karina and Becca left to head back to TX on Friday, Saturday and Sunday we had a farewell with the accompanying partying for one of our favorites, Brock. He really did a great job on his talk and we're so excited for him to go on a mission for the church. He joined the church about a year and a half ago and it has been so neat to watch his testimony of Jesus Christ grow and see how much he has changed and matured. We've watched him prepare to go on a mission and know that his excitement over the things he's learned will help him be able to share the gospel. Yay Brock!
And now we've got to hurry and go change into swimsuits because we're off again! Headed out with Ric's family to take Dad's boat to the lake for some water fun!
Sorry for the overly long post, but now you're up to date on the crazy Rogers family life! Love to you all!! :)