I didn't fall off the face of the earth

I know you're all shocked to hear from me... it's been awhile and I don't even know why. I've been burned out or heat exhausted or really busy or just plain lazy. I'm not sure which or maybe it's all.
My two elementary kids are done with school for the Summer as of last Friday. It didn't take long for the fighting to begin with the older brothers who have been co-existing pretty peacefully since they got out of school 6 weeks ago. But Colby and Kason just left for scout camp until Saturday, so a brief reprieve for mom.
I don't remember being as bored as my 10 year-old daughter seems to be all the time, maybe Mom can remember. It's a real challenge to keep her content. Other than all that, Summer is going by quickly...too quickly. Before we know it we'll be school shopping, then starting school, then Halloween is right around the corner after that, then Christmas again. What is it with time going so fast the older you get? Which brings me to my Summer memories...

I remember Summer going S L O W . It seemed to go on forever. I started working with Trisha Morris each Summer at the Sugar Shack when I was 12, so I have lots of memories of that place, (frosting, packaging and labeling donuts, cookies and brownies; waiting on customers (we always loved it when a cute boy came in); and eating pretty much whatever I wanted - the buttermilk squares were so yummy!) I remember the softball games in the evenings at the stake ball park, and walking around talking to friends. It seemed like we had several get-togethers each Summer with Grandma and the Von Hancocks at Red Knolls, the mountain, or even someone's house and there was often the yummiest homemade ice cream. I remember the thunder storms, they always made the electricity go out, but it was like an adventure with candles and counting the seconds between thunder and lightening to figure out how far the storm was. Then the puddles the rain would bring seemed to always have frogs in the them. Jace and Darvil would catch tons.
I have one memory one Summer or maybe it was early fall going with us and Grandma up to Angle's Apple Orchard and picking the biggest, sweetest, best-smelling apples that Mom and Grandma then made into the best pies...
Of course, like Becky I remember the camping on the mountain, picking raspberries, and watching game shows on tv. That was one of our favorite pasttimes. We took turns spending the night with Grandma, and if we were lucky we got to eat a tv dinner.
Every Summer we took a wood-cutting trip to the mountain, ate lunch and made a day out of it, coming back with a huge truck-load of wood.
The highlight was if JoAn got to come spend a week at our house or me at her house. We made play houses and seemed to stay entertained continuously.
The church cabin was the ultimate. I wish every kid could grow up spending a week with their cousins somewhere like that.

I could go on and on with memories, but overall, they were happy carefree days and that's the way it should be.