Dave’s sister and her six kids came to stay with us for a little while at the beginning of the summer.
To say the kids were excited about that would be a serious understatement. They adore these guys.
(Max about died when he realized it happened to coincide with his volleyball trip. He missed most of it and we were all pretty sad about that little fact.)
When you have visitors come to the desert in the summer, pretty much all you can do is swim.
…and swim.
…and swim
Luckily we have some neighbors and friends with pretty wickedly awesome pools.) 
We spent one night with a whole bunch of other moms in the area here:
(with an awesome “living social” deal)
And we spent that night laughing ’til we cried at funny youtube videos (have you seen this one?) 
The slide on the left behind them is my fav.
We rode around like this:
…and dragged them to see the cool construction of this.
(Our Gilbert Temple…more about that back here.)
We also dragged them into our daily “crossfit workout summer routines.” They were good sports.
We had a “Pies & Ties” gathering for one cousin who is leaving on a mission THIS MONTH. We’re all so excited for him.
The moms got to go to lunch:
…and so did the adults (minus one couple who had a family reunion conflict).
Have I mentioned how much I love my in-laws?
Hi Shawni!
I loved those YouTube videos… Thanks for sharing! Here's the link to a video that my younger sister and I get a huge laugh out of: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udS-OcNtSWo
I always love being able to be a fly on the wall at your house through your blog/pictures… keep them coming! I'm not sure why I'm so fascinated by you guys, but I am! 🙂
Your paralyzed friend,
Heather
Hello, my name is Rachael and I found your blog close to a month or so ago. May I just say that even though I'm seventeen, you have encouraged and inspired me to continue walking in the ways of God that I might one day have as happy and big as a family you have right now. Thank you so much!I pray God continues blessing your family and yourself.
Love,
Rachael
hahah, love it… wow, i need a friend with a pool like that too! and what cute bathing suits for the girls.. where are they from?
happy summer!
If you haven't already, you and your family have to watch kid history on youtube. There are 9 episodes and they will make you laugh until you cry!
Sorry, I meant to add that episodes 6 and 9 are the funniest…:)
Oh wow, I am sick to my stomach that I was naive enough for the bad connotation in that youtube video to even cross my mind. And I feel awful that someone would think that I put that on on purpose and would laugh about it, especially if you read this blog regularly. PLEASE do not read this blog if what you have read up to this point makes you think I would honestly take lightly something like that. I would think anyone who reads regularly would know I would be completely mortified when I realized what I posted (which I am, I don't think I'll be able to think about anything else today) but I guess I'm wrong. I apologize for being so naive. Please do not come here again if you think this is a place I would knowingly make light of something so very cutting and serious.
Dear Mrs. Pothier,
I find your blog,lifestyle and outlook refreshing and often inspirational. I believe you are uttery without artifice or bigotry. I've often thought if your family would approach a production company and hatch a reality show it would be the best advertisement for your church since Merlin Olson or Donny and Marie were on TV. Especially if you moved to China. I'm sure you'd do wonderful and admirable things with the money.
But yes, it is beyond my ken that any intelligent, compassionate and benevolent adult in the year 2012 could literally have the N-word spelled out for them and not immediately recoil from the slur, let alone post it as humor for the world to laugh at.
I'm grateful you apologized. I'll continue to enjoy and take inspiration from your blog. Thank you for all of the effort you put into creating it.
Sincerely Yours,
David Distelhorst