July 2026 - Family Reunions & Alexa the Driver

We had a great time at Bear Lake over the 4th for our Swingle Family Reunion.  We went up Thursday night, spent Friday at the lake, Saturday playing games at our Airbnb, and then headed home on Sunday. 

One of the highlights was that we did skits about American history and our family acted out the Boston Tea Party.  Alexa was the narrator and then half of our family--Tad, Dad, and Liam--had Boston accents and the other half--Tyler, Mom, Audrey, and Nathan--had British accents.  We watched YouTube shorts to help us learn the accents and it was absolutely hilarious.  I wish we got it on video.  Months later the kids still randomly quote lines from the script that we made up with their silly accents, like "Cheerio, top of the morning!"; "Who goes there? Why you carryin' axes and walkin' toward the ships?"; and "Get out of here, we've had enough of your high taxes!" Tad spent a lot of time making our giant cardboard ship, which we brought all the way with us to Idaho.  

Right after the reunion Alexa took her written test to get her Learners Permit.  It was actually on Grandpa Sweeny's birthday.  She is officially a driver!  We celebrated by making her drive us to Swig to get drinks and cookies.  

She was also voted by the players on her comp softball team as their new Team Captain.  It was a big surprise because most of them have played together for a few years and this is her first year on the team, but she has a great attitude, works hard, and shows up.  We're very proud of her for setting such a good example and encouraging the other team members to do their best.  

We made the trek out to Indiana for a family reunion the last week of July.  Grandma and Grandpa were waiting for us when we pulled in with jars to catch fire flies and s'mores / banana boats.  

Uncle Adam went all out with his 3D printed toys at the reunion.  They were amazing!  He even made meccha chameleons for everyone to decorate and hide throughout the house.  We played lots of great games, swam in the pool / hot tub a lot, attempted to play volleyball with a giant inflatable ball, and had a wonderful time with family and cousins.  Alexa was bummed that Carra couldn't come and that Joy was only able to come up for one night.  Dad stayed in Indiana for another week after the reunion for his men's retreat.  

Alexa, Anne, Karen, and I did pub trivia after the reunion and it was so much fun!  Alexa carried us with her pop culture knowledge.  

Other fun happenings this month:

Kyle and I went to a Lord of the Rings candlelight quartet.  The music was really good.  They shared that the composer, Howard Shore, wrote 10 hours of music for the trilogy (!!).  

Audrey wanted to go to the library and then get "a pink donut!" for our date this month.  We got some books and read them while we shared a donut.  

Audrey drew a picture of Tad :) 

And then a picture of herself :)

Swingle Reunion pie eating contest: https://youtu.be/FtInPkZYaE0?si=aFpMTqh2760XEmHr

Funny Quotes and Stories:
Audrey calls Indiana “Anna” so she says things like "let's go to Anna!" or "I love Anna"

Tyler: Grandma, can you turn those yellow lights off in the basement?
Grandma: Umm, that’s the sun. So no. 

Audrey got soo excited when saw corn fields in Indiana. She would yell "Corn! Corn!" at the top of her lungs.  Especially when it was on both sides of the road--she was beside herself.