Summer Flies...Winter Walks

I borrowed my title from a Charlie Brown book that I have and I only partially agree with it. Yes summer flies, but I'm finding the older I get so does winter! Where does all of this time go?
This summer has flown by so fast! It seems like just last week I was packing up my apartment and coming home. Now I'm packing up my room and getting ready to fly back.
When I got home, I planned on being really social and out going, meeting new people here through my singles ward and institute. Well I never made it to the singles ward because something always kept me from going, whether it was a family vacation or one of my family members was speaking or teaching in my home ward. The peak of my social-ness was when Anna came and visited me =) Very few of my friends from home are still here and single. So pretty much all of my time this summer was spent playing (or working!) with my family. It's been a blast. Chris is getting ready for more auditions so I've helped him get his songs ready (seriously, it may be a beautiful morning, but if I hear someone sing about it one more time...); Elysse is learning to play Chess for school so I've already played probably 20 games with her and she actually won twice! I know, I'm a merciless sister, I should probably let her win more so she'll feel more confident about it, but then how would she really learn?! Dad and I have been to the ballgame, spent time together at Dancesport, and worked on my computer. With my mom, we've decorated my dad's office and it looks so much better than before it flooded, we've also sewn my latin dress and of course our favorite, played duets on the piano. My family just loves to play games and eat ice cream, so of course we've done alot of that too.
It has been a fabulous summer. I've learned so much and I've grown even closer to my family. I'm really glad that I've had this chance to be back with them because it will probably be my last time that I ever live at home. I am so grateful for them. I can definitely see why the church places such high importance on the family. The home is the MTC for life, the relationships we form there and the things we learn are what we take with us into the world.