July

Summertime has been pretty fantastic.  Our summer bucket list is still very long and summer is flying by.  Highlights from July include:

One of husband mission companions and close friends came to visit.  The girls adore him so they smothered him with attention.  We feasted on homemade chile rellenos and a variety of treats.  We stayed up playing with legos and watching movies before having a sleepover.

We are still working on the yard and it’s starting to look pretty fantastic.  The grass has taken root and while still filling in, the kids can finally run on it.  But best of all, we put the trampoline in.  We had some friends over for a bbq while we set it up and the kids went crazy.  They jumped on it everyday since.  Even the flower beds are starting to look presentatble.  We are getting them filled and shaped.  We probably won’t put flowers in this year but in the meantime, the yard look great.

We went to the annual reunion with my dad’s side of the family.  We met at my aunt’s house for a pool party and bbq.  The kids were thrilled to see their cousins and loved playing in the water.  Husband jumped in with them and introduced them to chicken fights.  Then the challenge began, stacking kids as high as we could.  Husband managed to get both L and A on top of his shoulders and then got THREE of my cousins boys on his shoulders.

That same night, we went to the drive in theatre (A’s favorite place).  The line was ridiculous, far longer than I’ve ever seen it but we still managed to get good spots.  We were joined by my brother and two of my cousins and each of their families.  We saw the minions movie (missed half of it trying to get everyone parked and settled) and then watched the new Disney: Inside Out, which was really cute.

I’ve got a new calling at church: teaching the five year olds.  I’m trying hard to be excited about it but I’ve spent 8 of our 10 years married in junior primary (mostly nursery and sunbeams), and especially now that I have kids that age, I’d really like to attend Relief Society or even work with Young Women.  But at least I get to have A in my class.  (Ironically, husband is also in primary now and has E’s class.)

The girls attended another summer day camp.  This time was theme was cooking and they had such a blast.  At the end of afternoon, the got to sell all their treats to their parents.  (my favorite was the smores pinwheels)

We’ve had a couple of Spanish movie parties where L gets to invite some of her dual immersion classmates over for pizza and a movie in Spanish in hopes that at least hearing it occasionally will help them retain some of their vocabulary.

We had another playdate with cousins.  They stayed here while their parents worked some overlapping shifts again and we had lots of fun.  We spent plenty of time at the park, had picnics and destroyed the toy room repeatedly.

We are frequent patrons of the sno-shack and enjoying lounging on their patio devouring our sno-cones and searching out the gummy bear hiding at the bottom. (L’s favorite color is legoland, A’s is Barbie, E’s is blue raspberry)

E’s hand has recovered well from her mishap.  The skin is completely healed and the nail has begun growing.  It’s misshapen so far but may be able to correct itself with time.

All Stars has come and gone.  Husband has been the course director for this camp for the past two years.  It is a huge commitment for him, both on his time and his talents.  The district support all but fell apart this year so he was basically on his own.  And still managed to pull off a fantastic experience for his boys.  They spent the whole week camping, biking, climbing and more with all sorts of challenges and tasks.  The boys love it.  Husband has loved it as well but I think is grateful to be done.  He’s had a weekend every month since January plus this week long camp in July.  What an experience.

L continues on piano.  She’s less enthusiastic about it and no longer practices as regularly (or at least, no longer without argument).  She would much rather spend her time playing with her sister but she has loved all the new songs they’ve learned this summer.

We spent a week in swimming lessons.  We’ve spent a lot of time swimming this summer (and am especially grateful to a friend and neighbor that opens her pool as a neighborhood swim once a week).  L immediately gravitates to her friends.  A jumps in and out fearlessly, spending most of her time in the deep end.  And E usually plays poolside, scampering around and is often first to wear out.  For swim lessons, L and A are in a class together and quickly took to all the games and challenges their teacher gives.  A is fearless but tends to forget form when she’s tired or in a hurry.  L has improved dramatically and has really impressed me.  E is in a younger class and always the drama queen, takes a little more coaxing.  She hates to put her face in the water or swim without assistance.  But she also has slowly improved.

I ran Ragnar’s Northwest Passage (more later).

We celebrated Pioneer Day (more later).

My niece celebrated her 4^th birthday with an ice skating party.  My girls had never been ice skating before and were literally dancing with excitement.  We arrived first so we got some snacks while we waited for everyone else to arrive.  It took us awhile to get everyone properly fitted and eventually onto the ice.  The start was rough—there was not near enough adults skating for the number of very small children (all of which were skating for the first time).  But we slowly settled in and collected enough pushers (like a walker) for the kids to use as they got the hand of it.  I haven’t skated since college but managed enough to chase kids around.  E gave up quickly and went to go sit with the aunts and uncles who were just watching or holding babies.  But L and A loved it and made round after round, becoming increasingly more steady and brave as they went.  In fact, they were the last ones off the ice, coming in only because it was time for presents and dessert.

My little sister came to visit! Yayyyyy! I was so thrilled to get to see her and especially to have some one-on-one time with her.  We spent our first day together being rather lazy, just talking and catching up.  She shared her fantastic news—she’s getting married!  I haven’t met her fiancée yet but she showed us pictures and we got to talk a lot. 

My sister and I took the kids to the carnival (which was part of the fair days festivities).  It was our first year using the wristbands so the girls were thrilled to learn they had unlimited passes for the day.  They took turns choosing the rides and my sister and I followed them around talking.  Our mistake was letting them ride the Gravitron.  Even though A said she wanted to try, that was the ride that did her in.  Her stomach was upset and we left soon after with plans to come back that evening.

We went home for quiet time.  I slipped away to teach a class at the gym and then went to dinner at the girls latest favorite restaurant, which happens to be sushi.   (Which my sister loves too so I was eager to spoil her with as many favorites as we could.)  After dinner, my sister and I went to the house to lounge while husband took the kids back to the carnival.  A’s stomach never fully recovered though.  She tried a few more rides anyway and then was sick most of the night.  Poor kiddo.

The next day we made my sister’s favorite cookies—snickerdoodles and watched movies, having a quiet morning.  And then in the evening we met my parents for dinner at Chili’s.  She broke her exciting news to them and we talked through dinner.  Afterwards, we all went next door to the theatre to see a production of “The Little Mermaid”.  The girls did great!  They marveled at the theatre and the set and stage.  They loved the music and the characters.  One highlight was when Ursula began her villain song and E declared (loudly), “I’m going to go down there and tell Ursula she is not being nice!”  During intermission, we explored the theatre a little and danced outside to get their wiggles out.  They did well through the whole show and then were delighted that they got to meet the cast and take pictures with her favorite characters.

Lastly, we got to spend another long, lazy morning with my little sister.  Two of my adorable nieces and their mama arrived to play as well.  We had lunch at the local favorite for burgers and shakes and eventually she left with my parents to spend a night visiting my other siblings.  After she left, we had more fair days excitement.  L got to be in the fair days parade!  So we hurried to get her ready and dropped her off to the dance team’s parade float.  We settled into the spot we had staked out, enjoying the shade of our canopy and the city park right behind us.  Once the parade began, we had a great view but the kids didn’t stay with us—the raced back and forth to get close a better views or to collect the candy and popsicles that were being passed around.  We saw the dance studio’s float, L was beaming and dancing and so adorable.

And lastly that evening, Grandpa took L on a date to the rodeo.  She reported that she loved all the tricks and the bull riding.  She even got to participate in a little halftime event and got to keep her souvenir stick horse.