4th of July

This 4th was a little different.  Only Margaret and Amy came out, so it was more lax and low key than when we're scheduling a few different families.  Maisy was on a fingernail kick, so I painted all the fingernails in the polish that Marg found.  We played games like we always do and had soda, fireworks and grandpa's ice cream.  A lot of the nieces and nephews are older teens now and many of them have been helping with the fireworks for years now.  One of the aerial fireworks didn't get secured the right way, tipped over and started shooting at people.  Millie got a welt/burn and Jer felt really bad about it.  He always feels more guilty for accidents, and that's what it was. I terrified Ada, but she was okay in the end.  Eli introduced the kids to his homemade version of Monopoly.... it's called Kirbopoly and the kids LOVE it.  Sam even came home and is making his own version.

We did see Alan and Rachelle's family for a minute.  Riley was put into the new Phillipino mission, Tanner was called to be a missionary in the Melbourne, Austrailia mission.  Britany came with her cute little boy and it's super cute to watch Alan follow him around and take pictures and interact with him.  

The biggest difference is that the new swimming pool needs to get put up.  A lot of people have put in so many hours to get it right.  Especially Jim and Marg.  I've seen everyone pitch in though.  Amy, Jonathan, Joe, Jer, Ada, Sam, Mariah, me, etc.... Even after a week of stuff, there's still more to go.  Marg says that they might have it up before this Saturday.

Jonathan, Millie, Cyrus, Seth, Eli, Ellie, Maisy, Ada and Evelyn

I had told all the kids to get their shoes and thought they did.... I didn't notice until later that Seth had not.  It's a good thing nothing happened to him......

These two were hilarious during the fireworks.  They sat on the end and if it was ever too intense, they would both move their chairs back behind the tree and come back when it was calmer for them.

I mostly got to be part of the footings, cement work, etc....

Friends and Summer shenanigans

Sam has gotten into teaching all our neighbor boys long and difficult games.  It reminds me of my brother Seth.  So far they've enjoyed DnD, Arkham horror, Kirbopoly, Harry Potter, etc....

The kids have been reading their heads off too. I haven't had to urge them to read, but Seth still doesn't want to.  He likes when Ada writes letters in his notebook to trace, but anything with me and he rebels.

Appropriate

I inherited my Grandma Wilcox's quilting frame.  I hadn't used it until this week.  I think it's very appropriate that the first time I use it is to help a friend whose son was getting his Eagle.  Grandma would very much love the fact that it was for scouting and for a neighborhood friend. 

shenanigans

Ellie, Walter, Seth

Seth, Cyrus, Eli, Evelyn, Sam, Ellie

"Cooking meat"

This is how we walk the dog mom..... 

front porch

Yay!  All that's left is for us to put in the sprinkler system, take down the supports, wrap the beams and replace the roof.  One 'step' at a time.

Tarkington cousins

Margaret invited us to go roller skating with them.  It was so fun to watch cousins together.

Bear Lake

We finally made it up to Bear Lake for the year.  It was a challenge.  We had to finish the porch before we could leave.  They told us they'd finish pouring the porch in 2 days and it took 4, but it looks great.  We got to spend time with Sharon, Janelle, Tiff, Landon, Renee, Eric... it was great.

Saturday night, we left the kids with Landon and Katie in charge and went to Garden City for dinner.  We celebrated 14 years of being married.  He's my perfect match and we've had a good 14 years together.

Butterfly Biosphere

So, we're trying to use our Thanksgiving Point pass as much as we can before it expires.  My friend, Sabrina, invited us to go to the Butterfly Biosphere with them.  It was fun.  We'd never done it before.  You get to hold the butterflies and Sam was so determined to pick it up on his own. Ada loved following her favorite ones around, Evelyn liked holding any that would land on her and Seth carried around a butterfly identifying chart and a magnifying glass.  It was so cute... he didn't want to touch them, but he got as close to them as possible.

Emma

Logan

Zoe