The kiddos have spent a lot of time at my parents' house this week. They have been helping shell peas from the garden. They usually ride their bikes over there and then I go by and get them when they need to come home. Sometimes they find fun stuff to try on, like a too-small lion costume.
Sarah spent last week at FSY. She went to Snow College with her friend Nora. Nora used to live in the townhomes by us in Spanish Fork. Then she moved to Salem and then a year later we moved to Mapleton. So they're 20 minutes apart but still good of friends as ever. Fun crazy fact: they didn't stay in the dorms like I thought. The FSY kids were housed in Snow Garden apartments which is where I lived. I lived in B4 and they were a floor above in apartment B5. I knew it as soon as Nora's mom sent this picture. I recognized the beds right away.
She had a fantastic time and loved every second of every day. She wants to go back and thinks 2 years is too long to wait. She wants to be a counselor when she gets home from her mission so that means FSY at 15, FSY at 17, mission at 19, FSY counselor at 21.
While Sarah was gone we had swimming lessons every day. James is so funny to watch. He doesn't pay the greatest attention but he has fun and tries hard sometimes.
He has no qualms about jumping off the diving board. He's working on what to do when he pops back up. "Lean your head back and do your peanut butter jelly arms and wiggle wiggle to the side." He's also working on the breathing under water. "Blow bubbles, roll your head and take a breath and blow bubbles again."
Erica is working on the elementary backstroke. She should be able to do that stroke the entire length of the pool next year.
It feels like summer has finally arrived once we are in Miss Debbie's backyard.
Strawberries have continued to defy inflation and priced at $4 a case. That's fifty cents per pound. We eat them at every meal. Sometimes we find some weird ones.
Sarah came home from FSY! She was tired and cranky so we made her take a nap and then she made us dessert when she woke up.
James had his last t-ball game of the season. He loved it and was such a good sport and tired hard and compared to the other kids totally dominated the rules. At the 8th and final game the coach was still telling some kids to run after they hit the ball.
We've been lucky with not so hot weather until this last game. It was over 90 degrees and James was feeling it.
Go Angels!
His face is all dirty but not from sliding or running, just playing in the dirt with his glove. He loves his medal so much. He hung it in his room right when we got home.
Summer thunderstorms? Yes please.
Today we met the Sheen's at the Bean Museum. The last time we were there I'm pretty sure James was in a stroller. *Sidenote: how or why does BYU have an exhibit on human evolution? How does that work?
Henry loves elephants, even stuffed dead ones. He also loves standing weird.
From there we went to a park nearby for lunch and fun. But then we had to go because the kids were getting too hot and little Lucy needed a nap.
We close out the month with Family Store. The kids have been earning dollar bucks to buy candy and drinks and coupons for fun outings like to the doughnut shop and ice cream.
Other summer thoughts:
I've been spending a good couple of hours each morning in the yard. There is always weeding to be done in the garden and some cleaning up around the edges of the lawn. So much of the grass has overgrown the mow strip so I've been tidying that up. And there are always weeds to spray and concrete to sweep. I have gone to war with morning glory and dry grass. I spray the lawn weeds and Justin adjusts the sprinklers for me. You'd think with 70+ heads we would have plenty of coverage but you'd be wrong though.
This is past week is the first week that has finally felt like real summer. With Sarah gone to girls camp, our trip to Idaho and then Sarah gone to FSY, things have felt a little weird. But now we're all together every day all day and doing the typical summer stuff. You know, watching TV until 10, making pancakes every other day, asking a thousand times for a turn on the computer, whining about getting dressed before lunch.
Henry and Erica tried sleeping on the trampoline Tuesday night. They lasted an hour before they came in. Erica got spooked by some weird noises. I knew they weren't going to make it because it was pretty windy that night and I told them so. I was relieved that they finally came in because the sprinklers were set to run that night and I didn't want to reschedule that.
Tomorrow is July. Here's what's happening:
We have no plans for the 4th.
Sarah has swimming lessons.
Pioneer Day!
Sarah's orthodontic appointment.
That's all.
Maddie was kind enough to let Erica blow her bubbles. I forgot how much Erica loves bubbles. I stopped buying them because when she was littler she would have them for 5 minutes before she spilled them all.
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After several hours of bubbles (and a bubble spill on the blanket in true Erica form) and being silly, the fireworks began. Apparently just walking across the street and standing in front of us on the grass is a thing. Sigh. It's alright, we didn't have super high hopes of a great spot but people are weird.
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