High Summer

Last week Justin had some friends from out of town in Utah so we did what you should always do, have a party. We had about 30 people, mostly kids. Here's the crew. (Josh on the end has a wife; she left to take her littles home to bed.)

The bounce house was a big hit with all the kids old and young. It destroyed the grass but I think it was worth it and our lawn wasn't all that great to begin with. 

Henry spent more time on it than anyone.

We also had a few lawn games but the bounce house was where it was at.

We cooked hotdogs for the kids, steaks and kabobs for adults. We were smart and fed the kids first so we could eat in mostly peace.

We are missing a few friends but hilarity was still there.

2002

Everyone found a new friend their age except for Erica. There were only boys her age but in true Erica form, she just played with everyone.

We've decided to make it a yearly event with whoever is in town and can make it. And I'm pretty sure a bounce house will part of it too.

Forever ago I found these frames at DI. Big cheap frames, yes please. They had these generic forgettable prints that mostly matched the carpet and stuff so I mostly ignored them but every once in awhile they bugged me because they were so boring.

I would look online often and had some things picked out that I liked but nothing I could get printed in this large size that I needed. But I finally found these posters on Society6.com that came in the right size and I love the colors and style. Plus they weren't terribly expensive so I can change them out if I get tired of them.

Erica and a rainbow one evening.

Here's a view I found on a walk one morning. 

James had another turn picking the treat and game for our Friday night. He chose homemade doughnuts and counted down the days until we made them.

And he chose we play Bang. Again. He only got a little emotional when he died in the first game.

I think we are in the doldrums of summer. The kids are in high boredom mode which manifests itself in picking fights and being super unmotivated. "I already did that like 10 times," they say to each of my suggestions. It being like a million degrees outside doesn't help much. They spend a lot of time at my mom's, ostensibly to do jobs but I know there's plenty of playing on her Nintendo and eating her snack foods. All of the kids but Henry are looking forward to school starting again. One month from tomorrow.

Independence Day 2022

In keeping with doing something different every year for the 4th, we went to the fireworks in Provo which were actually on July 2. We grabbed dinner from Zubs and my sister and her family met us in Provo. We went to a park on the west side of the stadium in hopes we could get out of Provo quicker than times when we sat closer to campus. We settled on Carterville Park which is a little on the ghetto side but we were the first ones there so got our pick of where to sit.

We hung out under the shady pavilion until it cooled off a bit then we moved back to where we spread out our blankets and chairs on the street. I got into a heated discussion with a lady and her mortified college-aged daughters because they put a blanket and a chair in a 30 inch gap between our blankets. And they set up a card table on the sidewalk in front of the blanket so it was like a wall between our group (and they blocked the sidewalk). Her argument was 30 inches is plenty of room for the 3 of them. My argument was why would you want to sit in the middle of a family of 12 people?? It would be awkward for them and awkward for us. "Why? Are you not nice people?" No, we're not. We want to sit together without you in the middle. Don't make this weird. I think I used the word awkward half a dozen times. I was not going to back down because there was literally no one else around us. She had her pick of the rest of the park. She wanted those 30 inches because they were front and center. In a huff and flurry they moved over 10 feet and we settled into people watching and bubble blowing.

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.

I asked for a photo of the two of them and she would

not

stop

with the bubbles.

So so glad Henry's ugly picture phase is rubbing off on James.

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.

This is the only photo we took on Sunday. We had a quiet Sunday together. Justin and I made biscuits and gravy for dinner and then we had ice cream for dessert.

Monday, actual Independence day--after a morning of chores we went out for some fun. But before we got in the car a water fight broke out.

We went to a park in south Provo that has huge sycamore trees. Sycamores are the best climbing trees.

Then the kids got super hot and whiny and wanted the ice cream they knew was coming. We took them to Brooker's in Provo because George Washington, duh.

The whole shop is founding father's theme. The flavors are clever like "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Chocolate" and "Paul Revere's Midnight Ride." Erica tasted half of them.

My kids might be under the impression that these stocks were like the picture things you stick your head through. Ha!

As we were leaving they had just started to make these red white and blue colored cones. Missed opportunity there.

Burgers, watermelon, corn on the cob for 4th of July dinner. Pretty sure that's in the Declaration of Independence somewhere.

In the middle of dinner Erica lost a tooth.

And then it was time for Driveway of Fire. I gave Justin a really hard time for buying like 60 sparklers per child.

"Happy fourth of July!!!!"

God bless America.