The longer it goes between
posts the most difficult it is for me to just jump right on in, but I’ve gotta
give it an attempt. Here goes…
It's no secret I love low-key, carefree
summer days. I feel great that our
summer thus far as been just that.
I have ZERO desire to be go-go-going all day every day. However, all the pictures I’m seeing of
friends spending their days lounging at the beach, going on fun vacations,
etc.. has me a bit bummed. My big
kids are at the age where I have no doubt we’d be out doing more, but with little
ones too that age gap can be challenging.
I feel limited in what we can I want to take on – I have a baby
that naps twice a day and I’ve always been protective of naptimes, I have FIVE
kids, I don’t like to pay much for a good time, I can’t help but factor in the
cost of gas with any given outing, I would not get to sit and chat with friends
at the beach instead I’d be chasing after Drew, digging sand out of his mouth
and trying to keep him from drowning, etc, etc… whether any of those reasons
are justifiable for primarily hanging out at home I’m not sure, but it is what
it is. Thankfully, the kids
haven’t had any complaints about their summer so far (except the girls would
like to stay up as late as they’d like) so I guess we’re doing just fine.
Carly went to our stake
activity day camp – June 24-25th. I love that are stake puts on this two day event for the
girls. They do a phenomenal job
and the girls love it. Abigail
went as a youth volunteer and helped the girls learn a dance to the song
“Happy.”
Carly’s group – we have the
largest primary in the stake so Carly was lucky to have five girls from our
ward in her group.
My birthday came and
went. I was getting together with
friends the Monday beforehand and they totally surprised me with birthday
balloons, cupcakes and a gift certificate for a mani-pedi. My birthdays typically pass much like any
other day so this was totally unexpected and made my week.
Please ignore the old-lady
bob. I cut my head really bad a
few days beforehand and couldn’t do my hair properly for several days.
Justin and the kids had a
few treats for me that morning.
Abigail put together a really cute can of starbursts for me to open and
Carly picked out some body spray and gave me a few of her precious hi-chews
she’d purchased.
My birthday consisted of
sleeping in, dragging myself to a yoga class, shopping at the outlets with
Carly, splitting a meal and free dessert with Justin at Red Robin, and then a
fun couples card night with friends.
Carly, Jason and Katie took
a weeklong session of swim lessons in July. After the first class Carly’s teacher told me Carly needed
to be in the highest level, but she was taking it with a friend (and I didn’t
want to be at the pool for an hour and a half everyday) so we just left her in
the level 4 class. They all passed
their level so I’ve signed Jason and Katie up to take another session next week. That gives me another chance to
actually take some pictures :)
Summer isn’t the same this
year without Jason’s buddy Everett living just a few houses away. We sure miss the Robinson family. There are a few older boys in the neighborhood
that are really good about including Jason though. At least a few times a week they will ask Jason to come play
football or baseball with them.
Justin and Mike Gibbs joined them last week when apparently Jason made an
incredible catch. Good thing my
boy can hold his own against kids twice his age.
The girls also play outside
quite a bit. Our backyard is a
good size for many outdoor activities.
The girls have friends that
have included them on the ward beach days and Abigail went to Wild Waves with a
friend on the 12th.
On Saturday, July 12th Justin took Jason on what
has been an annual hike to Rattlesnake Ridge. Jason loves to hike and we live in such a beautiful area to
explore.
Summer at our house isn’t just about fun and games. I want my kids to know how to work and
there’s always plenty of work to be done.
Besides the usual chores we’ve been cleaning out the kitchen drawers and
cupboards and scrubbing the dirty window tracks. I wish I could say that all that work results in a sparkling
clean home, but that’s just not realistic with everyone home all day. Something I implemented early in the
summer was buying inexpensive plastic cups in five different colors. Each kiddo has two cups in their
color. I used to have cups all
over the kitchen that no one would ever claim as their own so they were always
getting out a new cup. This has
been genius!
Abigail and Carly set up a cookie shop in our neighborhood
on Thursday. We baked 10 dozen
cookies in preparation! That’s a
lot of cookies. Abigail did most
of the work the day before (Carly was at the beach with a friend). She prepared all the batter and I helped
with some of the baking while she was at youth. The girls were out there for a little over three hours and
made over $60. They did have to
pay $2/batch for cost-of-good-sold, but that’s still impressive.
I’ve enjoyed a bit of freedom having the girls home during
the day. Typically they don’t get
paid to babysit, but for the times I’m out having lunch (or breakfast) with
friends they deserve a little reward.
I’m grateful they are so easy to please and such responsible girls!
Today we had the Andros family over to spend the day with us. We sure miss hanging out with them. Their five kiddos match up perfectly
with my four youngest. Abigail has
volleyball camp this week so she missed out on the fun. For only being a half hour away we
really need to get these kids together more often!
A few photos from Instagram:
June 1st – We don’t pay our
kids an allowance but we do bribe them.
Food seems to be quite motivating.
On this evening the girls agreed to rub my feet and hands for
hi-chews. One hi-chew for every 15
minutes. Cheap labor!
Mid-June we finally got our
hands dirty and started sprucing up the yard. As we were pulling weeds we started a little competition to
see who would find the largest rock.
I won!
Justin and I finally made
it up to the newly opened Café Rio (about 45 minutes away). It was worth the drive! The girls asked for donuts in return
for babysitting – no problem!
The kids have played many,
many games of Monopoly this summer (amongst several other games). It all started on Sunday evening, June
22nd when I played with them after church. The thumbs down are from the kiddos I’m about to bankrupt
and the thumb up is from my assistant.
On a more personal note I
finished my tenth and final hot yoga class on July 8th. I bought a groupon way back in October
thinking it would be a good way to shed some baby weight. It had to be activated by May and all
ten classes needed to be used within 60 days. I was dreading it so much that I wait til the week it had to
be activated to go to my first class and it took me the entire two months to
drag myself there ten times. During
the brief period in my life that I exercised regularly (between Jason and
Katie’s arrivals) I actually enjoyed yoga, but when you’re doing it in a 110
degree room it’s entirely different!
I paid for it though and so I did it – all ten miserable classes. Definitely NOT “my yoga” and nothing
“bliss”ful about it!
I promised a friend early in the summer that I would attempt
to run after I got through all my yoga classes. Last Monday Abigail and I hit the pavement. Not even joking – it’s been nearly 20
years since I’ve run anywhere… unless it was save a child from injury or to get
in line first for food. We learned
we have too many hills in our neighborhood and Abigail’s knees were hurting her
too much to go very far so we tried again on Wednesday in a flatter
neighborhood. We met our goal of
running a mile – which I know is crazy pitiful for most people, but remember
TWENTY years. And it wasn’t like I
was ever a runner back then – but I have a vague memory of running around the
track at Ricks College. Anyhow, I
don’t plan on becoming a runner, but I may drag Abigail out there with me a few
more times.
