Signs of Summer

Our three weeks of summer came and went and holy cow did we pack in a little of everything! Here's a quick little run down of SOME of our fun in no particular order...

{A LITTLE R&R BY THE POOL}

{A VISIT FROM ADREE AND THE KIDS}
Adree had to do hair one day so my mom came down to help me with the kids. Our brilliant idea - to pile six kids in the car and take them shopping!

{A TRIP TO THE SPLASH PARK}

{A VISIT TO LOGAN} The pond in my parents yard is the perfect place to truly relax. The kids got in around 9am and we had to drag them out at 6pm that night.

{A DAY AT LAGOON COURTESY OF SYSCO}

{A VISIT FROM GRANDMA SU-SU} We love when we get to see her!

{and let's not for get all the fun END OF SCHOOL YEAR activities}

Hope with her kindergarten teacher Mrs. Hanna

Hallee's and Hope's field day activities

{FUN AT KEARNS REC CENTER}

And that ladies and gentlemen is what you call a fabulous summer. But don't forget our annual cabin trip with pictures still to come.

Anne Frank and wax museum

For Hallee's last 3rd grade project they did a "wax museum" exhibition where they had to become someone they admired. Hallee came home and was SO excited to do it. Together we sat down and made a list of potential people and finally narrowed it down to Anne Frank, Mother Teresa and Ruby Bridges. We went to the library, found a number of books on each one and then Hallee began to study them. It was so fun to watch her be so excited and intrigued by what she was learning. After a lot of thought she finally chose Anne Frank.

After coming up with a costume, writing a report and memorizing a short introduction of their character they put all their work into action at the "wax museum". Students from other classes would come push a pretend button on their wrist and then the students would come to life and tell about their character.

Mrs. Child (teacher) said that Hallee's excitement really set the tone for the rest of the class to get excited about it as well. I think it was fun for both of us (her teacher and I) to see Hallee really come alive on this project.

THE BIG 4

Miss Caymbree turned the big 4 on June 27th. We partied CARNIVAL STYLE!

On the menu: Hot dogs, nachos, popcorn and cupcakes. Who could ask for more?Oh the games we played...unfortunately the wind wanted in on the fun as well and required a few modifications like moving a few games into the garage and scratching one game all together. Oh well. The kids didn't seem to mind.

{KNOCK DOWN}

{WHEELBARROW RIDES}

{BALLOON POP}

{BOTTLE TOSS}

Miss C in all her birthday glory!

{WATER BLAST} I seriously can't believe how fast she is growing up. The other day I asked her how much money it would take to convince her to just stay little forever. Her reply, " EIGHT DOLLARS!" DONE and DONE.

Life as we know it

Hello World. Miss me? Or have you all completely forgotten about me all together? I don't blame you if you have left and never return. I've come to terms with that. But for my own posterity I will continue to write down the little moments of our lives. So here goes a quick run down.


First, the missing camera is still that. Missing.

The camera on my phone has filled in the gap and has been with me every step of the way. In fact currently 523 pictures await download. And there lies the problem. There seems to be technical difficulties between my phone and my computer these days. They don't communicate well. IN fact they hate each other. I've tried to remedy the problem. 12 hours and FOUR phones later (thank heavens my phone is under warranty) and the problem is still not fixed. Hmmm...not so happy with Sprint right now. So we wait. Phone number FIVE is on its way tomorrow. (Every phone has had some sort of glitch...not all camera related).

Currently I HATE cars. Hate is a strong word and one my children are not allowed to use. Pretty sure it is warranted here as we have spent around $7,000 on car repairs in the last six months. A new radiator, a transmission, and a fuel injector for my car and four new fuel injectors and spark plugs for Troys car. A total of five trips to the shop in six months. You could call the two dead batteries just icing on the cake. I feel like I have been punched in the stomach every time I think about it.

The girls are continuing to thrive. They are healthy and beautiful and growing by the second. Hallee seems to be teatering on the edge of pre-teenhood. Every time I look at her she seems older. It dawned on me the other day that our first babysitter had just turned 11 when we started using her. Hallee is almost 10! Holy crud! Small reality check. We have spent the last month having daily mini babysitting lessons and giving her opportunities to show her mad skills. She has done awesome!

Hope is Hope and continues to make us laugh. She is starting to manifest her personality in her clothing and accessory choices and I am actually letting her embrace it (well with some serious veto power). Hold that thought...I have some pictures on my phone as documentation...maybe I can e-mail them to myself and post them here :) Hey whadda ya know. It worked! Not sure I want to do that with the other 500+ pictures but it works in small quantities.

So here is Hope. Currently obsessed with socks. They don't have to match and usually don't. Random.



She also came up with this bracelet a few weeks ago and it has not left her wrist since. Pretty resourceful. Who knew hair scrunchies were so versatile? Maybe we should market this idea :)



Caymbree is so cute but I'm not sure she is enjoying age FOUR so much. With fear of the last child syndrome starting to set in I took it upon myself to loosen the reins and teach her a little more independence. Can't count the number of times I have said, "Caymbree your four now so that means..." Poor girl. Someone should have warned her four was gonna be rough.


Troy is working his little behind off at work and we are quickly coming to the realization that pure commission based jobs are not all they are cracked up to be. Thankfully he is a determined bugger and continues to bring in accounts.


For me it's more or less the same. Cooking, cleaning (ok let's be honest, not a whole lot of that), and chauffeuring the girlies around. I feel like my heart has been a little tender lately after both my sister and I had friends lose sons within a week of each other. One after being run over by a car at the age of four and the other lost her son after a four month battle with a brain tumor. It has really shaken me. I have children both of those ages. It has broken my heart to watch, read and hear their journey of healing. Both families have handled it with such amazing faith. Watching this process has been both inspiring and horrifying at the same time. I loved the words of one mom as she was able to confidently say that not a single day went by that her son didn't know how much she loved him. Could my kids say the same?


At times I feel myself starting to despair but I am so grateful for a quote I found when preparing one of my Sunday School lessons a few weeks ago.

"The Lord is in control. He knows the end from the beginning. He has given us adequate instruction that if followed will see us safely through any crisis. He purposes will be fulfilled, and someday we will understand the eternal reasons for all of these events. Therefore, today we must not be careful not to overreact, nor should we be caught up in extreme preparations; but what we must do is keep the commandments of God and never lose hope!

Where do we find hope in the midst of such turmoil and catastrophe? Quite simply, our one hope for spiritual safety during these turbulent times is to turn our minds and our hearts to Jesus Christ, armed with the shield of faith, we can overcome many of our daily challenges and overpower our greatest weaknesses and fears, knowing that if we do our best to keep the commandments of God, come what may, we will be all right."

---Elder M. Russell Ballard

And in that I find the strength to carry on.

Speaking of which on a lighter note... Caymbree provided much comical entertainment for the family sitting behind us in sacrament on Sunday. While being restless and a little loud during the passing of the Sacrament Hallee gently reminded her that she should be thinking about Jesus and how he died for us. Caymbree in her typical less than quiet four year old voice says/yells, "WHAT! JESUS DIED????" Hallee quickly hushes her and explains that while he did die he was then resurrected and is alive. Caymbree again says/yells, "What!? I'm confused. So is he dead or is he alive?" Holy cow people. I'm not gonna lie. I was laughing pretty hard.

Towards the end of the meeting I explain to her that I have to go get my copies and get ready for my lesson. I ask her if she wants to stay or come with me. Quickly and LOUDLY she reviews the agenda and says, "Ok SO FIRST WE HAVE TO GO GET YOUR COFFEE AND THEN GET THE STUFF FOR YOUR LESSON?" I could hear the bench behind me erupt with laughter and YES, I had some explaining to do. Funny girl.

Well, that's it for now. Hope to be back soon with a plethora of pictures and summary of our summer fun. But don't hold your breath. With the luck we have been having lately the chances are high that my computer with crash and die before I ever get the chance. :)