Tae Kwon Do progress

Brianna earned hers first actually, but I just got pictures  of Bennett :)

Boy time 👊

Met up with one of my favorite ladyfriends, Maren, for a Discovery Park playdate.
Wish we hadn't chosen the only 100 degree day of the week, but that's ok, still had fun and no one died of heat stroke due to diligent hydration ;)  Visiting here was on our Summer Bucket List anyway, so I'm glad we got it done! It's one of the best parks/splash pads around for sure.
I looooove giving Bennett some "boy time."
He holds his own and has a great time playing with all the girlies in his world, but I just see him come alive as a BOY when he gets to play with other little dudes!

Sammy selfies

Stopped by for a quick visit with Sammy on our way home from dropping off Brianna's friend Kamryn who lives out in the valley. 

 Everytime I visit her and give her a hug and hang out with her and see her sweet little smile ....I'm somewhat overcome with feelings of love for my special sis. I dont want to leave her side. I imagine her miraculously healed and busting out of there to go on a run with me or go play at the pool or just have a real conversation where she can tell me all the things that she would have over the years if she could speak. It's so hard to see her with her trach. I can't imagine how stifling and bothersome that thing is. Or worse, painful. I really hate the thought of her being in pain. What torture - to be in pain,  or even just discomfort,  and not be able to help yourself. 

I feel guilty for not going out to see her more often. It's only about a 35 minute drive. And it always brings me such joy to be with her. I'm thinking I'll try to get into a routine where I go to the Valley YMCA for my morning workout once a week and then go see Sammy while I'm out there. 

Lake Day #643

Just another perfect day at the lake! So so fun.

Tubing, kneeboarding, cliff jumping, beach play, etc.  

HAPPY PLACE!

Brave little Charity insisted on jumping off the cliff too! A much smaller one than the adults (and Brianna!!!) did of course.  I love her adventurousness! ANNNND, she did her FIRST SOLO tube ride!! It was awesome. 

Jiffy

Gettin the works done before our big roadtrip to Canada!  Trans, Radiator, oil, etc. Paying an arm and leg, but Jiffy Lube was great. Quick and efficient. Plus found out about their free top off and cleaning policy. Glad to feel safe on the road. Need to hope a family member becomes a mechanic so I know if their charges are legit or if I'm being worked....

Love technology

She has lots of options of things to do while I'm working out at the Y....

She's choosing to do an app that tests her out-loud reading! Very cool! 

(and I'm certainly not worried about her having any lack of physical activity....she just came from an hour of tennis, has an hour of taekwondo this evening, and will undoubtedly spend the afternoon running around after rodents 😊😆😅)

Late night painting party

Painting our mailbox

I've been meaning to do this for months. Maybe years? So finally one afternoon I just decided to get the stuff out and start on it! And then all my peoples joined in of course. I'm pretty sure I'm the most popular person in this little family. Whatever I'm doing and wherever I'm at... they all just gravitate there. It's both flattering and annoying. But of course I enjoyed them helping with this little project. And they all liked it too I think. I'm so happy our formerly nondescript home can now be referred to as, "The One With the Yellow Mailbox" !!

Good timing

I just happened to take a different way out of the hood than I usually do, making us fortunate enough to find our friends doing a cute lemonade stand and face painting!
I'm so glad, cuz I love supporting kids' entrepreneurial efforts, while helping mine have a fun little experience :)
However,  it meant that we missed supporting the MSHS car wash we were on our way to.
I had already purchased two tickets, but gave those away to friends at the Y.
Wanted to go get our own car done.
Oh well,  can't do it all!
I've learned to accept that fact of life :)

The moon photobombed the sun

So this Eclipse thing was a really big deal for a lot of people. Which makes me wonder if there's something wrong with me....because I really didn't care. Didn't travel for a better view,  didn't attend the Eclipse parties we were invited to, didn't buy the glasses...didn't even consider it. It's not that I don't understand what a unique cosmic event it was... it just makes no significant practical contribution to my life so it's not worth my limited time.

However, I do appreciate that the principle of Herd Immunity came into effect and other people's preparedness benefitted us. I got to use someone's glasses at the YMCA to view the eclipse (and snapped a picture - super professional), Brian used glasses at a nursing home he was visiting, and my kids borrowed glasses outside of tennis camp on their way out for a quick peek. 

So check ✔ Saw the eclipse. Wasted no time nor money on it. Lovely family memory created ....😉😯😕😆

Yoga Pajama Kids Camp. It's a thing.

The kids LOVED this little day camp put on by a local Yoga Studio!  

It was kinda pricey, but I'm glad to support the event/studio and help my kids do something enriching, a little outside the norm.

Summer nights at the playground

Riding bikes to Colbert Elementary playground was one of my favorite things to do as a kid. 
I love that I get to do it now with my own children! 

We invited Meredith and Lily to join us too.

Late Summer evenings are so great. 
I'm gonna miss this! 
The mourning of the end of summer has started.  
We still have a couple weeks left, we gotta live it up!

Just another Thursday

Walking and reading takes skill

I'm so glad Brianna has found a book she's really into!
It's the Descendants series.
I was OBSESSED with reading when I was her age.
It was the Babysitters Club series, Babysitters Little Sister, Indian in the Cupboard, most of the Newberry Award winner stuff...and a few others.
I've tried those on her without luck.
But she loves this series - like, LOVES it - so I'm excited! 

New gym(nastics)

We weren't huge fans of Dynamic Gymnastics where we went last year. They didn't exactly live up to their name, ha!

So we're trying out the other gyms around here. We went to Evergreen, which i hoped so much would be awesome, since it's the closest. But it was awful. Overpriced,  no air conditioning,  rude unprofessional coach and office manager. Dang it. Moving on...trying Northwest, and hoping it's better!

Gymnastics is definitely definitely not my first choice of sport for my kids. But Brianna looooveees it. And she's pretty good. So I'm supporting!

Brian's working hard...

He sent this from his "business trip" to Orlando. HA. Yes, lots of business to do at LegoLand in Florida... For reals though, I'm glad he gets to have this little vacation. He works hard, now he gets to play. And I get to do the bedtime routine with the kids all by myself every night. Ugh. It gets exhausting. Definitely better as a 2 person job! Hurry home B!

Evidence of a good time!

Stevie and I had an awesome trail run around the Pend Orielle county park forest!  Looks like nasty gorilla legs, but that's 100% dirt.

And trail running is 100% awesome!

Snugglers

 These two just collapsed at the end of a long day of fun.  So sweet.

Bowlin with my hommies

 Steve, Linds, Meredith and I hit Lilac Lanes last night after the ward taco party. It was really fun! I am a very inconsistent bowler. I had four strikes during the 2 games but lots of really awful turns between those. 93 and 177 final scores.  Super fun to hang out with my sibs!

My new Beehive

Trying to be a good YW Leader, visiting my birthday girls! 

Outings with Nonny

During the week of Drama camp at the Civic Theater, mom picked up the kids and hung out with them for a bit before they went in to camp. Luckylucky grandkids!

Lap transfer complete 👊👐👏

Charity woke up too early Sunday morning - 6am, when i got up for my meetings - and didn't go back to sleep.
So she zonked out during church on my lap. 
I was trapped and needed to move - prepping for important YW lesson - so mom saved the day!
She got next to me and slid right into my spot, getting Charity on her lap and giving me blessed freedom 💛
THE CHURCH IS TRUE! 

Neighbor house fire

Friday evening as we were in the backyard cleaning up after the BC Twins Birthday Luau, we noticed smoke coming from the house across the park from us. We went over - I told Brian to RUN - and good thing....they had just gotten home a minute before and discovered a fire in their attic! We helped them frantically get as much valuables out of the house before the fire department arrived.  Meredith and I were loading up pictures,  electronics, wall hangings, etc and throwing them out onto the lawn. Other neighbors started to come out to help. Over the next couple hours we watched their home burn and the fire fighters do their jobs....including chainsaw into the roof, smash all the windows, use their massive powerful hoses...it was horrifying.  And tragic for the Jensen family. I can't imagine how distraught I'd be watching my home burn.

I had Lincoln and McKay with me and they were pretty fascinated.  

It's a good reminder for me to have my house in order! Photos backed up online, 72 hr kit ready, etc. And I'm buying 2 more big fire extinguishers.

I guess I can check "run into a burning building" off my list! 

Breaking a leg!

Brianna and her cousins were treated to an awesome week of learning theater skills!
Mom picked them up every morning and took them to the civic theater.  They got to learn set design, creation, memorization techniques, blocking...and more theatery stuff I'm sure I don't know about :)
We all went to their final play performance Friday afternoon,  and Brian even got the girls bouquets of flowers.

Brianna did great and had so much fun!

I'm so grateful she gets enriching opportunities like this. 

Summer picnic!

My kids + 2 Lilys = crazy fun  

Fwd: Photo from Hi 5 Orthodontics

Learning and earning

🍒🍒🍒🍒🍒🍒🍒

Charity in the bunny cage

Cherries with Children

Summer is definitely not Summer without trips to Greenbluff to pick fruit!

Our friends the Stewarts own Bountiful Orchards, and gave us a screaming good deal on these gorgeous super ripe bing cherries.

74 pounds!!!

Now we get to start the fun process of washing, freezing, and distributing excess to neighbors! 

I'm so glad my kids get to make summer memories like this. So beautiful. 

They were excellent tree climbers and cherry eaters!

Awesome Ortho

Courtney had her first evaluation today.
I asked Dr. Williams (our orthodontist, plus ward friend, plus parent of our kids friends) to just check her mouth out.
Even though she's barely 7, they said we might be able to start phase 1 within a year!
That would make Courtney super happy, since she'd start getting all the perks Brianna does - namely,  points on their point system to earn prizes.
Plus the waiting room is crazy fun - photo dress up both, movies, video games on ipads inserted in the walls....and an icecream machine!

It's nice that I don't have to drag them kicking and screaming to dentist and orthodontist appts.
Especially since all this tooth fun comes with a bill:)