The Return of Elder Watkins

For two years Drew has started every prayer . . . We're thankful Jeff is on a mission, please help Jeff on his mission. 

We decided when he had to give his first prayer in primary that only praying for Jeff and Lisa's dogs wouldn't work and encouraged him to think of other things.  He had nothing.  Totally blank.  

But Jeff is home now and he forgets so he starts every prayer out with  . . . We're thankful Jeff . . . is on the Earth.

Jeff got home two weeks after Conference, so Conference consisted of the usual forts . . .

And Welcome Home posters that Jeff specifically request NO on, but come on the kids were excited and it was 11:30 pm at the airport . . . pretty sure we're not running into anyone we know.

And the final products were spectacular . . . just as we planned . . . with lots of Jack Skellingtons in all different artistic abilities.

My Mom claimed first hug and no one was arguing that she didn't deserve it.  My Dad claimed second hug . . . also reasonable . . . to most.   Olivia didn't see it the same way and swooped in for the second hug. 

Lisa and I tried to remind Ansen and Matt about how funny Lisa, Jeff and I are together ("choco amigos") but they couldn't recall.  And Matt was worried that he had just secured his place in the family and Jeff was going to upset the whole dynamic.  :)

And much to our surprise, that European suit looked good and Jeff was pretty "normal."  He's the baby of our family and we all dote on him so we were pretty ready to have him home.  

  So yes, we're thankful Jeff is on the Earth, we're thankful Jeff is on the American continent again and we're thankful Jeff is in Utah . . . but we're more thankful that he served a mission, for his example and for sharing his testimony. 

2013 Summer Must Haves (besides Goggles)

There always seems to "themes" for the summer - things we really get into each summer depending on circumstance and ages.  This year we had a few new, fun ones.  

1 - Outdoor Dining

We ate outside for dinner 90% of the time.  We started it because we decided to try and sell our house and this kept the kitchen mess to a minimum.  Which worked, but also everyone seemed more jazzed about dinner if we were eating outside.  

Our backyard gets pretty hot in the summer evenings and so to wait for a little relief from the heat we ended up eating after 8pm usually and often in a jammies. 

2 - Baseball

Baseball became a hot ticket item this year.  We've lived across from a field the whole time we've lived here and this summer they started developing it, so they mowed over all the weeds, brought in nice new dirt and evened our playing field out . . . and . . .

If they build it, we will come.

 (If you need it - Field of Dreams reference)

We usually started at 8:00 ish (so right after dinner) and we played until it was dark with a few neighborhood families.  Never mind that I think batting may have somehow started my car accident/hip pain that I battled with all summer.  We had fun!

And the only pics we snapped were when we were showing off some of our mad skillz at Banna and Branda's house as we were heading out to the car. 

3 - Backyard S'mores

And baseball until dark always lead to backyard S'mores after dark.

And then I could talk the all the kids into letting me try to throw marsh mellows into their mouths.  We learned you really had to put a little force behind your throw to get big marsh mellows aimed right into little mouths. 

4 - Backyard Movies

We didn't start this until later into the Summer, but then we decided it was a weekend must have.  We brought Branda's shaved ice maker once, we had popcorn and treats, snuggled up in blankets and enjoyed some family movies.  We're starting early with this one next year!

Stupid = 3 kids & 3 dogs

We decided to go for a hike to Battle Creek Falls over Labor Day.  The only glitch was we were dog sitting again for Susan and Sophie AND Jeter.  Yes, 3 dogs folks.  We are slowly (but surely) breaking Ansen down (bahahahah).

Anyway, the kids and I talked him into letting us take the dogs.  One dog for each child . . . what could not be perfect about that?

We first grabbed lunch and went to a park to eat.  Ansen was literally besides himself embarrassed that the drive through people would see that we had THREE dogs in the car and think we were "those kind of people." 

We got a lot of attention from other hikers for the dogs . . . see people LOVE dogs.  But we had to keep "taking turns" with the difference dogs, their leashes were CONSTANTLY tangled, no one could go as fast as Sophie wanted to go . . .  

But we got to the Falls.  Drew hurt his foot and pouted . . . Ansen had to rescue him. 

I thought it was be "fun" for the dogs to get in the water . . . and then walk in the dirt . . . creating mud all over them . . . which dried and caked to their fur.  No bid deal. 

The Falls were neat.

 

Ansen threw a small (JUSTIFIED ALBEIT) fit about the muddy dogs in the car.  I gave them all baths and we talked about how dumb of an idea that was.

But I love the dumb ideas because they never get forgotten. 

Summer Recap Part III

SUMMER MOVIES: Movies are a good thing in the summer.  Air condition and simple.

FACE PAINT:  Every Summer needs a good face paint . . . which is fine. 

But this year it lead to these two thinking they were make-up artists.  It doesn't show up well for the pictures, but on this day they had "batman" masks of eye shawdow on.   

And then I got dragged into it . . . this was curtousy of Drew.  And you know when you let it heppen once, they want it to happen every day . . . yeah, that's what happened with this. 

PROFESSIONAL DOG SITTERS:  We became the neighborhood dogs sitters.  Can you believe it?!  We have been breaking Ansen down a little bit at a time . . . it's going to work and we're going to get our own dog one day . . .

Chewy loved Addison and followed her around.  He dutifully waited for Addie to take a shower.

THRILLER: They taught themselves the song and dance to Thriller this summer. 

Headsets, fake pajama "hair" and high heels were required for practice and rehearsals.



and scary eyes . . . you have to stay in character . . .

HARRY POTTER:  We didn't forget . . . Happy Birthday Harry Potter. 

MORE SWIMMING:  I figured out how to successfully work at the pool now that I'm not required to be in the pool at all times. 

And this "Summer's Must Have" - googles!

THANK YOU TOMMY BAHAMMA:  It should be noted that this was the summer that I bought the backpack Tommy Bahama chairs.  A purchase that will be cherished for years and years to come.  

Summer Recap Part II

FATHER'S DAY:  We had a Father's Day in there and we LOVE our dad and our grandpas!   I think that was in the summer . . . maybe it was still school year.  Either way I grateful for the Dad my kids have and for the Dad(s) we have. 

WOODS RETURN:  Our old neighbors, the Woods, came back a few times for some summer fun.  We had some fun summers that last two years they were here and we miss them. 

And we made some walks to the gas station, which seemed like a good idea at first until I started realizing it was a $10 activity (and loads more sugar) by the time everyone got a treat and it was only about a 5 minute walk each way . . . not worth it. 

BOWLING:  Bowling with the Roberts' kids has kind been "our thing" for a few summers.  We don't get to see them near as much as we would want and should.

We're lucky to have them as friends and I'm so glad they haven't out grown each other with their older ages and different genders.  They're a cute groupakids - no doubt.

We made it to Airbourne too . . . when I finally bought a punch pass since we kept going aaaannnnd we haven't gone since . . .

ICE CREAM:  My kids have figured me out . . . I'm a HUGE sucker for ice-cream on summer days.  HUGE sucker.  Like HUGE, HUGE sucker. 

ORBIES:  And Orbies is one the of the ways we ended the summer.  Olivia got Orbies for her birthday in the beginning of July.  She promptly put the whole 2,000 in water and they grew into their little water balls.

We kept them "alive" the rest of the summer.  We sorted them by color, we sorted them by size, we refreshed their water, we took them out, we put them in, we experimented with salt water, we looked for "pregnant" orbies (and sorted them) . . . we did whatever the heck else you do with orbies.  We had little Tupperware all over the kitchen of our sorted Orbies. 

Then the first day of school, I let this happen . . .

And then they let this happen . . .  You can't see, but the 1,500 ish we had left are all over the patio . . . we had yet to try that with the orbies.  It took them another hour or more to clean them up  . . . so it wasn't a total waste of an activity for friends.

First Day of School for the Little Dude

I recognize that it's a moment that I've been dreaming of for 10 years. A moment of peace and quiet for a couple of hours several times a week. But that moment makes me a bi-polar Mom, because

I love it and I hate it.

 

But the longer I've been at it, the more I almost only love it. I get so much done while they're all gone even thought it's not like he's a ton of work when he's home, but wow I'm amazingly good at productiveness when they're ALL gone.

Drew is at Miss Shannon's Imagination Station with a few of his best buds.

He only loves it . . . a lot.  

And though I kind of like my alone time . . . how can I not miss this sweet face.

And just to keep my perspective in check because time passes so fast and I never want to wish the stage I'm in away - no matter how hard it seems  . . . here is a my little Liv on her fist day with Miss Shannon. 

Summer Recap Part I

DUCT TAPE:  I'm always searching for some cheap crafts and projects to keep these kids busy all summer.  This year we hit it rich with Duct Tape.  Duct Tape bows, wallets, book marks, purses, bracelets . . . you name it, they tried it.  It was seriously probably a $30 investment for 50+ hours of fun for all 3 kids + friends.

SHORT LIVED SPRINKLER:  Due to a water shortage (the kind where on Wednesday you get a note on your door telling you there will be no water by Friday) Sprinkler season was short lived.  We got one session in for the whole summer. 



SAME SPOT EVERY TIME:  A skinned knee was however not short lived.  We just kept this up weekly.  Same knee, same spot, SAME child. 

YOUNG and FREE (with kids):  Our college besties - Jen and Jer - made several trips down our way this year.  We were young and free again other than the 6 kids we had to figure out.  We did Parade of Homes, Movie Nights, Airbourne a couple of times, Logan, La Hacienda a couple of times and laughed hard - a lot. 

I've appointed Jeremy my Entrepreneur Mentor since we love to talk business and start up business ideas.  He gets me all jazzed about my business potential every time he's here.  

POOL TIME:  We are never strangers to the pool during the summer.  Sonic, sunblock, friends and a pool - that's a good, good time.