June stuff

The kids talked me into going swimming. It was hot and we were bored and I didn't want them in front of a screen. So off we went and they had the BEST time playing together. They don't always play well together at the pool but this day they did!

I tried my hand at a new crochet craft. They are called 'lovies'. Like a blanket/stuffed animal. The doggie is for Tom's new baby, Luke. And the penguin was just for fun. Its floating around the house, somewhere. :)

Parker spent a week at scout camp. It rained, it snowed, it was sunny. He describes it as living through all four seasons in one week. This was his last scout camp and is soooo happy to have this phase of life OVER! He enjoys camping and scouting but there is a big behavioral and interest difference in the new 12 year old scouts and almost 14 year old Parker. Its just time to move on. Plain and simple. And he is READY!

Bryce said, "I wanted to draw a dolphin and ended up drawing a 3-D car. 

When we came back from our Idaho trip to Coeur d"Alene, we found this snake skin in our yard under our peach trees. Glad that visitor came and hopefully left while we were gone!

June faces

Sometimes I look at my children and they quite literally take my breath away!

Like this Sunday when I came home from ward choir and saw these cute girls on my porch.

Those Faces!

And This Face!

I mean seriously!

That crooked smirk!

Reminds me of this crochet 'lovie' that I made for Tom's new baby, Luke. Same smirk as Bryce. hahaha

And this guy. Honest truth. He is so cute and so ready to be finished with scouts. This was his last scout camp. Gone for a week. 

I think, in this picture, he looks both old and young at the same time. 

May stuff

The middle of April, we got new chickens.

So we put our old chickens (3 yrs old) on the classifieds for free-

-to make room for 9 new chicks.

In May, we put the chicks out in the coop. They like it a lot better out there. But it is not even close to the joy I feel not having them in my house anymore!

In the chicken picture you may notice cousin Cooper! I was lucky enough to babysit Cooper, Milo and Coleman while Sarah and Dallin took an overnight trip. Saturday turned out to be quite eventful. 

Yes, the chickens went into the coop. 

Also, Sydney had MORP! 

And then, just as Sydney was coming home to get ready for her dinner date and the boys were ready to go to their home, I sliced my finger on a very dirty metal chicken feeder. 

I rushed to the Instacare and got 6 stitches, just in time to throw a messy dinner together and leave for a book signing. Whew!

So the book signing was fun. Mostly just us authors and a few family members who had already purchased books. So there were no sales. But it was fun to be together and read an excerpt from our stories.

I was first and I completely forgot to even introduce myself and went right into reading my story. All the authors after me introduced themselves, talked about the genesis of their story and read a longer excerpt. That was kind of embarrassing but I learned a lot so I guess that's good. (And thank you mom for coming to support me!)

Bryce left this note on my bed. It is soccer season right now and most of his friends are playing on teams. We usually don't start sports or lessons until 2nd grade. But he really wanted to play soccer. He informed me that he plays World Cup every recess and he knows all the rules and all the good plays.

For teacher appreciation week, I totally dropped the ball. I had an idea to make crochet bookmarks just for fun and thought, "Hey! Why don't I make them for the teachers?" They only take 15 minutes to make. So the morning of the last day of teacher appreciation week, we put together these little cards and they turned out awesome. I was pretty proud of myself for the pun. 

Book Mark my word. 

You are the GREATEST!

And then Rachel translated it for the spanish teachers. That makes me so proud!

LDS Storymakers Conference was May 11-13. I really enjoy going to this conference but oh my, I was on the biggest roller coaster. Thursday workshop I felt like the worst writer. Thursday afternoon I had some great ideas and knew how to fix everything. Friday, I decided I was finished writing. Saturday, I was totally motivated. I know I'm not the only one and most likely, every writer or the majority of writers feel this way. 

And every year I wish I had taken pictures. And I didn't. It was so fun to see Amy Wilson from CO again. We had the nicest dinner (with Tanya) on Friday night on Provo's center street. 

But this is the only picture I got. This is Nikki Trionfo, the ring-leader of the social side of Storymakers! 

She also published a book this year, "Shatter." I reviewed it on my Bookworm Wednesday blog. Its a great book and she's a great person. 

We had our end of year piano recital. It turned out great. Short and sweet at 30 minutes. 

Camille and Rachel talked me into doing Performing Arts Camp again this year. Yikes. One week to prepare! And notice the typo?!?!? 9:30am-11:00PM. What?!?!?!

We had some visitors on the front lawn. Ducks! They reside in the canal that runs through the subdivision and raise a family there every year. But they've never ventured this far from home before. 

October stuff

Here we go. Another post of random stuff.

You may not be able to tell from this picture, but the tie Bryce wears to church is very dirty but I let him wear it anyway.

At the State Fair, each child got a paper bag with a corn cob in it. A special corn cob. We put it in the microwave for two minutes and out came popcorn!

Popcorn right off the cob!

I crocheted a blanket. It was my own pattern and I think it turned out pretty decent. We call it the Hug Blanket. When someone is scared to go to bed, I wrap myself in the blanket, give it a big hug and then wrap it around my child! Works like a charm!

Talk about random- I found this pitcher of juice in the fridge with a cup floating in it. You know you have a house full of children when...

Parker spent some time on the roof adjusting our antenna. Good boy!