July

 July fun in the sun.

The first of July I decided we needed to pay the kids out. They earn money for reading and different stuff. The main reason to pay them out was to have them pay tithing. Each kid had like $15. I gave Azalyn 2, $5’s. When I helped her pay tithing, she was not happy. She said I don’t need to pay Jesus, he loves me anyway. Tithing is not about, “paying” Jesus it is about sacrifice. Inspiration, I realized she thought I was taking all her money. She had like $20 in 5’s and 10’s. I gave her all her money in ones, (it was a huge stack). She was totally happy with tithing and even tried to pay others in the house. I try really hard to point out tender mercies to my kids. Boys story; we went to a splash pad and on the way home they wanted to stop at the mail box. I totally spaced it, but when they got home, they ran to the post box. While they were running there the mail main came.  He handed them their package. If we would of stopped it would not of been there. Quote for me this month: Fear is not faith. The lord is not going to let you fall.

4^th of JULY- we watched about 80% of a baseball game. Got food from food trucks. I am sorry but food truck food is not worth the price but fun to try. The kids went to bounce houses. There were not a ton of bounce houses this year. The fire work show was fun, but the kids loved our fire works the best. We did our fireworks in our cul-de-sack because all our neighbors are gone. The boys were “big” and lit their own fireworks.

We did no You Tube shorts and no video games for a day. It was so nice, no fighting. The kids even turned the office into a movie theater. We got to snuggle and watch some cute movies. Then we did no You Tube shorts, but they could play mind craft. That worked because they have to work together in mind craft. Another great outcome is the kids play games, the boys are into Clue, Azalyn loves Uno.

It is crazy how you can feel surface clean and a deep clean in a house. There is a spirit to a home. Greg got me a robot vacuum, I have fought him for 2 yrs. It was wonderful knowing there was one job I did not have to do. It made the floors look clean why the rest of the house try to implode, During Denali’s whole ordeal.

Since I was in the cleaning mood I was also in the fixing mood. I fixed and charged all the hover boards. Colvin cannot wait for it to cool down so he can go out and play. My next project is putting the seats back on.

I have to put this in in case we ever leave Arizona. Only in Arizona will you get tired of a pool party for Activity days or Young Men’s. Talking about church. I was inspired one Sunday to think about someone, I made every family member think of someone, then we went and delivered cookies. Everyone we dropped them off to LOVED the cookies.

Greg and I taught Azalyn’s primary class. She had a few rules; I had to have a good coloring page, no games and I had to bring treats. After it was over she said mom, you did an ok job. From her I am going to take the high praise. I found a new show Sanderton. It is another PBS show and SO good. Greg tries not to like it.  We went to another drive in movie. This time we took turns to be in the AC car.

Sad and happy news We were able to sell Donut. We have been praying that she would find a good home, we found her a great home. A younger couple just lost their Shih-tzu. They were so good to let Azalyn hug and kiss her good-bye. Colvin hit in the back room the whole time. Our puppy selling days are done. We gave Azalyn her kitchen set, and she would smile and cry at the same time. Colvin got a big Lego set and Denali got a water gun

Timber and Holden came for 2 days. You would think that only living 5 hrs. apart we would see each other more but nope. We took them to the lake and the kids found money. Holden and Timber even jumped with us. Then we went to Up Town Alley. Their claw machine had extra money so each of the kids got a stuffed animal. Holden was shocked how hot the pool was, and he said that even the lake water was warmer than their pool. It was so good just to get sister talk time.

Since I have tried really hard to limit the kids free free time, Denali made a game. Called 4 Hearts. I made him do all the computer work. Then for the tokens (the things that move on the board) he made them out of melta beats. I helped him laminate everything. He made one for every family to give to them when we are in Idaho.

BOYS checkup: Denali: 99% height, I now ask him to be tall for me. I want him to be proud of his height. Colvin: 80% height. Stand tall.

We had to go school shopping, and pant shopping. We went to Other Mother. After 2 hours Colvin started to cry, “Mom, I just cannot do it anymore.” To be fair, Colvin did have to try on the most stuff. Azalyn loved it, for 2 hours she walked up and down every aisle and had to touch every purse and look at all the cute clothing. Good thing she will have Aunt Timber to go shopping with. To calm the kids, boys, after close shopping, we went to Bath and Body works, they wanted to smell candles for 20min. I was smart and ordered school supplies on line.

Funny story: After dinner one night our water pressure died. Then outside there was water coming out of the top of our spickets. We were terrified we had broken a water line. After checking face book, we realized not us the city. The main road had about 2 feet of water. It was closed for a week. 

At the end of the summer, at the pool I buy the kids dipping dots. I told them that when they grow up if they are having a hard time, go buy dipping dots and remember happy childhood summers.

IDAHO: Like I say every time there is no way to put it all in, there is no way to convey all the feelings. I hope pictures will help convey how important making memories with family is. First Greg will not let me drive, 90% because he does not want to deal with kids and 10% of being shivers. The first 4 hours of any drive is the hardest we all have to get into the swing of it. Story: we told Azalyn that we would be at grandmas when it was night time. About 5 hours in we got into a rain storm. She said yes, we are almost there look mom it is dark, it is a good 15 hr. drive.  We were at moms for about half a day with out anyone. Dad was going to take the kids on a hike to an arch. I went to follow the boys. Dad and Greg were going to stop when Azalyn stopped. I tried to warn them that if her brothers did it, she was going to do it. YEP, we all made it to the arch. Dad had blisters, he did not have good socks, Greg could hardly walk the rest of the week, Denali did not feel great, Colvin and Azalyn were just fine. 195 stairs and Ruffley 2000 steps. Greg and I slept in the horse trailer and the kids got to sleep in dads big tent. When Timber and Sierra came, we all went to the swinging tree. I have pictures of me at the swinging tree when I was about Azalyn’s age. Dad had inspiration and took a harness for the little girls.  Azalyn thought it was like a flipping bar and wanted to hang up side down. Denali went around twice but then lost all color. Colvin could not go enough or could not get high enough thanks to cousin Blazen, older cousins rock. Sierra brought roller blades. Colvin and Azalyn were in them more than they were out of them. Christmas! We went to my cousins pond. She has a zipline, it was super fun, but the water was so COLD, like take your breath away cold. Everyone played Denali’s game. Bayler was the big gamer this time. The girls are getting mature enough that they all played really well this time. We took two “cousin” photos, missing a few but just a great picture.  All of Timber’s family, (Ace flew in for 24 hours) Syringa’s, Sierra’s (Preston came down because of Ace) and McCarty’s family got to be together for 48 hours. We packed as many memories as we could. One night we stayed up till almost 2 just laughing and talking. Greg got a blessing for his back, what I got out of it, you have to have faith for your back, try anything and everything. We now know that we are not going to Tx but see other post we also know why.