June

I found the perfect place in Arizona for Greg. It is called Heber Arizona, and it is a little town in the mountains. That is were I met Timber to drop off Colvin and Azalyn. Azalyn was really excited until it was time to leave. Timber got in and left. Colvin and Azalyn had a great time, Huge blessing! Colvin let Azalyn sleep with him the whole week. Azalyn made a fire. Timber taught them tons of Camp songs. Colvin got in a motorbike wreck and loved every min of it. They helped Ace move rocks. Had tea and hot chocolate every night. That was just the highlights.  Azalyn cried the whole way home because Aunt Timber’s was the best.  Favorite songs: Father Abraham, and behind the refrigerator.

Driving home with Denali was fun just the one-on-one time. The next morning it was camp time. Denali went to a Youth Stake Camp. Greg and I went as kitchen help.  This camp was incredible. Denali might be disappointed with every other camp he goes to. I am just going to tell you the highlights. They had a huge Jesus walk with 26 different pictures of Jesus and about ½ a mile of tea lights. They had a concert with a huge projector. They had a dance with Dance Dance on the projector. They had a black-tie dinner on day 3 with a 3-course meal. They had tons of super fun activities. This was all done at a DRY camp. We had tons of leftovers for every meal. Better to have too much than not enough. When I dropped Denali off, I asked what he was most excited for, he said the bus ride home. When he got home, he was ALL smiles. After showering he just came into our bed and talked to us for about an hour.  Greg and I took our little tent and our floor mattress, it was perfect.

For camp they did a whole book on “walk with Jesus” that was the theme. I printed it out and we are going to do it for our Sunday thing. This week turned out better than I could of even prayed for. The lord’s hand is in all the details.

A very random blessing. On the way to pick up the kids I got my first speeding ticket. I guess I turned 40 and became a rebel. I was kind of sad I did not just get a warning, but once I looked at the ticket the cop was really nice. I was going WAY over the speed limit, and he only gave me a civil ticket, and do driving school online.

After the fun we had to get down to business. Our big summer job is hand cleaning and oiling the floors. We did a room a day, when it was over I said the house feels so clean. Azalyn said the house feels so empty.

I was able to be an escort for a friend in the temple. The lord has a hand in everything. I was getting dressed when I heard her, so I went out to give her a hug and was there just in time to be asked. A few weeks later I was asked to go to their family’s sealing. I got to stay and hang out with their daughters.

When we first moved into the ward there was 2 kids in Azalyn’s church class. Over the years a few more families have moved in, but it has been mostly boys. One Sunday there was a new family with a girl Azalyn’s age. She was overjoyed; She let every person in their class know, she was not quiet about it. Then we wonder why children are our examples. Can you imagine how full our churches would be if we all showed that level of enthusiasm.

Summers in Arizona= LOTS of water. At Hurricane Harbor the favorite things to do are the wave pool and the lazy river.  My favorite thing in the world is to read in our pool. I love the feeling of my shoulders frying.

We love going to the drive-in. In the summers they have other activities. They had a blow-up bull. Azalyn loved the bull almost as much, if not more, than the movie. We went to Toy Story 5. That added a new project to our summer list, stay tune.

Our big adventure this year was going to Idaho. It was the first time in over 2 years all of the sisters were able to get together.

I stopped at my cousins halfway and stayed the night. It was so fun to dust off some of those bridges. Then we got to see another cousin’s new house. I miss the cousin parties. Another shout out to Alani Nu, I drank one a day driving and never got tired. We were able to stop and see Trujillo and Charlotte; it was a quick fun hour visit. The highlight was to go to the truck stop and use their very nice bidet.   We also got to stop and see our old friends from Arizona. They are friends we see once a year and pick up right were we left off.

The first major stop was Carts for a week. My kids just wanted to play games, if moms don’t do stuff the kids don’t do stuff. The 3 girls played so great together. They played shop for 2 weeks. We put all the little girl’s hair in braids, (we did not want to fight with hair for the whole time) Azalyn was not 100% sure about the braids at first, until she realized no brushing. She was in LOVE and we left them in for 2+ weeks.

I could never write down all we did so I will give highlights, not even the pictures will capture it all since I was too busy talking and not taking pictures. McCarty and Brenden took us out on the boat. It was so fun just to be on the water. My boys have grown so much they could not get enough thrills. We were able to set up a slip N slide in McCarty’s back yard. The boys tried really hard NOT to run over the little girls.

I took My kids and Carts kids to the park, she had YW. I know why people have “two” families (wait to have more kids once their first “batch” of kids are older.)  I went to the park and SAT. I just bossed the olders around.  My kids thought everything Acacia said was so funny, yes even Azalyn laughed. Like when someone is kissing, ooo Gross, or my turn my turn and not your turn. Little do they know they were just as funny.  Idaho is in a terrible drought, so 3 of the 5 days we were at Carts it rained. They had one of the worst 30min storms they have had in 50 years.

We went to a dairy day parade, since it was the morning after the huge storm there was not a whole lot of people. We got tons of chocolate milk and cheese sticks. We also got free raceway tickets. That was really fun, but it was loud and late so Acacia was not having it. Denali is now officially taller than Blazen, a huge boost to him. With his height he loves to help. He packed the over head bin. He has a wicked Tetris game. Azalyn was sad that her brothers were carrying the other girls until she discovered she got Blazen the oldest. Older cousins are the best.   Azalyn had to teach all her cousin’s camp songs. We did have a fire at Carts; she has all the free firewood, for now. Timber brought some fireworks for us to light. She had the best sparklers; they lasted a long time. We also shot the bow and arrow, at McCarty’s. Denali loved it, I could not get the bow all the way back.

Denali did something really sweet for church, he asked if all his cousins could pass the sacrament. Thanks to his uncle being a counselor they all got to.

Then it was on to Sierra’s for a few days. I am not 100% sure if my kids actually slept one night because they were on the bus and I was in the house. Sierra’s kids will swim in freezing cold water. Sierra was the best mom ever and jumped in. I put my hand in it. Sierra had my cousin Brook and her family over for a fire. Azalyn was in love with all the fires, but she will not eat a hot dog. Go figure. Colvin loves cats but between all the hay, grass and cats his eyes and nose hates Idaho.

The major bad thing about being with sisters and being in Idaho is that no one goes to bed before 10:30. The sun does not even set till 9+.  One really hard thing about this trip is I was sick; I don’t think I am going to do my shot on long trips. The difference and quality of food (I have no self-restraint when it comes to food).  This trip filled my heart!!

\