July 2022

 

Samuel is showing off the muscles he's gained over the summer

The little boys and I "hiked" to Chalkridge falls.  We had a good time, even though Gideon had just fallen and scraped his knee, he had fun the rest of the time.   

Caleb was excited we actually found someplace to climb up a little bit and didn't just have flat ground the whole way.  

Gideon insisted on getting as close as possible to where they were setting off the fireworks, this is as close as we could get.  He was fascinated by the fire on the ground and kept trying to run toward it to put it out.  

Caleb had a lot of fun making things, and wanted to show off his rocket!

I left Austin in charge while I ran some errands, and she sent me this picture of what the boys were doing.  I hope they enjoyed taping each other to chairs because they used up a ton of masking tape!

Gideon is so happy that the watermelon seeds he planted in the grass are producing watermelons!  He talks to them every day and makes sure they get watered.  We have gotten the best watermelons to enjoy!

Samuel enjoyed a week camping and canoeing in Arkansas on his "high adventure" trip with the YM.  He said he was the best kayaker and had a lot of fun.  Unfortunately, he did end up losing his job going though, as his boss scheduled him to work (even though he had requested it off), he found a replacement, but at the last minute, the replacement canceled.  Samuel was already in another state and couldn't cover his shift, so he ended up quitting.  

We played some fun minute-to-win-it activities.  

More places the boys found to climb up on our Chalkridge Falls hike.  

My little hiking buddies

Caleb had fun building this bridge out of popsicle sticks. 

We got this stick-on mustache in a mystery finder game we did, and Malachi loved it!

Our old fridge stopped working very well, so we bought a new fridge.  Gideon was very pleased with the new purchase.  

Malachi made a boat out of popsicle sticks and hot glue

Caleb made an ark!

Caleb made a rocket

I took a tennis course with some ladies in the ward, well at least I started it.  I tested positive for COVID halfway through so I wasn't able to finish it.  But it was fun, while it lasted.  

I think these are my favorite cookies. Chocolate cookies, with a mint frosting, ganache, and Andes mints on top.  

Gideon made a flamingo and a panda out of plates

Malachi made a tall tower

Gideon helped make the tall tower

We carved our pumpkins in July because that is when our pumpkins were ready in the garden

Some of our garden harvest.  Watermelon, pumpkins, zucchini, cantaloupe, and lemon cucumbers.

July was a busy month.  I was finishing up my semester at BYU-Pathways, and the kids were also keeping busy doing things.  It was a super-hot month with no rain.  But we still got lots of produce, just not many greens, as bugs and heat killed a lot.  July 4th the kids wanted to watch fireworks, and we knew they were lighting a bunch off about a mile and a half from our house in a park, so Austin, Caleb, Malachi, and I started walking toward where the fireworks were going to be lit about dark.  We could see fireworks being lit everywhere around us, so Austin, Malachi, and Caleb stopped at a good spot just past our neighborhood and watched the fireworks going off.  Gideon, however, was insistent that he wanted to see the fireworks being lit, so I kept walking with him.  We eventually got all the way to the park and Gideon wanted to get up as close as he possibly could, so I walked with him as far as we could until security told us that was as far as we could go.  Since we had had such a dry hot summer thus far, there was a firework ban in place, unless you had a permit.  The field where there were lighting off fireworks was on fire around where the fireworks were being lit, and Gideon begged to go help the firefighters put out the fire.  I told him that we needed to leave it to the fireman and that he was just supposed to watch the fireworks.  He loved the fireworks and being so close to them.  After the show stopped, Gideon and I walked back home, and everyone else had a good time watching the fireworks as well.  The next day Austin got a sore throat and a cough, and so did the little boys, and then me, and Betsy.  We all thought we had colds and kept going about our week.  The next week I started my tennis class which was really hot still even though it didn't start until 8pm at night.  On Wednesday night Austin called me and told me she tested positive for COVID at work and was being sent home.  Her work had started testing employees weekly for COVID.  Even though we both knew we had already been sick for over a week, we all still had to quarantine for the rest of the week.  We believe we all had pretty mild symptoms since we had all been vaccinated and had booster shots.  I still had schoolwork to do, but everybody else pretty much got to watch screens and play at the house until our quarantine was over.  Samuel had left and gone on his high adventure Young Men's activity shortly after the rest of us got sick, so he was able to avoid getting sick.  When he got back from his trip, he pretty much stayed in his room away from us until our quarantine was over, and he never got sick. I finally finished my semester by the 23rd of July, and my summer vacation could finally begin!  Samuel drove (I was with him) to a Young Men's service project meeting place, but as he pulled into the meeting place, all the carpool cars started driving away, so Samuel and I just followed them to their destination, which was a little way away.  I didn't want to drive all the way back home, just to have to turn around and come back and get Samuel, so I just stayed and helped with their project.  They were cutting down these huge overgrown bushes/trees and dragging them to a big pile on the other side of their road, so I was able to borrow some gloves and help drag branches to the pile across the road.  I wasn't very well prepared, so I got plenty of scratches on my arms and legs, but it felt good to help someone else out.