Neighborhood Swimming

The Mitchells got an above-ground pool for the summer. You can bet it has been a popular spot with all the heat! We've gone over a number of times for neighborhood picnics and swimming. My favorite was the day I hadn't had time to cross train yet. Somehow I convinced all the moms to do strength training exercises with me around the backyard. We felt a little silly when Gregory came out to ask his mom something and we were all doing squats together. Hahaha!

It's a happy summer.

Battlecreek Falls

 We went hiking the other day to Battlecreek Falls. This is always a good hike with kids. My mom was able to join up with us and our neighbors, which was so delightful! I borrowed Elisa's carrier and Elsie got a sweet ride.

The kids ran up and down the trail as if they could never run out of energy. This may actually be true.

We made it to the waterfall. The boys loved climbing over the wet rocks. Elsie was kind of traumatized by the steep incline as she tried walking around.

On the way back we stopped and threw rocks for quite awhile.

The kids looked like little slave laborers gathering heavy rocks to make a bigger splash.

Five, four, three, two, one!

Success.

Round Up

We really got in the spirit of Round Up week this year! After swimming at the pool all afternoon, we happened across the concert in the park and thought we may as well enjoy our dinner and family night there. What beats Cup Bop in your swimsuit?

The kids really got into dancing and clapping along. I wish the pictures captured that!

Our friends the Hadfields came to visit family and wanted to see us while they were here. Audrey was Elsie's first friend, as noted here, and it was fun to see how they had changed in a year. Amber and I decided they pretty much look exactly the same but with hair. We had a picnic, played at the park, then ended up going back to our house to play with toys for awhile. Donny and Benny remembered the Legos and Imaginext guys and did not want to miss those. :) We were so flattered that they would want to come see us with all their busy vacation plans! I hope to see these guys again!

We got rodeo tickets and took the boys. It was delightful! I couldn't believe how late we stayed up (or how late they slept in the next morning- 9:00 and 9:30 are probably the records for Conner and Weston respectively). There were some great highlights this year. They had some monkeys trained to ride on sheep dogs like they were cowboys. They boys loved their concessions. And apparently I can't help but scream during the bull riders.

The big delight was definitely the motorcycle stuntmen at the end. The boys were ahhh-mazed.

Our ward made a cute "gone fishing" float for the parade. I walked with all three kids on Friday night.

Weston loved getting to ride in the boat.

We had planned to let the boys walk in the Saturday parade as well, but my training run ran late and we weren't going to make it on time to the rendezvous point. We happened to be able to join the Jetts in a great location and watched the parade all together. It was so delightful! The kids got way too much candy and Trey and I got sunburned knees. I really do love a parade.

After all this summer fun, we were pretty wiped out! It was great to be more laid back the following week.

Father's Day

I love Trey. I'm convinced he is the best father around. (Both of our dads are pretty amazing too. Close seconds, I guess.) We had some scheduling conflicts, so we tried to celebrate with my dad on Saturday. This also happened to be the only chance we could all get together to help Marissa and Taylor paint. So we all drove ourselves and our paint-splattered fingers to eat dinner at my parents' house. After a long day of working, I couldn't believe all the men wanted to do handstands on the grass. Funny guys.

The next day our little family celebrated with Trey. We made him some yummy meals and funny cards. He even got to FaceTime with his dad during Sunday School. Because of the time difference, we hadn't been able to talk to him all month. It was a great weekend. I hope Trey, Grandpa and Papa all felt our love!

Coach Pitch

Baseball was fun this year. I'm more excited about next year when they actually play by a few more rules, but Conner was perfectly happy with coach pitch as it was.

Elsie was mostly just happy to get to hang around Cora more often. She asks to "hold it" constantly. She thinks she is so big.

Sometimes I help.

Conner's favorite position was catcher (I think everyone's was?). It was where all the action was.

 Here are a few action shots.

Until next spring!

Summer Days

We haven't been up to any crazy things this summer. Just a whole lot of hanging around and having fun.

Marissa and Taylor bought a townhouse. We went to visit and get a quick tour one Sunday afternoon.

Elsie brought a lawn game.

A couple weeks later we made a great group effort and worked on painting their whole place. It was looking so good!! I can't wait to see as they move everything in and have that little baby boy, too.

We've been hard at work this summer. I really, truly love working around the house and I like to have the kids help me too. For the sake of a change, I made a new chore system this summer. I sewed little pockets and hung them up in the hall across from the boys' bedroom. Each night I put out a few cards with jobs for them to do the next morning. As they finish they can move the cards to the "done" slot. Amazingly, they have completed their chores 100% this summer. (The 15-minutes of ipad time may be a contributing factor, but I feel like it's a worthy compromise.) Elsie often wants to help us out.

(I felt crazy when all our furniture was crammed into one room! Thank goodness the wood floor project didn't take too long.)

We've had some hot weeks. Like high 90's and even up to 100 degrees. Children's museums and library visits help me from overheating.

 The boys have been so good at reading this summer. I found them reading to each other one morning. It made my heart happy.

Life is good!

Renovation Junkies?

It seems Trey and I cannot stop the home improvement projects. Even though we are so exhausted from the basement construction, we keep coming up with more things to do. While I was gone overnight on a hike with the young women, Trey built some stair stringers and a floor, changing the stairs from an L shape to straight up. It transformed our entryway from this awkward cramped space to something quite delightful. I was amazed at what a few extra square feet can do!

The difficulty to open our front door was one of the first things we wanted to change when we moved into our house 6 years ago, but we decided it wasn't worth the money just for our personal preference. Since we need to put the new carpet on the stairs that we've put in the basement, we decided this was the time to go for it. Our carpet guys were nice enough to wait until we got the stairs figured out to finish them up. (I can't wait for them to get here!)

Of course, this project left us with an awkward patch of floor upstairs that needed to be dealt with. We needed to replace the carpet in the front room anyway (and we never were in love with the slate in the entry), so we decided to rip out all the flooring and put down wood floor in the entryway/front room. While I was at Girl's Camp, Trey patched, textured, sanded, and painted the walls. He took out the old tile and carpet. We painted the door and the banisters a nice crisp white. Trey did all manner of late night projects so that when I came home, the two of us were able to put down the wood flooring.

I love the change! There are still a few details to go, but we are NOT going to be slaves to the home improvement tendencies within us. We will finish it all out soon enough!

Girls Camping

My calling in Young Women has given me a couple fun camping opportunities this year. Earlier I went with the older girls on an overnight backpacking trip. Besides some rain, it was so dreamy. The pack felt bigger than me, but it was fun to go! The only other time I've been backpacking was about 15 years ago when I went on my 4th year overnight hike. I'm sure my attitude has only gotten better in the past decade and a half. ;)

Going to Girl's Camp this year was so much fun. Without a nursing baby at home, I got to go for the whole week. It's much better that way! Trey, my mom, and Kristi took excellent care of all children and things here at home. I knew I had nothing to worry about. I loved hanging out with the amazing girls in our ward and staying up waaaay too late in the leader tent. Here's the group (I'm the third in the back row):

We kept our electronics at bay so there aren't a lot of photos. Here are a couple from the hike.

Some of my favorite highlights:
-having our stake president and his wife come up for the evening (I want to be just like them!)
-how cheerful and helpful each of the girls were
-the yummy food
-the ticks. Just kidding
-going running
-skits
-swimming at Deer Creek
-challenge game
-sunrise hike
-archery
-late nights talking
-coming home!!