Jul 20 - 26

Monday, July 20 - This was a proud mom moment for me. Nick got all A's in every class this year! His cumulative GPA is 3.981 because he got one B last year in 7th grade. I have been so thankful that he applies himself and actually learns the material because it has come in so handy with the younger kids as we've navigated home schooling in the past few months! I'm so happy for my boy!

Tuesday, July 21 - We were supposed to go to the Blackridge Reservoir this morning but our friend texted and said that it looked pretty nasty. I didn't believe it so I drove up there myself and sure enough, there was tons of moss growing everywhere and the water level was super low! After an hour of deciding, we ended up at the Oquirrh Shadows Splash Pad. It was fun but it felt short because we had to get home, showered, and to Zack's 9 year well check by 1:40. This kids hasn't really grown much so they want him to increase his calories each day by drinking a protein shake every day and adding calories to his meals each mealtime. If we don't think those things are working for him, he will be referred to a Pediatric Endocrinologist to make sure that his growth hormones are okay. The good thing is that he really listens to his doctor so he is doing great adding calories each day!

Wednesday, July 22 - For Young Women's tonight we had a 'smores and horses social-distancing activity. We set up fires and roasted marshmallows for 'smores. Then, once everyone was nice and sugared up, Erik Nyholm helped them ride his horses around the arena. It was so great to be outside and together with the girls. I miss them so much!

Thursday, July 23 - Kendra keeps asking me if we can "Kool Aid" her hair again. I did love it last time we did it but it is permanent and I was worried about that. Jenny Nyholm was telling us about a temporary color she put in Anna's hair so we tried it out. We did purple ends and I do like it. The only problem was that after she washed it out and went to blow dry it, it got little purple splatters all over the doors and trim. Oops! Simon wasn't very happy. In other news, at work this morning, Marisa got a scary call from her mom that Trevor was hurt and on his way to the hospital. He ended up with these 24 stitches and a cool story to tell. (Haha, he ran into the roof of his grandparent's chicken coop.)

Friday, July 24 - The Olson's asked us if we would like to spend the 24th holiday with them. We started out by hiking Gloria Falls. It was beautiful and such a fun hike! We packed lunches and ate at the top near the falls. So fun! Then, after a little cool down and nap time, we got back together for a BBQ at the Olson's and then came over to our house to watch the neighbor's firework show. This has been such a fun day and feels much more like a "normal" July holiday!

Saturday, July 25 - We got together to celebrate sweet little Kayla's 1st birthday and Kam's 5th birthday! They are so cute!! It was a fun little Unicorn and Avengers party...until the wind kicked up and broke up the party. It's okay, we all had a blast!

Sunday, July 26 - Well, I don't know how I really feel about this but...Simon bought Nick a new 50" TV for his room. If you know me, you know that I am anti-TV's in bedrooms! However, Simon was getting super sick of all of the PlayStation stuff being out and a mess in the theater room so he caved. Nick decided that he didn't want everyone sitting all over his bed when they came in to play the PS4 so he found this solution: a bunk bed with a bed on top and a futon on bottom. I'll admit, he does have a pretty sweet set up! And now the theater always looks amazing! :)

Jul 13 - 19

Monday, July 13 - The aftermath of the party is here. Haha! I plan to sell some of the decorations I bought for the centerpieces and hopefully get some of the money back. And they gave us SOOO much rice. Well, they overdid the rice and beans but the rice was ridiculous! We can have Mexican food from now until Christmas! 

Tuesday, July 14 - Kaylee Price in our ward has started doing piano lessons. I would really like my kids to at least have a basic music background so Kendra and Zack had their first official lesson with her today. I tried to talk Nick into it but he was not having it. :(

Wednesday, July 15 - Our family participated in a ward service project. It was a yard clean up for a family that just had a new baby. It was nice to get to help and to be together with friends serving. The kids loved the donuts and Popsicles!

Thursday, July 16 - Happy birthday to my old man! I can't believe I met him when he was 19 and now he's 40!!! We had an interesting day of getting his saxophone appraised, picking out carpet for our family room upstairs, and spending way too long at Home Depot! We did, however, get Cafe Rio for dinner and watched a movie as a family; "Just Go With It". I hope he has had a good day and a good week (starting with his birthday party on Saturday). 

Friday, July 17 - Kendra was invited to Savannah's birthday party tonight. I felt so bad, I completely spaced it!! I was at Liz's house moving clothes for our semi-annual warehouse sale when Simon texted me asking if I knew the party was tonight. Oops, I thought it was tomorrow on Savy's actual birthday. Luckily, the girls came to our house and got Kendra. Nick came with me to Liz's and was incredibly helpful with moving everything up from the basement. He was honestly amazing!! I was super impressed about how hard he worked!

Saturday, July 18 - I spent the whole day (basically from 7:30 am to midnight) at the warehouse sale in West Jordan. To say I was exhausted would be a complete understatement! While I was gone there, Simon thought he would be hilarious and put the toilet that he took out of the Mickey Mouse bathroom in the front garden. Haha! He said that he would be happy to put some dirt in and grow some flowers in it. Silly guy!

Sunday, July 19 - We asked what my family was doing for dinner super last-minute and Jenni was so sweet. She said that she had plenty of food and for us to come. Trevan was a trooper letting the girls climb up on him. :) We had dinner there and then Zack and Ricki slept over at Jenni's and we brought Halle home with us. It was fun for them but Halle and Kendra couldn't fall asleep so they were awake until almost 1:30 and Ricki went in Jenni's room at 12:30 crying and upset that she wanted to go home. She crawled into bed with Jenni and BJ but BJ ended up going and sleeping in Halle's bed. I felt so bad! It turned out well though so that was good. :)

Jul 6 - 12

 Monday, July 6 - Dave and Viv came over again tonight to have ice cream. :) We all rode together to Iceberg for cones and yum, they are good! We also took a little walking adventure out our backyard on the dirt trail. We walked over and saw the Campbell's and the Sivertson's horses. What a fun Family Night!

Tuesday, July 7 - I am spending lots of time this week in my office...alone! I am trying to get everything ready for Simon's big 40th birthday bash this Saturday. I am going to put pictures of Simon in these centerpieces too but this is a little preview of what is to come. 

Wednesday, July 8 - Our summer of fun is kind of a bummer. It consists of only going to outdoor places that we can stay plenty far away from everyone else. However, today was a little more fun. Simon turned on the sprinklers in the backyard for the kids and you would have thought they died and went to heaven! They had a blast out there together. When they all play together, my mommy-heart soars! 

Thursday, July 9 - Happiest of birthdays to my boyfriend Zack! Oh man I love this kid! He got a new Pro Scooter at our family party last week so he only got a squirt gun (that lasted one day) and a package of Reese's. Zack's big request for today was Chick-Fil-A so we got that and took it to the splash park. He also wanted to have a late night with Chase and Anna so they came over at 6:00, had Zack's favorite dinner (cinnamon rolls, eggs, and bacon), and played the PlayStation until 9:30.

Friday, July 10 - Ricki got a cute new owl bedding set for her birthday. Mom crocheted those three matching owls - SOOO cute! I had to take a picture of this though because as we were cleaning up her room together, I asked Ricki to put her scrapbook in her closet. She said, "No, I'm going to keep it here because I like to read it at night". She simply loves this book that's all about her. Thanks to Aunt Jenni for giving it to her!

Saturday, July 11 - The big day has arrived! We had Simon's big 40th birthday bash at the Western Springs Park. I did the decorating with the help of my mom, sister, and Marisa. We had the food catered from Las Glorias (and a little from McDonald's and Amie's kitchen). I made the cake that says, "Holy crap you're old" and that was the theme of the evening. Everything was toilet paper and poop emoji's. Haha! It turned out great and so many came to support my old guy! Such a great time together celebrating the man I love. 

Sunday, July 12 - We had SOOOOO much food leftover. Seriously, we ate less than half of the rice and beans they gave us at Simon's party. So we had Las Glorias part II at my parent's house tonight. We invited Amie and Alex to come over and repeated yesterday's dinner. :) And guess what, it was just as good the second day as it was the first! 

Jun 29 - Jul 5

Monday, June 29 - The girls were bored today and wanted matching nails so we all went in together and painted Kendra's then Ricki's nails. Mine were already painted red, white, and blue so now we're all three twinning. :)

Tuesday, June 30 - The new Relief Society Presidency put on their first activity: Sisterlicious. They did a drive-through soda activity (like Sodalicious). It was super cute! However, I was not so happy to get my picture taken at that moment. I had just gotten done with my very first migraine message so I was sore and had oil in my messy hair! :) Oh well, I was still happy to drive through and get my straight up Diet Coke on ice! (Please note that my van had just sat out through a VERY dirty rainstorm. It was washed promptly the next day!)

Wednesday, July 1 - We were sitting at the table this morning when the doorbell rang. Ricki and Kendra went to the door and I hear Kendra yell, "Thank you". Ricki came in with a bag from her Primary teacher, Sister Jewel Smith, and unloaded all this candy, drinks, and trinkets onto the table. Sister Smith is so great! I know Ricki feels loved and cared about. 💜 Simon keeps losing PTO hours because he has accrued the maximum hours allowed by the credit union so he took today off. We bought this overhead storage rack to put up some of those things that we don't want to throw away but we also don't want taking space on our garage floor. He and Nick got it done!

Thursday, July 2 - Our family went out to Ryan and Ashley's house for their fun gender reveal party. I really have thought since they announced that she was pregnant that it was a girl but everyone else seemed to be thinking boy. I was super happy when the smoke turned PINK! We are so excited to add another little girl to the family! I'm so happy for Ry and Ash!

Friday, July 3 - We had so much fun tonight with the Fraser's! Cute Amie has been wanting to get together to have dinner and play volleyball. We finally did it tonight at Butterfield Park. The men BBQ'ed for us then we played a fun game of volleyball. I would love to say who won but honestly, we were about equally awful at the sport! It didn't matter though, it was just fun being there together!

Saturday, July 4 - Happy Independence Day! This was a strange day for us. Typically, the 4th of July is one of my very most favorite holidays. However, last year and now this year have been super...off. Last year, it was cold and rainy. This year, every city cancelled their celebrations so there was really nowhere to go during the day. Tonight, we got together with the Howard's for a small birthday celebration for Zack and Ricki. We met at 8:00, did gifts, had cake and ice cream, then lit fireworks in my parent's circle. It was super fun and so nice to be together again!

Sunday, July 5 - Happy birthday to the best Mom in the entire world! We all went over to Jenni's house to celebrate mom's birthday. I am so so thankful for her and all she does for our family!