As usual, our last bit of summer was wonderfully crazy! Because I can't possibly hope to do justice to everything that happened, you get a smorgasbord of pictures...partially because I want to share with my friends/family/readers what we've been up to, but mostly because I want a safe place to save these pictures and remember what was happening in them.
You know what I'm talking about.
You know what I'm talking about.
One particular aspect of this particular summer is that I have spent a LOT of time over at my parents' home. One of these times, I got tired and decided to take a nap-I woke up to Maggie sitting on my legs, reading to me.
Tell me that's not cute. I dare ya.
One reason that I spent so much time with my family was that my sister NaElle visited from Idaho for two blissful weeks!! During that time, I was over visiting every day, and because we're all broke and live in a tiny little town, we had to get creative with our entertainment. Have you ever realized just how entertaining construction tape can be?
She was excited when I curled her hair one day, and asked me to take a picture. Of course I complied!
Clark has been attending his preschool for a while now, and has really enjoyed learning to read and write better--one of his improvements is that he now writes all of the letters in his name--in order, from left to right!
Crue (my nephew) and Maggie are only a couple of months apart in age, so it was fun to see them spend a lot of time together while the boys were in school every day.
They also both like to pose for pictures...although Crue has yet to realize the value of props is in enhancing the face, rather than covering it up.
Clark had a dress-up day at Preschool, where his teacher sent me this picture:
On one of the days we visited, Crue, Clark, and Jack all ended up wearing green T-shirts, totally by coincidence. Another picture opp!
As I've mentioned before, August is a beautiful time of year in Northern AZ, so we spent plenty of time hanging out in my parent's yard, letting the kids play and feeding the mosquitoes. Abe, my brother, was excited that he was able to walk without crutches:
And I just caught a few snapshots of us in typical "hanging-out-and-talking" mode. The pics are a little blurry, because people were moving, but I didn't want to tell them I was taking a picture....that's waaay too much work.
Clark and Jack brought their bandit masks to play, and Crue was SO impressed. I think it was fun for Clark to have another little boy to boss around. NaElle was a good sport and had me take this picture of her surrounded by chillins.
After Na and the kids moved, Steve took over the swing. (Fun fact, my dad built this swing to display at our wedding reception--7 years ago!)
It was fun to have Steve around more than he usually is when family is visiting--unless they visited on actual holidays, Steve usually was working for the majority of the time they were here. This time, he got to be home four days out of the week, which was really enjoyable! However, 12-hour shifts (usually end up being closer to 14 with reports, finishing up any loose ends with patients, and the drive from here to the hospital) are exhausting, and so my dad snuck this picture of Steve after a long day of work when he came by to visit.
My youngest brother, McKay, turned 16, and true to tradition, my mom hosted a surprise party for him! Some traditions are tricky, and trying to come up with clever ways to actually surprise 11 children for their 16th birthday was one of those--but it worked! She threw a massive party for the entire band one morning, and McKay had no idea.
We asked one of his friends to snap a pic of all of the family members there--apparently this friend isn't aware of where fingers should be placed, but no worries; you can see everyone's faces.
Yup. He was definitely surprised!
The spread:
We made him an uber-fancy donut cake. Be impressed, it was soooo hard.
One of the days NaElle and her kiddos were here, we went to 4-mile Knoll, a little, well, knoll that our family loves to hike. At one point, my dad was carrying NaElle's second son, Ty Shon (named after him) on his shoulders, and I had to grab a picture. It was just so sweet.
While NaElle was in town, she offered to cut my hair. I love it when she thins my hair out--it gets so much less bushy, and it's much easier to style. Behold, my sister's amazing hairstyling skills:
Looks good, huh?
She also tried to help fix Maggie's self-cut bangs, but there was little to be done in that situation other than wait the required 18 months for them to finally grow out.
Group selfie! See the family resemblance, anyone?
At one point we were running errands with Maggie, Crue, and Ty, and they got balloons! Balloons make everything more exciting--even running errands!
Levi, my brother, has had some major knee problems since his mission, and he finally was able to go into a surgeon, who removed a major foreign body from his knee. Because my parents were in the Valley that day, I got to be the one to go pick him up--let's just say that drugged-up people are pretty fun to hang out with!
Although his knee is (thankfully) healing amazingly well, he was pretty sore for a while after the surgery happened, thus necessitating his use of one of those awesome motorized shopping carts when we stopped at Walmart. It was pretty funny to watch him crashing into things as he tried learning how to maneuver that thing!
Molly, the day before her mission--we let Maggie walk around with my mom's digital camera while I helped Molly pack up her room, and Maggie decided that Molly's poses weren't interesting enough. This is Molly following Maggie's explicit instructions on how to pose for a picture:
And then, Levi came home for a quick lunch break and I snapped a picture of the two of them saying good-bye:
Whew! Missions are intense, people!!
I made her take a selfie with me, just because I knew it would be a while before my next chance:
And then we got a couple of shots of her with Clark and Maggie (Jack was at school). My mom is a very enthusiastic photo-bomber:
Silly faces!
Clark was a little emotional about Molly leaving. Can't blame him--I was, too.
But look at this girl! She's gonna be an AWESOME missionary! Portland is lucky to have her for the next year and a half.
Also, can I say that Sister missionaries these days are so lucky that they get to look cute? When I went shopping for my mission, I cried--the pictures and info they sent me were SO frumpy, and I felt like I was spending all of my money on grandma clothes. Then, of course, I showed up to the MTC and realized that no one else was dressed like I was.
Good thing I went to Taiwan where people thought I was cute despite my frumpster clothes!
Lately, Steve's been on a huge pug kick. He grew up with pugs as his family pets, and he's been begging for one for a while. Because our last doggie adoption attempt ended with such a heartbreak, I've set down the law--no more dogs until after the baby is born and I'm back to some semblance of sanity.
But when we were out shopping for Molly's mission wardrobe and came across this, we couldn't resist:
Think it'll work?
Mother-daughter selfie!!
Aunt-niece selfie!!
Tell me that's not cute. I dare ya.
And this one. My adorable little scientist! It's fun to see some of what he's been up to during those hours he's away from us.
I'm realizing that there aren't many pictures of Jack, and it's because he's spending the majority of his time either at school or visiting friends! The kid is SO social.
We asked one of his friends to snap a pic of all of the family members there--apparently this friend isn't aware of where fingers should be placed, but no worries; you can see everyone's faces.
Our hiking crew! L-R: Reid, Ty, Brittney, NaElle, me, Steve, my mom, Maggie, my dad; front row: Crue, Clark, and Jack
We got out of there JUST before one of those quick AZ summer showers came in, complete with hail--I was thanking our lucky stars we didn't have to get wet and muddy!
She also tried to help fix Maggie's self-cut bangs, but there was little to be done in that situation other than wait the required 18 months for them to finally grow out.
I spent a lot of time with my mom in their basement, helping her to inventory several THOUSAND books for her job, and at one point, Jack, Clark, and Trigger (a cousin) started a rock band. I laughed when I saw Jack's serious pose:
Although his knee is (thankfully) healing amazingly well, he was pretty sore for a while after the surgery happened, thus necessitating his use of one of those awesome motorized shopping carts when we stopped at Walmart. It was pretty funny to watch him crashing into things as he tried learning how to maneuver that thing!
Wrestling time with Daddy!!
This next picture definitely needs explaining--one of the days before Molly (my sister) left on her mission, we were all outside at my parents' house, doing our various activities--my parents, Maggie, and I were in the front yard, picking strawberries, and the boys were in the back yard, playing near the barn (boy, did that sound like Little House on the Prairie, or what?!?).
While we were all out there, a MASSIVE hailstorm came and caught us all off guard. I checked to make sure my dad got in with Maggie okay (they managed to get shelter before they even got wet), and then I ran back to the back kitchen window to see where the boys were. I saw Jack already down in the barn with Lot, our cousin, but Clark was by the trampoline. He looked terrified and disoriented, and then he, too, ran down to the barn.
Manasseh (oh, my brave cousin!) and Molly braved the worst of the hail to run down to stay with the boys until the worst of the storm had passed. I tried to follow with an umbrella, but the wind knocked me over as I tried to climb down the steps--last time I experienced wind that strong was during a typhoon that hit while I was living in Taiwan!
I paced for a little bit, watching out the window--I could see Clark in Molly's arms, his hands over his ears, and I could tell he was crying. Jack seemed okay, but I knew I needed to get out there. I closed the umbrella and dashed through the storm to go check on everyone.
If you've never heard a hailstorm on a tin barn roof, I've decided you've never truly appreciated noise....it was crazy! We waited to gather our courage, and then all dashed back up to the house. Just in that time, we got completely soaked--I couldn't have been any more wet had I jumped in a swimming pool with my clothes on!
My dad memorialized the occasion (you can see how impressed Clark wasn't--it was actually pretty traumatizing to him), and Molly and I each had a few bruises from the hailstones, but, hey! We survived a hailstorm!
I love that my kids love to read!
Good thing I went to Taiwan where people thought I was cute despite my frumpster clothes!
Lately, Steve's been on a huge pug kick. He grew up with pugs as his family pets, and he's been begging for one for a while. Because our last doggie adoption attempt ended with such a heartbreak, I've set down the law--no more dogs until after the baby is born and I'm back to some semblance of sanity.
But when we were out shopping for Molly's mission wardrobe and came across this, we couldn't resist:
Mother-daughter selfie!!
....and there ya go!
Honestly, I'm so grateful to be able to look back on these pictures and realize what a good summer this has been. Busy, crazy, but wonderful.
Comments
Miss you tons.
Love ya!