A Day in the Life...

 How can school start in less than a month?  Have we actually done anything this summer? Here's a catch up of every day life. Two new drivers on the road after both  the girls passed their permit tests! Yay! A Sunday afternoon as a family trying to do a little Come Follow Me lesson.  They were more engaged than these pictures show... and proof that we try.  Happy Anniversary to Tim and I a few days ago!  And orange flowers, which I love. And a text where he said I was the best thing, which I loved more. He's the best person in my life, no questions asked. For our anniversary we did practically nothing, haha.  Maybe next year. The night before our anniversary, though, we went out to dinner as a family and walked around the Provo mall.  Celebrating the anniversary of a family born works for us! Last weekend our AC went out. I almost died. No, actually. I almost died. I was ready to live in the van.  Being outside in the sweltering heat was cool...

 Kota, when talking about going to work with Tim once or twice a week: "You don't understand just how bad it is there. Time doesn't even exist there. Lunch time comes and you still have 5 hours left to work. I don't even think it's worth the money bro."  ----------- Also Kota: "Mom, we're out of ketchup. How can you buy like four things of mustard and they're in our food storage and no more ketchup?" Me:  "Okay, maybe we should try making our own ketchup?" Kota: "Mom no, please, leave ketchup alone! We would never buy real ketchup again if you start making it. Mom please no." --------------- Me: "Did you guys know you can use hypochlorous acid if you have a sunburn, to sanitize the bathroom and kitchen, to spray on anything to disinfect it, to rinse your fruits and vegetables and, to use on a rash, to use for pimples, to wash your scalp with, all of the things you can do with hypochlorous acid!" Kota: "you...

 Tim: "Don't talk about my health on the blog." Me: "Can I just say it's a roller coaster?" Tim: "Okay say that." So there it is, and I'll talk about my health instead. What a journey it is. Things I thought 20 years ago aren't true about my body. Things I put all my time and effort into 6-8 years ago unknowingly set me back because they were too strenuous. Stress from my car accident and everything moving forward had a direct and damaging impact on my body, especially as it's gotten older. Some things I've tried have helped; like doing my own research and finding the right doctors. My biggest health challenges are all hormone related, and by hormone related I mean insulin related.  That little hormone is a life-saver and a life killer. Did you know that insulin challenges are going on internally a DECADE before manifesting externally? That means that 10 years before I was pregnant with Copper and got gestational diabetes, my inside...

Micah: "Look at this cool knife I bought at Cabela's... but can you fold it because I can't figure it out." My mom came and replaced SEVEN sprinklers while I was at work and my brother Tom came and adjusted all of them.  I'm grateful for them.  The responsible part of me tries not to care about watering the lawn so much this year in such a drought, but the vain part of me cries when my lawn is yellow.  My dog smiling at me, hahaha Don't let these pictures fool you. I was prepared and excited to make homemade ravioli since the girls were gone all week for girls camp. Date night with Tim and fresh pasta. Filled with ricotta, parmesan, egg, and beet root powder, which made the filling a pretty pink. Looks pretty. Tasted okay. It made four large ravioli before I called it quits.  The dough was too dry and tough. I am determined to become a pasta maker... but not today. Me on July 4th:  "Tim, we should just wake up the girls and go to Lava Hot Springs." T...

We are selling our 5th wheel since we're also selling Tim's work truck. We planned on replacing our trailer but decided we'd become tent campers.  Tim researched equipment and settled on nothing less than a 12 person tent, 18" air mattresses, and a camping toilet and privacy tent. We took off the night before the twins birthday. I had to work 2/3 of the day and I'm grateful for the gang to have gotten everything ready! It rained ash on everything and the sky was heavy with smoke because nearly all of Utah was on fire. It was way too cold for the lake, and this was the only 'campfire' we could make with all the restrictions and drought.  Good enough! My dad gave us his old side by side so we took it up and tried it.  The girls LOVED it- especially Micah.  The dog liked it too, haha.  Tim's neck and back did NOT like it. A long nap after a long day of doing absolutely nothing By Saturday night, the wind was whipping us all around, the tent was caving in, ...

We were in town for Copper's birthday and got to celebrate her 17 years. Yay! 17 Things about Copper: She likes to read She likes alone time She loves to sing She likes to dance She likes pancakes She wants to go on a mission in a year She has plans to study physics She has a great laugh She likes playing Zelda with Tim She is kind enough to run errands for me Her streak for reading scriptures is hundreds of days at a time She loves nap time and this is an understatement She has amazing hair She's content with just about everything She is kind She can laugh at just about everything She likes cats and the rest of us don't really  :)  Her YW leaders gave her the little hair band and she took a face mask that was given to me and had quite the birthday morning. I made this sign and changed the countdown number everyday Happy Birthday Copper! -------------------------------------------------- We were out of town for the twins birthday, but I made this sign about 10 days before t...

  Today, someone in church showed this and I felt like it represents my life sometimes.  Life is always good and it's hard and it's lonely and it's funny and it's scary and it's lovely and sometimes I don't know what to pray for but I trust that God knows what I'm trying to say.