A Day in the Life...

I signed the girls up for swim lessons with a swim academy whose reputation convinced me to spend a LOT of money.  First lesson was really great and I was pretty impressed with their teacher.  Now that they're finally all pretty comfortable with water, we're just working on skills.  They were practicing diving by the end of their first lesson, so I call it a win. The other day (last night) I remarked to Tim that I thought our tree had died.  It didn't bloom this year, which is super unlikely for the end of June.  Tim grabbed a pretty thick branch and it snapped right off.  I took that as a sign of death so he kept snapping them off.  Our cool neighbor saw the excitement and never turns down a chance to saw things down, so the next thing we knew the tree was gone.  We'll pull up the stump when we have some extra time, but for now our kitty Boots likes it. These two brothers out for a walk.  Hoke is much bigger and shaggier than...

An early birthday date with grandma.  She took them separately this year, which is a good thing because they no longer want to celebrate together AT ALL.  So we tried to acknowledge they really are individuals who deserve their own day and time.  I try to remind them the birthday date is a great time to just spend with grandma, and they remind me of all the crap/garbage (toys) she buys them! And look at Red; he loves my mom and she's adopted him as her 11th grandchild...  We celebrated Micah's birthday yesterday and she picked the zoo as our family activity.  It was perfect, especially for being the end of June- which is usually blistering hot.  Actually, it felt chilly and was windy, but the animals loved it and we saw all of them out and about playing.  Except for the tigers, who wouldn't wake up.  This was a huge disappointment for Micah and she was mega bummed out.  After the zoo she picked Black Bear Diner for her birthday ...

Micah:  Are these bumps on my nose pimples? Me:  No. Micah:  Oh, are they puberty? Micah:  Do I follow my cousins, or do I follow my dreams? Me: Well, what do your cousins say? Micah: They tell me to get a Fitbit for my birthday. Me:  What are your dreams? Micah: To have my own room...

When nobody's looking, Taryn will hold the girls' hands...  Look at this hairy, shaggy, old-man puppy.  His beard is turning brown, so it always looks dirty; his hair on his back, upper face, and legs is turning white.  So he really does look like a shaggy old man dog.  It was time for a haircut! He LOVES car rides and happily jumped in.  I know he doesn't LOOK happy here, but he is. Seriously- look at this shag! All cleaned up!  I love that they left his tail super long and curly, and the top of his head. Taryn passed her test for her learner's permit!  Gah!  Fourth time's a charm... hahahaha  Swimming pool time.  Tim's sandals broke so he wore great big cowboy boots... hahahaha And, Dakota and Copper tried the high dive for the first (and second, and third) time(s) My brothers and I had a Dutch oven party at my sister's.  I didn't really want to go, but we went anyway and it ...

Happy 10th Birthday to the most beautiful, kind, loving, joyful, helpful, and overall best-ever, most favorite girl! How I love my Copper!    We celebrated over half the week, starting with her birthday date with grandma.  I took a last minute picture, which was blurry and in the middle of a rainstorm, so we'll just have to imagine.  Oops.  Just picture a Caboodle (her own!) filled with all sorts of girly things like hair brushes, make-up, nail polish, and anything else.  We went swimming with (some of our) cousins the day before her birthday- always love the first pool day of the season! June 8th, her actual birthday, she woke up early to find the decorations Dakota and I stayed up late making, and she ate a much anticipated doughnut for breakfast.  She opened gifts and got exactly what she wanted: roller blades (okay, I gave her these early two weeks ago), a kids' fitbit (to match her cousin Cameron's), and some odds and ends from her sist...

The clouds have enveloped us for weeks now, with lots and lots and lots of rain.  I'm so grateful for the rain and so ready for the heat, all at the same time. Copper finished her 4th grade State of Utah final project.  She's been working on this book and its contents all year and it contains more than anyone needs to know of our dear state.  I'm proud of how hard she worked and super impressed by her wood burning for the cover! It's the end of the school year and so comes the flood of everything else that comes with it.  The second grade had its first annual bike safety and parade day; the twins were stoked to bring their (new, early birthday present) bikes and learn safety and form from the local high schools' mountain biking teams.  "Kids, make sure you bring your multi-tool with you when you ride, and don't forget to take good care of the drive chain."  Hahaha.  They rode around the block in the pouring rain, got freezing, and a few of th...

Tulip Festival: Better the second time, for sure.  Orange is my favorite color so I made them pose by the ones I loved the most.  Amber and I have this step challenge going every Monday through Friday; 83,000+ steps in a week is pretty good.  She's hard to keep up with but I try.  The ongoing competition has me moving way more than I was! Poor Micah (sad Hulk)... it's a hard life... Don't let them fool you; they barely tolerate each other... Taryn got her braces off! The massive pile of dirt was finally removed from my mom's back yard... The second grade play; the one where every single second grader has ONE line .  The girls were supposed to dress up.  Dakota was Little Bo Peep and this was the best we could do.  Micah was Rapunzel; she was completely disgusted by it all and said, "Well, I'll be going as myself."  So she wore her fearless dress and Vans sneakers AND she stood there cold-stone faced for the e...