Dear Friends and Family,

Took my poor mouth to the dentist this week. Had a 5 year old boy in the cubicle next to me who had to have 2 abscessed teeth pulled out after an accident who was non-stop screaming and panicked. In the cubicle on the other side side a woman whose emergency root canal had spread to her jawbone and was having bits of bone removed moaning softly. Made me very grateful to have headphones and a movie playing on the ceiling to watch for those 2 hours. Ended up getting my temporary crown put in after seeing that there was a huge cavity under the filling. Said it should be fine and not need a root canal. Last night I realized they had been wrong and so I holding out till tomorrow for a root canal. Never thought you could want a root canal but that makes 2 in one year. Maybe I need to switch my toothpaste!

Regular week of summer activities this week. Monday morning we spent the day exploring BYU - going to the Bean animal museum, seeing how Deseret towers and the old creamery had been torn down, having ice cream at the new creamery and walking around the art museum. With our kid's attention span they had a great time, and we were there for maybe 3 hours tops - we move fast. They loved the art museum which surprised me. We spent the afternoon hanging out in the waiting room at Lauri's dentist so it was good for everyone to be on an ice cream high.

Allison had her last week of reading camp this week. She learned about open and shut words - like she and shed where they are prounounced differently if there is a constanant shutting in the word. The way they teach is great but different than I learned - reminds me how Mom and Dad didn't understand snurks when I was a kid. Allison had her regular gym this week and than a 2 hour open gym to make-up a missed lesson. Thats where they just let a pack of kids loose on the equipment to do what they want with the coaches there for safety. She loved it. She had an ice cream party at school and a primary class ice cream party to say good-bye to her teacher - she was rubbing it in all week.

Robyn is constantly pulling out a dance skirt and asking for the chipmunk music soundtrack to be put on. She will dance for over an hour at a time - watching her reflection in the TV. Taylor was home this week hanging out. We all went swimming for the afternoon Thursday. Kids helped lather my back several times to make sure there was no repeat sun burns! Allison let Taylor have her big bed floaty and Taylor just laid on it with a smile on his face for hours. Allison is big enough to go on the slides by herself so she and Spencer enjoyed them. Even Robyn likes going on them as long as I keep her head above the water.

Jeremy seems to have more projects than time right now - when is that not the case though. Like a trooper he keeps working down his list. He installed outdoor shades to hang off the sides of our deck's partial arbor. Its really nice as you can sit outside without squinting at the sun now. Last night Jeremy and I went over to work on Lauri's place. She has a serious bug problem going on right now that is pretty gross. She had a fairly good attitude about us being there which made the evening much more pleasant. Jeremy man that he is took on the job of cleaning out the fridge. And we vowed to start checking it at least monthly instead of letting it pile up. Lauri sprained her ankle several weeks ago and is hard put to walk even a few feet right now. We made a big dent in the cleaning that is needed but there is a lot left to do. We just need to start planning to do it more often. We have to do it on a babysitter night as we're not able to watch kids safely and clean there at the same time.

Been trying to tackle weeds and stuff in the yard this week. Did some taping in the basement. I figure we work a little here and work a little there and eventually it will all get done. Its 95 degrees or hotter every day which makes weeding versus working in a cold basement and easy choice most days. Our neighbor a blocked away had their house burn down this week - quite sobering to watch their predicament and makes me very grateful for our family and things that aren't "things".

Love to you all, Heather


Robyn has gotten down the art of holding her blanket at bed time/nap time and saying "cuddle me, read me a book, more please" Hard to resist.


Allison didn't want me to take this picture. Spencer and Allison have been playing lots of monopoly this week. I and Meredith have been pitch hitters when needed although I draw the line at 30 min to an hour of playtime. They're learning all sorts of new words: mortgage, tax...

Allison and Spencer read our comic books hanging out in the living room all the time. They have been trying to act out some of Calvin's scenes - hence I have gotten shot by a water gun wielded by ski mask kids MANY times this week while gardening. Spencer found a site of pranks for even more ideas. They rubber banded the water sprayer on our sink to the open position so when I turned on the faucet the sprayer soaked my shirt. They thought it was hilarious - I didn't laugh till later.





Spencer filmed this. He and Allison have been making lots of movie lately and love to show them off.