Dear Friends and Family,

This week was a week of catching up on life and jobs and then some celebrating at the end. Monday was a day of cleaning. We went early to clean Jeremy's office with kids cheering for their free doughnut (courtesy of storytime's coupons) at the end. Then Meredith came over for the day which our kids loved while I met Kelly to work on cleaning Lauri's place. We were thinking we were maybe a quarter of the way through. Rather depressing to look at what still needs to be done so I am trying to focus on what has been accomplished.

Tuesday I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Not sure why perhaps it was the little girls who kept waking me up convinced someone was breaking into our house. At 3 am all sympathy and motherly feelings are gone. I tell them to lay in their beds and stare at the ceiling and just stop bugging me! In the morning I always feel remorse but I am usually too grumpy/sleep deprived to do much about it. Allison is doing this a lot lately. Keep trying to convince her that Rocky and Jeremy will protect her - she doesn't seem convinced yet. So it was one of those days where kids knew not to do anything wrong or the wrath of mom would descend upon them. We babysat our old neighbor Angie Jolley's 4 kids for the day as they were packing up to move. Spencer was busy playing the Bill Cosby's video of "Dad is great, he gives us the chocolate cake". Last Sunday we had chocolate cake for dessert with Jeremy serving it and singing that phrase. So of course our kids had to see the original video and then Spencer being Spencer - if its funny once its even more funny after you show if multiple times to everyone you know! I went to bed early and no one woke me up and happiness returned once again to our kingdom. Jeremy had a photo group that night which was good timing as I was not good company to be around. Kids were happy and tired after playing with their old friends.

At gymnastics Wednesday Allison had a momentary scare after being stung twice by bees that had flown in an open door - her first time. Once she realized she wasn't allergic and that it wasn't too bad she calmed down, sucked it up and had a great time working on her flips. I just enjoyed once again having a handle on life with laundry done, lawn mowed and all the misc household things that make me happy. Allison once again got ringworm, this time on her shoulder. It makes me look with suspicion at every kid with a band-aid to figure out who she is catching it from! Allison and Robyn had two friends, Sarah and Tally Shippen over for the afternoon and enjoyed playing together. Spencer ran around with scouts checking off pin requirements - he is socking up the pass-offs for the upcoming pack meeting.

Thursday we babysat 4 kids for another friend, Brenda Hancock who was at Girls' Camp. It has been a friend week and our kids are just eating it up. Spencer used to really but heads with their boy Grant but now they get along most of the time. Went to storytime at the library. Kids love it. Every week they get a coupon for some free treat if they turn in their reading log. Then they do crafts, read books, sing songs etc. We made a big dinner to share with our neighbor whose wife is dying of cancer so our house smelled like pot roast all day making everyone eager for dinner. We have been having a lot of unusual rain storms lately but kids don't seem to care and spent the afternoon biking around in the drizzle. Robyn inherited Allison's old bike and outfits herself in knee pads and helmet and the walks the bike around. Doesn't really every try to ride it but maybe someday. It might help if it didn't have two flat tires!

Friday Jeremy ended up having the day off. Spencer and I headed up to SLC for his drug study apmt. He is now 106 pound and 5 feet 3/4 inches. We came back and picked up Meredith and rest of the family and went to Del Taco for lunch. Kids all had free lunch coupons courtesy of story time - not sure how healthy fries, soda and a deep fried taco is but they were all happy. Then we picked up a friend and all headed to the pool for the afternoon. A few months ago Jermey picked up a water case for my camera and was busy trying it out with kids happy to perform. Saw a kid being fished out who was a floater. Scary part was that it was a complete stranger who fished her out - life guards didn't notice her. Once she was able to breath and stop screaming she seemed fine. Made me a little more diligent in keeping an eye on Robyn. Spencer was busy swimming laps to pass of his scout requirements. Meredith took Taylor into the hot tub where he became this limp noodle of a kid and very happy and relaxed.

Came home with kids happy, cool and clean for pizza and movie night. I ran to the grocery store (by myself - always a luxury) and we all sat around and watched Music Man. Jeremy tried to run down for a photo op at a concert in Provo but his motorcycle battery died. A sweaty and very frustrated Jeremy called to have me come start him. So we stayed in the air conditioning and watched a late movie together.

Saturday was our big Neighborhood of Fire. We spent the day catching up on all the yardwork. Jeremy rid our yard of wasps and nests. Then we tied 400 waterballoons - a wet process especially with kids helping but when its so hot it all feels good. Robyn and Allison had matching 4th of July outfits. Don't have any pictures of them together as Allison spent most of the day in her swimsuit ready for the water fight to start. She was so excited she got up at 7 am to get her jobs all done. I tried to remember to be thankful when he piano practicing woke me up at 7:30! We had 4 families come stay for the whole thing with a few others coming just for parts. I tried making homemade dry ice root beer - tasted good but not very cabonated. Kids didn't seem to care as they guzzled it down. We ate a lot, made s'mores, tried the mentos/diet coke experiment, had a water balloon fight and ran around with sparklers and fireworks. It was a great, relaxing, catching up with kids time. Lots of pictures to follow.

Love to you all! Heather




Robyn wasn't too sure about the sparklers!



Jeremy has this down to a science now. He explains the rules, has a teen watching the bucket full of water for used sprinklers and says over and over "hold it a the bottom and walk far away".



Dads and some of the older teen boys always hop in to help out the girls.


The girls lining up.





After the coke experiment. All the kids laid down to taste the spilled soda with parents yelling for them to stop!



Robyn loved being able to spash her dad's camera without him yelling for her to stop.








Even Taylor got into the action.