Dear Family and Friends,

In the middle of the summer when kids were pressing in, I made plans for Jeremy and I to get away over night. Those plans kept me smiling through some of the more not so nice moments this summer. So Friday afternoon Jeremy and I packed up and went up to Johnson's Mill, a bed & breakfast up at the top of Provo Canyon in Midway. It was this 1800s mill with a big pond and gardens around it. The immediate gardens were beautiful, the surrounding 19 acres were a bit run down but you could see what they must have been like in their heyday. An evening thunderstorm forced us to eat our picnic on our coffee table but we didn't care. Lazed around a bunch. Spent Saturday sleeping in, eating stuffed french toast in the gardens, biking through Provo canyon, eating lunch at Sundance, driving the alpine loop through the canyons and seeing all the red maples, hiking around cascade springs, laying on a blanket and reading the latest Kinsella book, shopping for matching shirts for an upcoming family photo. Came back late Saturday night after cleaning the office for our kids so we didn't have to drag them out tired and cranky to do it. Wonderful and relaxing weekend. Meredith kept kids safe and happy. Jeremy took tons of pictures that I will let him post.

This week I got a few things fixed. Our A/C went out a few weeks ago. Turns out the condenser and starter were both broken. Best part is that I found our old warranty that covered everything being replaced. I have decided that I am a much nicer mom when the temperatures in our house is below 80 degrees. Don't know if our kids would agree but at least I am feeling calm inside while I yell at them to shape up. Also our sprinklers got fixed. Found out when plants started dying that our sprinklers in our flower beds haven't been going off. All our plants are slowly rebounding now. Jeremy put in new thick tough wires in our raspberry trellis so now all the long stalks are off the ground. We didn't get any raspberries this year and I can't help thinking its because they were laying down instead of supported upright.

Rest of the week was full of odds and ends. Went to the temple and due to a huge rush on the temple for our stake temple week I ended up waiting in the lobby till they had room for me. First time ever that has happened. And I didn't wait until they were ready for me, but rather until there was room for me to wait back with everyone else! Planted along our waterfall and spread a bunch of mulch along it. Girls were being extremely helpful in this task so I sent them to pick tomatoes for salsa. They decided peppers were more interesting and came back with a huge overflowing bowl of peppers. So I dehydrated peppers this week! Fruit trees all have some disease so I sprayed them all and hope they recover soon.

Vacuumed the girls rooms really well as Robyn decided to play quietly upstairs for a while. This quiet play involved scissors and most of her barbies, polly pockets and my little ponies. It was a rainbow of hair and altered outfits. I cut Robyn's hair so it would be almost even this week. It looks like a short, lopsided bob now. Perhaps I inspired her. Meredith writes down quotes from our kids. Her one from this weekend. Meredith: "Robyn, you look like you have girl hair!" Robyn: "Be proud of me!" with twirls and bows.

Jeremy went to a neat photo presentation this week done by this famous photographer. He really enjoyed it.

School, kids and normal housework took up the rest of my time. Everyone is doing good. Currently our kids, including Taylor who is offering moral support, are in the family room making some complicated fort that involves a box of clothes pins and every blanket in our house.

Love to you all, Heather