Dear Family and Friends,

Friday, Jeremy and I celebrated 17 years.  2 college graduations, 1 knee surgery, 3 c-sections, 2 VNS surgeries, 1 hip surgery, 1 tonsillectomy/adnoidectomy, 2 ear surgeries, 1 mouth surgery, 1 two week commitment in a psych ward, way too many ER and hospital visits to count, Lauri's stroke, her hospital visits and ill health and her funeral, taking 4 brothers and my parents to the MTC, taking trips to the Mediterranean, New York, Florida, San Francisco, Carmel, Michigan, Phoenix, San Diego, Riverside and numerous vacations at beaches and national parks, hiking the Grand Canyon for my Mom's 50th birthday, living in 4 different houses, building this house and doing a yard, 2 trucks, 2 motorcycles, 2 cars and 2 vans, 3 dogs, 3 cats, 6 hamsters, 1 cockatiel.  No wonder it feels like we have always been together!  Jeremy plied me with love notes, chocolate and cheesecake and kids were excited to babysit while we went out to a movie.  (side-note: Cowboys vs Aliens is NOT a chick flick but is Predator vs True Grit movie - lots of chances to jump and hold Jeremy's hand)  So it was a great anniversary all around.
After 2 years of saving all his money and working every Saturday, Spencer finally got enough saved up to buy his I-touch.  I felt like he was opening Pandora's box but he was so excited about it and has been a little obsessed with his new technology ever since.  This year his school is asking the junior high kids to bring an i-touch or i-pad to school to use in the classroom.  I have visions of it being broken or lost or spent playing games but we will see how it goes.  Right now Spencer has it in his pocket constantly as he says he just likes the feeling of it.
Taylor has been going out in the evening to practice his walking.  He walks very reluctantly but he will stand for almost 10 minutes now till his legs start to tremble and then he slowly sits down.  These evening excursions have exposed him to all the mosquitoes flying around and he has quite a collection on his legs.  Allison has him beat right now though with her face looking like she is suffering from a severe case of acne.  Friday night, Spencer and Allison slept outside hoping to see the meteor showers.  But despite me waking them up at 3:30 to look, we didn't see a thing. The full moon and to many clouds foiled our efforts.  But they enjoyed the adventure - just not the bug bites.  For some reason Allison is covered but Spencer is bite free.  She must just be a little sweeter.
Allison continued with her music theater class this week and she loved every minute of it.  On Thursday they had the parents come for the last 15 minutes and performed.





On Tuesday night it was Robyn's turn for her "date" with Mom.  She did not think shopping for school supplies sounded much like a date.  But when I told her that we would of course get ice cream at the end she yelled "Wahoo, now that is a date!"  When we got home Allison asked how her date was and she replied 'faaaantastic" and I figured I must have done something right. This week Robyn's loud talking has hit a new high.  We seem to be constantly working on our indoor voices.
I made a bunch of jam this week thanks to a neighbor's generous apricot tree.  I also made jalapeno jelly for the first time.  Wow, our house was pungent for awhile.  This was our last real week of summer vacation so we did a lot of nothing too.  Spent one last afternoon at the pool with friends.  Played a lot and hung out.  I thought kids might get bored with such a loose schedule this week but they loved it.  They didn't want to stop playing and go to bed when it got dark.  Yesterday they got all their Monday jobs done so we could spend the day at Lagoon tomorrow.  Last item left on our summer to do wish list.

I went and had a bone test this week and moved out of that awkward heavy boot to a smaller granny shoe.  In another week I am back to normal shoes again.  And in two week I can start running again.  Hopefully it won't be too painful to start up again.

Life is just good all around and I am hating the thought of giving up our summer days in one more week.  I have been gorging on peaches hoping our motto of you can't get fat on fruit is really true, and figuring out what classes to go to at Education Week this week.

love, Heather