Dear Family and Friends,

Our kids are loving the sandbox. You would think that with it across the yard not that much sand would get into our house. Oh no! Our bathtub at night looks like a little beach when you let the water out. We are still learning the rules of sandbox play - "honestly you thought it would be fun for everyone to dump a bucket of sand on their head?" or "why did you put a bunch of bucket loads of sand all over the yard?". Kids are out there every day though having a great time.

We went and met some new neighbors across the street this week. The have a girl Allison's age and a boy Robyn's age and they have played together several times. They have a 5 year old boy who tails after Spencer willing to do whatever he wants - Spencer loves it.

Summer keeps everyone busy. This was the last week of Spencer's summer school camp in the mornings. He loved it. One of the afternoons he had a friend from our old neighborhood who was in his summer school class come home with him. They spent the afternoon playing board games. This last week it really hit me how different he is now - back to the normal at times difficult 9 year old that you guys would know. Last year we attempted to go to Alpine Candy factory to have each kid pick out a $1 worth of candy and then go to Cabella's to look at the stuffed animals. We ended up spending the entire time at the candy factory as Spencer lost it because he couldn't decide if he had made a right choice on the candy - hitting, screaming, paranoid that I would talk/look at him - this lasted for over an hour. This year he was all excited to pick out his candy, walked out with a smile and read about all the animals as we walked around Cabella's. He told me afterwards that his meds must be really helping him as it was a fun and easy outing.

The candy factory highlighted our family differences. We all had the same amount of money. Spencer got as many of the cheaper suckers as his money would buy him. Allison got one of each of the cool animal gummies. Robyn went for the biggest sucker she could see while I went for the chocolate toffee (no contest). When we got home Robyn alternated licks with Rocky and Wookies (the next door dog). Very gross and all three were very happy while Allison and Spencer watched laughing. I was the mean mom to stop the fun.

Allison is always busy playing with friends. She went to help me clean Lauri's place and stayed patiently in the car watching a movie with Robyn. But she was ecstatic when a friend took her to the movies in the afternoon so she missed going to the dentist with Lauri. She sometimes gets the short end of the stick when it comes to errands. One of the things she is most excited about with 1st grade is that she doesn't have to go grocery shopping or run errands with me anymore. This Friday and Saturday she went to the daddy daughter campout with Jeremy. As Robyn refuses to sleep without a crib she stayed home. Allison had a great time - not wanting to participate in the group activites as she wanted to just go off and play with her friends. She stayed up till 11 playing with all the little girls and thought it was great.

Robyn was heartbroken watching Jeremy and Allison drive off together on Friday. But it was cousin pizza and movie night so she quickly perked up when cousins arrived. Made me realize what a calming influence Allison is as Robyn and Kayla found lots of trouble to get into. All had a great time though. Robyn is wearing dance skirts everywhere right now. Some days it seems like she is just bouncing off the walls, she is everywhere wanting to do everything. Usually means she needs a good nap.

We went to Camp Floyd one afternoon this week. Its an old state park where the union soldiers stayed right before the civil war for one year. It was way out there in the middle of nowhere and pretty small. Spencer "why do you drag us to these dumb places" and then a minute later "this is so cool, come look at this". They had the old inn there and it amazed me that with the adobe walls despite it being 100 degrees outside it was nice and cool inside.

Worked on painting the basement a bunch this week. Was all excited to being close to having the yellow in all the main area and stairway done. Then on Friday I went downstairs and realized the last can of paint dried to a completely different color than all the rest. So 2 walls are a lighter yellow than all the rest. Was very ticked off as it is noticable and needs to be fixed. So I will be painting some more. This happened right after coming back from the doctor to find out that yes something was wrong with me and I had to go Cipro antibiotics to clear it up. I was not in the best of moods. But then my old roomate called me up to say she was in town and she and another old roomate wanted to come visit this coming week. And then another friend called to invite me to a BBQ at her house for Saturday. So I still went to bed with a smile on my face.

So Saturday we got together with a group of friends that we have been friends with for 10 years now. It was a late night (giving dirty/sandy kids baths at 10pm is not a fun experience) but so worth it. I wonder by now how much we are friends because we have things in common and how much we are because we have been through so much together and so many memories. We have been through kids hospitalizations, miscarriages, births, bed rests, pregnancies, kid problems and always know we can call on each other. We only see everyone as a group every couple of months now but it is always a great time.

Today Jeremy and I had a meeting with the stake president. I have been called to be the stake relief society secretary. Not quite sure all that will entail but I am sure I will learn a lot. Its very different than anything I have done in the past and I am pretty sad to give up teaching as I learn a lot. But if you ever come to really like a calling then you know you'll be released!

Yesterday I started making an attempt at cleaning up our yard. When I realized my old roomates were coming it was a bit of a wake-up call to realize that there were more weeds than bushes in many areas. Only got a couple of hours in so the front is looking better but the back is still very jungle-esqe. Our neighbors moved yesterday so we spent time helping them box things up. Allison and Spencer are very sad about it. We will have to have some play dates.

Like always it seems that there is more to do than hours in the day. So we choose to let a lot of things slide - otherwise I would go nuts. Made our first zucchini cake this week with cream cheese frosting. Sitting on our deck with a book and a piece of cake with the door shut so I can't hear Robyn crying for "more stories, more drinks, more cuddles" and summer life seems pretty good.

Love to you all and am counting down 2 more weeks till I see my family in CA. Heather