Wednesday May 31

I am pretty darn tired today!

I went to Field day with Porter this morning.

Spent a couple hours there in the sun manning the volleyball station with Billy's Aunt, Wendy, who came to help with the kids during Vern's recovery.

I came home and ate some lunch before going over to Vern's and power washed her bricks.

She has been talking about painting her bricks since they remodeled a couple years ago!

These last two weeks I have been trying to get her to do it, but she felt there were other pressing things.

Well, I got in cahoots with Billy, and made plans to paint it for her while she was still in the hospital!!!!

After I power washed that....it was time to head back to the school for Elsie's Field day.

This time instead of manning a station, I stuck with Elsie.

By that time of day she was already hot and tired.....and she hates water games...

So she didn't participate much until Mrs. Dynka got her to do the ladle water game :)

But poor kids!

They were all so hot!

It was a hot one out there today!

The first few games went nice and smooth....but by about the 15th game.....we had kids having a rough time and sitting out!

Then when I went to check out after the field day, there were three kids that came in with bloody noses.....plus kids coming in with scraps and bug bites.....

It was a mad house!

So I stayed in there to help Linnea out.

I ran to Lowe's to grab some painting supplies.....then back home for a little snack before picking up the little ones.

Then I went over to Vern's and started painting.

Madi was great and ran Port back and forth for Scouts.

Then Port went out to dinner with Max and Graham and Auntie Wendy and grandpa Bob.

I still wasn't finished by the time it was mutual time......

I had already told them there was a chance I wouldn't make it.

They were doing an indexing challenge, and I would have my little kids in tow, so I wouldn't be much help.....

So Elsie hung out with me while I finished painting.

I think it turned out great and I really hope it brightens Vern's day a bit when she returns home.

By the way, her surgery went as expected and she is still groggy and recovering, and she did have some fruit.

Lots of prayers for my sweet friend Vern.

Tuesday May 30 (add pictures.......as always....)

Dad had his Captain's interview this morning.

He feels like it went well.

I am sure he rocked it :)

I did my VT this morning, and I went to some of Vern and my friends and got them to write a little note for Vern.

Vern is having surgery tomorrow so I wanted her to know how much she is loved and hopefully lift her spirits.

So I made her an 'You are Awesome' basket with lots of her favorite things and treats and notes from friends.

We will be praying for her.

She is the greatest!

Dad and I went to some stores to get stuff for the sprinklers, and get some animal feed.

After the kiddos got home Elsie had speech therapy.

Cassi made some snickedoodles for Vern.

Then Dad, Porter and I went for a ride to Parma to check out a truck that was for sale that Dad likes.

We are wanting to get rid of the suburban.

We jumped the gun when we bought the car....I mean I know we needed a car, but we did not do enough shopping around.

It just feels unreliable now-a-days.

So I told Brent to sell the Suburban and I can drive his truck and he can get an older truck to drive back and forth to work.

That way, we all win :)

We didn't get the truck this evening, but we are still in talks with the guy....so we will see.

Madi had to work a couple hours and the other girls decided to go with her to play at the play set.

We all got home around the same time....9:30....way too late!!!!!

Our commute home was ridiculous!

There was a wreck of something on the freeway...so we chose an alternate route after being on there for about 30 minutes and only moving a few miles.....

But our alternate route also had obstacles.....

But we finally found our way home.

I stopped in to give Vern her gift and cards.

And to wish her good luck and that we are thinking of her.

Monday May 29

It was a beautiful Memorial Day today.

The weather could not have been more perfect!

We started the morning with our ward fun run.

Port was awesome and came in second place with the senior primary runners.

He's a speedy little guy!

I talked Elsie into running it with me with the reward of an otter pop at the finish line :)

She did great!

Then the Scouts were there with a breakfast fundraiser.

Before breakfast they had a little flag ceremony and moment of silence and it was such a nice way to remember those whom we love who have passed on and remember those who have lost their lives so that we can live the lives that we live now.

We came home after that and Dad got some irrigation stuff done.

Kiddos got laundry put away.

Madi cleaned the bathroom before she left with her friends for a little get together at Quinn's pond.

I took a nap and the others relaxed for a little bit.

At about 2 we went over to Sherrie and Justin's house.

Cass stayed home to wait to be picked up by her friend Carley and her family.

They went to Eagle Island for the day.

We went swimming with Sherrie and the kids at their neighborhood pool.

Justin stayed a put stone on their house.....

We left because we thought he was almost done......but about 3 hours later, he still didn't show up.

We went home and changed, Dad fixed some irrigation issues, I went and bought watermelon and we waited for Cassi to get home.

Then we headed back to The Halls house for a yummy shish-ka-bob dinner :)

We ended the night a little early because we have to go to dang school tomorrow!

Madi was still with her friends, but had left the pond and was now swimming at a friend's grandparents house.

So I picked her up so we could try and get the little ones to bed at a reasonable time :)

It was a nice day spent with good friends.

And we all ended up back home together safe and sound.

I don't know why Porter tries to make picture time so hard :(

Elsie did awesome, venturing into the deep end with her life jacket and noodle :)

Sunday May 28 (add pictures)

I am thinking I am getting to that time of year that maybe I should start blogging before dinner time.....

Because the nights seem to get later and later!!!!!

Just a quick recap for today.

Madi and Cassi had an early morning BYC meeting.

Then the girls had choir practice.

We had a great day at church :)

Elsie got to teach sharing time with her class and she had so much fun.

Dad didn't teach today, so we actually got to go to Sunday School together!

Yay!

After church I had a major headache.

Our family had a fast today for our dear friend who is having surgery on Wednesday to remove some cancer.

And the lack of water was really killing my head.

I tried to lay down.....but kids don't really let that happen.

We had some nice time spent outside, although it was almost too hot!

We had a yummy roast for dinner.

Then the Hall's came over for some S'mores, and that was fun.

Later on in the night, the Edwards stopped by for a bit.

And that is how it got so late so quick!

Time flies when you are having fun!!!!!

Saturday May 27

We had such a  fun morning with the Young family at the Bubble Run!!!!

We started bright and early!

The race started at 8 a.m.

So we had to leave our house by 7 to get to the fairgrounds in enough time to figure out where we need to go and what we needed to do!

I stuck with Porter the whole time, because he wanted to run the whole thing.....it was a 5k.

Elsie and Dad stayed together and the big girls stuck with the Young family.

Port was an awesome running buddy, every time I thought about walking, I told myself I couldn't let an 8 year old beat me!

I might take him for some runs with me over the summer :)

There were 5 bubble stations and the first few were just great for Porter and I.

But when we went through the green station.....I totally ran into some people who had stopped in the middle, then the bubbles never seemed to end!

Once I popped out of the bubbles I couldn't see Porter!

Finally he came out and he was not happy!

Green was not our favorite!

But it is funny because everyone had different experiences in the different colors, depending on how many bubbles were pushed aside by the people in front of you....or not pushed aside.

I'm not gonna lie.....I got in a bit of a panic when the green never seemed to end and I needed to breathe.

If I would have been thinking straight I would have thought to turn backwards, or put my face in my shirt......but I was definitely feeling claustrophobic!

But we made it through safe and sound, Port and I together!

Just after we came out, Elsie and Dad popped out.

Dad had taken her thought some shortcuts so she wouldn't have to go the whole way :)

Plus, he said that with each station, she was having less and less fun......

But boy did she love that red bubble station, which was the 2nd station.

Heather got great pictures of that and they are so cute and will be added as soon as my phone will upload!!!!!

Heather got some great pictures of the rest of the crew.

They had a lot of fun together!

We had to ditch out of there pretty quickly because Cassi had a Princess Party to help at (one of her girls camp fundraiser items)

She was supposed to be there at 10 and we left the fairgrounds at 9:30!!!!!

Needless to say, she did not take a shower!

Ha ha ha....she was a very colorful Snow White!

Here at home, Porter played with Max and Graham.

I got water connected to my flower boxes.

Madi went to the Morgan's house to mow and weed.

Dad got irrigation and sprinklers moved and then he got all the oil changes done on all the cars and some maintenance work on some of them too.

This evening Dad and I went out again.

We wanted to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie yesterday, but it didn't work out.

So we went tonight.

Madi worked at the snow shack.

Cassi babysat Elsie and Porter once he came home with the boys.

He went to the putting green with them this afternoon :)

We had fun going out to eat and getting some Chinese food and then watching the movie.

It was entertaining....not my fave, but it was still a fun night :)

We are all so exhausted!!!!!

It was a fun filled day!

(Elsie wasn't very happy at this point....)

Friday May 26

 I went with Heather to pick up our Bubble Run packets for tomorrow.

We are all very excited, and we should have gotten to bed earlier!!!!!!

When I got home I worked on getting my pretty plants in the ground.

I am so very happy with how they look!

And i am so excited for them to grow and mature and get better and better each year!!!!!

Dad worked on the dump truck and moved more rocks around with the tractor :)

After school, Madi and her friends came over for a bit.....

Then Elsie and Port had a play date ate Gus and Lucia's house.

Dad and I wanted to go on a little date, so Cassi went with Madi to work at the snow cone shack for a couple hours.

We went to the RAM, of course....

Then we picked up the little kids and came home.

Worked more outside.

It was such beautiful weather!

Then Vern and Billy came by and we talked and talked until the big girls got home.

Now we need sleep!!!!!

Thursday May 25

I helped in the office today.

I had to leave to go VT at 10:30, but went back to the school because they needed help :)

The Principal's message page int he yearbook was riddled with misspelled words and she was horrified....so we ripped them all out!!

She wasn't the culprit......whoever retyped it in the yearbook page had some trouble!

Mcpherson spelled at Macpherson........and then principal was spelled as principle....

It was kind of comical :)

She said that she thought about sticking a note in there, but knew that over years the note would be lost and all that would be remembered was the principal that misspelled the schools name :)

She even said that 'she was one of those annoying people on social media that tells people to correct themselves when they spelled your and you're, etc.

She really as mortified!

Luckily they came out pretty easily.

I came home and watered my plants, that still need to be put into the ground!

I worked on getting my family registered for the bubble run this Saturday.

And I made an agenda for our Beehive meeting that would happen this evening.

I picked up Cassi and Gracie from school and we met up with the rest of the Beehives to decorate the newest Beehives room, who's birthday is today :)

After that we had our presidency meeting.

Madi picked up the little kids for me.....and picked up Trent too.

We watched him for a bit when Sierra had therapy.

The rest of the night was a little mellow.

Cassi went to a thing for NJHS.

Madi babysat for a couple hours.

I fed the little ones dinner.

I am now desperately trying to get myself into bed early!!!!!!

But I have to wait for a laundry load to finish washing so I can throw it in the dryer!!!!!!

Elsie, hanging with her buddy after Trent got picked up :)

She loves him so much and he feels the same way!

Wednesday May 24 (add more pictures)

I spent the bulk of my day in Idaho City today :)

After dropping the kids off at school I left with Michelle Burk and Michelle Bishop and we went to go check out the campground we are going to for girls camp.

I am so excited!!!!

It is such a beautiful place with the cutest cabins and it is just gonna be so much fun!

While there, we went into Idaho City to go check the place out and we ate lunch there too.

It was a fun little girls day trip :)

I got home about 3:00 and then the kids started coming home.

We had YW here at our house this evening, so I rushed to get dinner stuff done and the house cleaned up a bit.

For our activity we worked on camp certification.

Dad taught fire safety and he did a really good job with it :)

The girls all had a lot of fun putting the fires out and also trying to start fires with flint and steel.

Then we had the Wards over and they were in charge of the cooking certification.

They made some dutch oven brownies and the girls got to cook biscuits over some coals.

It was a lot of fun!

Then Madi taught the girls some rope knots (that her daddy taught to her :)

And another girl, Jordyn, talked about knife sharpening and safety.

It was a very successful night.....the only thing that would have made it better would be if the wind would have died down!!!!!!

But the girls all learned lots and had fun doing it!

Camp is gonna be so great!!!!!!!

Tuesday May 23 (add dad pictures)

I spent the morning with Vern weeding :)

It is funny how weeding becomes a lot more fun when it is done with friends!!!!!

I got some more stuff done in my garden and boxes.

Still haven't planted my stuff in the boxes yet....gotta make sure it is exactly what I want!!!!

Cass came home with awesome news!

She was voted as student body president next year!!!!

Very very exciting!

Madi babysat after school.

Dad got home from teaching his class in time for dinner.

Today for their class, they spent the day putting full grown men and woman through 18 inch pipes!!!!!

Just crazy to me that they can get an adult through that size!

He had to send me pictures as proof!!!

 So we had dinner then started work outside.

Dad got on the tractor and moved the pile of gravel (that was delivered this morning) around.

It looks so nice!

Port helped me in the garden.

He has always been my little garden helper :)

I recruited a couple more helpers for a bit, before they all ran off to play.

Elsie got to ride Miley today.

She asks every day to ride her!

So I told Cassi to put the saddle on so Dad could check it to pass it off.

She did well!

Elsie and Miley had a nice walk down the street to visit Bubbles....who wasn't home.

Then we went and visited Vern :)

I finished up putting my stuff in the garden and the big girls had gone for a walk and then were hanging out on the tramp being so nice to each other and having fun....I just couldn't bring myself to ask them to work for me.......

This 'getting along' thing seems so very rare now-a-days!

It was such a  lovely night.

And so once again....we are getting to bed VERY late!

Poor Elsie was so tired!

Plus she had kinda a hard day....but good too.

She wore a skirt today, with shorts under.

She ALWAYS wears leggings!

And today I was thinking....maybe she should just wear leggings under the skirt....

But, it was gonna be so hot, and she wanted shorts.

Anyway, poor girl took a hard fall and scuffed her knee up really bad :(

It was during lunch recess and I was so proud that she handled herself and they never had to call me to calm her down.

I didn't even find out about it until after school.

Mrs. Murdoch, the principle came up to me after school and we were chatting.

She said that she had 4 sweet friends bringing her to the nurses office and she was crying....and Mrs Murdoch says she was so concerned because she has never heard Elsie cry!

This is proof it has been an amazing year for Elsie this year, because the last few years....I think everyone at school heard her cry!

But Mrs. Murdoch is new this year so when we tell her that Elsie has had some rough years...she just doesn't believe it :)

Anyway, she said Elsie saw Mrs Murdoch and just ran to her with a big hug because she knew she could help make it feel better :)

Just the sweetest!

So poor girl was so so tired and her knee was hurting.....and getting to bed late.....

I hope she sleeps good tonight!

Monday May 22

Dad started his second week of class today.

The kids all had good days at school....

Only a few more days left!

I got a lot done today.

I got to the store and bought some plants to put in the garden.

(Next year I am hoping to start my plants on my own......I never seem to remember!!!!!)

I also got some more pretty plants for my planter boxes up front :)

I am excited about them....and loving them!!!!!

I came home and moved sprinklers around.

Fixed my timer that goes to my garden and raspberries.

Then I went on a much needed grocery shopping trip!

I got home and worked a bit on my flower boxes, trying to figure out how I want them to look.........

I have to visualize them as their full grown size, which is kind of hard to do!

But I am still loving it.

It brings me joy to do it :)

And one of my peonies is already opening!!!!!

I can't wait for many, many big beautiful blooms in the years to come!

We had hamburgers for dinner and then for FHE we started putting stuff in the garden together.

Then we had our friends, the Capells, come by.

They brought us some soda pop and some ice cream.

They like to spoil us :)

We talked with them for some time and then it was time to get everyone in and into bed.

It was such a beautiful day outside!

Summer nights are just around the corner!!!!!

You can kind of see my garden boxes here :)

Soda pop mustache!

We all got a kick out of Madi's evening hair-do :)