Tuesday June 21

After I got back from my run this morning we all set to work on mowing and weed eating to tall grass around Gramps garage and barn areas.

We were having nothing but trouble with one of the weed eaters and also the mower......but Mr fix it can fix anything :)

But we got the job done and Port was excited that he got to drive the mower back to the warehouse.

After we had lunch with Gramps, we headed to the store and swept out the back where all the feed used to be.

It was a big job, but they worked pretty hard.....and fought a little too.

Mostly over which brooms they got.

We took a little break and we all got showered and then later tonight we had a picnic with the Buffalos but also with Callie and her family!

So much fun to be able to get them together.

The Pace family is such a sweet family and now Port has a pen pal.

Callie has a little brother that is 7 just like Porter.

So that will be fun too :)
Madi got to play photographer while we were there because I got to hold Callie's one week old baby :)
Sooooo cute!!!!!!

Then Dad was going with Doug to load some dirt, so we dropped him and Port off  at Kenna's house and Cassi left with Dussy boy and Aunt Sandra.

We got the tour of Kenna's new house and then headed to Gramps.

Our suburban was doing funny things so we will be needing to take it into the shop tomorrow morning :(

Just what we need.

So anyway, port and Dad had fun driving the loader etc.

Cassi is sleeping at Sandra's with Lexi and the rest of us hope to get to bed at a good time!!!!!

We worked hard today :)

The Sheriff, getting another 'unwanted' hug from Madi :)

Uh....he looks like he is crying or something here.......but he is not!
They were having so much fun trying to catch ground squirrels :)

Monday June 20

We left for Wyoming around noon today.

The drive went pretty well......minimal fighting.

(That is a total lie :(  )

When we got to Wyoming we picked up some KFC for dinner with Gramps.

We had dinner and chatted with Gramps for a little bit before we went outside and was almost eaten alive by mosquitoes!!!!

Man oh man, they are bad here!!!!!

But we walked up to see Dussy boy and fly his drone.

Don't tell him, but we are using him for his drone ;)

Ha ha!

It sure is cool though!

He has a camera hooked up to it so he can take some really neat pictures up there.

So cool!

After that we went and visited with Aunt Cin for a bit.

Then back to Gramps house and the kid did some drawing and talking with Grandpa.

Gramps says he used to draw a lot.....

I wanna believe him, but he is such a tease.

I asked for proof and he said he didn't save anything because he could just draw it again anyway :)

Port looked at a step by step airplane how-to picture and drew this airplane!

I love it!

I took a bad picture, but it is really cool!

We are ready to get to work for Gramps tomorrow.

So we all tried to get to bed at a good time.

It didn't work out :(

Sheriff Uncle Ugly....trying to avoid Madi's hugs :)

Sunday June 19

Happy Fathers Day!

Dad got home from work this morning.

We made some bacon for him and had breakfast burritos for breakfast.

Cass went to church early for choir practice.

She also got a bench saved for us to fit us and Andy, Katie, Hannah and Millie.

Cassi spoke in church.

She did such a great job.

Her topic was 'The priesthood and how it strengthens the family'.

After sacrament meeting, Andy and Katie left for Utah.

We will see them in a couple days for the Peterson family reunion.

For dinner I had gotten some steak for dad.......and he did a good job cooking them :)

He is just better at that stuff than I am......and I am fine with that!

We had steak and chicken, sweet potatoes and broccoli.

We did our conference talk today on the Talk given by Mervyn B. Arnold.

Titled 'To The Rescue, We Can Do It!'

I love being able to review these talks in this way!

He talked about the need to rescue those that are lost on the path towards the lord.

He gave us 4 guidelines....

1- Do not delay going to the rescue!

A prompting might seem a bit odd to you, but you never know what it might do for someone else!

DO NOT DELAY!

2- Never give up

It's never too late for those that seem lost!

3-How great shall be your joy if you bring but one soul to Christ.

4-No matter our age, we are all called to go to the rescue!

And there is no such thing as a hopeless cause!

I loved the stories he shared in the talk......so give it another read!

Then we watched an episode of Random Acts.

Love that show!

Such a feel good show that makes you want to go out and do good!

So happy Fathers day to the daddy to my little ones!

I am so grateful for him in our lives.

I love that he is a born teacher.....and is always trying to teach one of us something (usually about history)!

He is a hard-worker.

The hardest I know!

I love that he is able to do so much and wants to learn when it is something he doesn't do......yet.

I love the tender spot he has for his little ones and most of all the deep love I know he has for me.

I hope he knows how much we all love him around these parts!

And I can't forget to mention my amazing Dad.

My Dad is tender, kind, gentle, a good listener, and he just wants to help anyone!

I love all that he has been to me in my life!

I always knew he was there for me growing up and on my side.

I wish I would have taken more advantage of that at times......

I remember having nights where I couldn't sleep, and he would come and get me and we would sit in the recliner in the front room and I would try to sync my breathing with his, and before you knew it, I was asleep.

He always made me feel safe when he was around.

His loving and quiet manner just makes me smile :)

And we can't forget Bumpa......Gramps.....

The guy who won't forget about the time I spilled lemonade all over him at the restaurant when our parents met the first time.

I was mortified!

But he has loved me ever since.

I am grateful for the example he has set for his family.

He works harder than anyone I have ever met!

He is kind and so very funny.......

And a tease!

Oh is he a tease!

One time he called us in like July to tell us it was snowing there in Wyoming......I blogged about it and then found out Gramps was teasing me!

Ya, I will never live that down!

We have been truly blessed with the fathers in our lives!

Saturday June 18 (add pictures)

ya....so......you know the drill.

-early morning baseball game

-home for lunch and playing

-pictures of Andy and Katie and fam

-depit about 20 lbs of cherries

-nap time and take cassi to get her hair cut

-errands and returns with cassi

-home with dinner

-cassi prepare talk for church tomorrow

-we drive out to the meridian temple to see progress

-stop by winco to buy dad a fathers day steak for tomorrow

-back home and cut Port's hair

-scriptures, prayer, and little ones in bed

 -all of the sudden it is 10:30!

Friday June 17 (pictures to come.........)

Another late night!

I am sitting in Elsie's room right now as she fusses :(

We have got to get on a better summer schedule!!!!!

So I got up and went running and then took Madi to PT.

After PT, she and I ran some errands and got a few things for Father's Day.

We got home and Port went over to the Edwards house and I left the girls here to pick up the messes they made.

I went to Stacia's.

She and I bought a whole bunch of chicken from Zaycon and we decided we wanted to try and can it :)

So that's what we did.

During my time there, the girls ended up coming over to hang out.

About 3:30, I had to run to the store with Cassi to get a gift for Donovan's birthday.

They picked her up at 5:10 and went to see Finding Dory.

Cassi said it was a really good movie!

Then I took Madi to her first day of work at the Shaka shack.

I took the Edwards boys with me along with Elsie and Porter.

They were so excited about the snow cones.

There was an adult softball game going on at the park and the boys were so into watching the game!

They were amazed that when they were playing catch, they caught EVERY BALL!

;)

And they hit the ball so far!

The boys thought it was so cool!

She is so excited about having a job and today was sure a busy day!

I think she made about 67 snow cones in her two hour shift :)

Actually 2 1/2 hours because the line just would not end after the closing time!

Before I went back to pick up Madi, the little ones and I got stuff ready at the house for Andy and Katie to come.
Also, Ms. Chris came to visit!
She also brought a stick horse for her but it is a buffalo that she found at a thrift store!!!!!!
Love it!
It was fun to sit and talk to her for a little bit.
She is so great and we are sad she won't be back at the school next year, but we will keep in touch for sure!

Then we went back to Stacia's to get the second batch of chicken put into the pressure cooker.

I left the little kids there to go get Madi.

I had to wait there for about 30 minutes for her to finish up the line and get the closing stuff done.

Carley was there.....when the Morgan's went to get a snow cone, they left her there with Madi.

While closing Madi was telling me that she was supposed to make sure the doorknob wasn't locked and just the deadbolt because the door knob gets stuck.

Then she shut the door and turned the doorknob, and guess what.....it was locked!

Ah!!!!

Madi was freaking out a bit.

But we ended up shoving Carley through the window and unlocking it.....and then locking the window :)

So it worked out.

Ha ha ha....

We went and dropped Carley back home and picked up the little ones and by then Cassi was back from her party and Andy and Katie had made it to our house.

I am just exhausted!!!!!!

Now for another early morning baseball game in the morning.........

Thursday June 16 (add pictures)

I went for a run this morning before coming home and taking the little ones to the dentist.

Things went okay there....Elsie still didn't let them do much.

But she checked out with no cavities.

Port has two though :(

After that we came home and the big girls had sorted laundry for me.

We did more cleaning up.......

Why don't they realize that if they keep things clean, they will have more time for fun stuff???????

Anyway.....we also got more irrigating done outside, even though it rained a lot.

Elsie also had speech today.

Then we made Parmesan chicken for dinner.

The girls all stayed home for Port's game but I took Max and Graham with us and they had a lot of fun.

The team did pretty good today.

They are improving :)

We didn't get home until about 8:30!

These games are so long for 7-8 year olds!!!!!

Cassi had friends over tonight.....the last one just left.

So, yep, another late night.

I kinda want to sleep for a week!

Wednesday June 15

Dad was up early because he got called in to work.

And Madi and I were up early to get to her 8:40 PT appointment,

That went good.

They re-aligned her and then did stretches and then did some electroshock therapy....because her muscles were just so tight!

She felt really good afterwards :)

We got home and I felt like doing nothing so I told the kids they could take a couple hours to watch a movie but then they had to clean for me.

I feel like I am always making them clean.....but nothing stays clean!!!!!!!!

Drew and Hallie stopped by to measure to make more cabinet doors.......yay :)

After our rest, the kids went and cleaned up the rooms.

Big kids helped the little kids clean their rooms and go through clothes.

I left and did some returns.

Then after dinner, we all hopped in the car to take Madi to training for her job.

I was going to buy snow cones for all the kids (even though it was raining and cold!) but Coralee, her boss, told us to pick whatever we wanted for free because Madi needed to practice :)

The kids were super excited about getting ice cream on the bottom and cream on top!

We came home and they helped me clean up our dinner mess.

Then we sat down and watched Tarzan while I worked on putting blog posts into books......

Maybe I should have added pictures to the last few posts.

I am sure I will get to that sooner than later.

Maybe.

Then Dad came home around 9, and wanted to still hang out with the kids so we watched the Spartan race show.

Which I think would be so totally fun to do!

Tuesday June 14 (add pictures)

Yep.....late night again!

Today was a packed day, but I did get a run in!

Ayden came over and us big girls all went to see a movie.

We went and saw You Before Me.......and it is very sad :(

After that Madi had some friends come over to hang out and Cass and Aydo had fun hanging out all day.

There seems like a million other things that happened today.......

I did take some family pictures for a family.

Oh and, poor Avery had to get her appendix taken out today!

We had Cannon today while they were at the hospital.

She is a fighter and tonight we took her some gifts and got to see some of her funny drugged up videos :)

Ha ha!

Love it!

That's why it is so late, we went to see her and visit with her.

Then Madi, Carley and Sydney made a Sonic shake run :)

I am ready for a slower paced day!

Monday June 13

We had a fun day today.

I went for a run.....yay :)

Then we all worked together and got sprinklers and irrigation set up.

Then I spotted my art portfolio from collage in the shop, so we got that down and browsed through it.

It made me ache for more time for art stuff :(

But it was fun to look back at that.

We did some cleaning in the house.

Madi had an interview for a job at a snow shack for a lady who used to be in our ward.

We all went together and got snow cones.

She has the job, pending a background check :)

She is super excited about it!

Then we had plans to go for a hike with the Terry's.....but decided to just go hang out with them at their house and make s'mores.

It was a fun time and I wish we got to spend more time with them!!!!!!

I hope to use these in their future wedding video :)

He acts so different around her than he does any other girl!

It is so darn cute!

Looking at the farm land.....

I spy an aydo peeking through......