Mikey starts school in three days and so our summer is winding down. Just two more days left to live it up. I am so sad. We've had a lot of fun together and did a lot of things but there were still many things left undone. We did not do any big trips this year. It was pretty low key. I was bummed at first that we weren't but I am so glad that we stayed put. It has been so nice to come home to our own beds each night. We basically stayed at home and did little day trips. Eliza was always a trooper. She is such a good little baby, probably my best one. She is so good natured and happy. Even when she doesn't get a chance to sleep all day because of the hustle and bustle she's still got a smile on her face. I wish I could say the same for myself. I am a little envious of that trait. I can't get enough of her. So here are some of our memories from this summer. On most of our outings I forgot the camera which actually made it pretty nice because we could just go and enjoy and not have to stop and pose to get the perfect picture.
This is a picture of our typical summer day. Kids outside playing, relaxing and eating a popsicle. I love it.
We've been busy rearranging rooms to get Eliza out of ours now that she sleeps through the night pretty good. It's been a time to declutter as well. We've wanted to do a garage sale forever but the thought of having to go through all our stuff at once was too daunting so I've been putting stuff on ksl classifieds and within the last 5 days have sold $400 of junk, or stuff we no longer used and in some instances never used. It has been so liberating. I've got a ton more stuff to go through and list but I'll get there. So now Conner and Sam are in the room that used to be the study and Mikey and Lucy are together. We took the bunk beds apart so basically their rooms are just two beds now each with a book shelf. The rooms are so small that there is no room for toys or anything else. I need to decorate them but that stresses me out. I have no idea of how or what to do so they will probably stay bare for 5 more years.
One of my worst days this summer was a couple Saturdays ago. Neil had been gone all week and it was wearing on me but it was Saturday and there was free swimming in Ogden so I decided to take the kids. We all had a good time. We were out of the basics so I decided to stop at Costco to grab lunch and my things. It was past naps, the kids and I were all tired and restless so it was not a good trip. Conner dropped his full glass of pop all over an aisle, Mikey was running around like a crazy kid, Eliza was fussy and Lucy was asking a million questions to try to keep herself awake. I just wanted to get out of there. When we get to the van it is burning up so the kids stay in the cart while I load it. Before I know it the cart had rolled away with the kids in it and hit another car and left a pretty big dent in it. The man got out and was immediately on his phone. His son told me he was calling the cops. You've got to be kidding me. I was so upset that when the cop arrived I just started bawling and told them my sob story about how my husband had been gone all week and that I never take all 5 kids to the store and I just wanted to get out of there and that I would pay for the damage. This incident just pushed me over the edge and I lost it and bawled all the way home. Conner was in the back and asked if I would like him and Sam to make dinner that night. At that moment I realized I needed to stop counting all the bad things that had happened that day and be grateful for all the wonderful good things in my life like my sweet and amazing kids. Conner and Sam whispered in the back seat and decided they would make macaroni and cheese, sausage and fruit salad. When we got home they had me relax on the couch and they got to work. It wasn't the best meal I've had but it was definitely the most sweet. They did it all on their own and I was so proud of them, mostly for being so kind and sympathetic to me. My kids bring me such happiness. I can't wait to see what kind of adults they turn out to be because they are well on their way to making some lucky girl so happy.
One of the kids favorite outings was going to Trafalga in Lehi. We went on the 24th and it was surprisingly not too busy. I got a deal on some gift cards so they each got a $25 game card to play with video games which was more than enough. What is it with boys and video games. I just don't get it. We had fun playing many games of laser tag, golf and rides.
After Trafalga we went to the Pizza Pie Café. These kids can eat some pizza. Conner's record is 9 pieces. After dinner we went to Seven Peaks waterpark. We've went to Seven Peaks almost every week this summer. The kids never get tired of it. We used to go in the morning but now we go after 5 so Neil can come with us and it is so less crowded and we don't have to worry about getting burned. It's been great for us this summer.
Once it got dark we let off the rest of our fireworks. Neil let Conner light them all. Conner organized them all from smallest to biggest and put on quite a show. It was such a great day as a family.
Sweet E is constantly biting her fingers and anything she can get into her mouth. Can I say teeth. She is so drooly and recently has had diarrhea. Eliza has turned into a thumb sucker. She only sucks it when she's tired which is good. It is pretty cute. It's night that she is able to self soothe and fall back asleep.
I just want to kiss those cheeks.
She has got the fuzziest hair. Papa would sure love rubbing her soft fuzz.
Allison let us borrow her wii for 6 weeks while she was in Georgia and we've had a little too much fun playing it. We borrowed Super Mario Brothers from a friend and have had a little too much Mario on the brain since.
On a Sunday Mikey built all these Mario characters out of legos. The kids are planning on being characters for Halloween. That should be pretty easy to make but they may change their minds before then.
We also got to attend cousin Wes's baptism. It is always a fun time when the Hibbert cousins get together. The boys loved jumping on the trampoline in the rain and got soaked.
I just love that there was this beautiful rainbow on his baptism. So symbolic.
Although we had a lot of fun, our summer was almost ruined when Conner jumped off the trampoline and landed with a lot of his weight being born on his right arm. He yelped out in pain and began to cry fiercely. We were so scared that he had broken it but after awhile he was okay. On the way home he started to cry really hard again. I really thought it was just a case of TB (tired body) as he is up late every night but he persisted and so we took him to the ER in Sandy. He ended up fracturing the top of his elbow or something and they sent him home in a sling and told him he could not swim or do pretty much anything for 6 weeks. Conner was devastated and bawled the whole way home and cried himself to sleep. When Deet found out she told him he could borrow her wii while she was in Georgia and so that helped. We were told we could take him to a specialist if we wanted and so we did and they cast it but the good news was that it was waterproof so he could swim all he wanted. Our summer had just been saved! He had the cast for 3 weeks and just got it off.
I digress for a minute. Everyone knows health care costs are ridiculous but I was blown away with this one. For our ER visit which consisted of an xray and getting a sling was $1900 and then getting the cast was another $550. Luckily we have insurance so that's not what we had to pay but if we didn't have insurance we would have. Absolutely ridiculous.
Most people who know me know I'll do almost anything for free stuff. Chick fila's Cow Appreciation Day was no different. I made the whole family dress up so we could get a free dinner. I love not having to cook but I spent 2 hours getting our costumes ready so it probably would have been better to just have cooked but we don't go to Chick Fila very often so it was a fun treat.
Some other free stuff we've gotten this summer is Slurpees, Red Mango and Root Beer Floats.
For the 4th we started out going to the Kaysville parade this year. It was so stinkin' hot but once the candy started flying no one seemed to notice
Got their butterfly nets ready to catch the candy. This year we had to retire the nets because they broke.
Waving at the floats.
Lucy would jump and scream in delight with each piece of candy she caught.
The majority of the candy thrown was salt water taffy so while the little ones were napping Conner crafted his taffy into different creatures and then shoved it into his mouth at once. We also went to the movies and saw Despicable 2. Later that night Alli and kids came up and we bbq'd and watched the Layton fire works. I made a big batch of caramel corn to snack on during the show at Deet's request. It was late when we got home but the kids insisted on doing sparklers and fireworks. The kids reminded me of Indians because they would ride their bikes and scooters in a circle around the fireworks over and over again.
Conner had a lesson at church on the Plan of Salvation and came home and made the diagram out of legos and gave the FHE lesson on it the following Monday. I swear he's the sweetest kid you'll ever meet. Not a bad bone in his body. He has been wanting to use a play money system as rewards for their chores and then they can use the money to buy computer time. The money could also be taken away for bad behavior. Sammy does not like the plan and told Conner so. It was so funny to hear Sam say it was not fair because Conner is never bad so would never lose any of his money. Conner replied I can't help it that I don't get in trouble and he doesn't mean to brag, he is just good. Conner stays up way too late reading in his bed and sometimes Neil will let him come down and hang out with us when everyone else is asleep. One night he really wanted to stay up and read but he looked so tired so we told him no more reading and to go to sleep. He went upstairs and told Sam that he had to put his book down and go to sleep to which Sam retorted that we had only told Conner to go to bed and stop reading. Conner replied with Sam one of the commandments is to honor thy father and thy mother so we should really listen to them and go to sleep.
This year we celebrated 11 years of marriage. Where does the time go? I hate to say it but Neil and I had not been out for probably 5 months before this. Life was just really crazy then so I was so looking forward to our anniversary and I was hoping for it just to be us so I started trying to give little E a bottle 2 weeks before our date but she would not have anything to do with it. I tried several times a day and she wouldn't and it was so upsetting to me. Linda was going to watch the kids and told me to just feed her before we left and that she wouldn't die but I just couldn't leave her because she is so sweet. The thought of her crying for hours on end made me too sad and so we took her. She was excellent as usual but a distraction. I really just wanted to focus on us but what are you to do.
We decided to go to Seven Peaks since when we go I usually end up sitting under the umbrella with E and never get to ride the rides. It was a lot of fun. Afterwards we went to Allison's to shower and get ready and dropped the kids off at Linda's.
We then went bowling and mini golfing.
Neil beat me the first game but I beat him the second.
Naw, the second game I had Neil bowl first under my name so it would just look like I skunked him. I don't know what happened but I pretty much stunk at bowling. I used to be able to break 100.
Our little glow in the dark baby.
Our happy third wheel.
We were able to attend Jaxson's baptism. It was so sweet. We sure do love this little family.
After Jaxson's baptism we were able to see our first round of fireworks for the summer during Taylorsville days. Nana was able to be here for the baptism which is always a treat.
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