4th of July 2020

Monday was forecasted as rainy and cold. The forecast was correct! It was a cold 50 degree day with constant drizzle and rain. I whooped for joy because the weather gave me an excuse to paint my bedroom. I was able to remove the decor, paint two coats, and update the decor before the end of the day. I had a sudden inspiration towards 4 pm to paint the door used as a headboard a fun shade of reddish pink. The door turned out so cute! Justin was shaking his head thinking my plan was strange, did not enjoy the color...until it was all put together again the next day. I think it all looks fun a fresh. I am delighted at the changes a bit a paint can make in a room. The kids tried several times to go play in the rain, Phillip and Everett ended up on the tramp and then the pool for a few minutes. I am unsure how they can stand that cccccold water. While the paint was drying after the first coat we made epoxy jewelry for our crafty Monday. Let me just say that epoxy is MESSY, sticky and impossible to clean without copious amounts of rubbing alcohol. I cannot find rubbing alcohol in stock at any of our local stores. 

Amelia was gone Tuesday at a fun Stake Girl's day held instead of girl's camp. She had a fireside Monday evening via zoom. Next day I dropped her off at 8:30 am. I was a bit miffed about the entire situation. Amelia was getting emails about the event but had no reason to open her email so never got the information. I asked for my address to be added to the email list a couple months ago, guess that never happened. I learned Monday about all the details, like we were supposed to sign a waiver and pick up a packet with t-shirts and info on Saturday morning. We figured it out but all this could be avoided by emailing mothers AND daughters not just daughters. Amelia quickly found Clare her cousin so had someone she knew. The rest of us took Justin out for lunch just to get out of the house for a moment. The kids and I ate our lunch at our little community park. This time it was packed with kids there for the school lunch program. The kids were excited to have other kids to play with for the first time since February. 

Wednesday my Great-Aunt Nancy invited us out to their home for raspberry picking. The kids were thrilled that Uncle Richard kept 4 horses in his corral. My kids soon convinced him to punch up a horse and let the kids ride. All my kids were naturals up on the horse. Before long Mia, Phillip, and Everett were directing the horse (Remington) around the corral. Evelyn caught another horse with a lead attached to its bridle, she egged the horse around the pen with a fist full of hay and some coaxing. I think she was treating the horse like an over-sized dog. Esther's family was also there so we had kids running all around the yards. Nancy started a fire for roasting hot dogs for lunch. Nancy and I had a fun conversation about books we love to read. She had a little book for recording her favorites, reviews, and such. We had a wonderful day out in the sun and fresh air. Josie went with me grocery shopping after we got back home. She is such a funny little imp! 

Thursday morning the kids donned their 4th of July clothes for our yearly tradition of photos for mom. It was all quite a mess as the kids just wanted to play and not pose for me. I resorted to a gas station treat as a bribe. It is easier to decorate the kids instead of my house for holidays! I took the kids swimming to a new community pool for a couple hours. Amelia refused to swim, she sat bored reading her nerd book. I get it, getting your hair wet is a nuisance...gotta wash it, brush it, dry it, all just to play for an hour. Mia's hair is especially sensitive to chlorinated water, she has to use special shampoo right after swimming or else her hair turns into a nasty tangled mess. The pool was also quite small with only a handful of people swimming. Josie amused us with her baby shark imitations. The boys both passed a swim test to jump off the diving board and swim in the deep end. Towards evening the kids agreed to take some sunset/silhouette photos with the flag. I was in heaven, especially when the little girls found some wish flowers (dandelions). We stayed at the culvert until the mosquitoes started to bite. 

Justin had the day off on Friday for the holiday. He took the middle kids out in the truck to explore the southern Sawtooth mountains. Sounds like the kids were bored due to the amount of driving to hiking ratio, in favor of driving. I had several hours of quiet to edit photos with just Mia and Jojo at home. That was a nice change. 

Happy 4th of JULY! I spent an hour in the morning baking the crust for fruit pizza, over-baked the first one...and the second one as well. Everett was salivating over the crock pot of baked beas! It smelled divine. The little girls went to Walmart with me to find some cool slingshot fliers the neighbors had, no such luck. We celebrated with a fun family swim session at the same pool we went to earlier in the week. The other community pool only had 5 openings when I checked, the other one had 89 openings...so yeah, the boring pool won. Josie exclaimed, "this is the best day ever, I love the slide!" She went down the little water slide about 40 times in a row. That girl is so close to swimming, she does it in shallow water but won't try in deeper water yet. Justin grilled chicken thighs with BBQ sauce to go with fresh corn on the cob, and the beans. We watched "Hamilton" after dinner with Mia and Phillip. It was quite entertaining. I hate how they took creative license to add in a harlot scene and extortion. Stupid. Take a good story and add in unverified stories to make the play "better." As dusk approached our street turned into a war zone. I am sure most of America was under fire due to all the shows cancelled thanks to 'Rona. We added in our measly collection of ground flowers and tanks as a minor role in the night's show. Justin amused himself with the blowtorch and bug spray, whoomph! Evelyn, Ellie, and Avia all hid in the garage for a couple hours wearing "boom protectors," they were not appreciative of the noises. Evelyn even refused to try out the long sparklers. We stayed out and enjoyed the scene until 11 pm. The booms did not stop until well after 3 am. I enjoyed chatting for a moment with one of our homeschooling neighbors! Found out her family is from Morgan Hill where they just went camping for a reunion a week or so ago. 

We were quite sluggish the next day. Somehow lost track of time until Mia announced it was 11:40 and church started at noon. Evelyn and Everett were still fast asleep. We made it to church with 5 minutes to spare! Even found time for Josie's marshmallow cereal and to brush hair. Towards the evening we drove out to Richard and Nancy's to pick raspberries and pal around with the animals. Nancy wanted to chat with Justin about his family connections in Heber. We enjoyed fresh, creamy cherry ice cream from the cherries we picked a few weeks prior. I used the left over cherry pie filling as the ice cream base. It was delicious...and very rich. We were able to finish listening to Fablehaven while driving there and back. Justin stopped putting the girls to bed at night since our nights are quite late recently. We usually switch back and forth, I read out loud to the boys on my nights with them. Since we are missing those I've started listening to the books when we drive places.  Josie was very excited to get eggs from the chickens! She even ate her eggs Monday morning for breakfast. Yum. 

I am quite saddened that Great-Uncle John Robert Hicken passed away at 10:30 pm July 4th from complications of the Corona Virus. He caught the virus at a family event some weeks ago, several in their family got sick but he did not recover. I am sure their family is just heart broken they could not be near his bed while he was so sick. Once again this virus stinks...I even postponed our Utah trip until after summer is over. 

I watched a series by Jodi Stoddard Signs and Wonders presentation. I've always loved the mysteries in Daniel, Revelations, Isaiah, and in the scriptures. I never realized until several years ago how literal most of these prophesies are in relation to the second coming and millennium. I feel very strongly that the hinge point mentioned in April General Conference was heavily significant. I feel we need to be prepared for the other half of the years of tribulation, now and not later. I feel quite excited to be part of these events and pray to have myself and family prepared for what comes next. Seriously, so cool. Get ready and buckle down.