Picking Cherries, Happy Father's Day

Our week started off with Justin and his team heading to a cabin for a couple days of team building! Our Monday was near boredom level because it was hot and humid so we stayed inside. Towards evening I made the kids go with me to the park while I photographed a family for a Father's Day surprise. Before we left for the park I warned the kids there was no bathroom, everyone used the facilities before leaving except for Phillip. Within a few minutes of arriving at the park he needed to go poop, I had my session so left him to deal with it. That was a gross smelling drive home, he showered off before we enjoyed snow cones as an FHE treat. It's frustrating when the kids don't listen and obey! 

Justin fixed the broken seatbelts a couple weeks ago. I pulled out the expired seats and rearranged the van seating. Cleaning out Evelyn's gum collection in the holes meant for the arm rests was quite an experience. Nothing like some ABC gum to spice up the day. Josie is now seated in the back where Evelyn was and the two captain chairs for the bigger kids to fight over. Evelyn is in a regular booster. Evelyn has taken to gluing paper to her Barbie dolls in fun outfits and clever fashions. She doesn't always bite her Barbie dolls, just for photos. Logan conceded to play Barbie Dream vacation with Evelyn one afternoon last week. They took out the AG doll stuff and enjoyed some lovely imagination time. 

The boys and I set up the new pool on Tuesday and filled it up. I made the mistake of letting the boys situate the tarp and pool then approving the placement before filling it up. Justin was not happy the pool was so close to the house and filled before the filter system was attached...also facing the wrong direction. He drained most of the water so we could move it. The girls had fun playing in the shallow water. We learned about setting up pools further away from the house and following directions! Justin was not very happy and I was irritated he was mad at us before learning the story. The situation was fine in the end after a chat and hugs. The boys finished setting up the pool properly on Saturday just in time to enjoy before leaving for Rexburg. 

The Ostler's left for Colorado around midnight, Dusty had a spot to compete in the Spartan Race. Moments after waking up on Wednesday Evelyn started whining about having nothing to do. She whined about missing the Ostlers for 5 days straight. She quite enjoyed taking care of the Ostler pets, especially Ambree's gecko. Ruby the dog came over for daily visits as well. Phillip left for Boy's Camp at 4:30 on Wednesday afternoon. He packed up clothes, water backpack, sleeping pad, sleeping bag, and such for his adventure. At the church the leaders asked where his camp chair was...ummm...the list was quite short (clothes, water bottle, hiking shoes, and sleeping bag). I ran home for the camping chair! The girls and I went to Hobby Lobby on our way to drop off Phillip. I needed to grab shirts and supplies for a tie-dyeing Activity Girls event on Thursday. I also got patriotic decor for my entry table! We had a really fun time, maybe too much fun. The activity went really well! I was happy 11 girls were in attendance. They each got to dye one shirt. We used about 20 bottles of dye on 15 shirts. 

Friday we were itching for something to do besides staring at the walls or cleaning our clutter. The house was exceptionally quiet with Phillip gone. Cherries are in season so I found a local orchard just a few miles away selling you-pick cherries for $1.50 per pound. It was tricky to find the right spot, google had me wind around some dirt roads along the irrigation ditches. The orchard was an old one with the bottom fruit already picked off. We made good use of several tall ladders to reach the fruit near the top of the trees. It took us an hour to maneuver the ladders to reach enough fruit to fill our 4 buckets. We picked about 26 pounds of cherries for just $39! Yay! We ate about 1.5 buckets of cherries over the next week. I spent most of Saturday evening washing, drying, pitting, and halving 2 buckets of cherries for dehydrating. I have enough cherries left over to make cherry jam next week. Justin and I went on a fun date to Cabela's and a rave review Middle Eastern restaurant. The lamb kabobs were top notch! We were both impressed with the ambience as well. At Cabela's we had just enough time to snag 2 adult-sized sleeping bags. Amelia and Phillip outgrew the kid-sized bags. Justin's boss, Jennifer, sent Justin home with a new swim bag, 7 beach towels, 5 sun glasses, a card, and a beach ball! Inside the card was a voucher for Roaring Springs! That was so sweet and thoughtful. We cannot wait to go play in the sun 

Phillip came home Saturday afternoon 5 shades browner. A much needed shower revealed he was covered in dirt and not suntanned. Brother Cherry said that Phillip was very helpful, obedient, and followed directions. Sweet! We sure missed all his noise and more recent trend of foot slapping the floors with his bare feet.  We had Justin's Father's Day dinner of street tacos on Saturday so we would have time to eat leftovers before our trip. Yum. The kids endured a torturous cleaning session of bedrooms and the loft. Thankfully, not one child died in the process. 

Father's Day was quite fun. The kids sang, "I See a Hero" in sacrament meeting. Josie was not feeling the urge so she stayed with us instead of singing with the Primary. She sang the chorus next to Justin instead. Amelia helped the YW pass out candy bars to the men. After church we surprised Justin with two new flat caps from Bailey Hats (Uncle Joe's recommendation), a fun t-shirt, cards, artwork, and such. The rest of our day was spent packing up for our trip to Rexburg with the Call family. Thank you Justin for being a great son, dad, and husband. Josie caught a nasty cough and head cold, got to start a trip with someone sick. It's tradition.