Puppies, Lances Visit, Lia Stays

 

I had a complete calendar snafu...it was a bit embarrassing. Monday the 18th of July I volunteered to help clean the temple. I thought Evelyn had a birthday party to attend at Defy so arranged for Becky and Lizzie (the girl's MCO friends) to come spend the rest of the day at our house, including going to Defy at the same time at the party. The party date changed several times from Monday to Tuesday and back to Monday...I didn't keep up with the changes. Short story is I moved the MCO friends to Tuesday last moment. The party was indeed on Monday. Shoot! I bought 6 Defy tickets since Evelyn's was covered by the party, Amelia volunteered to stay home Tuesday so the rest of the kids could play. Cleaning the temple was a fun experience. I wiped all the white doors from the dressing rooms to the exits and then cleaned the dining area in the temple workers area. It was a peaceful 3 hour cleaning session. Tuesday's playdate worked out just fine in spite of the date change. Evelyn went to the birthday party with Lincoln and Lily since I was working. We went to the park for free school lunch along with lots of other families from our ward. The girls came home and played for an hour before we headed off to Defy. Evelyn bruised her foot right away to the point she had a terrible time. Josie barfed after getting motion sickness from the aerial cloths, she was spinning around for a good amount of time. Poor kid took a long nap at home, felt much better after waking up. Evelyn rested her foot while icing her toes and top of her foot. She wanted Becky and Lizzie to go home, her mood was awful. I am proud she made a turnaround after dinner. We took the girls home around 8:30! The Peterson family is in the process of moving from a rental into a larger home. Sarah Peterson needed some time to focus on packing, we were thrilled to help out with her girls. Phillip told me Wednesday morning he had a large bee sting on the bottom of his foot. He stepped on a bee while at the park. Sara showed Phillip the mud trick, next thing he was covered with mud, his foot and all the other bare parts. 

We enjoyed swimming at Esther's to cool off, pool and puppies! Can't beat that combo. There are two beagle puppies, the other 4 are poogles (beagle/poodle?) all with Pixar names. Amelia loves chonky Woody, Sara loves Bonnie, Evelyn loves the two beagle pups named Bo Peep and Dotty,  the other three black pups are Chief, Scuttle (Greyskull), and Joy.    

Evelyn was super bored Friday afternoon. I needed a treat for Primary on Sunday so we made two batches of salt water taffy and Amelia made rock candy. I found a fun recipe using kool-aid powder as flavor, the Sharkle Berry Fin flavor was the best! We enjoyed pulled the taffy once it boiled to temperature and cooled off. I had lots of help wrapping taffy for the Primary kids. Phillip requested foil dinners so we made an event out of his idea. The Ostlers came over for a picnic evening. We actually used our fire pit for the second time! Phillip and Everett had a great time starting the fire, Carson saved the day making the fire an inferno. Half of our dinners were burned the rest shared what they could. We roasted marshmallows and ate chocolate for dessert. Yum. Evelyn made herself a welcome mat with leaves and pods from the Catalpa tree. Some of my potato plants caught a mold or disease, I pulled out one plant just to see what the dirt was hiding. The thrill of discovering beautiful purple potatoes was very exciting! The older kids were aware of who was coming to visit. The kids worked hard all day to clean the loft, bedrooms, and their chores before we had company arrive. 

Saturday the 21st of July the YM/YW had a service project painting one side of Sister Titus' home and laying some brick pavers. I enjoyed the banter coming from across the fence while I annihilated squash bugs with my shears. Just call me squash bug exterminator. Courtenay, Miekka, Lia, Everett, Emmie, Penny, and Charlie arrived shortly after noon! Oh the joy! Oh the excitement! Glorious. We went swimming at Esther's home again...more puppy love. Emmie and Penny were head over heels for the sweet puppies. Snow cones topped off that adventure. We had pineapple teriyaki chicken for dinner with coconut rice. Amelia and Lia wanted to attend the Stake dance so the ladies came with us, we went shopping at Walmart while we waited. After and hour we were still at Walmart, decided it would not be worth it to drive back home just to drive the 23 minutes back. We enjoyed ice cream treats from Sonic then picked up the girls. 

Sunday was Pioneer Day! Evelyn, Penny, Emmie, and I dressed up in Pioneer dresses just for fun. For singing time we played an Oregon Trail type game, ironically out of 6 scenarios for each situation the kids ended up getting the only positive result...not once but all 7 times. We really wanted dysentery or a broken wagon wheel. I enjoy singing the songs that are often overlooked like the Pioneer songs. After church the girls washed dirty laundry then hung it on the line to dry. We almost died of boredom several times. My Everett had a really hard time, he got to be the third wheel again, lost his best buddy Phillip for a couple days. He had lots of tears feeling left out and teased, unfortunately his response was anger and/or physical retribution which alienated him further. Just 18 months ago Phillip was the odd man out, the strange one. Now that Phillip and Everett Lance are deacons the tables turned. 

Lake day! We loaded up our janky truck with 6 kayaks, chairs, cooler, sand toys, shade, and towels for a day up at Arrow Rock. Phillip found a hornets nest under the lip of the truck liner as he was loading paddles. The hornets attacked his legs, I've never seen him move that fast or shriek higher a soprano. I quickly located the "bug bite thing" and benadryl cream for his wounds. We are grateful the hornet stings did not swell like his mosquito or bee stings. Lake time is so relaxing. Sigh! The kids immediately headed for the water. The boys dug and epic mud pit. I took the little girls for a trek across the reservoir to play in the sinky sand. Josie was too cold for jumping into the water, those skinny legs get the shivers. Mia and Lia lounged about until it was silly time, then the older 4 adopted rocks as babies (like ba-donk-a-donk). Esther and Dave invited us over for a dinner of pulled pork sandwiches. Charlie was the cutest raptor ever, especially when he checked his fingers to ensure he only had three fingers out. He bonked Miekka and Courtenay's heads together with his energetic performance. I am thrilled my SILs got to meet Esther for more than a few moments. My Everett disappeared just as we packed up to head home. We searched for sometime until Everett Lance spotted him hiding behind a tree. He had some hurt feelings brewing over the 4-square game the kids played. He hopped into the back of the truck so he could isolate himself until he was ready to face the world. 

Tuesday morning Courtenay, Miekka, and I went to Kidz Again Consignment store. Miekka and I didn't need anything but it was fun to browse. I did find some cute slip-ons in silver and pink for $3 per pair in the maternity section. Ha ha ha. We stopped at Goodwill for a moment where I found some books, a rock collection display, two Easter gnomes, and a sewing kit with a hem measurement tool that I broke before trek. Courtenay took a short snooze to rest her eyes before the gang headed home. We got to keep Lia for a couple extra days. Jana was coming to visit on Thursday and would take Lia home on Monday. Jana caught a nasty viral cold she thought might be COVID, her test came back negative. Wednesday morning she texted to report that she was in the ER with chest pains and severe cramping. I am relieved Jana decided to stay home and come in a couple of weeks. Miekka and I made plans to meet up at City of Rocks for a day trip on August 6th. 

Mia and Lia really wanted a trip to the mall, I did not want to repeat the cry fest Evelyn and Josie performed the prior week. I dropped off the older girls and waited and hour at Chik-fil-a with the little girls then another hour at TJ Maxx searching for wicker or bamboo newborn props. Evelyn found two cute outfits for her upcoming birthday session. We rocked out to Hamilton there and back! Both older girls spent money on cute earrings and Amelia got a new wallet. 

Everett's new activity boys leader is Brother Minor. He is so much fun! He had the boys over on the 27th for Pioneer games and baking foil dinners with real rabbit meat. Temperatures were over 100-110 for a good 9 days. It was extra hot. Sara was taking care of the puppies while the Palmers were at the Adams family reunion. Aunt Nancy brought over Loki for the week for the same reason. Seems like we were either at home crafting or at the Palmers swimming and cuddling puppies. A coworker of Dusty's bought Scuttle and took him home right then and there! Sara bought Bonnie and Woody so is just waiting until the pups are 8 weeks old to surprise her kids. We loved having Loki around, he will jump right up and sit on laps for attention. One morning he wormed his way under my sheets and started licking my toes. I woke up screaming thinking an alien was attacking me. 

Aunt Fawn taught a painting class on Thursday. I brought all the kids along because the subject was the Boise Temple. It was a challenging subject, my Moroni is quite sus. Lia's painting ended up being a mushroom. Evelyn started over and painted a cactus named Jeff, Justin took it to work where his co workers lavished the painting with ohhs and ahhhhs. Mostly we enjoyed getting out of the norm for a couple hours. One afternoon I set up my photo equipment to take some make-up dance photos. I was glad that Josie wanted to take her dance photos again, last time Evelyn's make up job was on the garrish side and her undies were poking out. Mia and Lia were complete nerds together for a best cousins/friends session. 

We ate an early dinner on Friday then headed to Escape Rooms Boise to redeem the second portion of Joe and Kat's Christmas gift! It worked out perfectly! The two girlies went in for free, mostly to play while the older 4 solved the puzzles. Lia loved her experience. This time we booked the Jungle Escape room. I enjoyed reading my nerd book for an hour. We topped off the evening with ice cream treats at Dairy Queen. Saturday was boring. The boys mowed our lawns. I gardened. I laundered. We watched TV. I worked on Singing Time. Justin took the kids swimming...again. We sweated, the Swass and Swoob intensified. On that note I am quite pleased with my new Lume lotion deodorant! I never felt excited about body care products until I unboxed my order. Keeps the sweaty butt crack fumes at bay. I had a gallon of oil that needed to be used before it went rancid. We made funnel cakes for dessert with lots of fun toppings. The dessert was too rich for the majority of us. Mia and Lia started a line dancing party. Carson lost a music battle, our speaker was louder. 

Sunday was intensified by a nasty migraine. Stupid. We joined the Calls to fast for Scot and Raquel who are trying to sell their AZ home. Scot already moved back to Smithfield with Elijah a month prior. They've dropped $40k from their original price and still not seeing movement. It's a tough market. Justin was contacted by a business based in Tucson, AZ a while back. He is seriously investigating the job because it is management which for him is the next level. I am not feeling good vibes about moving back to AZ for a carwash company. In my opinion, if the market fails or recesses more car washes are not going to make a priority over food. I understand his desire to move up the ladder...it's the location and the business that feels uncomfortable. Sister Bierman texted me late Saturday letting me know she was unable to play piano for singing time. I was very glad to have Sister Minor fill in especially because we had a full hour to sing and practice for the Primary Program. We played "Guess the Tune" rolled a die that decided how many notes to play before guessing the song. It worked well! I love how well the kids sing! So much enthusiasm...the crazy was palpable. I quickly identified when the spirit was present while we sang certain songs, it's important to recognize the doctrines we sing in our Primary songs.  Our stake hosted Kurt Francom of Leading Saints (a podcast and non-profit) for two firesides, one from 4-5 with the adult leaders and another at from 5:30-6:30 for the youth. He taught us some very intriguing ideas on teaching core doctrine. There are 4 circled levels starting with the outer ring of Esoteric teachings/doctrine (speculative; unknown, to be revealed), Policy teachings/doctrine (organized; supports eternal teachings), Supporting teachings/doctrine (applicable; elaborate and descriptive teaching), and lastly Core, Eternal teachings/doctrine (redemptive; unchanging truths of Salvation). Talk and teach more about Christ and less about form and punishment. For example instead of teaching about skirt length teach about Divine Identity, have person set their expectations of modesty level in front of the Savior. Another truth he touched on was this: Only Christ can remove our false identities. Christ just wants us, we don't need to earn the Savior's love. He will love us regardless of how many chapters we study in the scriptures, we lose the scope of Christ's love by doing what we think HE needs for us to be loved. What do you feel you have to get just right before Christ will love YOU? What if He just wants you to be you? His presentation ended with a video of Dick and Rick Hoyt, the father who pushed his paraplegic son in races starting in 1980 for 34 years. There were no words, just pure doctrine taught through music, videography, and the word "Can." We attended the youth presentation as well. He mostly focused on identity and the Savior. I feel so relieved to have a clearer understanding of my mission, this fireside was an answer to many prayers: How to teach my children to love the Lord and understand their worth. How to love these beautiful children.