Summer Vacation

Life after vacation. It's hard to adjust! Everyone is tired, crabby, bored, and free to roam for days on end. I strapped me bum to my computer chair for 5 entire days in order to process the rest of the dance photos. It took me 2 days to run the photos through Lightroom (cull, adjust, and apply a filter to the backdrop) then 3 days to fix/extend the background on 90% of the photos. I completed that monstrous task at 1:30 am Saturday "morning." I am feeling a bit better about the job now that money is coming in with folks ordering dance photos. If there is a next time, I will be better prepared and not give so many options/poses. Getting those posted felt like a ton of bricks lifted off my lap. 

The dog was sick. He caught some bug that caused him to throw up and have terrible diarrhea. It was gross. Poor guy woke either Justin, Mia, or I up night between 3-5 am with tummy troubles. I cleaned up enough poop off the walls, furniture, carpets, and linens to last me quite some time. I washed over 12 loads of laundry because the smell was awful. I asked another dog owner if he thought I should take Vader to the vet. He suggested giving Vader canned pumpkin for a couple days. That worked like a charm. Vader had another couple days of barf and poop but he slowly started eating and drinking. This week he is starting to follow us around again like normal.  

During my editing breaks I helped the kids set up the pool. We are dismayed it has a couple of leaks, one we can't find in the inflatable top part. Phillip set to work doing most of the work including patching leaky spot with tape that sticks to even wet items. Josie literally cracked me up last week: she spent an hour carefully cracking nuts. I asked her if she was eating the nuts to which she replied, just wait and see mom! She later took her pile of nuts out to the porch and laid nuts in a pile, then a line to the tree, decorated parts of the tree she could reach with nuts. Her next move was the stand on the porch and yell, "Squirrels! Free nuts for only squirrels! Come and get NUTS!" She was very discouraged the squirrels did not come running. I suggested she use my window that looks over the tree, still no visitors. Evelyn helped me plant more seeds in the garden. I harvested three delicious broccoli heads which we ate in stir-fry one evening. I picked up a few flowers and nursery plants to fill my porch pot and to repel bugs in the garden. It all looks so pretty! The peony and wisteria flowers smell like a patch of heaven. So divine. I got the kids a slip n'slide on Tuesday, Everett deflated it after only a few minutes of use. Phillip was very upset he never got a chance to use it. Amelia spent the week working on her upcycle doll, this doll is her second attempt. She went with a romantic cupid theme doll. She did a great job with the face repaint, clothing construction, and cute details. Amelia enjoyed seminary Thursday morning. 

Justin enlisted Phillip and Everett's help setting up a drip watering system for my garden boxes. Justin had the boys doing lots of math to calculate lengths of tubing, how many connectors were needed, and construction of the system. Justin took the kids, minus Mia, to the ward campout at Givens Hot Springs. We did not camp, he went for dinner and swimming. Josie forgot her swimsuit, she finally agreed to swim in her clothes or else miss out on the event. I stayed home and edited, watched a series on Jeff Warren, that was interesting but made me sick to think about. Amelia got to snuggle Tilly's 7 new puppies! Clare hosted a fun party with swimming, food, games, and puppies of course. 

Saturday morning Evelyn convinced Josie to marry Oliver. She dressed her up in a cream dress, made a veil out of paper towels, created handouts (and color copied 8 invitations), and set up a dessert table for the wedding guests. Josie started crying because she did not want to be embarrassed. Oliver refused to wear nice clothes. The wedding was cancelled due to young age and tender feelings. Their favorite stuffed animals almost got married instead but we ran out of time. I took the kids swimming with Fawn's Furiman side of the family. Her uncle has a cute pool and the most amazing garden and yard I've seen. So peaceful. Phillip's floatie popped in minutes, so what doe he do? He filled it with water, turned out to be a really fun pool toy. 

I watched "What is a Woman" documentary by Matt Walsh. It was highly entertaining, due to the absurdity that a simple question is now very difficult to answer. I never imagined in 1995 when the Proclamation on the Family came out that the gender issues we are facing would be at the crux of it all. I expected divorce, separation, porn, etc to be the major issues. The answer? A human adult female is a woman. I foresee so many hard situations: temple marriage (what if a genetic man is legally a female on birth cert?), church dances, camping activities, youth activities, school...seemingly all facets of life. Other issues like modesty are taking a backseat. Amelia's friend Jocelyn was once again approached by another girl at the Stake Dance on Saturday.  Apparently, she has not desisted her attentions toward Jocelyn since the first incident. Jocelyn was quite inappropriately touched and lines crossed during the dance by this other young lady. Regardless of gender, sexual abuse should not be tolerated on any level at church functions! How can the children growing up now (ages 0-8) have a chance when many are growing up with unassigned gender from birth? Since when can a child choose to take hormone blockers, embrace chemical castration, surgeries prior to adulthood? Now! This is now a choice given to children. It is very difficult to know what to do, how to act, how to testify, how to be true to my heart when the ground is sinking.