Summer - Week 1

The Stomach bug had it’s last grips on us and, for the first time in as long as I can remember, we all stayed home from church on Sunday.

Matthew had to go into work on Memorial day, so we treated it like a fairly normal day. The kids had a big job of getting their rooms in order as it had been a while since I made them actually clean them. The boys had their piano playing time upped to an hour from 50 minutes and Mercy started some simple lessons at just 20 minutes a day. After their personal jobs were done, we all worked together cleaning bathrooms. It went remarkably well. The boys are now sharing the bathroom between their rooms, so they each are responsible for their own sink and today Hyrum was in charge of the toilet and tub. Abraham cleaned the guest bathroom and I helped Mercy with hers. Then we went to JoAnn’s to check out a sale on flannel. Hyrum brought some of his own money to buy supplies for bracelet making. He was very thoughtful and mature about picking out what he wanted and paying the cashier his money. He was so grown up! We then went to the dollar store for pool noodles and then Walmart for the week’s groceries. The kids were great through it all. We had lunch, then spent about an hour in the afternoon swimming. The water hadn’t had much time to warm up yet and it was quite breezy, making the whole experience rather chilly. For family night we went to Home Depot and picked up doughnuts at Krispy Kreme, then came home and watched Black Panther.

Tuesday’s chores went quicker as their rooms were still in good order. We worked together to clean downstairs. The kids did great at promptly carrying out each small job I gave them, then worked together to scrub the floors. At noon we packed a picnic and met up with some friends at the Mirehaven park for lunch. In the evening I was able to deliver some chicken nuggets to and visit with one of my ministering sisters.

On Wednesday the Richardson’s and Jensen’s came over to play and share a potluck lunch. I contributed veggies and homemade hummus. We had 12 kids here from 9-1 and it was definitely a party! ¾ of the Jensen kids stayed after the Richardson’s left. Becky took Micah with her to pick up some groceries and collect bathing suits, then returned about an hour later and everyone went swimming until 4:30. At 6:30 we went over to the Jeb Brown’s for a potluck dinner celebrating the recent turkey hunt. Jeb made a turkey chili out of the bird they shot along with cornbread, watermelon, and pie. I contributed a pineapple and deviled eggs which were a big hit.

Thursday the mom’s choice chore was a trip to the library. We loaded up on books since it was the last day before our month of no screen time. We also went to Smith’s. The rest of the day was spent playing video games. 

Brother Walz came by at 7:30 am on Friday morning. He dropped off Kinzlee for a playdate and picked up Hyrum for Cub Scout day camp. Kinzlee was with us until 11, then after lunch Mercy, Abraham and I drove down to my doctor’s office to drop off my physical papers for girls camp. On the way home, the Highlander died just before the intersection at Central and Unser. After calling Matthew and saying a prayer, I was thankfully able to hobble the car home. It died about five more times over the roughly two miles to our house, but we made it. We got the upstairs all picked up, then spent a couple hours in the pool, which had warmed up nicely after several days sitting in the sun. 

Hyrum rode with the Lignell’s down to Day Camp today. While he was gone, the rest of us made a trip to Cabela’s then spent several hours laying a brick path to the pool. Abraham was an especially hard worker and I was very impressed with his stamina and dedication to the job. For lunch Matthew smoked a rack of BBQ ribs, which everyone enjoyed very much. Much of the afternoon was spent learning about and practicing with the new fishing rod Dad got at Cabela’s in the morning. Hyrum went over to the Lignell’s after camp and didn’t get home until after dinner.