Lately

Summer is keeping us busy with wonderful things as well as stressful things. Here's a quick rundown of what's happened in the past six weeks:

We've been getting as much swimming time in at my mom's house as possible. She is moving (spoiler alert - she moves by the end of this post), and the pool isn't coming. 

Last week I was in a hurry early in the morning, and I was trying to make a pasta salad to take to the lake. I turned on the wrong burner and had some containers from my fridge sitting there. Long story short... I almost burned the house down. 

Sidewalk chalk paint is always on our summer bucket list (our hypothetical bucket list - I don't make an actual bucket list cause who has the diligence to follow through with stuff like that?) 

Equal parts cornstarch and water + a few drops of food coloring. I always mix up a big pitcher of it and then pour it into cups and let the kids add their own color. 

I bought this little chest at the thrift store and painted it (possible reveal in another post? Another spoiler alert: it's white and boring). My girls all fought over it, but I gave it to Daisy to store her 5,001 Beanie Boos in. 

My mother-in-law (I have two - it's good to take note of this since I reference my in-laws a lot in this post, and I'm talking about two entirely different families) has a sleepover for the grandkids every summer. This year she did a farm theme, and she hired a petting zoo! 

I sat back until all the kids had their turn (just being well-behaved and stuff), and then I climbed in the caged area and snuggled a baby goat. He was only a week old. 

A few weeks ago, my other in-laws spontaneously decided to do a service mission at a girls camp. Within two weeks, they had packed up and left for the mountains. Grandpa gave all the kids a ride on his motorcycle before he left.

{Eva & Grandpa on the Harley trike - the only motorcycle I want her on}

Oh! And Scotty bought his step-dad's other motorcycle. because when you're serving a mission, you don't really need two motorcycles!

I am mildly obsessed with my new nephews. 

I should probably go visit them soon.

Their mama had surgery last week, so I babysat them while she was at the hospital. Two newborns! At my house!!! Such heaven! 

On the day I almost burned my house down, we went to the lake with my in-laws (the petting zoo ones). It was our first journey with the kayaks this year. The weather wasn't ideal - it was quite windy, but we had fun anyway! Zoe spent the day retrieving everyone's lost inflatables and returning them. 

Since all our sunscreen was applied in the wind, we ended up with some wild tan lines. Some parts of my neck and shoulders were absolutely fried! I had tiny blisters. I'm still in pain. 

Since my kids are growing like weeds, they are acquiring more surface area to be sunscreened every year. We've already gone through two packages of Sam's Club sunscreen (that's $14.98 x 2). Last week I found a bunch of sunscreen two-packs for $5 in the clearance cart at Smith's. I think we are set for the rest of the summer... maybe...

Scotty's birthday was last week. He turned 38. I wanted to plan a surprise date, so I got a babysitter and packed PB&J (we are so gourmet), and we went kayaking. 

We took turns rowing each other across the lake and timing ourselves. My time was 2:30, his was 2:15 (for future reference). It's just a small community reservoir. 

Also, I have since cut Scotty's hair. 

Meanwhile at the babysitter's house...

My friend Carlie, and I have kids all the same ages and opposite gender, so we have big plans. Eva and Magnus are starting to warm up to each other a little more now that they are getting older. All our other kids took a few years before they would play with each other.

For the 4th of July, we went to the girls camp where Scotty's parents are serving their mission. They don't book the camp over the holiday, so we had the place to ourselves. I think we are really going to enjoy this perk over the next few years!

Here's the family playing human Foosball.

We also played Gaga Ball and rode ATVs. The kids enjoyed an abundance of freedom. 

{Eva & me in the side x side}

We were going to stop at a concert on the way home from camping, but my in-laws' trailer ended up having some septic tank issues, and Scotty had to help deal with the "crappy situation." We missed the concert, so we stopped for dinner at Billy Blancos in Park City instead. 

The decor inside is really fun - it's all done in cars and motorcycles. Here's a box of grease rags in the bathroom to dry your hands:

While we were eating, it started pouring rain and got windy and cold. That's not what the 4th of July is usually like here, so it was really weird. 

All of our stuff in the back of the truck got rained on. 

By the way, we bought a truck a few weeks ago. We haven't had one since Nicky was a baby, save for one year when Scotty had a work truck. We've wanted one for a while, but it wasn't a priority. The stars aligned, and we were able to find one that was reasonably priced and can fit our whole family. We have loved having it. We don't know how we lived without a truck for so long. 

Speaking of purchases, I bought a box of 200 at Sam's Club last week. Despite my hatred for Otter Pops, it's nice having hundreds of popsicles in stock for when neighbor kids and cousins come over. You win some, you lose some. 

This past weekend, my mom moved into her new house, and we said good-bye to this place:

When I first heard she was moving, I was really sad about it, but I've had a year to get used to it. I realized I didn't live in this house very long, anyway. Only the three years before I got married. And I lived there with a step-dad with whom I don't have the greatest memories, so there are some advantages to leaving it behind. It's one of the final ties to him that can be severed. 

It's really hard to walk away from the pool though. I don't even like swimming, but my mom has had a pool for over 20 years, and I have four kids who have enjoyed that perk. 

On our last night at my mom's house, we sat on the floor and ate pizza and drank Pepsi out of the only cups left in the house!

My mom needs a China intervention. She has so many sets of China and dishes. I told her she has a problem. She also has a lot of  cake stands and cat food bowls, and I think I found a can of Raid in every fourth box I unpacked at her new house. 

For the first few weeks of summer, I babysat my nephew three times a week. That just ended last week, so now I have a bit more freedom. 

I haven't officially retired from my wood crafts, even though I planned to. I came across some more wood, so I'm going to make a few more things. 

This was a custom order I finished last week:

As of today, we've survived six weeks of summer break, and we have six more to go! There are things I like about having my kids home from school, and there are things that are really hard. I feel like this summer has been more chaotic than normal, but I'm not entirely sure why. It might have to do with my kids getting older and doing so many separate things. Until this year, most of our summers have been spent with the kids and me all together (which has it's pros and cons), but this year, everyone is going different directions every day. It takes a new degree of calendaring and time management.