The Second Half of June

July 28, 2023

The Second Half of June

Woah. So basically life has been so busy for us lately. We were doing so awesome making sure that we each got a night to chill and focus on things that we really wanted to do. Well then we had a birthday, and the 4th, and work at the Miller house. Anywho, this week we are finally getting back onto our schedule. Let's hope it lasts, and if not, well...we will just keep trying. Haha.

I'm just going to throw the rest of June into a post today so let's go back to the 17th. This year our stake was doing Trek and it just so happened that they were using the Boone's farm! So on the 17th, we had a stake day of service and we went to the farm to cut the brush back and make a trail for the 'pioneers' to take with their handcarts. I came totally unprepared. I should have had water and snacks and all the things, and I honestly didn't even think about it. I did bring loppers and gloves haha. About 5 minutes after we got up the hill, I realized that my three youngest and I were more in the way than helpful. Plus it was hot, and there was nothing to entertain us. I was able to hitch a ride down with one of the stake leaders, but before we left I wanted to run and tell Dallin I was going...and also to get the van keys haha. They told me he was at least a 1/4 mile down the trail and I got the feeling they didn't want to wait for me to run down ;) So off we went, without the keys and with 3 tired and hungry and grumpy little ones! Thankfully we hadn't locked the van, so I got the kids set up with a show and then I called Connie to see if they had some snacks I could come steal haha. I hiked over with Henners, hiked back with snacks, and then just waited a good long hour or so before anyone made it back down. I felt silly for not helping at all, but Dallin and the big kids helped so much! I was so proud of them!! I didn't hear a single complaint from the kids and they walked at least 3 miles and cut brush the whole time! A cool guy from our ward even let Logan keep the machete he was using. I'm so glad we could help and they got done what they needed. A good productive day. I like those. :)

Mom captured by Rory ;)

Bek looking too legit!

The night of the 17th we went to the "Bounce Zone" at the mall to celebrate Rory's birthday! We invited the whole fam to come! We picked up Little Caesar's on the way! We ate in the parking lot and did presents then went in to play. They only let ages 11 and younger in, so the teens just hung out and wandered the mall haha. The little ones were in HEAVEN! I seriously don't think Rory stopped smiling. A great celebration for her! I'm so grateful for our family here. They are so good to us and and we had so much fun!

Henry barfed on them...so now they are honorary dads haha.

Rory is FOUR! We had Lucky Charms for breakfast on Rory's actual birthday (the 20th!), per her request, and then we dropped off the big kids and picked up her cake from Sam's Club. She requested a Paw Patrol cake! It looked so cute, but honestly did not taste that good. 😬 Hopefully that's not rude haha. I am realizing that it is time to invest in some cake making supplies so that I can start making the birthday cakes now. Carissa or Sarah, if you read this, I need lessons asap ;) We had cake and ice cream after supper and I think she enjoyed her day. We didn't really do too much because the kids had camp, and we had celebrated on Saturday too!

The only picture I took of the cake. Whoops.

I feel a need to interject here for a brief second haha. So I love to write, but I feel like texting has corrupted my ability to write well! I find myself wanting to insert emojis all the time to add emphasis to what I am saying. Obviously I can add them a little bit, but it's just not the same and it feels weird. So forgive my obsessive use of "haha" while I figure out how to write without emojis hahaha. ;P

Pioneer Camp! In Tazewell County there is a historic museum and they share a lot of pioneer history and culture. And our new and dear friends were telling us about this Little Pioneer Camp where kids ages 4-7 get to come for a few days and learn some new skills and crafts and games that are congruent with that time period. Logan and Clara had so. much. fun. They got to make biscuits and apple butter, and normal butter, and crafts, and play musical chairs, and learn archery, and and and! They still sing the songs and it was over a month ago! It was such a fun experience and next year Logan will be old enough to do the apprentice camp and Rory will be old enough to do the Little Pioneer camp so it will be another fun year!

Clara made a new friend, Lottie, and they were the cutest!!!

Our friends who told us about the camp!

My heart!

Another good thing Dallin and I have started is a monthly temple trip. It's been so hard to not be able to go often. It's just too far to be able to make it happen more than once a month and we switch who gets to go each time. So anywho, my month to go was June and I drove to Richmond for some initiatory and an endowment session. Holy GLORIOUS! It was just what my soul needed. I was able to listen to podcasts and talks and just think and be in my head on the long drive. Plus, the temple session was just incredible. I seriously was so happy. The hardest part was just that it was 8 hours of driving in a day. That's sort of a lot haha. But it really was worth it. And I got a lettuce-wrapped burger from Five-Guys and it was bomb. Haha. My only complaint was that they didn't have fry sauce ;) And Costco out here does not carry my staples. So that was also slightly disappointing. I miss Utah Costco real bad haha. We get to go again to the temple on Saturday for David's endowment before his mission and I am so excited!

Clara lost her first tooth! It had been wiggling forever and she was trying to eat an apple to get it to come out and she just kept saying how much it hurt. Well when she came to show me, it was bleeding and I realized that it was pretty darn close to coming out. I suggested we get the pliers (which we had done with one of Logan's) and she thought that was a great idea. So Dallin popped that sucker out and she's told everyone she has seen since then about how she lost her first tooth haha. The tooth fairy brought her a gold dollar and all was right in the world. :) She has several more loose teeth, so I bet we'll be seeing the wee fairy a bit more soon!

We had a pretty wild experience with the cows this month. A while back, I had noticed that "Big Momma" was really mooing. Now when a cow is in estrus they moo. A lot. But she had just had a calf, so I was thinking it was a little off. Well after a little while, I realized that her baby wasn't with her. So I thought, you know what, I think she's trying to get us to help her. I was worried baby had fallen and gotten stuck or something. So we got the kids shoes on, I put Henry in the carrier and we hiked up to the hay shed. When we got there, we heard mooing inside! Dallin went to go open the door and ALL of the cows had gotten themselves stuck in this tiny 12x12' room. Like 11 cows! All but Big Momma. They came running out and we were shocked! The baby ran right up to momma and started nursing and you could see the milk dripping out. I don't know how long they had been in there! It reeked of ammonia, so it had been a while. Anyway, we propped open the door, and Dallin wondered if we needed to tie it so it couldn't open or shut anymore. We didn't. And a week or so later, there had been a few really intense rain storms. We didn't think much of it, but then Dallin went up to the hay shed to get something and he realized that the cows were in there again! This time ALL of them were in there and we honestly don't know how long they had been in there. But they were skinnnny. Like it had to have been a couple of days! It was bad. And we felt so awful. We didn't even think to go check, and they often go up on the mountain where we can't see them for a couple of days. So nothing seemed off. But it was off and we still hate that we didn't notice or do anything when we thought to in the first place. Dallin locked the door shut so they can't get in anymore. And they seem to be putting on weight again. I think the baby was able to still nurse, because she looked great and Big Momma looked the most skinny. Thankfully, none of them died, but it was certainly a good wake up call to us that we can be much better stewards!

Also at the end of June, I picked up another side gig at the Miller's. I was in charge of sanding/cleaning the kitchen cabinets. It was A LOT of work. And I honestly have never done anything like that before so it was sort of a challenge for me. Trying to figure out the best way to do it and make sure I did it the way it needed to be done. I still don't really know if it was what they wanted, but I did my best! I still need to go back and wipe them down before they get painted. They are still working in there so I need to wait until they finish so I don't have to keep wiping them down repeatedly haha. I'm pretty proud of my work. They look sooooo much better, and hopefully it was sufficient for their needs!

This was my first section.

The top one was one that was getting taken down so it is not done. Bottom ones were done!

I am also going to post just some random pictures and such from the month. Henry is growing like crazy and he is still just the happiest chubbiest little cherub. Technically it's July now, but when I weighed him last week, he was 21.6lbs! He's loving food and has tried all kinds of things now. I don't remember what, but a lot haha. Gosh I love him. He gives the biggest smiles and the best snuggles! Danny is a goofball and is always cracking us up. His laugh is one of my all time favorite sounds. Like ever. Rory is still her wandering happy 4 year old self. Sweet and sensitive. Clara is her own person. Lives to the beat of her own drum. Constantly singing and dancing. Dressing up and living in her make believe world. She oozes art and creativity haha. Logan has become the most intense bookworm ever. He's getting so smart and so curious. Wants to read and learn and take in everything. He read all 15 of our Illustrated Classics series, all 7 Chronicles of Narnia, the first Wingfeather Saga book, and is now reading the Lord of the Rings series and that's just in the last month! We also finished the Book of Mormon with him on June 14th! He loved it and it's been so cool to see how much he remembers and can tell us about it. He still really wants to be baptized so we are getting it all planned for December! He also loves Othello, Rubik's cubes, and logic puzzles. He's growing and maturing right before our eyes!