Sheesh! I'm once again going to have to throw an entire month into one post haha. July was a good month! So there is lots to share :)
To start us off are our Independence Day festivities! The Saturday before the 4th, we went to the local Tazewell celebration at the middle school. We really had no idea what to expect, and there wasn't too much to do, but we did have fun! The kids played in the bouncy house things for a while, but there were just so many kids that they weren't having as much fun there. As we were walking back to the car, we spotted the foam pit! The boys were not interested in getting into the foam, but the girls were in HEAVEN! They absolutely loved it! I was so weirded out because it's not sticky at all, it doesn't hurt your eyes, and it just is fluff of something that makes you wet haha. I suppose those are all good things, but I was trying to think in my head what sort of compound or chemical would do that! I still don't know. Perhaps I will look that up... Anywho, the girls were sopping wet afterwards, and I am soooo thankful I packed jammies for all the kids. We didn't have towels, but I did have a blanket in the trunk that we used to dry them off. Once everyone was cleaned up, Dallin took the big kids to go get a treat while I fed Henry and we ate some snacks. I got to enjoy some excellent people watching. I always love to people watch. There are just so many interesting characters out there in the world. ;) Once it started to get dark we entertained ourselves by catching fireflies until the fireworks started. Danny totally flipped out once they did! A 'not good' flip out haha. I was so surprised since last year he seemed not bothered by them, but lately he really hasn't been a fan of loud noises. Thankfully, again, I thought to bring headphones and he did just fine, on my lap, with them on. After coming from the Eaglewood fireworks in Utah, I was expecting quite the show. Unfortunately, I don't think Tazewell has the same budget as Bountiful ;) It was perfect though and because it's a small town we were home quickly and it was just a fun night! I still really miss doing fireworks in Utah with the fam and the Hyrum parade. Lots of good memories there. I think sometime we'll have to come back in July!
On the 4th we went to Crab Orchard for their 4th of July festivities. My friend Tiffany had told us it was pretty fun and we decided to check it out. They had all kinds of things for the kids and there weren't tons of people. It was actually super fun and totally our speed. I think we might have to make that a tradition! We went to the Miller's that evening for a cookout and fireworks down in the hayfield. Ryan and his family were in town and it was so much fun! Lots of playing and chatting and laughing. Just the best things. They went all out with the fireworks and only David got a little singed by a firework. Haha! All in all, it was a lovely holiday celebrating the birth of this great country. We sure are proud to be Americans!
The Miller's and Boone's hired the sheep shearer to come out and we got to go help/watch! That was so cool to watch, but my gosh did my back hurt just watching those guys do all the sheep! I think they did probably 50 of them, and they weren't little sheep! It was wild. I wore a long sleeved shirt thinking that it would better protect my arms from getting itchy if I was moving wool around. That was a serious mistake. It was dang hot and the wool was so disgusting I didn't want to even touch it! Haha! So I let the men do the dirty work (literally) and I resorted to baby duty. I'm pretty good at baby duty, so I think it worked out ;) I think the kids had a lot of fun watching, but we probably needed to leave sooner than we did. Everyone was reeeaaaalll hungry and grumpy when we left haha.
Also this month we were invited to my friend Bond's 30th birthday bash! It was a fantasy themed costume party at her parents' farm and it was so much fun! I am usually not one to like dressing up, and Dallin definitely doesn't haha, but we did and we really enjoyed it! I was an elf princess (Arwen-esque), Dallin was a blacksmith (which was fitting since he pretty much had everything for it haha), Logan was Link from Zelda (my mom coached me through making his shirt and hat and then Dallin and I made his shield), Clara was a mermaid, Rory was a fairy, Danny refused to dress up ;P, and Henry was Frodo. Clara was the cutest and sang multiple karaoke songs in front of the whole crowd of about 50 people! Rory tried to sing one with her, but it was loud and I think she got nervous so she mostly just stood there about to cry. Bless her heart. I even got up and sang "You're the One that I Want" with Bond. So much fun! We will probably go to the farm again in October for their Apple Butter Makin' party!
The coolest tunnel leading to their farm!
Our karaoke star!
David the Younger (AKA Elder Boone) went through the temple and had his farewell at the end of July. We took all the kids with us and sweet Madi and Autumn watched them so we could do the session with him. It was so great. I wish I would have taken more pictures, but alas. I didn't. The Boone's gave great talks on Sunday as well and I am so excited for him. I really do think he will be a wonderful missionary!
As a side note, that is really the first picture of me where I feel I really look my age. I look like a 31 yr old! And that was/is weird haha!
Ok so now some random things from the month!
First Henry! My goodness the man child continues to grow and grow! He seems so close to crawling, but he's also very content to just lay around haha. He is still so happy and smiley! He's certainly starting to get more opinionated about things, and letting us know those opinions. He loves food. Like LOVES food. Haha! He's been trying all kinds of things and he still nurses a ton as well. I like to dream of the day when he won't wake up at night. You would think he should. He's certainly not in need of any more calories hahaha. He's just about caught up to Danny in weight, and he's still got the cutest little nose! Henry loves just about everyone. He's a little bit stoic and doesn't laugh easily (although just over the past couple of days he's started giggling more). And though he loves about everyone, he especially loves his mama and that makes me so dang happy. :) He's a mama's boy through and through right now, and I am going to savor every minute of it! I just need to work out more so I can hold him longer hahaha!
We've had fun playing outside this month! Lots of water tramps and hammock days. Catching fireflies. Logan and Rory are the master firefly catchers, but Danny is getting pretty good as well. All the good things of summer. Clara has taken an interest in tumbling and we were trying to show her what a round-off was. I will spare you the videos Dallin and I took of us doing them! One, because I am mortified at how old we look/are hahaha, and two, Dallin would hate me if I shared them ;) She is figuring it out though! And now she can touch her feet to her head!
We also built a few forts this month, I tried another sourdough loaf (still need to work on that more, but I am always too distracted to start!), saw a black bear cub on the drive home and another one was in our hayfield. Rory is very good at knowing when she's tired and putting herself down for nap, wherever she feels like it haha. Clara is 6 going on 15, both in beauty and sass! And Dallin dug a trench for our new propane tank line! More on that in a sec.
Our garden. Well let's just say I thought it was a jungle before. I was wrong. It's an absolute jungle now and I am working to try and get as many weeds out as I can before they set seed! None of our carrots really tasted good, which is a shame. Not sure if I let them go too long or if they weren't in long enough. I did find this little human-formed one quite amusing! ;) We've got a ton of zucchini and we had a bazillion cucumbers, but then something made our cucumbers start dying. I really wanted to do pickles, but hopefully next year I can! I often forget about the garden and don't go out for a few days. That leads to some MASSIVE produce. Mostly zucchini. We laughed pretty hard at how big some of them were. I've used what I could and put the rest into the compost, which makes me feel less bad about not using them since they will feed next years garden :)
Emmarie had a little birthday party at a pool in Bluefield. For the first half it was really cold and then right when we needed to leave, the sun came out and it was so hot haha. The kids had fun despite being freezing, and I was terrible and refused to get into the freezing water when it was freezing outside!
Clara living her best life haha.
After some discussion, both with each other and the Ferrell Gas people, we decided we should get a bigger propane tank. We had to have it filled so many times last winter and there was even a time we ran out! Whoops! So to avoid this dilemma, and to save money, and to have peace of mind, we got a bigger tank. Dallin had to dig a trench for the new line, and once that was done they came out with the new tank. It's a huge one! I believe it's a 500 gallon tank! We think that with our wood (see below) and the new tank, we probably will only have to top it off once before winter and it should last the whole time! Please bless!
Some more misc things :)
Rory captured this and I think I like how real it is. So enjoy ;)
Ok and lastly we got some wood! Like I said before, we really didn't want a repeat of last year and for some reason I just feel like this winter is going to be much more intense. So we ordered a dump truck load of wood! We bought "green" wood because it was less money and the guy said that because we got it so early it would season before we needed to burn it. The only unfortunate thing about buying the green wood is that there is tree (I don't know what one) that the locals refer to as "Cat Piss" because it smells like cat pee when it's cut. Well we must have had a good chunk of it in that load because it smelled so bad! And it smelled bad for a good while. I was out just yesterday (it's now August 22nd) and I could smell only a hint of it haha. So it took a few weeks, at least, to not be obnoxiously stinky! We are feeling ready for winter though and it feels good to be a little more prepared this year!
He's seriously the best dad!
Humans included for size reference ;)
While they were out stacking, Duke found himself a little turtle friend! After rescuing said turtle from Duke, we all waited patiently for the turtle to un-shell himself. It was quite exciting to watch! And Logan kept asking us to keep it. I refused. This mama is not ready to take on another animal at the moment. And the next animal we get will be a dairy cow, or some other animal to eat haha. Unless they want a fish. I wouldn't mind getting them a fish. Maybe. ;)
We had a fun-filled July! Thanks for being here, and have a blessed day! 🤍
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