Take your time going through this one, you might want to read one section a day say, oh, for the next 45 days! LOL
JULY
July continued to bring very hot, hot weather. I'm usually gone for July, but I survived being in the heart of the heat this year.
The fourth of July we celebrated with a BBQ at our house with some friends and their families. After our BBQ, we all headed to the high school to enjoy the fireworks show after dark. We were very fortunate to have a wonderful breeze and cloud cover, which cooled things down tremendously. But, due to the high winds, the fireworks were delayed and delayed. They finally decided to start and then after about the 3rd one we had major sparks falling in and hitting the audience. They tried a couple more and found no change. They turned on all the lights and asked us to move to the other football field. This took some time and was kindof a pain, but we did it and then we were able to enjoy the rest of the wonderful fireworks show, but with no music. It was fun anyway.
As from previous blogs the kids had swim and dive teams all summer. Swim/Dive team ended with preliminaries and championships the middle of July. We are so proud of our children for the extreme hard work and dedication this has taken them. (Every morning 6am starting practice M-F no breaks) They did awesome!
Jessika got 17th in the backstroke and Anthony got 15th in the freestyle.
Benjamin got 4th place in the preliminaries and 6th place in the championships. (This was after two very hard weeks-he hit the board almost everyday the week of prelims. He scrapped his ankles doing an inward and hit his head doing the back flip. We are very blessed the body took only a small hit/leaving him in fine condition, just scarring him about doing them again.) He continued to practice hard and changed one of his dives and did really good anyway.
We celebrated Chelsey's birthday at home this year with dad. This was a first in a long time, and dad was very glad to be able to celebrate with her. We had waffles for breakfast, dad and mom took her to lunch (Joe's BBQ-our famous lunch spot-birthday=free meal), and then we met at the bowling alley for a birthday party with her friends and cousins. We enjoyed cosmic bowling, cake, ice cream, and presents. Later that night we met with Wade & his family, Mark & Casey at the Golden Corral and enjoyed an all you can eat dinner. She had a great birthday!
After the final dive championship, we attended a BBQ/swim party for the end of the season and Chelsey went to a friend's birthday party. After that the kids and I headed up to Utah. We drove to St. George (Anthony helped keep me awake), stayed the night, went to sacrament meeting, changed and headed up to Tauna and Larry's house. There we enjoyed the day, dinner, and playing with cousins. We stayed the night and enjoyed another fun filled day visiting and being with cousins. We met Julie and Rhett about 5pm so I could babysit there new baby while they went to a concert. Then I headed to the airport to pick up Jeremy. We then headed to Orem to spend the week with his family. We stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Holt. We visited with Rhett and Julie and baby for one night and enjoyed the BYU creamery, wii, and BANG! We also had many dinners with Jeremy's parents, and siblings and their families. We were there over the pioneer day and so the kids always love to be able to do fireworks (illegal always in AZ). We always have a great time visiting the cousins, aunts/uncles, and grandparents in the cooler weather. After many fun filled days, Jeremy had to return to Arizona and the kids and I headed to St. George. We then visited with Grandma and Grandpa Nichols for a week. We enjoyed seeing The Sound of Music at the Tuachan Theater. The kids loved it! My parents and I went to Les Miserables one night while Anthony babysat. This was also a very good performance. We spent a lot more time swimming (as if we didn't get enough this summer-every morning)! We also went to Pine Valley and did some camping, fishing, and a little hiking. Grandma and Grandpa went with us and it was very fun! The kids each caught some fish except Jessika but she had fun trying. Grandpa taught the boys how to gut and clean the trout and then we cooked it in foil in the fire. They each tasted it, but it wasn't the hit of the night. We enjoyed s'mores and sleeping in the tent. We stayed two nights (and ofcourse, we got rained on the 2nd night). It was still totally fun and my kids have still not stopped talking about it.
We returned home in time for Jessika's birthday(3rd of August) and the start of school(4th). Jessika enjoyed a fun birthday and we had aunt/uncles/cousins over for cake, ice cream, and presents. On the weekend we had a friend birthday party and took her and her friends swimming to a new swimming pool (pretty much like a waterpark-it had a lazy river, two water slides, a whirlpool, a playground in the shallow, and a splash park. They all had fun swimming and playing with their friends.
AUG 4-SCHOOL started! Yuck-actually school is a great thing, I just would have liked one or two more weeks. But nontheless, Chelsey started all day kindergarten and I was left home all alone! Wow, I can really accomplish a lot with everyone gone, but I can also play, shop, and enjoy lots of lunches with my friends while the kids are away. I really haven't got as much done as I have wanted to, but I am able to substitute now. I am also teaching 10 piano lessons each week. Along with school, Anthony started football! This is grueling for me, but even more so for him. The first two weeks he had practice M-F 6-8pm. Remind you it was still 110 degrees by 4:00 each day. Then he still continued to practice everyday, becuz many days were rainouts. We made it through August and then games started. Opening day brought 8 scrimages to start at 11:30. They didn't start until 1:30 and coach was pretty hot and tired by the 5th scrimage and so he called it good. The games are still hot and sweaty, starting at 2:00pm every Saturday. He plays a little thru the actual game, and then they have an instructional 5th quarter and he plays all of that. He has been playing center on offense and nose gaurd and cornerback on defense. He really snaps the ball well on offense. He is enjoying the experience (mom not so much-I'm just grateful he hasn't got hurt yet-cross my fingers).
We also enjoyed a wonderful dinner for Mark & Ronnijean's Birthdays. I made chicken teryaki and chili rellenos. Great Combination! It was fun and we always have a great time having Uncle Wade & Aunt Ronnijean and Uncle Mark and our cousins visit.
The boys piano teacher finished teaching in July, so after searching for a while, we decided to have Del's aunt in Queen Creek teach them. I worked it out so they could have their lesson and just down the street the girls attend their singing/dancing group at the same time. A little crazy on Wednesdays, but it gets all done at once. The piano lessons are going great and their teacher is really teaching them some great stuff. The girls are working on a performance for the pumpkin fest at Schneff Farms in Oct.
The boys piano teacher finished teaching in July, so after searching for a while, we decided to have Del's aunt in Queen Creek teach them. I worked it out so they could have their lesson and just down the street the girls attend their singing/dancing group at the same time. A little crazy on Wednesdays, but it gets all done at once. The piano lessons are going great and their teacher is really teaching them some great stuff. The girls are working on a performance for the pumpkin fest at Schneff Farms in Oct.
September came in very fast and has gone out even faster! The first of the month mom and dad were here to pick up Grandpa Detro. We enjoyed visiting and having dad fix a few things around the house. Thank you DAD! The boys all went to a Diamondbacks baseball game and they had a great time! I enjoyed going to lunch with Monica for her birthday and shopping a little. I decided to cut my hair short. Casey cut it and I love it!
Sep. 15th, Wade called and asked if I would meet him at the hospital as Ronnnijean was going to have a c-section. I was really glad to come and help with the kids. I watched the kids in the waiting room for about 1 hour and then the proud dad came out and showed us pictures and told us all about new baby Tabitha. The kids were excited but due to the lateness they were not able to see her that night. I took his kids home to my house where they slept over. After getting my kids off the next morning, I took the kids to the hospital to see their new addition to the family and their mom. The boys loved that new baby. After a while, they were all sad to go, Wade and I took them to DQ for lunch and then took them home and changed them and took them to school for the last 2 hours. Wade and I worked on laundry and cleaning the house. (Wade did the most and he is a great house keeper!) After I came back later that night with the kids to get them in bed until Grandma Rogers came, that house sure did SHINE! I enjoyed being able to help with the kids during this time.
The next week brought a great 10 year mark for our little BENJAMIN! He was so happy to be turning 10! I think he thinks its a magical number for later nights, more privileges, but I'm not so sure about that! We enjoyed waffles for breakfast, Jeremy and I took him to lunch again to (Joe's BBQ). Then I took him to an initial orthodontist appt to see what he would say about his teeth. Ben was happy that he said nothing was needed right now, except a permanent spacer on the bottom to make room for the adult teeth that still need to come in. Benjamin attended both Bear and Weblelos scouts on his birthday. We had some of his favorite wings for dinner and then headed off to Anthony's court of honor.
Anthony received many awards 4 merit badges (swimming, first aid, citizenship in the world, and fingerprinting), tenderfoot, 2nd class, and 1st class. We are proud of his hard work.
This last weekend was our wards Father/Daughter campout. Jeremy took the girls and one of their friends and headed up about noon. They had a great time rock collecting, playing, and enjoying nature. Sat. Jeremy took them to the nearby fish hatchery before heading home. It was too bad the doctor called about 4:30 and told me that Jessika did have STREP. Oh'well-not sure what I was supposed to do, she was already there exposing to everyone her lovely sweet germs.
Sat afternoon, Grandma Nichols, Wade, and kids joined us to watch Anthony's football game. Afterwards we had a friend party for Benjamin. His friends came over and we enjoyed pizza, cake, and ice cream. After that we headed to our new POLAR ICE Skating Rink and took the kids ice skating. They all had a great time, only one little kid fell and bumped his chin getting a bad cut. Despite that it was really fun! Wade even took Zachery, he loved being pushed by Wade on a plastic 5 gallon bucket. Chelsey and Carter skated all night by themselves with the buckets as they pushed around the ice. It was a really good idea and helped the little ones skate without help from a parent. By 9:30 all were pooped and we took them all home and went to bed.
All Tuckered Out!Needless to say this has been a pretty lazy Sunday for us!
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