The heat finally arrived in July, and I guess that's acceptable since it is summer and all. We tried to find a balance between fun summer activities and just chilling, and I think we did pretty well. Activities and happenings included . . .
Turning . . . down a job offer. I forgot to even mention this in my June recap, although that's when most of it happened. Mike was approached by a medical device company here in the Salt Lake valley with a job proposal in their research and development department. It was basically his dream job, and he gave serious consideration to it. Unfortunately, the company could not offer him the benefits he's used to at his current job. He still probably would have gone for it, except that when he told his boss about the offer, he was able to ask for a change in his responsibilities (out of management and back into research and development), and that was enough to convince him to stay. (He has yet to see these changes implemented, so hopefully it will actually work out the way he wants.)
Vacationing . . . in Colorado. I already wrote a full post all about it here if you're interested. In short, it was a lovely, relaxing vacation with gorgeous scenery to boot.
Speaking . . . at our neighborhood patriotic fireside. Bradley and Clark were both asked to be speakers at this annual event. It was held in the beautiful backyard of one of our neighbors (a stunning oasis I'm always surprised is there). Bradley and Clark were two of eight kids who spoke about what living in America means to them. I thought it was really nice to hear from the up and coming generation. There was also patriotic music, cookies, and homemade ice cream. Couldn't have asked for a better night.
Sewing . . . a bag. I told Clark I would help him learn to sew this summer by making a couple of projects. First up, a little drawstring bag. He picked out the fabric, I cut it out, and then he used the sewing machine for his very first time. He did great, and the bag turned out so cute.
Traveling . . . to Idaho with my parents and brother, Christian. My grandpa passed away last September, but my grandma waited until this summer to take his ashes from California to Idaho. It was a short, one-night trip, but I was so grateful to get to be there with my Grandma Jones, my Uncle Doug, and my Aunt Becky (who I hadn't seen in over twenty years!). I loved having all of the hours in the car with my parents and brother to chat and listen to an audiobook--The Art of Making Memories). We went out to eat at Cracker Barrel with everyone when we arrived. My mom and I went on a long walk in the evening. The next day, we took it slow at breakfast and chatted for over an hour. Then we went to the Fargo cemetery, which is the quietest, most peaceful plot of land I've ever been to. Such a perfect final resting place for my grandpa. My grandma shared memories and stories. Then we all sang a hymn before my mom and aunt lowered the urn into the ground. Afterwards, we all went out to eat at a charming, family-owned restaurant called Nathan's where the food was really top-notch. We sat around laughing and talking and just enjoying each other's company. What a treat to get to be there. (Also, Christian has been calling me his "aunt" for the last couple of years because he said he didn't see me often enough to get to be his sister, but this trip promoted me back up to sister-status. Hooray!)
Playing . . . at the cabin. Meanwhile, when I was in Idaho, Mike took the other boys (minus Aaron) to the cabin. Sonja and her girls were there as well as Mike's parents. They went on a hike, played games, created a beach by the stream, ate Johnny O's doughnuts, and read stories.
Loving . . . FSY. The same week I was in Idaho and Mike was at the cabin, Aaron was at BYU attending FSY (For the Strength of Youth). He roomed with one of his friends. It went from Monday-Saturday and was a spiritual flood of inspirational talks, testimony meetings, in-depth scripture study, and motivational activities. Aaron loved every minute of it. I texted him on Friday night, "Well, you feeling ready to come home tomorrow???" And he answered, "No." And he really wasn't. It was such a high for him that he kind of crashed when he got home and spent a couple of days moping around and feeling depressed. I think the best part for him was his company (the counselors and boys and girls in his group). They were very close and all got along so well, and he made some great friends that he has stayed in touch with. His group even won first place with their skit (out of 1100 people!).
Learning . . . to ride a bike. Ian hadn't expressed an interest in riding a bike, but his best buddy learned how this summer, so I figured it was at least time to make an attempt at teaching him. First, Mike had to make a few repairs to even have a bike that was rideable. But after that, they went to the circle across the street, and within forty-five minutes, Ian was zipping around, all on his own. I guess he was more than ready! So much easier than we anticipated, and he's been so happy to be able to ride around with his friends.
Reporting . . . on another month's worth of reading:
The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Vol. 2 by Beth Brower (witty writing, unique characters; the perfect thing to read on my kindle before bed each night)
Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins (listened together on our road trip and then discussed it for our family book club)
More Than You'll Ever Know by Kate Gutierrez (pretty riveting while I was in the middle of it, but actually kind of lame)
The Art of Making Memories by Meik Wiking (my sister chose this as our family reunion read; lots of good things to discuss)
Life in Five Senses by Gretchen Rubin (loved this book so, so much; my senses have been on high alert ever since--in a good way)
The Twits by Roald Dahl (a readaloud with Clark and Ian; very entertaining)
Cutting . . . his hair. I thought we didn't need to worry about a six-year-old cutting his hair, but apparently I was wrong. Ian cut a big triangle shaped wedge down to the skin right in the middle of his forehead. Nothing to do but give him a buzz cut!
Hiking . . . to Willow Lake. Mike and I did a mid-week hike to Willow Lake. I had never done this hike before, but it was beautiful: so many wildflowers along the trail and tucked up high in the mountains among the aspens. It was a short hike, but we didn't go until after Silas was in bed, so we were chasing daylight, but we made it back to the car before dark. And bonus, it was probably twenty degrees cooler in the mountains than down in the valley, and the reprieve was heavenly.
Spending . . . the day with my mom and brother at the pool. Our summer has been filled with many trips to the pool (mostly me with the younger boys), but my mom and Christian joined us one morning, which made it extra fun. We got there early, so we had the pool mostly to ourselves for the first little bit. We packed a lunch and stayed for a couple of hours. Afterwards, we visited Aaron at the snow cone shack and got a cold treat.
Attending . . . the Days of '47 concert. One of Mike's coworkers told him about a free concert at Abravanel Hall featuring Choral Arts Society, West Valley Symphony, and BYU Vocal Point. We couldn't pass up an opportunity to see Vocal Point without having to go all the way to Provo, so we went with the four oldest boys (my sister and her boyfriend watched Ian and Silas for us). It was a great concert. My favorite from the symphony was a medley from "Far and Away." But Vocal Point stole the show. They did five songs in the middle of the concert as well as their very iconic "Nearer My God To Thee" as an encore with the whole ensemble at the end. Clark said, "I wish that had just been a Vocal Point concert." We all kind of agreed, so we'll have to make that happen this fall.
Taking . . . a few tennis lessons. And by "a few," I mean "three." It worked out for Clark and Ian to take tennis lessons with a couple of friends, but our schedules only lined up for one week, so three lessons was it. They really liked it and improved quite a bit in those three days, so I guess it was probably worth it.
Lucking . . . out with a short visit from our dear friends, the Langstraats! We go to Arizona in the winter to visit them, and they come to Utah in the summer to visit us! (Sadly, they have lots of friends and family in Utah, so we never get them all to ourselves for the whole time.) We squeezed in a lot of fun in the eighteen hours they were here: a few games, a late-night chat, a hike up Neff's Canyon, and an epic lunch at Chuck-a-Rama. Already making plans to see each other again because it's never long enough.
Admitting . . . that I prefer whole milk. I grew up on powdered skim milk, but after I went to college, I switched to whole milk and never looked back . . . until two months ago when I started my diet and decided it would be advantageous to switch to a lighter milk. I tried skim milk but it seemed like I might as well just use water. Then I went to 1% but decided that wasn't much better. In the end, I decided if I was going to eat cereal, it was worth the extra calories to douse it in whole milk. (But speaking of my diet, it's been going really well; Mike and I have both lost a decent amount of weight, and it has actually been an enjoyable experience because we're doing it together.)
Discussing . . . a book as a family. After last year, I almost decided to let go of our annual summer book club. It just didn't seem like anyone was into it. But when we came up with our plans for the summer, everyone still wanted to do it. So we decided to divide up the tasks to encourage more involvement and participation: Clark and I chose the book (Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins); Bradley and Mike planned the food (root beer floats were on the menu--if you've read the book, you'll know why); and Maxwell and Aaron led the discussion (Max came up with most of the questions, and they were so good: really insightful and a great jumping off point for discussion). All in all, it was much more successful than last year. We even let Silas join in on the fun since we all agreed that he reminded us of the little sister, Boots, in the book.
Helping . . . with a summer swim camp. Besides the snow cone shack, Aaron had another little job this summer, which was teaching at a swim camp put on by some of our neighbors. He did it for two weeks, four hours each day. He loved doing it. He came home with all sorts of cute and funny stories about the little kids, and he made pretty good money doing it.
Listening . . . to fun music at an outdoor concert. I wanted to try to make it to more outdoor concerts at the park this year. So far, we've only been to one, and it was just Mike and me and not all of our kids, but it was delightful. It was a group called The Soulistics, and they played mostly Motown tunes. It had been a very hot day, but as soon as the sun went down, it was quite pleasant, and that mountain backdrop just can't be beat.
Cheering . . . at a soccer game. Some friends had an extra ticket to a Real soccer game and asked if Clark wanted to go with them. He did, and he had such a good time. I laughed when he said the referees made so many bad calls and obviously liked the other team better. Isn't that the way it always is?
Finishing . . . a short sleeve tee. My main knitting project this month was a summer tee. It had a new-to-me construction (set in sleeves achieved by short row shaping rather than seaming), and I love the finished result. Sadly, aside from taking photos of it, I haven't had a chance to wear it yet because of the extreme heat. It might be more of a spring or fall, rather than summer, shirt.
Switching . . . bedrooms. Again. The boys love to do this every 6-12 months. And I don't mind since they mostly do it all themselves, and they always all seem to somehow agree on the arrangements. With this latest shuffle, Max, Bradley, and Ian all ended up in the same room (first time we've had three kids in one room, but it's working really well); Clark and Silas are also sharing; and once again, Aaron has managed to secure his own room for himself.
Eating . . . more snow cones than we ever have before. We've been finding lots of excuses to go over to the snow cone shack while Aaron is working. One evening, he was working there with his cousin, so it ended up being a family party with our family, Sonja's family, and Kirsten's family.
Acquiring . . . some new things. This month, we checked some long-sought-after purchases off of our list, and it felt so good. First up, some chairs for the living room. Ever since we bought our house, I've known I wanted to add two matching chairs to the living room. I knew the style I wanted and almost purchased inexpensive new chairs a couple of times only to shy away because of bad reviews about durability and comfort. I finally decided that used was probably the way to go if I wanted quality for a good price, but it takes time to wait for something good to come along. Luckily, our friend, James, was happy to watch the classifieds for us (it's a side hustle of his), and he found the perfect chairs! So happy with the way they fit into this room.
Next was a new oven/stove. When we moved into this home, the gas stove looked impressive: six burners, a griddle, a double oven. But sadly, almost nothing worked well on it. Mike has wanted to replace it ever since, but he couldn't bring himself to fork over the money for a new one. So he has been keeping an eye on the classifieds, and it just so happened that the same month when we finally found our chairs, a Wolf stove also came up. It had been taken out of someone's kitchen when they were renovating, but it was still perfect. It was just missing one narrow plate across the back, which we planned to replace, but then we were able to take the same piece off of our old stove, and it fit perfectly onto the new one (even though they weren't the same brand or style). Mike's been a happy cook/baker ever since.
And finally, we have been thinking of getting a car for awhile. Mike was getting a little tired of driving his big truck to work every day, and with Aaron getting his permit soon, we knew that a third vehicle would probably serve us well. We decided to go the electric car route since this would be for local commuting rather than long trips. We bought a used Nissan Leaf, and so far, we've really liked it. It's pretty awesome to not have to buy gas. (I actually took this photo because of the pretty sky, but there's the new car!)
Finding . . . out that Aaron got a 5 on the AP human geography test. He took the test two months ago, so this was a fun surprise in July, and it felt like a big deal since it was his first AP test.
Making . . . his sad face. Silas can turn his mouth into the saddest, frowniest pout. He's been making this face since the minute he was born, and he continues to pull it out anytime he is scared, nervous, or doesn't get his way. I can't remember what the cause of it was on this particular night--we'd probably told him he couldn't put his food into his cup of water (a favorite activity of his).
Enjoying . . . Young Men's Camp. Mike, Aaron, Maxwell, and Bradley all went to Young Men's camp near Payson, Utah. Mike said it was the best organized camp he's ever been to. The theme for the camp was Alma 17:1-3, which talks about being united as "brethren in the Lord." They participated in a service project, competed in a bunch of "Alma games" (Aaron competed in the finals for the ropes course and Bradley in the tie tying competition), ate pretty decent food, studied their scriptures, and had a fantastic testimony meeting. It sounded like it was a spiritual feast, and they all loved it.
Spending . . . the nicest evening at the pool. Meanwhile, the younger boys and I had a really nice time at home, including an evening at the pool. I'll admit I haven't loved the pool this summer. Having a toddler makes it less enjoyable because I have to be on high alert the entire time. But on this night, everything was just so lovely and perfect. We picked up pizza on our way, the pool wasn't crowded, and the boys were fun and agreeable. I loved it.
Planning . . . an activity in Primary on the 5th Sunday. We've been focusing on developing Christlike attributes in Primary this year: we have a teacher (we call her Sister Builder) come in about once a month to introduce a new attribute. Then we spend the next few weeks focused on that attribute with a scripture, talks, and assignments. When the children have completed at least one activity focused on that attribute, they get to add a block to the frame they're building around a picture of Jesus. This month, we decided to revisit four of the attributes we've already learned about and do a short activity based on each one. It went really well.
Celebrating . . . Aaron's 15th birthday. It coincided with the last day of Young Men's camp as well as the Washburn reunion, but he still got a bunch of presents and we went out to eat at In-N-Out. The next day, Mike made all of his favorite foods, including a to-die-for chocolate cake. We gave him an x-wing fighter Lego set (even though I said we were not going to give him any more big Lego sets), and he promptly put the whole thing together in less than 24 hours (which is why I have said I am not giving him any more big Lego sets).
And that's it. Or at least most of it. Cheers!
