The Summer Crew

Short hair, don't care.  My brothers always got crew cuts at the beginning of summer (or whenever they were driving everyone crazy) and it always seemed to improve their general behavior, or so claimed my Dad.  I don't know if my "cut" has kept us out of trouble or not--you be the judge.  Here are some pics of what we've been getting ourselves into all summer.

Rosie at about 10 mos.

The ladies from our neighborhood 4th of July block party.

 

 My liddle middles.

 A very big and exciting project this summer has been to finish and furnish (finally) our basement.  I wanted to do Western decor downstairs since Mark's Paris paraphernalia tends to take over upstairs.  I've been holding out for this lovely buffalo.  We named him Tutonka.  Also loved reframing and hanging up my Mom's rendition of Sawtooth Mountain--the view from home I grew up in.

 Rosie has loved that her world pretty much doubled in size with the installation of the carpet.  Now she just needs to learn to back herself down the stairs.  (She's got the up-crawling figured out.)

 Usually I think she looks like Mark, but this face looks like some of my baby pictures.

I took myself to the temple while I still had babysitters.  I have been doing some continued research this summer on my Grandpa Heagy's German line, so it has been fun to feel a little bit connected to them when I am there.  I have also been driving Mark a little bit crazy learning some German vocab on the app Duolingo and then laughing and telling him all the fun new words that are so similar to English.  Hey, it's better than wasting time on Pinterest or Facebook!

 

Rosie loves the water.  She howled pretty good when it was time to leave this splash park.

Leslie spent some time at Girls' Camp with her besties before Marching Band Camp got underway.  She needed this break--she has been doing band stuff for parades and also working at Legacy House, an assisted living center, as a CNA.

Mark and I took turns taking the kids on "dates".  This was when Luke and I went to Zupas for lunch (his favorite--the tomato basil soup and grilled cheese paninis) and then to this climbing playground.  He may have been a little stuck in this photo.

 The kids playing 9-Square with extended family at the Lee family reunion in Tooele.  Other highlights were singing, the "toughies" (scones/fry bread) with Nutella or strawberry freezer jam, and swimming at the very nice rec center.  Boston brought our snorkel gear and sorta got yelled at and poked with a stick by the lifeguard when it was time for everyone to exit the pool and he was completely oblivious, in his own underwater world.

Another highlight of the reunion was learning more about Mark's Grandpa Lee, who worked at the munitions depot (?) in Tooele for years.  We thought this photo was particularly awesome and humorous  because we remembered an old Far Side comic...

 One weekend Mark was at some conference for work and we were bored and I didn't want the kids vegging in front of the TV, so we had a fun trip to the DI.  (secondhand store)

 Two bucks for this awesome rusty pogo stick.  If only it had a basket, you could ride it to school.  Oh wait...

 I tried to get her peeking through her legs, but this shot was also pretty cute.

 Boston started his first year of tackle football.  We let him decide if he wanted to do tackle (with all the extra work, time, and pain involved) or flag football again.  He decided to give it a try and has been really good not to complain about difficult practices, etc.  Luckily they practice within walking distance of our house, but I generally don't make him walk or ride his bike since he has all of that equipment on.  His team was nearly split into two teams, so there are a lot of players and he doesn't get quite as much time on the field as he would like, but he says he is still enjoying it.  He is #5.

After a couple weeks of tackle football practice and swimming lessons and band camp and flag football making our lives super crazy, the best day of the year arrived.

 Leslie is a Senior.  She told me she didn't even care what she was wearing first day of school and already has senioritis.  (I see she has her marching band sneakers on with her outfit, so I think she meant it.)

 Boston started 7th grade.  We have been extremely and pleasantly surprised with how awesome he is at getting himself up, ready, and to the bus at 7:05 AM, half an hour before Leslie even, because she drives.  What a champ!

 Cooper started sixth grade and is enjoying ruling the school.  He was super excited to apply for and then be chosen as a student council rep.

 Macy is my on-the-ball 4th grader.  Super organized about school, activities, homework...even her handwriting is good.  (Don't look at her bedroom, though.)  I missed her the most first day of school because she is my best baby helper.

While the mice are away the cat will play!  I was pretty proud of myself for doing all this canning first day of school even with Luke and Rosie still at home with me, at least until Kindergarten started the following week.  Little did I know this was only the first round of three for the salsa....sooo swamped with my tomato crop this year.  Also canned a few jars of peaches from my OWN red haven peach tree--canning my own fruit was a bucket list item.

I am feeling great and have lots of energy, etc. and am very happy to get back to the lovely school year routine.  Life is GOOD!