it's a hard knock life

Apparently, there is no end to the joy I find in slave-working my children. 

Yesterday, as I was enlisting the girls help in finding some sort of order around this joint, Emmy complained (LOUDLY, I might add).  "I thought summer was for spending time with our family, and all you make us do is WORK ALL DAY!" 

Of course, I spent about a second feeling sorry for her, after which I kept on slave workin' the whole lot of them.  Terrible things like room cleaning and sorting laundry. 



And then this morning, as she was wearing her little fingers to the bone loading the silverware in the dishwasher, she pronounced, "I'm going to go CRAZY because all we ever do is WORK!!!" 


She's right.  These little girls are so useful to have around. . .I'm so glad I've got 'em so I can lounge around and watch soap operas all day. 




In other news, we're taking the lambs to their new home at the county fair in about thirty minutes.  Wish me (ahem, I mean the girls) loads of luck. 

summer, where have you gone?

Next week is the big 'ol county fair, which means that another summer is wrapping up.  That thought always makes me a little bit sad.  It also means that this summer has gone down as my worst blogging summer in history, as I haven't yet captured any of our summer memories for keeps.  I'm waaaaay behind, but I'm determined to get remedy this as soon as school starts. 

That being said, we have had a fun summer.  I feel busier than I ever have, but happy because we're busy doing the things we have chosen and for the most part, we're doing them as a family.  This summer has been a good one.





Yesterday I was thinking through a list of things that I need to write down before i forget:

We started the summer by returning to the farm, which is always a summer highlight for the girls.  Sam didn't get to go to the farm this summer, on account that Claire did get to go-  and Miss Claire is pretty much a three-in-one package.  I need to remember how our little Miss Friendly would take off with just about any family who came along and we never really knew where she was.  Like the time she hooked up with some random family (we found her holding hands with them just like a native).  The mom reported she had kept asking Claire if her mom might be worried, to which Claire answered each time with a firm "nope!"  Once again, I'm up for that Mother of The Year nomination. 

In June we also started swimming lessons with Aunt Kerri, made our annual trek to George Creek with the Wo-Jo cousins, Ryenne went to Girls Camp for the first time, and Kate turned ten!  I tell you what, those girls keep on growin' up on me!  We started walking lambs, and Courtney got the girls all wound up to add the State Fair to our lamb prospects.  This means Ryenne and Kate are two-lamb women this summer. 

July started off with a bang with the traditional fireworks/night games (except this year Aunt Kerri wasn't there and Jodi and I were pretty much no fun at all), and boating with the cousins to celebrate the fourth.  Shortly after, we headed to Southern Utah with the
Wo-Jo cousins for our reunion.  After four days of fun, we drove straight to Lake Powell to spend the week with Bop and a few cousins on the houseboat.  Riding on the ferry was a hit!  On this trip, Claire surfed with dad and decided that what she really, really wants is a tattoo and a "zucchini" (bikini). 

August has flown by with school shopping, getting ready (and so excited) for the temple open house and dedication.  Claire turned four, and Emmy turned eight!  To celebrate the birthday girls, each of the girls got to go on a "hot date" with mom and dad!   The girls have filled their days with cousin sleep-overs, lamb walking, and sewing with Miss Robyn to finish 4-H projects in time for the fair.  Claire cut her own hair for the third time in six months ("it was getting in my eyes, mom".)  Oh, and Mr. Sam got his first big-boy haircut from Aunt Kelsey, which made Mom cry.  Real tears!. . . (I'm officially one of those weird moms!)  Next week marks the last days of summer.  The fair will take over our lives and Samuel will turn one year old (Happy Birthday to Dad too!).  We're quickly coming up on our one year anniversary of My Big Adventure, which has been bringing with it lots of memories, anxieties, and more emotion than I had expected.  That said,  I haven't had a day go by this summer when I haven't felt thankful to have been here to enjoy this summer with my family.

Phew.  I've got quite a to-do list of blogging. 






I'll have to say though, that yesterday went down as probably my favorite day of our summer.  We started off our day in a messy house (summer does a number on houses, I've decided), and I'll admit everyone was a little bit grumpy.  For the first time this summer, Emmy was complaining about being "so bored".  I started everyone on our morning chore routine when I thought, "You know what?  We can clean our house AGAIN, only to have it turn messy by tonight anyway, or we can make a few last summer memories."  I chose the summer memories, suggesting to the girls (to their complete surprise, as I've never let them before) that maybe they'd like to have a lemonade & cookie stand.  They were beyond thrilled and immediately set to work.  What resulted was one of our best afternoons all summer.  Because of our rural location, we don't see a lot of lemonade stands in these parts, and I have to say- our neighbors were fantastic.   Last night, I went to bed feeling so thankful to live in this good place with such good people.  The girls customers ranged from local adopted Grandma's  to the Young Men in our ward.  We had friends come by with their children, uncles and grandpas, and even working men pulling big trailers who took time out of their day to make a few little girls smile.  And smile they did!  The tips were stupendous, and they ended their day with a $39.75 profit!  I have determined to never pass up another lemonade stand as long as I live.

(Needless to say, they have great plans.  In fact, Grandpa Jones just texted this morning wondering if Lemonade and Co. will be sold publicly so he can buy shares.)




Goodbye, summer 2012.  You've been a good one.