Summer Has Taken Over My Life....

The summer started off crazy and has not slowed down.  I always have this illusion that I am going to get to relax in the summer time.  No more schedules or homework or expectations.  It never works out that it is relaxing.  I am trying really hard to not get caught up in the small stuff like chores and having a tidy house because I know that this is our last summer as our family is right now.  Big changes are going to be coming one right after another for the next several years.  So I just want to enjoy our family and try not to stress the small, insignificant things.  I emphasize TRY.  I am not always good at this.  With this said, here is the quick synapses of June!

Our first Timp cave hike of the year with the Grahams!! I love our morning talks and walks.  I am grateful that they allow me to come and be a part of their family.  

First rose bloom in Tatum and Trevins rose garden.  These make me smile every morning.

 Hilary got to go to the zoo with my niece and her husband.  I am not sure if she had any fun, judging from that enormous smile!

This is a biggy.  We have another driver!!  Hayden was pretty nervous, because his teacher is known for being pretty tough, but he passed.  I was so proud of him for overcoming his fears.  Next, a job.

 Holden raced his way to the top of the scout bike derby.  1st Place.  He looked like a professional rider.  He was calm, cool and quietly humble with his win.  Love this kid.

 I have been on several bike rides.  This is our view.  Unbelievable.  We are lucky to live here where it is hard to forget the beauty of the earth that we get to live in.  Truly amazing.

We finally got to the cemetery and cleaned everything up and put the cute pin wheels and decorations out.  Hopefully soon we will be able to decide their headstone design and have a permanent marker as a tribute to their lives.

It wouldn't be Utah without some crazy weather.  June snow.  It was seriously freezing for a few days.  It was some good time spent in doors doing some home projects.  Heidi took it upon herself to clean her and Hilary's room, and the playroom and our organizer in our pantry.  I am not sure how we got so lucky to have her.   She has been such a big help.

I got to go to Cub scout day camp and I nearly hit a cow on the way there.  I am sure that is what the boys will remember about the entire trip!

 We have hit a few parks.  This is my favorite.  The kids spent most of the time building a dam and floating leaves.  It was the most relaxing hour of the summer.

My evil friends showered me with cinnamon rolls and cake, all in one night!  I unfortunately ate too much of both.

Wouldn't be summer without the splash pad.

 I wish that I could say that this is the harvest from our cherry tree.  We have waited for four years for our cherry tree to produce cherries.  It finally did.  We have all been watching and waiting for our sweet cherries to be ripe enough to pick.  There were quite a few and I was so excited.  I noticed that the birds were frequenting our tree.  I started asking around ti figure out how you prevent the birds from eating all of your cherries.  So I settled on hanging CD's.  Apparently the shiny reflective cd keeps the birds away.  Well, not these ridiculous birds.  I went down a few days later and there was nothing but seeds on the ground, along with my CD's!  Those crazy birds.  Luckily one of our neighbors has a very mature cherry tree that produced thousands of cherries.  I am not exaggerating.  They said that anyone who wanted some were welcome to come and pick some.  This is not even a third of what I picked.  It truly made my day.

I have been working on a few projects, one of which was fixing up our guest room.  It has always been an eye sore.  I have never liked the bedding, the curtains, nothing matched.  You get the picture.  So one of my friends came over and helped me settle on some colors, helped me pick out some bedding.  I found a new table for our TV and painted it, new curtains.  It was really fun and I am really happy with how it turned out.  Maybe we will move into this room:)

I have been trying to get out of my comfort zone a little and try some new things.  I have never been a volunteer for a race.  All of these years, nice people have helped so that I could race.  A few weeks ago I got an email from my work and they were looking for volunteers for a race that they sponsor.  I have always wanted to run this race, but they started it I think the year I got pregnant with Hilary and so it just hasn't ever been in the cards.  As I was reading the email I noticed that it said that the volunteers get a long sleeve, half zip tec shirt.  They had me at hello.  I immediately signed up to help.  It was a really fun experience.  All of the proceeds for this race go to help families going through cancer treatments.  At the end of the day I think that they raised 150,00 dollars.  It was way fun, even though I had to be up at 2:45am to get there to help load runners on the buses.  I saw a lot of my friends.  It was super fun, and the shirt turned out to be really cool.

While I was helping at the race I recognized a lady that was also volunteering.  She had delivered a baby, maybe 10 years ago that was a still born.  I asked her how she was doing and she told me that her husband had died a year before from colon cancer.  Another good reminder that we all have our burdens to carry.  And that we are never "done" with our trials.  This is a scary thought, but it is true.  I told her that I was proud of her for getting out and doing something really proactive, when she could be curled up in a ball, and rightfully so.  A real inspiration.

I have had several flashes from my past in the last couple of weeks.  I have run into or heard from several people from the hospital that have lost babies in the past.  They have all come at just the right time to, again, remind me of the perspective that I have been given.  It is a true gift.  

Halea left on Monday of this week.  She and her group from school went on their competition tour.  The first group is in Kansas city.  Her report is that it is really hot and the people are awesome.  She is having a blast. Of course as she was boarding the plane, I was planning her funeral.  She was really good about texting me at each leg of her travels.  Tomorrow she and her friend fly to their second destination, Nashville, to compete in their second competition.  I am really happy that she has this opportunity.  After this summer, her life will be different.  I hope that she takes advantage of all of the opportunities in college like she has in High School.  

I have been missing Tatum desperately these past few weeks.  I see all of these sweet little baby girls and I can hardly stand it.  Yesterday I was visiting with my neighbor and she has a little grand daughter that is about a year and a half and she kept crawling up in my lap and totally snuggling me.  It is nearly heart stopping if I think about how much I miss her, even with all of the swirling chaos around me I cannot distract my mind and my heart from feeling that longing to have her here with our family.  I am sure that will never change.