Weekly Review July 10 '10

Frank enjoys our first "cook out" of the summer.

Grilled food--yummy!

Everybody's ready to eat.

Seth likes eating on the deck.

Seth & Tanner can't wait to eat our traditional flag cake!

It's the glorious 4th!

Scott is sparkling!

Seth waiting for fireworks to start

Nearby church steeple

Sparklers, with Ricardo Hernandez (He's one of my "other boys"--calls me "Mom"!)

I haven't been sleeping very well, and my body is still on Utah time. Which wouldn't be so bad, if I were in Utah, but since I'm not...it's a bit inconvenient. Thankfully, I haven't had any morning appointments so at least I've been able to sleep in. I'm really thankful that it's summer. But really...I need to get back on a normal schedule soon! It's been too hot around here to do much besides hibernate in the house, anyway. It's been between 100-105 degrees nearly every day, with high humidity to boot. I have been giving heart felt thanks for my air conditioned house in every prayer!

It was good to go to church in our own ward on Sunday. There were a lot of people on vacation, though--I'd say the average class size in Primary was 5 kids when usually it's more like 10. One of my counselors and my secretary were out of town also. That night we went to watch fireworks at the new spot we found last year--the hospital parking garage. This time we found a place to park right next to the garage instead of in the garage, so we also avoided all the traffic and got home quickly! A couple of other families in our ward showed up to watch fireworks at the same place, so that was fun. The fireworks show was better than last year--not so short.

The one nice thing about having the 4th on Sunday was that Frank had Monday--my birthday--off, which was a great birthday present for me! Scott and Tanner went to scout camp that morning. They had to meet at the church at 5:30 am, so the day started early. We went back to sleep after they left, though! Frank made me breakfast in bed, did all my chores for me, took me shopping at IKEA, and took me out for dinner. He basically pampered me all day, which was great! I actually didn't buy anything at IKEA--just looked around to get ideas for the future. It was exhausting and a little overwhelming, but I still enjoyed it. Frank was such an angel to take me there--I'm sure there are a lot of other things he would have rather done on his day off! I never gave him a birthday list (I couldn't think of anything--really!) and he wouldn't have had time to shop even if I had, but that evening I went online and found some books I've been wanting and ordered them. I am really excited because I found my all time favorite children's book (The Chestry Oak) for less than half the price I've ever seen it before, so that's one of the books I ordered. (It's out of print, so hard to find and usually very expensive.) I also got nice cards from my family and parents, and a book from my parents also, so all in all I had a great birthday!

The rest of the week has been quieter than normal, with the oldest two boys gone. We did hear from one or the other of them nearly every day, though. On Wednesday I got a call from one of the camp doctors--Tanner had "swimmer's ear" and needed some antibiotic ear drops. That's a real bummer because he was working on the swimming merit badge, but because of the infection he couldn't go in the water anymore so he couldn't finish it. He tried to do the same merit badge last summer and half way through the week another boy tripped him (didn't intend to hurt him, just playing around) and he got a huge ugly cut on his knee and couldn't go in the pool after that because he had an open wound. So he seems to be "jinxed" when it comes to that particular merit badge. He's now completed half of the merit badge twice--too bad it's the same half!

I've been working on Primary stuff and preparing my talk for tomorrow. We had a presidency meeting Thursday evening. One of my counselors didn't make it because she'd had a very bad day. Their air conditioning went out and they found out the whole thing was going to have to be replaced (expensive, of course) and the new one can't be put in until Tuesday. And as I mentioned earlier, it's been insanely hot! So they were really suffering over there at her house. I offered to let them come stay here, but they do have family in the area, so I guess they've been spending their days with some of her sisters.

My other big project this week--trying to potty train Seth. I didn't start until Thursday, actually. So far, not very good. I did convince him to wear underwear, though, so that's a step in the right direction. He seems just fine with the idea of wearing underwear now. But I've pretty much been cleaning up messes all day. I have not lost my patience or yelled at him once, though, so I'm patting myself on the back for that! I've seen a little bit of postitive progress in the last 24 hours. I know he'll get it eventually!

Frank has been very busy with work all week, but we did take the time to go look at a few houses on Wednesday evening. One of them I looked at back before Christmas and I liked a lot about it but there were a few things I really didn't like so I kind of forgot about it. It's back on the market now and some nice improvements have been made (new siding, new deck, and new HVAC system) so I thought it would be worth going to look at it again, and I wanted Frank to see it also. One of the things I really hated about it before was the old faded siding. It does look a lot better now and Frank liked it too, so we are thinking a little more seriously about it. (But we are not packing our bags yet!)

Last night we finally got some rain, and it has still been raining (off and on) today. (We're told it didn't rain at all while we were gone to Utah, and it has not rained since we got home until now.) The temperatures have cooled down a bit, which has been a nice change! All the lawns around here have been looking very yellow and dead. (Nobody waters around here, because it is so rarely needed. Most people don't even own a water sprinkler.) Hopefully this rain will revive them a little. The boys haven't minded--no need to mow when the grass isn't growing at all!

The two scout camp boys arrived home this morning--filthy, tan, tired, but happy. They brought with them a couple of new knives, some basketry projects (Scott), and a whole ton of dirty laundry. Scott completed Canoeing, Snorkeling, and Basketry merit badges. He also got all of Emergency Preparedness done except for one part he needs to do with his troop. Tanner completed First Aid and Canoeing merit badges. He did a lot of Swimming and almost all of Personal Fitness. He also worked on Rifle Shooting, but apparently it is a very difficult one to get, so he didn't get much accomplished on that one. I'm pleased with what they were able to accomplish, overall.

This coming week, Scott starts driving school and we have lots of doctor / orthodontist appointments. Back to being busy....