We had a fun weekend. Camille had her last swim lesson on Friday, and Brooke went to art lessons with Tenille while we were gone. When we got home, we had a Mommy lesson about phones and technology and how they are just tools, and how they can be used for good or bad, based on the intent of the person using them. I also showed them what I use my phone for, the good and the not so good. And then we read our book. I had the kids tidy up while I made dinner, and then we had a family movie night watching Iron Will, which got mixed reviews from the kids. 😂 They thought it was too intense. That seems to be the trend whenever I show the kids a beloved movie from my childhood. 

I took Jack up the mountain Saturday morning to take photos. He turned 8 in April, so it's his year to do pictures. We went up to the nature walk up American Fork canyon, where Brooke and I went to take some pictures in the fall. We just did some on the bridge and the stairs and part of the trail. I think it went well, though I haven't looked through the pictures yet. We had fun, though. We finished dinner than I thought we would, and afterwards, we went to get some Chick-fil-A for breakfast and took it back to the park to eat. Jack LOVED our mommy date. He kept talking about how fun it was and how good his sandwich was. It was adorable. 

On Saturday evening, after a day of running errands and doing chores, we set up the tent and built a fire after dinner to do a backyard campout. One of the things on our summer bucket list was having a bubble contest, which we've been trying to make happen for a couple of weeks. So after dinner, I pulled out our bubble gum that I'd bought and we had a bubble blowing contest. We blew some real whoppers, and had a lot of fun just sitting around the table blowing bubbles. 

We roasted marshmallows over the fire and had s'mores, we read our book out in the backyard, and laid in the tent when it started getting dark. It was a lovely night, if a little hot, for backyard camping. I didn't sleep in the tent with them. Daniel and I went back up to the house after the kids were put to bed in the tent to shower and get ready for bed, and then Daniel went back to the tent to sleep with the kids. 😂

Yesterday evening, after church and a whole day of meetings and visits for me where I hardly saw my family at all, we had the Davises over for dinner. We did a Summer Dinner -- grilled chicken and corn on the cob, chopped melon and pineapple, salad, roasted potatoes, dinner rolls and dessert. It was a veritable feast, and so so delicious. Kimberly brought some of the stuff for our feast. It was fun getting together with them. 

Summer is just the best, with the late nights and playing outside so long. And the good food. We're having a fun summer. 

 Sawyer watching his siblings in swim lessons. He can't wait to start his own swim lessons next week. 

Brooke finished her summer camp today and made about $190 dollars for the week! She's thrilled, to say the least. Annette Perkins say the girls down after the kids went home and talked about expenses and divvying up the money. It was a great experience for them, I think, and they seemed to learn a lot. 

I woke up to go to the bathroom early this morning, probably around 4, and couldn't get back to sleep. My mind was just awake. So I just got up and went downstairs and read my book. It was nice to just be up in the early morning quiet. But I'll be paying for it tomorrow, when it'll really hit. 

I did sprint intervals for my workout today, mixed in with my walk, and I pretty nearly died. It was very hard. But felt good on the other side, it feels good to exert myself. My body was looser and more flexible. 

Sawyer had a doctor's appointment, his 5 year checkup. He did so awesome! He had to get his kindergarten shots today, and he barely even made noise when it happened. I was so proud. 

My kids, all except Brooke, sat down on the couch together to watch a NASA booster test. Jamie Winfield told us they were doing a test up in northern Utah, and sent us a link to watch it. It was so cute, how interested they were in it. 

Things I loved today: 

Camille and Jack taking amicably to each other about swim lessons on the way to swim lessons. They were having an actual conversation, an enjoyable conversation, with each other, no bickering. 🤩

Watching my kids progress in their swimming abilities. Camille is really loving swim lessons. I signed them up with private lessons with a teenage boy that Annette Perkins recommended, and both Jack and Camille really like him. But it's fun to watch them learn. And to see how happy Camille is. I think I should get her signed up with swim team. 

Melanie and Scott came over to hang out with their kids. Bowen was begging his mom to take him "to Jack's house" to play, since Sunday. It's so cute that they want to be at our house. I think they like our different (and abundant) cars and trucks. They had to leave early because Scott got called into work. 

I went on a walk this morning with DeAnna. I feel like I haven't seen her in a while, and it was fun to catch up and chat. 

Brooke has been hosting a summer kids camp every morning this week with her friends. First day was at our house, and they had 26 kids. It was pure madness outside. But I think it's been a good learning experience for the girls. They've had a bunch of kids every day so far, and I think they are excited about the money they are making. They planned a theme for each day and had activities and games and books to go with each day's theme. It's so cute to watch them plan and carry it out. 

I started writing the book I've had in my head. I sat down with the laptop at the counter, and Jack came and sat next to me when I asked him which pie he thought Excavator should make, and we discussed ideas together. He gave me suggestions and we talked about how things should come together in the story. It was pretty fun, actually. 

At the same time, I'm listening to this book about creative living, and I keep thinking about this book idea while I listen. I mean, there are so many ways to live creatively, but while I'm reading this book, it's the only thing I think of. 😂 I had the idea for this book at probably 2 years ago, maybe longer. I mean, I think it's been that long. It's hard to remember, time goes so fast these days. But it was definitely around the time that Emily needed help with Sammy, because I asked her one day when she was visiting if she'd be interested in illustrating a kids book with me, and she seemed mostly uninterested. I intend for this book to just be for me, for my family. But I'm happy to actually be working on it. Now I'm hoping that my kids will illustrate it. 

I don't feel much like writing tonight. I'm tired, and a bit grumpy. We did too much today. My own fault, really, but it put us all in a bad mood. Except Jack. He was cheerful all day, the little gem. 

Brooke has been doing a babysitting camp this week in the mornings with her friends, Lily and Claire. Yesterday it was at our house, and it was complete madness! Today was at the Perkins house. I think it's been a great experience for the girls, and they're excited over the money they are making. They have a fun theme for every day, and activities and snacks and books to go with the theme. It's adorable. 

When she got home, we took some lunch to eat in the car, and went out: aquarium (it was the last day we could go before our passes expire), swim lessons for Camille and Jack, errands. And it was so hot and nobody brought water except me, so it didn't go very far, and Brooke had gotten too little sleep, so she was so grumpy and barking at everyone for everything. Ugh. It goes without saying that my mood tanked by the time we were all home. 

Then I had a meeting and a visit tonight. But my meeting person didn't show up, and my visit made me a little sad. And I feeling like I'm failing as a relief society president. 

About sums up how I'm feeling. Daniel is cleaning the temple tonight, so I'm hoping to just go to bed. I'll feel better in the morning. 

Fun thing today: Jack's been working so hard with the family economy and saving his money to buy a cute little Captain Moroni Lego guy, which we went to Deseret Book to buy this afternoon. He was so happy, and I loved seeing his hard work pay off the way he wanted it to. 

Another fun thing: Sawyer calls Captain Moroni "Captain Ramoni," which we all think is adorable and hope he never gets right. 

Mitchell Family Camping Reunion

Last weekend, we went camping with a bunch of family on the Mitchell side. It was a kind of remembrance, commemoration reunion for Gramma Mitchell. Most of Aunt Janet's family was there, much of my mother-in-law's family was there, and a couple of Tim's kids showed up for certain things.

We just started one night camping. We drove up Friday afternoon and set up camp. Everyone else trickled in that afternoon and evening after we got there. We visited with people, cooked our foil dinners and enjoyed being in the mountains. I really liked the campground we were at. It was up Big Cottonwood Canyon, and we had a couple big group sites with a ton of trees. 

Saturday, the Holbrooks were in charge of breakfast. We made pancakes, eggs and sausage for everyone. It was delicious. Then we went and did a walk around Silver Lake, Gramma Mitchell's favorite place. It was a lovely walk. We saw a bald eagle fishing in the lake and a couple of moose. The kids did a little junior ranger scavenger hunt on our hike, which they loved. 

After Silver Lake, our family and Aleah's family and Jennie and dad all went on another hike, up to Mary lake. It was about 2 miles round trip, very steeply uphill for much of it. But it was a lovely hike, and up at the lake was beautiful. It was our family's first hike of the summer. 

That afternoon, we packed up camp and had dinner with everyone and visited before leaving the canyon. It was a nice weekend. 

Our first 2 weeks of summer were spent with us being sick, so we didn't do much. I was excited to start our summer off well and get into all the activities we had listed... but, that didn't happen. We ended up canceling a lot of things because of being sick, or just missing out. We tried to go to the aquarium one day, and Brooke ended up throwing up all over the floor. 😬 It wasn't our best moment. And we left immediately. I did get to take them the next week, though, and we stayed a good while. 

We did manage to cover our driveway and the sidewalks around our house with chalk! Camille also had her last track meet. We made a whole family date around it. We picked up Chic-fil-a on the way there and had a picnic on the grass. Daniel was working late that night, so it was just me and the kids. The kids played in the grass or read while we waited for Camille's events. I thought it was a fun evening, even if the kids were a bit difficult at times. And it's always fun to watch and support Camille. 

This wasn't the best track season for her. She said she made more friends this year; but the boys in her group were very unkind, and she didn't like her coaches as much. Plus, she said that running seemed harder this year. 🤷🏽‍♀️ I'm wondering if she'll want to do it again next year. The track meets are quite long, quite a lot of waiting for just, like, 10 minutes of actual activity. 

I finally got to go to a bunco night. It's been 3 months (I counted) since I've been. I missed for meetings and the month the girls were here visiting. But it was fun, and nice to hang out with friends. I played so well that night, inexplicably, that I would've won most of the prizes if we didn't spread the wealth. 😆 

I planned for Sawyer's birthday party last Monday. Everyone was well for, like, a day and a half before that, and I figured we were finally past the illness. Plus, I had already postponed his party 5 days because of sickness and I didn't want to have to do that again. So we prepared all morning: ordered pizza, baked cookies and made frosting, put together gift bags, sanitized the whole house (touch points), cleaned up, picked up dog poop in the yard, unwrapped supplies, and painted targets on the fence for squirt gun play. We were just about ready... and then Brooke threw up in the yard. I was so frustrated, but "it is what it is," right? I texted all the moms to see what they wanted to do. They all opted to have the party anyway, as long as we kept it outside. I had to cancel some of our activity plans, but we went ahead. And Brooke stayed in her room the whole time (I think she was sad to miss the party, which I felt bad about. But I also didn't want to have to go through all the work again on another day). We had lunch and decorated cookies. We played musical chairs with candy prizes. We played with squirt guns and on the swings. And we opened presents. I put very little effort into this party, honestly. I have been having a really hard time feeling motivated to do much of anything the past few weeks, this was no exception. I felt a little bad that I didn't do more. But I think overall it went pretty well, and the kids had fun, so... 🤷🏽‍♀️ it was okay for Sawyer's first birthday party. 😊

That night, after my kids were mostly in bed, Sammy and Melanie came over to watch Fall Guy with me. We had fun! And I loved the movie! So cute! 

Last week, Daniel was on a work trip in California. We missed him lots. The kids kept asking where he was, they kept forgetting that he was out of town. I had planned to have visits and meetings in the evenings while he was away. But I found it difficult to leave the kids, even in Brooke's capable hands. I just felt like I needed to be there to help them wind the day down and get to bed. The girls and I watched Daddy Daycare together over 2 of the nights, which was fun. 

One afternoon, the Frei kids were here all afternoon until dinnertime. Sarah went to the temple and had asked me to watch them. They just played together all day and there were very few hiccups, most of which involved my own kids. Then the next day was Taylor's birthday party, and afterwards, we went over to the Freis house to hang out for a few hours. 

We ran errands a bunch last Thursday and the kids had dentist appointments. That was the most boring day of last week. 

And then we had Brian's kids over the weekend while he and Sammy and Lia went to Nevada for a funeral. I had a bit of an attitude about having them here, I hate to say, because we had to adjust our plans and cancel a bunch of plans so that they could come. And they are quite a demanding bunch, which made it hard at times. But mostly it went well. They just played with my kids and had a great time. On Saturday, we all went to Boone's baptism and then to a splash pad to play for a few hours. I'm glad we could take them to do something fun. 

This week is way more slow. Plus, Brooke is gone at girls camp, so we are putting off any of our summer list activities. But the kids have had play dates with friends and cousins, we ran some errands, and I've been cleaning up the house and trying to get things done from my list. Which has been good, actually. The last few weeks have been crazy and weird. I'm ready to get into summer at last. 

 My kids have been in the craziest movie kick I've ever seen in my life. I bought How to Train Your Dragon in Sawyer's birthday and watched it with him, and since then, they've wanted to watch it every day. I think they have probably watched it every other day or so I'm the past 2 weeks. 😂 One day last week, they decided to each contribute a little money so that they could rent and watch the 2nd movie as well. They didn't want to spend the money to buy that one. 

Daniel and I wrapped up our May spending freeze. I think it went well. We did make some exceptions for Sawyer's birthday, our anniversary and when mom and dad were here for Jack's baptism. But I feel like I've gotten out of the mode of just buying things and more in the mode of saying, "I don't need that right now," which is what I wanted out of the spending freeze anyway. 

Our first couple weeks of summer have been super underwhelming... the weekend that everyone got out of school, Sawyer started throwing up, and has thrown up on and off basically since then. He'll seem fine for several days, and then throw up in the middle of the night. Jack also had a day when he wasn't feeling good, but I think his upset tummy wasn't as bad - he never threw up. I got sick with a nasty stomach bug on Saturday of last week, and then Camille started throwing up today. I just want everyone to be well so we can go play!! It's summertime! We had to skip out on some activities and I canceled Sawyer's birthday party tomorrow. Last Saturday when I was sick, we had a bunch of neighbors come over for a potluck that I had to miss. I was quite bummed out. I basically spent the day watching How to Train Your Dragon with the kids and then in my room reading books and watching movies. I missed church the next day, just to be safe, but I was feeling much better, almost back to normal. 

The other thing that's made our first week of summer underwhelming is that I had a bunch of meetings and visits for Relief society. I had to leave the kids with Brooke a bunch last week for these things, and I felt so bad to be leaving my kids so much the first week of summer. 

Sawyer has been begging to go to the pool since school got put a week and a half ago, but there hasn't been a good time, plus, so many of us have been sick and not been able to go swimming (or are at risk of still being contagious). I would love to take him! This week is almost too cool to go to the pool. And then there's the throwing up kids. Hoping against hope that next week works. 

We did have Daniel's yearly summer work party at the aquarium, though, and we always have a great time at that. We ate treats and food, the kids did crafts and games and had their faces painted. It was great, like usual. 

We have a nest of birds in our tree this year, which we are loving. We've seen the mommy and daddy bird flying into the tree a lot, and we seem to know where the nest is located, but haven't really seen it. One of the babies appears to have fallen out of the nest at one point last week, and Brooke was very concerned about it, and kept wanting to bring it in and nurse it to full health before letting it go. She was especially concerned with Tucker, and kept a close eye on him whenever he was in the yard. It makes for lovely bird noises, though, whenever we are outside. So many happy little tweets and songs. 🥰

A cool, yet simple experience with the Holy Ghost: when I was sick last Saturday, and getting ready for bed, my belly was cramping pretty badly, but I was tired. So I just went to bed, hoping the cramping would subside enough to let me rest. It did not, and eventually, I just got up to go to the bathroom, hoping to relieve some pressure. 😬 When I stood up to wash my hands, I started feeling very lightheaded and faint, and I said a quick prayer in my head, "Please, Heavenly Father, don't let me faint tonight. That would make this silly little sickness so much worse, and it doesn't need to be." I got back in bed successfully, and this thought popped into my head: "You have Gatorade in the car. If you get up and go drink one, it'll help." I'm certain it was a prompting from the Spirit. I was getting back in bed thinking about how I'm probably dehydrated, and thinking back to the last time I was dehydrated and actually did pass out when the thought came. I tried to reason it away: "I just need rest. If I get up now, it might make things worse." But the thought persisted, and I was struggling to sleep anyway. So I got out of bed and grabbed my pillow and phone and kindle and went downstairs, got the Gatorade out of the back of the car and filled my water bottle with it and ice, cut myself an apple (which I did not end up eating much of), and settled in to watch Twisters. While slowly sipping away at my Gatorade. When I was about halfway their the movie and halfway their my drink, I felt noticeably better. Not much stomach cramps, no faintness. It was quite the treatment. And I feel very much like the Holy Ghost was leading me and helping me to feel better. 🥰 One of those little evidences of God's love. 

Here's to better health all around. So we can hike. And go see movies. And play with friends. And have parties. And go to the aquarium. And go to the pool. And play outside. And build forts. And kayak with our friends...

May

Kids had play dates with friends. 

I went to see pride and prejudice in the theaters with book club friends. 

The girls played with their St George friends at the park and couple times. 

Julie came for another weekend visit at the beginning of the month. 

We had stake conference. 

We had a fun Cinco de Mayo dinner with all the family, hosted here, while Julie was here. 

Drew stayed with us while Julie was here. 

Brooke had soccer games. 

Camille had track and field practices. 

We had a fun bike parade was activity. 

Mom and dad came to visit for Jack's baptism. 

I had LOTS of relief society meetings: ward council, presidency meetings, presidents meeting with the stake, ministering interviews, visits, self reliance meetings. 

Brooke started bike team, which she and Daniel are very excited about. 

Brooke had church activities. The other kids did not. 

We went to Brooke's graduating 6th grade ceremony. It was insane how many people there were, no seating whatsoever, and we lucked out by getting 2 seats next to each other front to back -- boys on my lap, Camille in a seat. But Brooke won the Belmont Bulldog award. 😊

Daniel and I went on a dressed up date night to harvest restaurant by Thanksgiving Point, and then went to a chocolate making place. Very fun. 

Kids had art lessons with Tenille. 

Last week of school was fun and crazy: track and field day for the kids; dance festival; Brooke's swim party. It was a fun, bittersweet week. 

Sawyer had his final preschool day, where they painted birdhouses, filled out graduation forms, had ice cream, played and took cute pictures. 

Daniel and I had an amazing all day anniversary date the last day of school. We had to juggle kids around and find places for them to go. But we started by doing sealings at the temple, went on a short hike behind the temple, picked up the kids from school and got them to Annette's last day of school water party, went to play racquetball for a couple of hours, picked Brooke up from her swim party, showered and changed, picked up cheesecake factory for dinner and took it to our duck pond in Provo for a picnic, walked along the river for a while, visited our old newly married apartment, and headed home. We spent the whole day together, and it was glorious. 

Sawyer got sick with a stomach bug that same weekend. 

Went on a family bike ride in the morning on memorial day. And had a good grilled dinner that evening. 

First week of summer was slightly boring because I had a bunch of relief society stuff to do. And I felt so guilty about leaving the kids for that stuff.

Jack started piano lessons after school got out, and was so excited about it. So now we have 3 kids taking piano. 

Girls got haircuts. 

Jack and Camille had a stake primary activity that they came home thrilled about and telling me all about.

Daniel's work party was at the end of May. At the aquarium park, as usual. So fun. We love these work parties -- so many activities and prizes, crafts, lawn games and food. We had a great time. 

I got sick with some stomach bug the last day of the month. I felt awful, and Daniel had to carry the day, taking Camille to her track meet and hosting a neighborhood BBQ without me. I finished a book, though, and watched 2 movies. 

Fun, busy month. Here's to summer! ☀️