Saturday August 25 found us waking up early. We were leaving camp this day and figured there was no reason to dilly dally about it. We got up, dressed and had cereal. We packed and cleaned and organized and managed to leave the camp site by 9 am. I hadn’t had the opprotunity to look at a couple of places at the camp ground so we drove around for a few minutes. This gave the kids’ cereal time to settle and they had to go potty. So we made one last stop before getting on the road. We offically got on the road at 9:30. We were home by 12:30. Since we had a busy weekend we wasted no time getting ourselves unpacked and cleaned up. We had an Elder’s quorum party to attend at 5pm. So we had about 4 hours of solid work ahead of us. First we completely emptied the car. Then Scott took it down for a detailing (we normally do it ourselves, but after three weeks on the road and then a camping trip, we decided to let the “proffesionals” do it). Scott was gone about an hour and in the mean time I had the kids go in the backyard with soap and washcloths and wash down all the camping gear. They thought that was amazingly fun. I had started laundry. We had a good 8 loads to do. So I hung out half of them and dried half of them, just so I could keep the rotation going. As soon as Scott got back we realized they had done an awful job on the van and so I took it back. They gladly redid it for free, but still missed everything I had mentioned to them. So I took a rag and some cleaning spray and worked on the car for almost 10 minutes while they all stood around and watched me. I was pretty ticked! Anyway, I got home and we continued our cleaning. We left the house about 5 pm. By the time we left, it didn’t even look like we had been on a camping trip. It was awesome. I’ve never cleaned up that fast from a trip in my life. It was refreshing to know I was done. We had the Elder’s party at the Hansen’s house. They have an amazing backyard and a pool. It was fun to talk with everyone and catch up after not seeing them for most of the summer. We got home late and put the kids down.
Sunday morning was hard. We had all gone to bed late and we got up late. We rushed around and Sacrament meeting was “one of those”. It’s our own fault really. After church we had a few more things to finish (like folding all eight loads of laundry and putting them away). After naps and the few chores I made some dinner and we prepared for our guests. We had the Hansen family over for dinner. It was fun to socialize with them on a more personal basis in our own home. The kids all enjoyed it too and enjoyed playing.
Monday and Tuesday were “lazy” days. I felt kinda bad for the kids I babysit. I just planned on staying home, doing chores and teaching school. We offically started school on Monday and so I didn’t plan anything. Tuesday Scott was home but he had doctor appointments. So he had the car most of the day. He did try again to find the problem to his car, but it still doesn’t work. We shall see how much longer we hold onto that poor beat up old car.
Wednesday was swim day. It was the last swim day of the season. There were tons of people there. We were the first ones there and almost the last to leave. Our friend Laura has been awesome to open up her pool to everyone. It’s been fun. The number of people at the pool averaged about 30 but people came and went in shifts so it was fun for the kids to keep having new people to play with and fun for us adults to keep having more people to talk with. When we got home it was still pretty hot so all the kids had otter pops and played in the hose outside. I had decided to try this new reciepe I got from Denita while I was in Colorado. It took me forever to cut up all the vegetables that were required in the meal, but it was worth it, it was yummy. Of course I chose to cook it on the hottest day of the week, lucky me! At 5 pm there was suppose to be a meeting at my house. It was a meeting to discuss upcoming Enrichment meetings. Since I am the provident living leader I’m considered ‘on the committee’. So they wanted my input. They may have regretted that in the end….. I was a little late picking up Scott from the shuttle but he didn’t seem to mind. He’s been trying to finish a book and that gave him some uniterupted time to read. We had a late dinner but that was fine, it was too hot to put kids to bed anyway.
Thursday we again arranged with Laura to go swimming. This time it was to be a ‘private’ swim time!! It was fun. She did have one other friend show up who has twins that are a year old. It was fun to get to know her and ask her how she does it. How fun to have twins!! Right after swimming I had to take Afton in for a blood test. At a year they want to make sure her iron levels are good. But they don’t just prick the finger, they find the vein and take a vial. So we went to see the nurse to weigh and messure our lightweight. She weighed in at a whopping 18 pounds (it was actually slightly less but it was easier to just put 18). Her height was 29 1/2 inches. I bet Noah has her beat hands down…. We had to go to the lab to get her blood drawn. Since Afton has never been poked by a needle I wasn’t sure how she was going to react. I just hopped that the blood draw lady was good. She wasn’t. She was awful at drawing blood, at least in little children. She put the needle in about 3 times and had to dig around each time. It was awful. However, Afton didn’t make a sound. She didn’t even move. She just sat there patiently looking from the needle to the lady and around the room. We had quite the crowd of techs gathered around watching this baby in wonder. Especially since a slightly older girl came in to have blood drawn and was wailing. Anyway, I was tempted to crack some jokes like ‘oh she used to pain’ or ‘she gets poked with sharp objects all the time’ but thought better of it in case they did not find it funny or took me seriously. Another thing to point out. Since I had the two extra kids with me I was at the doctors office with 7 children. I thought I got looks with 5, people wouldn’t even talk to me with 7. You could just see them mentally counting how many kids were there. Then they would look at me, I would smile and they would turn away. It was pretty funny!! We got home in enough time to have some really late lunch (I left the lunch I had for the kids on the counter when we left for swimming, they were all STARVING). The kids I babysit got picked up and I went to get Scott a little later.
Fiday was “normal”. We had park day in the morning. One of the little boys at park day set up a lemonade stand. So we all brought our dimes and enjoyed lemonade and cookies. Alix was not able to enjoy. I had asked the kids to do their chores in the morning before park. That way we could be free in the evening. If they were able to finish I would provide the funds to pay for the goodies. Alix decided she’d rather play, that is until we actually got to the park. She was pretty sad, but I think she learned her lesson. After park day we had lunch, finished chores and then rested. I was pretty tired. It has been really hot the last few days and I haven’t been getting to bed very early because I use the cool of the night to get things done. So the kids watched a video while I had a little nap. We also had been talking with Stan and Angela and trying to arrange a meeting with them. They were visiting Jody’s mission and wanted to take some time to see us. I’m so glad they did. We met up with them about 6 at Google. They got the Google tour and even some fun food and snacks. I think Stan enjoyed the massage chair, and Ann really enjoyed the bathrooms!! :0) Anyway, after a fun tour we headed down a street to find something to eat. It took a few minutes to really decide where to stop but once we did we took over the place. Try showing up anywhere with 4 adults and 11 kids (although three of those ‘kids’ were actually adults). We didn’t get done eating and socializing till almost 10 pm. I know the Hurst clan was running on empty but we really appreciated them taking the time to meet up with us. We really enjoyed it a lot.
Saturday September 1 was our “lazy” day. It was the first Saturday since May that we had NOTHING planned. Just chores of course. I rolled out of bed with the kids around 7. We had an easy breakfast and then just lazed around. Scott got me hooked on the book he was reading so I picked that up while the kids played. Scott got up a little after 8. He ate some breakfast then played with the kids while I read. It pretty much went like that till 11. Then we had lunch, put little ones to nap and then we did chores. We finished about 3. We lazed a little more and then did a bbq for dinner. That was pretty good. We finished up, did baths for the littlest ones and got them ready for bed. I grabbed Jaime and Alix. Jaime was invited to Katies house for an improptu playdate and Alix wanted to spend her $3 gift card at Toys R Us. The only thing at Toys R Us for three bucks is candy. So we looked around the store for a while and then she choose some candy that replicated make up and she was happy. Then we went to Wal Mart to pick up some diapers and food storage items I needed. We picked up Jaime from her friend and the girls got to bed by 9. Scott and I stayed up another hour finishing up some cleaning and then we were asleep by 10. Well, Scott was. I had to read just a couple more pages of the book. At midnight I thought I better put it away and get some sleep!!
Well, that brings us to today. I finally caught up! We had a great service today. I really felt like I had a great spiritually uplifting Sabbath day. Even the kids seemed really quiet and reverent today. It was nice. I finished my bullinten board. As the provident living leader I have a bulliten board. I have been working on it since April. I finally put some of my ideas up in the begining of June, but since I had never done a bulliten board before, it looked pretty awful. So I got more ideas and finally finished it today. Well, almost finished it. A very sweet sister in the ward suggested that I add some cannery order forms so ward memebers can take one anytime. She was right. It will be easy to add, I was just hoping I could be ‘done’! Although I guess I’ll have to change it up sometime. It’s always nice to see different things once in a while, not just the same stuff all the time. I think the board finally came out looking very nice and I hope it helps the ward members get excited about food storage and financial security so that we can all be better prepared.
Guess that is the news. I did forget to report that Afton got her two bottom molars August 11 and her two top molars on August 24. She is the munching machine now!! She stood up independently (meaning she was sitting in the middle of the room and just stood up without help from anyone or anything) on August 17, she thought she was pretty cool. She’s gotten better and better, but no real walking yet! If we ask her to say a prayer she’ll fold her arms and start babbling really low and serious, it’s pretty cute. She waves hi and bye. She laughs and snorts constantly. She is still sleeping really well but I think she is about ready to give up her first nap. I think she is ready for one long afternoon nap. Afton is really growing up. Her first birthday is just 5 days away and it seems almost impossible that a whole year has gone by already. What a good baby she has been and I anticipate she will be just as good a toddler. What a great blessing it is to be a parent. To watch your children learn and grow and become better people physically and spiritually. I am grateful to God for trusting me with his spirit children. Much love to all.
Finally! You said “tomorrow or the next day” so I’ve been checking every day…it was worth it. Good to hear life is returning to normal after a summer of lots of driving! It does sound like Afton is growing up quickly the past few weeks. Wish I could be there to enjoy it too. Miss you all!