Summer evenings have a special way of capturing your heart.
On this particular evening the primary presidency was driving around the neighborhood passing out ice cream to all the primary kids. The kids were so excited, and they loved that they got to stay up later than normal for it.
We had ourselves a little family work day to prepare for Oaklee's blessing.
We finished the rocks/landscaping area that needed to be done in our backyard.
After the bed of the truck was clear of rocks, Taylor cleaned out all of the construction garbage from the basement and took a trip to the dump.
Family started to trickle in for Oaklee's blessing
green teeth from a "Poppy treat" My dad always comes with candy for the grandchildren. His grandpa went by Poppy, and he wanted to continue that tradition so all of the grandkids call him Poppy. Hence why the candy he brings are called Poppy treats.
And my mom fixed Elsa doll's broken wrist. Ella was extremely thankful to finally get her doll fixed.
The kids' favorite game when everyone gets together is beat up Uncle Matt. It's a fairly simple game that almost always ends up with at least one child crying from Matt getting the tiniest bit of retalliation.
I couldn't help but laugh at Monkey Ella trying to fight him.
Oaklee was given a blessing by Taylor.
Our ward still was not meeting because of covid, so she was blessed in our home.
It was actually loved blessing her at home more than I thought I would.
We all gathered in the living room for the blessing and then grabbed some brunch and split up around the house and yard.
Oaklee wore the same dress as Ella and Avery.
After the blessing the grown ups chatted while the kids played.
Thankfully, the weather was absolutely beautiful that day.
My mom stayed with us the night after the blessing so she could help me drive the kids down to Utah the next day to go on an adventure for a few days. We stayed at my parents townhouse.
The favorite activity was swimming at my sister's apartment complex's pool.
We invited some of their cousins to come with us on of the afternoons and all of the kids had a blast.
We were quite a sight to see trying to get to the pool with 5 kids who could walk (and wander), 3 babies who had to be carried or toted there somehow, pool floaties, and all of our other swim gear.
Hudson turned into quite the little fish while we were there. He spent most of his time jumping into the pool over and over and over again. Ella didn't get quite as comfortable with the water, but comfortable enough to think she could get in the pool without her floaties on. Shout out to Aunt Bekah for literally saving her life.
I gave Avery her first french braids!
We were sad to leave all of the fun in Utah, but I was ready to get back home to Taylor and get the kids back into their normal routine and sleeping habits.
We built a barn door for the hallway closet in the basement!
It was a really fun project to work on and was the first time we had ever made something like that.
We finished up the bedroom in the basement and carpet was installed.
We worked our butt's off getting the room done, and Hudson and Ella were super excited to get a new room.
Backyard baseball was a frequent evening activity.
Grandpa and Linda surprised us with a little visit one afternoon.
They got to meet Oaklee and see our house for the first time.
The kids and I went on one last summer hoorah to Rigby Lake.
Taylor and I got a smidge crazy and took the kids on a hike.
Overall, they had a good time, but there was definitely a fair share of complaining as one can always count on when doing anything with kids. One complaint from both Hudson and Ella was that we didn't go to the top of the mountain. They complained enough about being tired, so I was glad the trail didn't go to the top of the mountain.
Tana was kind enough to take Hudson to crossfit with them. Hudson LOVED it!
I put together a video of random short clips from our summer. These family videos are one of the kids' favorite things. I absolutely love watching them watch it for the first time.
Thank you for being so crazy and wild and weird and good to us Summer 2020
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