Our Summer of Adventure is going great! And I must confess that, at least for me, it has been much improved by our efforts to get to bed on time each night. Even though Helen still is nowhere close to sleeping through the night (despite our best efforts), we are all a lot closer to thriving than just surviving now that we have a little bit of a schedule in our lives again.

Our official family adventure for the week was a beautiful hike up Bell Canyon and to Bell Reservoir. We went on Friday morning before it got too hot, and it was quite delightful! You are likely wondering how the kids fared; well Fay walked almost the entire way and with very little complaining, Carter walked probably half of the way, and Portia and Helen were carried the entire time. You can feel free to be impressed by Josh’s ability to carry two kids at once UP part of the trail (for a fairly considerable distance, I might add)! I’m impressed by him!

On our way down the canyon, Fay said it helped her pass the time to sing. And she sang “Families Can Be Together Forever” the whole way down. It brought me so much joy!

 

Another (unofficial) adventure we had this week was to Leatherby’s Creamery. It is basically everything you ever wanted when you think of the words “Ice-Cream Parlor.” Look what we got!

We were all rolling out the door afterwards. Good thing we only got the one!

That same day, Helen had a very big adventure of her own! It was her first solid food! She got to eat some apple sauce while the family ate dinner. This was how it went.

Here are some pictures of the kids having their own adventures.

 

This week, the only really notable thing that took place was that Josh’s phone up and died on him. He got a fancy new one that he is having lots of fun with! I actually don’t know all that much about what makes it fancy; but Josh is very happy with it and I’m sure would love to tell you more about it!

Anyway, I thought I’d take this opportunity to talk a little bit about how the siblings are getting along with Helen. It is always a learning curve for everybody to add a new member to the family; but we have been very blessed to have even that tricky part filled with love from all members.

Fay LOVES being a big sister to Helen! She declared the other day, after holding Helen for about 28 seconds, “I’m ready to have my own babies!” She’s 6. 🙂 So happy! She loves holding Helen especially when there is somebody to see how grown up she is taking care of her sister. I remember being exactly like that with my baby sister, Mary! And, as usual, Fay is genuinely a big helper when I need assistance with Helen or the other kids!

Carter is such a sweetheart with Helen! He doesn’t seek her out quite as often as the girls; but he will still frequently go up to her and just talk sweetly to her and try to make her giggle. He is also a helper, like Fay, when Helen gets cranky. He will just play with her gently. Today Helen was raging as we were heading out the door to church; Carter came to the rescue and talked her into being happy. I thanked him for his help to which he replied “I made Helen be happy! I was like Jesus!” It basically melted my heart even though we were rushing off to church. Another thing Carter loves to do is blow on Helen’s tummy trying to maker her laugh. It’s basically adorable.

Portia also loves being a big sister. This evening she enthusiastically declared “Helen is my best friend!” But the love gets a little scary in Portia’s case. Sometimes the love looks like her putting her finger in Helen’s mouth in an effort to soothe her. Sometimes it looks like her trying to put the shirt she is currently wearing over Helen’s face. Once I came into the room to find Portia had taken the mitt off Helen’s hand and stuffed it in her mouth. I had been out of the room for less than a minute. So Portia does love Helen; we just hope she doesn’t love her to death.

I’m so glad these four cuties are mine forever!

 

We had a great 4th of July this year! We spent the day with all my extended family on my mother’s side, the illustrious Boones! Every three years they get together and have a week long family reunion known as Rendezvous (think mountain man more than french). We were only there for a single day, but it was so fun to see lots of cousins, cousins’ children, aunts and uncles, and even spend some great time with my siblings! I am so grateful for a fabulous family! And I’m so grateful to know they will be mine forever if I’m a good girl!

Anyway, here are some pictures from the past little bit.

Fay can’t always get Carter to play dress-up with her, but she succeeded one day this week. They were both rather dashing!

Here’s Portia and Helen matching a few weeks ago. The shorts are too big for Portia to actually wear without losing them, but it was still a fun picture.

Helen has been getting very excited about dangling toys recently. You can tell she is working really hard trying to grab them and get them to her mouth. But even with all her hard work, she will still take a break to smile at you if you talk to her!

Here is Fay after she successfully added every accessory to my lego set. We (Fay, Carter, and I) put it together a while ago and had it in storage mostly assembled; Fay took it upon herself to put it back together 100% and was very pleased afterword.

And last, but absolutely not least, here is my patriotic mantel for the summer! The mantel hasn’t been decorated at all since April 1st when the kids did it for Easter, and I haven’t personally decorated it since March! So it feels very good to have it look so lovely!

This past weekend, my littlest brother (second youngest sibling) got married. George is a great kid and we love Chelsea, his beautiful wife and my new sister! I am so grateful to have such marvelous siblings! And I am equally grateful that every one of my siblings-in-law is equally marvelous!

We had a super fun weekend with the family; but we also had a rather large task associated with the wedding.

Ta da!

Josh did such a great job decorating it! This masterpiece was 6 recipes of carrot cake! We used 5 pounds of carrots!! And despite the fact that the reception refreshments were all desserts, most of it still got eaten besides the top tier which we saved for the couple’s first anniversary.

And if you were wondering if making a wedding cake counts as a big project, it does. It took us all week. We seriously can’t quit. We have a problem. But it ended up being a beautiful and tasty problem, so we can’t complain too much. 🙂

Here are some pictures.

A few weeks ago Fay wrote her first full story, complete with illustrations. I recorded her reading it. I am so impressed by her willingness to sound out any word as she writes her stories.
Enjoy “The Secrit Door”