I have a confession: I don’t particularly care for summer these days. For those of you who feel offense because of that statement, I have some reasons that I feel clear things up.

One reason is that the best part of summer has always been, for me, summer nights! That is when the temperature is finally comfortable/there isn’t blazing sun so it’s fun to be outside, and that is when there are concerts and movies in the park, fireworks, etc. And these days I have to put small people to bed at 7:30 PM and then I’m stuck at home the rest of the night. So I miss out on the best part of summer. Another reason is that I have nothing to wear. I have looked for multiple years in a row for bermuda shorts that look good on me and have nothing to show for it except disappointment. So I just suffer through my jeans hoping that one day I’ll find that magical pair of shorts that I actually want to wear in public. Although, I did just get a jumpsuit with nice wide legs and fairly light-weight fabric and I think that is a step in the right direction!

Anyway, a few weeks ago I was wishing it was autumn and it occurred to me that I don’t like wishing away my life. So I decided I needed a reason to enjoy summer. The obvious answer was to have a table to decorate! And if you’re going to go to the effort of planning a table specifically for celebrating the season of summer, you may as well eat something delicious and summery and invite some people over and call it a party. 

So that’s what we did! 

My plan for the table this time around was to use beautiful summery foods as the decoration for the table. I had all these grandiose ideas of having everything perfectly set out on the table with enough time before the party started to take lots of lovely pictures that captured the joy of summer in my selected color scheme. But the reality was that by the time I got the table set (for the umpteenth time, because we had significant wind that kept blowing everything over) we had a lot of hungry people who were ready to just party and not wait around for the party to be photographed. Who can blame them? 🙂

Everyone seemed to enjoy the party! Even our miniature!

The summer party was lots of fun, and I think it did the trick a little for helping me enjoy summer more. Another fun thing we did this week was another family adventure to Craft Lake City (aka: the DIY festival). We took the train to downtown so we wouldn’t have to hunt for parking, and that was an adventure in itself for the kids! When we got there, it was really fun to walk around and look at the different booths and the amazing things that people do with their own hands! We didn’t buy anything, and the kids honestly didn’t last very long. But I am still glad we went! After the festival we dropped into “Daddy’s work” which was right next door. The kids enjoyed sampling the snacks from the kitchen and coloring on the white boards.

As we were heading out of Josh’s building to the train stop we had an adventure we hadn’t bargained for. We had just left the elevators and were heading to the doors when we realized Portia was nowhere to be found. I kept the other three kids right by me while Josh rushed around searching for Portia. She was still nowhere. After more searching and multiple prayers, Josh started checking the elevators (there were 6). He got each one to open except one. He had the idea occur to him that the final elevator probably waited at the top of the building instead of the bottom which is why it never opened. He got in an elevator, took it to the top floor and as he approached the top he could hear Portia screaming. She was in the final elevator stuck at the top floor. Josh saved the day!

As we waited for the train after all of this I had this little conversation with a very emotional Portia. If you have heard Portia talk, try to imagine her little dramatic, kind of whiney voice.

Me: I’m so so glad we found you, Portia!
Portia: Yeah.
Me: We need our Portia!
Portia: We doooo.
Me: She is a really special girl!
Portia: Her iiiiiiiis.

It was approximately the cutest thing ever. I’m glad Portia knows how essential she is to our family.

In other exciting news from this week, Fay learned to ride her bike without training wheels! She had practiced some with Josh before, but on Friday she requested that I remove the training wheels even though she knew I had to watch the other kids and could help her. After about 37 seconds she was riding like it was nobody’s business! I am very proud of her, and she is very proud of herself and very excited about riding! It was extra fun because her friend came over (who learned to ride without training wheels a few months ago) and they rode together! I think Irelyn’s being able to ride was a big motivation for Fay to learn! Friends are wonderful!

And alas! I don’t have a picture. I’ll get one!

Also, here are some other happy pictures.