Girls overnight, chlorine sensitivity, and trying new things

Let's see. . . what happened this week?

I had two activities planned on Monday with two different families and they both ended up cancelling. The girls and Steve and I ended up packing our 72-hour kids for FHE, The girls were excited to do it and it went pretty quickly. I still need to go to DI and pick up an extra set of clothing for each of them. We also want to get a water bottle for each of them that will filter water, instead of having them each carry enough water for three days. (That wouldn't happen. Cecily wouldn't even be able to carry three 12 oz. water bottles. It's just way too heavy.)

Steve also stopped by Home Depot on his way home last night to fix the sprinkler head that *someone broke off (*read: my kids or neighbor kids).

The girls also had the neighbor girl, Addison, over that afternoon.

This was the girls' last week of swimming lessons. They were hard on Cecily this week. She still loved being in the water, but she got tired out, I think, and the chlorine levels must have been high because she rubbed her eyes raw every time. Emilia was also super itchy all week.

On Tuesday, Cecily was throwing fits about leaving the pool, and then about taking a bath after, and then about not having her clothes off. So I just let her run around naked for a while. She felt better afterward. :)

Some pictures of my garden:

Cecily with her sore eyes.

I started coming down with a cold on Tuesday. I tried to take it easy when I had down time, but I didn't have much of it. I had to take the kids to swimming, do laundry, feed everybody lunch and dinner, do visits for my church calling, and we got free tickets to the new Independence Day movie that night and we already had a babysitter lined up, so I went to that too.

Wednesday, I made Steve take a sick day.

I was so out of it, and Wednesday is the day ALL the girls have classes. I slept for like six extra hours and generally tried to be still. I did dishes and changed out two loads of laundry, but mostly, I just sat around all day. It was just what I needed to feel better.

Thursday, we went up to my mom's house. One of the missionaries that baptized my parents came to visit and I was the only kid that could come see her. I was glad I did. And then the girls got to swim for a couple hours in my parent's (above ground) pool. They loved that, too. Emilia was SO proud of herself. At the beginning of swimming lessons this time, I challenged her and Mira to be able to pick something up off the bottom of the pool. Mira had done it by the third day. But Emilia didn't accomplish it by the last class and she was distraught. At Nana's, she did it and she was beaming.

Thursday night, Steve had game night, and Friday, I went on an overnight retreat up in the mountains with my mother- and sisters-in-law. We went shopping at the outlets at Park City first, then slept at a hotel in Midway and did a soak in the natural hot springs crater there. I tried a few new things. I got an outfit that was something different than I've worn before. I have to be confident in myself to wear it. I also got sushi and tried eel in it. And I'd never done a hot-springs soak before, let alone in a crater. I'm trying to live more fearlessly, so these were little steps in that direction.

Nicole, me, Heather, Cindy, and Wilda

This is Nicole.

The views as we were driving home were gorgeous. I wouldn't mind living up there. It reminds me of North Dakota (but with mountains).

Saturday, we went up Provo canyon with Steve's family and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows, threw footballs and softballs, kicked a soccer ball around, played games, and all the little girls found a small stream and made a special area for people to visit. Then they all got wet in the cold mountain water. A fun day with family. I'm so glad I love my in-laws as much as I do. It's such a blessing!

I loved this week. So much awesomeness. Snoopys and family pictures, classes and crafts.

Has it really only been a week since Father's Day?

Since we were up the canyon last week, the girls and I decided to celebrate Father's Day for Steve today. We wrapped his present and gave it to him, along with breakfast in bed. The girls and Steve then enjoyed making "blankie lasagna" and other silly things with their blankies and pillows after Steve finished eating.

Yesterday, we had family pictures in the evening, but getting ready took me days. We took a trip to DI on Tuesday to find an outfit for Cecily that would match the stuff I picked out for the rest of us. I can never thrift shop for a short amount of time. This trip was no exception. But we found a lot of fun stuff. Two outfits for Cecily. A couple of things for each of the rest of us, too, including a pair of "cowboy boots" for Emilia to wear for her horseback riding lessons.

Cecily found four Snoopys to add to her collection.

Snoopys!

The outfits I originally picked out.

Wednesday, I shopped for ribbon.

Thursday night while I watched a movie, I made bows and a headband to match outfits.

Saturday morning, I painted everyone's nails and toenails. (Okay, not Steve's.) That's 80 nails that got painted yesterday. Phew! I forgot to re-cap one of the polishes at one point and of course it got tipped over and spilled all over the floor. Of course there were a number of bumped nails that needed to be redone. And of course, which colors to put where was a source of much deliberation. But I love the unique combos everyone picked. We had to bathe everybody and do everybody's hair. Plus, I gave three of us haircuts (one of them was me--the jury is still out on whether that was a bad idea).

We also managed to FINALLY install the kickboard and the frame on the mirror in the girls bathroom. All I have left to do is decorate and paint baseboards. WAHOO!!

Thursday, I also finally took the crib down. Cecily hasn't been sleeping in it for over six months, but her crib mattress fit next to the crib on the floor, so I've been lazy and left it that way for this long. But no more! The crib is down. So I can put her bed up this week, too.

Thursday was also new treadmill day. The frame under the tread on our old one cracked, so we found a "new" one on KSL and the guy was nice enough to deliver it. I had to clean out the garage so we had somewhere to store the old one until we could take it to the dump. We needed room to maneuver a new treadmill into the basement, too. Steve and I managed to get the old treadmill out in a matter of five minutes, so we told the neighborhood guys that agreed to come help, that getting the new one in would be a ten minute job. Ugh. Try over an hour. The new treadmill was wider than the door both directions. We ended up having to open the treadmill, stick the tread part through the door first and angle it up the stairs, then close it as much as possible while we got the bottom end of the front through, then we had to drop the tread part one step and lift up the bottom of the front to chest height to get the top of the front through. When we finally got the entire thing through the doorway, we had to close it up and shimmy it through the gap to the family room where we could finally roll it to where we wanted it. It was a trying experience. I felt like I'd been in the trenches with those poor guys.

The girls and I went to the library this week, got donuts, and went grocery shopping together. On Monday night for Family Home Evening, we all went to the dollar store to buy supplies for 72 hour kits. I bought backpacks at DI a while back to pack everything in. So tomorrow we will pack our 72 hour kits and try to find a place to store them  in the garage.

An upside-down look at three books I found for sale at the library. I only got the large atlas, but it was $1 and there were two National Geographic maps inside that I can hang on the wall. Yay for deals!

The girls also had swimming lessons all week (including Cecily this time) and their classes on Wednesday.

Waiting for lessons to start. Cecily is in pink at the back of the 2nd row from the right.

Cecily, left

Mira, middle (obviously)

Emilia demonstrating her back float.

Well--they were all supposed to have classes on Wednesday. And I drove to all of them. But we were running late to Cecily's tumbling class, so I ran her in when we got there and left the other two in the car just until Cecily was situated. Her class is upstairs and down a hallway. I get to the hallway and it's dark and all the doors are closed. So I look at my phone to make sure I have the right time, and instead of seeing the time, I see the notification for Mira's dance class. So I think, "Oh crap! I mixed them up. We're supposed to be at Mira's class!" So I run Cecily back out to the car and rush back to Springville. The whole time I'm yelling at the slow drivers and feeling frustrated at the lights, and then we're a couple blocks from Mira's class and I realize I set up notifications on my phone for an hour before classes start. I had it right to begin with! It was Cecily's class we were supposed to be at. So then, I have to call the tumbling place, explain the completely illogical workings of my brain to a twenty-year-old with no kids and try to figure out a make-up day. Which happened to be Thursday. At least Mira was early to her dance class!

Mira is front row, middle in the dark pink shirt and dark pants

It was 98 degrees for Emilia's lesson this week. And there is NO shade.

Since it was so hot that afternoon, and since Steve was going to be at D&D, I decided to get us all Wendy's (kids meals are only $1.99 right now) and take them to the splash pad. I got to read for 2 hours while the girls cooled off. Plus Wendy's Bacon Mozzerella sandwich is heavenly (if you don't mind being completely unhealthy).

Some random pictures of my kids being cute:

And pictures of us going to get pictures taken. When we get the photo shoot pictures back, I'll post 'em. Have a good week!

Quick week prepping for East Canyon

I'm tired tonight. We had a weekend vacation at my parent's/Megan's "cabin" up East Canyon. Lots of fun and early mornings and sunshine.

Cecily, on the way there.

Where we were.

What everybody did most of the time.

Okay, this, too.

Plus, making and eating food.

Everyone was tuckered out on the way home.

Earlier in the week, I taught my summer camp for three days (only 2 hours each day though), ran kids to their activities, and got ready to have a long weekend. I've been writing a lot lately, too. I'm about half-way through my latest book and I hope to finish before the end of July. It's kind of a long shot, but I like having goals that really push me. Wish me luck.

Emilia more *fell* off that platform than jumped, but she was super proud of herself, so I am proud, too.

Mira didn't graduate to the next level, but she loved learning.

This was at our friend Anessa's house. Gosh the girls love going there. Cecily couldn't resist wearing the Storm Trooper hat this time.

Her pose as she talked on the phone to Nana.

Cecily is such a character. She makes me smile every day. This was at the splash pad while Emilia had horseback riding.