Summertime

This is what we've been up to lately:

Not so lazy days...

Summer has been great for us...different, but good. For the past few years we have spent most of our time in Utah full of lessons and camps and family, but this year with the job and the move we decided to try and plant some roots and vacation later. The boys have been great at keeping up and accomplishing a lot. They've been awesome at chores, workbooks, extra math, reading, learning the states and helping with Pierce. I'm constantly amazed as I watch these boys grow! After chores and schoolwork, we pretty much swim everyday. Thank goodness for fun public pools!

Jace and Parker have been obsessed with the Harry Potter books...Jace on 4 and Parker on 3. They take them everywhere and take every chance to read! Of course, being a reader, I LOVE this!

Blueberry Picking...
There is an awesome blueberry farm close by that was overflowing with plump, juicy berries to pick. We love doing this as a family and collected 11 pounds of berries! Is this the coolest thing? Total honor system for paying for the berries. Love living in a town like this.

All 4 boys ready to fill their buckets.

This kid was CRAZY about the blueberries. When I was holding him, he would grab the branches and pick his own. He's such a cutie. He's eaten WAY too many berries.

All the bushes were so full. It made the picking especially fun. 

We did our fair share of taste testing! 

With one bag we made yummy jam and we plan on eating the rest or freezing them. We're thinking of going back and getting some more!

 Painting and Decorating
Even though we are renting, we really wanted everything to feel like home, so we decided to paint the whole house. It turned out great and we (okay, I) love the color (Mike doesn't consider light grey a color)! We've been trying to decorate on a budget too and it's been fun but stressful and taking up lots of our time. Here is a sneak peek of a little bit that is going on (like the tags still on things?). It's coming along. I'm certainly not someone who wants to decorate forever. Can't wait to be finished!

 Firepit
We've been spending lots of time outside and the boys decided a firepit was a must and you didn't need to ask Mike twice. We'll get lots of use out of this new toy.

 Making Friends
It's been so great to make new friends! We've been having families over to our home and spending time at others' houses and we love our new neighborhood and ward. We feel so lucky.

Frog Catching
My boys are living their dream with a creek in our backyard full of frogs and other animals, plus deer, squirrels, rabbits, etc. scampering around our yard! They were especially proud of this yellow belly toad they grabbed. They come to the house caked with mud and lots of smiles...except when James came back with a leech sucking blood out of his foot; that was gross and less than fun, but he was super brave and pulled it off his foot himself with no tears.

Garden Spoils and Yardwork
We planted a garden and it's been giving us lots of vegetables, such a fun first attempt! We love walking outside each morning to see what is new. We can't wait to keep harvesting. We love having space for a garden and a yard to enjoy. It's been awhile since we've had a significant amount of yardwork, but we sure do now! It takes lots of time on Saturday but it's good for all of us.

 Bouncing Party
To get to know the kids their ages, we invited all the kids from each of the boys' primary classes plus their siblings to a fun bouncing and pizza party at a local bounce spot. There were over 40 kids and their moms who came to play with us. It was a great way to break the ice and get to know everyone and lots of fun. If we ever move again, we'll do this again too.

Life has been busy, relaxed and great all in one. We are so grateful to have found a lovely house in an awesome ward and neighborhood. We really felt like we were led here and this is the place our family is supposed to be. So far, we love it and are enjoying getting settled in our new town!