Dog Days and Fire’s Haze

Here it is, another week. Where does all the time go? The kids are starting school right around the corner. The weather has been warm and very smoky outside due to a bad fire not too far from us.

Monday - While Landon had gymnastics in the morning, Hallie babysat a coach’s son. While Mom was gone, Eliza started her second week of swim lessons. When Mom got home it was time to hustle Eliza into gear and to get ready for gymnastics. While Eliza was at gymnastics Hallie babysat Lily. In the evening the kids got together to play with a set that we had never put together from our trip out to California earlier this year. They really do get along together sometimes! 

One of Mike's heraldry co-enthusiasts drew up a suitable-for-framing version of his arms that now has a place in his office. Pretty snazzy!  

Tuesday - Hallie took Landon to gymnastics and then came back home after a bit and met Eliza at swimming lessons so she could show Mom all of her amazing skills she has learned.

Again, it was time for Eliza to do a quick change, eat lunch, and then off to gymnastics.

Wednesday - Hallie and the kids had a super long day. When we look back on the calendar, it doesn’t seem crazy, but the day was filled with lots of activities. The day included going to the grocery store, the hair store, babysitting, Trader Joe’s, the Lego Store, treats for everyone, a great visit with our friends the Anderson’s. Earlier in the day, we even got photos of the kids with Cosmo the Cougar! 

Mike took the rock Eliza found in Spanish fork and added it to his small collection of painted stones, including one he got way back when he was in Primary with a house on a rock (he has completely forgot what the lesson was supposed to be about -- maybe the wise man built his house upon the rock?), one from Dildo, NL, and now this fiery sunset stone.

He went out to dinner with several of his students as it was the end of the semester, and then we all met up at the end of the evening. With a missed mommy cue – Landon was tired at the end of the day and wasn’t treating his friend nicely. When Landon came home and we talked about what happened he cried; it is hard being 10 and going into 5th grade. Good thing he has Fergus as a pal.

Thursday - Today was Eliza’s last day of swimming for the summer, so Mike went with her so he could see all of her great skills she learned over her two sessions. 

Both kids had their usual gymnastics practices today. While they were doing their stuff, Hallie ran to Costco to grab a few photos she had ordered. It only took 7 months to get photos put in the kids medal hangers for their rooms, oops! During parts of gymnastics, Hallie worked on fundraising items on her new computer. It is nice to have a lighter and more reliable computer to be able to take places and get things done for fundraising. In the afternoon Hallie had a meeting with her co-chair Serena.

While walking to his car from his last day of class for the term, Mike noticed that there are a couple of apple (or maybe crabapple?) trees on campus. In and among the ripening fruit, it smelled delicious! 

Friday - Landon had early gymnastics practice. Mike looked after Eliza and some of our neighbors in the morning and then got a haircut. Hallie and the kids ran a couple of errands (including 99 cent smoothies, yum!) and brought home pizza for movie night. Mike has set about migrating photos from old computers onto his cloud drive, a tedious task.

Saturday - Hallie and Eliza dropped off Landon at the Clyde Rec Center on their way to pick up Grandma M. The girls headed over to the Mall in Provo to exchange a pair of shoes. When all was said and done, Hallie got the shoes she needed, Eliza got a new pair of shoes for church, and Hallie only had to pay an additional $2.12. Thanks Grandma for the coupon! Landon and Lincoln swam for a bit and then played at Lincoln’s until it was time for us to head north to Salt Lake. Once we got into Salt Lake we stopped at Craft Lake City DIY Fair at the Gallivan Center downtown. Our friends the Lockharts that we know through adoption/Michigan had a booth there selling Courtney’s pottery. It has been a long time since we have seen them, and they now live near St. George. It was fun getting to spend a few minutes with them. We quickly walked around a few more booth before it was time to head to Howdy’s SLC for dinner/dessert.

After each of us got a yummy ice cream, we then headed to This is the Place to see the Lower Lights in concert. The venue was great, we saw an awesome show, the weather started to cool down by the time the concert started, and smoke from the fires actually cast an ethereal effect over the city. 

Like mother, . . .

. . . like daughter!

On our way home down the I-15 we saw four different firework shows, and that made for a beautiful drive home.

Sunday - Mike and Hallie were tired and neither of them woke until a bit after 8:00 am, which is not like the parents. However, Fergus was meowing a lot, and so the parents got up and noticed a Star Wars watching party had started downstairs. Everyone finished watching the The Force Awakens and the off went the TV so everyone could start getting ready for church. Landon got spotlighted in Primary, and his favorite sport is . . . gymnastics, his favorite subject in school is reading, and his favorite snack is Kit Kat bars. 

After church Hallie stayed for choir and then we all headed over to the Maygrens for a yummy pot roast dinner. We thought back, and we don’t think the kids had ever had pot roast before. They seemed to really like it. Didn’t hurt that grandma made mashed potatoes, one of Landon’s favorite foods.