2022, June 20-26

Hard to believe we're a month into summer vacation. Landon's gotten more busy with his new job, so Eliza is the only one without work to do except for on the days she thinks she is helping at summer camp at USAGW American Fork.

We have some ponies in the neighborhood. Sometimes they venture to the pasture near the school. We don't know if we can count how many times Eliza has gone into the pasture with the horses. Eliza is fearless.

This was a good week for catching flowers before the heat comes in and takes them away. Mike often takes a walk while Eliza is at her reading class. He caught a few new ones. 

Landon had gym off this week, so that meant he had more time for work. Eliza continues to hone her riding skills. 

At Creekside, there is a flower bed as well.  

When we got home, we looked outside and saw a bright sunset filling the sky. Hallie saw this giant puff ball. 

Here are some of the painted skies we saw.

 

  Diamond and Caleb's Father's Day gift to Mike came a couple of days into the week. Very cool! 

We had some tasty Every Plate meals. Landon didn't like the rice though because it had onion and garlic in it. It was so fun watching him pick our the onion and garlic from the rice. 

Another night at Creekside, and another chance to see the flowers and the bees at work. 

(And Eliza riding too!) Eliza worked on her gallop, and in video it is so cool to see her in control of Echo.

As the thistles begin to mature and die, small birds are taking the fluff for their nests. 

Mike caught a couple at work here, but he couldn't get close enough to get a good shot. 

Even the clover is in bloom . . . 

. . . along with our neighbor's pots. 

Eliza caught another (smaller) goldfish/carp (Google photos said Koi) at the farmer's stream. It is quite a pretty fish, and we considered keeping it (overnight) before setting it free again. Hallie wasn't a fan of having it in the bucket on our kitchen table and seeing the poop accumulate while she ate.

 

Caught Fergus blepping. 

Mike submitted a couple of designs for the new Utah flag competition, and one of his local heraldry friends caught a newscast about the next stage of the competition. To his surprise, he saw his flags among those on display!  

No single design is going to win. Rather, a panel will create three final designs that incorporate common themes. Lots of beehives, sego lilies, and mountains. Mike hopes we get a few original flourishes in like unique colors (for instance, red-rock red and turquoise) 

(Disregard the arrow. His are in the center, second and third from the top)

Landon showed off his artistic chops, drawing this chad while at work. 

Hallie got some stickers for work. Mike "borrowed" a couple to finish filling in his laptop. 

Fergus is getting to be an equal-opportunity napper. 

On his Saturday walk, Mike caught the ponies and thistle yet again. We had relatively mild weather this week. Next week looks to sizzle. 

While cleaning the bathroom and mudroom, Landon did an accidental magic trick, making this broom stand upright. 

While he was at work, the rest of us helped out at USAGW American Fork and then went to the last day of the Parade of Homes. We got shave ice at Hokulia. Tasty! Hallie didn't think through how it would go driving and having a shave ice as big as her head. Some of it ended up on the gear shifter and the other parts ended up in a cup in the gym's freezer.

Eliza also gets her artistic vibe on at therapy. Here's her work from this week. 

Even the prickly pears are blooming. Mike was a little too early to catch the full blooms, but he'll be back. 

Eliza is an infamous card shark in our home. However, Hallie must have figured out Eliza's tricks, because she won at Uno three times tonight! Eliza was a good sport with all of Hallie's winning. 

2022, June 13-19

Varied weather, a Parade of Homes, and Father's Day rounded out the week. 

We call the boxes Fergus likes to find himself in cat traps. Fergus found himself in another one this week. Haven't figured out why we find it so cute.

We were quite blessed to have Eliza's 2nd grade teacher Arlene Haymond and her husband Carl join us for Eliza's horseback riding show. Arlene sent us some of the pictures she had taken during the show. We are grateful for all the support given to Eliza. It definitely takes a village.

Mike has been taking morning walks before the weather gets too heated for the day. Mike has a good idea for all the beauty in the world. We are glad he captures these beauties on his walk.

Some of the wild weather we had this week brought beautiful outcomes that Hallie and Eliza were able to capture on their way to horseback riding this week. The girls really enjoyed seeing the whole rainbow.

The rainbow followed them all the way to horseback riding!

Mike worked a bit on a shield-in-a-ribbon badge, trying to get the coloring and shading to look good. 

 Tuesday was Flag Day. Ours was flying. 

More pics from morning walks. 

We bought tickets to the Parade of Homes before we realized how busy our schedule were. We didn't want to waste the money, so during this last week Mike, Eliza, and Hallie squeezed in visiting a few houses between other activities. Her is a beautiful view from a home in Santaquin.

Quite a while ago Hallie found a love for flavored honey sticks. She started following the owner on Instagram. Recently the owner decided to sell her home and area where she makes and sells her products and was having a going out of business sale. So after stopping by one of the homes, we headed out to support Farm and Hive. Eventually, Farm and Hive will reopen in Idaho, but until then hopefully we have the goods we need, and we wish them well!

Seriously, who wouldn't want a swing in a play room?! Eliza loved it and is a good sport to go with us to look at all the homes.

Another shot of flowers and bees from another neighborhood. 

Eliza went to the pool with the Bridges and then attended Lincoln's baseball game. Eliza was such a sport! Eliza ran around with her bathing suit and bathrobe on in 100 degree weather while Lincoln played ball. Julie treated them to shave ice after, which is a favorite of Eliza's. We are so blessed to have amazing neighbors!

When Landon started 7th grade, we took him to open a bank account at Central Bank, where when you receive A's on your report card the bank will put money in to your account. Every Summer Central Bank has a customer appreciation lunch. Doesn't Landon look like he loves being appreciated? Funny boy! The lunch is very nice that they offer.

Friday nights we usually do pizza and a movie night as a family. However, as Food Truck Fridays in Spanish Fork starts up, we have tended to head to the food trucks. This week Mike and Landon picked BBQ to eat and Eliza picked Ramen, which she has really taken a liking to.

Saturday morning after heading to Kneader's for a free French Toast breakfast for Mike, we headed to the Provo Farmers Market. Eliza can't pass up a splash pad, and it was well deserved. Already warm on Saturday morning.

We finished the week celebrating Father's Day! Hallie made Mike breakfast, in the afternoon we saw Jurassic World in the luxury seats at the theater, and then we had the opportunity to talk to the Owens. Mike is proficient on the computer at his art. Landon is becoming proficient with a pencil and his art. Landon made this for Mike for Father's Day. Some of the fun cards Mike received for Father's Day are below.