The pink fairy, heat wave, and teaching teens how to drive

The Dancing Pink Fairy

Alayna has been very into dancing lately which means I should probably break down and get her into dance classes. She choreographed her own dance, dressed up, and performed it for us. She loves to leap!

Adolescence is a period of rapid changes. Between the ages of 12 and 17, for example, a parent ages as much as 20 years. ~Author Unknown

One of my least favorite things to do is to teach teens how to drive. My heart can’t take it. Kayla starts drivers ed this week so we have had to take her out to practice. Other than almost taking out the mailbox, pushing the gas when she should’ve pushed the brake, and forgetting she was the one driving, I think she is doing ok?

Called to Serve

Marisa got to be a missionary this week! She got to drive up to Cedar Falls this week and spend the entire day shadowing the sister missionaries. She said it was so awesome and loved every minute of it. Hopefully she will share what her day and experience was like?

Heat wave/ Freak storms

We are in the middle of a wicked thunderstorm that has thunder making me jump out of my skin! We had a bad storm Friday night which made us lose power for 3 hours. There’s nothing like losing power for 3 hours to make you appreciate and almost worship the times you DO have power!

We also went through a very nasty heat wave this week with the heat advisory causing temps up to 110-115! The air was so heavy it made it hard to breathe! You just can’t beat Iowa weather, right? You never know what you are going to get!

(We got chalked one night)

Me time?

I’ve had all these projects I’ve been wanting to do and I figured this week I was ready for some “me” time. I started a puzzle (I haven’t done one in about a year now).

I made, completed, and ordered our blog book on Hawaii.

I finished the recipe books and now we are trying new recipes.

I took ALL our negatives in to get them put onto disks to download on the computer.

AND after 18 ½ years I am FINALLY making our wedding album! How cool is that??

The death of a tadpole, a fish, an umbrella, and the lilac tree!

The death of a tadpole, a fish, an umbrella, and the lilac tree

So, the week didn’t start out too well with both the last fish and the last tadpole passing away. Once again, there is a reason I don’t do pets.

We also had a massive storm hit during the night and when we woke up we found out that our umbrella to the deck table was missing (still haven’t found it) and my lilac tree was trashed. Alayna and I spent the day taking out the dead branches only to find out that the inside of the tree was rotted out so we took down the whole thing.

Teen Week

The older 3 kids were at the Hart teen week from Sunday afternoon until Wednesday night. They had such a wonderful time and a special thank you to grandma and grandpa for hosting it! I hear there is a pretty awesome music video they all made and I cant wait to see it.

Kayla license

We have another driver in the family! Kayla got her permit this week- Whoohoo!! And she starts drivers ed this coming week.

OCD issues?

I have been working this week on a project that is long overdue. Our recipes have been a mess. Even though they were in sheet protectors and in binders, they were so unorganized that I could never find what we needed. So, this week I recopied, retyped, and color-coded (yep, you heard me correctly) ALL the recipes. So, here’s to hoping it helps to make life easier.

MISC

Kayla, Marisa, and Tyler were able to go see the final Harry Potter this week with friends. Sadly enough I think I am a few movies behind.

Alayna finished her 2^nd week of swimming lessons and went off the diving board this week as well as did her 1^st standing dive off the side of the pool.

(Garden onions so potent she had to use her swim goggles to cut them!)

Hart Teen Week (3 day)

EFY, 4th of July, and Why we don’t do PETS

EFY, 4^th of July, and Why we don’t do PETS

EFY

Kayla went with her friend Merritt (and cousins Jared and Ian) to EFY in Columbia, Missouri this week and had an amazing time!

Marisa went to Iowa City this week for youth conference!

Bob, Tyler, Alayna, and I went to Missouri to pick Kayla and Merritt up. We stayed at a hotel overnight and took the kids swimming. It was a long trip, but fun to get away from Iowa for one night.

Independence Day

Corey and Hal came up to help us finish up the house from our flood. The downstairs is now completely finished- painting done, baseboards on, and NEW recessed lighting that dims put in! They also helped with all our giant list of things to do around the house including: fixing the floorboards, yard work, etc. It feels so great to get stuff done!!! I also completely reorganized the storage room, shed, garage, and laundry room. Whoohoo!

We also took time out for fun.  We played tennis, and went on a  fun bike ride to and around the Cedar Lake!  We also went to a friend’s house for a firework show!

Why we don’t do pets

So, first of all, this is why I don’t go into pet stores.

I SWORE I would never do pets again. We do NOT have a good track record!! Alayna has been BEGGING for a guinea pig. Well, Tyler came home from scout camp with 2 tadpoles he is supposed to take care of and keep alive for his Nature Badge. So, he asked us to go to get meat pellets for them. While we were at the store, Alayna was going nuts over the animals. To be fair, she has never really had a pet. So, I said no on the guinea pig but I “might” go for fish. She got so excited and I wanted to kick myself. Anyway, we ended up at Walmart (cause Im cheap) and bought a fish bowl and 4 fish (3 common goldfish and 1 fancy one). I warned her that I have a tendency to kill them, but she was so determined and excited that I gave in. We named them Tiffie, Jeffrey (a girl), Fintastic, and Sophia (the fancy fish).

By morning, Fintastic was dead. Then, Jeffrey started floating sideways and was dead mid-morning. Alayna was bawling! She wrote a 3 page eulogy to give at the toilet and made a headstone to post on our potty as well. Then, when Tyler was cleaning the tadpole bowl, he unknowingly crushed Max and killed him. The next 2 days were touch and go but by the time we got back from Missouri, Tiffie was dead. So, now only Sophia-Jeffrey(the fancy fish) and Speedy (the tadpole) remain. Stupid pets!

*Tyler, Kayla, and Marisa just left for teen week in Illinois. Hoping they have an amazing time!

Misc pics:

Mocassins Tyler made)

(Barbie mall Alayna set up on Marisas bed when she was at YC)

(Marshmallow guns!)