Two blog posts in the same month! I'm doing great! Summer always has a lot of fun things going on, and I actually have time to post because I'm not teaching school, so that's why!
Avery's 11th birthday
Avery turned 11 a couple of days after we got home from Montana on Tuesday, July 18! We decided to do the Gravity Factory thing again this year. I think we also did it two years ago. Last year, we were in Wisconsin for her birthday. She invited a few new girls this year that I had never met before. She invited Kendalin, Maddie, and Briella (those are her longstanding friends) and then she also invited girls named Collete, Mya, and Kate. So there were seven girls including herself. We met at Gravity Factory at about 1:00, they jumped for about an hour and a half, and then we had ice cream cake in the party room upstairs. She got some little gifts, including slime, a koala stuffed animal, a journal, and a couple other things. Our family got her a new pair of rollerblades because she had outgrown her old ones, and an LOL dollhouse. I honestly think that purchase is one that she'll grow out of in about a year, but she's been asking for it since we lived in the Meadows and we had told her, "When we get into our big house..." Then we sold that house and it became, "When we move into our new Summerfield house..." so I think she just wanted us to follow through on our promise made two years ago! Josh spent from about 3:30-5:00 after her party ended putting it together in our living room. She also got two new LOL dolls. Here are some pictures!
Pioneer Day and Floating Warm Slough
On Pioneer Day, the city of St. Anthony always does a cute parade. My friend, Claire, just moved back from Arizona and so we invited her family to come along with us. They had never been to it before and their daughter, Annie, who is 8 said, "This parade is better than Rexburg's 4th of July parade because they throw more candy and there are better floats." This is very true! So we went to that parade in the morning and then in the afternoon once Caleb got done with work at Rexburg Rapids, we all went and floated Warm Slough, We did this a ton last summer, but surprisingly, this is the first time we've done it this year! It was a perfect evening for it. It was about 90 degrees, sunny, and no wind!
New House Lights
I also thought I should mention that we continue to do things for our house to get it where we want it to be! One thing we had done on our big house that we built in the country was we had kind of splurged and paid to have these nice, permanent Christmas lights installed. It was about $4800 on our other house, and I wasn't sure if I really wanted to spend the money again on this house. The other thing was that I felt like when we got it all done, I wasn't super happy with the way the white Christmas lights looked on our house. They had a really bright white fluorescent look to them instead of the nice glowy warm white of traditional Christmas lights. So I wasn't sure I even liked them enough to do again on this house. But we saw this house in the neighborhood that seemed to have some really nice warm white lights on one night, so we asked them which company they used and they gave us their number. (It was called High Country Lighting for future reference.) I got a hold of them and they sent someone out and we had them installed within a couple of weeks. It was about $3300 for this house, so a little cheaper. I LOVE the way they look and it has a nice, warm glow for the white lights. We did have a little hiccup the first night when we were trying to get the app working on Gabe's phone and they got "stuck" on this neon green color! All our neighbors were getting a kick out of that! Luckily, we were able to unplug it and plug it back in and it worked fine! Here is our neon green house and a picture of Gabe and Caleb in the driveway trying to figure out the app! Caleb looks taller than Gabe in this picture! I think it's the perspective that the photo was taken. I think they may be almost exactly the same height right now - about 6'1! They have both officially passed Josh (who is 6'0 at best. I think he may actually be even starting to shrink, to be honest.)
We continue to try and work on our yard and are hopefully getting the sprinkler lines pulled this week! Josh did the metal edging around the spots where we plan to do flower beds and the trampoline and a shed and everything. Next step is the sprinklers, then finally the sod! It will be soooo nice to have grass! I'm so sick of dirt! It is nice having the fence done though for Zeus!
Also, Avery and I went and saw the new Barbie movie on opening day. A little weird, but still okay!
Only 3.5 weeks until I have to be back to work, and I'm trying to cherish every second of sleeping in, having fun with Avery, keeping my house clean, and just getting things done that have been on my summer to-do list! I am NOT ready for school to start! :{ I LOVE summer!
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