July 2019

The month of July was a fun month full of all kinds of adventures. There were a lot of fun times and several crazy times. To start out the month, Brynlee had to get her tongue tie fixed. We went in to the same dentist that fixed Miriam's tongue and lip tie and they lasered Brynlee's tongue. Brynlee was pretty nervous about it. The day before the procedure was supposed to be done, Brynlee bit her tongue while jumping on the trampoline and she cried about that and that thing bled for over three hours. At that point I was a little concerned so when they called with a reminder about the appointment I asked if I should be concerned about her tongue bleeding for so long and they suggested I call her physician. Bryn's doctor office told me to take her to the Emergency room. As soon as I got to the ER they told me there was no way they would stitch her tongue but they were able to get us back to a semi private room pretty quickly where they gave us some gauze that Brynlee held on her cut with special medicine that helped her tongue to stop bleeding. By the time we got it tp stop it been bleeding pretty heavily for over four hours.  As soon as it was done bleeding we were able to head back to grandma's house to pick up the rest of the kids. I am so grateful I have family close by that is around to help me in moments like that. 

Brynlee's tongue was feeling better the next morning and all was just fine for her to get her tongue tie taken care of. The procedure went pretty smoothly and Brynlee was done in no time. On the way home she kept marveling at all the neat things her tongue could do now. I am surprised I never realized how restricted her tongue movement actually was.  

While I was with Brynlee and the baby my mom took all of the other girls to the carnival at the library. Brynlee said she didn't want to go to it but on the way home she told me she was feeling great and asked to go. They had bouncy houses, a baby owl the girls got to pet, the girls got their faces painted, and they got free popcorn. They all had a great time.

The day after our fun at the library was the fourth of July we all went out to Melba to visit with Jake and his family. Joel's brother Jake has been busily working on building his new house which means that Joel spends most of his Saturday's in Melba helping with the house. Brynlee tags along with him as much as she can so she can spend the day playing with her cousin Madison. They have a little pool set up outside so she spends a lot of time swimming in while she is over there. I took all the kids up there one day and they had a great time swimming the day away.

Brynlee had speech once a week during the month and had to spend time each day working on stretching her tongue to get rid of her tongue thrust. A lot of the things they had her do were super challenging but she worked hard and was pretty good about doing all of her exercises. She went to counseling a few times but her counselor had to cancel on us and rescheduled our appointment three times out of the four we were supposed to go. Most of the time we had to re work our schedule and go in on Fridays instead. Brynlee also got to have several friends over and she did all of her chores and earned a date night with her dad. They went to eat dinner at Panda Express and then went to the Rodeo together. It sounds like they had a super great time.

Annalyn also got to go on a date night with her dad. She chose to go eat dinner at McDonalds and then she went and rode bikes with her dad down the Kuna green belt. They also had a great time but they said it was hot so the roasted. I decided to get an early start on school shopping with all the girls so I had my mom watch the other kids while I took Annalyn and Miriam to the store to pick out all of the school supplies Annalyn would need for second grade. We went to McDonalds for lunch and we stopped by the pet store and looked at all of the pets. She has been longing for a pet for ages and we went and looked around and dreamed about the one she would get. Annalyn got to fullfill her dream of playing at a friend's house when her friend Reese's mom contacted me and set up a play date. We also had her over the next week and it was as fun as she had anticipated.

Kyla also got to play with some friends. I took her on a school shopping date so we could get her ready for kindergarten as well. Brynlee was devastated that she had to wait and since Kyla is super nice and compassionate she let Brynlee come and tag along on her trip. I tried to get Brynlee to wait for her own turn but she wouldn't do it and Kyla insisted she wanted Brynlee to come along. We bought all the supplies they would need and then headed to Panda Express for lunch. Kyla and Brynlee also both had to have their yearly doctor check-up so I did those together. They are both healthy and doing great. After the check-up I took them both and we got sno cones.

Summer also got to go on her date night with her dad this month. They went to the park, ate at Artic Circle, and then went to the dollar store to buy gum. She also made lots of messes and got into as many of her sister's things as she could find. She ate all their candy that they tried to save, ate their special chapstick that they wanted to use, and played in the soap and the hairspray in the bathroom leaving none for anyone else. She loves to make messes and hates to help clean them up.

Miriam got her first ear infection (It was in both ears and there was fluid leaking so the drum most likely ruptured) this month so I had to take her into the doctor. Luckily she loved the medicine she had to take and when I took her back in at the end of the month to check on it, the infection was totally gone. She spent a lot of time practicing how to walk and got super good at it. Now she is also walking all over the house and getting into stuff.

We went to book and a bite and to the library as much as we could for their activities and we had lots of fun. Kyla and Summer both won a prize at the library at their pancake breakfast. Kyla got some Wahooz tickets for mini golf and Summer got a giant sticker book. Summer also won a little stuffed Clifford on the last day of book and a bite. My mom and dad took the girls Kyla, Anna, and Brynlee to go and see the new Lion King movie. Summer almost got to go but then she got in trouble and had to miss it. The other girls had a lot of fun and enjoyed the movie. 

We went to the splash pad and to the park with friends a few times. My sister Heather took Brynlee and Kyla swimming with her and they had a fun time. We also went swimming a couple of times right after parenting class. We picked plums, played in the little pool outside, went to the store, and my sister Heather came over and helped me to organize my office. It looks so much better and is much more functional these days. My sister Alesha came over another day and we had a lot of fun spending time with her and baby Kyren.

Some of my favorite days this month were the simple ones spent with Joel making pancakes animals for all of us to eat, watching all of my girls play together, and watching them help out and be kind to each other. These kids may be crazy sometimes but I sure do love spending my days with them.

We ended the month of July with a pool party to celebrate my sister Alesha's birthday. The kids had a blast playing in the water, we ate good food, and a fun time was had by all.

Work Party and Ward Campout

Before our ward split several months ago, they had planned a ward camp out that our family had paid to attend. We were really looking forward to spending the day with several of our friends and neighbors. The girls also love going to Joel's work party every year so when the girls found out that their dad's work party was on the same night we were supposed to be out camping, they convinced Joel and I that we could make it work so that we could attend both events. We did our best to make that happen. The party started at 6 so we got there nice and early and the four older girls quickly got in the line to get their face painted. This year the party landed on the same night as the birthday of one of the main bosses for Joel's company so the entire theme of the party was based on all of her favorite things and was basically a giant surprise birthday party for her. Everyone who worked for the company even got a shirt with her name on it while everyone else was asked to wear white. 

After face painting we got some dinner, there was lots of great food, and then the kids played in a kids area that they had set up until it was time to go. The girls convinced us to let them go on a quick pony ride before we headed out to the mountains so we stayed and let them do that and then we left for our camping adventure. We had and hour and a half drive up to where we needed to camp and we still needed to set up our tent before it got dark. 

As soon as we made it up to our camp spot, we set up the tent and then the girls went for a walk and were super excited to say hi to some of their friends. They made sure we made popcorn over the fire that night and then it was late so we had to get ready for bed. A few of our kids were super tired and one of them had a major meltdown and cried for a long time before falling asleep but eventually they all fell asleep. It was still cold so most of our kids ended up snuggling on the double air mattress with dad. I had the baby with me on a twin air mattress. Miriam slept pretty well and was nice and warm all night and I think I slept a lot more comfortably than Joel did.

When we woke up it was still a little bit cold but it warmed up quickly. Joel had to help make breakfast and then I walked the kids over where we feasted on pancakes, sausage, and eggs. There was nowhere safe to set Miriam because I didn't want her to get too close to the fire. I had to hold her and that made it a little tricky to help all my kids get food. I had to recruit help from one of my friends that was there. She held Miriam and then I helped all my kids get their food. After that we took down our tent and went exploring. It was fun to be in the mountains and we all enjoyed the view. Our kids all tried to climb up a big mountain and then couldn't make their way down when they went off with their friends so Joel yelled at them and rescued them. Then we made sure they were well supervised while traipsing through the woods for the rest of the morning. The kids roasted marshmallows, played with friends, and had a super great time. No one wanted to leave but eventually it was time to go. On the way home we stopped at one of the local towns and picked up ice cream cones for everyone. It was a super fun weekend. 

Tie Dye and Horses

I have been working on my July post for a while now and it is becoming obvious that I have way to many picture for one post. I had over 90 and was having a hard time choosing which ones to keep. To make things easier I am going to make a few separate posts about some of the fun things that happened in July.

Brynlee got a Tie Dye kit for her birthday and she got a few white shirts to go with it. I went ahead and bought a few more shirts so all of the kids would have one and then we got the kit set up and the girls each got to decorate a shirt for family night one evening. We did Miriam's for her and it was a messy craft but a fun one. The girls could not wait to see how all of the shirts turned out. Brynlee made three of them and I think they all turned out pretty awesome.

My girls could not wait to put on their new shirts and wore them as soon as they were dry. Then they happily posed for some pictures outside. Once their dad got home we all headed to aunt Joanna's house. Summer convinced her to let us all ride horses again and she happily agreed and told her to bring us all over for a little ride. Tara and Telissa came out and helped us to lead some of the horses for the girls so we all went on a pretty long ride. I just walked and held Miriam at first because we only had three horses. None of the girls wanted to share after a short ride so Joanna saddled up another horse and then all four girls got to ride their own horse. Kyla's horse got spooked a little bit and scared her when one of the dogs jumped out of a corn field they were riding by. She was already a little nervous about riding so then she decided she would rather take a break and walk for a little bit. Joanna ended up getting on the horse and she took Miriam with her so Miriam could get a little horse ride. Miriam seemed to enjoy it. We walked a long ways and Kyla got tired and eventually rode the horse again. 

When we got back to Joanna's the girls helped brush the horses and the older girls went on a swing ride. It was a super fun day. Summer seemed to love riding the most and Kyla liked it the least but they all enjoyed it and had a lot of fun.