To Celebrate the last day of July

Because today was the last day of July

we took all of this

to make these

(originally found here)

And we dipped a lot of these

then did this with the leftovers ...

How can it be the end of July?
I had so many things I wanted to do in July!
I still have thank yous from May, and June to write.
I still have not posted about the kids last week of school and school starts in 3 weeks.
I still have our Disneyland day to blog about!!!
I have to focus on what I have done.

Jack-SURPRISE

Last night we had a surprise swimming party for Jack-
Jack is our second child. He is number 2 and our first son.
We are so glad he is a part of our family!

Jack's birthday is in December. Last year we canceled plans for a party because of the ice storm.
We wanted to surprise him, and let him know how much we care for him. This party was not about presents, it was just about having fun and celebrating Jack.

We got to the pool a little after 6:30 (the pool closes at 7, but we had reserved it until 9,) and the kids got right to swimming. As the friends started showing up, Jack would be excited to see them and then say hey what are you doing here. But he would keep right on swimming.

At 7 the lifeguard blew the whistle for everyone else to leave the pool and I went up to Jack and told him it was time for everyone to leave. Then I said, "But guess what - we don't have to."

Then Savanna and 2 of her friends came in singing with signs saying "Happy Un-birthday." Following behind were even more of his friends.

I then said "It's a surprise party just for you Jack."

He was so happy!

It was fun to have a "Just Because" party.
It was fun to stay at the pool in the evening until dark.

It was fun to watch the kids swim.

It was fun to celebrate Jack!

Jack, we think you are awesome.
You are wonderful and we appreciate so much your honesty about everything in life.
We know that you get lumped in between the other kids, a lot, but we know who you are.
We know what you like.
We know what you don't like.
We know the good things that you do.
We know about how patient you are with your siblings.
We know that you have a great mind.
We know about your incredible sensitivity.
We know about your goofiness.
We know that you have many talents.
We know that we are so glad you are our Jack!
Happy Un-birthday!

Deal of the day-Yesterday Free tacos at Taco Bell

Oh I love it when dinner is already planed out for me.
Love it when it means we are eating out.
Love it even more when its free!
So glad for yesterday's deal of the day.

They even let us go through the drive through. I picked up a few extra things, and fed 7 people for less than $8-and everyone was full.

Woohoo for deals of the day!

ALERT-Deal of the day-cheesecake facotry

Here is another great deal of the day-
in case you have not already heard.

The cheesecake factory will have their cheesecake for 1.50 a slice today.

You do have to dine in-so if you have lots of kids, it may not feel like such a great deal ...
hmmm I am trying to think of a way to get away tonight after everyone is in bed.
They are open until 11 pm ...

SPT-ice cream

she photographs on tuesday/self portrait tuesday

Here is the last "element of summer"
for the month of July
Ice cream

Our family loves ice cream, (doesn't everyone?)
and I buy it at least once a month for our traditional Rootbeer Floats on Fast Sunday.
My family had floats every Sunday growing up, so I brought that into our family, but changed it to one Sunday a month. (You know there are just sooo many treats to have and I just could not have floats hogging every sunday!)
We buy the big container at Sam's (it would be Costco if we had one) and I try and make it last as long as possible.
That is the one thing with ice cream- portion control. Everyone always thinks that somebody else got a bigger bowl, and someone wants a different bowl.
This last year my mom gave us these cute sundae cups.
They are perfect for our family. She did not know she was solving a problem, but she did!
Now everyone has the same size cup- and a nice size portion. (not soup bowl size portions!)
There are always the same amount of cups to clean up though-

Go here to see what others thought-

Deal of the day-for tomorrow!

Hey blog readers of OKC-
don't miss this
Get your free taco at Taco Bell!

And you don't even have to dress up to get your free taco!

Playlist of my life- monday

playlist of my life

john mayer -stop this train - we are driving away from Jay's parents
and feeling the very emotion of this song-

Get out- Savanna

Last night Savanna got to go see the Lyric theaters production of
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers-
Our Bishop and his wife invited Savanna to come and bring a friend.
She had a blast- Front Row seats!
It was fun for her to remember parts from when Jay got to play the part of Benjamin when we lived in Provo.
Thanks Baclawski's for showing Savanna such a great time!
(Jay and I were only a little jealous.)

Get out-farmers market

So after the much needed day of just being home yesterday, we thought we would go downtown to the farmers market.
This is where we thought we were going-
Notice how the sign says "Wednesday?"

The establishment that Jay works for, has what is supposed to be a great resource in finding out "where your going, why your going, when your going"with a very interesting name. (which I think is just silly)
I say SUPPOSED to be, because I used it to find where the farmers market was today. It said saturday.
And after driving- downtown- using our gas-we found out that it was wednesday. They forgot to put the right date on it. Not that big of a deal, except we used gas, and used up a little bit of our patience.

Never fear ... there is always more patience to tap into.

So with that patience we headed to the right place-
I used my patience as we walked around with the kids- I think we were all expecting something a little bit ... um, bigger.
So now we can say we have been to the OKC farmers market- and we will check out the downtown one on Wednesday, and see if that one is any ... um, bigger.

We did find some pretty flowers, and bought a bag of seeds to plant.
We did taste some yummy peach salsa and bought a jar.
And the kids each got to spend a $1 of rolled pennies to buy a pastry.

day home

Friday we had a much needed day at home to just be.
The kids did the normal routine of stuff we do everyday and then built a tent and read, rested, and played. Luke started to cry after Tucker woke up from his nap and said "I don't want to be done playing yet, I don't want to go to the pool."
I told him we were not going today and the relief spread across his face then throughout his whole body and he said "oh good-I just want to play."
They built a great place,
with different rooms-
and here is the best part-
all 4 of the kids enjoyed it.
After we ate dinner, and watched some video of our adventures this summer, the oldest 3 went to sleep in the tent.
Ahhh, I love summer.

Recycle!!

Yahoo-Thanks to my call and the calls of others,
I opened our utility bill and read this!
I have still been recycling, I have been putting everything into the separate bins in the garage and then taking it to my mom's.
I am excited to see what the city has come up with- and what I can do to help.

remembering ...

If I could go anywhere right now, I would pack up my family and go to the beach-
I am revisiting in my mind our adventures this summer, and I am a little bit "homesick" for our vacation.
What is that called?
Post vacation depression?
I am happy to have such fun memories to relive.
Never to early to start planning the next trip.

Get out-roman nose state park revisited

Monday we took a day trip to with Leslie and her girls, to the same place that we had spent the night in the teepees-
Roman Nose state park

We spent the day exploring up the creek, and back down ....

hiking up branch steps
checking out several mini waterfalls
enjoying natures air conditioning ... (it was 100 degrees today, and right here i did not feel it one bit!)

collecting "treasures"

hanging out and visiting

eating all the snacks out of Leslie's bag-
(somebody else's snacks are always more fun- no matter what they are!)

Nana turns 92

July 22- Nana's birthday
Today she turned 92- I think that I have been saying that she is 92 since Grandaddy passed away.
Not sure why.
She has not been feeling well, and has required a lot of care from my Mom, and her brother and his wife. (my aunt and uncle)
I went over by myself and took a chocolate cupcake (thank you Julie!) for her to blow out a candle with.
As I held the plate to keep it from shaking in her hands I had the strangest thought.
Who will be visiting me on my 92nd birthday?

Nana closed her eyes as she blew out the candle.
And I wondered about her past wishes that she had made as she blew out candles on cakes long gone.

Now her wishes must seem so different-
We visited about her plans. She is planning her funeral. She has a pretty good idea what she wants.
She wants me to sing. She also wants my children to sing.
Just typing that puts a lump in my throat.
She knows where she wants it to be held. After Grandaddy's funeral she felt such a connection with the director and his mother.

(the director handing nana grandaddy's flag-see how she is looking at him?)

When Nana contacted them to plan her funeral, she found out they had moved. And she did not know where to. Just recently she found out they had started their own independent full service funeral home. She was so pleased to talk with the owner. And to tell him that she was coming there.

So now she waits.
I think she wants to die, but is afraid at the same time.
Jay and I will be going over to talk with her about death, and dying. And to reassure her.
And to comfort her.
And in some ways prepare ourselves.

Happy Birthday Nana- Today I hope you can remember who came to visit you, and not who did not come by or call.
I hope that you keep hearing beautiful music in your dreams.