Black Eyes and Peas

Gotta love it when your kid comes home from school with a black eye. Shouldn't they call me if he gets beat up? Just kidding.  I guess one of his best friends (who is shorter than Bronson) accidentally stood up really fast and head-butted Bron.

On a totally unrelated note, my "farm" was sure starting to look amazing!  I have to share a few pictures of it in late august.

These first two pictures are not of my plot.  The lady with the plot right next to ours didn't plant vegetables.  She filled her whole space with dahlias!

These pictures don't to it justice at all!  It was such a pleasure to be next to her.  Dahlias are one of my favorite flowers!  I grow dozens in my own flower beds.  In the few times that she and I happened to be there at the same time, we bonded over our shared love and gave each other tips, etc.  

Just look at those beautiful tomatoes! We had such a  colorful and delicious combination of tomatoes this year.  And the fun part was that my two older boys really got into it with me!  They learned all the different names and they each had their favorites.  I loved to see them after church one Sunday giving tomatoes out to the elderly people in our ward who don't garden any more sayng, "This is an Old German, You'll love it." or "This one looks bad, but it's the best tasting.  It's a Black Krim so it just looks darker." We also loved the huge, pink Mortgage Lifters and we had a couple of the Campbell's DX variety.  Actually, they were only okay.  The heirlooms were so much tastier! 

We grew squash and mini pumpkins (and a few volunteer pole beans) up a fence panel.  They were lovely!

And we had about a dozen different pepper plants.  So great!  I don't think I got pictures of the bush beans (purple are my new faves!) and beets, but they were amazing as well.  Also, since the plots are close together, they asked us not to grow crops that could shade our neighbors, like corn or large sunflowers.  Since I was able to grow most of my other crops at the "farm" I had room in our home garden to plant lots of corn. And zucchini, peas, potatoes, and cucumbers. 

Here's a bucket of our cherry tomatoes.  The large ones were a volunteer plant, so I don't know what they are.  The little ones were Sweet 100's.  I grew to hate them over the summer.  The plant in too big, there's just too many of them, and the flavor isn't as great as other varieties.  The Sunsugars, on the other hand, are worth every effort.  They really are like candy.  

Celebrating Grandma Church

What a wonderful matriarch we have in our family!  Grandma Church turned 90 on August 28th and we held a family celebration in her honor. She has always been fun, youthful, stylish, thoughtful, organized, and supportive.  She is a wonderful example to me.

Megan Wahlquist made a fabulous video of the party.  The link is below:

https://www.facebook.com/katie.wahlquist/videos/2072864369403987/

The Great Room Shake Up

David had an enlightening conversation with a sibling early in the summer and he and I spent some time thinking about, praying about, and discussing it. Eventually, David and I came to the conclusion that (for several reasons) our children should all have the joy of sharing a room with their siblings. It would "build character" and teach them important life lessons, as well as protect them from some of the temptations that may come from hours of time in seclusion with electronics.

It was not an easy decision to make, and it was not well-received by the children.  Joshua and Bronson were already sharing a room, but we moved Quinton in with them.  They were easily persuaded that it would be fun - all we had to say was "bunkbed" and they were all-in.

The girls, on the other hand, weren't happy. At all. I don't blame them either.  They hadn't had to share a room since they lived in Idaho.  Plus, they'd have to consolidate a LOT of stuff into a smaller room. Not fun. We explained our feelings and reasoning behind the decision, but they weren't too convinced.  In the end, we basically had to say, "Well, too bad.  This is the way it's going to be." To soften the blow, we told them that we'd let them decorate their new room together.  I was thinking "paint, bedding, and a few new accessories." They were thinking new flooring, furniture, and lighting." In the end, we compromised.  Here are a few pictures of our updated rooms:

The boys' room is cabin themed. We painted the walls a nice tan color, got a new bunkbed and dresser, and cute matching bedding. I love the iron moose on the wall and the sign on their dresser that says, "Happy Campers."

We painted their old shelf red and bought some adorable accessories for it - we love the bear statue and the sign that says "Adventure." That's a bookshelf we already had, but a few accessories and a huge purge brought it back to life.

Since the girls would now be sharing a room, the boys inherited a desk from them.  We bought a lamp that looks like it's made of antlers and the cutest sign that shows the paw prints of several woodland creatures.  

The girls wanted a simple, clean, neutral room.  If the way they faught over decorating - from style to accessories to accent colors - is any indication of how they'll do together, we're in trouble.:)  One way we tried to utilize space was to purchase Ikea beds that have drawers underneath them.  We painted the walls gray, bought matching shelves for them, and bought that little faux fur rug (it needed to be that small because of the drawers). The bedding is the same for both girls - pretty gray quilts - but they each chose their own throw blankets and pillows.  

Nicole hung those fairy lights herself.  I love them.  

So the desk is already a bit messy (it gets used a lot - which is a good thing), but I wanted to show the darling canvas that we had printed - before we knew that the room would be gray. But still - so cute, right???

School Starts Too Soon!

Why does school always have to start again and ruin a perfectly good summer?!?!? Just when we're getting into the groove, school comes along and messes up everything!

The boys' school always starts super early - August 15th this year.

Bronson started 2nd grade this year.

Josh started 4th.  At his school, that's the oldest group in the elementary building.

Nicole was in 8th grade.

And Alison started 10th grade.  Can I really have a sophomore? 

Watching her walk into Davis High School was surreal. It reminded me of watching her go to kindergarten for the first time! 

Right as the boys and Nicki's schools were getting out for the day, we got hit by a HUGE hail storm.  I was waiting for Nicki in the parking lot, but I called her and told her to wait a minute before leaving the building. Other kids were not so lucky - it was sad (and I'm ashamed to admit, a teeny bit funny) to watch all the Jr. High kids running for their lives as they got pelted with grape-sized hail balls! It was crazy! It made for a pretty exciting first day of school.

Highlights From August

Here are a few of the things that kept us busy in August:

***************************************************************

Since the Beehives weren't allowed to go on Trek, our ward had a little Beehive camp of their own.

They went to one of their leader's cabins, but spent an afternoon doing a service project in old historic Chesterfield.

Looks like Nicole (looking at the camera) is super interested in whatever she is learning about.

She has some fabulous leaders and really close friends in that group. Aside from stepping on an ant hill at one point and getting covered in ants, she had a great time.

****************************************************************

Utopia fiber optics decided to run their lines throughout our neighborhood. The whole summer was one giant construction zone.  In August, they tore our yard apart in three different places. Kind of annoying. They were good about putting it back together though. Our boys loved bringing the workers drinks of lemonade every day. Alison had all kinds of theories about it being an evil conspiracy to pipe poison gas throughout the city - no one ever asked to check their credentials, etc.....

*******************************************************************

My parents took the girls and I to a BYU Vocal Point concert.  As you can see, we were practically on the front row!

Krstin and McKenna came too!  Look at that guy behind us!

Boy! Vocal Point is impressive! They were amazing!

We got there plenty early :)

**********************************************************************

I planted the most lovely dahlias in my flower beds this year!  They brought me joy every single day!

*********************************************************************

The seven of us hit the rodeo at the county fair. Yee haw!

***********************************************************************

Soccer season began again. This time, Quinton was old enough to play! Being  giant, and spending lots of time playing with the neighborhood gang, he dominated!  It was almost unfair! But it was a good thing he could play, or we'd never see a single goal! Watching 3 and 4 year old players on a soccer field is the best thing ever! I love their middle-of-the-game somersault exhibitions, his teammate asking the coach "Can I go play on the toys?," and how the kids spend more time tripping over a ball that reaches to their kneecaps than they do kicking it. I missed Quinton's game one Saturday because I was at another kid's game, but he told me all about it afterwards: "Mom! I scored 6 goals! I am super good at basketball!"

Gee Family Reunion

2018 was a special year for the Gee family.  It was the 50th anniversary of Grandma and Grandpa getting married.  They wanted to celebrate with their family.  Originally, we wanted to go on a special trip with just the adults, but the logistics and the finances were too tricky for some of us (ahem...can you say appendectomy?)  What we ended up doing instead is spending several days in the world's coolest cabin in Island Park!  Almost everyone was there.  Sadly, David was not.  One of his co-workers had a baby and he had to stay and cover for her.  So it was just me, the kiddos, and lots of cousins.

Now, prepare yourself for picture overload!!!

I cannot fully express how amazing the cabin was!  Quinton is standing in front of the huge fireplace and TV where we met for most of our formal gatherings. 

Check out this huge, beautiful, fully-equipped gourmet kitchen! It was like HEAVEN to me!  Sue and Kristi did a TON of work planning and shopping for food, but each family was in charge of at least one meal.

Here is a view of the layout.  Above the kitchen was a huge play area with an air hockey table, a built-in two-story play house, a slide, and an indoor zipline.  Along the outer edge of the room were bedrooms and a theater room.

Another view of the great room.  Two full-sized dining room tables (in addition to the stools on the kitchen counter) and a shuffleboard table. There was also room for a ping pong table, which we pulled out of one of the many closets. And that closet in the back of the room is FILLED with board games.

Abbey, Alison and I don't know who else walking through part of the property.  There was a zip line out here as well.  Bronson broke it.  Or rather, Bronson happened to be the unlucky soul who was on it when it broke.  Poor kid. 

Oh hey, I think I see the zipline in this picture.  Hard to tell.  All I know is, until the moment it broke, that thing was running from sun up to sun down.  I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did.

Everyone just doin' their own thing for  minute.

A huge gazebo firepit.

With a bunch of swinging benches all around it.

At one point, the kids and I went into "town" (aka Ashton) to pick up some groceries for our cooking assignment.  We stopped and got a shake at the Frostop!

One night, there was an epic game of Lightning.  

Nicole was kind of the star!

So everyone ganged up on her and got her out.  

A couple of pictures of just relaxing one afternoon.

I'm not sure that's a very restful massage!

One of our evening devotionals.

Singing songs at the gazebo campfire.

More singing.

This is the room I shared with my boys and Andrew.  It had 8 beds in it!  Two of them were doubles, so it could sleep 10 people if needed! And that was only one room!  All in all, I think the cabin could easily sleep 50 people or more.  The teenaged girls all slept in a little old cabin on the property.  They thought that was pretty fun. 

One of the many meals we ate.  I'm telling you - it was a massive feat for the planners (of which I was not one) to organize and shop for that many people!  I am truly impressed and grateful! 

Board games!

One day, we held a talent show. Clearly, these two were the best!!!

Nathan's Family

Look at all those darling granddaughters!  

The Andersons' talent.

Kory and Terry

Sue was awesome and creepy at the same time. She did a duet - with herself!

Grandpa and some grandkids sang.

A big group dance!

Even just being the super chill, fun to be around, easy going guy that he is.

That's the playhouse I was telling you about earlier.

And this air hockey table was always busy!

Blurry, but what do you expect? It's a zip line!

The view from the second floor.  

There is a small third floor that is nothing but these mining tunnels for kid to play in.  An adult can't even stand up straight up there - its just a play land for the kids!

The view from the third floor.  I wonder who Nicki is playing against.  And I wonder if she's winning.

I wish I took pictures of more of the activities we did.  We went rafting/kayaking down the river, hiked, watched home movies together, had picnics, and just had a ton of fun! I really truly wish we could do it every year!  With David next time!