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Midsummer Check-in

At first, I called this post, "Midsummer Dump," but I don't like where my mind goes with the word Dump. Life with teens, eh?

Anyway, it is a photo dump, as the kids say, but let's just call it a check-in instead.

So, checking in, how's your summer going? Around here, we're just starting to get tired of the daily humdrum. We have worked out a good incentive system for getting chores done and keeping engaged in good things, but it really is only working for Gavin. Of course, I get stuff done and work hard every day, but I am tired of using up my brain space and energy looking for ways to motivate the kids. Maybe they will get so bored that they'll self-motivate. I keep hoping. Until then, we're looking forward to next week's trip to California and Utah. When we get home, we'll have a few weeks to prepare ourselves for the daily school grind, which I'm dreading because I really don't want to fight Sean to school every day.

I was released as a seminary teacher, so my school day mornings will be different. I haven't yet decided where to focus the 20 hours or so a week I spent on that calling over the past four years. I do have another calling and, of course, there are always responsibilities that come up, but it's definitely going to be a shift.

Anyway, we started our summer with time in Utah. When we came home, we faced weeks of lots of rain and a few frustrating mower-in-the-mud incidents.


Brooklyn went to a couple of days of girls' camp (she stayed home sick for the first part). Sean went to young men's camp and FSY. Gavin and I had about one full day that was just us. We didn't do much except get candy, visit the bike park for 20 minutes between thunderstorms, and watch a lot of The Mandalorian.



Sean and his friends wanted something "different" with their hair for summer, so I helped them out with some highlights and haircuts.


We had a few families over for a Fourth of July swimming, barbecue, and fireworks celebration.






The boys painted Brooklyn's nails.





We always have lots of outdoor projects. The latest taking up a lot of time, and for which I don't have many pictures, is the basketball court.





That little screech owl was on a branch just over my shoulder while I was sitting by the fire pit, talking on the phone with Ricky.

Speaking of Ricky, I have a lot of cute pictures of him and his girl, Avery.



Sean had an endoscopy to, hopefully, help us get to the bottom of some of his stomach issues. We don't have results back from that, other than some small ulcers.



What else? Good snacks, hanging out, general summeriness.















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