Hello! The summer is flying by; I cannot believe we are nearing the end of July. We have had another wonderful week, and also a week that has been sobering. Here are all the details.
On Monday, Richard didn't work until 3:00 pm, and it was
great to have him around for the first part of the day. I took Marshall
and Bridget to their eye appointment with our new eye doctor.
Marshall needed another bump in his prescription and got new contacts that day,
which he is very grateful for. :) For over a year now, we have
known that Bridget wound eventually end up in glasses, and the day has
come. She is not real thrilled with this, even though she knew it was
coming. We picked out a cute pair of frames for her though, they are
dark, and just fit perfectly with her dark features. She will only need
to wear them at school, movies, football games, etc. Her vision isn't bad
yet, but these will definitely make things easier when she finds herself in the
back of the classroom. I told her when she gets them we'll take a family
selfie with five out of six of us in glasses. :) Between mine and
Richard's genes, this was bound to happen! Now we just wait for
Gretchen. :) Anyway, our morning was clearly spent at the eye
doctor. We were able to have lunch together as a family, which was
wonderful. The girls started their last week of swim lessons for the
summer on Monday at 1:00. They have all progressed so much this summer
and it has been fun to see. Gretchen learned the elementary backstroke
this week and I die of cuteness overload when she is in the monkey
position. She is still quite tense on her back, and that is all reflected
in her little feet and ankles. It kills me. Rachel learned the side
stroke this week, and has it down great! Bridget rocked it this week, and
I don't think there will be a need for her to do swim lessons next
summer. I've told her I could see a future for her on swim team, but
for now, she is sticking with her goats and horses! After swim lessons,
Marshall and Bridget went to piano lessons. Right after piano, we went
straight to Cherry Hill and spent the next five hours there until it
closed. Marshall and Bridget each invited a friend (Johnny for Marshall
and Bridget for Claire) and those four big kids had a ball. I hardly saw
them! They just went from thing to thing and loved it. I hung with
Rachel and Gretchen, and the three of us had a great time. It was not crowded,
and we especially loved the lazy river because it was so open! We packed
a dinner and ate there, but other than that, we were all in the water. It
was the perfect way to spend a Monday evening. When we got home, Marshall
changed into dry clothes and went straight down to Johnny's for a late night
and Richard picked him up on his way home just before 11:00. The girls
were all exhausted and after showers, fell into bed. I kept my eyes open
long enough for Richard and Marshall to come home, it had been a great and full
day!
Tuesday was a non-stop day and it began at the farm at 7:00
am for Bridget, Cambria, and myself. :) We learned a critical
lesson that day...do not take a goat off the milking stand until she is 100%
done being milked, or it will be almost impossible to get her back on. Gah!
Things had been going so well for the girls, they even managed to get all the
eggs out from under a territorial turkey! Bridget was milking the last
goat, and I thought we were minutes away from leaving...wrong! Bridget
and Cambria decided to milk Ariel together, but in order to do that, they
needed to get her on the other milking stand. We all thought this was a
great idea, and did not think through any other possible outcome. Well,
Ariel taught us a lesson we will never forget! One hour and 15 minutes
later, we were finally finished. Oh my gosh, I wanted to shoot
something! It was nothing short of infuriating for me. The girls
were a lot more calm, and just kept trying to problem solve and problem.
solve. We tried everything, including milking her outside, with me
straddling her, and I bet you can picture how well that went. We finally
put her back in with the goats, left her alone for about 15 minutes while we
strained the milk, went back to her, and I said a silent prayer and we finally
got that goat back up on the SAME milking stand she had been on earlier, and
Bridget finished milking her. It was a lesson we needed to learn, I just
wish it didn't take so long to learn it! Bridget and I made it home just
after 11:00 am dripping in sweat and exhausted. I told my parents that
day that the farm is sucking the life out of me and my dad told me that's what
farms do. :) Marshall held down the fort at home for the morning
and Rachel helped Gretchen get ready for a playdate with Charlie and a preschool
friend, which Jessica was so kind to take her to since I was still stuck at the
farm! The rest of Tuesday afternoon was spent with swim lessons, a doctor
appointment for me, Bridget played at Cambria's house and Rachel had
dance. I made dinner for the family and then left with friends to see
"Where the Crawdads Sing". I think I wrote this last week, but
I finished the book last Wednesday, we had book club Friday and then ten of us
went to see the movie on Tuesday, and then talked about it all over
again! It is a gripping story, and while I would not put it in my top ten
of most favorite books ever, it is up there. Due to my crazy day, I did
something I have never done before, and got a coke at the movie. I have
only ever had sips of coke in my life of almost 40 years, but I did not want to
doze off for even one minute of that movie, so I went with coke and was
completely wired when I made it home that night. Richard was getting a
kick out of it! Haha!
Wednesday Richard was home again in the morning and early
afternoon. He got some things done around the house and we loved having
him here. That morning I took Marshall for a consult with the
orthodontist and this lucky kid will be sporting braces before the start of 8th
grade! He anticipates it will take about 18 months to get everything
where it needs to be, so he's in it for the long haul! We were able to
eat lunch all together again on Wednesday before I took the girls to swim
lessons. Bridget and Rachel worked on diving this week. Poor Rachel
pretty much only manages a belly flop! Bridget has had some great dives
though! Rachel hit a major milestone though and jumped off the diving
board without a floaty for the first time ever! Yay!!! That night
after dinner, Bridget worked at the farm and Marshall went to his YM
activity. Rachel and I cleaned out her closet. It was lovely.
:)
Thursday morning we were all home again-Richard's schedule
has been a little wacky this week. On Thursday he worked 12-8 at home,
and I am sure glad he was home. The girls had their last swim lesson that
afternoon and shortly after we got home, Bridget left to play with Avery and
Claire. A little before 3:00, Richard came downstairs and asked if I knew
what was happening outside. I had my headphones in, and aside from
Ziggy's barking, I hadn't realized anything unusual was happening. He
took me upstairs and we looked out the girls' bedroom windows which face the
street behind us, 1825 North. Between the houses we could see all sorts
of emergency vehicles as well as police walking up and down the street.
We could not tell at all what was going on, so we each went back to what we
were doing. A few minutes later my next door neighbor, Jessica, called to
tell me the Newman's house was on fire. The Newman's are an elderly
couple in our ward. I have talked to Bethany Newman a handful of times,
but not since Covid. Their health is poor, and they are also taking care
of her dad, who is living with them. Anyway, by the time Jessica called,
I could see smoke billowing into the air and I spent time on the phone with my
Aunt Margaret and my Mom who had called to check on us. Shortly after
getting off the phone with them I learned more of the story. Shortly after
2:30 pm, a 37 year old man broke into the Newman's home, assaulted them, poured
gasoline on one of them, tried to steal their vehicles and set their home on
fire. He is completely unknown to the Newmans. Fortunately,
the police and firefighters got the Newmans out of the home, and the suspect was
found in the home. The fire, though damaging another home or two, was
contained and did not spread to the hillside which is so close to our
house. It is a terrible, terrible tragedy. The Newman's home is a
complete loss. Everyone in our neighborhood is feeling like it could have
been their home. It seems completely random, and is completely
awful. After that, our entire Thursday felt completely rocked.
There were two different helicopters flying over our neighborhood, streets were
closed, our cul-de-sac became a hub-bub of cars, and we were all quite
rattled. Through all of that though, we managed to get Rachel off to
dance and Marshall to soccer practice. Once things were settled down, and
we were all home together about 8:15 pm, we all just sat outside together,
talked, tried to process, laugh some and just be together. Earlier that
afternoon, the kids had said they all wanted to sleep in our room that night,
but our time together really seemed to calm them all down. Everyone went
to sleep in their own beds and stayed there, which is a miracle.
On Friday morning I took Bridget on her date to
Lagoon. It was SO hot, we were there from 10:00-12:00, and I could not
believe how hot it was so early in the day. Bridget conquered her fear of
Jetstar, a roller coaster she has been gearing up to do for over a year.
She ended up loving it and has said she will happily go again with
friends. She and I had a great time together, and I have loved these Lagoon
dates last year and this year with my kids. We had a laid back afternoon,
which was really nice for me. Gretchen played at Harper's house and
Rachel had Eily over to play. Richard got home from work about 6:00, we
had dinner as a family, then Bridget was off to the farm and Richard and
Marshall left for the airport.
We have had a lovely Sunday. Church was fantastic with an outgoing missionary and a returning one both speaking. The girls have played all afternoon and I have napped and written this email. We ate dinner out on the deck and played card games together after dinner. Summer is slipping through my fingers, and I am not loving the idea of school looming in the near future. It has been such an incredible summer...we have four weeks left to keep playing!
Love,
Richard, Jenny, Marshall, Bridget, Rachel, and Gretchen :)
No comments:
Post a Comment