June in the Leake Home

 Hello!

Holy smokes, June literally flew by.  Heck, this whole year is flying by.  I honestly cannot believe we are in the second half of the year.  Summer is slipping through our fingers, but I would definitely say we are living it up.  Here are some highlights...

June was full of just a lot of good old summer fun.  We now have two hammocks on our deck, and we have all been spending loads of time out there.  In early June, we had some cooler weather days, and all the kids spent time out there lounging, doing homework (Bridget is doing Fit for Life online this summer), and reading.  Now that it is hot, hot, hot, we pretty much just occupy those hammocks in the evenings, but it sure has been lovely.  Even Ziggy has gotten brave enough to hop in and join whoever is lounging.  Gretchen and I went on our summer date (mini golf at Cherry Hill and ice cream from the Kaysville Creamery) and Richard and Gretchen did their summer date (Gretchen is packing it in-haha!)  They went to see the Lilo and Stitch movie (Gretchen's 2nd time) and to Target.  :)  There has been lots of swimming at Cherry Hill and the rec center.  Gretchen has three weeks of swim lessons under her belt now, and the progress she has made since last summer is HUGE!  It has been so fun to watch her.  She finally has some awesome coordination between her arms and legs and is crushing it.  All of the kids have had loads of friend time, both at our house and out and about.  Gretchen and her friends have done oodles of chalk art, and that has been fun to see all over our driveway and front steps. 

We kicked off June with the Logan goat show.  This is both a high point and a low point of the month.  Two days before we left for Logan, I got a call from Heather Healy, one of the Garlick's daughters.  I knew as soon as my phone started ringing and saw her name pop up, it was not good!  She never calls me, only texts.  Sadly, I was correct in my assumption.  Mags, the goat the Bridget was planning to use for showmanship, and who she had been working with for months, passed away that morning.  The Garlicks went out to do morning chores and noticed Mags was acting strange.  They kept a close eye on her and quickly identified pneumonia.  Heather told me pneumonia can come on so fast in goats and is so hard to get ahead of it.  They gave her all the medication they had on hand and did their very best, but sadly, she passed away.  Oh, this was so sad to tell Bridget.  It was completely crushing for her.  When I tell you she cried for hours that day, that is not an exaggeration.  She loves these goats SO much and had put so much work into Mags and had the highest of hopes for both of them at the Logan show.  Our sweet Tinies.  In true Bridget fashion, she mourned her loss, but rallied and made the best of a hard situation.  The Garlicks did assign her a new goat and she spent about an hour working with that one before Logan.  So, that was the sad part, but the rest was good!

I took all three girls up to Logan on a Thursday afternoon and we met the Teerlinks at the hotel.  We had a quick dinner of pizza and then the kids jumped in the pool and swam for three hours!  It was great!  Melanie and I got to talk almost completely uninterrupted and those kids swam their little hearts out.  After showers and card games, we hit the sack and slept great.  Bridget and Cambria had to be up early on Friday, but the rest of us got to relax and chill at the hotel until 11:00-it was glorious!  When we got to the fairgrounds, Bridget was in good spirits and was ready for showmanship.  She did a great job, despite the less than favorable circumstances without Mags.  Bridget placed 4th out of 14-not what she was hoping for, but all things considered, a great job!  The rest of the afternoon was super fun as we got to watch Bridget wrangle a wild JitterBug in the show ring.  It was honestly hilarious, but she always did such a good job keeping her cool and problem solving as needed, including JiterBug coming out of her collar!  Despite the day not being what Bridget wanted, she still had so much fun!  She played and laughed and cheered others on and still had a great time.  Another fun thing is Gretchen participated in the Pee-Wee show.  Bridget was able to go into the ring with her and help her and Gretchen did a great job.  She told the judge the name and breed of the goat and it was honestly just the sweetest thing for me to watch Bridget and Gretchen in there together.  Another huge highlight for me is the goat show ended before 6:00 pm!  I was on Cloud 9 to be driving home in daylight!  Last year, this show ended at 10:45 pm and that was completely miserable!  

The day after the Logan goat show was my Mom's annual tea party!  It was a hit, as always.  Jeeves took care of all of us, we each made bouquets for someone we wanted to spread some sunshine to, and really just had the best time being together.  We missed Stacie who was out of town, and last minute, we missed Rachel.  She was all ready and in the car and just before we left, told me she didn't feel well enough to go.  Poor girl.  So, I sent her back inside and she slept for over three hours!  Sweet Bridget made Rachel a bouquet.  Bridget is the best sister.  

Next on our summer docket was Bridget and Cambria's week in Vernal.  They spent Monday through Saturday there and had the BEST time.  They rode horses, did a trail ride, played games, went to the rec center, watched Heartland, ate great food, stayed up late and slept in even later.  Haha!  They also went to the rodeo and watched some pretty crazy things there.  And Bob made some poles for them to use as an obstacle course for the horses.  Bob and Becky were so good to them.  We are so grateful for the generosity in helping to provide this experience, literally one of the biggest highlights of Bridget's year, every year since 2020!  

The next week brought a trip to Philadelphia for Richard and Marshall to see Manchester City play in the Club World Cup.  They left on a Tuesday morning and got home late Thursday night, so it was a quick trip, but a fun one!  They spent time walking around and seeing the city, including the temple and the Liberty Bell.  They were able to get tickets to Independence Hall and both very much enjoyed that tour.  They also did a run through the city and Marshall ran up the iconic steps in the Rocky movie.  Haha!  And of course they loved the soccer game.  They had great seats and were able to cheer Man City on to victory!  Marshall loved every single second of the trip and Richard really enjoyed his time with him.  

While the boys were gone, us girls had fun at home.  Well, Rachel was hardly home, but she still had a blast that week.  That was her final week of dance rehearsals before nationals.  She had rehearsals Monday through Wednesday and then Thursday through Saturday was boot camp, which was six hours a day of equal parts lots of hard work and also lots of fun.  Rachel's cadet nickname was Cadet Rocky and she was in the Brittany Spears platoon.  Haha!  Her platoon met up one night to create their flag and she had so much fun doing that.  And would you believe it, we were able to completely pull off two different Brittany Spears costumes for her using what we had at home-haha!  Rachel came home happy and tired after each of these days.  And to top it all off, her platoon came in first place at the end of boot camp.  :)  On Saturday evening of that week, they had their Nationals Showcase at Weber State.  They performed every single team dance and solo that they would be competing at nationals.  Richard, Gretchen and I went to support, as well as Kevin and Audrey.  Kevin and Audrey were so kind and sat through over 2 1/2 hours of dance and stayed until the end so they could talk to Rachel and give her a big hug.  Bless them!  

Other highlights of that week included, a girls movie night watching Penelope. And the girls had a sleepover in the family room, even though Bridget eventually chose her bed.  I also took Gretchen and Bridget to the aquarium.  I think we made the mistake of going on Juneteenth and that place was packed, it was bananas.  So, I did what any rational person would do and bought an annual pass in hopes that next time we go, it will be calmer.  :)  We did manage some fun though.  The penguins, of course, were a hit.  They are so delightful to watch.  Bridget touched a few sea creatures and we also loved the otters.  We also snuck in baptisms at the Bountiful Temple with the oldest 3 kids, then picked up Gretchen and went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse.  That was a lovely evening.  

The next week brought a road trip to Las Vegas for Rachel, Gretchen and me for Encore Dance Nationals.  We left on Monday the 23rd and got home on the 28th.  We drove down that Monday and we took another dancer on Rachel's team and her mom with us.  We stayed at the M Resort and Casino, the same place the dance competition was at.  It was nice to stay there and be in the same place as the dancing.  We were about 12 miles from the strip, which was nice, but we were also in the middle of nowhere too.  Ha!  Literally nothing within walking distance.  The girls were enamored by our room, and I will admit, it was nice!  The three of us shared one king bed, but our room was huge, and we had a great view of the pool and of the strip way in the distance.  The bathroom was also huge and the air conditioning worked great-haha!  Tuesday Rachel competed one dance, did one master class, and then the rest of the day was spent swimming, relaxing and playing.  Wednesday was a super early morning for us, with a call time of 7:00 am.  Rachel competed four dances throughout that morning and her team did great.  Between all five of her dances, they placed 1st, 6th, 7th, 12th, and 13th throughout all the different categories and age divisions.  Gretchen completely lucked out that morning and 1) got to sleep in 2) only had to sit through one dance and 3) literally spent five hours at the pool with Caroline and her family.  :)  After all the dance stuff was done, we did more swimming, another master class, a huge dinner with all the dance studio people at Bucca di Beppo, and then Rachel and all her dance friends went to the silent disco party.  To say we fell into bed that night completely exhausted would be an understatement!  Thankfully, we all got to sleep in on Thursday and we took full advantage.  Thursday was our completely free day, so after a lazy morning, we finally made it out of the hotel shortly after 11:00 am with Sara and Meri.  We went to see Seven Magic Mountains, shopped at the outlets, had lunch at The Cheesecake Factory (introduced Gretchen to cookies and cream cheesecake and she loved it) shopped some more, saw the Princess Diana exhibit on the strip, and dragged the exhausted children through the heat to the Bellagio Fountains!  It was a day!  We got back to our hotel room about 7:00 pm and vegged the rest of the night before falling asleep!  Friday was a big rehearsal for Rachel and other Project Move dancers because 3 Project Move dances had been selected to perform in the gala.  This was a HUGE deal.  Out of the literal hundreds of dances the judges had seen that week, they picked 53 to perform/compete again in the gala.  Night Running (one that Rachel was in) was selected.  So our Friday was dictated by all that was required by that:  rehearsal, parent meeting, pizza party, getting performance ready, etc.  Gretchen and I did squeeze in some swimming time that morning though, so that was fun.  The gala that night was a complete bust.  It lasted almost SIX hours.  SIX hours!  Gretchen and I sat through the first five dances and then we left because for a variety of reasons it was miserable!  We did go back in to watch Rachel and the other dances from our studio, but other than that, we stuck to friends and relaxing in the room.  It was bananas!  We all fell into bed at midnight and then dragged ourselves out of bed the next morning to drive home.  What a week!  Overall, it was a super amazing week.  It was so fun to have all that time with Rachel and Gretchen.  Rachel danced really well and had loads of fun with dance friends and I had a great time with all the moms!  The three of us shared a king bed, and after getting through the first night, I quite enjoyed sleeping in the middle and having those two girls basically on top of me all night.  :)  

Cross country just barely started on June 25th for Marshall AND Bridget!  Marshall, being the saintly brother that he is, has begrudgingly agreed to be the driver for Bridget and Cambria!  Haha!  From all reports, both the driving and the running are going well.  A week ago the team ran up to the V for practice, which is all uphill and super hard.  Very proud of both kids.  Also, love that after two summers of cross country driving in the early morning hours, Marshall can drive!!!  Hooray!

And speaking of Bridget, she just wrapped up a week at FSY!  I drove Bridget and Cambria down to FSY on Monday morning and got them all settled into their dorm-Helaman Halls in Budge Hall!  I lived in Helaman Halls my freshman year and I am quite certain I have not set foot in those buildings since.  Budge Hall, when I was there, was a boys dorm, and I am guessing it still is because there were urinals in the bathrooms-haha!  After I helped the girls get settled, I gave them both hugs and left.  When I shut the door to their little room, I was overcome with emotion that I was not at all expecting!  Gosh, my heart just about fell out of my chest.  Later in the week, Richard reminded me that Bridget will have graduated from high school in just four short years and I cannot even believe it.  So, while I was slightly emotional at home, Bridget was having the time of her life and only texted me when she needed more money!  Ha!  She came home this morning and showed us a BYU hat she bought at the bookstore.  Richard's reaction was hilarious.  Never in our lives have we seen a reaction from him like that to something like this...turns out Richard has had his eye on that brand of hat for some time, but had not purchased one yet.  He complemented Bridget on her exceptional taste while the rest of us were still laughing.  Okay, back to FSY, we have not gotten the full report from Bridget yet, but what we have heard has been great.  She loved all the girls in her group, and they have been texting each other all weekend.  She got a tour of the MTC and really enjoyed that and hearing from President Lund while they were there.  They got a decent view of the Stadium of Fire fireworks.  So all good things!  Can't wait to hear more.  

And lastly, Richard has a new calling!  He is the second counselor in the new Elder's Quorum Presidency.  He has only had an EQ calling once before, and that was during our last year in Wisconsin, so that was years ago now.  He really, really likes the men he is serving with and is happy to serve with them, and is getting more comfortable with the thought of being pushed outside of his clerk comfort zone.  :)  But he is actually still the clerk!  Haha!  The last two Sundays we have had people from the stake in our sacrament meeting, and so both days Richard has been bracing himself, but nothing yet!  Haha!  He will gladly hold onto that calling for as long as it is needed, for it is his favorite. :)

Okay, I do believe that is all.  We have hit the half-way point in our summer.  So bananas.  Time flies when you are having fun!

Much love,

Richard, Jenny, Marshall, Bridget, Rachel and Gretchen :)

May in the Leake Home

 Hello!

Well, we survived May!  It was quite the month, as May seems to be.  We've had highs and lows and everything in between.  Here are some highlights, with maybe a few lowlights thrown in!

A major highlight was Richard and I celebrated our 20th anniversary!  Twenty years!  It blows my mind!  It wasn't until the day before our anniversary that 20 years really settled in on me.  I kept wondering how on earth I was old enough to have been married for 20 years!  I can recount so much about the last two decades in detail, I honestly cannot believe I am old enough to experience such a milestone!

Obviously, our big celebration for our 20th was Paris back in February, but we still managed a good time here at home.  The Saturday before our anniversary, we snuck away and went to Timbermine Steakhouse in Ogden for dinner.  Neither of us had been there before and it did not disappoint in the least!  The drive was lovely and dinner was exceptional.  The way their booths are set up, it almost feels like a private dining experience.  We both got the filet and it was amazing.  And for dessert we shared a slice of apple pie and ice cream-it was divine.  All in all, we had a great evening together.  I told Richard, we probably haven't talked that long without interruption since Paris!  It was much needed.  I am very thankful for Richard.  He is often the calm and steady in our chaotic household.  He works so hard for us, and comes home and keeps working hard.  Running kids here and there, helping with homework, solving all sorts of problems, doing dishes, and so much more.  He is a loving, involved, and supportive father, and all of those things as a husband too.  

On the day of our actual anniversary, Richard had an early morning appointment with an oral surgeon, we both took naps later in the morning (Are we getting old?!  Or just parents to teenagers?!  Or both?!)  Haha!  Anyway, that afternoon we walked the dog, went to Bridget's last track meet, and did dance carpools for Rachel and Gretchen.  For dinner that night, we went to the Mandarin and took Marshall and Bridget along with us!  It was a fun evening with those two and they gobbled up that food!  We ended the evening by shoveling the compost I had delivered two or three weeks earlier into buckets!  Haha!  Real life right there.  That is what 20 years of marriage looks like.  Luckily, we had the help of our darling neighbor boys, Charlie and Nolan who were actually beyond helpful-it went so quick!  Happy 20 years to us!

Dance has also consumed our month of May.  Gretchen had two in class ballet recitals and Rachel had her in class tumbling recital.  Gretchen is a completely darling little ballerina.  She has the longest legs and the most beautiful pointed toes.  It was fun to see her dance in two classes, with two different teachers with two completely different teachings styles, and she did well in both.  Rachel FINALLY has her front walkover.  She has been on a tumbling plateau for a year now, and I know she is frustrated, but I am super proud of her for going to class every week and being brave enough to try any of this stuff!  Her teacher, and her sister (who has also taught Rachel) reminded her its all in her head at this point and they literally hardly touch her for her ariel.  Anyway, she will get there, and I am proud of her regardless!  Both girls also had their last dance recital of the dance season.  Gretchen performed both of her competition dances and Rachel performed just three of her competition routines, plus her team's ballet piece they learned for the recital.  Both girls did an awesome job!  They got a real treat by having all four of their grandparents in the audience.  I don't think that has ever happened before and we sure are grateful that all four of them took substantial time out of their Saturday afternoon to come support these little dancers.  After all of that was done, we jumped right into tryouts.  This coincided with the last week of school, and I really wish it hadn't.  It literally sucked all the fun out of the last week of school, especially for me and Rachel!  Rachel had tryouts Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and Gretchen Tuesday and Wednesday.  These were super long days for both girls, so I checked both of them out early from school Tuesday and Wednesday!  It was just bananas.  Rachel's experience, in particular, has been very emotional and we have run the gamut of all these emotions with her.  Because Rachel is competing at nationals the end of June, she, along with all other nationals dancers, don't find out their new team until June 30th and this waiting is killing us.  Thankfully, cute Gretchen found out about her team just two days after tryouts and is over the moon to be on Mini Elite.  She has a couple of friends on this new team from her previous team and she is very happy.  I think it will be a good fit for her and it has been fun to observe her excitement.  Now here's hoping Rachel and I can make it through June, but I also know we are not alone in this ridiculous waiting game rife with worry and stress...and some tears!  The dance world is something else.  

Music was also big for us in May.  Gretchen had her last Let's Play Music recital!  She has been doing this program for three years, and she was also ready to be done!  Haha!  This third year was a rough one for her.  She did so great practicing with Grandma Becky after I broke my ankle and was living with my parents, and she continued to do well once I moved back home and our lives settled down.  But, she kind of took a nose-dive in January and we have literally been crawling to the finish line.  But!  She still learned great things and she played her composition so well.  Miss Sarah and I pretty much wrote her composition, but she learned it and played it great.  :)  Much to her dismay, she is starting piano lessons next week!  But, I do think it will be good.  She is taking from Jill Gubler and the three of us met together and figured out what level of books to start her in and I think it will be a good fit!  Bridget and Rachel had their last piano recitals as well.  Yep, last is right.  With Bridget starting cross country with the high school this summer, and knowing that she won't be home until after 5:00, we decided she could be done with piano.  And with Rachel insanely busy with dance, she probably should have quit last year!  So it was the last piano recital for those two.  They had their pieces memorized and played flawlessly and beautifully.  My Uncle Steve was able to come to their recital and Jill had him play at the end and he completely amazed everyone by playing Malaguena.  I got almost the whole thing on video, and I am so glad I did.  It was a real treat for everyone here.  And speaking of lasts, Marshall had his last band concert.  After four years of playing the clarinet in band, he has decided to be done.  I think it has made Richard a little bit sad, but Marshall has grand plans for his junior year and that does not include band.  Thankfully, Bridget is sticking with band for her 9th grade year and is super excited about it.  She also had a band concert in May, and jazz band, in particular, rocked it.  This coming school year, the junior high band teacher has decided to have two jazz bands and require auditions.  Bridget was so excited to find out she made the advanced jazz band and is 2nd trumpet.  We are happy for her!  

Track meets!  Marshall and Bridget both ended their track seasons on highs.  Bridget qualified for the South End track meet, each school can only take the top five runners in each event, and Bridget made the cut.  We are so proud of her and happy that she got this experience as an 8th grader.  The meet was on our anniversary and Richard had the day off, so we were both able to be there to cheer her on.  She didn't qualify for the district meet, but that is okay!  She is so brave with the hurdles and she just really loves it.  She is strong and mighty!  Marshall finally broke through the five minute mile getting a 4:57 PR in early May, second to last meet of his season.  Neither Richard or I were at this meet, but we gave him huge congratulations that night!  So, so proud of that boy!  My parents and I were able to be at his last meet.  No PR's that day, but it was windy, very windy!  The last few meets of his season he was able to run the 400, 800, 1600 and 4x800.  Glad his coaches pushed him into some other events and gave him those experiences.  He did have some great breakthroughs with his 800 times too.  Last week he also ran at Woods Cross in the Night of the 5000s.  So, running a 5K around the track.  He let Richard sign him up, but he was not overly thrilled about it, but he ended up having a great time!  His heat was paced by Clayton Young (BYU graduate and Olympian).  He ran the first two miles with them and then let the boys do the last mile-plus on their own.  Marshall ended up taking second in his heat and set a new PR for his 5K time.  He won a legit backpack and hat and got to meet and get pictures with Clayton Young and Kenneth Rooks, also a BYU runner and Olympian.  He came home super happy that night and we are so glad he got that opportunity forced on him by his parents and coach.  :)

The last week of school was insanity, and some of us had more fun than others!  Marshall had his last official day of school on Monday the 19th, then the next day was an assembly and yearbooks and then he was pretty much done!  Haha!  No need to go back.  He majorly lived it up with friends that week, and has pretty much continued that trend into our first week of summer.  Two funny things...the Saturday before Memorial Day, that evening Marshall told us he didn't have any plans so Richard asked him if he wanted to go see the new Mission Impossible movie with him.  Marshall said yes, so Richard sat down right there and then and bought tickets for the 9:00 pm show...this was at about 7:30 pm.  No sooner had Richard finished the purchase, Marshall's phone rang and his friends were like, "Marshall, where are you?!  We are waiting for you!"  Marshall's response..."I didn't know if we were actually hanging out..."  Needless to say, within five minutes Marshall was out the door and Richard was texting his own friends to find someone for Marshall's ticket.  Thankfully, it all worked out.  Marshall had a blast with his friends and Richard went to the movie with our neighbor, Justin, and they both loved it.  Second, just a couple of days ago, Marshall got off the couch at 9:50 pm and said he was leaving to hang out with friends.  9:50!  The life of a carefree teenager.  Enjoy it while it lasts kid!  All of this social time does make me so happy for him though.  Friendships have not always come easy to cute Marshall, and thanks to cross country, he has a great group of friends and they have really made this sophomore year for him.  And sometimes we are lucky and get to have all of them over here, or they will just randomly show up.  A pile of shoes by our front door from my kids' friends always makes me so happy.  

Bridget also had a great last week of school.  She had classes on the 19th, spent the 20th at Rush Funplex, and then the 21st was their assembly and yearbook day.  Bridget and Cambria spent loads of time together that week.  Pretty much inseparable.  They had a sleepover that Friday night and slept out in Cambria's yard in a tent!

The elementary school was party after party that week, especially for Rachel.  On Monday the 19th, she had her 6th grade graduation and DARE graduation.  By complete luck, Richard had that day off and he was able to come!  This is significant, because we are both pretty sure that in our 12 years of having kids in public school, this was only the second event during the school day he has been able to attend for any of our kids.  The first was Rachel's kindergarten graduation, and now her 6th grade graduation.  :)  Anyway, it was a fun morning and Rachel and her friends are darling.  Tuesday was field day that I helped with all day.  I claimed my spot at face painting and stuck there all day!  I completely surprised myself and got talked into painting Stitch and pulled it off!  I painted so many Stitch faces that day!  Also, so many boys and girls names with hearts surrounding the names-young love...it is hilarious!  Gretchen also made many visits to me at the face painting booth and it was fun to see her so much that morning.  During field day, Rachel and the 6th graders go to go swim at the Farmington Pool.  She had a great time!  The last day of school for Rachel and Gretchen was the 22nd.  They had an assembly and signed yearbooks and just played and played.  Oh, that morning Rachel and I had her Student Council breakfast.  Rachel loved being on student council this year, especially with so many of her friends.  She got to help with the school store, kick-off assemblies, help with service projects, and just spend time with really great people.  It was such a good experience for her.  Anyway, back to the end of the school day...I had Bridget come with me to pick up the girls because Mrs. Williams, Gretchen's teacher was retiring and she taught all of our girls!  Mrs. Williams kids threw her a surprise retirement party on Monday evening, but only Gretchen and I had been able to go, and I wanted all my girls to see her and say thank you!  We were able to flag Mrs. Williams down on the blacktop after school and give her a gift and tell her thank you for all her years of exceptional teaching.  She has been so good with each of our girls and I am very thankful for her.  After school, Rachel went straight to the 6th grade party at Freedom Hills Park.  They played, did water games, ate, and just had oodles of fun celebrating the conclusion of their elementary school experience.  Gretchen went to Caroline's house for their traditional ice cream party and she had a blast.  I am not a fun mom on the last day of school, but I wholeheartedly applaud all the moms who are and will happily get my kids to wherever the fun is!  

We had a really, really great four-day weekend after school was out.  Richard, miraculously had all those days off and we capitalized on them for sure.  Friday morning Rachel and I did have to fulfill one more student council obligation.  We helped with a car wash for the elementary school teachers that morning.  The kids were awesome helpers and all the teachers who were brave enough to leave their car in the hands of newly graduated 6th graders were rewarded with fairly clean cars!  Ha!  That afternoon, we all got cleaned up and met Danny and family at the Syracuse Temple for the open house.  That is one stunning temple.  The stained glass is absolutely incredible and featured so prominently.  It is the focus of the chapel and literally took my breath away.  I am so glad we were able to walk through that beautiful building.  After that, we fulfilled Gretchen's months-long dream and grabbed an early dinner from Burger Bar.  We then took our food to a park close by and ate with Danny's family and the kids were able to play.  As always, we loved our time with Danny's family and the kids could have played for hours more, but most of our kids needed to be home around 6:00 for social obligations.  :)  Marshall went to a pool party, Bridget baby-sat for a family in our neighborhood, Rachel went to a party, and Gretchen was stuck at home with her parents.  :)  

Saturday we declared a deck clean-up day, and the three oldest kids were awesome and gave us loads of help!  Gretchen was another story, but oh well, we got it done!  We didn't do anything with our deck last year, which was dumb because we really could have used that space, but I think the overwhelm from the remodel got the better of us.  But the five of us really pulled together that day and we have turned it into an amazing space!  Marshall power-washed the entire deck, the girls and I cleaned all the furniture, and Richard, bless him, spent six hours changing out a light fixture!  We have since added two hammocks and are in the process of hanging more string lights.  We have eaten most of our dinners out on the deck since and I think everyone has spent time lounging out there this past week.  It has been heavenly.  And Bridget, single-handedly, has assembled both hammocks and their stands all by herself!  This girl continues to amaze me.  

After church on that Sunday we came home, ate a quick lunch, packed quick overnight bags for everyone and we were on the road for Twin Falls, Idaho right around 2:00 pm.  It should only be a three hour drive, but there were two separate accidents on I-15 that shut the freeway down, so we didn't get to Twin Falls until right around 6:00.  The kids did awesome though and no one balked at the extra hour we were in the car.  Once we checked into our hotel, we walked across the parking lot for dinner at Culver's and then came back to our hotel room and played games.  We had so much fun-something I feel like our family still desperately needs post remodel and broken ankle!  After games, the kids went swimming and Richard and I sat and watched them and talked.  The kids surprised us with how long they lasted in the pool-we were there for awhile!  After showers, we watched Instagram and laughed a lot before heading to bed.  

Monday morning we had breakfast at the hotel, quickly packed up, checked out, and made the short drive to Shoshone Falls.  We were probably just a week or two past the prime of the waterfall, but it was still so neat to see.  We were able to walk along a path and go down stairs to different viewpoints.  Richard didn't follow us to those overlooks, and Marshall's fear of heights seems to be creeping in a bit, so he kept a safer distance, but the girls and I were all right there.  It was still a majestic sight to behold, and the combination of water and sun was making a fairly vivid rainbow over a portion of the water.  After spending some time there we got back in the car and drove to an overlook for the Perrine Memorial Bridge.  This is a massive bridge that spans the Snake River as you cross over into Twin Falls, and the bridge we drove across as we came and left.  Richard once again stayed behind for this one, but the views were pretty spectacular.  If it weren't so hot, I would have made us walk across, but we got some great views, and called it good.  To round out our time in Twin Falls, we went to Abracadabra for breakfast for lunch, and my word, it did not disappoint!  All of us loved everything we ordered, and there was hardly any food left on our plates!  Marshall devoured the Eggs Benedict.  Rachel got the biggest French Toast we have ever seen (Marshall also helped her finish it) and I got some divine Peach Cobbler French Toast.  During lunch we played tic-tac-toe, talked and laughed and it was just really great.  We have all decided we need to do more of these quick one night getaways.  It was just so great to reconnect, especially after such a stressful week.  

And to wrap it up, just a few, fun random happenings...

Bridget held a baby racoon at the farm on Saturday evening.  Good grief!  The Garlicks found a baby racoon in the chicken run on Saturday morning, thankfully, all chickens were tucked safe inside their little hen house!  I guess the Garlicks are keeping the racoon until this weekend when they go up to Logan and have a friend up there who has a license to keep wild animals?!?!  I have no idea.  But, Bridget fell in love instantly and is now begging for...you guessed it...a baby racoon!  

Quick funny story about Rachel...she has a two week break from dance and has been living the life of a carefree 11 year old, as she should!  She has been living it up with friends and bless all the parents (including us!) who are driving this crew of kids from Fruit Heights, to Lagoon, to Station Park, to Target, to the Bountiful Rec Center and literally everywhere in between.  A couple of weeks ago she was at the rec center with friends and a couple of parents were picking them up and dropping them off at Centerville Park.  I got a text from her that said, "Can you bring Little Caesar's pizza to the park for our dinner please?"  Haha!  That one completely caught me off guard!  But considering moms just feed these kids if they are at their house for a meal, Richard and I were happy to oblige.  

I took Gretchen and three of her friends to see the new Lilo and Stitch movie last Wednesday.  Their excitement level was a 10 out of 10.  Those girls were hilarious.  That movie was darling!  I laughed, I cried, like sobbed, and just loved it.  And the girls were the best during the movie.  They laughed at all the right parts and just loved Stitch.  And I think a couple of them cried too!

And lastly, on Saturday Richard and I had the best evening out.  We drove down to South Jordan and met the lovely Ricky and Katie for dinner and then went to The Johnson Files.  They were performing at a new outdoor stage in Daybreak right by the new Bees stadium.  It was a lovely evening.  The show started a little slow, not gonna lie, but they picked up steam and they ended the first half on a high.  And then the second act was amazing, maybe the best I have seen from them.  It was a great night!  And to make it even better, we paid Rachel and Bridget to baby-sit Gretchen in shifts for us that night since we were gone so long.  I told them I would only pay if we came home to a clean and tidied up house-and those girls rocked it!  Our house had not looked that good in weeks.  I also told Gretchen I would pay her if she went to sleep in her own bed, and she did!  Wins all around!!!

Okay, I do believe that was our May.  So busy.  Too busy.  But full of lots of good and cheering on these kids in all their loves.  Here's to June!

Love,

Richard, Jenny, Marshall, Bridget, Rachel and Gretchen :)