The Start of "Second Summer"

 After 3 months home from school the official beginning of summer arrived in June. I started calling it "second summer" because that is exactly what it felt like. It was my first time having 5 kids at home for 6 months straight and I'm kind of hoping it will also be the last. ha ha. The key to peace and happiness in the summer at our house is to keep Jameson and AJ BUSY, but every single summer camp we had signed them up for was canceled because of COVID-19 so it wasn't easy to accomplish this year. Having Tae Kwan Do every afternoon at 4 p.m. definitely helped get them out of the house and break up the day a little bit. For active boys endless summer days can get long when you have nothing to do and nowhere to go.

Britton didn't waste any time finding a good summer job. He started working full time at the Camp Chef warehouse right after graduation.  They needed a lot of temporary help for the summer so Britton was even able to get all of his friends jobs there, too.  They carpooled to work at 5:30 a.m. and worked from 6:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday- Thursday with Fridays being an optional work day with overtime pay. It was flexible enough that he could take days off whenever he needed which definitely helped his social life as his friends decided to take a few road trips before they started leaving on their missions in July. They went to St. George and camping at the Grand Tetons along with shorter trips to see music concerts and friends who lived in other areas of the state.  

Auditions for Davis County Ballroom were at the end of June this year.  Jenna started attending summer classes in May in preparation for tryouts because she really wanted to make one of the Davis county ballroom teams for next school year.  They are one of the top ballroom dance companies in the entire country and we have known for the last year that if she wanted to dance in college she was going to need to go to Davis County.  Jenna wasn't sure which team she would make since it is very competitive and there are so few spots available on their top team, especially for girls.  We were totally prepared to have her dance on the "B" team (which is still better than any other team Jenna has danced with) but in the end Jenna ended up making the GOLD team! Making the Davis County Gold team is kind of a big deal so Jenna was on "Cloud 9" for at least a week. 😁  One of her good friends who lives about a mile from us and has been commuting to David County for ballroom for 2 years already is on the same team so they will be able to carpool all next year. Definitely a win-win for both. Congrats Jenna!

Jenna and Korinne started training for fall Cross Country on June 1st. The XC team meets every morning at 6 a.m. all summer long.  Britton and Jenna encouraged Korinne to do it so that she could start her freshman year with friends so she dutifully gets up with Jenna and goes to practice.  She isn't sure she loves the running yet, but has been a trooper nonetheless. 

In June we attended the wedding of a nephew, Alex H., where Britton was able to see Gramma and Grampa and a lot of other relatives before he started his mission. With the COVID church shutdown he won't be speaking in church before starting the MTC on July 15th.

Fortunately the shutdowns haven't affected my summer bike riding which has been my saving grace this year.

When Uncle Ben and Aunt Kim W. come to town the boys are spoiled with amazing balloon creations.  Balloon art is Ben's hobby and I've never seen anyone like him. He just comes up with things like this on the spot--  Iron Man anyone?

Home church has been a struggle for the boys, but to be fair regular church was a struggle for the boys, too.  This is Adam trying to show them a church video as part of home church.  I gave up trying to get them dressed up after the first day. Some battles just aren't worth fighting.  Elder Holland has said that in the gospel we get credit for trying.  I'm REALLY banking on this being true because home church at our house is pretty much a failure every.single.week. Believe me when I say it isn't from a lack of trying. 😜😜

Seminary Graduation this year consisted of a home visit from the Bishopric and a member of the Stake Presidency to present the graduate with a certificate.

AJ just HAD to be in the picture. (Wait, shouldn't I be in this picture?) Congrats Britton!

Summer fun with friends:

Ace, Klein, Beckett, Livy, Jameson and AJ

It's no secret in the neighborhood that Jameson and AJ's grandparents are good for a popsicle if you are willing to pick some green beans or pull weeds in the flower bed first.

AJ and his posse are there quite regularly asking for small jobs to do.

We caught Jameson taking Adam's phone and then using it to text people. It didn't take long for Korinne to figure out that the person texting her was NOT Dad. Clever but NOT OK. 😜  We had to put an end to this pretty quickly.

Summer