I know you won't believe it

I know you won't believe it, but Blogger doesn't put in half of my photos unless I upload them.  Dang it!!

First Half of August

This and the next one are actually from the Burk Reunion.

This is Brookie, Charity, and Jill.

Jeremy and Ammon (Anne's)

My baby's getting too big!!

Bubby's too big too!

Fire restrictions meant that Michael's scout camp got postponed.  They went at the beginning of August, up to Big Lake.  Our scoutmaster is awesome!  The boys had a great time. 

Our scoutmaster was Ethan Estes, but he was just released on Sunday, and Shawn Nelson was called.  He'll do great too!  I don't envy him that job, though!  XD

 The Scoutmaster sent me these pictures of Michael. :) I appreciated that.

 

I was folding laundry and little ones were trying to climb on the table, on my piles.  Jeremy always ends up being the one to distract them while I do laundry.  They were having a great time on the swing set.

This is how he smiles lately - like he's asking, "Is this OK?"

Bubby drew himself. :)

Benji built this shelf to hold all our camping stuff.  Hooray!!  And Hyrum cleaned up the garage too.  Hooray!

I think this is Henry.  He was sleeping with the blankets wrapped around his head.  Ha ha!

I made a new sign for our house!  Now my Model Team Express ladies can find me. ;)

This picture was on here last year, and it's still there!  Benji was in the book club.  Now Michael's in it.

5 kiddos on the first day at Thatcher Schools.  Benji is a Freshman, Michael is in 7th Grade, Jill is in 3rd Grade, and Timmy's in 1st Grade.

Putting the kiddos into school has been such a pain!  It's so much easier to take them out than to put them in.  A month or two ago Jeremy had a prompting while he was in the Temple that Joshua should go to high school.  Joshua didn't want to go.  We convinced him to just try it.  So I made up his transcript, and I filled out all the paperwork to enroll him and to re-enroll Michael and Jill.  Lots of paperwork!  Jill had to test.  She wanted to be in fourth grade, but they put her in third.  It works.  She could go either way since she has a summer birthday.  And now a couple of weeks in I feel like they absolutely made the right choice there.  She's doing good and is finding nicer friends than she had before, so I'm glad.  Michael was not asked to test, and I didn't press it because I didn't want to make him test if he didn't have to.  Ha ha!  They did ask if I had any documentation of what he did.  I don't.  Note to self: keep better records.  But when I told them that, they said, "OK, well, thanks!" and hung up. :)  Hooray!  Maybe they figure his first couple of weeks were his test? ;)  

And then Joshua - Because we don't really follow a curriculum and the school had no way to substantiate what was on his transcript that I made other than the classes he took at the college, they had to start him from the beginning.  We enrolled him as a sophomore and they put him in all freshman classes.  (English 102 is fine, but apparently it doesn't count as anything for high school.  That seems backwards, but I don't get to make the rules.)  He went the first day feeling cautiously optimistic that maybe he'd like it even though the walls are all boring white.  He hated it.  I imagine him walking along the blank white halls looking for classes in the 5 minutes they have between classes, feeling overwhelmed by all the people and all the noise.  And nobody in his classes were really his age, and a lot of them are super immature and are only there because they have to be.  It was all just culture shock for him.  Here he's been homeschooled since 2013 and then he went to the college with its wide open spaces and trees and grass and people who were more mature and chose to be there, and then suddenly he's thrown in with tons of immature kids who would rather be doing anything else in an overwhelming environment.  Anyway, we knew it probably wouldn't last when we put him in, though I did secretly hope he'd stick it out.  Jeremy finally made a deal with him - "You get your permit and we'll withdraw you from high school."  So Joshua got right to work.  He took all the practice tests, and he passed that test online last Friday, and then we went to the MVD on Monday and got his permit.  Easy peasy!  

So on Tuesday morning I took him to Seminary (He was put in 2nd hour, and we thought that was good, so we figure we'll keep him there for now.), and then I went in to the office and withdrew him and turned in his biology textbook.  They gave me the withdrawal form, and we headed over to the Graham County School Superintendent.  I actually like going there.  I like the office, and the people are nice.  I had a homeschool affidavit all filled out for Joshua to update his records, but they said once kids are 16 they don't keep track of their schooling anymore.  So I updated their records to show that Michael and Jill are back in school.  Then we went to the library to sign Joshua up for their free GED classes.  It turned out they needed a notarized letter from he saying he has permission to participate in their classes.  This allows him to sign his own paperwork and stuff, since it is an adult program.  So we ran back to the courthouse because I knew the school superintendent has a notary, they notarized the letter, and he went back to the library.  And then it turned out he was missing a photo ID.  His brand new permit got left at home, but they let us fill out the forms anyway.  And today after Seminary I picked him up and took him to do the pretest and let them copy his permit.  He's still at it.  It's been almost 4 hours.  I'm not sure when he'll be done, but I sure feel for him!  We waited for a couple of hours, but then we went home.  Anyway, after he takes this pretest they can put him in the classes he needs to be able to pass the GED.  That will be great!  Then in the spring he can hopefully take a full load and get a Pell Grant at the college.  I bet he might even be able to work for Aaron because Hyrum will be done then.  /sob  Another heartache for another day.

So Timmy doesn't want to ride the bus ever this year because the bus driver brought him back to school that once.  He can't get over it.  And Michael can't ride the bus with his cello, and now he has orchestra Monday-Thursday.  So I may as well drop everyone off.  Jill rides the bus now because she thinks that's super fun.  Benji has to be there an hour early for band, so I take him to band, get other people ready, and then take all of them.  I'm glad that Hyrum can drive his own buns.  Ha ha!  And lately, Timmy's been fussing about going to school.  I don't know why.  At the end of the day he always says he enjoyed it.  But the next day he doesn't want to go back.  I started reading to him again for 5-10 minutes before we have to go, and for some reason, that kicks out of his head any protests about going, and he goes happily after that.  Magic!  Yea for Roald Dahl!   He's definitely one of my favorite authors ever.

Bubby wishes he could go.  He will be 5 on September 13, and he's reading, but he has to wait until next year.  I don't mind. :)

Bye, Benji!

Bye, Joshua!

Bye, Michael!

Bye, Jill!

Bye, Timmy (orange shirt, quite happy to be there)

Everyone helped build this one night.

So the next morning Henry started building.

It ended up like this!  It took him like 30 minutes to an hour to get it all just right.

Then he put them all carefully in this pile.

And then Bubby woke up and they played some more.  It's been great!  I ask him, "Do you want to play blocks?"  And Henry says, "Yeah. Box."  And off he goes to very carefully line them all up.  Those and the train set get used every day lately.

Our friend Joe Jarvis came over one day, and he played too. :)

We like Joe.  He just shows up whenever, and I'm glad he does, because I don't ever know if he has food.  He is fun to chat with, and he's interested in whatever we're doing.  And he likes to bring up perplexing gospel topics and discuss them with Jeremy at length.  It's kind of fun. :)

Right now I think he's in between jobs.  He'd been working with Val, but that job has pretty much dried up I think.  He's trying to get on as a substitute at the schools.  He'd be such a fun substitute!

One day I went to the thrift store looking for a night stand, and I came home with a night stand and a couch for $10! :D Goodbye, ugly, grimy gray couch.  Hello, comfy blue one, even if it looks 80's-ish.  It's in good shape.

July - a long one!

Sorry!  I meant to split July in two pieces like I usually do.  Anyway, here we go.

Kimberly and her family were in town, so Jennifer brought her kids to visit, and they came to see us too. :)

4th of July - bright an early!  We got to ride in the bucket again.  I was all happy that we were behind all the noise, and then the fire chief truck behind us started blaring its siren too.  SO, SO LOUD!!!!  It was fun, but I think next year we'll just watch the parade instead. XD

This was Bubby's first time on the fire truck.

Michael was happy to be there, but not happy to be awake.  Typical preteen. XD

The Hansens came later and stayed for the rest of the 4th of July.  It was so great!  Jennifer and I got some great visiting in.  Anna bought a bajillion sparklers and a big pack of fireworks, and we enjoyed them. :)

It was a great 4th of July!

The next day I met Jennifer and Kimberly across the street from my house, and we went for a walk.  It was the greatest thing ever!!  We walked down and turned past the splash pad and then went down Reay Lane where they have a sidewalk now, and then we turned on Church Street and then back up Stadium.  And then we walked a few laps around the stadium too.  And we talked the whole way.  I loved it so much!  There are some things that you just needs sisters for, ya know?

Timmy ball-head

Hyrum, Michael, and I got to go to Spencer's ordination.  He's a Deacon now!  It was at the Pima Relief Society building.

Here's all us Badgers who came.  Hooray!  It was so fun to see everyone. :)

Note to self: do not wear yellow!  I stick out like a sore thumb and look quite large!  Dang it!

The next day we began the Burk Re-onion.  It was Sunday, and almost everyone came to Pima for dinner that night, and then the next day we went to the Virden Church for our reunion.  It's an old LDS church, and now the town runs it as a reunion site and also the public library.

Aaron had two new puppies.  Henry loved them.

It had rained and people were getting muddy, so they decided to get REALLY muddy.  Kenzie turned on the hose and made a mud bog.  They had a great time!  That's Jill crouched down by the toy car.  Her dress was COVERED.  Kenzie said, "Don't worry.  I'll wash it."  And then she loaned Jill some of Jocee's clothes after they cleaned up.  After they were all done being muddy Aaron had them all get on our trailer that is living at his house (He uses is more than we do, so we thought that would work out.) and he took them down to the pond to splash around and get some mud off.  Then he hosed them off at the front door.

Timmy thought those people were a little crazy for wanting to get muddy.  I think he's crazy. ;)

Aaron and Kenzie had their living room decorated for one summer birthday or another (they have a few summer ones), and it was Brookie's birthday that day too.  So they were already ready with decorations.  But partway in Aaron decided he was hot and wanted to turn on the fan, so Jeremy helped him take down the decorations first.

Yummy dinner!

Kenzie even braided Jill's hair after she got cleaned up.  Kenzie is the most amazing braider I've ever seen!

Here's the old Primary room, where our family and Teancum stayed.  There were lots of other smaller rooms.  The beds were not bad.

This is the old foyer.  The windows on the right look into the old chapel, but I didn't take a picture of that.

Here's the kitchen.  We didn't try the old oven on the right, but we did try the one with the back door, and it was slow, but it worked.  We did miss the big griddle.  We brought a few electric ones, but the breaker couldn't handle more than 2.

This is the old cultural hall, looking down from the stage.  They had a DVD player, projector, and sound system, just no AVI cable.

Anne's baby Gideon - he let me hold him, and he's cute, so he was immediately hired. :)

That's Teancum, Anne's oldest, in the red shirt.  He's good fun.

The town park was right next to the old church where we were.  We spent a lot of time here.   I pushed Bubby on the swings until I thought my arms would fall off, and then I pushed him some more.  He just giggled and giggled.

Anne's second to youngest, Ammon.

Jeremy was able to take one day off.  He came on Monday after work and stayed the night, and then he went home Tuesday evening to go to work the next day.  And then he came Wednesday night for a little bit.  I was glad he could come.

Here's that playground.  They had some new equipment too.

Charity pushing Ammon

Jimmy (Katie's) and Ryan (Aaron's)

Jill, Jenna, and Jocee, the 3 J's.  They were best buddies.

Brookie (Aaron's) and Spencer (Katie's) both seemed to spend a lot of time helping take care of little ones.  They are good at it, though!

Brookie was ordering "food" from Jesse's "restaurant."

Jeremy played Uno with a bunch of kiddos in our room.

I bought this game just for the campout.  I was glad I did!  We needed something for little fingers to play with indoors.

An intense game on Hyrum's Switch

Henry and Evelynn (Aaron's)

Aaron and the twins, Keelynn and Quinnlynn

He was trying to get them tired so they'd go to sleep.

Michael and I played Yahtzee the first night, and the next morning Timmy was all ready to play too.  He even made game cards for "Jirme" (Jeremy) and me.  Jeremy got side-tracked helping someone, so the game didn't happen, but I tried to play with Timmy later.  He's a little too young.  XD  I'm happy to have Yahtzee, though.  I like that one.

Henry had fun playing too.  He'd roll the dice and then color on his paper a bit.  I counted those dice a surprising number of times, trying to make sure I had them all!

We're not sure who brought the popsicles, but we were glad!

This little girl is BreeAnna's cousin's daughter.  She's been passed around between relatives her whole life, and now her mom's in jail.  Joe and Bree might eventually adopt her.  Her name is Angelina.  She was all excited to help Timmy and me finish this puzzle.

Bubby and Serena (Anne's)

Serena is silly!  She's a lot of fun.

Becca's baby, whose name escapes me.

Graham crackers and milk!

This game was called Cover Your Assets.  I didn't play it, but it got played by mostly the adults - a lot.  I've never seen BreeAnna laugh so much.  Sounds like a fun game. :)  Hyrum played it a few times too.  It was interesting because Hyrum's kind of in that stage where he can fit in with the teenagers and the adults.  I enjoyed watching him.

Jacob (Becca's), Sammy (Katie's), and Mariah (Katie's)

Joshua got lucky.  He had a big bed.  He was sad to leave it.

We had lots of windows in our room.  We opened them the first night, and the air was so nice because it had just rained.

Susie and Jill

Noel (Anne's) and Jill

Papa came just to swing Bubby, right? ;)

Toy Story 3

Becca kept laying her baby on this chair.  Cute boy!  It made me mad, though, because several times I went to sit there and I couldn't!  Ha ha!

Timmy and a few of the other kids thought this was so fun - making shadows.

Jimmy (Katie's), Benji, and Henry

Benji helping Aaron move our beds to vacuum.

Henry and Evelynn

These next few I stole from other people. ;)

Jenna and Jill

They had a stinking corn hole tournament.  I hate these, but Aaron organizes them every year.  I'm bad at horseshoes.  I'm bad at corn hole.  It just makes me feel bad about myself.  XD Can we just skip it?!

Hyrum and me

All the grandkids

I actually took Jill, Timmy, Bubby, and Henry back to Safford on Wednesday to go to swimming lessons because I didn't want them to miss too many days.  We got back right as they were finishing lining up here.

Timmy was supposed to write a thank you note to someone for doing something nice for him.  He drew a picture and wrote to Benji to say thank you for building a snowman with me.   Uhhhhhhh.... I don't think that ever happened. XD  Still, it was nice.

Henry loves this computer at the library.

This is in Heidi.  The Grandmama has such a wonderful way of talking about God.  I loved it.  That was such a good book.  I'm glad I finally read it!

Jill just off the slide - last day of swimming lessons

Here comes Bubby!

Hyrum and his brothers - Temple Selfie FTW!

We did lots of subbing in Primary over the summer.  This was Bubby's class.  Jeremy is so good with them. :)

This tostada had a hole in it, and then it lost that triangle piece coming out of the bag.

I have no words.  It gave us both a good laugh, though. XD

Henry woke up and found Papa's blood pressure machine and stuck it on his leg, first thing in the morning.

Yeah, I have no explanation for this one either. XD

The salad was yucky, but the chicken was yummy!

Henry likes when I draw happies for him.  Now he can make them too! :D

Hyrum volunteered to do our mountain of dishes.  Phew!  He's a good boy. :)

Benji went swimming!

We're sad that the pool is closed now.  It was a good time.