Crazy, Crazy July!

I have been wanting to blog all month about all the fun things we have done. The problem is, we have been having too much fun to have time for me to blog. So here is the month in summary:

July 1: Hosted a playdate for 2-year-old Buster and fed the missionaries.
July 2: Ben had the day off, and we actually had a date.
July 3: 4th of July Breakfast at Jordan Park and hosted a BBQ for a newer family in our ward.
July 4: Baby blessing in Logan and dinner with my brother from Washington at my parents' house.
July 5: Ben and a wonderful friend chopped down a problem tree in our yard. We had 2 family parties in honor of one of each of our brothers from out of state. We had to divide and conquer, and I had to prepare a potluck contribution for both. Also, Abel did not nap well this day. Probably due to all the chaos!
July 6: Ah, peace and quiet and recovery...I thought. Nope, we had planned a zoo afternoon with cousins! Ben left for Pocatello.
July 7: We actually stayed home all day, and I let the kids stay in their pajamas to celebrate the fact. Ben returned from Pocatello late.
July 8: We went to the zoo again because members got to stay later than usual!
July 9: Free day at This is The Place Heritage Park. This day was chock-full of excitement, and I could write a whole entry about it. The most exciting part was losing Sunny. We were there with 2 of my sisters-in-law and a total of 14 kids. We all thought Sunny was with someone else and didn't realize she was missing for over an hour. Luckily, she had the presence of mind to ask for help quickly after getting lost, and she spent the time getting spoiled in the gift shop by employees and patrons alike. We also found her very shortly after realizing she was missing. Wow, did I feel like a terrible mother!!! To lose a child is one thing, to not realize she is missing for over an hour? Yikes! We stayed there almost all day.
July 10: Sunny's very belated birthday party and a meeting with the stake president.
July 11: Ben's new calling as 2nd counselor in the new bishopric was made official at church.
July 12: Took the Green Beast to the shop for new brakes and took the kids to Toys 'R' Us to use birthday gift cards.
July 13: Continuing Ed class for me and kids to Bama's house! We also got to go to the temple.
July 14: Took sleeping bags to the laundromat and did other preparations for the Kendrick Family Camp!
July 15-17: Kendrick family camp at Bear Lake!
July 18: First Sunday with Ben on the stand. Buster actually did amazingly well.
July 19: Dentist appointment for the kids--except when we got there we learned that there were some insurance issues and we came home. It cracked me up because my kids were pouting because they couldn't see the dentist.
July 20: PEACE AND RECOVERY! Well, for me. Sunny and Missy both had adventures with Bama and a friend, respectively.
July 21: Dentist appointment for me.

Ben also had 2 business trips to Pocatello this month. Every time he goes, he teaches just one day. With travel, though, he usually misses 2 bedtimes for the kids.

What's in store for the rest of the month? We had originally planned to go to Vernal this weekend to spend time with cousins. Given how crazy this month has been for both our families, the fact that we have seen them lots this month, and the fact that my sister-in-law has been out of town or had company almost all month, we decided to postpone it and take a rest! School starts in a week and a half, and although I will miss Sunny dreadfully (just me and 2 boys? What???), I am looking forward to things being a little more quiet and routine.

In the first crazy week, I had planned to post at least one picture for each of the wonderful and exciting events. I don't think I'll add all the pictures, but you can see the best pictures here.

I hope you have all had a great summer, too!!!

Civil War Days

Yesterday was a lot of fun! We went to the Civil War Days at This is the Place Heritage State Park with the Nowlings. It was great! We got to do normal stuff and watch two battle re-enactments.

Here is the Union Army assembling for an attack on the cornfield.

Buster, Kandy, and Missy watching them spread out,
ready to march!

After some good fighting in the cornfield (which we could hear but not see), the Confederate cavalry sneaked up on the back of the Union soldiers.

The Confederate cavalry charged the Union cavalry and there was a small sword duel. It's hard to see in this picture, unfortunately.

Here is the Confederate infantry firing on the back of the retreating Union soldiers.

The Confederates won this battle. The Union won the morning battle, which was a trench battle. We enjoyed it, but we were too far away for good pictures. A lot of this one happened right in front of us. We plan on going next year even if we don't have a membership! We also watched a comedy troupe and visited a store with vintage clothing and other items.

Wild Family Weekend!

Phew! For once, I think I'm glad it's Monday. Not that the weekend wasn't fun, but I need some time to recover!

For starters, both Ben and I each had an out-of-town sibling arrive toward the end of last week. We spent Thursday evening at my parents' house visiting and playing with my brother's family. We got home a little late, but not too bad because I knew the next day was crazy.

Friday was a total blast! We went to This is The Place State Park with Ben's sister and her daughters. Her oldest daughter works there, so she showed us around in the morning. She also has a teenage daughter who was tons of help. The three younger girls and our three girls had lots of fun together. They are almost the same ages! Buster even managed to get a short nap in his stroller, but not enough for a boy who usually naps for 3-5 hours a day in 2 naps.

Saturday was a Kendrick Family Reunion. We went to a stake center with a great pavilion. They had rented blow-up bouncy things for the kids, including a traditional bouncy castle, a velcro jumping wall, and a bungee-running sort of thing. There was also a blow-up water slide, which our kids enjoyed immensely. It was fun to see family. Unfortunately, we were plagued with little injuries all day. It's a good thing we had refilled our diaper bag first aid kit!!! I think we used at least 5 adhesive bandages that day. Luckily nothing was serious, but it was kind of stressful.

Yesterday was Sunday. I got to teach the 12 and 13 year old class for the first time (my new calling). Their behavior was not worse than expected, but I got through my material way too fast and had to kill time for at least 30 minutes. Oops. Well, now I know. After church, we had a quiet afternoon, although Ben had a bad headache and spent most of it sleeping. We went to my parents' house for dinner. One of my nieces was there. After my parents went to a fireside, we took my niece to her other grandparents' house. We spent a while talking to my brother in the driveway until another niece invited the kids to come play. We all trooped inside and crashed their family gathering. They were very gracious, and we had a nice time visiting. I hadn't seen some of them in about 7 years.

Following 3 days of one nap each, Buster's sleep patterns were so disturbed that he thought he should get out of bed at 3am today. Rather than fight with him, I turned on a movie and dozed on the couch for an hour, then put him back to bed.

So it was a fun, wild, crazy, family-filled weekend. Today I am back to the domestic joys of dishes and laundry and trying to recover from all the fun. And it's not even a holiday weekend! I wonder how I'm going to hold up over the 4th of July???