Noteworthy

Emmie has refused to put much effort to riding her bike or into putting her face in water.  And then one day that all changed.  Literally in the space of 24 hours.  One night she went out with John (again) to try to ride her bike.  Ains asked if she should get the camera and I told her not to bother.  But then to my surprise...Emmie was riding down the street!  All by herself!  She was a bike pro within a day or two.

And then the very next day Kortney persuaded her to put her face in the water. And to her surprise, when she did it she didn't die!  And then she realized that since she could put her head in the water she could jump off the side. And then all in an instant...my baby grew up.  And I wanted to cry a little bit.  But I was just too excited for her.

Fourth of July/Welch Family Weekend

Welch Family weekend had to be combined with the Fourth of July this year due to Cy's joining of the Coast Guard.  He left on the 14th of July (today) for basic training and we won't see him again until this fall at the earliest.  So we had to cram in all of our fun before he left.

And that we did...

We started Friday night with swimming, a pizza party, frappe, and an out door movie in Kort and Dan's backyard.  Mighty Ducks was just as amazing as I remember it!

We woke up on the Fourth for a big breakfast at my parents.  We spent the entire day eating and swimming and sleeping and barbecuing, and I even got my family to play a game!  It was really a great day.  The only downfall was that John was on call and had to go into work for a few hours.  But other than that it really was a perfect holiday!

We decided to stay at my parents house instead of driving down to a park for fireworks like we usually do.  We lit our fountains on a ladder for a more impressive show.  It was definitely impressive!  Especially with Syd's music playing in the back ground.  Nothing says American pride like Lee Greenwood singing along to fountains on a ladder.

Tween

I'm quickly learning that covering my oldest's body is becoming harder that it used to be.  This year swim suits have proven particularly tricky.  Take this suit for example....

After days of shopping we eventually decided to buy 2 of these suits.  A size 12 to give us more length on top and a size 10 for better bum coverage.  And then when the size 12 top still showed more tummy than Ainsley was comfortable with we added a ruffle to the bottom.

And not to brag or anything...but way to go me!!!  I also altered her another suit.  It was one that we had to buy in a size 14 to give her the body length she needed.  But it was baggy all the way around.  So I sewed up the sides with elastic thread.  My new favorite kind of thread.  Both of her suits now fit and don't look homemade!  Mission accomplished!

A Wee Bit of Stress

John and I still rent out our old home.  We've been doing that for over 2 years now.  And up until recently things have been great.  Over the last 6 months the condition of the home has declined....a lot.  The yard is almost completely dead, the inside is suddenly way too dirty, and rent was becoming consistently late.  It was frustrating.  But what was most frustrating is that our renter was annoyed with us.  I still can't figure out why.  But she was.

One day she sent an email letting us know that if we ever wanted to sell our house she would be interested in "breaking the lease amicably."  If I'm being honest when she sent that email I was happy.  She was giving us permission to break the lease!  I mentioned to my mom that our renter wasn't happy in the house anymore and we weren't too keen on her.  And that it might be time for us to do something with the house. We looked into selling but that still wasn't an option.

Then the crazy started happening.  The next night I got a text from my mom asking what the rent was on our house.  Apparently a good friend of her's son and his wife had been looking for a house.  I was a little hesitant about the situation but emailed our renter and let her know that someone might be interested in taking over her lease if she wanted out of it.  She said she was. Awesome!  Things were working out!

I did some snooping and looked at facebook pictures of our new potential tenants and soon realized that they would be a good fit for the home.  He works for Tru Green and agreed to help restore the lawn, and she has good taste and is a neat freak.  A win, win in my book.

But then somehow things got messy.  Our current renter started accusing us of kicking her out of the house etc. and before long there were threats of lawyers legal issues.  We were upset and confused. I honestly think she made a hasty decision saying she wanted to break the lease and then quickly regretted it.

John and I were losing sleep over the matter and I spent my days with my stomach in knots.  We were miserable.  When we reached our last straw I decided to spend the day fasting.  And by the end of the day I had decided what I was going to do.  I drove to Sonic and bought two shakes and showed up at her front door for a little chat.  John really didn't want me to go.  But that didn't stop me.

I honestly think if I hadn't had something in hand to give her she never would have been open to having a conversation.  We sat on her porch and I explained that John and I were confused and thought we had been helping her get out of a lease she no longer wanted to be tied to.  And she basically said she was stressed and had made a rash decision.  But the bottom line was....we were all moving forward and the fire had been put out.

We got the rent money that was owed to us and now we are to the point where we only have 2 days until our new renters will be moved in.  The whole situation has been so stressful!  I'm sickened when I see what has happened to our house in just over 2 years.  It looks like a sad and miserable house, not the happy home I remember.

My hope at this point is that our new tenants will love the house like we did.  I will be spending a day cleaning, getting carpets cleaned, and attempting to clean up the yard a bit.  All in hopes that the house will now be cared for.  And then if we're lucky....we can sell that darn house in the spring!

Spring Piano Recital

While these pictures are terrible...for posterity's sake I shall document the kids spring piano recital.  My mom also performed in it.  How many kids can say they were in a recital with their grandma?!  Pretty cook I think.  Plus there were dancers.  So there was something to distract our eyes when our ears got really bored....(you know what I mean :).

A quick trip to Salt Lake

The morning after school got out we loaded up the car and headed down to Salt Lake.  John and his Dad were presenting a paper at The Mormon History Association Meeting and so the kids and I decided to tag along.  We stopped at the canyon near Twin Falls for a little picnic and to stretch our legs.  It was such a nice little area.  I wouldn't mind going back and spending some more time there one day.

Of course I was horrible about taking pictures.  We got to do a fun run at Ashlyn's school and go swimming, and the kids loved playing with cousins.  I actually remembered to take pictures on the day that we drove down to Provo and visited the Bean Museum and the Art Museum!

After our museum visits Steph and Eric earned their sainthood and took my kids back to Salt Lake for me so that I could go with John's mom to watch John and Steve's presentation.  I've never been able to see John present before!  And I loved it!  Maybe one day I'll actually become a history nerd and start going to full conferences?  Just maybe.   But my favorite part was when I looked over at a cute little lady sitting next to Alene and realized that she was sketching each presenter!  I should have thought to ask to buy the sketch off of her after the presentation.  I think that may have been the only time that John has been sketched before!

T

School's out for Summer!

When the final bell rang the party started. One of Ainsley's friends planned a pool party and a limo ride after school.  It was pretty cool.  Each girl chipped in $10 and they got to ride around in a limo for an hour.  I'm sure it's something she will never forget.

Afterwards the girls went back to a neighborhood pool for swimming, dinner, and games. And even the younger kids were tolerated for a bit.  But just a bit :)

And then...because our evening wasn't exciting enough. John's friend Josh called and wanted to help us take out our dead tree....right that moment.  And so that's what we did.  Because when someone offers to do something like that you do it whenever they want to.  And just to be clear, we still have a large hole in our flower bed waiting for a tree to be planted.  Maybe one day we will actually get a new one in the ground!