Shakespear Shuffle

July 2015

One of my best friends Liz & her family of 8 came to visit us for a day & night on the coast.  It was wonderful as always to visit & catch up.  And we all got horribly sunburnt at the beach!

The fourth of July was a big hit as usual.  Pa, Darlin', Brigg, Hava & their 3 kids joined in.  At our church breakfast we met a Mormon actor who has been several movies - Corbin Allred.  He is friends with a family in our ward so they were visiting - he was super nice.

Following the breakfast we decorated for & participated in Gearhart's parade complete with face painting, mask making & hot dogs at the end!

 

 

Hyrum's art teacher submitted a sketch of his for an art competition at the art gallery in Gearhart & he won first place!

 

Fireworks on the beach are the best

 

           

 

  

Later in July we took a trip to MacKerricher State Park in California for a Wilson Family reunion.  I haven't seen a lot of these guys for about 7 years - it was so much fun!  I forgot how awesome my extended family is :)  We took some walks & went to the beach but we mostly talked & let our kids play.  I realized when it was over that I don't think I saw one cell phone during the actual reunion - I love that.  My parents, Brigg & his family & our family shared a house for the reunion.  On the way we stopped in Keizer to see our old house we lived in before moving to Washington.  It wasn't quite as big as I remember it!!!  The current owners let us go around the back to see our hand prints in the basketball court we poured.  We stopped at a favorite diner in Rice Hill for ice cream & burgers.  We also spent a few hours admiring Crater Lake on the way down & the Redwood Forest on the way back up.  It's so good to be closer to family!

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

Other random happenings around here - lots of Ninja fighting

How many kids can sleep on a futon at once?

 

 

Awwww...

We had a birthday party to go to & Justy wanted to ride his red bike all the way there & back again!  I was so proud of him!  It has taken a while but he finally likes his big bike.

More Ninja warrior stuff

 

 

We hiked our longest family hike ever - about 5 miles round trip to do Cape Falcon!  The kids were awesome

 

  

 

 

 

   

Yogurt face

One day we went to Cape Disappointment State Park in Washington.  It was not a disappointment - haha.  We saw two light houses & went for some walks & found an awesome secluded-ish beach that we will be visiting again.  I noticed there was a beach called Waikiki around the corner that we will have to visit next time.  I'm sure it's nothing like the Waikiki in Hawaii :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

We found a cool fort by the estuary in Gearhart that is definitely worthy of several re-visits

 

There has been non-stop Lego action this summer.  It's the main thing all 5 of my kids love to do & they can spend the entire day playing together & they rarely fight.  It's amazing!  I love Lego's!  And I love to see their creativity come out.

I started braiding Em's hair again.  I haven't tried since she was 2 or 3 because it would never stay but it's working better now.

 

 

On Monday July 27th Hunter had tonsil & adenoid surgery.  He & I spent the night at Brigg & Havalah's the night before because we had to be at the hospital the next morning by 7am.  He was really nervous & anxious about the whole thing.  We decided to give him some happy juice before going back for the surgery & that helped a lot.  It went by so fast & everything went perfectly.  We spent a few hours waking up in the hospital & checking that his vitals stayed normal & then we were able to drive home.  My Mom stayed with the other kids so Jeremy could still go to work which was awesome.  I kept Hunter on Tylenol & Advil every 3 hours even through the night & he wasn't really in any pain.  He was mainly just sad he couldn't eat what everyone else was eating :) AND the best part is that when he sleeps there is no snoring or heavy breathing - hooray!

    

 

 

 

Right after the surgery a few us had a bout of fever so we spent a lot of time hanging out on my bed recovering.

At the end of July our great friends the Blauer's came to town to visit.  We miss them a ton around here & were so glad they could stay with us for several days.  We had playdates, a bon fire, girls nights & Dallen & Jaron played together non-stop.  They even had some sleep overs.  We hope they come back soon!

 

  

Vivian, Kable, Hunter, Dallen, Jaron, Emma, Justy & Hyrum