The Doctors Office...our 2nd home!

Friday night, Friday FUN night! The kids have been earning smiley faces and each smiley face is worth 2 pts. Ashton cashed in 10 of his points tonight to have a family movie night, a special surprise was...mom pulled out the couch bed! The kids were SO excited! We watched National Treasure 2 on the couch bed and daddy made popcorn. What fun!!!

Saturday we went to Ashton's bball game and he made lots of shots but nothing was going in, we brought donuts for after game snack, not much option when you don't have a snack schedule and someone reminds you by email at 9:30 the night before but we made it work. Went home and Jake and Ashton went on a bike ride while me and Si checked on Leanne's house then at home we worked and cleaned and later got slurpies. When we got home Sierra wanted to make cupcakes, she did! I only helped a tiny bit, she did a great job and they were DELICIOUS! Homemade yellow cake with homemade chocolate frosting! Saturday evening we went down to the pool and swam before dinner. Me and daddy even got in a played...so much fun! Then we went home and cooked up some hotdogs and corn for dinner. Sierra came out after getting jammies on and wrapped a blanket around herself (it was still really warm outside and in our house). I asked her if she was feeling okay. She said her throat was a little sore. Oh no!!! I felt her forehead and yep she was warm. Both of my sisters families just had strep throat. I gave her some advil and watched a little something together and then off to bed. At 6 am she woke me up and said her throat hurt REALLY bad. I felt her again and warm again. I gave her more advil and ice water. Her throat hurt so bad she didn't even want to swallow her spit. She kept spitting in the sink. :P I dropped Jake and Ashton off at church and then took her to the urgent care. The doctor just looked in her throat and said "yep it's strep!"Gave us a prescription, went and picked it up and then home we went. Jake and his friend Miles gave Sierra a blessing after their presidency meeting, so grateful for the Priesthood and for good men who honor it. We had a nice dinner at home, just the 4 of us. I made pot roast, carrots and potatoes.
This morning we went to the doctor again to get Ashton's staples out. Yay, they're out but he still can't swim for 3 days, needs more healing time. Geez. Sierra is feeling much better.
I'm so grateful that overall we are a healthy family and rarely have to go to the doctor.

Shots!

Yesterday my Sierra had to have her 11 yr. physical. She had to have 2 immunizations. I didn't let them give her HPV4. Before they gave her the shots she didn't want me to stand by her and hold her hand, she said, "I'm good." She tried to be so brave and afterwards she cried. Then we had to go to the lab to have blood drawn to check for anemia. She was so nervous and started to cry while we waited. This time she held my hand. She cried going home. She didn't know what she wanted, I said "do you want Tutti Frutti?" She said "no, I just want to go home." I was driving in our track and she said "I want icecream!" So I quickly turned out and we went and got icecream. She got a HUGE one and filled it over the top. Poor baby! I guess these vaccines never get easier even as your kids get bigger.
Last night we walked as a family to the park. We played baseball together as a family too. Then we walked home all together. Sierra and Ashton helped me make spaghetti and it was so yummy. Such a great evening TOGETHER.

Summer Rain

Last night we went for a walk in the rain as a family. Love this crazy weather! :)

Swim Team's over

Sunday night the kids got their trophy's. Ashton got Most Improved! Coaches said he swims an awesome breast stroke.

 Sierra was hoping for another Coach's Award but I told her she can't get it every year. :)

Staples for a TOUGH guy

Monday was a rough day. Taking Jake to work and the car was making a weird noise as we were driving down our street. Jake got out and the tire was flat so I backed it up. Jake's car has had a flat tire for a month. So, 2 flats. Called AAA and they came and put the spare on my car and then I asked what we could do about our other car. He checked it out and said it was a slow leak so he would fill it up with air but I would have to drive it to the tire place right now. OK, I can handle that. So we got in Jake's car and drove it over to Grand American Tire. Mom came and picked us up and drove us back home. We got in my car and I took Sierra over to Janelle's so she could help Grandma and earn some money. Well, Janelle wanted us to go to Aunt Leanne's so we could see how she takes care of things cause Sierra was going to take care of things while they are out of town. Walking to Aunt Leanne's a dog got loose from the neighbor and started chasing us, barking fiercely! We were running!! Ashton jumped in my arms and I was running and screaming anticipating a bite from behind. He didn't bite us but he sure scared us, Ashton was in tears. We then took my car in to get the tire patched and me and Ashton were there for an hour but, we were grateful when they told us to get out of there and didn't charge me for the repair. :) I listed some books on Amazon and sold a couple, went to the post office to ship it and the post office wanted to charge me $10 for shipping, NO! So, I went to the other post office and they only charged me $4. That's more like it! :) Later we went to my mom's office to I could do some work. My mom had just gotten a new printer and the box was still there. Ashton wanted to play in it. Grammy said that was ok. He pulled all the trash out of it and sat inside. It tipped over and he slammed his head into the corner edge of the door. I ran to him and looked and he was holding it and blood was coming out of his little fingers. I said to mom, "I need help, can you get me some papertowels." She ran to the bathroom and grabbed papertowels and he bled through the first batch pretty fast. She got more and when I lifted off the paper towels to get the new ones on I got a glance at it and it was split. I asked my mom if she could take us to the doctor. She did, so helpful! I could sit in the back with Ashton and hold his head while she drove and Sierra sat in the front with her and had my purse. The doctor got us in pretty fast. The bleeding had slowed down. The nurse cleaned him up and put some numbing medicine on. We waited 15 minutes for the numbing medicine to work and then the doctor came in and put 2 staples in his head. Ashton was crying cause he was scared but the doctor did it so fast and then we were done. Brave boy!

 He got to pick IN N OUT for dinner, Grammy treated us. Then I took him and Sierra to Walmart and he got to get a Hot Wheel.
For FHE we talked about how our day was so crazy but we looked at how Heavenly Father blessed us...the tire was already flat when we left the house, it didn't go flat on the freeway...the dog didn't bite us...Grammy was here in town and able to pick us up at the tire place...Grammy was with us at the office and could get us paper towels and take us to the doctor. We are so blessed!

A couple of weeks ago we all got together at Granny's cause Uncle Bob and his wife Susan were in town from Michigan...Amanda and Monte, Marshall and Whitney, Lawrence's, Dunn's, Norris and Brenna.

 This last Saturday was the Championship Swim Meet. Ashton had a basketball game, (Sierra and I watched until we had to go to the meet and he made 2 baskets :))he had pictures too so he didn't swim but Sierra swam and always makes us proud, not cause she wins every race but cause she always does her best and she's a good sport!

 I swam on the mom's relay team, like I've done for the past 4 years and this year we got the trophy back. :)

 This is the 4th of July!
First we walked to the parade (so fun to walk when all the streets are closed) and Grammy had saved us a great spot. The weather was beautiful, cool!
We went to Mimi's and Grammy bought us lunch.
Went to Papa's for swimming and BBQ.
Fireworks at the Bingham's, they were awesome this year. Big one's, had to look straight up, never watched fireworks looking straight up. :)

Carving pumpkins in July!

Thanks Granny for growing such beauties and letting the kids each take one home. What fun! My Granny has a beautiful garden, she has quite the green thumb. Hopefully the kids will let me cook them and have pumpkin purée to make pie or bread. In July? Yum!!

Remember

This last Wednesday we went to the beach with mom, Sophi and kids, Brenna and her mom. What a beautiful day, sun was shining! The week before we were freezing! Sophi had to leave a bit earlier than we did and Sierra built this sand temple. Ashton found something for the angel moroni on the top.

 Friday Sierra got her braces back on, phase 2. She looks so beautiful! On the way to get her braces on she was so nervous and asked, "mom, am I going to get Anastasia, you know that will make me feel wierd." I assured her she was not going to get Anesthesia (she should know from the the last time but I will give her some credit she was only 8). So very cute how she said it though and I always want to remember.

 Friday night we went with the whole family to Mormon Dodger Night. SO FUN! Dodgers played horrible and didn't even get one run but it was still so fun! The firework show at the end was the best part!
A family sitting down the row from us had a brand new baby. The dad was standing and bouncing him in his hands. He was being funny and plopped his baby in the arms of a young guy sitting next to us. I waved my hands and Jake helped me, motion that I wanted to hold the baby. He passed him down to me! The baby was only 2 weeks old and I got to snuggle him. I was shocked! Ashton was saying "mom, are you a stranger!" :)

 On Saturday we all piled in cars and drove to Camp Whitsett. Me, Jake and Sierra went in my mom's car with Norris and Brenna. Mom, Chris and Ashton went in Brett and Briana's car. Nixon was sick throwing up and I'm still hoping Ashton doesn't get sick. He's been sleeping with a throw up bowl for 3 nights now, maybe we are in the clear. :)
The Boy Scout Council from our area built Camp Whitsett a new lifeguard tower in honor of Sam. They dedicated it to him on Saturday and had a small ceremony. It was special and so beautiful. Aunt Ruthie said that Sam was saying alot in the months before he died, "it's about the journey, not the destination." How fitting for my blog, Joy in the Journey. :) Uncle Randy said that he still feels Sam's presence and told a story...Uncle Randy is a beekeeper and Sam used to do it with him, recently Uncle Randy was having a problem with the hive and he was trying to find a solution. He went to bed one night and heard a voice "use pvc pipe." The next day he did and it solved the problem and he said "Thanks Sam!" I believe Sam wants to be with his family and wants to help them. A recent conference talk was discussed on Saturday with our family, sometimes our loved ones can help us more from the other side than they can here on earth with us.
We played on the lake after the ceremony. I took my kids out on a row boat and couldn't get back to the dock when it was time to get off the lake. The wind was blowing drifting me toward the waterfall and shoreline. We would have been fine but Ashton was a little freaked out. :) Luckily my brother was on the lake in a row boat and he came to the rescue. He had Brenna and Rossi in his boat. He paddled over to us, they grabbed our rope and Norris pulled us in. I like to think I helped a little cause I was rowing but who knows, I think he saved us! :) Ashton swam in the lake, we sat on the dock and ate veggies and watermelon. It was a great day. We ate Sonic on the way to Camp Whitsett, that was a fun experience having a guy come out to bring you your food on roller blades. On the way home we stopped with everybody, including Lawrences and had pizza. That was so fun too! Great to be together!
On the way home I got a text from Aunt Ruthie with this picture of Sierra attached. She said "so fitting that Sierra is in this picture, love that girl!" It is such a precious shot, I didn't even know that she had climbed up there.

Sunday we had dinner with Jake's family and Hunter and Rosa are in town. So fun to see them and their munchkins. I got to snuggle sweet baby Scott too!
Last night we had dinner at Grannie's with the Lawrence's, Dunn's, Norris and Brenna cause Uncle Bob and his wife, Susan, were in town from Michigan. My mom picked up Stonefire and we all ate and visited...and picked Grannie's beautiful pumpkins. Pumpkins in JULY! :)