July 2015 on FB

July 1: Jupiter and Venus' orbits were so close last night, that apparently together they looked like the Christmas Star. I didn't even realize it was happening in the night sky, so I looked at them tonight, and took a picture of them, but they've grown apart just a bit since then.

July 5: Josh and I had a fun 4th of July weekend, and are feeling all patriotic after the fact with these red, white, and blue remnants!:

July 7: I spent the day scrubbing--and my fridges and bathtubs are now all pearly white! What a good, clean feeling!

July 8: On the way to Kanyon's swimming lessons this morning, he pointed to the shifter in the suburban and said "look, mom: the trailer is farting!" It took me a minute to understand, since I've never looked at it that way before. But now that he's imparted of some of his little boy wisdom, I'm sure I will never look at it the same again!

July 9: TBT (throw back thursday) photo to 2 years ago: the last time I visited my Grandpa Perkins. He turned 98 years old yesterday!! He's my last living grandparent, and he still lives at his home! I'm looking forward to our family vacation to visit him at the end of the month.

July 9 [posted by Josh]: 3 lives in our community lost WAY too young. Our hearts break for those families involved. Tell your kids you love them, and hold them close every opportunity you get. (Charlie Heald passed away from cancer, and Justin Olsen and his friend Jake Smith died in a car accident.)

July 15: I awoke this morning to my dog making a terrible shrieking whimper. I'd never heard her make that noise before, but I knew it was the sound of pain. I was still half asleep (and wasn't wearing my glasses) and couldn't figure out what was happening. She had been chewing on a cord that was still plugged into the wall, and it was zapping her with electricity. In the process of trying to get to her and pull the cord from her mouth, she peed twice on my floor. It reeked! Thankfully, she seems to have recovered okay, although I spent the rest of the morning scrubbing carpets and trying not to puke from the smell.

July 16: After a year of having pink bangs, I switched to "neopolitan" bangs this spring. It was my own idea. Now I have "vanilla, chocolate, AND strawberry" colored bangs. I just got them retouched today by Amanda, and I just love them!

July 17: Josh and I golfed with Al & Melanie at Couple's League tonight and had a blast! On Hole #8, we got our first birdie ever! We finished with a score of 50, which put us in 1st place in our flight! 

July 18: I just looked at today's date and realized it is a forward/reverse mathematical equation: 7/18/2015. Reading left to right 7+1=8 and if you go the opposite way, reading right to left 5+1+2 also=8!! Which also means, starting in the center and going left, that: 8-1=7, and also starting in the center and going right: 8-2-1=5. I'm such a nerd.

July 18 [posted by Josh]: An almost-to-Freeman-Peak selfie:

July 19: Ammon told me today that every morning he works at the golf course, he sees worms mating on the ground. Which I found hard to believe, but Josh confirmed it. So naturally I had to google it and see for myself!! It was very interesting--I've never thought about how worms reproduce before!

July 19: Josh broke his rib today, playing a football game with kids of all things! We were at a friend's house, and he went to dive tackle one of the kids, missed, and smacked his chest hard on the ground instead. It was the dads versus the kids, and although he was in pain after that, he proudly said "well, at least we won the game". {rolling my eyes}

July 20: Summer is half over, and I can't really believe it. Everyone keeps asking me "are you enjoying your summer?". I hate that I can't answer "yes" to that question this year. I should be, but I have been working so much on my college classes since school got out, that it hasn't exactly been an "enjoyable" summer so far. I'm working on my last project for this semester which ends next week, I'm preparing for a huge Praxis test that I'm taking in the middle of August, and then I will have two weeks to "enjoy" what's left of summer before going back to school & work!

July 22: Josh and I took Micah on his monthly date tonight. We went to Fiesta En Jalisco, the Mexican restaurant in town, because Micah said he'd never been there before. As he was looking at the menu, he said "I don't know what any of these words mean", so he just ordered Tacos, because he knew what they were!! We tried Xangos (deep fried cheesecake bites) for dessert, and they were super yummy!

July 23: I was on pins and needles this week waiting for the graded results of my last science project I submitted in my college Science Applications class. There were 19 requirements I had to fulfill in this particular project, and when I discovered that it passed, I couldn't believe it! My experiences with college science classes started 17 years ago, and passing this class was such a personal victory for me!

Jonah and Micah helped me with my last science project
of testing different paper airplanes. I originally wanted to
do a musical project and test people's vocal ranges, but the
university wouldn't allow me to "test on humans". 

July 24: Last night, my sister Tabbi and her friend spent the night at our house. They played Qwirkle with Josh & I after the kids went to bed, and we had a good time! She brought lots of fun food from Trader Joe's, too. We particularly love the Cookie Butter Cookies that she introduced us to!! Thanks Tabbi for the fun visit! 

July 25: Everyone had their own agenda today: Josh went to Challis for his motorcycle driving test, Ammon participated in the Boosters Golf Tournament in Salmon, and I took the 3 other boys to the Stake Pioneer Activity. While there, Jonah and Micah played with friends and tried out pickleball for the first time, I was involved in the primary activity as a pretend camp host for the kids' mini-trek around the church, and Kanyon went on the mini-trek and played in the water games afterwards. It was a good day for all of us! 

July 28: We were all sleeping together in a hotel room this morning on our family vacation, and I was starting to toss and turn in the early morning hours when I heard Ammon sleep talk, except this time, it was a creepy whisper. He said "Are you dead yet?". I immediately opened my eyes to make sure there wasn't a creepy murderer in my room. It startled me for sure, and I couldn't go back to sleep after that! Nobody else was awake yet, though, so I couldn't just get up: I just laid in bed, paralyzed with fear--it took me a while to slow down my rapid heart rate, get my breathing under control, and calm down my fearful thoughts! 

July 29: After spending 3 long, fun-filled days on vacation, we arrived back at home at midnight last night. Today is the first day all summer that the twins have slept in! Our family vacation obviously wore them out, as I've never seen them sleep in past 10am before!

July 31: I treated myself to an early birthday gift by coming to Boise to visit my friend Krissy. We had the best night together: eating at the Cheesecake Factory til we were way past full (we didn't even have to wait to be seated--bonus!), and watching Magic Mike XXL in the theater (it was WAY better than the first one, which coincidentally we also watched together in the theater for my birthday 3 years ago).