Ghetto Barbie

Some kids have the Barbie Dream House.

But the lucky kids build their's out of scrap wood....it's way more fun.

This has the added bonus of freeing up funds for the new hospital wing. These ladies are in dire need.

Toothpick crutches don't pay for themselves.

Sabbath Discovery

We were just minding our own business and singing Book of Mormon stories after a very lovely home sacrament meeting when we realized that there are LOADS of verses to that song...

And we couldn't resist singing them all.

Mark provided the questionably offensive raindance strumming.

You really never know what's gonna happen in Hufford First Ward.

Summer Theater Troupe

Mari did it again!

She found a script, cast the parts and scheduled the rehearsals.

The first couple were during our post-vacation quarantine....

They memorized their lines and held only 2 in person rehearsals!

The big night arrived and we all gathered in the Guenther backyard for the show.

Megan did the cover artwork....free hand!

It was so great! And really funny! They all played multiple characters and everyone memorized their lines so well. It went off without a hitch.

Nerdy Mathew with his stinky tuna sandwich

Megan ran the props and stage management. She loves to be a part, but really prefers the backstage. Here organizational skills really have a chance to shine!

Laney introducing a new scene with Alex Secor

Crazy choir auditions....check out Laney's face!

Mathew's off-tune solo...(it was on purpose!)

The end!

I wish we could do this every night!

Reimagined

The girls love to find their old artwork and recreate it...it's so fun to see what they can do with their original ideas now that they are older and have more skills under their belts.

Here is one of Megan's latest:

age 10

age 15

I mean....come on!!

Handsome

Mathew was invited to a formal party with his "Spring Hill Friends".

They were trying to recreate the prom they all missed when school was cancelled. He was one of three boys that showed up. And the others wore athletic shorts.

I'd say, they were dang lucky to have him!

And I was bitterly disappointed that he wouldn't let me sneak in to snag some photos.

Good thing I have my L1 certification in social media stalkery.

High Fashion

The girls are feverishly producing one-of-a-kind clothing for their barbies. There is felt and hot glue EVERYWHERE.  The messes have reached unprecedented proportions. 

I keep finding these adorable little miniature accessories all over. They melt my heart!

Barbie-size sheet music....charming!

An itty bitty box of chocolates...precious!

Little toilet filled with melted chocolate......oh. Oh no.

No no no.

Money talks

On February 28th, I took advantage of a sunny day to start restaining the fence.  Today we finished... just 8 days shy of 6 months later. I think we can all agree that that time frame represents an impressive level of commitment to procrastination. 

In the end. 

I paid them. 

I told the kids I would pay 5 dollars per panel. The offer was good for two days. After that, we'd all go out together to finish and they would be rewarded with room and board and high fives. 

Anna and Everly ran upstairs for their painting clothes. They have BIG barbie needs. 

They knocked it out and they are ready to do some shoppin!

And the fence is done!!!

Like a fish

Last summer we ended 4 weeks of swim lessons with the teacher advising that we "take a little break" because Everly was getting so worked up over getting in the water. She was in tears before she even got her toes wet.

This year, we thought we'd be super tricky and hire Everly's most beloved Kylie to be her swim teacher.

More tears. And terrified clutching.

So we let Kylie off the hook and I took over. We started out with just trying to get our noses under the water and blow a few bubbles.

Then it was convincing her that she had already learning the hard part...what harm is there in looking around in the water with goggles on.

Then we brought quarters in from the car and let her find them on the stairs in the shallow end.

And then she just took over and taught herself the rest. She'd ask everyday to go to the pool so she could practice. Once she figured out that she could actually reach the bottom in that side of the pool, she was unstoppable.

Before you know it, all she had left was to get her little legs to kick out behind her and start propelling herself forward. Mark promised her he'd get her most coveted unicorn dress if she could figure it out.

She didn't need to hear that twice.

She's a swimmer, folks! And she has decided she won't be running away before her baptism, after all.

Limping along

Sunday mornings have become a struggle. 

We're tired and everyone has given 47 talks and sometimes we only have 6 day old bread for the sacrament. 

We are ready to go back. 

But first, Everly will play Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam on her brand new ukulele. 

Free time

Picture this.

Mark and I sitting on the steps just inside the garage. Looking around at the nasty white walls that show every bump and scuff from the last 14 years. We think about painting. We talk about the color. Would grey be too dark? What about a fresh white coat? But dude. It's summer and it's SOOO hot in that garage. We should do something like that in the fall. 

And then we walk away and we have the same conversation in a year. (We are having way to much fun in the fall to ruin it by painting the garage.)

But this year. 

This year is different. We've got nothing better to do and we have plenty if time to burn. And as we sat on that step this time, all those old conversations came flooding back into my mind and I remembered that once or twice, I promised we'd do that for his birthday.  

Or Father's Day. 

Anniversary......

There's only one thing to do.....CARPE PANDIEM!

We picked a color. Bought the supplies and decided to do the "one wall at a time" method. There is way to much stuff in there to take it all off at the same time. 

Spackling those walls. My word. You have no idea. 

Mark and I make the perfect painting team. I love the trim. I love to cut it in with a high quality brush. That feeling you get when you first see that new color against the white ceiling. It makes me smile just thinking about it. Then he comes in and rolls it out. We are totes MFEO.

The first wall done and we moved on to the tv wall. Look at that nastiness!

Doesn't that look so much better??

And the worst one. That's a lot of stuff to move. I'd bet a thousand dollars that there is at least one mouse family in there that are about to be super ticked.

Inevitably there comes a time in every project when we realize that we are both outside sweating and working and the kids are inside racking up shameful amounts of screen time.

We can take care of that.

It took us 4 days and 23 trips to Home Depot....but it's all done! And we LOVE it.

Happy Father's Birthiversary!

Stuff we eat: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

These are my kids favorite fall snack. So delicious and easy to cut down on the fat by replacing some of the oil with applesauce.

They love throwing them into their lunchboxes!

Pensacola: We'll miss you!

We made the drive in record time. Left at 6:20 am and pulled into our driveway at 9:30. The kids were troopers and mostly peed on command when one of them had to "go real bad". When we pull over, we all take advantage of it. Those are words to live by!

We're glad to be home and glad to have have some down time. We now get to quarantine for 14 days because Florida is on Kansas's list. No biggie. We have some shows to binge a chores to do. It'll give my shoulder more time to heal and I can start working on all the masks the kids will need for the start of school. All the kids decided to go back, rather than take the virtual option. So we will be figuring that out soon. It still feels like we are living in the twilight zone, but we're determined to weather it well.

On to our next adventure!

Pensacola: Crab Island and The World's Finest Sand Castle

Our last day in Pensacola. And our very best day too. We filled it with fun adventures and my favorite...working together to create the very best castle this world has ever seen. But more on that later. 

First! 

We rented pontoon boats to ride out to the Emerald Coast. 

I'm so glad Mark was there to drive the boat. I would have had a panic attack after hearing their barebones driving instructions. Also...he's so cute.

The kids loved it!

The Flynns were racing us in their pontoon. Boys love speed!

We pulled up to a spot in the bay that had gorgeous clear water. We put down the anchors and the kids just started jumping out of the boat!!

Turns out it's only about 3 feet deep. Perfect for snorkeling and tossing a football.

We spent a couple hours there, then we went over to Crab Island to do some more snorkeling. There are thousands of gorgeous shells there...each with a crab inside. It's fun to snorkel and check out the shells. Every once in a while you can find one without a tenant. Or maybe you think you found one until you give it to your wife to hold and the crab pops out and pinches her fingers. Ouch!

There were tons of fish swirling about our feet. I thought they were so cute. But then they started to bite and I didn't feel such loving feelings towards them.

The boys took a phone break while letting their cuts and scrapes dry out. Salt water doesn't mix well with open wounds.

I just couldn't get enough of this gorgeous water. Isn't it beautiful?

Everly was perfectly happy paddling around in her floaty. She probably spent more time in the water than any of us.

It was so fun to watch everyone laugh and play.

Mark and Todd snorkeling in the grassy areas....looking for empty shells and big blue crabs.

I was happy hanging out and watching everyone. Poor Laney's face was feeling pretty raw from her initial sunburn and the saltwater stung too much to be able to snorkel. Next time we'll do a better job of sunscreen so that we don't put a damper on the rest of our plans.

I sure love these kids!

We all went back to our places to grab a shower and take a quick nap. I knew it would be my only opportunity to prepare for tomorrow's drive home, so I dropped everyone off and ran to Walmart for some sandwich supplies and treats. We are doing everything we can to limit our exposure to everyone. So this should keep us from need to go through drive-thrus. It also saves a bunch of time and money!

We went back to the Flynn's for dinner and one last trip to the beach. The guys helped us cook dogs and burgers...

And Todd may have lit the grill on fire....

The kids snuggled up and watched a movie or two...Laynie was clearly enjoying the seating arrangements.

The kids also said their last goodbyes to the turtles and ducks in the pond behind the condo....

We walked down to the beach to soak it all in one last time. The sand is so soft...it was like a cross between sugar and baby powder.

We played spike ball

And frisbee....Mathew ran right into this hole...he dissolved into laughter, "What the heck is this hole doing here?!?" I love his cute face!

The Flynn girls and Layne had done their hair and make up so that they could do a photo shoot in the gorgeous light. It was fun to watch them laugh and pose. I would never have felt confident enough to do that at that age. 

They thought it would be fun to take our photo too! I'm glad they did!

Ethan had started working on a sandcastle.

I could't help but want to contribute to his city wall with a shell border...I love a good project.

Soon, the wall was done and we had decided to install seashell cobblestone in the castle courtyard. We recruited the kids to start gathering shells. Kylie ran back to the condo to retrieve the bucket of shells the family before them had left behind. Genius!

I'm not gonna lie. This is the kind of thing that makes me happiest. Everyone hunting for shells and helping each other. It makes me so happy!

The prettiest shells were saved for the finishing touches.

Isn't that the coolest castle you ever did see??

We found the biggest crab we could (or did she find us?) and handed over the keys to kingdom.

She didn't appreciate our relocation package. Not one bit.Turns out she was a mama...she was protecting her eggs. We apologized and showed her the way out.

It was the best day.  And somehow we still drove back to the Bnb, did laundry, packed, showered, ran a load of dishes and vacuumed out the van. Tomorrow we drive!