June 2019

I printed off our Summer Bucket List which will be displayed for the next 3 months.

My June decorations are all about summer food, so this seemed appropriate for our letter board.

Rog took Peyton on a date to go rock climbing. They drove up to the Rec Center in Vancouver, Washington because all the places in Portland are crazy expensive.

The boys and I met them at Wendy's after for Frostys since they were only 50 cents.

Dance picture week. On Monday Peyton had her ballet pictures.

On Tuesday she had her tumble pictures.

And on Thursday I had my tap picture. No individuals for me this year.  They were lucky to get me in the group picture. 😂

I pulled out a bunch of blocks that I had been meaning to make for forever. Melissa gave me this card for my birthday and it was just too pretty to throw away, so I turned it into a birthday decoration.

I've had the paper cut out for these summer blocks for a few years now. It felt so good to get them made!

It took me some time to come up with how to do the stripes on this ice cream cone. I considered using a brown Sharpie, but worried it would be too dark. Then I realized I could use a white colored pencil and that worked perfectly!

I made this President Nelson print for my homemade Christmas gift for family last Christmas. I put them in a frame since that was a whole lot easier than making blocks for everyone, but I wanted mine on a block. I finally got it done. He's only been the President of the Church for a year and a half now...

Logan and I spent a lot of this week making Logan a chore board to match Corbyn and Peyton's.

Logan had been resisting our morning walks and one morning it occurred to me that I should let him walk. He's much more willing to walk than sit in a stroller, so that made it a whole lot easier to get him to come with me. He can definitely keep up with me and soon enough he'll be walking while I push a baby in a stroller. 

He always would point out this double mailbox from the stroller and was even more excited to point it out when he was out of the stroller.

National Donut Day. We never pass up an opportunity for a free donut!

They had a special Toy Story 4 event for Disney Visa cardholders at the Disney Store. When I signed up I was thinking it was on a school day, so I only signed up me and Logan. When I realized it was on a Saturday, I tried to add Corbyn and Peyton, but all the spots were full. So it was a date for me and Logan... because I never get to spend time with just Logan. 😂 (At that point school was still in for the big kids but not for him, so I got to spend A LOT of time with just Logan.)

They played some games. This one he was throwing balls into the tubes.

And this one he was cheering on Woody.

He got Ducky and Bunny as a prize and he couldn't have been happier.

That evening the Yates watched our kids while we went on our date. We did picked up Chick-fil-A to eat on the way, did initiatories at the temple, and then drove to the Hobbs' house to see it since their realtor had dropped off their keys. Then we were planning on going to Salt and Straw, but we drove there and the line was way too long!

We had Chicken and Veggie Skewers for dinner on Sunday and everyone helped skewer them. The kids usually have to be forced to eat the zucchini and yellow squash and then have to gag them down, but they seem to have made some progress since last summer. I'm sure the marinade didn't hurt.

The kids had field day on one of the hottest days of the year so far. It was in the 90s and I was so glad I hadn't signed up to help! Erin sent me this picture of Kinley and Peyton. They look hot!

We had two horrible days in the 90s followed by a day in the high 80s. The schools don't have air conditioning here, so those were some miserable days for the teachers and students. I only left our house when absolutely necessary and I've never appreciated our air conditioning more. (Fortunately since then we've had a very mild summer so far and I'm thinking I may actually survive until Easton comes.)

I hosted a Book Swap Party for book club that was very poorly attended (just me and two other ladies), but we had a good time. We had read Front Desk and all three of us had actually read the book, so we had a great discussion about that and exchanged our books. I picked What Alice Forgot for my book and received The Art of Hearing Heartbeats. 

I made S'mores Chocolate Chip Cookies for the party and Rog declared them the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever made.

We had our last playgroup before playgroup takes a break for summer, so I braved the heat and took Logan. It was already 82 degrees at 10:12 am! I snacked on the leftover grapes and strawberries from book club and stayed in the shade the entire time. Otherwise I would have melted.

I helped with an end-of-school party for Peyton's class. We had some money to use up, so I made these chalk gifts for the students.

As well as these Airhead treats. (Added You're not, so they read You're not Airheads.)

We made sea creatures out of cupcake liners with dot markers. These were my examples.

At the actual party I thought I was going to die of heat + starvation. (It was the day in the high 80s.) The other room mom had ordered pizza for the kids and I had planned on having some for my lunch, but there wasn't enough, so I ended up having to wait until I got home to eat. In addition to making the sea creatures and eating pizza and Otter Pops, we also had a little award ceremony where they each got an award and an Airhead. I was seriously laughing when Peyton got her award because having good sportsmanship is not something Peyton is known for at our house. Many tears have been shed when she loses a game at home, but I'm glad to hear she's a good sport at school.

I finished up my Chamomile quilt and got it sent off to Just In Time Quilts to be machine quilted.

I also made these cards for our dads.

And these treats for them and mailed them off. (Mike's with a birthday card for him and the Chamomile Quilt for Dixie.)

Corbyn brought home this mask he made in music.

When I was cutting the vinyl for the kids' teacher gifts, I also cut vinyl for this project. It wasn't one of my projects I had scheduled for the year, so it was a fun bonus to get it done!

Recital Saturday! There was a 1:00 show, a 4:00 show, and a 7:00 show. Between me and Peyton, we had 3 dances and it turned out that we had one in each show. It was a long day (especially for the boys), but we survived. My tap dance was in the 1:00 show. Two years ago when I was in the recital, I had made one small mistake  and I really didn't want to make any this time, so I practiced the dance over and over backstage. I didn't really realize I had been doing it at hyper speed, so when I got on stage and did it with the music it felt so slow! But I guess it worked because I didn't make any mistakes!

I never imagined I'd be tapping in a recital at almost 34 weeks, but the ladies in my class talked me into it. I don't know how much longer I could have kept it up, so I was glad to have the recital over with. I knew a few of the girls also performing in the 1:00 show (Kinley Martyn, Samantha Dullum, and Chelsi Din), so I made sure to watch them from backstage. I was a little embarrassed knowing that their parents were out in the audience watching me, but they were all so nice and complementary. 

Peyton's Tumble I class was in the 4:00 show (at the very beginning). She was bored backstage and wished both of her dances could have been in the same show to give her something to do. (Won't be a problem next year since she's trying out for team and if she makes it she'll be in a lot of dances.)

Rog and the boys left right after the 4:00 show to get us Panda Express for dinner while I got Peyton ready for the next show. When they got back we barely had time to quickly eat dinner before the next show started.

Her Ballet I class was in the 7:00 show (also in the very beginning). She didn't complain as much about being bored for that one, so maybe she had some more friends backstage for that show.

We stopped at Wendy's on the way home to get some Frostys for a treat. They were not 50 cents anymore which was disappointing. We were all tired after a full day in that hot auditorium. It was not air conditioned and we were grateful it hadn't been a hotter day than it was.

The next day was Father's Day. Rog and Corbyn both wanted cinnamon rolls for their breakfast, but I convinced Rog to pick something else. He picked Puffed French Toast which is something he normally cooks because he does most of the frying at our house.

We had stake conference and then Rog stayed after for a few minutes to give the Melchizedek Priesthood to someone he ministers to. When he got home he opened his gifts from the kids. They had made him ties in Primary with Hershey's bars attached to the back. Corbyn and Peyton had made him gifts at school too. Finally I had made a puzzle on Shutterfly for him with pictures from our trip to Olympic National Park. I mostly did pictures of him with the kids, but threw in a few others as well. Corbyn had already changed out of his church clothes and was trying to hide that in this picture. His floating head cracks me up.

For dinner he requested roast with mashed potatoes. I totally spaced the baby carrots I usually put in with the roast, so we had corn instead as well as rolls. For dessert we had apple dumplings.

The next day was a big day. It was Corbyn's birthday, the last day of school, and the day the Hobbs arrived in Oregon. We started the day out with his presents. He got Mario Maker 2 for the Switch (want). It didn't come out until June 28th, so he had to wait for that one.

A new scooter (need), a Star Wars swimsuit (wear), and the entire Roald Dahl collection (read).

Cinnamon rolls for breakfast!

And then it was off to school for his last day of 3rd grade.

And Peyton's last day of 1st grade.

I made Mrs. Boyes a pencil as I have for all of Corbyn's teachers. She said it was the first thing she has received with her name on it to put on her desk and she's been teaching for a long time! Mrs. Christensen already had a pencil from when Corbyn was in her class, so she got a crayon. Rog and Peyton both asked her what her favorite color is (which she probably thought was weird, but then I'm sure it made sense when she received it).

Logan and I got ready for the day and then went to the school to pick up Corbyn's epi pens and take some pictures. Peyton and her two best friends - Peyton C and Ella. Sadly Peyton C has to go to the new school opening in the fall, so this was goodbye.

I'm so sad the year is over because we love Mrs. Christensen so much. Hoping she'll still be teaching when Logan and Easton are in 1st grade - then she can retire!

I wasn't so sure about Mrs. Boyes at the beginning of the year because I had heard some bad things about her from Melissa (Kingston had her last year), but I had no issues with her.

Then Logan and I drove to the airport to pick up the Hobbs. We came home and I made snickerdoodles (Corbyn's request for his birthday treat) while we waited for the kids to get home from school. They played until Rog got home from work and then we went to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner. 

When we got home we did FaceTime with Grandma Lori and Papa George and sang to Corbyn.

The next day was the start of summer. I took all the kids except Grey to the park to play while I walked laps. Blake showed Peyton how he could skip two bars, so Peyton had to practice until she could do it too.

That afternoon we went to the splash pad at the Happy Valley park for our first Time to Get Wet Tuesday. It wasn't super warm, but the kids didn't seem to mind.

We had dinner and then Diana watched all the kids while we went on a hospital tour. Since I had all my other babies at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center (now Utah Valley Hospital), I wanted to check out where I would be delivering this time around before the time comes. We were the only people there who weren't having our first baby.

Peyton had a wiggly tooth that was ready to come out, so I pulled it out for her. When Rog went to be the tooth fairy that night he found this note. This little girl of ours is just the cutest.

Our Cinemark has a Summer Movie Clubhouse where they show a kid movie every Wednesday at 10:00 for $1.00 or you can purchase a punch card for all 10 movies for $5. I bought us punch cards and we have been enjoying our Watch a Movie Wednesday. This first movie was the Grinch (the newest version) which seemed super weird in June, but we actually hadn't seen it yet and we enjoyed it.

This night we watched the Yates for their turn for date night swap. With their 4 we had a total of 10 kids!

For Take a Picnic Thursday we went to the big slides in Happy Valley. My friends were always posting about these slides and I didn't know where they were, so I finally asked and found their hidden location. It was kind of raining off and on, but there was a picnic table under a tree and it worked out that it was barely sprinkling while we were there. The kids had the best time going down the slide and creating a pile up of kids at the bottom. Grey going down at the end with his arms behind his head was the best part. Skyler isn't in this video or the pictures because she was having an epic meltdown over wanting a drink of water. We actually have a video of all the kids cheering for her to come join them and her crying, but I'll spare you that. 

After we'd been there for awhile it started pouring rain, so we hurried to the car and went home. It was time for me to start getting ready for Corbyn's birthday party that night anyway, so the rain was perfectly timed.

Last year Rog decided that 8 is the last year the kids get a big birthday party, so this year was Corbyn's first year of a "simple party". We did a How to Train Your Dragon 3 movie night with pizza and cake.

I found these blank How to Train Your Dragon movie ticket invitations here.

I took pictures as I decorated the cake. I started with a plain Oreo Cake...

Added Pirouette cookies around the outside...

Added a river/waterfall...

Added grass...

And then held my breath waiting for the dragon figures to arrive. Usually our Amazon deliveries are in the early afternoon, but this one waited until just before the party to show up.

I kept the decorations simple with just a few balloons. I kept meaning to make a banner, but never got around to it.

The treat bags were full of Swedish Fish (dragon bait) and each bag also had a dragon figure in them. I had bought these figures from Walmart which were cheaper and not as cool as a backup for if the better figures didn't arrive for the cake. Now we have a bunch of dragon figures, but it's ok because Corbyn legitimately plays with them.

"Thanks for coming! Enjoy some dragon bait! - Corbyn"

I printed off some How to Train Your Dragon pictures from here, cut them out with a circle punch, and stuck them on the popcorn boxes I had leftover from his Star Wars party last year.

We had two choices of popcorn - regular butter popcorn and Boom Chicka Pop (kettle corn). 

We made some strawberry kiwi Kool-aid and got down the red Torani flavors we had - watermelon and red raspberry.

We ordered five pizzas - four with a bunch of different combinations of toppings and one cheese. All the kids wanted cheese, but luckily when the cheese ran out they started eating the others. 😂 I ordered them on a deal for 2 topping pizzas, so it seemed silly to order a bunch of cheese. 

Eating pizza and enjoying their drinks - Corbyn, Emery Martyn, Chayse Yates, Kingston Yates.

After they ate we started the movie. Corbyn, Logan, Owen Sullivan, Emery Martyn, Kingston Yates, Chayse Yates, and Cousin Blake.

The girls - Kinley Martyn and Peyton.

Then we opened presents...

And cut into the cake.

It was a fun and easy party. I actually was grateful to not feel like I had to go all out being 8 months pregnant.

Diana wanted to take a belly picture which just isn't fair because you can hardly tell she's pregnant (she's 14 weeks behind me - due early November).

For Something Fun Friday we went to the Portland Japanese Garden with a cultural pass from the library. It's not terribly big and it's kind of insane how much they charge for regular admission. The kids really weren't that into it, so I was glad we got in for free! It was beautiful though.

Diana had taken Grey on some errands and was meeting us there. By the time she got there all of the kids (except for Peyton) were done with the garden, so I took them to the park while Diana, Grey, and Peyton enjoyed the garden.

Logan can pretty much do the monkey bars all by himself, but he doesn't think he can. These short bars were perfect for him because he could practice without feeling like he was going to fall too far.

That night we went to the Tigard Balloon Festival. We had always wanted to go, but waking up at 5:00 am to get over to Tigard by 5:45 am for the morning festival just never seems all that appealing. So we went for the night glow - they blow up the balloons and light them up at night. They don't take off like they do in the morning, but at least we got to see the balloons. We didn't realize they charge for parking and admission though, so that was a bummer and it really made us miss the free balloon festival that's part of the Freedom Festival in Provo for the 4th of July!

On Saturday Rog had the kids help him paint some boards for his shed and we went to our ward's cultural night. They had booths set up where we learned about different cultures (and tasted food from that culture) from ward members who were born in other countries or served their missions there. Rog did a booth about Louisiana. I made beignets for him, but I should have doubled the batch because he ran out pretty quickly!

On Sunday the Hobbs came to church with us. We had expected their moving van to arrive by this point, but the moving company was taking their time even though they had promised it would only take 5 days, so we settled in for another week with them.

Peyton had a hard time with Skyler most of the time (she's 2 years younger and right now that gap is a big one), but she liked helping give the younger 3 a bath in our master bath every night.

On Monday we made caterpillar clothespins for Make Something Monday.

Tuesday is discount day at Cinemark, so we decided to go see Toy Story 4 that day. Rog was able to sneak away from work for a few hours in the morning to see it with us. We enjoyed it, but it wasn't our favorite Toy Story movie. There are a few creepy characters I could have done without and the ending is just so sad! Apparently it was just too bright outside because we could not get Corbyn and Logan to look normal for this picture.

For Time to Get Wet Tuesday we jumped on the tramp with the sprinkler underneath.

I also got out the water table and cleaned it for the littles to use. 

We saw How to Train Your Dragon (the original) for Watch a Movie Wednesday.

This evening we watched the Martyns for their date night swap. Their 2 are easy, so it wasn't quite as crazy as it was with the Yates.

It was really rainy on Thursday, so we skipped our picnic and went swimming at the North Clackamas Aquatic Park instead. I had never gone swimming while pregnant before (at least not when I no longer fit in a regular swimsuit). Diana had brought her maternity swimsuit and her regular swimsuit and still fit well enough in her regular one, so she let me borrow her maternity one. (No pictures from this adventure.)

I would often find Corbyn reading his book when he needed an escape from all the chaos of having 6 kids under 9 in one house.

This evening we went on our date while the Martyns watched our kids. The Primary had a teacher appreciation dinner that night (that Rog was invited to because he is the counselor over Primary), so we went to that together and then went to get a slice of cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory.

For Something Fun Friday we did Pay Your Age at Build a Bear. They did it differently this year. You had to sign up to be entered to win a chance to do it. We "won" a chance to make two bears, so Peyton got to pick one and the boys got to pick one to share. 

Peyton picked a mermaid bear and the boys picked Bowser.

While we were at the mall we stopped at Barnes and Noble to get Corbyn his birthday cookie from the kids club.

When we got home, Rog was working from home and had just finished up. He had the big 3 help him with the shed for a bit before dinner.

That night Erin threw me the most perfect shower. Diana came with me and Rog watched all 6 of the kids. He took them to the park with Brenton Yates and Ryan Sullivan. There were 14 kids between the 3 of them since they also took the Martyn kids. (Kellen was working and got home partway through.) In addition to the ladies pictured here (Diana, Lindsey Sullivan, me, Melissa Yates, and Erin), Tracy Bond and Krislyn Willes also came. Erin made a delicious dinner for us and the Lindsey had come up with some super fun games - most of them Disney themed.

On Saturday Rog took the big 3 to the Hobbs' house and they worked on a few projects there. 

While they were working on taking off the tile backsplash, Rog cut his face.

While they did that I took the little 3 to Wippersnappers and Diana packed up to move to their house. Their stuff still hadn't arrived, but my parents and Jared, Cailey, Madison, and Linn were coming on Monday and she wanted to give us a couple day break before they got here. We felt bad sending them away with air mattresses, a tv, and a few other borrowed essentials, but there wasn't going to be room for everyone at our house and it was nice to have a couple days of peace and quiet before the madness began again.

When we got home from Wippersnappers, Diana took Skyler and Grey to her house. Rog waited until they got there and then he brought Corbyn and Peyton to meet me and Logan at Salt and Straw. I picked up some pizza for dinner and then we got Salt and Straw as a reward for the kids for being so good and patient while the Hobbs were staying with us. It wasn't easy on anyone to have them stay with us for that long, but the kids were great. We're excited to have the Hobbs here in Portland, but it's much better when we can live in our own houses and just see each other periodically.

The July flavors had just come out, so we got our first tastes of Birthday Cakes and Blackberries for the year. 😍😍😍

When I could find a minute (not very often), I would escape to my craft room and quilt to have a break from the madness. I finished up blocks 3-6 of the Rise Quilt. 

Peyton organized the junk drawer all on her own.

And that was our crazy month of June!