2019 :: week 23

June 2

Sunday evening I went for a walk. I haven't gone on as many walks as I would like to this summer, for a variety of reasons. As a mother of four I feel completely worn out most days. It is harder for me to get stuff done and I am learning to be okay with being less "productive." The pretty sky combined with the uplifting music I listened to while walking made me feel so much better about life. One of the best parts about getting older is really understanding that there are seasons to life, but it is so easy for me to forget and beat myself up for all I am not doing.

June 3

As I have mentioned before, Monday is our chore day. After Will's 9am piano lesson we headed to the car wash and got to work cleaning out the van. We hadn't vacuumed it since Miles was born and quite a bit of dust and dirt had accumulated. I spend a lot of time driving the van around and I enjoy it so much more when it isn't dirty.

June 4

Miles is 13 weeks old! He is staying awake and alert for longer periods. He smiles occasionally. He finds his siblings much more interesting than mom and dad, though he seems to feel safer when with a parent. Now that I am starting to get longer stretches of sleep at night--six and occasionally seven hours--I am feeling like a new woman! Miles does not enjoy tummy time, but he stops crying the moment you walk outside. I like to take him out back when nothing else will get him to stop crying. He seems to like the noise the leaves make when the wind blows.

June 5

We went to Sapling Grove Park with the Mansinghs Wednesday morning. Word must be getting out about the park (it was rebuilt and reopened last spring) because it was more crowded than I have ever seen it. The kids still had fun and I enjoyed visiting with Renee. After we played at the park we went to the neighboring elementary school and got the free lunch of the day, cheeseburgers.

June 6

Anthony left in the late afternoon to attend testimony meeting at Girl's Camp. That evening I took the kids to the pool and we had a wonderful time. There are many wonderful things about living so close to a pool, but walking over at night after dinner is up there.

June 7

Tuesday through Friday of this week Will attended a basketball camp at the high school. I signed him up Monday morning, so it was a pleasant surprise to find out that two of his buddies from school were at the camp too. Will had a fun time and especially enjoyed all the skills challenges. He was frustrated he never won the shoot outs--he came in second a few times.

June 8

Saturday we paid our first visit to the farmstead. My parents' realtor sponsors a customer appreciation event and is nice enough to include us as well. Lauren rode a horse, Will went fishing and Elliott fed a lot of goats. It was so hot and Anthony had to work, so we didn't stay as long as we would have liked to. That afternoon Will had a baseball game. That evening we had our friends the Staggs over for dinner. Their son Eli is leaving next week to go on a mission to Finland. As the only Finnish returned missionary in our stake Anthony took his responsibility of sharing his love of Finnish culture with Eli very seriously. We made salmon soup and ate it with rye bread, then topped it off with crepes and ice cream for dessert.