Wilkinsons come to visit!

 My cousin Rachelle Wilkinson from Texas braved a 2 1/2 week road trip with her 7 kids Riley, Kaiya, Kassidy, Kyndall, Rustin, Kaydence, and Ryder. Well they didn't come just for us, they had lots of places to go and people to see in Utah, but they did get to stay at our home, which was awesome! So glad we have room for them all. Rachelle is so funny and smart, and her kids are adorable and well behaved. Fiora totally bonded with Kaiya and Savanna loved getting to know Riley and playing with and herding the quints.  These guys have a lot of stamina, they didn't need much sleep and packed in a lot of activities in the 5 days they were here. First picture is Wilkinson kids enjoying their first breakfast at the "Schauers Bed and Breakfast." The kids were very polite about trying all my food. The following is an account of what we got to do with them. We had a really fun week.

They arrived late Monday night, so we just hustled to bed, I snapped this "arrival" picture the next morning.

Sav took a head-fan selfie with the girls

 

Kaydence and Ryder waiting to open their gifts

Fiora and Savanna crashed their bowling at BYU party, which was awesome because that's when Sav, Riley, Kaiya, and Fiora really got to know each other.

Jamin' to "Hey Soul Sister" on the ukulele

 Friday was Pioneer day and the Wilkinsons reserved the day to hang with us! Since it was a holdiay I didn't have to work so we got to party all day. We took them to the Battle Creek waterfall in the morning, to swim at our neighbors pool, Savanna did manicures for all the girls, and we had a family dinner/party in the evening with the Barretts. At the party we sung Happy Birthday to the quints, they kept blowing out the candles before the cantata was done! We played badminton, red rover, watched fireworks, and had homemade ice cream with peach cobler. It was really a perfect day!

Friday hike to the waterfall in PG

little kid big kid pose

Love a good bridge picture

Quints at Steve Barsh's pool, he got a kick out of them.

 

Singing the birthday cantata to the quints

Dad photo bombing the girl pic

Have to take a picture with all the kids, such a novelty!

Sav with all her manicures

 Saturday morning we took the quints with us to our Stake Pioneer Day breakfast. They had some pioneer crafts, twister, and other games there. They got a lot of attention, I can't imagine how Rachelle feels going places and getting inquiries and exclamations all the time! We all went to the Rappleye reunion that afternoon and said goodbye. Hopefully we can take a road trip to Texas next year, we loved hanging with these guys!!!

Pioneer paper dolls

Jared took the kids on a quick 4 wheeler ride before they left

Summer

EEEK I can't believe its July 19th already. Better write how things have been this month before July is totally over.
First there was the 4th of July. We celebrated at Justin Schauers' with a big barbecue in his neighbor's awesome yard with a great view of the Orem Provo valley. We watched lots of fireworks all over, not just stadium fireworks go off anymore, these days people spend thousands of dollars on huge fireworks all over the valley. 

 We went to see Inside Out with lots of the Barretts because they were going and invited us, and its awesome! Go see it, so fun and full of analogies, metaphors, hidden parallels, and mental health truths. Right up my alley. Rachel turned 17 and we celebrated her birthday at my parents. I was able to take her, my mom and grandma to lunch and it was so fun. She is a joy and so grateful she is part of our family!

 Savanna's been spending half her life over at Justin and Shawnas earning money for her phone. We are proud of her for the work ethic she is developing. She took this picture, not sure why, but sometimes this is how she looks when she has to go "back to work." She really does love Bailey, Ethan, and Tate, and tries to be very patient. Justin said she was a life saver with him working so much and Shawna being so pregnant this summer. We love you Savanna. Keep up the hard work!

Fiora made her own chocolate chips, made her own gluten free batter, and then made chocolate chip cookies. They were chocolate volcano cookies, but tasted pretty darn good. They still spiked my insulin and I felt a bit sick, I love having a sensitive pancreas. It's the best. I took a selfie of the new blazer my friend gave me. I'm getting old, but my friend said I was smokin. LOL

 Fiora has been pet sitting for our neighbors, they are paying her, but sometimes I think she would pay them to let her come play with their dogs and take care of their chickens. She loves animals so much. Our cat gets lots of loving from Fiora. This last week she decided she had to have some fish, so she did some extra chores and gave me all the cash she had earned this summer and bought herself three fish and a new tank. She was so happy.

 My dad turned 61. Jared and I took him and my mom out for mexican food to celebrate, but the whole family got together at Timpanogos park the next Monday to play kick ball and sing happy birthday. It was fun to play ball with all the nieces and nephews. My dad, whose pancreas I inherited, is trying to back off sugar too, so he had candles in a pizza for his birthday. Ha ha.

 Savanna went to Youth Conference this year at Snow College. She had a great time, staying in dorms with friends and doing lots of activities and a dance. She had mostly positive reports when she got home which is a good thing. She was pretty tired though! Staying up late and getting up early and being active for 3 days wore her out.

 Our nephew Titus Jonathan Carpenter surprised us all and came 3 weeks early July 17th! Heidi and Gabe were radiant with joy. It went very well and Heidi went 100% natural, no complications except they had to change hospitals in the middle of labor because she was goign with a midwife VBAC and they had no doctor on staff to stand by for an emergency c section. Lame! But Heidi handled it with heroic strength. I got there right after he was born and shared in their triumph. He is a cutie!

 We trimmed our plum tree last fall and it was trimmed in such a way that there is just enough space for a nice swing, which I finally purchased last week. It is so darling, I love it. I've been trying to keep my yard looking nice this year and it was a nice finishing touch.

Fiora swinging and taking a selfie, talented

 

Not pictured: Jared took us up to his friend's cabin to have a dinner and go four wheeling, which was fun. Weston had a AAG Team pool party which was a nice reward for all his work, he is learning a lot of new skills for level 8 he is excited about. I finally got some hiking poles and love them, don't know how I've never hiked without them! Took the girls to the temple last week and did lots of names I found from golden hints and Ancestry.com. Our ward choir sang my mom's pioneer hymn medley and it was awesome! Always lots going on! We are so blessed.