Summer etc

The morning of Weston's baptism I saw this heart on the fridge door. Fiora knew I would go straight to the fridge when I woke up, she also somehow knew I'd forget she lost her bottom canine tooth even though I put $2 right by my alarm clock to remind myself, so she very thoughtfully placed a sticky note reminder on the fridge.  It worked.

Fiora has been plagued this week by infected ingrown toenails.  She has just the right kind of toe to be very susceptible to infections and ingrowings, and I'm not sure what to do about it, her toenails don't grow long enough or strong enough to be cut straight, nor do they have enough room to shove cotton underneath.  She may face a future toenail surgery in order to combat infections.

This summer I have been taking the kids to the library to get books they love to inspire them to read, and only Fiora will voluntarily read those selected books.  But I have found Savanna really gets into a book if I read it to her out loud, so we read "Island of the Blue Dolphins" in its entirety in this fashion.  I started reading "11 Birthdays" out loud and gave up about 1/3 the way into it, but she got into it enough to finish it on her own. I read only 3 pages of "Ever" out loud, then read the rest in my head to myself and loved it, and am hoping she will pick it up herself, its tough to read a whole chapter book out loud!

Savanna reminds me almost daily that we are not taking advantage of our summer by having fun each and every day. She is mortified that we have been swimming only twice, and have never slept on the tramp, and don't go camping or anything like that.  I truly do feel bad that I'm not a more "fun" mom.  My idea of having fun in the summer is reading on my deck watching the sunset, or jogging in the morning during the sunrise, and anything that does not involve getting wet or sleeping outside.  The summer is Jared's busy season, so ironically he recreates less in the summer than the spring and fall so he isn't exactly a fun parent either, although he has been taking time to play catch with the kids in the backyard which they love.

We give the kids only 3 dollars a week for allowance and somehow Weston manages to save up a load of cash in his wallet while the girls have a dollar here or there and can't seem to remember what they've spent their allowance on.  Weston wants to spend everything he saves on toys, he just today was begging me to take him to the store so he could spend his $25.00 on a Ninjago vehicle, and while its not the way Jared and I would like to see him use his money, at least he manages to keep track of it (the girls are soon to lose their allowance privilege if we continue to feel like we are throwing money down a deep dark hole when we give it to them.)

We spent the 4th of July in Gunnison and having a full knowledge of what would happen took the kids to their parade where they got sacks full of candy.  The kids enjoyed riding a pony and a horse and having dinner with the Schauers and spending time with Grandpa Neil. We watched fireworks and enjoyed the company of the Snows.  Jared took Weston out shooting BB guns which he thought was pretty cool.  Sounds fun right? We do have fun sometimes, just not constantly as Savanna would like.

Other than the kids' news, this summer has been very dry and hot and we all pray for rain. My sister Rachel turned 14 last Saturday, and my Dad turned 58 on Monday, which ends Barrett birthday season for a little while. My sister Karli is doing magnificently on her mission, we love to read her letters.