July 20-24, 2009: Fair Week

This week was fair week! Olivia was the only one in 4-H this year. (The boys have had quite enough of that however and plan to do a project or two next year). She did a horse project. We had interviews, booth decorating, practicing, horse washing, horse show, Jr. Rodeo and helping in the food booth. Olivia won first in her class for showmanship this year. Yeah!

In addition to Olivia's requirements for the week we watched the dairy show (it was at 1 PM verses all the other shows at 8AM). We ate yummy fair food and looked at all booths. We also rode in the parade and through candy for Alex's business.

We were also able to sneak away from the fair for a while and spend time with our home school friends we haven't seen this summer. Why is it that we only see our home school friends during 9 months of the year? The kids swam on our friends lake among other things.

July 13-17, 2009: Another great summer week.

Mmmm. Where to begin? We are enjoying another wonderful week of summer. The kids have swam several times. Alex and I had to go up to girl's camp for "Bishopric Night." We didn't get home until 1 AM. It was fun to see everyone though. It was weird realizing that only two months ago I would have been there before all the calling changes.

Luke and Jared worked on writing stories a lot. I spent some time teaching Luke about quotation marks and basic editing. We finally started Leven Thumps as a read-a-loud with the kids.

Olivia has been busy with 4-H things. Next week is fair. Yeah! Next week will be crazy. She's only doing a horse project. Olivia and I went to a book club for The Secret Garden.

We went to see Night at the Museum 2 at the $3 movie theater. The kids liked it and were glad that they went.

That's the basic run down.

July 6-10, 2009

We are really enjoying summer! I am still working hard on not doing anything but having fun and relaxing in the months of July and August.

This past week we had a Primary Activity Day. The theme was pioneers. The kids learned how to make butter (okay they already new this one), ate homemade bread, learned about taffy, played pioneer games, sang pioneer songs, made their own rope, and pulled a handcart. They had a lot of fun.

They also had their last week of swimming lessons. They did really good and are getting stronger and stronger each year.

We also had a family reunion in Boise for my side of the family. We went to the zoo, a park, had a yummy family dinner, played "career games," saw a late night movie at a local park, went to a state park, had a ping-pong tournament, swam at a lake, rode a water slide all afternoon, had a barbecue, and sang happy birthday to my sister. It was great fun!

Caleb had a birthday! He's 7 now. All he wanted was "real" cowboy clothes, a cowboy hat and spurs.

Luke continues to write stories on the computer. He's also spent a lot of time drawing the characters from his story so we can visualize them with him.

Jared enjoyed swimming a lot and has played hard.

Olivia continues to work on her 4-H horse project. She's also reading a lot, cooking a lot and creating things....

I took a BYU midterm. It was the hardest test I've taken so far. Whew! I've also read 3 more Work and the Glory books and a youth fiction with Olivia.

Alex keeps working hard. He's swam with the kids a lot and been just a GREAT dad.

It was another great summer week. We are so happy.

June 29-July 3, 2009: Swimming

This week the kids started week one of swimming lessons. The kids love to swim and it's been great that the sun as come to see us this summer.

We celebrated Alex's birthday on Monday. We went camping Monday night for FHE.

The kids have been doing some free reading, I read 4 Work and the Glory books, studied for my midterm and we've played on Wii Fitness.

The temple is back open again so Alex and I were able to go this week and enjoy a date.

We are finally really enjoying summer.

June 21-26, 2009 Yes, we are alive

So for the rest of the summer I'm just going to do a weekly post. There's not a lot "academic" going on. We are taking July and August off of all our scholar classes, Greek classes, no music lessons, etc.

This past week two of the boys had cub scout day camp. I was "able" (haha) to go with them for the full day. On Friday and Saturday Alex and I went to Youth Conference which was up in the mountains.

Olivia's been working on horse riding and 4-H. The kids have played 30 min of Wii Fitness everyday. They've all really enjoyed it. It's a great program and I recommend it.

We've been listening to Story of the World in the car as well as Spanish.