Simple Days

I will enjoy the simple days while they last. This upcoming school year should be pretty exciting, with 3 of my children in different schools, and Henry will be in half-day Kindergarten. I remember talking about this school year in the past, and wondering how it would go, and here it is... just weeks away from it being reality. 

For now I will just soak in the rest of these hot summer days, and I will enjoy sleeping in as much as I can. Soon it will be back to schedules and homework. I will say, I do love the coolness of Autumn, so that will be something to look forward to. And I do love all of the fun that is school too, and holidays, and, well, life. 

I love life. 

On to the pictures... 

I love Legos, don't you? If I had a dollar for every Lego I have stepped on, I could buy more Legos. (Legos are generally a Christmas item, they are pricey!) 

 A new shirt from Grandma and Grandpa.

Sunday morning with Henry. I like to listen to the Mormon Channel (Click HERE) while I get ready for church. There are some great podcasts on there. I enjoy listening to the, "Enduring it Well," episodes.

 This girl is turning 16 in 2 days! Eek! How is that possible?

 One thing about Goldendoodles is they are very social dogs... perhaps even clinging/needy dogs. Zoie will get in funny positions and peek in windows just to see what we are doing. She really, REALLY, likes to be with us, and very close to us. She will bury her head into me and try and get as smooshed next to me as possible.

 My sister sent Sammi a birthday package. It is a dating survival kit.

The instructions that came with the package... 

 When we go for drives Sammi likes to stick her head out the window.

I love this soup... it is SO GOOD. I am hungry. I wish I had this soup. 

Sammi working on a little something. 

William loves to build Legos, he builds every single day, coming up with some new creation... this airplane was huge and awesome. He made it himself, no manual, just imagination. 

A Sunday night walk with friends. 

I got this for Sammi when we went to see Phantom. 

Sammi likes to braid my hair sometimes. I love it... having my hair brushed/braided is the best. 

Making some cookies. 

Whenever I talk to my mom on the phone, Henry decides to do something crazy. He filled a toy dump truck up with dog food (you know, like boulders in the dump truck) and poured it all over the kitchen floor. Nice. Sometimes I talk to my mom for more than 2 hours, so he has plenty of time to be creative. (My parents are in Boston on a mission serving in the temple.) 

Just enjoying being outside. 

Sammi and I attempted to groom Zoie. She was seriously shaggy, and could not see, so we cleaned her up a bit. It is not perfect, but hey, I am not paying 100 dollars for the perfect dog cut. 

She can see! 

It was fun? Sort of? She seemed to enjoy it. 

And then she got a bath.

Ready to get dirty. 

Speaking of dirty... Sammi enjoyed playing "messy twister" at her choir party. 

Zoie is not the only one who needs a bit of grooming... it is always a struggle for me to want to cut William's hair, because it is so glorious as it grows out. 

Just one of the many ways I find Sammi reading.

Sometimes it is just nap time. 

Another creation. 

Goldendoodles are good with young kids they said... Ha! I have one complaint about Zoie, and that is how she goes after Henry. I totally get why, and I intervene, and never let them alone, but it still drives me NUTS. (I am sure Goldendoodle adult dogs are good with young kids... I hope?) I do have Henry participate in training with her, but when he runs, it is simply irresistible to Zoie, and she is still learning to keep her mouth off while playing. They are a work in progress. May I have the patience required for the job! 

She does really well with the rest of us though. She does get overly excited with everyone, and is very jumpy, but most of us are not right at her level like Henry is. We were out for a walk the other day and we ran into another full-size Goldendoodle who was a little over a year (Zoie is 7 months). The doodle ran straight towards Zoie and started jumping on her like crazy, with hyper energy. The owner discussed the Doodle personality and described her dog as very energetic and overly social. Clearly that was true. The dog ripped the leash right out of the owner's hand, and was too strong for her to hold on. Zoie seemed small by comparison, but she will get that big too one day. Yikes! The best thing I find to do for that energy is have her run, run, RUN! Even if just playing ball in the backyard many times a day. And the more I take her out for walks/runs the better behaved she gets while out there. 

Just a late night store run. I actually often enjoy shopping at night when it is calm and peaceful at the store. It helps me take my time and think more clearly, rather than rushing around at the busy times (I do that too, but prefer the peace.) 

Just some friendly competition. 

Oh yeah. :) So good. 

Henry loves to laugh. He has this giggle that is hard to resist. 

I went to print something and found ALL of the paper had Henry's doodling on it.

Getting some scripture power.

More Legos and a little nose-picking.





And to end it, here are Sammi's feet. They are healing nicely from her horrid blisters.


Oh wait.. and some pictures of Daniel up at Scout camp. He still has a few more weeks, and we can't wait to have him home!