Summer Days

I loved this sunrise on my Monday morning run. I'm trying to be dedicated to running every morning. I love getting up before everyone else is awake and listening to a good book/podcast. 

On Tuesday we went to the zoo with friends from the ward. The KC zoo gives out free passes to the zoo so luckily, I took mail to show we live here now and we got a free pass for the day. I was afraid it wouldn't live up to the CO Springs zoo, but we were presently surprised how much we enjoyed it. 

After the zoo, we stopped by to get a shaved ice at a place we spotted during our first week here. The boys completed their summer school book so a treat was in order!

Between cleaning and cooking and grocery shopping and every day chores, we try to sprinkle in some fun. We tried out a new park and loved it. 

We have a basketball hoop by our neighborhood pool and one more we went down early to shoot hoops before it got too hot. All the kids stopped to read instead. 

And the kids and I started remodeling the basement bathroom. We worked for several days to remove the wall paper. It's looking so great!

And this quote from a podcast I love really hit me.

I came down to the boys laughing. They had put tap on Eleanor's mouth. Then she said, "Eye." She and Austin wish they could wear an eye patch each day like Eli does. 

Aaron's work had a family day on Friday. We all enjoyed seeing where Aaron works and meeting his co-workers and seeing his cubicle. Face painting was one of the stations and Eleanor got her face painted for the first time! 

Saturday morning the boys biked and I ran to the temple. The boys were hesitant at first to go that far, but after some convincing, they made the trip and then loved being on the sidewalk up to the temple. 

The rest of the day included chores. Eleanor crawled in the dryer as I was folding the laundry.

Saturday afternoon the boys were invited to a birthday party. Last week, we met the kindest lady and her kids at the pool. This sweet lady has a daughter that will be in 1st grade at Eli's school. She invited us to the birthday party so Eli could meet new friends before school starts. It was such a blessing and answer to my prayer as I pray Eli will adjust quickly to his new school. We all had a great time at the party. I loved meeting families in the neighborhood who have kids that will be at the same school as my kids.

Eli and Austin have amazing primary teachers. I helped with Eli's class on Sunday and I felt the spirit so much during his class. His teacher testified of being a child of God and testifying about it to others.  How grateful we are for teachers that are helping our kids' testimonies grow. Eleanor walked into nursery again and was excited to say HI to everyone. 

 On Sunday afternoon, we drove down to Olathe to attend Phoebe's baptism. She's my cousin's daughter. Our kids love being at baptisms and talking about their own baptism day in the near future. 

My Journal

Last Sunday evening we visited the Independence Visitor's Center. The kids enjoyed exploring the center as Aaron and I admired all the Books of Mormon in so many languages. 

Here is Eleanor with not one, but TWO ponytails. I can't get enough of them! On Monday, we had Mom's Lego Camp, which meant I let them pick out a Lego set at Wal-mart. The boys spent days building and rebuilding lego creations. I love watching their minds work.

For a Monday night treat, Aaron surprised us all after dinner by taking us to get some frozen yogurt!! And here is a shopping cart I found on clearance at Wal-mart. Eleanor was walking up and down the isles and looked so cute. I've turned into a sucker for buying toys lately - I guess I justify it because it keeps them entertained for so long and at least they're not just sitting in front of the TV, right?! 

Morning walk - part of the boys' chores each morning include watering the flowers. It was extremely hot last week, like there was a heat advisory all week, so we got outside early to get some exercise. Eleanor took her cart along for our walk. 

Here are more temple pictures on my early morning run!

Eleanor is very into feeding herself these days. She's always a mess after, but at least she's self-sufficient. More early morning walks with the cart. When she got tired of pushing the cart, she carried it haha.

On Friday morning, Aaron went into work a bit later so we all got up early and got exercise together. Aaron is so big on his bike!! Aaron worked late Friday evening so the kids and I swam the afternoon away. It really does feel like we have our own pool in our backyard. 

Saturday morning, the boys and I got outside bright and early before the heat hit once again. And we cleaned and worked on our house all day - sometimes I feel like that's all we do on Saturdays these days, but being homeowners takes a lot of work! We celebrated the landing on the moon 50 years ago by eating Oreos. Here is Aaron demonstrating the different phases of the moon with an Oreo. 

Everyone was being silly - Eleanor kept covering her eyes up with the Oreos and the boys were covered in Oreo dust. We were all laughing and it was a happy family memory I implanted on my heart. 

Sunday morning. Aaron helped the boys get all ready for church and they came down looking so handsome. Austin is great at being a sunbeam and as I've been subbing in primary, I love watching my boys sing their hearts out. 

And Eleanor is so big too!! She is now 18 months old! It was her first official day in nursery and she was so brave! I had Aaron walk her into the room because I was afraid she wouldn't want me to leave her. Aaron said he walked her into the room and the leaders were just handing out a snack. Eleanor walked right in and didn't look back! I loved going to pick her up and she came running to me and said, "MOM!" and put her head on my shoulder. The teacher said she did great! In the past, my kids have loved nursery and then have a hard time a few weeks later so we'll see how everything goes in a few weeks. :) She talks up a storm and she makes us all laugh daily. She says HI very loudly and waves to everyone she meets. She makes our home so happy!

She's a firecracker! 

We invited friends from the ward over on Sunday evening for Root Beer Floats. There were lots of kids and it was crazy and loud, but I loved having our home filled with so many friends. We feel so grateful that being members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints provides us with instant friends wherever we go! I've still felt so homesick for family and all things Colorado, but I'm trying to jump in with two feet. Having friends over on Sunday evening really did lift my spirits. And I met several families at the pool this week that have children that attend school at Liberty Oaks. The mother's had great things to say about the school and it helped Eli and I feel excited for the school year. We bought Eli's schools supplies this week and I can't believe school is on the horizon. It's been a happy summer and we're going to continue enjoying it ever second we have together! I cried during lunch time today because I'll sure miss Eli having lunch with us each day.