July

It was SO FUN to go on our month long trip, but walking back into our house was a sweet feeling. I love when you can smell your house smell after being gone a long time. It was good to be home!

Olive is good friends with Mia, a girl from Neely. She had a birthday party at Uptown Jungle. I think it's so cute when I catch them running around holding hands.

Tanner went back to Kim for refresher ISR lessons. He aced them in a week. Still sporting left over face paint from Sunday night, haha!

It was my birfday! Walked down the stairs to roses and donuts from Travis. My mom was so thoughtful and offered to watch my kids so I took her up on it and got a massage! I've never done the free food thing so I got a free soda from Sodalicious and tried to get free lunch from Liberty Market, but they don't do it anymore. Boo. But Joe's BBQ does, so I got $10 of free chocolate chip cookies, haha. Don't like their food. Then I shopped at TJMaxx for a bit before picking up the kids again. Casey had Magnolia Market banana pudding shipped from New York for Shelley and she shared with me! YUM! It was a LOVELY day!!

 Travis was at the river one Friday night when a storm blew in and it cooled down enough to go to the park! Hooray! Just look at that sunset! And the pictures don't do it justice. We'd been waiting on a monsoon and it is the best when they finally come!

The water level was really low and Leah and I got stuck in all this swampy, weed stuff! At one point we just stood up and walked our boards for a while. It's always a good day at the river with Leah though!

Twinning cousins!

Weston is my koala bear. Collin needs my verbal attention and Olive is a combo. 

The day I officially withdrew the kids from Gilbert Public Schools was an emotional one! Ahhhhh! So hard to describe all my feelings accurately. To back up a little, while we were in Utah, I was really struggling with what to do about this school year. I didn't trust the district or state anymore. I was tired of being jerked around and having our lives in someone else's hands. Plus, I was not interested in my kids going to school in masks, possibly having to eat lunch in their classrooms or having recess or specials taken away. I was so hopeful for a normal year, but when the covid numbers supposedly rose in July, Arizona was getting ridiculous with restrictions again. I had been fasting about what to do with no real answers, but I had mostly made up my mind that I'd be homeschooling. Then, my friend who I used to teach with at Franklin, sent me a Marco. She described this new-ish program called Prenda that is sort of a homeschool co-op/Montessori hybrid and wondered if I'd be interested in doing it with her and another girl. We'd swap each other's kids and work together to teach them this year. As I listened to her talk, I got goosebumps from my head to my toes as a warm feeling washed over me and tears formed in my eyes. I almost didn't realize what was happening until my brain kicked in and said, "Woah. Pay attention to what that was!" It truly wasn't a feeling caused by a thought. It was the Spirit confirming her words that this is what I was supposed to do. I would refer back to that moment many times in the weeks that followed to reassure my panicked fears that this was indeed the path we should be on. It was a lot more work that I thought it would be. I had many hours/days of training. Fingerprinting, background checks, interviews, etc. I turned the front room of my house into a classroom. That was actually the most exciting part! That room has sat mostly empty for two years. I never knew what to do with it. Well, now I do! And I feel so lucky that I have a whole space I can dedicate specifically to teaching. But the day that I received Neely's emails telling me which teachers my kids would have, I cried. They all got AWESOME teachers. What was I doing???! I was voluntarily giving up the life we once had for something much harder, albeit, I felt in my gut, better. I cried off and on, all day. There were so many aspects to Prenda that I was excited about and felt would really benefit my kids, but the ease of just dropping them off at the public school is undeniably appealing. Alas. When you know better, you do better. Big leap of faith here.

Date night with my boyfriend. 

I didn't want to ask someone to take our picture so I made him do it alone, haha. We tried out the new ice cream place, Balboas and it was AMAZING!! Try the couch potato with almonds. Life changing!

Saw this nifty trick on Instagram! Easy peasy Sunday brunch!

Their water slide. I was dying! Love when simple things keep kids happy.

Poor Shelley had a traumatic July! She was swinging on her sister in law's new rope swing in her backyard pool and somehow the rope whipped underneath her and basically ripped her open like she had just had a baby. I cringe just thinking about it! She got SEVENTEEN stitches in the ER. Marcie and I tried to help as much as we could. It was fun to have a big, cousin sleepover one Sunday night!

This girl spoils me like no other! She had a car FULL of presents and balloons to pick me up for my birthday dinner! We went to The Henry in Scottsdale and I'm now in serious love with the Harvest Bowl. We'll be married as soon as I can get it to move to Gilbert.

The card was a homemade shirt. She kills me.

Leah helped organize a rally in Gilbert to bring attention to child sex trafficking. We all made posters and marched in 118 degree heat, up and down Gilbert Road. I went early to help sell t-shirts and balloons. I was so busy I felt dizzy at one point from the heat and not drinking anything. The moment I walked into the area where everyone was gathering, I got tears in my eyes. There was a presence there. It was powerful. I LOVED being in the midst of so many people trying to stand up for good. It's been hard to sleep... heck LIVE... learning more about this horrific evil. I can't stomach it. I just cry and pray for God to intervene. For angels to protect. For Christ to come. Sometimes the last days can feel suffocatingly hopeless. Thank goodness there is still so much GOOD in the world.

Saw on social media that a company called Beignet Babes was delivering in our neighborhood, so how could I resist?! I got a box of filled beignets and I have to say, the pastry themselves were nothing fantastic, but the homemade filling was AMAZING. Especially loved the vanilla filled ones. 

Swim date with the Porters at Grandmas!

Family time at the river!