So Many Things (Moving, Animal Facts, Temples, Parades, Etc.)

The night before Father's Day Penny said our family nighttime prayer. "Please bless us to all show dad the appreciation he deserves tomorrow," she said. "And for the rest of ..." (I wondered how she would finish that statement--"for the rest of" the week, maybe? or?) "... the year," she added. Then realizing that our appreciation oughtn't, perhaps, to end even then, she haltingly continued, "And ... beyond". 

And we all had a good little laugh afterwards.

And being able to laugh (which, especially with the older kids home, we do seem to have plenty of opportunity for) feels extra important right now, as much of the rest of the time of late my mind is cluttered and unsettled and my stomach heavy with anxiety over the million things yet to be accomplished and yet to be figured out with this move! And with all of the things happening right mixed in with the moving. There's a family reunion with its necessary packing and grocery shopping and meal planning. And there are High Adventure and Young Women camps that will require trips to the storage unit where we have hauled all of our tents and sleeping bags and coolers. 

AND, ... there's our little Goldie leaving on her mission for crying out loud! Such an enormous thing to just have jumbled into the middle of all this chaos and upheaval. Poor girl will likely be trying to shove five sleeping siblings out of their shared three-bunkbed room at the rental house so she can do her home MTC (probably amidst of pile of unpacked boxes) come July 31st.

With Abe's mission, it seemed we had months of pondering over his impending departure. But Goldie is going amidst such a swirl of happenings that I have yet to truly believe she's leaving at all! And I have a feeling I won't fully realize it ... until she's suddenly gone!

Anyway. Some various things:

There's such great order to some of what I've accomplished. But then, there is also, somehow, an unavoidable number of things like this:

And I can't tell you how many things I have packed tidily away ... only to later discover pieces and parts that should have gone with those things!

Also, this past Saturday was our very last Pleasant View Founder's Day celebration.

This little day, that belongs solely to our tiny town and is recognized by nobody else in the world, some of my kids actually categorize as one of their "favorite holidays"!

It's just so fun for them to wake up and, before it's time to walk down to the round-about (for the parade's official start), watch excitedly from our front yard as parade entries line up across the street. And then to walk over to the park by our house for the giant slip-n-slide and other fun things (bouncy houses, foam machines, etc.). And, in the evening, to walk back to the park to listen to whatever band they've hired before coming back to our own backyard to watch the fireworks.

I'm sad to take them away from this particular day. I wonder what the chances are of getting a College/Young Ward parade organized right along the road in front of the farm. ...

Penny was helping carry this flag. You can see her little blonde head third from the back on the left.

Starling is one who might not actually miss this holiday too much. In fact, she seemed to only tolerate the parade. Barely.

And luckily Dais and Gold thought to grab a few pictures at the park afterwards.

I wish we had a foam machine now. This kept the kids ridiculously happy.

And here are some happy things.

Just a few weeks after Goldie received her temple endowment, Daisy received hers! And it makes me so happy when the two of them head to the temple together now!

And this is kind of fun. Just as Abe's buddy went to snap a picture of them during a recent bike ride, this hummingbird began flying about them! I don't think you could ever get a shot like this by actually trying to! (And, of course, we are all a little sentimental about hummingbirds around here--as my dad loved them so much, and we like to consider them as always being sent by him to let us know he's aware and helping us.)

It's been years since our ward has taken the Activity Day kids to Camp Kiesel, so Mette and Summer were excited when they found out they would get to go this year. Even more fun, they were short on leaders and asked Goldie to come along to help. A fun full day of shooting guns and bows, rowing in boats, doing a ropes course, etc.

And one less fun thing, last week poor Starling was sick and throwing up for the second time this summer! :(

Dear girl.

Goldie and I took the littler kids to feed the llamas on a trail not far from us one day.

We got the ladder out so Jesse could retrieve the extension cord that was still on the roof (from when I'd made him climb up there to plug in Christmas lights back in December). The invitation from that ladder caused Penny to take to spending loads of time, unsafely, sitting on our roof. Here she was with Goldie and Anders. (Note that the pictures taken from the vantage point of on the roof were not taken by me--as I couldn't even figure how to lift a leg from the ladder to the roof without, most likely, dying immedietely.)

But I did wave and snap these from the safety of the ground. (And did you notice Mike cut my Dr. Suess tree!??? He said it overwhelmed the house. Perhaps he was right. But seeing it go seemed a sad thing indeed! I kept thinking of that little current bush story. "Why? Why did you cut me down?")

I've never seen fireflies (though I've always wanted to), so, a few weeks ago, Mike took me to a little park up in Nibley, UT where there were supposedly regular firefly sightings every June. I was skeptical, but it was true! There were quite a lot of little fireflies blinking away in the reeds just off the path around the park.

After we saw so many, Goldie determined that she should see them as well (after all, she's the one who has often checked the Utah firefly map online). She coaxed a few of her siblings into heading out for the late night with her. And they were rewarded with ...

one firefly. 

Haha. Ah well. It looks like they still managed to have some fun. And hopefully Goldie will be seeing fireflies a-plenty next June in Arkansas or Missouri! 

My friend Linn invited me to her son's wedding. That was a neat thing to be a part of. And a nice break from all of the stress of packing, etc!

My cousin Thatcher brought his mom (my Aunt Penny!) for a visit to Utah last weekend. I haven't seen her since my dad's funeral. She is so utterly charming, and I love her so much. Here she is with her little namesake.

And last, but not least, some things the kids have put up around the house. (Kids are so fun. Just the way they approach everything. For example, last night, after they were asleep, we hauled our basement sectional off to the storage unit. You should have heard Hans's screams of wonder and shock and delight over the couchless basement this morning. You would've thought he'd woken to Christmas. ... Though rather more like the one The Whos down in Whoville woke to on that Grinchy morning than a regular Christmas.)

Anyway. Some of their things:

Dang. I wish I'd thought to hire Drilbur and his crew at the start of all of this. Under an hour!

And this. They might be good to consider hiring when we get to Logan:

This is cute. Mette loves to plan things. Talent shows, parties, etc. I will admit that sometimes I have not been the most supportive of her endeavors (as they usually entail setting up a lot of stuff). But this was a great one that all of the family (except for poor Goldie who was stuck at work) happily participated in. 

(You can likely guess whose participation she was trying to encourage with her last line.)

Not everyone had posters, but there were great facts shared and in far greater detail than is shown on the pictures here. (Also, I did think my bird drawings were not bad. :))

(There was lots of laughter during Jesse's presentation on the cone snail. Cone snails being, to his mind, the most horrifying creature to exist on planet earth.)

(Daisy began her presentation on the peacock mantis shrimp with "... the peacock mantis shrimp. Which is neither a peacock. Or a praying mantis. Or a shrimp.")

(And she prepared this one for Starling to share--as Starling quite loves cats. Though Starling didn't really rally to share the information Daisy had gathered for her. :))

Anders did Bigfoot. And Summer drew a darling page about tigers that I couldn't find for a picture. (Though, "Summer's facts were actually just opinions," Mette just reminded me. Which is true. She loves tigers and gushed over how "attractive" and "cool" they are.) Abe did penguins with the help of some pictures in an oversized book he still has from his childhood. And Mike did elephants. Though he shared highly suspect "facts". (They can fly if they are holding a feather, etc.)

And that is all. 

For now.

(Oh Hansie and the selfies he leaves on my phone.)