June 2022 Part 5: The Everyday Things and Family Reunions Prepwork

 We started off June the way we start every summer--with big plans and hopes. We started off pretty well too. we went to the Library for Sea Crafts (and laughed/rolled our eyes/complained about the person who parked their bike in a car parking spot.)

I felt like such a great mom taking my kids to do an activity at the library. Too bad we missed the other Wednesday craft days at the library. 

There was hand washing, 

Lara hugging, 

mask wearing, 

lazy lounging, 

and dress modeling (while I was sewing). 

Gabe went to a Lego summer camp at Thanksgiving Point with his friend Logan, and after one of the days, we invited Logan over to swim in the pool with us. This blue pool noodle popped out from under them right as I took this picture! 

I was so proud of myself for getting not only our kids to the pool but arranging a play date as well. I'm not the best play date mom around. 

We continued to not trust our outdoor thermometer, but we sure like how it looks. 

Footballs got thrown around the yard. 

Books were read. 

And I made Emily a regency style dress and got it to her in time for her Tea Party. 

Michael organized a Fifa soccer tournament for the family. I'm very bad at soccer in all it's varieties, but especially the video game one. 

Gracie continued to live her best life. 

Brian continued going to the gym, and once needed to bring Gabe along with him. 

Gabe remains our amazing laundry assistant, although he hasn't been as eager as he once was. 

We helped our friends fix things around the house and get ready to move. I should say Brian helped them get ready to move. I did nothing. 

Gabe got his first natural loose tooth, and I insisted that he could NOT loose it until I could do a loose tooth photo session--meaning the last photo session with his baby teeth smile. He was a fairly good trooper through part of it.  

He's still six, however, so....

We gave hugs, whether they were wanted or not. 

We made it to another concert in the park, without the kids this time. I think Brian may have even gone to one without me. 

Our garden started to rise up out of the dirt, and we were so excited! 

We drew names with the Chadwick cousins for a gift exchange at the upcoming reunion. We didn't make it a rule that the kids had to make something, but I wanted my kids to put some thought into what they were doing and make something little for each one. I was trying to give a suggestion to Rachel about giving Heather a book, and Rachel decided to write Heather a book, which led to Gabe deciding he wanted to write a book for Evie, which led to Rachel deciding to help him, which led to emoji illustrations, which led to demands to have me print it, which led me to say "We can do better than that", which led to me having them do actual illustrations, which led to creative differences among the two artists, which led to me intervening and coming up with a way for them not to fight, which led to Gabe doing watercolor backgrounds and Rachel drawing Unicorns and other essential story illustrations, which led to some confusion, which led to me explaining how layers work in Photoshop, which led to me photoshopping their illustrations and formatting a book for publication.  

Here's one of Gabe's watercolor backgrounds: 

And some of Rachel's illustrations: 

Once I got it all formatted (and offered a few minor edits to the story), I sent the book off to Lulu Publishing to print. It turned out quite darling, and we were able to order multiple copies for family members. 

In addition to the book, I worked on getting everything planned and put together for the Chadwick reunion. I planned a holiday theme, and the last thing I was trying to figure out was how to do Christmas. We had the gift exchange with the kids, but Ethan thought it was dumb to do Christmas things in July and didn't want to participate in a gift exchange. He thought the whole holiday theme was stupid. So, I decided to find a cabin ornament to give each family to remember the trip. Most were pretty expensive, so I started looking for cabin craft kits instead. This search led me to finding the World's smallest Lincoln Log set. I ordered 8 sets, and Brian decided it would be fun for them to put their own mini cabins together. I thought we should figure out how to turn this little Lincoln Log set into an ornament, so Rachel and Brian pulled out the hot glue and figured out the best way to make it into an ornament. 

It turned out pretty cute. 

Gabe wanted to also make Evie a Squishmallow, so he picked out fabric, nagged me until I cut it out and sewed it up, and he stuffed it. 

On June 29, I loaded all the Camp Chadwick stuff into the car, along with Gracie, and headed to Idaho. It was just me, Gracie, and a book on tape--er app? I guess we just call them audiobooks now. 

Mom met me in Idaho Falls at Cal's house. We left Gracie there with Charlie, as well as some chocolate that I didn't want to melt, and then we went out to eat. I had to laugh at these two dogs in the window as we drove away. 

After dinner, Mom and I went grocery shopping. I bought all the food stuff I needed for camping, minus a few vegetables. When we got to Mom's, I organized all my stuff, made Christmas cookies and birthday cupcakes and put them in Mom's freezer, and wrote out a list of all the things I needed her to retrieve and bring to the reunion. It was a late night, but we got a lot done. Thank goodness that my latest heart medicine was allowing me to do more things! 

The next morning, I said goodbye to Mom and Gracie and then stopped over at Grandma's to see her and Grandpa before I headed out. 

I booked it home, this time with just the audio books and myself. When I got home, we headed to Serene and Dustin's new house to help unpack, although they didn't let me unload anything. Instead, I just helped Serene figure out where to put some of the things and let them show off the new house. We headed home after a couple of hours to get all of our clothes washed, folded, and put away or packed for our trip. I went to Smith's to grab some food for the road, and ran into Lorelei and Haley, which was pretty fun. 

When I got home, I did more gathering of things for our trip. While I was looking for Brian's water shoes in one of our neglected closet corners, I found two very dried up breadsticks that Gracie stashed there who knows how many months ago! (Have we told you about her particular weakness for garlic bread?) 

Turns out, Brian had already grabbed his water shoes, but I was glad I didn't know that or else we might not have found these old breadsticks for who knows how long! 

The next day was July....and the first day of our epic, long anticipated dual-reunion road trip! 

June 2022 Part 4: Father's Day

 June 19 was Father's Day, and we were all excited to make a big deal about Brian. The kids had made cute cards and things that they were so excited to give him. 

I was also excited to give him his presents. 

I got him some punching pads to practice his kickboxing at home (and specifically on the road when we were on our two-week reunion tour in July). The kids had fun learning some kickboxing moves from him. 

I made Brian some spitz cookies--kind of like the shortbread cookies they have in tins at Christmas. He loves them, and I thought he'd enjoy them in June. 

I made Alfredo sauce, pasta, and breadsticks. It was a delicious spread. 

Later that evening, we went to the Concert in The Park with the Utah Premiere Brass in Provo. It was a great concert. 

Rachel and Gabe led the children's march with Papa. 

I'm blessed with amazing fathers in my life. My grandpa, my father-in-law, my dad, and Brian. This is a role that is often poked fun at in our culture. The dads are shown as either clueless and helpless or rough and hands off, but the truth is, most fathers are hard-working, caring, dedicated, and protective of their children. I'm so grateful for mine, and so grateful for Brian and the amazing father he is to our children. He's so much like his own dad, and when I watch how amazing Kirt is, I know Brian is just as amazing. We would be lost without Brian! And Kirt always spoils me rotten, and treats me like a queen. Guess how Brian treats me...the same plus some. 

I have to say that I also feel lucky that Father's Day isn't super painful. I think having my first Father's Day without Dad be the day after his funeral helped rip that bandaid right off. That first Father's Day, I remember so clearly needing to choose joy that day. I'd been crying for what felt like days straight, ignoring my family and doing what needed to be done for Dad's funeral, so when I awoke on Fathers' Day, I decided I wanted a day where I didn't cry. I consciously chose to find joy, and I've chosen joy each Father's Day since. Joy that I had such a great father. Joy that the man I married is such a great father. Joy that I inherited an amazing father-in-law. Joy that I've been so close to Grandpa Linville for my entire life, and that he's still with us. Joy that I have a Heavenly Father who has always been cheering me on and supporting me through it all. Joy in the knowledge of His great plan that allows me to be with all these amazing fathers forever.