BORED?...Anything But!

Family Photos taken by Elizabeth Fawson

Ha!  I laugh at my last post!  Bored?  We have been anything BUT bored these last few months.  Oh, sure, the kids have had their days of "nothing to do," but for the most part we have had one thing after another!

June was filled with trips and camps.  Every week it seemed someone was missing.  And then when we all got together again (finally!) I had never heard that much contention in my life! Fortunately, a stroke of inspiration came late one night and we remedied that problem in the morning.  It was as simple as drawing a name of someone in the family whom you were to serve or treat kindly that day.  The trick was that you were to keep it a secret.  One week of this and we were back to being *mostly* happy together once again.

Then July came and house projects took over...literally.  With the discovery of a leaking foundation in the basement, our 5-10 year plan became "Get Done Immediately!"  (I can't say I'm very disappointed about this!)  And on top of getting a mini-remodel in the basement (and not having a kitchen sink for a few days!) I decided to work on our upstairs project:  the family room.

I didn't take pictures. ???  But the brown paneling and yellowish walls became white paneling with gray walls!  I LOVE IT!  I have never done a project like this before....sanding, primer, painting....it all seemed too daunting for me.  I guess the downstairs project just gave me a little kick in the pants to get the job done! Let me tell you, it is so much easier than I expected.  Yes, time-consuming.  Yes, tedious.  But the end result has been so rewarding I haven't minded the work.

And just as the housing projects come to completion (or nearly so, anyway), our end of summer visitors begin to trickle in.  We'd already had a friend from Richland for a night and my dearest childhood friend come with her family for a few days.  Now it was time for our second wave.  Friends from Richland again (making my daughter very happy) with my brother and his family following right after  (thank you to my wonderfully talented sister-in-law to capture the above family picture).  We couldn't pass up BYU-I Education Week (it's too wonderful!).  And we canceled our camping trip for next week to finish up the house so we could be ready for the Lenox clan to show up for a week.  Then, off we went to Education Week down in Provo with my friends and my teens.  Whew!

So, though I do believe in the idea of letting kids "be bored" and to figure out their own fun...the reality is that life doesn't always give us that opportunity. It's been a wild summer, our busiest yet! And though it's not how I planned it to be, it is what it is.  And we created some great memories!

Now it's back to the routine.  All of the kids started school last week (including David in 1/2 day Kindergarten).  So hopefully I will find time in there to get some writing done (so much to share from Education Week) and get back to organization (if that even really exists!).

Happy End of Summer Everyone!!