Jolley Summertime

Summertime at the Jolleys household is pretty chaotic!

Each day, we try and go to lunch at the park. It saves me dishes and groceries, but sometimes takes up more time. Then, of course, we have chores that need to be done, piano to be practiced, and summer bridge books to be completed. It feels like each day goes by too quick. I have been working every night Monday through Friday, plus some mornings, and then trying to fit in everything else, like movies for the kids, visiting teaching, etc., life here gets a little hectic and sometimes the little things just don't happen.

By the end of the day, I am just happy if my children are alive and the house is still standing. We hope that you and your families are enjoying your summertime too! Before we know it, summer will be over!

Happy Father's Day

The kids couldn't wait for Father's Day! Saturday night Faith is BEGGING Dad to just 'open one present'. Here is a picture of our dad and 3 little turkeys.

Daddy Questions:

Faith (age 8)
My dad's favorite food is Mexico food.
My dad is really good at fixing computers.
My dad and I like to go on daddy daher date.
I know my dad loves me because he aprecheates me.
I love my dad because he loves me.

Dawson (age 5)
My dad's favorite food is "No mom, ask me his favorite drink"
My dad's favorite drink is Mountain Dew.
My dad is really good at playing World of Warcraft.
My dad and I like to have guy time.
I know my dad loves me because I'm the best son in the world.
I love my dad because he's a very great dad and he created me a wow character.

Happy Father's Day! We love you so VERY MUCH!!!

VACATION DECISIONS

I always look forward to vacation. It is a time that we can get away with our children and discover the world. Okay, (if I'm being realistic), discover Idaho and Utah.

We started really taking vacations two years ago. In 2007, we were able to go to Utah. The highlights of our trip were the Tree House Museum in Ogden,


Cherry Hills in Layton, (these are not my children)


Build-A-Bear, and Fat Cats.

Last year (2008), we went to Boise and stayed with my sister. We went ice skating at their ice skating rink, went to look at the outlets (that was a flop), Goody's (good, but not as good as Leatherbee's), the Discovery Center of Idaho, and Build-A-Bear. (I believe that Build-A-Bear might become a tradition.)

This year, we are gearing up to go to Utah again. I decided that it would be really fun to do have the kids decide what we would do. So I started the research (yes, I research online for everything) on fun things in Utah, printed fake money, and wrote down each activity with a price tag. The we gathered the kids to make their vacation decisions.

We handed them the fake money and the first thing Dawson said was, "We need to go to fakemoney.com to print more money." He learned quickly to pick the stuff that was 'free' so that we could do more stuff. But here is what we decided:

The Tree House Museum - the kids just can't live without going here
The Heber Creeper - riding the rail road tracks at Heber City
Thanksgiving Point - Farm Country, Children's Discovery Garden, and the Museum of Ancient Life

Each time that we asked what he would like to do, he would respond with "the hotel!" We are going to stay one night camping and one night in a hotel, so they can swim in the pool.

So, friends and family, if you know of any places to camp poor man's style (in a tent, but with flushing toilets and maybe showers) in between Heber City and Lehi, please let us know!!!

Loving the camera

Kate loves saying 'cheese' and getting her pictures taken with the camera. Sometimes, like this particular day, it was the distraction when the other kids left to keep her happy and occupied. Daddy took these pictures, so you'll notice the dirty (normal) face and the shorts that are turned a bit. But hey, it works, right?

The lost art of puddle jumping

Each time it rains, there is a LARGE puddle in front of our house.

I think that the pictures speak for themselves. Enjoy!

Bedroom TV = NOT SAFE

For those of you who have ever seen any little boy watch TV, you might know what I mean. Dawson comes into our room on occasion to watch TV. His eyes are completely, utterly, 100 % focused on that small TV screen. His body is completely, utterly, and 100% moving, twisting, jumping, hopping, rolling, wiggling, etc. For the past 2 months, it has been real bad.

On Wednesday, Dawson was doing his TV watching, and literally flew off the bed and hit the baseboard heater. He cried for 1/2 hour + and we had nurse grandma come to take a peek. He could wiggle his fingers, bend his wrist, and move his entire arm.

Thursday, he was particularly whiny and even called the children at library storytime "hideous". Thursday evening, Brandon thought that he would 'test' it to see. He made sure Dawson was completely distracted (very easy to do) and touched his wrist. I guess that Dawson went ballistic! Not to mention that he just stopped moving his arm.

Friday morning, we ran him into the urgent care to see what they thought. They took x-rays, and sure enough, he has a buckle fracture at the wrist.


It is in a splint right now which already has positives and negatives. Positive - he can still bathe no problem. Negative - he won't leave it along and it hurts to re-wrap it. This is for 3 weeks, but I'm thinking maybe 4. I guess that we'll see!

Make sure that you pass on this information to all of your friends - a boy watching TV on a bed is NOT SAFE!!! LOL!

Weeding

My favorite hobby right now is weeding - NOT! However, last week I spent 9 hours in my small front yard, weeding and planting flowers. It's amazing how different a yard can look when you spruce it up a little bit. My mom came over and helped us paint the front door. This happens to be the second color - the first we started 2 years ago (please don't laugh), but we were never able to finish it. Then, my mom mentioned that it was too purple, and all of a sudden I realized what was wrong with the red. Funny huh?

I don't have any before pictures, but here are some after pictures. (If it would stop raining, we could mow our front yard too!)

The burm:
Closer of the left side:
Now the right: (yes, we still need to take care of the hose)
Around the tree:
The view from the street: (did I mention that Brandon really got involved as well and trimmed up both trees - we filled a small truck's bed full of limbs and then some)
The front door:
And now I get to start on the back of the house. With any luck, but the time fall hits, we might have been able to pull all the weeds and kept them away!!! This time, I will take before pictures!!!

Aww, the joys of life

I'm sure that you've all been wondering what I've been doing this week. Yes, I am still recovering - some days are good, others are bad.


Faith is now out of school and we have been working on a schedule for the summer. I am really looking forward to good days, but getting a lot accomplished. I would LOVE to hear your daily schedules, so please post them!!! Here is our daily schedule:

8-9 am Get up/get ready/breakfast
9-9:30 am Work outside
9:30-10 am Summer Bridge (workbooks)
10-10:30 am Indoor chores
10:30-11 am Reading
11-12:30 Lunch Time activities (park lunch, etc.)
12:30-1:30 pm Rest time
1:30-3:00 pm Free time
3:00 pm Start dinner, finish up projects

I also have to schedule 1 day for library, 1 for movie, etc. It should be a great summer.

I have also been working in the front yard. I did not take before pictures, but I will post about that soon with after pictures at least.