All Hands on Deck

A summer project has been under way here at our home. I have spent at least

FIFTEEN hours sanding our decks (that's right we have TWO),

and have given them both TWO fresh coats of sealer.

It was a time consuming, hot project, but the results were well worth it.

Just before we left San Diego, I refinished our deck there.

I think the more I do, the better I get......Maybe I will start a new business

Melissa's Deck Refinishing.....probably not!

In my spare time (when I am not working on decking) I practice my cake

decorating skills. Here is the cake that I made for Morgan's Birthday.

It definitely looks lopsided, but again practice makes perfect.....here's hoping someday

I will be perfect at Decks and Cakes.

Daddy/Daughter Hike

Olivia has been waiting for years to be in Activity Days, and her wait is over! She has been going for a few months now, and so looks forward to Wednesdays. This week the girls got together to go on an evening Daddy/Daughter hike. James was able to rearrange his schedule to attend this special event. They both came back and said that they had an amazing time, and that the park that they went to was beautiful.

His First Scout Camp

Elijah was a little hesitant to go on his first Scout camp. I told him that he would come back with many stories and that he would have a great time....and he did.

He told me that he had a new appreciation for my cooking....The food was not so good

He had a huge appreciation for flushing toilets and toilet paper

He learned how to make a Arabian Mask out of T-shirt

He earned five merit badges

And had a great time.

He told me that his favorite thing about camp was each morning all the scouts got together and sang church hymns. His favorite was when the 400+ Scouts and Leaders sang "Called to Serve", and with tears in his eyes he told me that he felt the Spirit so strong.

We are grateful for this guy. We missed him like crazy the whole week he was gone, and as promised, we had family prayer for him every night at 10:00. The sad thing about it is that I think that we missed him more than he missed us. He is growing into a wonderful Young Man!

How Does Your Garden Grow???

We have: Lettuce (that is about three feet tall....I need to talk to Julie about this)

Bell Peppers

Green Beans

Tomatoes

We are still waiting on: squash

cucumbers

and a pumpkin.

It has been fun to tend to this garden. Olivia has made sure to water it everyday.

Happy 4th!

We had a great Fourth of July here. Fireworks are HUGE here in town. You can't drive down the street without seeing several firework stands. It is so big here that Fourth of July is a week long event. They start by having a firework show on the 3rd...(I don't get it). We went to the Bishop's house. He has an amazing view from his balcony and we were able to watch with him. And then they have many firework shows on the Fourth. We drove out to Kirtland, were a guy from our ward puts on a show that could rival Sea World's. It was amazing. He and his wife told us that the Fourth was their favorite holiday and we could see why they loved it so much. The show lasted an hour and truly was spectacular!

The rest of the week is filled with random people putting on their own shows.

Bowling for Fun

More Summer Fun....

I took the kids bowling for the first time here in town.

I was looking forward to an easy afternoon, but the lady at the bowling

alley told me that if you are over 8, you can't have the bumper guards.

It made it a little more challenging for Ethan and Elijah, but towards the end of the afternoon....I think that somewhat got it. There were

a lot of gutter balls

a lot of tears

and of course

a lot of fun!

We came home to have two children completely sick to their stomachs....I don't know if we will go back without a gallon of hand sanitizer.

Mosquito City

Elijah went on a Scout Camp out and came back with

40 mosquito bites on one leg.....pretty impressive!