Summer is wonderful!  I love having the kids at home, and it is good not to have to rush around with school activities and homework etc.  We have been doing summer swimming lessons for Rooshkie, Jazz, Oak and Chlo.  Jams and Sags have gone as far as they can and had no desire to join their swim team.  When we get home, the kids usually spend the afternoon in the water trough.  Ryan's purchase of the water trough last year was about the best purchase ever made.  The kids go round and around in it, and then lay on the cement and dry out.  It is great.

     Ryan has been working part of the week in Monroe.  We have missed having him around at night, but we are grateful he has work.  He has been bidding for a long time with not too many results.  He should be around more this week.  The kids act way better when he is here.  Oak especially does better when Ryan is around.  He needs to be worked and taught, and Ryan is very good at doing that when he is here.
     On Monday, Mom and Dad came over and invited us to lunch with them at Brad's.  Doug and Larissa also met us there and it was fun.  Lyvia was full of excitement and she had her toe nails done with butterflies. I didn't want Chlo to see them as I was sure she would be demanding butterflies on her toenails too.  Mo tried to climb a magazine rack, and tipped it over, and he also insisted on eating on the table which made my dad kind of nervous.  I don't know what it is about kids Moroni's age being on the table.  He loves to wander around and graze off of everyone's plate.  All of my kids have done that and it is kind of nerve racking because they make a mess, and I worry about them falling off all of the time.
     Oak's birthday was yesterday and much fun was had by all.  My mom and dad also took him toy shopping on Friday and he made quite the haul.  They bought him one of those radio controlled helicopters, and all of the kids including Ryan has loved it.  They like hovering it around the house.  They also bought him some glow-in-the-dark bubbles and I noticed that they got dumped on the dog.  He was glowing around at night.
     For Oak's birthday he wanted to go to McDonalds, and to Discovery Park.  I invited some of his neighborhood pals, and his girlfriend and took them to McDonalds.  They got some weird toys that looked like slugs.  Rings were supposed to be tossed around the slugs' neck.  It was a little bit of a disappointment, but some of the toys were action figures with wings and these were a hit.  They played at the play place, and I was able to visit with Amber Williams, one of my best friends.  Oak likes to hang out with her boys and they were at the party too.  Most of  my kids stayed home and helped Ryan work on his truck.  Chlo wouldn't quit bawling when it was time to leave, and I kept trying to talk her into coming with us.  I had my hands full with all of the kids and so I finally just left without her.  She bawled and bawled until Rooshkie built her a neat hut.  This seemed to excite her.
     Ryan and I bought Oak some nice gifts.  He got a radio controlled truck. (He asked for a remote controlled car, black with flames.)  The truck does have flames on the side and it is black.  Ryan figured it would get better clearance on grass and rocks etc.  Rooshkie kept being spotted in the road with it.  He also got a new scooter.  Kaden and Brady Williams gave him some throw poppers.  The kids have had a ball with those.  They go and dump a bunch in the road when no one is watching and then laugh hysterically when a car goes by popping loudly.  A few times people have slowed down wondering where the popping noise is coming from, and my kids are being sneaky somewhere laughing.  I am glad that they are so easily entertained.  Ryan and I were outside having a nice evening chat alone last night.  A car drove by and made a bunch of loud popping noises and we couldn't help but laugh.
     I took my eyes off of Moroni for a few minutes yesterday and this was a huge mistake.  Ryan was having issues with his truck and had it in the driveway for repairs.  He had emptied all of the oil into a five-gallon bucket.  Moroni really had a hayday while I was being spacey.  He painted the side of Ryan's truck with it, painted the cooler with it, and I noticed his work on a welding tank.  He had also streaked it all over his body and through his white-blond hair.  I got him cleaned up and the bathtub looked like a oil slick.  Poor little Mo.  I cannot lose sight of him like that.  Havoc gets reeked if I do.  Ryan came home and asked who had been painting his truck.  Of course it was little Mo.  He did a good job in his mind.
     We also went to Discovery Park just for Oak.  The kids had a great time playing hide-n-seek up there.  They were having some karaoke concert up there too and summertime magic was in the air.  You can't beat the summertime evenings in Cedar City.  They are fragrant, cool and wonderful.  Moroni kept us all hopping as we attempted to keep up with him.
     Today was Shrsh. (Jazzerz cute spelling of the word after kidnergarten)  I loved church today.  It was a great meeting.  Ryan took Mo out first thing and I was amazed that the kids were being quiet during the sacrament.  That is, until I  looked up and noticed that they were building a hut out of hymn books.  I am really  trying to teach them to reverence the sacrament.  We will have to have another FHE lesson on this topic.  Chlo was difficult.  She had been playing cops with some guns that Uncle Barry left them for Oak's birthday and was unhappy to be interrupted to get ready for church.  She felt that she was needed worse as a cop this morning.  After all, she was catching bad guys.  Her hair is a real challenge, that Jamie tried to take on today, but after rubbing her head on the bench several times, she looked like a q-tip Chlo.  Ryan sang today and did great.  I was upset, because I had a sleeping Mo on my lap, and Jazz and Chlo were having a raukous wrestling match on the next bench during his nice song.  I kept seeing Chlo's underwear, and I was embarrassed.  It is definitely time for more reverence lectures.  Anyhow, Chlo has now been threatening to cut her eyelashes off.  I have been begging her not to.  She is such a pretty little thing, but we have struggled enough with her self hair-cuts.  I told her to keep her eyelashes, but she claims, if given a chance she is going to cut them off.  We will just have to watch her close.  Mo thought that he was Johnny Carson in Relief Society.  He kept going into the curtains, and then making squeals as he exited them.  He would expect the crowd to roar.  He was also clapping his hands and making gestures as I led the singing.  I finally had to shut his curtain act down because the gal teaching the lesson, is a little on the quieter side.  He was pulling way too much attention from her lesson.
     Ryan, Mo and I had a great nap this afternoon.  When I got up, all of the curtains were drawn, and the house was eerily quiet.  I came up to Rooshkie, her back to the wall, and a play gun in her hand.  They were all sneaking around playing cops once again.