9 on 10: August 2018

1. All smiles as we left on the long drive to Utah!

2. We quickly traded in the city

3. for the country roads. There was still some morning fog left and it was beautiful.

4. The kids were such troopers! 

5. We loved seeing tons of windmills, Harvey called them stars.

6-7. Stopped for dinner in Amarillo at The Big Texan. Definitely a cheesy Texan experience! The kids meals come in a hat that you get to keep. 

8. We went through several little storms on the road and felt like storm chasers sometimes. 

9. Again, trooper kids. Max fell asleep the last couple hours of the drive that first day. Millie wore that hat for a couple days straight and it made me smile every time I saw her!

Beginning of August

We're on a major reading kick lately. Max loves to "read" to Harvey.

For FHE one night we buried our "weapons of war," or our bad habits. There are a few little slips of paper in our front landscaping that say the things we don't want to do anymore. It was a fun little activity.

I don't think we were even planning to go on a bike ride until Harvey climbed in and wouldn't get out! He likes being the only one in the bike trailer.

Still enjoying the dinosaur slide.

Harvey is extra snuggly lately. He usually insists on bringing a blanket from his bed so he can lay on it on my shoulder.

The kids got to swim with AJ, Brittany, Gigi, and Poppy while Tyler and I went out on a date. They're so lucky to have such great aunts, uncles, and grandparents!

So glad they got a close up of the fact that Harvey was letting AJ hold him!

We were at dinner and a movie (the new Mission Impossible) celebrating 9 years of marriage! Whoop!

Harvey got some new tennis shoes and was obsessed with them for a while. He even slept with them on for several nights!

End of July

First swim after Harvey got his cast off! That little fishy was so excited. He jumped right in and swam his heart out the whole time!

We got to have the Webb kids with us for a few days. It was so fun to have cousins around. We tried to get out and do stuff a little bit but they played nicely at home too.

Millie and Eva did lots of nail painting.

Matilda viewing party. We'd been listening to the book in the car for several days so we were excited to watch it.

The boys thought it was so funny to get their hair done by the girls. 

Gigi was so nice to have us over, even with the extra kids. We swam and played in the game room and even watched some of the process of a tree removal haha.

I still have a thing for taking pictures of my sleeping children I guess. 

And we did some park hopping, which included a walk up the bird-watching tower.

Tyler came home from work one night and could tell I needed a break, so he sweetly suggested I go to the gym. I swam laps and sat with my feet in the hot tub for a minute and it was just really nice. Not a great picture but oh well. 

We took the Webb kids to Grandma's house and Harvey just wanted to sit in the high chair with his cars to play. It was highly unusual and very cute.

We said goodbye to Heidi and James at the end of the month! They will be in Indiana for a couple years while James gets his MBA. We miss them already!

Little things

Millie and I got to go to Shayna's baby shower before Shayna and Mitchell moved back to Utah. Millie was so excited to come but decided after it was a little boring haha. She's sure happy to have a girl cousin on the Juergens side!

I've figured out a good routine of classes at the gym and I love it. Every Monday I do a barbell weightlifting class and it's such a great way to start out the week. 

I hadn't been in our backyard for a while (it's too stinking hot!) but I went back there one day and found a drone in our grass! Not sure how long it had been there. Crazy. Still need to find its owner.

A cute portrait Millie drew of Harvey, featuring his cast and the "purple goo" that is on his face 3x/day (Mederma). 

The piano bench tipped over and landed on poor Max's foot. It popped a blood vessel and looked a little gnarly for a day or so. 

I had to take a few pictures of Harvey in his cast before it came off. Because I'm just really hoping we'll never need one of these again! And because it's kind of adorable. 

He's a little nervous at doctor's offices now. Actually, who am I kidding? He always has been. The last month has not helped in that regard.

They took us back and cut it off so quickly! Just like that it was gone. They thought it a little weird that I wanted to keep it, but Millie and Max were super excited to see it later.

Hopefully saying goodbye forever to this place.

We had to buy a new garbage can, which I was not looking forward to doing with all the kids with me. Millie was super helpful and dragged it through the store for me!

And finally, her latest family portrait. I think my favorite is Millie's and my matching buns.

At the temple

I have a few pictures at the temple from recently so I thought I'd put them all together here. Millie drew a beautiful of a temple a while back that she wanted to send in to the Friend magazine. I thought it was too cute to not take a picture of it to remember for myself. Love that artist girl.

We got to go to the temple with AJ and Brittany and loved being there with them. Huge thanks to Gigi and Poppy who keep our kids each month so we can go.

When Harvey had a weird stomach bug on a Saturday I quickly made arrangements to keep him home from church the next day. I didn't know it would pass so quickly but also didn't want to take him to nursery having thrown up less than 24 hours before. Anyway, we weren't at church and I decided to take the kids on a drive to the temple while Tyler was doing some ward audits. The grounds were closed again (I really am sure I've walked the grounds on Sundays before but the last two times we've come we have struck out!) so we pulled into the parking lot across the street for a few minutes. The kids drew their own pictures of the temple and I loved seeing their interpretations. Here is Max's:

And Millie's:

And finally a selfie from when I got to go. Tyler and I are trying to take turns going one night a week when we can. We love the temple, we know it is Heavenly Father's house, and we want to be there as much as we can be! We are so blessed to have one so close by.