the silveys: more of July

Gray and Corbin decided all on their own to make dragon costumes. They made masks, wings, and spikes for their backs.

The library had a giant game day, and we went to check it out. It was fun!

We also had fun with the magnet shapes. I've wanted to buy some of these for my kids before, but they are so expensive!

A house across the street from my in-laws, where my cousins used to live almost 20 years ago, caught on fire and mostly burned down. We stopped to look, but the fire was almost out when we got there.

Another day at the rez!

Another day at the reservoir. This time with cousins!

Zucchini! This is only the beginning...

I made these invitations for a bridal shower we threw for Ethan's fiancée.

This is an inside joke with my sister, but it makes me laugh every time I look at it.

Nate and I were asked by the stake to host a couple of youth going on "missions" for their youth conference activity. It was a joy to have these two lovely young women we had never met before in our home to share dinner and a message with us. They were adorable, and I would never have been brave enough to do this when I was a youth.

Bishodent (Former bishop, current member of Stake Presidency) Card stopped by the primary when I was once again doing singing time, and he was gracious enough to play along and let the children dress him up to get ready for summer. It was so kind of him to do it, but maybe less kind of me to take this picture and post it on social media?

I was also in charge of an activity for activity days in the summer (we like to give our leaders a break during the summer) and we made Harry Potter wands at my house. I decided VERY last minute (like 20 minutes before everyone showed up) that we needed to have Ollivander tags to go with every wand with a different wood type and core and description. Sometimes, I wish I decided these things earlier. Or chose not to do them.

This is my wand. I love it.

I used my wand to help me make dinner that night.

Colin went to his first day of scouts! He loved day camp, and he LOVES being a cub scout!

My car died. Again. Nate fixed something with the battery. It was handy that he happened to be working from home that day.

I took the kids to the splash pad to keep them out of his hair. I think we also played with cousins.

But after we did our activities, I was still dressed in my swim finery, and I decided to hurry and drop of the local bridal shower invitations I had made since the shower was in a few days. The same warning light that had been on earlier in the day was on, but I thought the battery was supposed to be charging while I drove and everything was supposedly fine. And then I stopped at my brother's friend's parent's house (where the friends live) and everything went to hell. The car wouldn't start. They gave me a jump. The car turned over, but wouldn't shift into gear. Then it died again. We tried another jump, then it wouldn't shift into gear and everything blinked and all the lights on the dashboard turned on and then it was really mad and wouldn't start or anything. So they gave me a ride home and Nate sent a tow truck for the van. It was not pleasant.

I love giving Gray haircuts.

The traveling cat! I dropped it off at my good friend Rachel's house. I don't know where it is now.

We went to the animal show at the library.

Jude got bored.

The kids got to pet the giant rabbit at the end.

Gray graduated from his UPSTART preschool! Huzzah!

Bridal shower day! Kelli did a great job with the decorations. It was beautiful. But I wish we hadn't gone through all the work we did, because the only people who showed up were Melissa, her mom, her grandma, and our family. And then one other guest arrived late. What was the point? Melissa's family had already had a party for her, and I only did this because Ethan asked me to. But none of Ethan or Melissa's friends (who were the ones invited, besides family) even showed up. I was super annoyed. I would have much rather just taken her out to lunch with my mom and sisters.