The Thatchers: Summer Fun

Prepare yourself, this is a doozy. Over 400 pictures of our summer fun. However, they loaded funny so they are not all in order. Oh well. Here goes...

Our tulips that we got from Thanksgiving Point tulip festival.

Cool blossoming tree in our front yard.

Crazy story. I was at Anne's school waiting to pick her up in the carpool line and it was crazy windy. I saw a big gate swinging around so I got out of the car and tried to secure it was a big brick. As I was walking to get another brick a big gust blew the brick out of the way and the gate came hurdling toward me. I ran and jumped and barely got out of the way. In the process I scraped up my elbow and bruised my hands and hip. I was sore for a week. Falling as an adult is no fun.

Our area needed another county delegate so I volunteered again. It was fun and interesting going to the debates. I learned a lot about issues in Utah County and I felt very informed when I went to vote at the convention and primary.

One of my favorite shirts on James. He had a bit of a lull and dip in growth for a couple months while I was having some breast health issues. But once we got those taken care of and taught him how to drink from a bottle he bulked back up. At five months he was in the 99% for height, 67% for weight, and 87% for head size I think. He is now mobile and rolls and scutes all over the floor. He is also very good at grabbing things and putting them in his mouth so I am doing my best to keep a clean floor. He loves to laugh and is very ticklish in his armpits and belly. He is still a super happy baby and sleeps well at night. Hoping to get him to sleep longer again like he used to. He loves people and people can't get enough of his smiles and cheeks. We've also explored some baby foods and he is not a fan of the whole grain cereal by itself or green beans, but he loved peaches and sweet potatoes. So much fun, we love our "Jamesy boy" as only Sarah calls him :)

Anne participated in the city track team for a couple months and loved it! Her favorite events were the relays and the 100. Her coaches loved her happy attitude, even when running the 800 she just smiled away. That girl can just run forever and loves it.

Rachel and Sarah went for a couple weeks wanting to wear matching clothes every day.

Rachel making friends at Anne's track practice.

Zac vs. giant non-flowering rose bush in the backyard. Zac won though the rose drew some blood.

My sweet Grandma Hebbert passed away. It is sad that she is no longer with us but it is nice knowing that she is finally at peace. Grandpa finally got to be with his sweetheart again and I'm sure it was a happy reunion. Grandma was the first person to hold me when I was born because Dad was still overseas on deployment. I cherish our long talks in her front room as well as the strolls around the yard. I miss her smile. I love you Grandma.

The girls caught a case of the musical pox at Primary.

Uncle Gordon and Jet

James' first escape adventure.

Grandpa Russell and James

Grandma's funeral. I realized that I've been to a lot of funerals in my life. This was the most unique one I have ever been to in that it seemed joyous. Not that she was gone but we celebrated her life. In the viewing room family and friends talked and laughed. The kids loved looking at Grandma's fossils and rocks.

Sarah and Grandma have always had a special connecting since she was born. Whenever we would go visit her at her house, Sarah would brighten her day. It was the only thing that would make her smile sometimes. Sarah was weary with some strangers, but rarely with Grandma. Sarah took her first steps in their front room. While visiting at the care center Sarah would always give Grandma and hug and kiss and hardly ever showed signs of being afraid. I am so glad, even if she doesn't remember when she's older, that she got to know her great-grandma.

Some of my Dad's siblings also came to the funeral.

Amy Kerr and Darlene Pace. Amy is our Relief Society President that visited Grandma often. Sis. Pace was her visiting teacher for many years and still went and visited her once a week, every week, even though her health wasn't good either.

Uncle Wes had fun with James while we ate lunch.

Great Aunt violet also had some fun visits with the girls.

Grandma Russell and Julia (Michelle and Jason's new baby)

It wouldn't be right if there wasn't a Hebbert hoe down. I'm sure Grandma was sitting in the corner just singing and smiling away with everyone.

Uncle Loren rockin out on the drums.

Russell brothers jam session.

For the first time in eleven years (since my wedding) all six of us Russell kids were together. It was fun to visit and play.

Cute little Julia.

Grandpa was a big hit with the swings at Loren's house.

My little chocolatey helper.

Sorry for the upside-down-ness, but movie day.

The girls play doctor a lot but it was cute to walk in on this one day. Rachel was actually doctoring a scrape on Anne's knee and she did a good job.

At Anne's first track meet.

And Grandma Thatcher came to visit!!

Such a cutie.

Rachel lost her first tooth! While we were at the dentist office for checkups he told her that it was really loose and would probably come out today so when she was done she wiggled and wiggled and it came out! She was so excited! They gave her a a cute little necklace to put her tooth in.

Playing with fun smile that they made with Carrie before.

At the end of slime time. Luckily it cleans up easily.

Ground a fresh batch of whole wheat.

The girls ask to go put flowers on Grandma and Grandpa's graves all the time.

You can't really see it in this picture, but I just finished trimming and hacking down weeds all over the yard and was covered from head to toe.

Our cool artichoke plant produced a dozen artichokes this year that were very tasty.

Sad day at the Thatcher house....after a fun cubscout carnival in the backyard the girls were playing tag and running around the backyard and all of a sudden Rachel tripped and then screamed. I ran over to her and one look at her arm and I knew it was broken. I yelled to Zac and she started to panic because I was panicking. So I switched gears and told her it would be ok and that we just needed to go the hospital so a doctor could fix it and she would get to pick out a cool cast. I asked her what color she wanted and she said "Blue with a superman sticker." She was so brave and was calm. Zac carried her to the van and we went right over to the hospital which is about two minutes away. I was very impressed with the hospital staff, nurses, and doctors. They gave Rachel some pain medication through a nasal spray in the waiting room. Also they gave her a stuffed cat that helped so much to keep her calm. She would put it over her arm partly cause she said the soft made her arm feel better and partly because we think she didn't want to see her mishapened arm. A neighbor and then Jen was able to watch Anne and Sarah while we got x-rays and then finally got it set. They put her in a contious anesthesia, basically a light sleep, while they set the bones. Her body still reacted for a little bit which was hard to watch but she didn't remember anything. She was really scared when she came out of the anesthesia so I climbed on the bed with her and helped her calm down. Finally we were able to go home with a really good splint. She would get a cast in a week when the swelling went down. We got her her pain medication which she only took a couple times. This picture is how we were the entire next day. We just lounged and watched movies and kept ice on her arm. Two of her friends brought her doughnuts and a cupcake. She was not a happy Rachel but she also wasn't crying or in pain. Such a brave girl.

Later that night she took a shower and was back to her smiley self.

First day of summer!

A few days later we went on an adventure with Aunt Jennifer to Vernal, Utah to the Dinosaur National Monument. We even stayed in a hotel which was just as fun as the bones :)

Dinner!

Petroglyphs

Turtle rock

The kids found an injured butterfly in the yard.

Rachel really wanted to get her haircut so she could "Feel the wind on my neck!" Here is her before.

And after. She still didn't have her waterproof cast yet so instead of going swimming we got her hair cut and got ice cream instead.

So cute.

Loved walking in on this. Anne reading scriptures to James.

Art day.

Pool day.

Yay for waterproof casts!

James' first time in the pool.

Our big adventure to California to see family and get a retainer for Anne from Aunt Dawn!

A couple hours into the trip.

A few more hours into the trip. Hilarious.

A cool solar field along the way.

After a long 15 hour drive it was nice to see Grandma and go for a dip in the pool and cool off.

Playing at the park.

Anne really liked Rocco, Grandma, Luke, and Uncle Ben's dog.

Cute cousin Brooke.

Cool little shaded crib we made next to the pool.

Grandpa Thatcher got to come play at the pool too.

Ice cream time.

On to Santa Barbara to visit Dawn's family. William and Sarah were buds.

Ryker and James

Yummy Mexican food.

Dawn and Justin's new home.

Grandma Thatcher took us all out to IHOP, mmm.

The beach!

Having fun with William's tractor.

More beach time.

We found some pretty big sand crabs like I remember finding as a kid.

We had a fun time at the cubscout daycamp, Jeremiah Johnson.

Strawberry Days Parade

Little photoshoot we did for Zac for Father's Day. Thanks to Aunt Dawn for the awesome shirts.

Some fun at Sand Mountain.

Big backyard bonfire

Poor guy, you know it was bound to happen though.

Cool flower arrangement by the girls.

Great Grandma Hebbert's funeral and hoe down.

We had some problems with our tub draining so Zac being the handyman that he is, he fixed it! He had to replace some nasty pipes in the basement.

So we had a bit of an oops with the start of our garden. At the end of last year we threw our pumpkins in the garden to till up into the soil in the spring. Well, the seeds survived and needless to say, we had a field of pumpkin plants. It broke my heart to thin them, but it had to be done.