Update

It was another great week. We finally went to Roaring Springs, that place is a racket but a summer must. I was so happy to not be pregnant this year. I unfortunately had to end my summer with a surgery. I needed 2 gum grafts. Boo. I needed one 20 years ago and it was super awful and I've been dreading it since January when I found out I needed to get one that turned into two. The procedure itself was MUCH better. They gave me some anxiety pills and laughy gas and I was just peachy. It went so fast, it was great. The recovery not so much. It's to be expected to not be my super best self. I have two areas of stiches and a retainer covering the roof of my mouth where they cut the tissue for the graft. I have been on top of my pain meds taking them on schedule but I woke up to pain and a bottom mouthful of coagulated blood. It was very gross and unsettling. I thought the graft came out and I was chewing on it but I was just chewing on thick blood. I didn't sleep great the rest of the night waiting for morning to check in with my surgeon. He let me know that there must have been some disruption during my sleep but that the stiches looked good. Fingers crossed I won't wake up to a blood nightmare again tonight. I hate eating just soft foods and feel like I'm starving to death. I will survive. I have my first work meeting this Friday and then work begins the following Wednesday. It's a bummer to end my summer in recovery but at least I was able to take care of it before work starts. I really hope it can heal quickly and nicely. I'm trying hard to follow post op instructions. 

We watched Coraline, Piper is pulling her I'm tormented face.

Seriously? Cuteness alert!

It's cute when they play together.

I love that Ryan loves to cook. I helped him make some homemade whole wheat pancakes, don't worry that stack is not just for him. LOL

Pineapple Dolewhip!

Cutest

Hutch and Charly do pretty well together.

Yum!

Atomic Days

 
Another week gone in a flash! We went to Atomic Days for the Beal reunion this past weekend. Corbin went a day early with Gabe which made the drive a little more roomy for the other kiddos. John came with us. This was our first trip together with my kids so that was interesting. They were typical preteen/teens and listened to their airpods on the drive and John and I just chatted. We did the usual festivities which mostly consist of gathering on a camping chair and chatting and eating. John was a good sport and my family all liked him. We had breakfast in the park and then watched the parade. It was extra long (for Arco) this year. The kids had a great time getting candy and that is always fun to watch. I should have taken more pictures, oh well! Keaton and his family came all the way from North Dakota. All siblings were there except for Lance. It's a lot, even with a lot of missing people, it keeps getting bigger and bigger! Everyone but Keaton left on Saturday so we decided to leave Saturday night as well since we were planning to leave early for me to get back to work today anyway. It was short but sweet! I get my kids again this week, yay! We will see if we do anything fun.

We met for Mary's birthday!

Charly turned 3! She's so so so cute. We love her to death.

Dad, all brother siblings minus Lance, and Corbin, Benett, and Spencer.

Update

This summer is flying by. With scheduling rearrangements I haven't had my kids for 2 weeks and it feels like forever, it went by fast though so that's good. I only have 3 more weeks before I go back to work so I'm going to try to fit in some summer festivities with my kids. The summer goes way too fast. For the 4th John and I crashed my cousin's BBQ we didn't stay for the fireworks so we could get back to Hutch and also because I had to get up at 3:00 in the morning to go to the airport. I went to Florida for the FCCLA National Conference. I'm trying to figure out FCCLA more. It's a part of my job that I don't like worrying about. It's a lot of extra work and stress but I'm trying my best to wrap my brain around it so I don't hate it for the next 20 years. It was nice to go somewhere and have little vacation time along with work. I went to SeaWorld by myself just to practice doing things alone. It was not great but I was glad I did it. A work colleague was at the same hotel as me and it was nice to have someone to go to dinner with and hang a bit with. We went to some outlet malls one night and that was fun to check out. We tried a few local restaurants and I had some really good fish tacos. It was nice to have chill pool time and it was great to have my own hotel room.

Cute buddy.

I'm trying to get better at standing up on the paddle board. I was pregnant last summer so I couldn't do that.

My paddle boarding buddy Shelly.

John, Hutch, and I went paddle boarding.

My trees are growing nicely. I'm glad I haven't killed them!

Heidi trying to nap with our very long delays. We were supposed to get into Boise at 5:40 pm on the 10th and got it at 1:30 am on the 11th. Not a fav!

Out to dinner.

The sky was so pretty at the outlet malls.

The one ride I was able to go on only once. It was fun though.

My room buddies for the Early Childhood Competition. It was helpful to be involved in that. I will be creating an assignment in my classroom around it.

4th of July.

Cute buddy.

Update

There's not much to talk about. This summer is going by fast and I don't feel like I have anything to show for it. We haven't really done anything. Oh well. Haha. I went to Pocatello for a few days for a work conference. I wasn't looking forward to it but it ended up being a lot more fun than I thought it would be. It was 2 days of workshops with other FCS teachers from the state and I clicked with a few teachers and had a great time. I had my kids last week and we didn't do a lot but they like to chill so it's not like they have been complaining. We went swimming at Gabe and Christy's and they also went to Roaring Springs with their new step family and had fun doing that. My job with Shelly is going well. I'm so glad I have it. I got my first paycheck and it makes a huge difference. I was trying to be so strict with the grocery budget last month and this month we doubled our expenses because I felt like we could. It's so nice to be able to buy a damn watermelon. My Israeli family is doing okay. They are hopeful that this will be a good thing for Israel, who knows, it seems that Israel is not a place that will ever have peace. Shahar is practically crawling. She's getting so big. It was John's birthday on Wednesday so he came over and we had homemade pizza and cobbler. I need to get out and do a few more summer things. I'm going paddleboarding tomorrow so yay for that!

I found a Ted Lasso game! John was a good sport and played it with me.

 

Gabby's Driving!

Gabby officially has her driver's permit. She has to drive 50 hours over the next 6 months before she can test and be official, official. She is doing well. Poor Corbin being the first always gets the worst from me  I am more calm this round AND I do think Gabby is a bit more cautious than Corbin was. I did some real yelling and had to apologize after some Corbin some of his drives. Haha. Driving is so dangerous, it's stressful! 

We had a pretty chill week and didn't do anything much. We went swimming a few times and went and got pineapple dole whip. I had John come over and eat dinner with us for the first time. We also played some games just to help break the ice a bit. Piper wasn't quite ready so she hid out in my room, which was fine. 

The caretaking job is going well, I'm super happy to have it, life is expensive! Corbin got to go to McCall with Gabe, Spencer, and Benett, he loves that!  Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there.  

She's growing up!

 

Kitchen Table Situation

I had a very busy week last week. I like to stay busy especially when I'm not working and I don't have my kids, otherwise that makes for a very long week. I decided I wanted to repaint my kitchen table. I painted it two years ago and the color was perfect but it needed a facelift and I wanted a change. I have been thinking about a kelly green table for awhile so I went for it. I found the exact shade that I wanted and boy did I not like it. I had no idea Corbin had strong feelings about my table but he said it was perfect before and he of course hated the green. I gave it two days and decided it was a no go. I painted it a darker blue and I really do like the color and I think it looks good. The mistake I made was using the gloss polycrylic seal I already had in my garage. I think I forgot that I bought it last time and didn't like how shiny it was and went and bought the satin finish. Whoopsie. This table is shiny. It really makes all the brush strokes show but oh well! I'm over painting the table. I'm mostly happy with it and will really try to remember to use the satin finish next time. I really was ready for a change so here we go! 

I decided to try Door Dash for a side hustle. I became a dasher for a whole three days and boy oh boy was I bad at it! For $4 I had to run into the middle of the mall to get some Jamba juices and I forgot where I parked and had to panic run through the entire perimeter of the mall until I found my car...I was on the complete opposite side. All while trying to not spill my melting frozen drinks and not pee my pants, full bladder after 5 kids is no joke. I found my car and drove to the destination and it took about 45 minutes. Oh boy. Another order I got had the wrong address but I found the food anyway and grabbed a giant bag of 6 stacks of burrito bowl situations. I put it in my car and took my first turn and swoosh the food tried to go, I frantically grabbed the bag and it ripped in half. I had to turn around, park, run and get new bags and restack the bowls. I picked up the bowls and they almost dropped, the lids didn't fit. I tried to put the lids on tight and they wouldn't seal. I stacked the unsealed bowls ever so carefully and drove to the destination, that dash was for $4.75. I did get a bit better after that but had to drive all the way to Kuna for $11.75, my car does not get good gas mileage by the way. I earned a total of $44 last week. LUCKILY the caretaking job I'm doing pays much better and is much easier AND they are giving me more hours. Huzzah. My dasher days are done! 

I wanted to take John for a quick overnight trip to Arco. I wanted to show him  my hometown and have him meet my parents. We had my favorite dinner from my mom, mashed potatoes with gravy and roast beef. We played some pool, went for a bike ride to the cemetery, chatted up my parents and Kelsey and Justin, played Barbie Queen of the prom and called it a night. The next day we went to the swinging tree and then we drove home. It was short and sweet and perfect. I had a great time and I think John did just fine meeting some more of my family. It's so big, it's nice to break it up. 

Alright, well that's all. I have my kids this week, yay! 

Before

Mistake green

Shiny Blue and done