Sunday Post #10

We had a fun and exciting week around here. We kicked off summer officially with the kids getting out of school! Yay for summer! (I hope I am still saying that in a few weeks...check back with me...)

We also had a few stressful points, though nothing serious. That's just the course of life. I am starting to feel like everything I do is an uphill battle. :) A while back, I volunteered to take an extra shift at work because a couple of my co-workers are out of town. Well, I didn't think about it until this week, but the shift I picked up was on Friday, the first day out of school for my kids. Hallie and Jace are easy to get babysitters for, but Flor isn't. She can be a bit of a challenge and I get that. Anyway, one of the biggest challenges of moving to Farmington for me is the lack of teenage babysitters who actually WANT to babysit. We have one family that we utilize A LOT and I feel bad because I don't want to burn them out. They are wonderful with the kids, but it is hard for their 12 year old to handle all three of my kids. She will be watching Hallie and Jace this summer (more on Flor's summer situation in a second) and will do a great job. But anyway, I scrambled all week long to get a babysitter for Friday. I asked pretty much every family in the ward with older teenagers and got zero response. It's hard spot to be in because I feel like a burden and yet I don't have anywhere else to turn. So, finally, the girl that helps get Flor off the bus Mondays and Tuesdays arranged her schedule so she could do it. It was stressful, but resolved last minute. 

The other stressful thing is arranging care for Flor for the summer. She is eligible for one time respite services through the state, which is a HUGE blessing. Basically, someone trained and qualified to care for her can watch her during my times at work and it is paid for through the Department of Human Services. This is a one time respite program for kids on the waiting list for DSPD services (the list can be long- like 8 years is the last I heard). Anyway, this could not have come at a more perfect time for us. The only problem is that it was not fully arranged until Friday this week (see above about having everything be an uphill battle!). I got a list from the state of companies I could choose from to provide the services for her, and of course there are almost none in our area. Provo/Orem has a huge list, Davis County has like 2. I called the first one and thought I had things pretty much arranged with them, but got thinking this week that I hadn't heard anything from them since the initial phone call and she was supposed to start Monday. So I called and it took 3 times to get ahold of them and then when I finally spoke to a human, she told me she knew nothing about Flor or her case. Ugh. I called the girl that the state that was supposed to be arranging it and she told me she had already sent them everything. So, there was some lack of communication there and neither seemed to want to follow up with the other. So finally I called the other program in the county and asked what it would take to get Flor switched over. These guys were MUCH more responsive and set a time to meet with me on Wednesday to go over everything. The director also volunteered to sort out everything with the state and take me out of the middle, which was super nice. So, I was much more impressed with them. But, she told me she would call me Thursday to make sure she had someone that could start on Monday (short notice, you know) and then I remembered Friday night at like 10 that I had never heard from her. I called and left a message Saturday but of course they were closed. Someone must have come in later in the afternoon because she called me back and told me that everything is good to go for Monday. So, phew. That was a bit stressful, too. 

Anyway, other than those few things, we had a great week. Here is a picture version:

Wednesday night we had a BBQ to bring in summer. We made homemade berry frozen yogurt and it was SO good. Seriously, so good. We have an ice cream maker that we got for our wedding that whips the stuff out in 20 minutes. Can't beat that.

Last day of 4th grade! Can't believe it. Only two more years of elementary school for this girl! Crazy, right?

And last day of Kindergarten for this one. They grow up too fast! The biggest difference between Hals' start of the year pictures to this one is her teeth! She's lost most of her baby teeth and is growing in the big teeth still.

While they were supposed to be cleaning the basement, Hallie and Jace got into the dressups. One sure fire way to get the kids to play together quietly for a long time is to ask them to go clean something. It's a great trick I keep up my sleeve...:) Anyway, the next few pictures show some of their creations. They are funny little things.

I especially love the broom prop...

For this one, they even had a cheer made up that Hallie had coached him on. I think it went something like "I love Mom, Yah whoo!" hahaha.

Saturday morning Devin wanted to go to the driving range, so I suggested he take Jace for a little father-son bonding time. He then of course wanted to go to Walmart and buy him a set of golf clubs, but i put my foot down on that and told him we were going to the DI instead. I was sure there was something there, and sure enough, there was. It may have only been one kid club instead of a whole set, but who cares? He only needs one! Plus it was $3 instead of $50. Good job me.

That afternoon, Devin and I dropped Flor and Jace off at Travis and Jenny's house so that we could take Hallie to the Hale Center Theater's play, The Little Mermaid. We got tickets for free from one of my contractors with Utah Adoption Specialists. It pays to know awesome people! Anyway, her husband is one of the big guys there doing lighting and set designs. She also helps with costumes. The play was AMAZING! I cannot stop raving about it. The costumes, the sets, the acting, they even had aeralists who were incredible. All of it was just so great. It was opening night for their T/Th/S cast, so that made it extra fun. I want to go again already. Hallie loved it too. Devin liked it, but it wasn't his favorite. Just not his general favorite type of play you know (he likes comedies). 

The stage...this was Hale in WVC. We used to go to plays occasionally at the Hale in Orem. This one is bigger and seems even better if possible.

Hallie and Scuttle after the show

Sebastian and Flounder (and see the guy in the back--one of the aeralists...I have never seen anything like it! SO GOOD)

And of course with one of the Mermaids (one of Ariel's sisters)

Selfie out front. The sun was in our eyes. 

 Thanks to Travis and Jenny for taking the other two crazies so we could go. It was a great night. After the play, we headed to Cafe Rio for some dinner and to kick off our fast Sunday. It worked well; I wasn't all that hungry today. :)

Apparently all the fun wore these two out. Jace conked out while we were watching Meet the Mormons this afternoon (I know we are behind the times- we haven't seen it yet. It is on Netflix now though and so we took the opportunity to watch it today. It was as wonderful as everyone told us. I highly recommend if you have not seen it yet!)

That's all for this week!