Life in a Northern Town: FAMILY LETTER 07.22.18

Dear Loved Ones,

It’s been a quiet, hot summer week at our house. Rich and James left for Scout Camp at K-M Scout Ranch at 5:30am Monday 7/16. I stayed home with the little guys and the girls—we had swimming lessons every morning and Addie worked a lot. Heidi had an all-afternoon bike ride with Sophia and Ilana and I had lunch with my new friend Adair, then took the boys shopping at some super sales in Bozeman. Addie had a late movie at Clara’s. Tuesday 7/17 was more swim lessons and some pool time after lunch, then a bunch of cleaning and a potluck dinner with the Joneses and Andersons. We had thought about floating the river with all the teenagers, but the weather got really stormy in the afternoon. Once it cleared up, we headed out to the ranch at sunset for a s’mores bonfire and hanging out. Rebecca Smith—another scout widow—joined us. We got back to Joneses’ house after 11pm and the teenagers still wanted to watch a movie. Amy said she needed to do laundry before they left for Idaho in the morning, so she volunteered to stay up and drive kids home at 1am, bless her heart! We had such a fun time together. I love friends who feel like family!

Wednesday 7/18 started with more swimming, then I broke so many parenting rules and bribed the little boys with happy meals if they would let me take a nap, hahaha. I usually take night time rx at 10pm with magnesium and that helps me sleep. Since I got home at midnight, I figured I’d sleep fine without them and I went right to bed. I woke up at 1:30am and couldn’t get back to sleep until nearly 4. I watched some of Ken Burns’ “The Viet Nam War” series, which I have been watching all week (so riveting and disturbing and thorough and thought-provoking) and finally truly fell asleep from 5am-8am. So I needed that nap! I slept for about an hour, then finished laundry and made food. Addie had friends over—Clara, Victor, Emilie—and they joined us. Victor took the girls to YW for me and I put the little boys to bed early and took my meds at 9am so I could catch up on sleep. Sweet Melissa Parks invited my boys for a play date on Thursday, so after swimming lessons and lunch, they spent the afternoon with the Parks boys (who are moving to Idaho Falls soon…waaaaaahhhh!) and Heidi and I scrubbed the stair well and some of the basement walls and patched the dings and repainted. It went from looking like Aleppo down here to looking like a nice new house again. I’ve learned that if we are going to stay in a house long term, pretty much everything needs an overhaul every 4-5 years. If you’re moving regularly, that happens automatically. If you’re not moving, you have to PRETEND you are moving and evacuate the crap or it really accumulates, no matter how non-hoarder you fancy yourself to be. Then you can shampoo carpets, paint walls, re-organize drawers and closets, etc., which is exactly how I intend to spend the remainder of this year. Friday the boys had their swim finals and a celebration with stellar report cards. Heidi went to Bozeman with Ilana and her family for the afternoon and Addie had to work, so the little boys helped me clean out and hose down my half of the garage. Then while we let the garage dry, we took the van to the car wash and cleaned it out. I intended to come home and load up some boxes of donations for the thrift store, but we never made it out again—too hot, too tired.

Saturday morning 7/21 I rallied the troops to clean the downstairs. We did laundry and cleaned up the boys’ room , the playroom, and super vacuumed. I promised to get them burgers for lunch if they finished the job, so we were pulling out for lunch when Daddy and James pulled in from Scout Camp much earlier than expected. We jumped out and had lots of hugs, then they hopped in and got burgers with us. After lunch we unloaded camping stuff, started some laundry, and took nice, air conditioned naps. At 5 we headed over to St. Mary’s to attend a quinceanera mass for Elba Gomez. It was a lovely service; they had mariachis instead of an organ and choir—so awesome! Afterward there was a Quinceanera bash at the fairgrounds. We enjoyed delicious food (chicken en mole for me! Mmm-mm!) and GORGEOUS mariachi music. We headed home at 8pm and dropped off some Mexican food to Addie at work. It was a lovely night and I was so happy to have all my fellas home.

Sunday was my first week teaching the 7-year olds and it was pretty fun. They are a sweet class; I hope I get to stay with them. After church, the three boys went home with Grandpa and Grandma for a sleep over at the ranch. We came home and had a quick lunch and a long nap. When we woke up and were choosing a movie to watch with the girls, I realized it was July 22^nd—GRANDPA MELIN’S BIRTHDAY! How had we gone most of the day not knowing the date or being prepared to wish Dad a Happy Birthday? It was like a nightmare! The girls made him cards and we got a DQ ice cream cake from the freezer and went out to wish him well. We love him so much and are so thankful for his influence in our family—we hope he thinks our faux pas was funny and not rude! Once we got home from the ranch, we watched Roman Holiday and I got to snuggle with my hubs and all was right in the world.

We wish you all another great week. We love and miss you!

Love, Jamie and Rich and Family