Dear
Loved Ones,
We have had
a busy summer, pretty much like everyone else. I always take for granted the
rhythm and schedule of the school year for getting things like letter-writing
(and sewing, and organizing, and personal grooming) done—I can’t seem to find
the time with all the kids home all the time and the three meals to make and
clean up, and the 5 outfits a day and the staying up late and running to and
fro. *Sigh* So I am squeezing in a letter real quick before the girls and I
watch episode 7 of “Poldark” on Masterpiece,
which has replaced letter writing time for the time being.
I’ve kept up
with photos on the blog, so if you go there you will get a pretty good idea
about what we have been doing. We’re trying not to travel because we’re on an
austerity plan, but back to school and groceries are NOT making me feel very
austere! I though the kids might be bored, but they’ve had a pretty fun summer,
biking and swimming with their friends, reading books and watching movies
together on our many rainy days, and trying to figure out family scripture
study with our loopy, lazy summer schedules. We did great daily study
through June, but July we averaged twice a week, I think, and never with Daddy
because we were sleeping in and staying up late. I even made the kids read
while we were driving to Bozeman one day because we’d missed like 4 days and we
could feel it! Other than that, we’ve pretty much thrown structure to the wind
this summer. It has been pretty dreamy and the time has FLOWN (which is great,
because I kind of hate summer).
Rich has
been very busy with scouts and he’s so awesome at it. Aside from their weekly
activities and merit badge projects, they had a three-day backpacking trip in
June and a week at the Island Park Scout Camp in July. He has taken our kids on
a few backpacking and car-camping trips, and has another planned for next
weekend. They love it. Ammon and Me: not
so much. We usually stay behind and stick to our schedules. We are creatures of
habit.
The crazy
weather has not been kind to our garden and we haven’t been as attentive as we
should have been with all the swings in temperature and moisture. We do,
however, have tons of beet greens, spinach, butter crunch lettuce, radishes,
chives, and green onions and herbs. We had two salads last week made from our
own greens. We hope the tomatoes and squash come around—they’ve had a hard
time. It’s fun to see the little boys so into helping me out there. Ammon has
helped us weed so much, he likes to just go pull up anything, willy-nilly, so
we have to keep an eye on that naughty monkey! I hope that God will recognize
our efforts to be obedient, even if they aren’t “fruitful” enough to really
feed our family and store for winter. We’re trying!
Addie had a
great time at Girls’ Camp this year, back in the middle of July. Grandma Melin
was up there working on the food, and this year’s group of young women were
really happy and outgoing. They won the award for happiest campers because they
cheered everyone up, and I thought that was awesome. Heidi participated in the
Library’s Middle School-High School reading program this summer and she loved
it. It had a Super Heroes theme and they had their own FanCon, so Heidi got
super into it and had a lot of fun. James is enjoying cub scouts—he started the
summer off with day camp and continues to earn merit badges (or whatever you call those things I sign off on) on his own and with
his pack. July was all about hiking, and
I think August is about birds. I’m grateful he has good, consistent leaders.
The little
boys and I have kept the same schedule
pretty much, napping with Ammon most days during our quiet time (siesta). The
only difference is more running around in the car and stroller with the big
kids (which Ammon hates), and later dinner and bed times. Niles is doing great
figuring out how to put letters together to make words, watching lots of Little Einsteins and Phineas and Ferb, digging and building
in the yard (so much construction all around us!), swimming and biking. Ammon
is babbling and starting to mimic—we catch words every so often, but he’s
mostly just saying mom, dad, and hi still. He’s a very busy climber and hates
to be left out of what the big kids are doing. I spend a lot of time trying to
distract him and encouraging him to act his age (“Be a baby! You’re a baby!”).
He loves oatmeal and yogurt and wishes he could eat salad with the rest of us,
and he loves to play in the water when he’s not tired.
We are
looking forward to good things in August. Next weekend Addie and I are going to
a wedding in the Salt Lake Temple and Rich is taking the other kids to camp.
The next week Rich’s friends from BYUH are coming to visit, and then the next
week is our much anticipated/very belated Layton Family Reunion/ Dad Layton’s
70th Birthday celebration campout at Mack’s Inn. And then school
begins on August 26th. We will have only one child in elementary
school this year for the first time since 2009…weird! We’re excited to get
Heidi oriented to middle school life, and happy that James has a great teacher
this year.
We wish you
a happy week! Happy birthday this coming week to Aryelle Stagner (4) and
Melanie Post (17), and last week to Emmalyn Drews (3) and Uncle Rob Hamlin. We
love you! Keep in touch!
Love,
Rich and Jamie and Family
