Monkey Highlights Eleven

Phew, we were back from the great adventures of Texas and trying to get back into a somewhat normal routine. Of course, this is where I lost all semblance of order and didn't blog for months. It was just so busy.

We jumped right on eye exams because we wanted to get new glasses before school started. You can tell we were still in weirdie mode, even at the eye doctor's.

Daisy and Robyn both got a new pair but it makes me laugh because you can barely tell a difference. Here are the before and after.

Our friend Sharon was passing through Utah on her way to Texas and I was very worried that we would miss her entirely. Luckily, she was around just as we got back so we got to see her briefly. She was driving to Texas with her friend Shannon and they came over for dinner and games. We played a bit more Caveman telephone (mainly because I had so many booklets left over from camp) and it was hilarious. Shannon was quite a great drawer and I think her picture of a dragon getting a swirly was classic.

Here is Sharon on the left and Shannon on the right.

Mutual the week we got back was a huge production. Tyler had planned one of his disaster days. This usually means the Young Men try to use their first aid skills to save people in disaster scenarios and they usually end up killing a third of the people. It is tricky because they have to use leaders and sometimes the older boys as the victims as the younger boys practice their expertise. Well this time around we had some young women who wanted to practice their makeup skills. And by makeup, I don't mean mascara and lipstick...these girls have tons of cool special effects makeup to create injuries and realistic wounds. I suggested that since a couple girls wanted to do makeup, they should just use the Young Women for victims. That ended up working out very well, but it meant a lot of kids in one place. The girls came first to prepare and I stopped in briefly to take some pictures.

Jenna is choking...

Robyn has a nasty gash on her leg...

Abby has heat stroke at a BBQ...

Maycee has burns on her arms and singed off her eyebrows...(her makeup looked pretty good until they added fake blood right at the end. Then it looked a little more like ketchup and mustard on her arms)

June has a snake bite...ouch

And Eva has some kind of puncture to the arm...

It was a great evening, although I'm pretty sure that the boys still killed off a third of the girls. It's bound to happen. The good thing is that they probably learned some very important skills at the same time.

The week we came back was also our orthodontist Seven Peaks week. There is a Thursday each summer in August when they let you go for free after five p.m. It is really fun and nice because I am unwilling to pay to go there. (Too Expensive!) However, the last couple times it has been cold and overcast. This was the same way. It is fun but not as enjoyable when you are waiting in line and rapidly losing all feeling in your limbs. It is probably hardest on the little ones that have no body fat. Poor cold Pearl.

Daisy and Ivory had a blast together. Can you see them out there? I lost track of them for a while and it was really hard to find them amongst all the chaos.

Daisy is a little water baby. She will play in any area. Here she is in the kiddie section dipping in the four inches of water.

Somewhere along the way she got a scrape. Here she is showing me her sad elbow.

Ivory and I took a cold selfie. Ivory had such a funny face that when I took the picture I had a funny face because I was looking at her.

We didn't stay for the fireworks. We were just too cold. And I think it was book group, although I didn't make it. By the time I got home, I just wanted a warm bath.

That same week, Grandma received her mission call and opened it on Saturday with all of us skyped in. We had been waiting all summer to hear where she was going. Everyone was very excited.

Here is the video of her opening her call.

Obviously, that was a few months back. She is currently in Minnesota and doing well. We are so proud of her. I got to drive her out there and we had great adventures on the way, but I haven't gotten there yet. Hang in there. The blogging is happening folks...