August 2016

August brought the annual church girls' camp for the young women. Grace went with her funny friends, Keely, Julia, and Kayla. The theme was Oz, so they were supposed to start out dressed like farmers from Kansas. I'm not sure what these kids look like, but I think Grace is channeling some Willie Nelson vibes.

I didn't hear much from them all week, but a few leaders posted some pics to Facebook, so I grabbed these. 

Oh dear. Let's just say I'm glad I don't have to go to girls' camp.

While they were gone, Harriet and I took the time to do some playing at the pool.

And, Harriet had a "back-to-school" sleepover with her favorite 5th grade friends. 

(Sans Lexi! It was so sad to gather without her for the first time.)

Aubrey, Harriet, Erin, Paige C.

They tried all kinds of cheer stunts and weird gymnastics moves.

And had fun at the fire pit.

When Grace got back, we sneaked over to the pool one last time before school started. 

Then, it was time for meet the teacher day. We were SO RELIEVED that Harriet was placed with a fantastic teacher for her final year at Tierra. There was some scuffle over the summer as the amazing teacher she had been placed with, left the school. But, Laurie Rodriguez is a pure gem and I think it might have worked out even better that she ended up in her class, sad as we were to see Ms. Sharp leave.

I couldn't resist taking a photo of Harriet in front of the school trophy case where all of her cheer team's awards are displayed. They had such a phenomenal year last year. Unfortunately, with Kristen leaving, Harriet just couldn't bring herself to stay on the team with the new coach, so she quit the school cheer team at the beginning of the school year. It just wasn't the same without Kristen. That was really crushing to both of us to lose cheer. For Harriet, cheer had been such a great outlet and source for friendship, and physical exercise, and goal-setting, and the feeling of belonging to something really big and great, and having something that was all hers that didn't belong to Grace or anyone else in the family. Losing all of that was extremely hard. I will always be grateful she had those experiences though, and hope that she can find more in the future with something else.

But, somehow, we all got up and started another school year. 5th and 8th grades. The last year for all of us at the elementary school, and Grace's last year in middle school. It is a milestone year.

Despite that I was assigned to be the school picture chair on PTA this year, I still like my own pictures way more than the school pics. I still order them, but these turn out a lot better, especially for Grace who has a hard time with school pictures.

First day friends. They didn't end up in the same class, but they are in the same portable, so they will still get to see each other a lot. (Our school has doubled in size since Grace was there. We have gone from 500-600 kids to 1000 kids this year! The ENTIRE 5th grade - 8 separate classes, along with gifted classes and music classes are housed outside in portable classrooms this year!)

Ok, I had to throw these in. When i was in Cedar this summer, my Grandma Primmer gave me this photo of her brother's wedding. She was a bridesmaid and my Grandpa Taylor was a groomsman. Grandma and Grandpa divorced a long long time ago, but it was interesting to see her get a little nostalgic for this photo. She thought he was so handsome in it and wanted her kids to have a picture of their dad when he looked handsome. So, she asked me to crop it and send everyone a picture of him. I cropped her too, because, she was pretty darn cute herself that day!

 Sherwin Taylor

Elayne Heyborne (Taylor) (Primmer)

I should mention... at the beginning of the summer, I got a new calling in our ward at church! I had been the Primary Secretary (well, one of them) for over 2 years in a Primary with about 150 kids.  I was losing the will to live, let alone keep going to church. So, my new calling as the Ward Family History Consultant was a welcome breath of fresh air! There is so much work to be done in my family and I never sit down and do it. So, it was great to get kind of a school assignment to start doing it and do my calling at the same time. Doing things with old photos like this is just so fun and I love that it is part of my calling now.

Then, Grace FINALLY got a new mountain bike! Her dad insisted on clipless pedals for this beast. That will definitely be an ongoing project for Grace to master as can be seen by her new scars. 

Grace has also been trying to go to the temple for baptisms when she can with the youth. I go with her when I can. I like being the towel lady at the font. That's about my speed at the temple: towel lady.

 Then, David and I celebrated 19 years of marriage on August 21st. 19 years is quite a while. We celebrated by escaping for a much needed movie night to see Jason Bourne (at the theater with the recliners) and a night away at the local Marriott Pyramid. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for keeping the kids and the dog.

Then there's always random cuteness supplied by Harriet and furry friends.

July 2016

Yes, the Pathfinder was still here into July... my dad had it shipped to Salt Lake the first week of July so that it wouldn't have a chance to break down driving it there. Crazy guy!

So, I took the Subaru on it's maiden voyage just a couple of days after we bought it. I mean, we couldn't have waited much longer for that car! We headed to Cedar City across the horrible back roads of Arizona. I will NEVER drive those again. The next time I go to Cedar, I will do so from Salt Lake on I-15. We met Jessica and my mom and Sloan and Lyla there for the 4th of July weekend!

We went to church at the Old Rock Church. Probably my favorite church ever. 

I could not love this picture more.

Jessica was so funny. We couldn't find a place to swim on Sunday afternoon, so she literally bought a hotel room so that we could swim in the hotel pool! Brrr... the water was ICE cold. These kids still swam in it though and had a great time with their cousins.

Then, for the 4th, we headed to Main Street. I've said it before, but there is nothing more fun than the 4th of July in a small town. Cedar City knows how to put on a parade!

This little smoochy face...

Then, Jessica and my mom headed home and the girls and I stayed one more night and day so that we could have Grandma Primmer to ourselves! We took her to a movie and saw Finding Dory. Then, she was like showing us this "cool little new place behind the movie theater where you can rent boats" afterwards? I could not believe what she was actually showing us was a man-made lake, smack dab in the middle of Cedar City! We didn't think much of it at first, but then I was like - let's go check it out. We intended to just stay and swim for an hour or two, but then we saw the kayak rentals! It was like 10 bucks or something, so we called Grandma and told her we'd be a little later for dinner. Poor thing, she was probably starved by the time I got the girls to leave this place. They could have stayed forever and come back the next day too. They miss the beach so much and just love playing in water.

Harriet and I kayaked together, and Grace took her own out. I was impressed she did so well! It was kind of windy - I was afraid we'd get blown over, but we stayed upright and had a great time on the lake!

Thanks for all the fun, Grandma Primmer! The girls are still talking about how much they love Cedar and want to come back.

Then, we kept driving on to Salt Lake for some more cousins. Kate and Harriet spent a week on the trampoline together trying to perfect their back handsprings.

Grace and Sean still played well, but you can tell there is starting to be a separation in their ages/generations. Grace becoming a teenager has definitely been a hard transition.

But, she'll still light-saber-fight anyone at dusk.

Oh my gosh, then there's crazy Grandpa Lyle. I've got to write this down because it is SO him and I still can't believe him! One afternoon, he knocks on the door and he's holding 2 heavy purple sacks that look like he's just robbed a bank in a cartoon or something. They might as well have had dollar signs $ painted on them. He's like "I've got money for the grandkids- gather all the kids and count this!" What?! He's been saving his change in coffee cans for a year for the kids. This isn't pennies and nickels folks, these are mostly quarters and dimes! He had no idea how much he had in there and didn't think it would be enough to split, so he told the kids he'd double it with cash from his wallet so that they could all share it. ??? They slowly count it and roll it... $233!!! I think he was a little worried he couldn't double it -he had no idea how much was there. So, he starts pulling cash out of his wallet and slowly counts it. Guess how much he has in his wallet? Wait for it.... no. joke. He has EXACTLY $233 in cash in his wallet. (Who randomly carries that kind of cash in 2016? Lyle. Lyle does.) He takes it as a giant sign from the universe that it was all meant to be, and the kids are supposed to wipe him clean of every cent he has to his name. He could easily not have any groceries or gas money or rent money and he would still genuinely grin and give it to them. He's not the kind of person who "would give you the shirt off his back." He DOES give you the shirt off his back, every time he gets the chance. He could NOT BE MORE EXCITED to give it to them! Melissa and I are just shaking our heads. We cannot believe what we just witnessed. We have THE craziest dad and grandpa! So, they split it 6 ways and the kids continue to think that Grandpa is some kind of super hero. He definitely has powers that no one else has or ever will.

More fun days and nights in Lissy's yard... they are really outgrowing that Jeep! But they continue to add cousins to it and take everyone for rides around the Barnhisel resort.

Then, Aunt Jess took us swimming at her gym pool... uh... now I have gym pool envy! 

Hers was like a Vegas resort. 

Towards the end of the week in Salt Lake, we were able to find a buyer for the Pathfinder. It was a huge relief, but a very sad day for me. I really loved that car and it was chock full of so many family memories. We got almost 162,000 miles out of it. Owned it for 12 years. Paid $18,000 for it, and sold it for $4,000. You really can't complain about that. It kept us safe in a very dangerous accident the first year we had it. It took us on scores of outdoor adventures and long road trips, did all the household errands and took the kids to all their lessons. It brought our doggies safely across the country from MA to NM. I mean what else do you want out of a poor car?! (well, just a couple more years and about 8 more trips would have been nice without a new car payment, but...)

It was fun to have all the grandkids together to celebrate Mo-Deb's birthday. 

Harriet was jealous of her pretty cake.

Then, true to form, we had some rocket days with Grandpa. He kept coming over and building more. Melissa was about to die. She gets a lot of anxiety about the rockets.

Harriet and Kate found Mo-Deb's dress up bin and took full advantage. 

?Grace?

We took Grandma Curly (Pearlie) to lunch at Training Table. Little did we know this would be our last time eating there! They closed all their restaurants shortly after. We are so so sad. This is a Utah staple. What will we do without our cheese fries, dipping sauce, and giant gourmet burgers? Oh yeah, and ordering from the phone at the table? 

Then, one boring afternoon at the end of the trip, we decided to get on our phones and see what this new "Pokemon Go" game was all about. It had been out a couple of days and Grace and Sean were dying to check it out. Once we figured out we'd have a lot more fun if we went someplace big, I loaded Grace and Sean in the car and we headed to the University of Utah campus to play. Every college student we passed was looking down at their phone. Sometimes they would look up and say "hey are you guys playing Pokemon?" Yep - everyone on campus was playing it! It was kind of cool to see the birth of a game like this. It is so different from other games and so interactive. I thought it was a cool idea that it gets you outside playing a video game.

I think this was the first time I had really shown Grace around campus and the first time I had walked around in years. A lot has changed, but this place sure hasn't. I can't decide if I think fondly of HEB or if it still gives me nightmares. Mostly nightmares.

Thanks Salt Lake. You never disappoint. The kids love coming here and we'll be back!

Kitty was glad we came home.

When we got back, we redeemed Grandpa Earl's Father's Day gift which was a coupon for us to take him to the Unser Racing Museum. He had never been. I think he liked it quite a bit. We sure did!

Oh. My. G.O.S.H. Then, we had to do the unthinkable. We had to say good bye to Lexi! She was heading to girl scout camp before she moved and we wouldn't see her after, so we had her over before she left for a farewell sleepover and some quality Hattie/Lexi time.

They toasted s'mores.

And opened gifts. 

Harriet made this frame for her. 

And hugged a hundred times.

And hid in Harriet's room and played electronics.

And ate treats and watched a movie.

And zonked out together.

And it was THE saddest thing I've ever seen. Well, it may have rivaled the days the dogs died and  that day we had to pick up Grace from her Valentine's Day party at school in Stow and carry her out of the school screaming and crying because we were moving, and that was the last time she would see her school and her friends. Oh, and Lexi had a birthday/going away party a few days after this where everyone had to tell her good-bye as they were picked up. We could not stop crying. I don't know how to compare, but it was definitely one of the saddest days of our lives. Harriet and Grace and I went over and helped Kristen clean her house after the movers left, but Lexi had already gone to camp. Harriet thought it was strange that she would be the last one in Lexi's room and not Lexi! I know friends come and go and people move in and out of your life, but some sting much more than others. Harriet has never had anyone like Alexis in her life before. She was such a perfect little friend.  And, unfortunately, I have a sick habit of finding out how much I really like someone and getting close to my favorite people JUST before they or I move away. I have now added Kristen to this list.

This one is going to sting for a very long time.