By Small and Simple Things...: Summer Stuff

Admiring the grapes on our vines. We didn't get very many, but we were able to pick off small bushels and eat them when we were out working in the garden.

Our neighbor's cat had kittens and we went over to admire them. KyLee just loved them so much. I was able to snap these adorable pictures of her holding one of the kittens.

One of the times we visited grandma and grandpa N. Uriah is holding cousin Phoenix's Foxy.

KyLee sleeping on the spare bed in grandma's room.

Spending time with grandpa N and the cousins at the new splash pad in Chubbuck.

KyLee got splashed and was not happy, but grandpa enjoyed the cool water on his back.

Me watching Jordyn and Bonnie during their swimming lesson.

Keeping KyLee entertained during swimming lessons. She really wanted to get in the pool so I had to distract her with movies.

Beautiful sunset from the back yard. This picture didn't do it justice. The sky was more of a bright pink.

I love taking pictures of sleeping babies. KyLee went through a time period where she took her naps in our bed. She is beautiful.

KyLee likes to sit on this broken car that our neighbors gave us. She doesn't seem to mind that it doesn't work.

So this picture has quite the story behind it. I woke up one morning to discover that the house had no running water. The pipes were completely empty of water, and so was our reserve tank. We had the sprinklers running overnight and the pump stopped working in the middle of the night, so the sprinklers sucked up all the water we had. I called J at work and he told me some things to do to troubleshoot the problem, and none of them worked. It was a Saturday and there weren't any companies we could call to come and take a look. We did have drinking water and food storage to get us through the weekend, but the thought that our pump could have died or that the well could have gone dry had me terrified. Financially, we would not have been able to take care of either of those things, and I began to have a panic attack. I was crying and hyperventilating. I felt like I couldn't get control of my emotions. Part of it was probably because I was pregnant, but I was genuinely terrified. J tried to calm me down over the phone and it wasn't working. I called my mom and she told me to talk to Heavenly Father and ask him to help me through this. I knelt down outside by our porch swing and prayed that we would be able to handle whatever was wrong with our water pump, that I would have the faith needed to get through this and that everything would be okay. J called his dad and got some ideas to fill up our reserve tank by asking our neighbors if we could get some water from their outside faucet and pipe it into our tank. Our neighbor, who is an electrician, asked if he could come look at the water pump in the garage. He was in there for about 5 minutes and came out and handed me this blackened wire. He said the wire had burnt out and caused the pump to stop working, but he clipped it off and fixed the wire and got our pump working again. I was so relieved, I couldn't believe that all my worries were over such a small thing. I was so grateful to our neighbor that he had the skill to fix the wire and that we didn't have to call a company and pay any money to fix the pump. After the neighbors left, I knelt down and prayed again to thank my Heavenly Father for blessing us with good neighbors and for keeping watch over us when we are in need. I know in my heart these blessings come because we are faithful to God and we pay a full and honest tithe.

Corn stalks - can you see the boys?

I planted some lily bulbs in the spring and was so excited when they started blooming. It felt like it took forever!

My beautiful Jordyn

The moon flower - we planted it last year and were sure it died. This strange plant started growing in the flower bed and we knew it wasn't a weed, so we let it grow. The flowers bloomed at night and would die the next day.

Zucchini pickings

Jared and I celebrated our 12th anniversary this summer. We spent the weekend in Pocatello and left the kids with grandma and grandpa N. We ate at the Black Bear Diner and it was delicious! Sadly, this restaurant closed just 2 years after it opened! They have built one in Twin Falls and we can't wait to go back.