I am pretty sure that so far this summer the girls and I have spent more time away from home than we have at home!  We have been busy, busy, busy!  Evens is having a really stressful summer at work and so he is spending almost 7 days a week and 13-16 hours a day at work.  So the girls and I went back down to Texas for 10 days to play with my family.  We then flew home and went straight to Idaho for Evens's grandparents memorial service.  The majority of his mother's family came in for the service and it was wonderful to meet new people and spend time with that side of the family.  We had a lot of fun eating, talking, and playing!

Then we spent July 4th with my cousin Andy and his family.  We had a blast shooting fireworks, and Evens enjoyed a day of doing absolutely nothing!  The girls and I drove over to Logan to have the annual 4th of July breakfast with my mom's family, and then we left to go spend the rest of the day with Evens, who had to work (of course!) and got off work at 2 pm. 

July 6 was my birthday.  Evens took me out to dinner and we had a nice, quiet evening while my friend babysat the girls.  And guess what!!!  After years of begging Evens to give in and buy our family a Wii, he set up a "Wii Account" for my birthday and so pretty soon I can FINALLY get a WII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I think he was sold on it when we played the Wii at Andy and Peggy's and they had some pretty fun games that all of us could enjoy.  Even Evens got into it, which he never does because he doesn't like playing those things... whatever they are called... the Wii, Playstation, XBox, you know... those things in general. 

July 8-10 was the Martin Family Reunion.  We had a lot of fun just sitting around and doing nothing.  I think it was too hot for any of us to want to do anything that exerted much energy.  We had a campfire at night and made s'mores and roasted hot dogs. 

I am still trying to get caught up on laundry, housework, and everything else that seems to pile up when you are gone! 

We are trying to get the house FINISHED for when my family comes up from Texas for my Grandma's Big 80th Birthday Bash!!!!  We have been trying to paint Kara's room, and it seems like something comes up every night to prevent us from getting anything done.  I have vowed that Evens and I are not going to bed tonight until that room gets painted!  Poor Kara has been sleeping on the couch since Sophie is in the portacrib in Kara's room.  It's pretty much a huge moving mess around this house and I will be very happy once we get everything back to normal!!!


Still on our list of things to do before the 27th?
-Paint Kara's room.  Move her bed and all her stuff into that room.
-Move Sophie's stuff into Kara's old room.
-Finish painting the hallway.
-Paint the kitchen/dining room.
-Get family pictures taken, printed, and put in the frames.
-Finish the landscaping in the front yard.
I'm not holding my breath that this will all be done in less than 10 days...

Kara has been in tumbling classes for about 6 months and had her recital in June.  She had a blast learning some basic gymnastic moves, but she really wants to do the hip-hop class that they offer.  So I guess she'll be learning some sweet dance moves soon!

That's Kara jumping over the blocks

Kara is the one doing the backwards somersault

I think she had more fun playing with the bar than actually performing!

Here are some pictures from Sophie's birthday.