The Pollard Place: July: Visitors and Recitals

4th of July weekend was spent at the farm this year! We had a ton of fun swimming in the pool, doing fireworks the night before and on the 4th, and making s'mores. We rode around in the Defender and took Della to see the pink trailer she had been wanting to see, and found out that there were piglets there! We had no idea! They were just little and really cute. Rusty went up to Stringtown to help fix some fence lines and he had a great time feeling like a real cowboy. We met him up there and then all went frog hunting. This is the first time I've done it but i want to do it all of the time haha! It was so much fun and absolutely hilarious. Rusty sneaked around and tried to catch them, and I even caught one in a bucket! We looked at them and then let them free to do a frog race. The kids had a blast. I think we have a new tradition.

One night we watched the first half of Hamilton on the outdoor screen at John's house after we went swimming and played on all of the toys. Then we watched some fireworks and the kids got to do some too. Henry and Della had just finished up the bee unit for homeschool and my mom bought them these bee suits to go and look at the bees at Uncle John's house. They were so psyched about it, especially Henry. Uncle John even gave him a bottle of his honey from the bees! They saw the worker bees, drones, and the queen. We'll go back in the fall and let him see how they collect the honey.

We found piglets!

Della got a pickle haha

It was miss Adeline's third birthday this month; THIRD! Where is the time going? How is she so old? I feel like it is flying past. She requested an Elsa party, and I tried so hard to convince her to do a different party theme haha but in the end she wasn't budging. So Elsa it was. We did a "What frozen things do in summer" theme and did all outside water games. I made a bunch of different ice castles and ice cubes so the kids could make ice castles with the little figurines. We also made ice chalk, and some sponge snowballs they could throw at each other. I made her a big Elsa cake with different colored layers and Della was so excited about it. She got to open up presents in the morning from us, and Henry was so sweet and got her some perfume because he wanted her to shave something fancy that would make her smell good.

I got her some make up haha

We found out in January that Grandpa Porter had a pretty aggressive cancer. This was right before Grandma fell. Grandpa started going downhill pretty much right after that, and especially after Grandma passed away. He passed away the day before his birthday on June 29. June 30 he would have been 89. He was such a strong, sweet man and I have looked up to him and admired him my whole life. I will miss his smile and the way he claps his hands when he thinks something is funny. We had a beautiful memorial honoring both him and my grandma on July 8. Elder Anderson came and spoke and between that and Uncle John's talk, the spirit was so strong.

The Hudsons came out to visit for about a week. Because I was pregnant, we took a few days off for me to just hang out and relax, but we managed to fit a lot of fun things in! Kenny and Rusty went and did the indoor go kart racing, and then Amber and I went to dinner and then got facials. It was so nice to have some alone time!

We spent one day at the zoo and it was a blast! We saw all kinds of animals, rode the carousel and the train, and we even fed the giraffes! That was so much fun!

This daddy monkey needed a nap haha

Della loved following Amber around and wanted to hold her hand all the time haha

We spent some time at a splash pad, playing here in the backyard, and getting food together. The night that they left we went to dinner and then finally remembered to take some more pictures together!

The next week my roommates from the Arch House came into town! It was similar with last week, that I had to sit out a few times and stay home so I could relax and not push it too much. But we fit a bunch of things in this week too! We started by hiking the Yellow Loop in Herriman. It was mostly in the shade and was followed along by a river, so the kids could stay cool all of the time. They had a blast catching bugs!

Another day we were going to hike to Cecret Lake, but Cathryn and Chelsea were about two hours behind. So I ended up taking the kids to Lisa Falls to hang out for a little bit and Sophia came for a while before Cathryn and Chelsea got there. Then we ended up going to Cecret Lake after!

We all got together on Friday night for a girl's night, but we forgot to take a picture! It was so much fun, and I'm so sad we didn't take a picture of us all together. We had Tara, Melissa, Sophia, Jamie, Chelsea, CAthryn and me all eating dinner at Tara's house. We had so much fun! Saturday we met up at the farm in Morgan and went for horse rides, four wheeler rides, a ride in the side by side, and swimming at Uncle John's.

Homeschool is going well! I gave Henry a few choices of what he wanted to study this month, and he chose transportation and community helpers. Unfortunately because of Covid, we couldn't go visit a fire station or police station or anything like that. But we sang our songs, and wrote a thank you not for our mail woman. She even wrote Henry back! Twice kind of haha. Mommy got a little impatient.

Rolling the ball to count in Spanish

The week after my roommates were here, Phyllis and Kirk came to visit haha. By this point I was exhausted and I ended up getting a cold so I only got to see them on evening. But Rusty took the kids and them up to Cecret Lake to look for salamanders. I was so bummed I couldn't go because I really wanted to show Rusty how beautiful this place was, but I stayed home because I was so sick. In the one week since we went with my roommates, the salamanders had grown and were no longer able to be caught! How crazy! When Rusty got to the trail head he realized that he had forgotten Della's shoes haha, so he had to carry her the whole way.

Henry loves soccer, but was not able to do it this fall because the baby was coming and because of Covid. I knew he was really bummed, and especially with everyone coming to watch Della's recital he was sad so I signed him up for this soccer camp with Brayden. It was three days, and he had a blast! He felt grown up, and to me he looked so big and grown up too. His love of soccer continues!

The 24 of July sneaked up on us and I honestly never plan anything for this "holiday", but we ended up going to the Provo Rec Center outdoor pool with the Bartons and then heading over to their house for a BBQ and some fireworks! The kids had an absolute blast!

Della had her dance recital at the end of July! She went to her dance classes for two months, and this was the final thing for her to do. She was so excited and it has been so fun to watch her in her dance classes. She seriously loves it, way more than I was expecting. She had a recital on Friday night that just our family went to and then we went and got ice cream after. Saturday night Desi and Rick, Phyllis and Kirk, Jessica, my parents, and the Bartons all came to watch! She was much braver on Saturday night and she seemed to really enjoy herself! I'm proud of her!

Della had her dance pictures, and the photographer didn't say anything like, "cheese" or look here or anything. It was weird. She just held up a stuffed elephant and waved it around. Everyone was crying, and afterwards she said, "No me like that elephant." For her individual one I asked her if she wanted a treat and she said she wanted chicken nuggets so I told her she could have them if she smiled. That one was better.

Kade brought her a flower!

Henry's Highlights

He's a protective big brother. Some big kids weren't letting Della down the slide at the splash pad, so he held up his water fun and started yelling, "Go Della !! Go now!!" While he shot water at the kids haha
He is doing so well with school! He is loving it and tells me thanks all the time
He did a fun soccer camp with Brayden. He's sad he can't do soccer this fall, but with the new baby and Covid there aren't many options. I got him a little soccer goal and he's really happy!

Doesn't like bread or bagels toasted. Hates avocados and guacamole.
Henry talks all the time about what it will be like to have the new baby here. He gets excited, and then he realizes it and adds that he wishes the baby was a boy and next time I should try harder to make it a boy
He is all about our read aloud books. We changed from just reading Magic Treehouse books and this month we read Stuart Little and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He begs to read these, and when I'm done reading he will say, "No! You can't stop THERE!"

Adeline's Adventures

Point at things with her middle finger
Started to pick at her fingernails. I have no idea why or how to stop it. If I tell her to stop, she just hides haha
Dances all the time
Prefers to be naked
Loves to sing one of the two Elsa songs
Loves to pretend to be the mother or the teacher (Miss Gigi) and boss everyone else around. She got really mad at me one day this month because I wouldn't let her wipe my bummy and she was the mom.
Always picks these brown sequin boots to wear out, even though it is super hot and summer time.

Extra Pictures

My sweet roommates sent me a little package to help me feel better after my grandpa passed away

Della was so mad at me one day because I wouldn't let her wipe my bummy

She is getting really confident on the bike

Henry wanted to hold my hand at church and I just melted. We went back for one Sunday in July.

Rusty and I got to go on a date! We went to the outdoor Scera theater and saw Willy Wonka.

Henry got a special Rice KRispie treat, and he chose to send it with Daddy to work for a snack. He is seriously so sweet!

I took them to the aquarium for one last time before the baby comes, because we have a membership.

They each got to pick out one treat, and I just died when I saw Della looking at her treat. The worst part, is that right after this she bit into it and it was peanut butter. She HATES peanut butter! Poor thing. She ate some of mine.