The Pollard Place: July: Bear Lake, Lumbee Homecoming

There are two things I miss most about living in Orem: the library and the Rec Center. But, our library here did a cute Superhero Day! They had fun activities and they also got to make superhero capes out of old T-shirts! I think that was my kids' favorite part. Then at the end they got a little baggy of snacks to take home!

So, with my panic attacks coming back I've really been struggling with travel. Iceland was incredibly difficult, and when we got back we only had a little bit of time before it was time to go to North Carolina with Chandler. I was really trying to get to a good place for that, but I just didn't think I could do it. So Amelia and I stayed at my parents' house and Rusty took the older kids to Myrtle Beach and then to Chan's mom's house for the Lumbee Celebration. We were sad to miss out on that, and especially to be away from Della on her birthday, but I think it was for the best. The kids and Rusty flew out and then drove to Chan's beach house in Myrtle Beach. Amelia and I went to the pet store with my parents and then went to IHOP for dinner.

The next day was the 4th of July! I think this is one of my most favorite holidays. I love that everyone is just excited and happy, but it is low key and not stressful and you just spend time outside with family. The North Carolina group went out to breakfast, went swimming and saw some fireworks!

This year was weird because half of my family was on the other side of the country, but even with that I think it was one of my favorite ones in a long time! It was magical! We went to a parade in Hyrum and it was BLAZING hot. Like so hot. But Amelia had a great time, especially waving at the princesses!

After the parade we went back to my parents' house and Lia played in the little splash pad and inflatable pool. She also spent quite a bit of time doing model walks and dances for us on the porch haha. Then we went to Larissa's house for a BBQ and then over to the dairy farm for fireworks and hanging out. This was absolutely magical and felt like a Hallmark movie. Lia was over looking at the baby calves, they had glow bracelets, and then they played on the bouncy house thing in the dark. It was SO FUN.

Della's Birthday was really hard for me because I've never been away from my kid on their birthday! It was pretty awful. I hated missing everything and being away from her, but she was very well taken care of! Chandler and Jess went all out for her and got her a bunch of presents and decorated for her and spoiled her rotten. They went to the Lumbee Homecoming, and it was so hot that it really put a damper on their plans. The booths even had to close down because the workers were passing out from the heat! Then they went to Mama Chavis' house and she made Della a special birthday cake and they Face Timed us so we could sing happy birthday to her too.

This day on our side was much more low key, and I just felt sad to be missing her birthday. But we did go to the Logan Zoo for the first time which was fun! It is a pretty small zoo, but you can interact a little bit more with the animals so that was cool. And sometimes it really just is fun to try something new that you've never done before!

Later we got Della's cat, so I could show her on her birthday. That made her so excited! This little kitten was so small, and it was so starving. I had to be careful and not let it eat or drink to much because its stomach was really hurting from getting so much food after not having any.

Singing to Della on the phone!

Showing her the cat!

The best way to eat an ice cream sandwich

Wrapping up all the cat things for Della's birthday!

Another day the NC crew spent the day at Myrtle Beach swimming and playing! Between the beach being so close and the awesome pool in their backyard, the kids had an absolute blast! It was so kind of Chandler to invite us out there.

We took it easy and hung out with the cat and played in the backyard! Summer is such a fun time!

Bob- my parents' fish that they said Henry could have. WHY

Amelia is working on her puppy dog face!

Papa playing Barbies in the pool with Amelia

Finally, we were able to celebrate Della's birthday together as a family! I decorated the house after they went to bed (they got home late from the airport) and then surprised her in the morning with her kitty! She was so excited and so happy about it. Then we went to Tru Religion for breakfast and had steak and mashed potatoes for dinner with an ice cream cake for dessert! I am so, so grateful that this little angel girl was born to our family. She is a ray of sunshine and we couldn't love her more than we do!

Rusty and I decided that we wanted to have a little water party at our house so we invited the Cowleys and the Bartons and blew up the slide, set up the slip n slide, and had the little pool. The kids played with squirt guns and water balloons and it was so much fun! It was exactly what we had envisioned doing in our backyard. So great.

Henry and Rusty got up early one morning and went fishing! I know they don't do it as much as both of them would like, but it is nice when they get a chance to sneak away and fish!

The kids got coupons for free ice creams from Dairy Keen from the library for making their goals for summer reading! So fun to have a little small town thing like that. Also look how Amelia is eating hers. What a weirdo.

It was Cowboy Camp day at the library and the kids had a blast riding horses and doing barrel racing, pinning the mustache on the wanted posters, and getting lassoed.

Emilie and I met up in Park City for breakfast and hanging out a little bit one day, and I brought the kids with me so that they could see her! We ate breakfast, got some ice cream, rode the cute little trolley, and walked around a little bit. It was a great time exploring Park City!

There was a little bird nest in here with babies in it!

We did a fun little hike with the Lutes! We were trying to get to the big boulder field, but never found it. We ended up at a cool creek instead though! After the hike, we went home and had popsicles and I know that even though they are full of terrible dyes they taste like childhood and joy. So it was fun to pass it on to my kids.

We went to Big Springs Park with Bryndee and hiked for a little bit but mostly just played around! It is such a great place, especially in the summer. I love letting the kids just be free and get dirty and muddy and practice walking on logs and playing in water.

We went to Charleston Beach for the first time and let the kids float around and we took the paddle board out. It was amazing to go paddle boarding by the plants and see all the different kinds of birds! It was such a great day. I love summer days like this.

We went up to Bear Lake and invited my parents to stay with us for a few days before we went to their house for our Shark Week watching party. We took them out on the boat, got dinner at the Bear Trapper and then we went next door and got some treats.

One day we left the cabin and went to my parents' house to watch shark week! We had yummy snacks and even had fun hats! I love shark week and it was fun to watch a bunch of the shows. They're not as good as they used to be, I don't know if they just got cheaper or what because there's definitely a lot more for people to study and learn.

Kirk and Phyllis came out to the cabin too! Kirk was nice enough to help Rusty out with a few projects, and then we got to spend some good time with them too! We went to the Pickleville Playhouse for the first time, went rock climbing near Laketown (also the first time), went riding up above the cabin, and played on the boat a lot! It was a great time!

We invited the Cowleys up to the cabin, but last minute Weston wasn't able to miss work so Larissa just brought the kids up for the day. It was fun to get them out on the boat, but I really do wish it was a little warmer for them. We had fun and played games and enjoyed tubing!

We had a lake day just to ourselves after having so many visitors, and it was so nice! We went tubing and surfing and played on the big lily pad.

We also got to go riding again before we had to leave the cabin! It was so fun to get out in the mountains. Henry did a trail that I didn't feel up to, so we went back out the next day and I did it haha. I'm not ready for him to be surpassing me yet! But he already has.

Henry's Highlights:

I wanted to lean against Henry's back instead of laying on his tummy while we were reading in the backyard. I told him I wanted to switch because I didn't want him to fart while my head was so close to his bum and he said, "Actually, the more pressure that is on me the more fart gas I produce."
Did so good on his dirt bike for his first trail ride!
Henry and I talked about the woman taken in adultery in the bible to help him because he's been pretty judgey lately. He then had to write me an essay that filled up a whole page. He spaced it out so weird so that it would take up tons of space

Adeline's Adventures:

Has a cute gappy smile because she's missing so many teeth
She must be going through a growth spurt because she is hungry all the time and is never full at meals!
She is so obsessed with her cat! We made a name tag that said Sweetie Pie for her, and then we found out that it is a boy so... she changed the name to Sneaky! She is so excited about having a cat and loves playing with him. She's with him first thing ever morning.

Getting our tag for Sweetie Pie

Amelia's Updates:

Woke Rusty up saying, "Guess what Daddy?" "What?" "Sharks are fish."
I told Amelia she couldn't pick Elsa for her movie night for a few months. Then I told her that the next time she can pick it. She said, "Next time I can pick Elsa. So watch out for that Mom."
“Mom, why are you locking the door???” <in a super annoyed voice>. “So that the robbers can’t come in the house.” “Ugh. Mooooom. Robbers aren’t even made. They don’t have bodies. They’re just grasshoppers.”
"Musatchio" with a straw above her lip
"Can I have more mashed browns?" when she was asking for mashed potatoes

"Papa I can hear you but I can't see you" to tease Papa after he said that to me on the phone and I made fun of him. We were walking around WalMart and I said "Where are you I can't see you?" And my dad said, "I can hear you but I can't see you" and I replied, "Dad, that's how phones work."

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