Catching up!

Well, it's been a long time! Seems like things have been going in fast forward lately. Here is a recap of the past several weeks!

I think I mentioned that all of Steve's family was in town together. We had lots of fun playing with everyone and seeing them again. I feel bad that I miss out on knowing some of my nephews and nieces because of the distance that separates us. So, I got in a lot of hugs and snuggles. Well, at least from the littler ones. I didn't want to freak out the older kids...creepy, scary Auntie Heidi! We had fun visiting and playing and going places. Took lots of pictures, I can't wait to scrap them!

Because of gas and food prices being so high, we have been hanging out at home as much as possible. I actually went a whole two weeks and one day without filling up my van! I am amazed, because we drove out to Multnomah Falls, and the Bonneville fish hatchery, and Steve's parents' house a couple times on that tank of gas. I guess Heavenly father knew that we wanted to be with our family and he helped us get really good gas mileage! It is hard paying 100 bucks each time I go to the gas station.

4th of July was fun. Steve took the day off work, he hasn't ever done that since we have been married. We rode our bikes to a breakfast at a ward member's home in the morning, then had everyone from Steve's family over for a BBQ (well, everyone except Andrea and Dave, they were back at home, and Mike and Erin had other plans). Melissa and her brother Josh also came. We did dinner, played games, visited, and then had the kids do their fireworks out on the street. After that, we went over to another church member's house for an awesome fireworks show. I hate to admit it, but I am a bit of a pyro and love fireworks. It was hard for me to sit patiently and watch while Steve and the other guys lit everything. I wanted to be in there lighting stuff too! :) We got some great pics. They are up on our website.


Let's see, what's new with us? I started subbing in Primary as the chorister for the rest of the summer. It is a lot of fun! I am teaching the kids to sing "Called to Serve" and they just give me the chills every time we sing it! I had forgotten how strong the spirit is in Primary. I am glad to know that my future is in their hands. They are certainly a strong generation. Shhhh! Don't tell, but I am getting a new calling next month, so I have begun the search to find a sub for myself in Primary. Ha ha! A sub for the sub! Do you know how hard it is to find someone to commit to teach Primary music for the month of August? Everyone is going on vacation!

I finally bit the bullet and starting really working with Rachel on potty training this past week. She has been doing fairly well, but still doesn't tell me before she has to go. She finally likes wearing panties, so that is a step in the right direction. Before, she would refuse to even put them on. I think part of it is the bribery. She gets an Abby Cadabby sticker each time she goes pee in the potty and if she poops, she gets two big marshmallows and gets to choose who to call and tell about it! So far, my mom, Melissa and Steve have been the lucky recipients of an "I went poo-poo in the potty!" phone call. I am hoping she keeps it to those few...not sure how some people would react to that kind of a call. LOL!

Our garden is doing well. We finally have some peas (the squirrels kept digging them up) and have enjoyed munching on them while we are outside playing. We have lots of green tomatoes on the plants, just waiting for them to turn so we can enjoy them also. The broccoli was good, and my beans are close to ready. My cucumber is getting big, but so far I have no blossoms. I am hoping it starts producing soon, I love cukes!

Steve got to go spend an evening at girls camp this past week. He had fun doing that. He has been asked to go along with the young men from three wards in our stake as the "official" photographer" for their Deschutes River rafting trip next week. I am not feeling very happy about it. He has said that he doesn't think we can make our trip to Roy and Rexburg this summer because of cost, but he is taking three days off work to do the raft trip. Grrr!

Becka has Activity Day Camp next week, and is looking forward to that. Jake is just Jake. He is having fun playing outside and riding his bike. We are hoping to get a chance to visit Grandma's beach house this summer. I need some beach time.

I have been walking with Melissa almost every day for the past month and a half or so. This past week we started running. Oh my heck! I am so out of shape! Part of my problem is that I am wearing cheapo shoes while doing it, but that is the smallest of my worries. We are hoping to work together to lose some weight. So far, I feel better, but the scale isn't budging, which is frustrating. I am exercising and eating better, just wish the scale would cooperate! I joined her work softball team and we play every Friday night. I am terrible, but it is a lot of fun! I also joined a walking team through her work and we are competing with other teams to see who can walk the most miles. Jake is very good about reminding me to wear my pedometer! This week I think I hit about 32 miles. That is huge for me!

If you want to see the family pictures, you can look at my dropshots, but the best place is at www.candentphotograpy.com . They are under portraits, then Ard family. The password is ard, all lower case letters. We got several pics of each family, I just wish we had been able to do some of our family. I also forgot to try and get some of Grandma and Grandpa with the grandkids. It was happy chaos though and we got some fun shots!

I will post some pics from our outings here in another post. I have some great fireworks ones and fun ones from the fish hatchery too!