Watch out for that...

The last few weeks have been a little bit dangerous around here. First there was the disappearance of Sonic, which still makes everyone around here a little sad. Every now and then Bo or Jenna will be eating or playing on the couch or some other random activity and they’ll think of something and comment on how Sonic is still missing. Then there was the day that Alixa went to get a pedicure, which you might assume is a perfectly safe activity. But some jerk went around the parking lot and installed all these dangerous poles with pictures of people in wheelchairs on them. And wouldn’t you know it, Alixa was walking from her car into the salon and was brutally attacked by one of these mean-spirited pieces of metal. It opened up a pretty serious gash right above her eye. It took a little bit of glue and bandages, but in the end it probably looked worse than it really was. The lesson for all of you out there is don’t ever let your guard down. And just last week we had a storm blow through that lasted about 15 minutes but tore up some shingles from the roof and knocked down 4 sections of the fence and loosened some other areas. So right now the back yard is a little bit of a construction site. Bo is always quick to remind his dad that the fence is still down, lest he forget to make the needed repairs. It’s been raining pretty heavy the last few days and Jarom isn’t real motivated to work out in the rain, so the project is on hold.

The 4^th was a great day around here. Any day that Jarom doesn’t go to work is a good day for Bo, who has lately been very attached to his dad. It’s cute, but not really ideal for Alixa when he is at work. The whole family spent the day swimming and generally enjoying the unseasonably cold day, which was perfect. And in the evening Lix and Emmy stayed home while Jarom, Jenna, and Bo headed down to the pond with some lawn chairs to watch the show with some friends. The show didn’t start for about 45 minutes after they got there, so the kids ran around and generally behaved the way kids should when staying up late on a pleasant summer evening. The fireworks were great, although they were a little louder than Bo would have liked and he got scared. As they climbed back into the car to go home Jarom turned the key and got nothing but clicks. The Ogdens were kind enough to lend them some battery power to get started and get home, but the battery did need to be replaced. And despite staying up several hours past their normal bedtimes the little kids had a great time and were pleasant, and Lix got to sleep in a little extra the next morning.

Alixa has been spending a lot of time lately preparing to get away. She is trying to schedule an anniversary cruise sometime next year for her and Jarom’s 10^th year. She has also set up a shorter escape for this weekend to Austin to celebrate year 9. Jenna is going to have a sleepover with Kenna, Mimi and Opa are going to stay at the house with Bo, and Emmy will get to hang out with the Hendrix clan for a few days. I’m sure it will be nice to spend a few days with no kids and no responsibilities, and it sure is nice that there are people around who are willing and able to take all the rats off their hands. That trip will probably be a good vacation to prepare Jarom and Alixa for the 24-hour drive they’ll be making with the 3 kids next month. That one won’t be nearly as fun and relaxing.

Jenna continues to improve her swimming. She usually doesn’t use any sort of flotation device anymore, and can cover a pretty large distance between holding on to things. Bo does very well too, although he definitely still needs his floaties. Jarom took them both to the pool recently and took them off so he could run around in the kid pool, which is like 2 feet deep. Bo kept jumping around like he had his floaties on and repeated went under and didn’t seem to have any idea how to right himself. So Jarom had to jump in and help him stand up. Emmy continues to be very smiley and very cute. She can’t roll over yet, despite what you may have heard from Alixa. But she will probably be able to soon.

Jarom’s parents recently returned home from serving a 3-year mission for the LDS church in Salt Lake City Utah. I guess his mom decided that she was going to do some organizing when she got home because one day last week 3 boxes showed up on our doorstep with all of Jarom’s childhood memories in them. They were full of report cards (all A’s), achievement awards and ribbons (too many to count), and newspaper articles detailing what an amazing kid he was. There were some red flags though. One of Jarom’s 2^nd grade assignments documents provides some useful insight into why he grew up to be so emotionally detached. It asked what he didn’t like about himself and he said “I’m lonely.” Then it asked what animal he would be and why, to which he responded, “A dog, because I would know that I was loved because people would pet me.” Ouch. I guess at that point in his life Jarom’s mom was busy with the other kids. Maybe that’s why he became the way he is today.

And now an assortment of videos from the past month for you to view or ignore as you please.