June 2024

I guess now that the road trip recaps are finished we can go back to our regularly scheduled programming!  Hahaha.  In real time, we are currently at the end of September 2025.  As such, June of 2024 is as good as a lifetime away in terms of anything substantive I can remember to make a record of in the annals of our family's blog.  Lol.  In order to get a move on with this back-blogging, I'm going to have to resort to bullet-pointed, heavily-picture-oriented, light-on-the-meaningful-commentary documentation of our life in the summer of last year.  😬

• Summer Schedule

I'm not quite sure why I bother making a "summer schedule" at all considering the level of consideration it is given by my children, but oh well.  I guess I just can't help shooting for the ideal and a mother can always dream.  Lol.

In case you can't make out what it says from the picture, our daily schedule is supposed to include designated times for waking up (and going to bed), scripture time, screen time, lunch, quiet reading time, free space, chores, "recreational therapy," dinner, Book of Mormon, and free time.  Again -- a mother can always dream.  Hahahaha.

•    Test Garden

As for all things garden, I came up with the brilliant idea of creating a "test garden" for various seeds I wanted to try out before committing them to the "real" garden.  Lol.  I created some really rough garden beds using: cement blocks and cedar fence pickets  (trimmed to size using my circular saw), a mix of compost and garden soil, and twine to section out squares for each particular set of seeds.  It was very exciting to see new (as well as some familiar) flowers blooming in my mini garden over the summer. 

On the "Fence Side" I planted rainbow coleus, a few different varieties of asters, cleome (or spider flower), baby's breath, bells of Ireland, tithonia (or Mexican sunflower), several different varieties of marigold, and some California poppies.

And here's how things were looking in June of 2024.  I really loved how the rainbow coleus came in and ended up potting and transplanting these and a few others (such as the Cherry Queen cleome, tithonia, and Queen Sophia marigolds) that I loved as they grew in and bloomed.

The "House Side" was committed to various mixes and varieties of Cosmos and Zinnias -- some of my very favorites to grow from seed.

June 2024

And in case enquiring minds want to know, my favorite mix to plant in the front yard on either side of the porch steps includes:  Gloria, Purity, and Sensation (as well as Sensation Picotee) Mix cosmos along with Purple Prince and Giant Double Violet Queen zinnias.

•     Father's Day

This is literally the only photographic evidence I have that we did anything for Father's Day, so I felt like it was important to include it.  Hahahaha.

•     More Flowers

Time for some more Garden Tour-ing!  Lol.  June is the month where the asiatic lilies, day lilies, and gladioli bloom.  Some poppies tried to make an appearance as well, but I never seem to have as much luck with getting a profusion of flowers from the seeds I plant each spring.  Womp womp.  Maybe one of these days I'll learn the trick.  Haha.

This was the first year I planted gladiolus in the garden, and I absolutely loved them.  I don't think the location I chose in the backyard was quite right, though, so I'll have to experiment on where a better fit for them might be.

The Stargazer Lily is always a showstopper when it's in full bloom.

The front yard location for the gladioli seemed to work pretty well.

A single blooming poppy here...

...and another single bloom there.

(This is one of my favorite colors of day lilies blooming in the backyard)

(This is my other favorite)

•    Grace the Nanny

With Grace home from college for the summer and striking out on finding any jobs that were hiring around town, it didn't take me long to figure out a "solution" to her dilemma -- becoming a live-in nanny!  Hahahaha.  In a truly win-win situation, I had help with the kids all summer long and Grace earned some money she would need come fall when she went back out to school.  In all honesty, it was really a win-win-win situation, because the kids were stoked to have Grace as their very own personal Mary Poppins as well.  Lol.  (And in case anyone is wondering what the sleeper hit of "outings" was that summer, you'll never in a million years guess.  Hahahahaha.  Grace introduced the kids to "window shopping."  And Alex and Isaac LOVED it.  Not even joking.  LOL.)

(Grace's response to this section of the post....

"Love the mention of window shopping

Gosh I miss nannying

When I would confiscate phones and we would bring post it notes and hand write what we want and had the digital camera to document  🥹")

I have zero context for this shot other than it was lumped in with window shopping pics.  Hahaha.

Putting that digital camera to work!  Lol.

•     Pride Parade

At the end of June, Scott and I joined with his office in representing the company in the Pride Parade downtown.  It was a really cool experience and I love the motto "Lead with Love."  ❤️ 

•     Miscellany

To wind June down, I leave you with some truly randoms from the bottom of the barrel.  Lol.

Isaac really enjoyed posing in trees...

😂😂😂

Maxwell really enjoyed going on walks...

I really enjoyed finding treasures like this around the house...

And Jane really enjoyed her summer reading...

{in reference to: The Catcher in the Rye} -- MY THOUGHTS:  I HEAVILY enjoyed this book.  I was devastated to find out that most people did not enjoy it.  I think anyone that says Holden is an a-hole lacks empathy.  I thought Holden was super funny and I also felt super bad for him and I don't know how other people didn't like the book.  I thought it was both entertaining and depressing.  I really like reading about mentally ill kids, I can't lie.

And there you have it!  June 2024 in a nutshell!  Hahaha.  I'm sure everyone is waiting with baited breath to see what happens in July.  LOL.  Until then...