Sensational Summer

• On my first two days off, I had to attend a mentor workshop where I met Susie Miner's Junior Prom Date. He was a much-needed comic relief the entire time. My mom also attended because she's going to be the mentor of JHS. She introduced herself with tears in her eyes as, "The mother of the best teacher in the district." It would have been the perfect time to not take a swig out of my water bottle; I about choked. Later as we got further around the group with our introductions, "I am Mrs. Weber, and I taught the best teacher in the district! So great to see you again Amy!" So flattered, so red in the face.
• I moved, and I am so unbelievably content. My eyes were finally opened to the degree of shadiness that surrounded the people I lived with. I went back to my old house to return a book I borrowed, and I was met with, "You probably still wish you lived here." No part of me misses it. Come visit me at my new place!
• We had a family bbq for an early Father's Day and early Toby's birthday celebration. My parents didn't want to miss it. I invited my new roommate Natalie over, and I hope she was being honest when she said she had a good time. We can be a crazy bunch, especially with Grandma Bateman in the mix. Toby received some amazing birthday presents that all of the nephews enjoyed playing with. They loved the ball-filled tent that Grandma and Grandpa bought. I think Jay made Natalie nervous when he tried to lure her into his apartment insisting that she see his 'surprise'. I jumped in and assured her that he probably wanted to show off his massive DVD collection. Jay created the ultimate Father's Day card that had me and my brothers rolling. My dad pouted, "What is so funny?", and James replied that he would probably get mad at us. My dad re-read the pink stapled card, his face in pure concentration trying to make the message funny, then he closed his eyes and laughed. Perfect, we weren't in trouble.
• Cherry Hill Galore. At the moment my favorite visit this summer has been when Em and I dorked around the whole time. That kid can really make me laugh. I love making my brain replay her trying to squeeze in the tube with Eric. I also loved playing the dunking game with her. Her pitiful gasp, then, "Are you kidding me?!" when I told her, "I'm thinking of a State ..." was priceless.
• We went up to Kaysville for Toby's real birthday celebration. We had a picnic at the park right by James' house. It was windy, so James ran home and grabbed two kites. It was so fun running around encouraging the boys to run so the kite stayed in the air. James put together the really big kite, but it ended up getting away from him. He was running after the kite, Abe was running after James crying because James had left, and the kite took a nasty spill covering two trees. James monkeyed up one of the trees in his flip flops, but after a great effort, Eric ended up cutting the line. Toby and Abe swung together in the baby swing on the playground. Toby loved it, Abe hated it. Toby kept leaning his head back to see who was behind him.
• My parents are in Europe, Em's home alone tending to house business. The flowers are dying. She called me one morning, "I need your muscles!" because she couldn't get the lawn mower started. It had nothing to do with brute strength and everything to do with finally calling Zach for advice and learning that we needed to prime the dang thing. Emily laughed and confessed and shook her finger at the mower, "That's what I was forgetting!"
• After successfully starting the lawn mower, I decided to heat up my beans (Thank you Sara!) for lunch. The microwave and lawn mower were both humming, and I heard a fantastic POP! from outside, then no sound from the lawn mower. I knew Em was behind it, but I would never have predicted what I found. There was Em, with both hands over her mouth, typical hunched over posture, staring at ... "You ran over one of dad's solar lights?!" Unbelievable. It had shattered, so I grabbed the broom and started sweeping and told Em it was her turn to call Zach this time. It was all quite hilarious. Dad should be relaxed enough from his vacation that he'll be able to laugh too.
• Dra and I went up and let Em and Zach feed us and teach us a complicated yet fun game. Toby's starting to take a few steps, and my mom is going to be mad she missed the beginnings. Here's hoping that tomorrow Em, Zach, Toby, and I can get in another Cherry Hill adventure.
• Em and I met up with the Gainers for an American Fork Canyon adventure. Em and Chris swam in Silver Lake, we girls hiked then rock-climbed, then when it was getting pretty dark, we hiked back down where Chris had been cooking elk for us. We also had smores and bananas. (It was worth losing points Jackie.) I've decided that I'm a miserable climber. I'm terribly scared the entire time, I'm painfully slow, and I'm not that flexible. I tell myself that I'll get better as I go more often, but will I?
• I've been making dinner almost every night, well, I always have an insane amount of leftovers, so once the leftovers are gone, I make dinner again. I think that this is the real proof of how much I love my new place. I've invited friends and family over now and then, and I love cooking for them. Let me cook for you, seriously! I've made chicken fajitas, spaghetti with Dra's help, sloppy joes with texas caviar ... Okay, that might be it so far, and it doesn't seem like much, but it has been really fun.
• This morning I went on a long horseback ride with my delightful friend Deanne and her niece Cicilee. I should have rolled my sleeves back down before the picture of me and Jack in the meadow was snapped, but here's hoping that we really do make this a weekly event so I can get more pictures.