We started this week with the Fourth of July and a visit from my big brother, Pete, and some of his kids!

Yes, that’s just some of his kids.  He’s got eight!  Holy cow, huh??  Actually, he drove up to drop off his oldest daughter and her friend for a church history trip that started up in Salt Lake.

It was fun to see Samantha even if it was only for one night, and it was way fun to see the other kids who we don’t see very often not to mention Uncle Pete!  That night we set off fireworks with the Groslands, (as is traditional!) and those nephews of mine sure seemed to enjoy lighting things that exploded!   It was great fun.

The next day, Megan and Mariah started softball tournament.

We had the great fortune of having Megan’s tournament at our neighborhood fields this year!  So cool!   Mariah’s tournament was in Salem where the umping was terrible and led Mariah’s team to two very excruciating loses.  She was not a happy camper.  Megan’s team, on the other hand, kept winning which Megan wasn’t all that thrilled about since she was ready to be done with softball and on to other things.  So, she was not a happy camper, either.   Kevin and I consoled ourselves by being grateful that at least it isn’t until the last week of softball that we think, why do we do this anyway??!!??

Actually, Megan’s games were really fun to watch.  Her team has really gotten quite good and they made a good show.  They ended up playing four games in tournament and played a good game each time.  Mariah was fun to watch, too, since we got to see her pitch on the same field that Savannah once pitched on when I was pushing the twins in a stroller.  Things have indeed gotten easier!

Savannah started cross country practice over at the high school this week.  They practice every morning at 7am.  Their first meet is before school starts!  Holy Cow! 

On Thursday I was going to take Savannah to get her learner’s permit and I could not find the social security cards.  I spent the better part of the morning cleaning out every square inch of my closet.  Hello?  I have eight children!!  I can not lose everybody’s social security cards!!  But, somehow, unbelievably, I did.  I think I threw them away when I was moving everything around for the new carpet.  To add injury to insult, as I was turning around to leave my closet, some frames on the top shelf slid off and hit me in the back of my arm.  I thought I had broken it.  My whole arm buzzed hard for a full minute and I stared helplessly at my crumpled fingers!  I even took myself to the doctor where they xrayed my elbow and assured me that no bones were broken but I had very likely hit the nerve.  I’ll say.

On Friday, I went to get my haircut and then Sarah wanted her hair cut, too, and Megan wanted her hair cut, too, and Mariah wanted her hair cut, too!  Goodness gracious!  What an event!  Afterwards, though, everyone wanted to play at Grandma’s (nice!) so I took myself on over to the social security office to confess my sins.  I discovered that you can lose your social security card up to ten times in your lifetime, although no more than three times in a year.  It doesn’t even cost anything.  I decided I could handle those kinds of second chances.  They didn’t even blink an eye when I turned in six forms.  Weird, huh?

On Saturday, we had one more excitement.  Kevin and I ran in the Hobbler 5K which is also really close to our house and I WON A MEDAL!!!  OK, Kevin won one, too, but he wins all the time.  Also, there were only about 150 runners so there couldn’t have been too many people in the female age 35 to 39 category, but come on!  It’s still exciting!  Oh!  And I got a yellow shirt!

Alright, I just looked up the results and there were ten people in my category!  I came in second with a time of  29:17.9.  Someday I am going to want to know that.  That is my best time in recent memory but I really thought I was going to die before I ever reached the finish line.  Fortunately, I was mistaken.  Kevin came in first in his age group with a time of 22:08.8.  Isn’t he cool?  He came in like three minutes before the second place guy in his group.

It was a fun race.  The 5K was actually secondary to the main event which was a half marathon so the after-race festivities were really fun.  We had free french toast, massages, and hot-air balloon rides!  Sarah, Megan, Dad, and Bethany went up in the (tethered) hot-air balloon ride.  Mariah, Cheyenne, Calianne, and Bethany opted for face painting.  They waited in a super long line, but they looked marvelous!

What a fun (and very full) week!