Captain Vegetable blog post

On Monday Mike went to the Salt Lake Community College surplus computer sale and got Rea a used laptop. It is small and cute and has good stats and battery life. It was only $195, however Rea hates it. She says "Dad! I told you not to get me a computer 'cause I don't want one!" We are hoping that she will start to like it some day because being able to use a computer is a good skill to have.

We had lots of medical appointments this week. Alison met with her psychiatrist on Monday and modified her medicine some. The first medicine has prevented any more major depression, but she still feels mildly depressed about half the time, so the psychiatrist is hoping adding this one will help with that.

Tuesday morning Alison went to get a chipped filling fixed and get an impression taken for a mouth guard. Apparently she grinds her teeth now. Tuesday afternoon Timmy and Sara went to the dentist. All four kids had dentist appointments last month, but it was the week everyone was throwing up, so we had to cancel. Timmy and Sara each had a cavity, which is disappointing. We thought we'd been doing really well at tooth care. Wednesday Rea and Gideon went to the dentist. Neither of them has cavities.

Tuesday while Alison took Sara and Timmy to the dentist, Mike and his dad worked on our sprinkler system. His mom volunteered to mow our lawn. They got everything bought and five drip heads installed successfully. The kids were excited that the grandparents brought over ice cream and popsicles.

Thursday Alison and the kids went to the Poulsons', as usual, and got to check out their new hot tub! The kids loved it and had so much fun. (Alison did, too, but that was a given.) We are going to leave a set of swimsuits at Grandma's house so we always have the option of going hot tubbing when we visit.

Friday was the last day of nature group. Sara utterly refused to do the final exam (a 3 mile wander with clues to follow through a different part of Dimple Dell), but Rea did it, and did a wonderful job! She said it was very fun and her group did a great job completing all the challenges, including improvising a stretcher and carrying one girl to the end point. Sara says she'll go on the final wander next year.

Saturday we went to a stake breakfast and talked about family history. Rea had Mike and Alison and Amy tell her stories about her great-grandparents. It was fun. Then we had to clean the church. The Plastow kids went to Cabana Park after the breakfast, so we told the kids that if they did one job each, they could go to the park. That left Alison and Mike to clean the bathrooms and vacuum. It worked out well.

Saturday afternoon we went and bought plants for the garden. Everyone is supposed to have two plants and take care of them, and they get the fruit. We'll see how it goes. Alison didn't even get any plants because she doesn't want to garden this year, but the kids are pretty excited, especially Rea and Timmy.

Timmy got some melon plants and Rea got a watermelon. Rea got some tomatoes. Sara also got tomatoes. Gideon got tomatoes, Boo got onions and Mike got squash. After Mike helped the kids get the garden installed he worked on the sprinklers some more, and got three more drip heads installed, so there are only the ones in the back yard left to do now.

Rea has been asking and asking for us to do Organized Simplicity again. Alison decided that since all of our official school things ended this week (My Tech High reporting and nature group), next week would be a good time to take some time off and do that. After that, we'll move onto our summer schedule (taking a siesta in the afternoon and staying outside after dinner till 9pm). Alison started Organized Simplicity while everyone else was gardening and did all three bathrooms. They look very nice and spacious now, and it's motivating to keep going. Hopefully we can do the whole house in one week.