July 2022!

 It was so great to kick off July with the family! We got to celebrate little Ollie on his baptism day. This little guy is the cutest, and it was fun to see him shine on his special day.

Look at Ollies smile, nestled in with his cousins.

I just love each of these cuties so much!

Little old Sookie. She continues to live her best life, especially on these warm summer mornings. I always open the front door for her after her breakfast and she gets herself ready for the day while watching the world go by.

We all looked forward to celebrating Grandma Geertsen and our country on the fourth of July! We met up with Paul & Sharon, Paul, Heather & Brendan, and Christine, Cameron and Sofi at the Cracker Barrel for breakfast. The wait was over an hour and 1/2 at 9am! I guess everyone's grandma has a birthday on July 4th.

We all looked quite festive for the special day! We sure love Grandma. I can hear her laugh just looking at this picture.

Paisley has been dying to get her ears double pierced, but lacks the funds. It's pricey! I noticed Devron's multiple piercings and she said she orders one-time disposable piercings on Amazon. For only $8, we had to try it out. Since I have some experience with piercing, I did it for her.

She's thrilled with all of it.

Paisley's friend was out of the country during our Stake FSY dates, so we found a later date for them to go together. They were set up for a real great time!

Paisley loved FSY. She told me all about some really neat experiences she had. I thought about her all week and tracked her moving all over BYU campus. I am so glad she was able to go and have a great time.

Adren continues to get more comfortable driving the motorcycle. He ordered a real nice helmet and a backpack to hold all of his gear. When he went to fill it up for the first time, he called me from down the street saying it stalled. I picked him up and we got a gas can but had the darndest time trying to fill it. Jon helped him figure out the two different tanks, yada-yada. He's also had to show him how to remove and recharge the battery when it has been left on during his work shift. Lots of little things to learn and figure out with a motorcycle!

Just chillin and enjoying a beverage and feeling so grateful for my life on this gorgeous summer morning.

Jon and I on a Sunday walk.

This new bridge by the lake is somethin' else!

It was really hot and we started getting attacked by bugs so we scurried on home.

Geerts chillin' like we do.

It was such a perfect summer night, one of those perfect temperatures, not even a chill in the air. I stretched out on a blanket in the backyard, enjoying this view of the house that I never see. Everyone is inside doing their thing. Soon enough I could hear the rumbling sound of a motorcycle getting nearer, shifting into different gears as Adren made his way down the long road. We have him park it on the back patio because there isn't room in the garage and we don't want it out in the open. Watching him come through the back gate made me so happy! He took off his helmet and stretched out next to me and we talked and talked. A perfect night.

Then I saw this the next morning, which made me smile. Summer!

Nothing like a paint spill to wipe a smile off your face real quick. 

I cannot even believe this! It's my worst nightmare and it has finally happened. 

I spent a good month this summer deep cleaning and refreshing my bedroom: washed my window tracks and screens, removed my blinds and scrubbed them clean, wiped down walls and baseboards, I repainted my nightstands, white bed and (GREEN dresser) to cover knicks and scratches. I polished my ceiling fan, got new hardware for my dressers, spray painted my curtain rods, washed and ironed my curtains and re-hung, found new prints for a bare wall, rearranged and hung new artwork, painted new (thrifted lamps) and ordered new sheets and fabric to recover my throw pillows. I still have plans to recover the chair and frame those prints. 

I had just finished touching up my green dresser and had started on my bed with those green cans behind me as I scooted along the floor painting. Paisley came in to talk to me and gasped at the mess behind me. 

I couldn't even do anything about it. Any dabbing would surely make it worse. I had to wait for that puddle to dry. I do have some spare carpet remnants in the crawl space I'll cut it out, but for now I bought a nice rug to lay over it. What a difference it made in my life when I finally covered that mess up! Yikes.

Here's a fun pic I came across outside of ASI Tattoo in Provo. Bridget, me and Kim went to get matching tattoos but the wait was too long and I had to get to work, so it never happened. 

Here's a glimpse of fresh dressers, hardware, artwork and sprucing. It really needed it and it feels so much better in there now!
My thrifted painted lamps. The blue and white ones I had my eye on were $$$$ so I painted a pattern on myself. I also got my jewelry sorted into better containers.

A summery July house. I could not keep the evergreens alive in these pots. So sad. I replaced them with these flowers and I loved how they made the porch look so whimsical.

I see Paisley's craft project out, Sookie loving being in the middle of it, and a wacky record album that one of the boys put up on the mantle. (Probably Eli)

I've spent a lot of my free time this summer freshening up spaces and deep cleaning and reorganizing areas around the house. I will better understand the reason behind this desire to get myself organized very soon. To be continued...