Summer Catch Up!

Ok, with summer here life is more busy then ever! We stay SO busy during the summer that I haven't had time to blog. Sorry. I am going to give a short summary of many of the things we have been doing this summer so far. Sorry, this may make it a bit lengthy!



Alexis, Sariah, and I went to girl's camp this year. As usual, it was in Troy Missouri. It was the HOTTEST week of the summer, but I really enjoyed it. I loved being there with my two girls and we really had a lot of fun. We did a Zipline and Sariah did GREAT, I was TERRIFIED, and Alexis got too scared. If you want to see all the pics of that go to my facebook (melissa zumbrun adams). Next year, I will have three girls there! Camp was June 23-27







At the very end of school, May 30th-June7th Tom took all the kids (but Alexis who went to stay w/her Aunt Melissa in MO) to Utah to see family and help his mom paint and do other needed projects around the house. They went to the Copper Mines, the open house of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple, a water park, and spent lots of time with family. Where was I? At home, ALL by myself and loving it. I went to the Temple nearly everyday and sometimes more then once. I really did enjoy the break before summer got going full force. My hubby is awesome in every way!



JULY 4th!!!!
Our good friends (The Steen's) married off their oldest daughter Sage. She was married in the Nauvoo Temple to Zach Scott. It was a beautiful wedding and a gorgeous reception!







Then we went to the fire works in Quincy, IL. We had company staying with us (Merlin & Louis Blad) and they took us to our favorite restaurant in Quincy (Best Buffet). Then we went on the river to watch the fire works. They were SO awesome and we really enjoyed the time as a family. However, Josh could not be there due to work :(. We missed not having him with us, but we did have a great 4th together.







Gabriel's 7th birthday (July 8th). For Gabriel's b-day Tom and I took him to a movie (Disney's Up), out to lunch and then shopping. He picked out a pair of shoes for his present. Later, we had a b-day party for him and our good friend Kim. Gabriel was excited to share his b-day party w/Kim. He then went swimming w/his family and friends. I really love my little guy! Tom and I really enjoyed spending the time alone with me. The day was topped off perfect when he said, "Mom, this is the BEST birthday I have ever had." He is so loving and easy to please! Gabriel also learned how to ride a bike this summer. He loves riding around town with his older brothers.








Tom has also been busy, busy, busy! Him and the boys built a fence on the south side of the house. I love it because it gives us privacy while we swim and have family fun in the back yard. We put our pool up again this year and it takes a lot of work to keep it clean. However, the kids LOVE it and Eliza is a little fish in the water. Tom also made a golf course around the yard. It is SO cute, and the kids have fun playing golf, but we make them use a foam ball so they don't cause any damage. We also did some updates in our kitchen this summer. Tom put in new laminate wood floors for my b-day and we had Lowe's install new counter tops. I am loving my new kitchen. I don't have pictures, but we also put in new carpet in Alexis' room, the stairs, and the hallway area downstairs.

The kids are staying busy as well. Josh is now working full time for NRI (Nauvoo Restoration Inc.) as a painter. It makes good money and keeps him busy. Alexis is working for Annie's Custard shop and still takes care of Nicolas on Saturdays. Her boss at Annie's loves her and thinks she is a great, friendly worker. Cambron works at the concession stand for Pageant nearly every night, hangs out w/friends, and does some odd jobs for money. Sariah does some babysitting, works at concession, volunteers at the Matthew House (a cat house in Carthage), and has starting tumbling class. She and Abigail both pay for the tumbling lessons themselves by trading babysitting for the instructor. They both love it and seem to have a natural talent for it. Abigail and Emma Jo both played softball this year. They both wished that they could pitched, but enjoy playing just about any position. Spencer, Gabriel, and Eliza swim, play golf, play with friends, and hang out at home. As for Tom, he is in his last semester of school. He is taking over twice the load he should be, but will graduate August 31st! We can't wait! As for me? Well, I just keep my head above water trying to keep track and take care of my beautiful brood! I love my family and summer. We also seem to always have people coming to stay with us for the summer. We have had people staying with us since June 23rd and will have people here almost till mid August. Just in time for school to start and summer to be over. Only wish we had hotter weather. But hey, our electric bill looks good when we don't have to turn on the AC. I promise I won't let so much time go by. This blog to FAR to long and I do believe that I learned my lesson. Sorry for any typos, but I am not about to proof read!

Spencer's Scout Day

A fun day of scout's for Spencer. He ended up winning 3rd place in the boat race! They had lots of fun and ate ice cream out of a rain gutter. He doesn't look so happy because he got grounded from his bike right before he went. That is a major let down for poor Spencer. He had a great time after a while! :) He LOVES scouts and looks forward to it every week!

A Fun Week of time travel, hats, school spirit, and MORE . . .

Ok, this last week was "fun" week at school and each day was a new day to dress up in a fun way. Our kids really got into this. They had so much fun. In the begining of the week the other students kind of teased some of our kids, but they didn't care. They kept having fun and by the end of the week the other students thought the kids were so cool. I am proud of the kids for doing it no matter what. It was a fun week!


Monday was "backwards" day. I have a confession on this picture; it wasn't taken on Monday. When I told the kids that I was going to post the pictures on the blog they said, "You can't put all the days on there and not Monday." I told them it was too late and they said I should just "recreate" the picture. We did that on Friday, but I didn't get what the hair looked like. The girl's had me put ponytails on the top of their heads so that their heads looked backwards too. They even put sunglasses on the back of their heads. They had so much fun and looked so cute.



Tuesday was HAT day! I actually had to straighten some of the girl's hair so they would look "cool" in their hats.






Wednesday was blast from the past day! The 3 girls were from the 80's. Sariah was from 1800's. She was Jane Austin. The 2 boys were from the 70's and 80's. I think this day was their favorite day!



Thursday was Hawaiian day! I found some leis and hair flowers on clearance at Wal-Mart. I had to leave early that morning so Sariah & Abigail took the pictures after I had everyone dressed. That is why we had to take two pictures.




This was Friday (5/15); school spirit day! The kids loved having their faces painted. The boys REALLY thought it was COOOOOL!! They also wore school colors. Cayden Mathews was at our house that morning.

Happy Mother's Day

As always, I had a GREAT Mother's Day. I started my day with talking to my mom for about an hour, then my hubby and kids brought me breakfast in bed. They made lots of fresh fruit and vegan sausage. It was really yummy. Then came the cards, gifts,and coupons. Let me just say that home made cards and coupons are the BEST mother's day gifts ever. I felt like a princess sitting in my bed. Then came the present from my hubby. . .you know, the one he was NOT supposed to buy do to our new "wants and needs" program we are on. However, he claims we "NEED" to keep the mom happy, and mom was not happy w/her old camera. I LOVE my new camera. The picture of my room shows the cool panorama option. I can't wait to take some beautiful scenery pictures with this option. Thanks Tom and kids for such a wonderful Mother's Day. You are what being a mother is all about. You make everything worth it. I love all of you SO much!

The Family Play House

This is too cute! Saturday morning (5/9/09) I went to the temple and then to Stake Meetings for Young Women. This is what I came home to. My sweet hubby and darling children were building a play house. They were using some old wood given to us by a friend Tom helped. Tom had all of the kids working and they were all excited to be doing it! This is just the base and they have since then built the walls, but I will get more pictures posted later. Watching my hubby and children work together so happily just gave me warm fuzzies. I can't wait to see the finished project. As for now, it is time to finish Alexis' closet. I love my family!

Josh & Sariah Go To The St. Louis Zoo

Josh and Sariah went to the St. Louis Zoo on Tuesday May 5th with the Cox family. Yes, we let them skip school to go. The zoo is educational right? They had so much fun and Sariah took some great pictures of the animals. I didn't post all of them, but they are all gorgeous! The girl w/Sariah is her best friend Ruby, and they have a 19 year old named Bret. Josh and Bret are really good friends. By the way, Bret just got his mission call (5/9/09) and he is going to Argentina (Spanish speaking)! How exciting! Congratulations Bret!!