We had a wonderful week full of awesome, hot weather!
Monday, July 27th
Ever since earlier this month (see this post), when we took the kids to walker park, Carlos has been feeling like getting a boat. He has been keeping his eye out for one and has been talking to his cousin who works as a fisherman in Alaska. Carlos went out and looked at a boat last week, but it didn’t work out. The week before he looked at some new boats, but they were too expensive! Then he came across one today and we went and looked at it together as a family. Carlos said he had a good feeling about it. Oh how the kids would have loved to be out on the water today, because it was super hot out.
At 95 degrees out, we sat in the shaded part of our yard drinking slushies. Carlos and David played catch for a little bit, with the new glove David got for his birthday from Grandma Karen. Eventually, David ended up in his kitty pool. While the girls were left to fill up some of the leftover water balloons from David’s party. Emily had been saying how she wished we had a bigger pool that all the kids could fit in. Carlos told her to keep wishing and maybe it will happen. Then out of the blue, our neighbor Lori came over with her grandchildren that were visiting and invited our kids to go swimming in her pool!!!!! How sweet of her. Our kids had a great time!
Tuesday, July 28th
We got a boat!!!! This is what the kids kept saying today, almost in an astonished matter. They could hardly believe it.
Carlos did end up getting the boat he looked at yesterday. It hadn’t been started in 17 years, since the owner passed away. His wife kept it in their garage all these years. Now that she is old in age, her daughter and son in law moved in with her to help her out during covid19 and they helped her put the boat up for sale. They said they had many fond memories on that boat and that we felt like the right people to sale it to as we are a family that could make more family memories on it.
Carlos spent the rest of the afternoon and evening working on it. He picked up a couple of fuses and had the boat running within a few hours. Carlos is pretty handy when it comes to motors. I’m proud of my guy. The kids spent most of their evening on the boat with their daddy.
Wednesday, July 29th
After getting the boat title transferred into our name and picking up some items we needed to take the boat out, we headed to the lake.
Emi helping Carlos 
David cooling off in the lake
Our first time taking the boat out was a little rough. It was another hot day and there were many boats going out on the lake. I felt a little overwhelmed trying it out with so many experienced boaters around us, but we did ok. We did mess up by accidently leaving our boat keys in the car. So Carlos sent Emily to go get them while we stayed back on the boat. That made me nervous and put me more on edge. Then when we had the boat keys, it took a couple of tries to get it going. Everyone seemed to enjoy the boat ride. I eventually felt better too. David was a little nervous about it, but did alright as well. We didn’t take any pictures while out on the boat, but you can click here to watch a little video clip. 🙂
Thursday, July 30th
The girls did each other’s hair today. The both did a great job. Ashley curled Emily’s hair and Emily straightened Ashley’s hair.
We did some exploring today to check out some places to possibly go boating in the future. First we went to a county lake / park. This is where we are at in the above picture. Down below we found another lake, so we took a drive around it and found this little access spot. It was perfect for taking a quick dip on such a hot day.
We only stayed out for a few hours as Carlos had to go to work. Back home, the kids still enjoyed the water by playing with their water blasters. By clicking this link, you’ll find out how the kids got these awesome water blasters. Well, this is how sweet Becky and Chuck are….. I had sent her some pics of Ian and the kids playing with the water blasters and they made one for Ian and mailed it to us. Becky and Chuck are the best!
With all the laughter and screaming going on in our backyard, two neighbor boys came over and joined in the water blaster fun.
While the kids were doing that, I fed the wild kitty and tried to get close to it. I also picked some blackberries.
My the camera lens on my phone is zoomed in as far as possible lol. 
Blackberries!
After a spending most of the day in the sun, we had a late dinner and then cuddled up in the family room and watched Pokémon 4ever.
Friday, July 31st
Today I got up early and took David on mommy / son date. First we picked up some croissants and ate them in the car.
Next, we went to Walmart so David could use his birthday money. We had a talk about paying tithing while we ate our breakfast. While in the store, David found a toy that he wouldn’t have enough to get unless he didn’t pay his tithing. For a few minutes he said that he didn’t want to pay it anymore. However, he then decided to keep looking and he ended up with some good stuff and still saved his tithing money.
Next up we did his 6 year old birthday photo shoot. He did great! Not one complaint for this little guy. He did ask for a picture with his new combo panda toy.
I really enjoyed our time spent together today! I can’t wait to do it again. Emily and Carlos went on a daddy / daughter date later that afternoon. They went to the boating store and Emily picked out a kiwi float. Next they stopped by Emily’s favorite lake and they took a quick dip!
Elder Juarez at district council today. 🙂
Saturday, August 1st
While out on Isabella Lake on Wednesday, I couldn’t help but think about our Isabella (Jose’s girlfriend) and how much she likes to swim. So, today Jose and Belle are here to go for a boat ride and to go swimming.
We had to take turns going on boat rides, because with Ian, the 8 of us exceeds the maximum weight for the boat. Everyone went out on the first ride and I hung back at the shore with Ian. Carlos said everyone had a good time, and that Belle was all smiles.
Later on, Belle and Jose came back and swam with Ian near the shore while I went out on the boat. I even got into the water and swam and was able to get little David to come off the boat and into the lake too. It was an awesome summer day!
Sunday, August 2nd
We completed out week with church at home, more blackberry picking and blackberry cobbler for dessert.
Oh, we also caught our wild kitty and it is one wild kitty! Last night and tonight we put its food inside this cat taxi. Since tonight was the second night, we tied a string to the door so we could close the door without getting close to the kitty and startle it. When we were up close, it was calm and didn’t make much eye contact. When we went inside, it would start thumping around trying to get out. We didn’t want the poor kitty to hurt its self, so we let it go. We had been hoping it would let us check its back paws as it has been limping lately, or to take it to the vet in the morning but I guess we just have to except that it is truly a wild kitty.
