Life and Times of The Johnston family: Some Summer Fun and The Fourth of July!

So I'm once again WAY behind so bare with me as I get caught up!
The second week of June was a fun one, Tuesday was the kids' classes (I love that Bravo continues classes through the summer!) Wednesday Devin had his first of five "Club Camps" at Bravo, this one was "Drum Circle" and he reported having so much fun! The camps are 4 hours from 9-1, they do crafts, play games, read books, sing songs and play outside on their age appropriate playground, oh and they also get a snack which has usually been things Devin eats like goldfish crackers or otter pops. Elizabeth's Girl Scout troop takes the summer off so Thursdays are free now. Friday Devin had "The Mighty Jungle" Club Camp and that night we took the kids to Bravo's Parent Date Night where they take your kids from 6-10, feed them dinner do some crafts and tumbling games, play outside and watch a movie. It was great! Saturday we super duper cleaned our little place as we were having our good friends the Degan's(from our old neighborhood) over for dinner. Elizabeth was in heaven getting to play with her friends Liza and Lilly again, and we really enjoyed visiting with them! Sunday was Father's Day and Tony got a really cool BBQ book and we gave my dad a new set of BBQ tools. And Tony got to BBQ! It was a very happy BBQ Father's Day!!

A couple pics of Elizabeth's last day of school(that I forgot to put on the last post)

Some pics of the kids playing in the sprinkler.

Devin got a little cold that made his breathing difficult so we had him doing breathing treatments for almost a month! Here they are watching Stuart Little.

And here is Devin after his first Club Camp!

The third week of June consisted of, Monday we took shadow down to our neighbor to get groomed, Tuesday was the kids' classes and then Wednesday Tony took off work and we spent the day at Lagoon, which I will do a separate post about, just know the we and the kids had a blast! That weekend Tony and my dad worked hard on the deck and that was pretty much it! The last week of June was a typical week kids' classes on Tuesday, I did take the kids' to "bounce back" to Lagoon Wednesday and Tony met us there after work so that was another really fun day! Thursday Elizabeth had her first of five Club Camps, it was on Fairytales and she reported that it was fantastic! The weekend was spent working on the deck! Monday the last day of June Elizabeth had another Club Camp about the Stars and Stripes. Tuesday July 1st was just the kids' classes Wednesday Devin had his Stick Art Club Camp and Thursday was a busy day! Elizabeth had Little Chefs Club Camp, my cousin Mary came up just before one to watch Devin while I picked up Elizabeth and took her to see Dr. Goldsmith. Her appointment went really well actually, we're to a point where we're going to take a break and spend some time practicing the things we've learned so far to do to help miss Liz. Friday was the Fourth of July and Tony and my dad worked on the deck but that night we did light off some fireworks which the kids were ecstatic about! Saturday the 5th Tony and my dad (mostly) finished up the deck and that evening we had my extended family over for a nice BBQ. It was lots of fun and visiting! Sunday we went to my cousin Sarah's ward for her little Sophia's blessing then after sacrament meeting we went over to their house for a little luncheon and some good visiting. This past week was just classes on Tuesday, Wednesday was Elizabeth's Ancient Egypt Club Camp(which she could NOT have been more excited about, and when I picked her up her teacher told me Liz knew more about Egypt than she did!) Elizabeth LOVED it! Thursday Devin had Puzzle Art Club Camp and Elizabeth and I went to the school supply store to look for some things to add to her curriculum for the upcoming year, then she begged to go to Barnes and Noble so I obliged(it's hard to say no to her wanting to go to a book store!) she read at least a half dozen children's books while I looked around and she came out with two new chapter books, one is about an adorable little Beagle puppy who is magic! She immediately started reading it as soon as we got to the car! But she didn't have long as our next stop was just up the way at Toys R Us. We just looked around there for a while then she was back to reading her book in the car on the way home. Friday I took the kids to Chuck E Cheese's as a Fun Friday thing and they spent 4 hours there having a blast! It wasn't crowded the entire time which was really nice! This past Saturday we spent the good part of the day down in the Herriman and West Jordanish area looking at model homes with my parents and found some great new builders to look into in the future. The best part of the day to me though was lunch. We went to McDonald's so the kids could play and get some energy out, which they did. But as we were getting ready to leave Devin started having a meltdown because he didn't get a Happy Meal toy....because he doesn't eat anything that comes in a Happy Meal. I was desperately trying to calm and quiet him as he was being rather disruptive when a kind man went up to Tony and asked why Devin was so upset, so Tony explained to him that Devin is autistic and doesn't eat regular food so he's upset he didn't get a Happy Meal toy, at which point the man went right over to the front counter and asked for a boy's toy and gave it to Devin which calmed him right down and made his (and our) day. I couldn't believe the kindness of that man! It gets me choked up every time I think about it. That someone could care so much for my little boy, when it would be all the much easier to be annoyed with him and angry and frustrated with us for allowing our child to act in such a way, but instead he showed understanding and compassion! God bless that wonderful man!! I've had so many times when the coin was flipped and the people around me acted in the opposite way while Devin had struggling moments(as he so very often does, especially in public places) it was like a breath of fresh air to be treated better. I will never forget that moment or that man! After lunch we looked at more model homes, until ~~my parents~~ we were all worn out Then my parent's treated us to dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse which was absolutely delicious!! It was a very good day! Sunday we got a late start so we missed Sacrament meeting and that made dropping Devin off at nursery difficult because he HAD to sing sacrament songs first, but after several minutes his teacher brought his go-to toy over for him and distracted him long enough for me to leave. Then Tony and I went to our new callings as Primary teachers, we sat in on the class we'll be teaching which is the 7-8 year olds. We're looking forward to it! Our home teachers came by after we had lunch and the rest of the day was spent just doing whatever. And that catches you up!!!

Here are some pics from the Fourth of July!
My World!