Everything you wanted to know about JUNE at the Izatt household...

Disclaimer: this is a very long, quite scattered recap of June.  BUT to reward you and make it a bit more bearable, there are darling pictures of baby Jack strewn throughout. . . .

like this one!  You're welcome in advance.

Sooo summer has hit our house pretty hard; we've all been getting a pretty good amount of 'screen time' in every day.  BUT we've also been hitting the books in an effort to keep our brains semi-mush-free:

 Seriously, I love when the house gets reeeal quite and I find the boys reading to themselves in their room.  So cute.  And we recently acquired desks for Clyde and Will (hand-me-down/back desk from the Dalbeys and good deal on craigslist, respectively) so every morning I chain them to the chairs until they've each practiced their penmanship.  Suckers.

 I read a book too! I'm not gonna lie; it's been a while since I read a new book (as opposed to re-reading Anne of Green Gables or Harry Potter or Goose Girl for the sixty-fourth time) but Chuck found this one for me at the library and I really enjoyed it.  I don't think it's important that my interest in it stemmed from a TV show addiction; let's just stay focused on the fact that I read a book!

GRATUITOUS CUTE PICTURE OF BABY JACK

 (thanks to Grandma Izatt for the shirt and Savers for the shorts!)

Oh, June brought some medical excitement to our lives.  I had a couple moles that were weird (what moles aren't, I know) so I headed to the dermatologist early in the month.  She wasn't worried about my moles, but she was intrigued by a weird bump on the side of my face.  So intrigued that she decided to 'punch out' a bit of it to biopsy.  

(Side note: serious thanks to the amazing Holly for insisting she needed some Clyde and Will time and watching my boys that day so Chuck could come with me to the doctor. We weren't anticipating the little procedure, but it made it sooo much better that Chuck was there with me and could drive afterwards because I'm a LIGHTWEIGHT and felt a little out of it afterwards. Love you Holly.)

 Here's the progression - I started with an awesomely large bandaid that first day, then I just sported the teeny three stitches (with blue thread!) for a week, then a cute circle bandaid the day the stitches came out, now it pretty much looks the same as it did before.  And the good news is that it was nothing to worry about, so yay for that!

 We took advantage of having babysitters readily available on our anniversary (it fell during the time that Chuck's mom and grandma were in town) and went on THREE dates that day.

 The first was to play tennis, yay!  We both love to play tennis but haven't taken the opportunity to do so in forever, so we decided to make it a priority this summer.  SO fun, and not just because I won :).

 The second date was to the doctor to get my stitches out (what? it counts!) and the third was out to dinner that night (spoiler alert: we picked Mexican). 

 The boys did another round of swimming lessons at the beginning of June, this time in a regular class with other kids.

 They did SO well and we loved their instructors Kellie and Elmer, who were both really friendly and connected with both boys.  Clyde officially passed the preschool level, so when we do lessons again in July and August he'll be in level one, wooo!

Since baby Jack has been racking up a list of milestones lately, we figured we'd add another one and hook him up with some baby food.

 He seems to like the rice cereal pretty well.  Also, I think this should count as a gratuitous cute picture of Jack, because, seriously isn't it darling how intently he's staring at Chuck?  I think we're three for three on daddy's boys around here...

 

 Speaking of which, it was Father's Day this month!!

 I think Chuck had a pretty good day, despite the fact that I spent most of the morning ignoring him and the children as I finished writing my talk for sacrament meeting.  I spoke about the characteristics of Heavenly Father and included personal stories about four men that I love and respect a great deal and how they exemplify a certain characteristic.  Reviews were pretty glowing, so that made me feel good!

 Father's Day decor around the house:

 It may or may not still be up.  I figure dads should get hugs every day, right?

 GRATUITOUS CUTE PICTURE OF BABY JACK

 My mom had a garage sale in mid-June to bulk up the 'gas money' fund for her upcoming road trip with Lyn to Nauvoo. I apparently love her more than I thought I did, because I went over on Friday and helped run the show. 

(The thumbs-up picture was a cell phone shot I texted to my brothers as part of an ongoing series about what a better offspring I am than them. I'm hoping the guilt I cause them comes in handy when it's time to split up the inheritance...)

 It was a pretty fun day; the elders spent part of the morning washing (and waxing!) their car, so Clyde helped for about five seconds before bailing on them in favor of umbrella-twirling.  And isn't that a cute shot of my mom reading on the couch? Well, I kid you not, she was actually reading out loud. To those two boxes.  That may or may not have contained my two oldest children.

 The end of June brought Scout Camp, hooray!  Once again, Chuck was in charge of the four-day expedition as the Boy Scout Committee Chairman.

They took up nine boys (and managed to bring nine home, which is always good).  Chuck and Brother Murphy were there the whole time and four additional leaders made it up for at least a night.  It sounds like everyone had a great time - the food turned out excellently, there was lots of fishing, it rained all one day, they canoed and swam, and the boys all did really well.

 

Back at the ranch, the little boys and I happily had a little stay-cation, only leaving the house for a daily walk/bike/trike ride, sometimes with friends.

 (Naturally, I feel like this should count as another gratuitous cute picture of baby Jack.)

My dad came over one evening to provide some adult interaction for me and a fresh face for the boys to gaze upon. He played football in the backyard with the boys forever, which they absolutely loved.

 Oh, and he brought delicious cherries he hand-picked in Emmett!

We busted out the paint to make a fun sign to welcome Chuck home:

 The full effect on the garage door.

 

 Close-up. I wanted Jack to be involved so I may have painted his foot orange :).  He was surprisingly okay with it!

The next day Will seemed pretty attached to Chuck . . . and the lawn mower :).

Clyde opted to tool around on his brand. new. bike!  He had outgrown his old one a while ago (he's had it almost two years) so a bigger one was definitely in order. We opted for a much bigger one, apparently we're planning on him taking it on his mission. . .

GRATUITOUS CUTE PICTURE OF BABY JACK

Aaaand that's a ridiculously detailed account of the month of June around these parts. As a reward for making it through this post, please enjoy this hilarious picture of Clyde and Will:

Who needs actual pets when you have roly polies to dote on??