A Really Long Post About a Really Lot of Nothing

So, remember when I blogged

... our home plans have been submitted to the city, and building should begin in two weeks (knock on wood)!

That was 29 days ago. We still do not have a building permit. Aargh! Isn't the whole point of "knock on wood" that you quickly say it after you've said something that you don't want to jinx? 'Lotta good that did. So yeah, our lot is still an empty field of purple flowers. I don't have much hope that we'll get started this week either, thanks to the holiday.

In the meantime, I've been trying to keep us busy during our extended vacay in PG, mostly to keep myself from thinking about our house not being built. I bought an inflatable pool for the kids, which has proved to be a royal pain. (Did you know that a gust of wind can blow an empty inflatable pool half a block down the street, even if you weigh it down with a kiddie picnic table?) Still, the pool has provided the kids with many afternoons of wet n' wild fun, so it's been worth it. My SIL Kallie and her kids spent the day here on Thursday for a swim party and barbeque, which was really fun. We'll have to do that again a lot. Like, every week.Another activity this summer comes compliments of this cookbook; I let the big kids each pick one recipe per week for us to make together. I knew my plan was flawed on the first day, when Carter picked Ice Cream Sandwich Flying Saucers and Haley picked Chocolate-Dipped Pretzels. So now they have to pick a sugar-free snack every other week. Needless to say, they get more excited some weeks than others.
I'm also trying to expose my kids to all of the Pleasant Grove must-do's: Strawberry Days, Daylight Donughts, ice cream cones with plastic animals stuck in them from Taco Amigo ... wait, why does everything involve food? The kids even hiked the G with Chris on Friday (I stayed home with sick babies). I couldn't believe that they made it all the way to the G - that's not an easy hike! I'm having trouble remembering all of the PG rites of passage because it's been a while since I lived here - help me out, my fellow Grovers!
So, we've had a pretty good summer so far, but I am really missing our friends. Once the builders start on our house we'll have an excuse to head down there more often - hopefully we'll run into you!