Busy Week

It's been a busy week.  David had a music Camp with Sister Shum and had a great time.  He has been wearing these plastic glasses that he got from her ever since and pretending that everything is blurry when he isn't wearing them.  Or that he's wearing contacts, but sometimes those contacts run out and everything gets blurry again.  lol 

Anna and I spent the better part of 2 days recruiting for Water Polo at the high schools, we handed out flyers and candy.  David would run up to people and hand them candy wrapped up in the flyer and was probably our best recruiter.  We also had some of David's favorite water polo friends come and so he had a great time playing with them and hanging out with his friends.  Anna made these trifold boards and did an amazing job on them.  We had fun, but is a bit tiring to spend all day doing that and then go to water polo practice, but hopefully it will help our numbers some.  

David just loves doing silly things and then having me take a picture of him.  

We have gotten to chat with Eileen and Evelyn a bit while they have been gone.  Eileen is having a great time with Grandma and Dan and I are more worried that she won't want to come back than we are worried about if she is doing ok there.  Their habits seem to suit each other and they are both enjoying this one on one time.  Eileen is already planning on how to go back again another time.  She has also gotten to see Sonora Tilton and had a great time. 

Evelyn seems to be having a great time and she and Grandpa are getting along great!  We have got to talk to her a bit and she is always happy and excited!  

Dan and I got to go to the temple and ended up doing Sealings which was wonderful since it's our anniversary month.  There are such beautiful promises and blessings!   

Saturday evening, Anna and Aaron had a Stake Youth Dance, so Dan and I took David and James to the Super Play for a bit.  James wasted all of both of their cards on a claw machine that he got nothing out of, so Dan and I took pity on them and played with them using our cards.  After that, we had fun and used the few tickets we had to get some candy for the drive home.  

On Sunday after church and choir, We all packed up and headed down to John and Melissa's for dinner.  We had a great time hanging out with them and playing games with them.  It's so great to live close enough to be able to do stuff like this sometimes,  We are already planning our next temple trip to include them!  

Water Polo Begins!

It has been very strange having two of our kids gone...  I know that to a lot of people 6 is still a big family, but to us, it feels small.  There are empty spots at the table and places I expect the girls to be, but they aren't.  I texted Eileen to ask her how things were going in Texas and she said "really well"  She has been happily cooking for Grandma and enjoying the quiet and one on one time with Grandma.  I texted my mom to ask her how things were going and she was worried about leaving Eileen alone too much and worried that Eileen didn't like the nearby grocery store and just worried that she was bored.  Eileen has never had a problem entertaining herself.  

We got a call from Evelyn who had fun telling us about the things she had been seeing and doing!  She's also having a blast!  

We had a busy week at home too.  We've been trying to get in as much summer fun as possible before summer is over and Water Polo started up this week.  I had workouts in the morning with David coming to play with friends and Anna (and once Aaron) coming to work out with me.  We had errands to run and things to get ready.  

In the evenings, Anna and Aaron and I have water polo practice.  We're still smaller in numbers than I would like, but we are getting better and the kids that are signed up and there are learning and growing so quickly - they are amazing! Aaron is so funny - anytime he shoots and makes it past Anna in the cage, he gets the biggest grin on his face!  It's also amazing to see how much Anna has grown as a player in her time playing club.  And it's been fun to coach her as a goalie too - she's doing really well!  

Wednesday after practice, I headed down to Salem for a coaches meeting.  It was a good meeting and I feel like I'm getting to know the water polo community here better!  

Thursday, the kids and I packed lunches and headed out to Cannon beach to meet up with friends for a day in the sun.  The weather started out looking cool and cloudy, but pretty quickly it cleared up and we had a great time hanging out with friends and playing in the sand and the water.  

On Friday, walking to the workout at the church building, David was walking next to Anna and chatting with her and told her that he didn't like to talk to people very much.  Then he said that he likes talking to her and mommy and daddy because he loves us, then Anna started asking about friends that he talks to all the time, and teasing him a bit.  Then we got there and he immediately started talking to everyone there.  Then walking home, he found a map of a nearby nature trail in his back pack and started looking at it and pretending to need it to navigate our way home.  It was especially funny because he kept saying things like "the map says we need to go that way" and "there are 5 turns until we get home" but he could walk this route home in his sleep we walk it so often and his sense of direction is so good.  lol  But it was cute! 

Friday evening, The Guinn's got in.  They were in town for Nate's grandpa's funeral and stayed with us for a couple days.  It was wonderful getting to visit with them and having them around, even if they had a lot of family stuff they needed to be at.  

Saturday morning, Anna had a YCL meeting, so the rest of us packed lunches and headed for Naked Falls just across the border into Washington. Once again, it was a bit cloudy and cool when we got there, but soon the clouds cleared and the day was warm and sunny.  The kids all had a great time swimming and jumping off the little cliffs and water falls.  Dan even went off the big one.  We met up with friends there and Nate and Ally were even able to come for a bit after the funeral.  It was a beautiful day and beautiful area! 

 

After, we headed home and Anna and I went to a Celtic Fantasy Faire happening nearby.  We had a great time walking around and looking at everything and listening to the music.  Everyone we talked to was really nice and we found a couple fun souvenirs.  Then we went to the food trucks for dinner and Dan got pizza for the boys.  We had a fun evening chatting with Nate and Ally.  Then they had to take off early in the morning to get on their way home.  Hopefully they can come out again with a little more time!  

Church today was wonderful - we got to hear from the sister missionaries during Sacrament meeting.  Primary went well and it's just wonderful getting to hear the children sing the beautiful and simple songs of faith!  We had a fun afternoon with choir and games and some naps too. 

Insanity

This week has been totally nuts.  We started out on Monday with James having his first day of bike camp and after working out, I took Eileen and Anna up to girls camp with the YCLs.  They needed drivers and a life guard for Monday, so I drove a bunch of the girls up and then we got them settled and I got to hang out with them while they did the ropes course which was a ton of fun, then I stayed and lifeguarded while they swam, then I had dinner with them before heading home for the night.   

Eileen was excited to find a pond that was just filled with newts and spent a lot of her time catching them and holding them.  She also found another girl who liked them as much as she did.  

On Tuesday, James had bike camp of course, and Evelyn was off early in the morning to girls camp with the other girls in the ward.  I had water polo in the evening, plus a bunch of stuff to get ready for the high school water polo season starting next week!  Eileen came home from girls camp Tuesday night, so it was nice having her back. 

Wednesday, David and I went to the church to work out/play.  I came home exhausted!  lol  Dan and Aaron spent a lot of the Dan trying to get everything ready for High Adventure, and of course James had bike camp.  He's been loving a lot of the parks they took them to and has been asking to go back to them ever since!  

David decided he wanted to use an outing with mom, so he and I went to Sushi Hanna for lunch together and had a great time.  He cracks me up there because he knows the ones he likes and he will watch the conveyor belt go past and say "yummy! gross!"  depending on what is going past.  

Thursday morning, Dan and Aaron were off crazy early!  They went white water rafting and then hiked up Mount Adams.  Aaron was the only Teacher to reach the summit.  He did amazingly well and even kept Dan going when he would have rather stopped.  They did amazing things and have some amazing pics to show for it!  Aaron said he had a good time and they both came home tired and sunburnt.  

James had bike camp and David had a music camp with Sister Shum.  Eileen woke up early (10:30) so we could hang out together and crochet while everyone else was gone.  :)  With so many people gone, the house is strangely empty.  

Friday was more bike camp and work out and picking up my dad from the airport and picking up the girls from the church after girls camp and picking up James from bike camp.  Dan had taken the van and getting his bike home from bike camp in the green car was a bit of an adventure.  :) 

But we managed it all and enjoyed an evening with Grandpa Cox.  Plus we spent the evening getting clothes washed and getting Evelyn unpacked from camp and Eileen and Evelyn packed for their trip to Texas and then on to Scotland for Evelyn. 

If the driving on Friday was nuts, Saturday was even crazier.  We had to get everyone to the airport and their luggage - but with out the van.  Plus Anna and I wanted to go play water polo, so we took both cars, drove Grandpa and Eileen and Evelyn to the airport and then Anna and I went to the school to play since it was near the airport.  After, we were both exhausted, so we picked up James and David from a friends house and then went home and Anna crashed while I had a meeting with the other coach to get things ready for the season.  Then the boys and I ate dinner while Anna slept on.  :)  Anna ended up just sleeping on the couch.  Dan and Aaron got home late and showered and went straight to bed they were so tired!  

When we left for church this morning, David was apparently so glad to see the van that he ran and put his arms "around" it and exclaimed loudly about how glad he was to have the van back! 

Church today was wonderful and choir was fun - just need more people, as always.  We also got to go to the YW camp fireside in the evening which was amazing!  It was neat to see and hear about their experiences and see the friendships that grew.  

Prep Week

This week was supposed to be our week of down time to let us get ready for all the upcoming stuff.  So we mostly spent it trying to figure out what everyone needs for everything happening in the next couple weeks and making sure we have it and can find it.  

Evelyn and her friend decided to make and decorate cakes.  They had a blast together and made some cute and yummy cakes!  

 

Friday, Anna was gone all day out boating with a friend and she had a blast and came home sunburnt and excited.  In the evening, I went to a little game night a friend was having and had a great time chatting and playing together.  

Saturday was a crazy day.  Dan was at home with all the kids (except Anna) and did some cleaning around the house.  I spent the entire day at a Coaching clinic and Anna joined with a bunch of other athletes for the second half of the day.  So I spent the whole morning listening to some great presentations and learning and taking notes, then we went out to the pool and went through 4 hours of collegiate level work out with the kids - helping and teaching and learning.  It was awesome, but exhausting for the kids and hot for the coaches!  After, Anna headed home and she and Aaron went to a youth dance, I hung around for the meet and greet and had a great time getting to know some of the coaches and other people in the Oregon water polo community a bit better.  After, I headed home, then Dan walked me down to the church and I practiced the organ for a bit to get ready for Sunday.  

Church today was wonderful, even if numbers are still a bit sparse from summer travel, but we actually had a decent number of kids in primary and we mostly had all the teachers we needed.  Sacrament meeting was wonderful!  In the afternoon, we spent time together, went for a walk, played some games and did some crafting, and of course calendaring....

Now on to the insanity....