I hate Drama.....

It has been a kinda nuts week.  As far as water polo goes, it's been a rollercoaster of emotional ups and downs.  The kids are awesome - and practices have been awesome!  They are learning and improving and doing amazing and I'm so proud of them!  But the Oregon HS water polo board made some mistakes that really hurt our team, and instead of fixing them and making it right, they are letting it stand and hurting our players in the process.  It's incredibly frustrating and on top of that, their mistakes meant we might not have a team.  Thankfully by the end of the week, we got some good news that lifted everyone's spirits - Abby has been cleared to play less than 2 weeks after surgery - which is more than we ever could have imagined possible and we are so excited that things are going so well!  

We have mostly taken it easy this week - we had meet the teacher nights for James and David and I think it really helped them both to get more excited and less nervous about the start of a new school year.  Plus, they both got ice cream at each of the schools.  

These sweet silly boys wanted to pretend to be asleep and have me take a picture of them, how could I help it when they are so cute!  At least between the bickering they are.  

On Saturday, Parkrose Water polo had been cancelled, so we decided to get all the kids who were home (Evie had band all day) and went to the Celtic and Fantasy Faire in Hillsboro.  The kids all had a fun time.  Eileen especially enjoyed getting to spend some of her hard earned money on some fun things.  

After the fair, we had some friends over for a back to school bbq.  We had fun eating and chatting!  It was a lot of fun!  Anna and Aaron went out to Tillamook for a dance with friends, Evelyn just had her friends over to party at our house, and I went to open polo!  

Sunday was busy, but wonderful!  The ward choir sang today and did an amazing job!!!  They are so talented and it's such a joy to make music with them!  

After church, we headed over to Sandi's for her annual birthday party, we had fun playing games and eating snow cones and cake.  Sandi's boyfriend James also got us a couple new games, so we had fun trying one of them out tonight!  

Eileen discovered that the floof fits in her snuggie pocket.  LOL - this picture is just so cute! 

Water Polo Begins

Well it has begun.  High School water polo season is on.  We started practices on Monday evening, which meant that I spent most of Monday running errands to get everything ready - picking up balls, stopping by the pool and grabbing things from the high school.  Anna went with me and we got everything as ready as possible.  Numbers are still low - between kids still on vacation for the summer and low numbers already, we have had very few kids at practices this week - but it's getting better.  

Thursday, I dragged Anna and Aaron to the school with me to help recruit for the season.  We are so close, and the kids we have are so amazing and are working so hard, but I still can't guarantee that we have a team, which is so frustrating, so this week has been a roller coaster of excitement about the season and the kids on the team and worry that I'm not doing enough to keep the program going.  

 

Our days are still mostly quiet lazy summer days - it's been REALLY hot this week - almost Texas hot.  David has been really good at helping out at home and James has been doing a lot of crocheting.  He's been having lots of fun making new things and getting creative!  

Evelyn has been at band camp all week for the last 2 weeks.  She has been there from 10 in the morning to 9 at night working hard and learning and having a blast.  She has been loving it!  Saturday, evening was a special program where the kids showed off what they have learned in the last couple weeks, it was so fun to watch and see her in her cute little uniform!  

Saturday morning we went to play polo at Park rose, Dan came with us and played shallow goalie and did an amazing job!  He had fun, and I think Anna and Aaron also had a lot of fun playing with him and having him there! 

In the afternoon, one of the guys from Masters water polo was having a big party at his house with food and pickle ball and fun.  Dan and I went for a bit but had to leave early to go watch Evelyn, but we had fun and it was fun to have Dan meet some of the people I've gotten to know playing polo!  At night, Anna, Aaron and I went to open polo and had a lot of fun.  

Church today was wonderful - the talks were especially great!  The choir in the afternoon went great and I'm excited to perform with them next week.  In the evening, Sandi and James came over with Taz and Kai to play games for awhile.  The kids had a blast playing outside, and Sandi had a great time slaughtering us all in Settlers of Catan.  

Last Hurrah!

This week was our friends campout!  Monday and Tuesday were mostly spent by me getting ready for the campout.  

Evelyn started Marching Band this week and has spent all day every day at the school playing her flute with her friends.  She is having a blast and is working hard!  

Tuesday was the water polo coaches meeting for the BSD schools.  Right now, we still don't have numbers, we need to recruit!!  After, I went to masters, but there was hardly anyone there, which was sad since I won't be able to play there while practices over lap.  :(

Wednesday morning, I went to work out, then took David to his Music Camp with Sister Shum while I packed up the car, then we ate lunch and headed out towards the camp site.  We were there a bit early, but not too bad and they let us check in.  So we checked in and started setting up.  We set up all three tents, which was probably over kill, but I let Anna make the big tent the girls party tent.  They crowded in and had a blast together.  They were awesome and wanting to include everyone and weren't too noisy and didn't stay up too late.  Then I got my own tent, the younger boys shared a tent and Aaron as usual just slept in the van.  

The weather was perfect - not too hot or too cold.  Mostly sunny, though it was raining a bit when we first got there, it cleared up and was perfectly sunny and warm the rest of the time.  

Since Dan had to stay home to work and Evelyn had to stay home for band and Eileen chose to stay home since she could, it was just me, Anna, Aaron, James and David.  The kids quickly found friends and went to hang out with them.  The Blanchards had brought their foam weapons and the boys especially had a blast with them, plus there was a playground in the center area of the loop of campsites, which the kids all loved playing on with their friends and they even made new friends.  Since the kids mostly were occupied, I had fun hanging out with the other ladies!  

The campground was on a river and the kids had fun playing there and skipping rocks and swimming and playing on the kayaks and paddleboards and all sorts of fun stuff.  We spent most of Thursday down playing on the river.  

Erika and I went exploring the trail and found some beautiful things to see and had a great little hike and a fun time chatting.  

We had a fun time in the evening roasting marshmallows and hanging out with friends.  One family brought popcorn to cook over the camp fire, so we had popcorn and smores and lots of fun! 

Friday, after a morning of playing and chatting, some of us headed out to the beach and the others stayed and played at the river.  James and Aaron wanted to stay at the river, while David and Anna chose the beach.  The weather was perfect for the beach - it was warm and sunny!  It was warm enough that I even got in the water a bit with David.  

After the beach, we walked around Rockaway for a bit and got some ice cream and taffy, then headed back to the campsite for dinner and packing up.  

We headed home Friday night so that Aaron and Anna and I could go to the coaches clinic on Saturday.  

Saturday morning, I headed out to MHCC for the clinic and Anna and Aaron followed for the athletes portion.  It was a great clinic and the kids had a great time and learned a lot.  Unfortunately, neither one remembered to put on sunscreen.... So they were both roasted by the time it was done.  

Saturday evening, Anna and I went to Open Polo.  There was a great turnout and we had a blast!  

Sunday we had great church meetings.  The Sacrament Meeting was partially youth bearing testimony which was wonderful and the talks were wonderful too!  Primary went well and choir went well too!  

David and James are so excited to have Lydia back for a few months before she goes on her mission.  They just love having her around!  Dan and Aaron had a priesthood meeting this evening which was great, and now Aaron is thinking about getting his patriarchal blessing!  

Next week starts the water polo pre-season.  Unfortunatly, we are still very low on numbers.... :(  

And their gone again....

Monday morning, I took took Anna and a bunch of the YCL's up to Young Women's camp.  I dropped them and their stuff off and then headed home.  They were sweet girls and we had fun on the drive.   That took up most of my day.  

Tuesday morning, Evelyn headed up to camp with the other younger girls.  They headed off for a week of fun and learning and feeling the spirit.  

Tuesday morning, after we all got up and going, I took the kids to a nearby peach place to pick peaches.  We had fun and brought home much yummy potential.  We have spent the rest of the week using them!  

Wednesday, we went out to the river with some friends to try out our new little kayak and we had fun.  The beach area was rather small, but we had friends there and there weren't a whole lot of other people there.  It was mostly just our group and we had a great time together!  

Thursday began the great canning events...  We made syrups and jams and canned peaches and made peach ice cream and a peach cheesecake.  

Friday evening, Anna and Evelyn got back and we have our family together again!  

Saturday, we went on a hike in the morning with some friends.  We had a fun time hiking up to the falls then exploring around them.  The weather was perfect - not too hot or too cold and it it was a beautiful day to be outside with friends!  

Saturday evening, Anna and Aaron went with some friends to a dance down in Sherwood, then I went to open polo.  Numbers were a bit low, but we had enough to play at first - then some people had to leave, so we were down and eventually we ended up just messing around, but it was a lot of fun!  

Church today was wonderful - it was fast and testimony meeting and it was full of youth bearing testimony of the spiritual experiences they had at FSY and camps.  It was wonderful!   Then in the evening, we had the Young Women's camp fireside which was also wonderful!  This last month was crazy, but so worth it for the kids!