Water Polo and Idaho

We've had a busy week.  Between James with soccer on Monday and Wednesday and Aaron with soccer on Tuesday and Thursday and Anna with Cross Country and Water Polo ever day, it's been kinda nuts.  During the day, the kids and I keep busy with games and toys and house work and crafts.  Eileen has been a huge help in the afternoons, as have Aaron and Evelyn.  Dan finally got a date for his hernia surgery, so his workouts have slowed down quite a bit.  The surgery will be right before my birthday.  My mom has agreed to come out and help, so I'm excited to see her!  

Tuesday night, the girls had a combined young women's activity with another ward.  It was a big clothing swap and the girls had a blast!!  

Evelyn's friend Abri came over to hang out Wednesday morning, and the kids had a blast with her.  Wednesday evening, Anna and I went to a little get-together the water polo team was having to make signs for the car wash.   

Then Thursday morning, a lady from the ward was moving and I took Anna, Aaron and David over to help.  Anna and Aaron were a big help, David we mostly were just glad he stayed out of the way of the people carrying big stuff - but he was actually really eager to help too.  Her daughter sent him home with a couple of things too - so he was SO happy.  

Thursday afternoon was Anna's first Water Polo game.  Both the guys and girls played well.  The boys lost - but it was to a much larger team with a greater number of experienced players.  The girls won their game, but it was a super close game!  Dan and some of the kids came to watch Anna play!  We were the home team (in dark caps) after the game, David told us he had been cheering for the white team...  

Friday morning was spent getting ready for the trip and attempting to get the kids packed, and the car packed and everything else ready.  We managed to get on the road shortly after noon.  We hit traffic through Portland, but otherwise, we had a nice easy drive.  We stopped at a rest stop for dinner and ate some Onigiri that Eileen made for us for our dinner.  It was yummy and fun!  We got it just a bit after James and David's bed time, so we did some scriptures and prayers and got them to bed.  

Saturday, for some reason we were almost all up early.  I hadn't been able to sleep hardly at all, so some of us were up by 5 am and all but James were up by 6 am.  James managed to sleep til 9. After James was finally up, Grandma wanted Evelyn to open her birthday present so that she could make adjustments if needed.  Evelyn loves her dress, and Grandma shortened it for her just a bit.  She looks way too grown up in it though.  

 Anna and I went out with Sarah to do some thrift shopping.  Anna had a blast finding clothes, and we had fun picking out things that we were going to try to alter and have some fun with.  While we were out, Dan took the younger kids on a walk and they ended up playing in the water. 

After Anna and I got back, we all headed down to the pool in Grandma and Grandpa's neighborhood and had fun playing and swimming.  I brought my water polo ball, and Anna and I had fun practicing skill and playing together.  

Sunday, we went to church with Grandma and Grandpa and after wonderful church meetings, we headed back to the house for lunch and games and naps!  In the evening, Rob and Sarah came over with Lucy and Riley and Emmalee and Johnny who were staying there for the night.  So we had a fun evening playing together outside and enjoying the beautiful weather!  

It's been a wonderful weekend visiting with Grandma and Grandpa and it's been great to have a little break from the crazy-ness of life these days.  The kids are sad to leave, but I'm so glad we made the trip out here for Labor Day! 

I need more sleep...

This week has been rather crazy!  James had soccer practice on Monday and Wednesday.  Aaron had practice on Tuesday and Thursday.  They both really seem to be enjoying themselves.  James doesn't even want to be picked up!  Anna still had cross country in the afternoons followed by water polo.  Then somehow, she comes home and still has the energy to lift weights with her siblings and then walk with me and Koopa at night.  While our mornings haven't been quite as crazy, I'm trying to get dinner ready early so that it can just be popped in the over and we can have dinner ready when we get home so we can eat together.  

On Wednesday, Evelyn, James and David went to Sister Shum's music camp and had a blast.  They had fun talking about and learning about other countries.  

Anna had her first cross country meet (kinda) on Friday.  Really it was just a hyped up practice, but she had a good time anyway!  

This weekend, I had my lifeguard certification class.  Most of the group there were other water polo coaches, so it was fun getting to know them a bit better.  It was funny to see what had changed since the last time I took a lifeguard/first aid course.  

While I was at my class Saturday morning, Dan took Anna down to hike 10 falls.  They had a great time, but Dan came back tired!  The rest of the kids were allowed to play video games if they cleaned up - so they spent the morning playing way too many video games.  David spent the rest of the day telling me to call him Super Mario.  

Saturday evening, Dan and I went to the Shum's house for a grown-up's only barbeque party.  We had a fun evening there with friends from the ward and we got to meet their lovely neighbors who live across the street from them.  A really nice older couple that we spent some time chatting with.  

Church today was wonderful, though Dan and I were both still sore and tired from our Saturday.  I was surprised at how many bruises I ended up with from practicing all the water rescues on Saturday.  After church, Anna was determined to get her pants done.  So she now has one more pair of pants that she made herself.  She wants to try more things now.  

Sports

 Well, things are starting to get crazy here.  We spent some time this week using up the peaches that we picked. We made peach jam and peach syrup and we also cut some up and bagged them and froze them for later.  We've had fun with all this canning lately, but now I think we are done until our fruit comes in from Bithell Farms.  Then of course, we will be having more yummy fun! 

This week was (finally) James' bike camp with Caleb.  He has been looking forward to it all summer!  He was so excited every day to get up and go!  The boys rode over 80 miles over the course of the week and had a blast doing it.  They were gone every day from 8:30 to 3:30, then came home not nearly as tired as you would expect from the amount of bike riding they were doing!  On the final day, after bike camp was over, Caleb's dad took them out for ice cream! 

This week was the beginning of the preseason for high school sports.  Anna started her regular cross country practices, and water polo started this week too.  I would take her to XC, then pick her up from that and we would go straight to water polo - then come home with her starving!  She started out really tired at the beginning of the week - but has slowly been getting used to the back to back practices.  

Aaron also has had his soccer practices this week.  He has been enjoying practice and has even been spending time outside in our yard practicing the skills he learns at practice!  I am so impressed with how hard he works to get better at things - not just soccer, but everything, when he decides he wants to learn how to do something - he works hard and gets better!  

David decided that he wanted to learn how to crochet.  He doesn't have the attention span to make the long snakes that James and Evelyn used to make (at least not yet) but he loves making short little chains for everyone!  

Evelyn has been wanting to get better and her hand stands and so she has been doing exercises to strengthen her core and her arms.  Her brothers decided to work out with her and it was so cute!  

Saturday we kept busy with running errands.  Aaron needed some stuff for soccer and Evelyn needed her glasses adjusted and so we got things done that needed to be done and then in the afternoon, Dan and I had an appointment at the temple.  After, we went out for Indian food and headed home for scriptures and prayers, then while I got kids to bed, Dan went to pick up Anna from her all-day leadership camp.  

Church today was wonderful - Evelyn gave her first talk in Sacrament Meeting today.  She did a wonderful job (though she was a bit nervous!) Then in the afternoon, we headed down to John and Melissa's house to celebrate baby Evelyn's birthday!  We had a fun afternoon with family and food!  

Hot Fun in the Summer Time

We've had a rather busy week!  Temperatures here have been way high, so we have been looking for fun ways to cool off.  It's been hot and humid here - enough to feel like we were back in Texas.  

Tuesday, we met up with some friends at a nearby bowling alley and all went bowling.  I think the kids all (except Eileen) had a great time, they had fun bowling and hanging out with friends.  David was funny because he didn't really know what was going on, and James had a talent for bouncing off the bumpers into a pretty good shot.  I did horribly, but still had fun!  Evelyn had fun with her friends, but managed to smash her finger pretty good between bowling balls.  :(  It got purple and fat, but thankfully was feeling mostly better by the next day.  

Tuesday evening Aaron had his first soccer practice.  We thought he would be able to play with his friends Luke, but it turned out that they couldn't because they were in different grades.  It was hot out, but he seemed to have a fun time!  

Tuesday evening, I also had a meeting with the other water polo coaches from the High School to talk about where we were at and what needed to be done.  After, I felt more prepared for the upcoming season.  

Wednesday, we went to a matinee discount movie with the kids.  We saw Despicable Me and had a fun time with friends again!  

Thursday morning, we went down to Corvallis to pick peaches at the Peach Place - which is a peach farm owned by Claire's family.  The kids had fun picking peaches in the morning, then in the afternoon, I took the younger kids to pick blackberries for jam and to give Anna some time to get the house ready for the evening. 

In the evening, Anna's piano students (Taz and Kai) had their first piano recital.  They both played songs they had been working hard on!  We had treats and we did a zoom call so the extended families could watch too.  It was a fun little event and Taz and Kai did a great job!  Anna has had fun teaching them and has done a great job so far! 

After the recital, I had to head out for a coaches meeting for the league.  I think we may actually be ready to start the upcoming season!  

Friday, we headed out to the coast to escape the heat!  It was supposed to be hot in Portland area, so we took off!  The beach was perfect - sunny and warm enough to want to get in the water some, but also not miserably hot.  The kids had a great time, but Eileen was sad to not find any shells.  

Saturday was a busy day, but nothing exciting.  Dan and I spent the morning working outside.  I got some more trimming of bushes done and Dan got the garage cleaned out and organized a bit more.  He also took some stuff down to Goodwill, then he went out and got new bikes for David and James.  He also took Evelyn out for a little outing together.  David loves his new little balance bike and he's having a blast trying it out and he says that he loves the blue color of the bike!  

James is also excited about his new bike - with gears!  It's all tuned up and ready for bike camp next week!  

Saturday evening, was spent making blackberry peach jam!  yum!!

Church today was wonderful, the messages were wonderful and the primary went pretty well!  After, we had the sister missionaries over for dinner and a message.  I also had a nice chat with my dad on the phone after calling to wish him a happy birthday!  

Camping!

We've had a fun and busy week.  On Tuesday, we went down to George Rogers park and met up with some friends.  The kids had a blast playing in the sand and swimming in the water.  It was a nice warm day and the water was great!  

Wednesday morning, Evie, James and David all went to Sister Shum's outdoor music camp.  They all seemed to have a really fun time! 

Wednesday evening the kids got to have their youth activities again.  After a month off, they were excited to get to get together with the youth again!  

Thursday, I spent most of the day getting things organized and ready for the camping trip this weekend.  I spent most of my day running errands and making sure we had the food and equipment ready.  I ended up having to go more places that I thought in order to find everything, and of course, as soon as we got up there, we realized a bunch of things I should have thought of, so we made a list of things for next time.  

Thursday evening, there was a youth dance.  Dan took Anna and a bunch of the youth from the ward to and from the dance.  They all seemed to have a great time!  

Friday morning, Dan went into work while I worked to get everything ready and packed up and ready to go into the van.  Then Dan came home around 1 and we packed up the van and headed out.  We were right nearby the other people from the ward, so the kids immediately took off to find their friends and hang out.  We hardly even saw them except for at dinner.  

Before we left, I had checked the website which had said that campfires weren't allowed, so I hadn't gotten stuff for s'mores or firewood, but when we got there, that had changed.  Some friends had brought s'more stuff, but no wood or skewers for cooking marshmallows. So Dan grabbed some wood from someone nearby selling it, and we loaned them our skewers and they shared their s'mores. 

After a fun evening of games and chatting, we crashed for the night.  I was cold most of the night, but then David woke up with a nightmare and came in for a bit to snuggle and warm me up, then he went back to his tent with James.  

Saturday morning, we headed out to the coast.  Dan found a nearby beach with sand dunes.  The kids went back and forth between playing on the dunes and playing in the ocean.  We all had a great time, even Koopa who loved exploring the beach.  We didn't do so great with the sunscreen though...

Saturday evening, after dinner, we headed back home.  We had to get ready for a busy Sunday! Aaron gave a talk in Sacrament meeting and did a great job.  I was directing the music and teaching in primary and Dan had meetings and stuff he needed to be back for.  

On Friday morning, as I was trying to get things ready to go, I realized that we had blackberries and peaches that I didn't think would last the weekend, so I mashed them all up into a fruit syrup and we made blackberry peach syrup and it was so yummy!  So we made plans to have pancakes to eat with our syrup on Sunday.  We invited the bishop over since his family was still up camping, and the pancakes with syrup was as yummy as we had hoped!  

Scratches and Splashes

 Monday, I walked the kids down to some of the wild blackberry bushes that grow everywhere and we picked blackberries - most of us ended up with scratches on our hands and legs from the thorns, but we came home with a LOT of yummy black berries.  We ate a bunch of them and turned the rest into a blackberry crumble (which was really yummy!!)

In the evening, James used his coupon for a family outing to plan an outing to Pietro's Pizza.  We went and had pizza and then played laser tag together.  The kids all had a lot of fun!  Dan trounced us in laser tag.  

The week was pretty normal - summer school for the kids,  libraries and fun.  Friday, I took the kids down to George Rogers Park in the afternoon to swim and play.  They had a lot of fun, but it was overcast, so not as hot as we had expected, so after a little while, the kids were cold, so we left the water and went up to the play ground for a bit.  We had fun though!  

Saturday, we drove down to Dave's house and then went with him to a nearby lake.  It was crazy crowded and rather cold though, so after staying and eating lunch and swimming for an hour or so, we headed over to High Rock.  The kids loved it.  They loved jumping off the cliffs (except Eileen who wouldn't, and David who wasn't allowed.)  Eileen found a crawfish and they all loved climbing all over the rocks in the river.  Plus it wasn't nearly as crowded most of the time we were there.  After, we went back to Dave's house for dinner before heading home to get sleepy kiddos to bed!  

Today was wonderful, but a bit crazy.  We had church, and youth council and bishopric meetings and such.  Then in the evening, we met up with a bunch of people from the ward at a nearby playground to let the kids play and have fun together.  It was a nice evening!  

Books and Beaches

All the kids now have their own library cards, and the number of books the libraries here will let you check out at once is awesome (though I try to keep the numbers down with the younger kids) so we have been to the library many times this week.  Monday, Eileen came home with this stack - she has been working her way through it this week.  James has read his way through all the Naruto manga that they have and David just loves getting to check out and get new books.  

Tuesday, Sandi needed some help with getting Kai after her dance camp in the morning, So David and James and I went to pick her up and then we went to a park near Sandi's house.  It was a huge place with walking trails, a beach for swimming at and a playground for playing on.  They had a great time until Sandi came and got Kai and we had to head home.  

Our house has been the scene of much gymnastic-ing.  Evelyn spends a good chunk of her time at home practicing her hand stands and making up little routines with David and James.  

On Wednesday after dinner, while I was getting David to bed, Dan took Anna down to the church parking lot and began to teach her how to drive.  She was so excited!!!!  

Thursday, Aaron and Dan headed out on a campout with the young men from the ward.  Dan had to come back for meetings on Friday, but Aaron had a great time up there with friends.  

Friday, I took the kids out to the coast to go to the beach.  The weather was sunny and beautiful, but a bit cold for most of us to want to be in the water long.  Anna had a blast building a sand castle, Eileen explored looking for shells and sea glass.  The kids had fun splashing around and climbing on the rock formations and of course, playing in the sand.  

 

Saturday was mostly spent doing some clean up around the house (and the car!) and another trip to the library and then we got to have the sister missionaries over for dinner!  

Sunday was a beautiful Sabbath day.  Eileen, Aaron, Evelyn and I sang a musical number while Anna accompanied and it went well.  I subbed for the music director and had fun in primary with the kids!  Our afternoon was nice and easy - talking to family, playing games and crafting.  

Pools? We don't need no stinkin' pools!

We've had a fun week.  Anna had cross country practices, on Monday and Wednesday.  Sandi needed babysitters during the day all week, so Eileen or Anna was there each day this week.  Evelyn and Aaron had their Summer Camp classes through the middle school and David and James and I kept busy around the house and at the library and at parks.  Friday, we planned to go with some friends to a nearby aquatic center that Caleb's dad had told us about.  Turns out they charge you more than what is usually a day-pass price for a 45 minute time slot and you can only use this small little pool that is all less than 4 feet deep.  The kids had fun, but I don't think we will be doing that again - I'd rather go to the lake or the beach!  

Friday night, Sandi was supposed to be going out with Jon and Julianne to a comedy club, but Jon wasn't feeling well, so I went as Sandi's date.  It was mostly funny and I was fun to be out with them!  

Saturday was kinda crazy!  The older kids had a youth activity - they all had a blast and while they did that, Dan took James on a lunch outing, and I took David on a lunch outing.  James wanted Panda Express and David wanted a hamburger.  He was so cute about making his choice.  They both had a fun time! 

In the afternoon, some people from the ward were meeting up at the lake for swimming and paddle boarding and fun.  We all had a great time with friends.  Dan's company has a lot going on right now, and he is swamped with work and was feeling really stressed, so I told him to stay home and work while I took the kids to the lake so that he could have a mostly stress free Sunday with family.  So he got a lot of work done, and the kids and I had fun hanging out with friends at the lake.  The kids had fun having a junk food dinner and they almost all had friends there to hang out with.  Anna had a couple guy friends from the ward who were there, one of whom is a friend that she spends a lot of time chatting/flirting with.  So of course, Evelyn has started teasing her about him.  

Today was a busy day, Dan had early morning bishopric meetings, then we all got in the car to go to John and Melissa's ward.  Jacob is back from his mission and was speaking in his ward.  He gave a wonderful talk and we had a wonderful lesson in Sunday School.  It's amazing to see how much he has grown up in the last 2 years!  After, we all (and by all, I mean all the close Jones' family, including Dan's parents, and all of Melissa's close family) got together at John and Melissa's house for lunch and baby blessings and birthday celebrations and time together.  It was wonderful - it's been fun living close to John and Melissa - not just because we get to see more of them and their kids, but also it's been wonderful getting to see Melissa's family too!  

In the evening, we took it easy and had a lazy dinner.  I finally remembered a birthday present my parents had sent to him awhile ago and got it down for him - he opened it and was loving playing with them - he didn't want to stop playing with them to go to sleep, so I let him take them into his room to play a bit longer.  

Home at Last!

Monday morning, we made a quick stop at the grocery store for some snacks for the rest of the trip home, then we headed to BYU to get Anna dropped off for EFY.  We walked around the campus for a bit and I showed the kids around a bit (while I marveled at how much had changed) Then we got Anna checked in and in her room, then we went to eat lunch at the Wilkenson Center (which sadly only has lame chain fast food places now).  We stopped in the BYU bookstore, and I let the kids each choose one of the t-shirts that were on sale.  Then we left Anna to her week of fun and headed up to Idaho.  I tried to stop at Beto's for nachos - because I LOVED them in college, but they were our of nachos!!!!  :(  

We stopped for gas at a fun little place in the middle of nowhere - called "the middle of nowhere."  It had lamas and donkeys and goats.  They had a little food dispenser, so I scrounged up a few quarters and let the kids feed the animals.  They also had a fun little store with lots of quirky, silly little things to see - the kids loved it!  Plus it was nice to get out of the car!!! 

We got in late, but of course, Gene and Anna had an amazing dinner waiting for us, then we got littles off to bed and played a couple games before heading to bed early.  

Tuesday morning, we headed back to Oregon, we hit traffic before Multnomah falls (yes, again - there has been traffic or construction problems that slowed us down on EVERY leg of this journey it feels like!)  We finally got back home in time for dinner, then unpacked the basics and headed to bed!!!  

The rest of the week has been unpacking and laundry and friends and walks and fun.  On Saturday, Dan smoked a huge brisket, so we invited a couple families over to help us eat and we had a great time chatting with them and the kids had a blast playing together.  Eileen decided to learn how to do wire wrapping, so Saturday afternoon, I took her out to find some inexpensive supplies, and she has been making them almost non-stop - then she had fun making them with the girls who came over for dinner!  I think almost everyone left with a new necklace.  :)  They are beautiful though, so I'm glad she's having fun! 

Sunday we got to go back to church with out a mask on for the first time in well over a year!  It was wonderful!  We also got to have our second hour meetings in person - I had a blast teaching the primary kids!  David was so excited to get to go to primary in person and sit with his teachers!  In the afternoon, we had the Blanchards over for dinner.  They had gotten in late Saturday night (having brought their girls and Anna home from EFY) so we thought they might like to not have to stress about figuring out dinner.  They came over for waffles and bacon and eggs and fruit and stayed for games.  We had a great time, then had a great scripture reading/discussion before getting the kids (followed quickly by Dan) to bed.  Now that I've got all my kids home, I'm ready to start getting into our regularly scheduled summer!