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!  

Together Again... Finally!

Monday morning, we had another FSY drop off.  Evelyn and some of her friends, along with some other friends from the ward got dropped off for their week of fun and spiritual strengthening.   David stayed home this time, but it was still a nice drive down and back!  

We got the girls all squared away in their rooms and then they were off and ready for fun!  From everything I've heard, they all had a fabulous time, and it's been neat to see Evelyn's spiritual growth from just this one week!  

Wednesday, we went to Battleground Lake to play in the water and hang out with friends.  The weather was great and fun was had by all.  Unfortunately, I was bad at taking pictures.... 

David and I had fun this week playing and building things and such.  He always wants me to take his picture with things - it's so cute! 

Thursday, Eileen and James got back with my Dad.  I picked them up from the airport and we got home to unpack and do laundry and settle back in.  My dad was exhausted.  He's had 2 trips to Scotland with almost no down time between and he was just about dead on his feet, so hopefully now that he's home, he will be able to rest and recover!  James and Eileen both had a great time.  They both loved to talk about their adventures.  

Saturday was the first day all month that our whole family was together this month.  Anna and Aaron and I went to play water polo at Parkrose, then I took Anna, Aaron and Evelyn plus Caleb to Open Polo in the evening.  It was fun!  

Church today was wonderful!  After church, Eileen and Dan and I went to pick blackberries which are ripe and ready to eat and all over the place.  So we picked until it was time to get home and our bowls were full.  Then I took the girls to choir and Dan made blackberry syrup and blackberry cobbler!  YUM!  

More kids gone....

Monday morning, We loaded up the van with kids and their gear and headed down to Monmouth Oregon to drop them off at FSY.  We got them checked in and their stuff unloaded, then left them for a week of fun and spiritual growth.   

 David and I then drove home with David and we stopped for some lunch at In N Out Burger!  He loved the burger and milkshake!  

It was very strange just having David and Evelyn home this week.  Evie and I had water polo on Monday and Tuesday, then she had practice on Wednesday.  The High School girls headed to JO's and I spent some time helping out the Elementary School practice which was fun.  Thursday was my first time in the water this week and we didn't even really have enough for a scrimmage.  :(  Then Parkrose was cancelled too because of a nearby fire putting asbestos all over the area.  I finally got to scrimmage again at Open Polo which was fun - there were enough people there to play and have a few subs, but not so many that we spent the entire time on the side.  

Tuesday, David wanted to go for a walk to the park, so we walked down the hill to play at the park - he played on the playground for a bit, then we had fun tramping around the creek for awhile.  It was fun and a perfect day for it - warm, but not too hot! 

On Wednesday, morning, I went to work out as usual and it's been fun since there are lots of other kids there for David to play with, so he wants to come hang out with his friends.  

After, we met up with a bunch of friends at George Rogers Park to swim and play.  It was hot and it felt so good to be in the water and it was so fun to have friends to play with!  David loved it when I took him and his friend Landon out on one of the kayaks.  We paddled around and they jumped off and climbed back on and we got to see a bald eagle - it was so cool! 

Thursday, David wanted his friend Landon to come over and play.  Then he wanted to go on a nature walk with him, so we went to a nearby nature trail and the boys had fun with their notebooks finding things and writing stuff down.  

Then on Friday, Evie decided that she wanted to go to a park with her friends, so we picked up Natalie, then David wanted to bring Landon, so we picked up Landon and headed over to Champions Park

Then we were hot, so we headed back to our house for popsicles!  Silly boys!!  

On Saturday, Aaron and Anna got home from FSY - they had a great time, but were exhausted, so they kinda crashed for the rest of the morning.  Evelyn was at the Band car wash all day, then after, I took her and Anna and we met up with some other friends to go see the Barbie Movie.  We had a fun time together, but we had front row seats - which is not my favorite place to be in a movie theater!  

Church today was great, Anna and I sang a musical number and it went well!  After church and choir, we had David's dinner choice of Cereal for dinner.  Then in the evening, Sandi and James came over to play games with us again!  We had fun playing Gizmo's (where Sandi crushed all of us) and Wingspan.  Now we are prepping for Evelyn to head out to FSY and next week James and Eileen get home!  

Summer Fun

This week was pretty chill.  Monday was mostly spent getting Aaron ready for Young Men's Encampment/High Adventure.  Doing laundry, running errands and such.  Anna finally got her dress finished.  With the exception of the button holes - she really did this all herself and it looks amazing!  She has done great work and the dress is beautiful!   Now she want to make a shirt using the pattern for the top of the dress with the leftover fabric.  

Aaron headed out for his week of adventure Tuesday morning and it's strange to only have 3 kids in the house.  Tuesday was 7-11 day so we headed to the nearby 7-11 to get slurpees.  The one we went to was very well organized and it was awesome!  We got our slurpees and headed home!  

The club water polo teams are getting ready for JO's, so we have been scrimmaging all week - so I was in scrimmaging with the girls Mon, Wed and Fri.  Then of course with the Masters group on Tuesday and Thursday (thankfully we actually had enough people there to scrimmage both nights) 

Our days have been spent with playing together and reading together (David has been getting so good at reading and it's fun to read with him) and doing craft projects.  David and Evelyn went to a music camp with Sister Shum on Wednesday and had fun.  The consequence of having people gone is that I keep trying to get more people in our house, so Evelyn has had friends over all week to help fill our house up a bit more.  :)  

We got new phones this week - Dan switched our plan and put us all on the same family plan and we got new phones to go with the new plan.  It's so nice having a phone that doesn't need to be charged every 3 hours.... :)  

Dan got more stuff for Italian Sodas and he and David made some up and David put way too much syrup in his and we thought his BRIGHT red moustache was funny!!  

Saturday was fun.  We hung out together and got some stuff done around the house and waited eagerly for Aaron to get back home.  :)  Then I took Evie and Anna to open polo in the evening.  It was a fun group of people - great turn out and lots of fun! 

Church today was great, we had a wonderful meeting and the ward choir performed - they did an amazing job as usual and the talks were also great!  After church, we had some lunch then got together with Sister Wilcox to practice for the music number next week.  In the evening, Sandi and James and Taz and Kai came over for a game night.  The kids had fun running all over the house and we had fun playing the bean game and Love Letters.  

Anna just finished up the shirt, in time to take it to FSY with her tomorrow!  

Summer Time Fun

We are officially getting into a summer routine.  Eileen wanted to make some chocolate covered pretzels, so we got melting wafers and pretzels and she and Evie had fun making and eating them!  The siblings all wanted to help eat them too.... 

Tuesday was the 4th of July.  We packed up and headed out to Naked Falls.  It was hot and a great day to be out in the water.  We had a great time, but it was really crowded and there was a lot of drinking and other stuff going on, so we headed out before it got too late.  

Wednesday we went out to the coast to meet up with the Ballegeers at Cannon Beach.  We had a fun couple hours at the beach before we needed to get Eileen home for a meeting - unfortunately, we didn't pay attention to the time zone for the meeting time and she missed the meeting, but we were able to re-schedule it.  Once again it was perfect weather for the beach.  It was warm and sunny and beautiful!  

Wednesday evening, we had water polo.  Evie had her practice, then came and joined the HS girls scrimmage.  I'm so glad I signed the kids up with Newberg club this year.  I love the atmosphere there and this has been a great experience!  

Thursday I had water polo in the evening, but once again, numbers were low, so we did 5 lives since we didn't have enough to scrimmage.  But we had fun and it was good practice for me.  

Grandpa Cox arrived Friday afternoon.  I took James out to get his stuff for his trip, then we spent the afternoon getting him packed and ready to go.  Saturday morning, Grandpa, James and Eileen headed to the airport.  Eileen for some time in TX with Grandma and James and Grandpa for Texas followed by Scotland!  James is so excited and he has been talking non stop about all the things he is excited about!  

Anna, Aaron and Evelyn all had a water polo tournament this weekend.  Aaron only had a couple games, Anna and Evelyn both had more.  Evelyn had fun, but didn't get as much play time as she would have liked.  :)  But she had some great moments while she was in!  Anna was mostly in the field since Aukai discovered that she was a good field player too this last week.  She got a lot of play time and played really well!  

Saturday evening, I went to open polo - Aaron and Anna came with me - I was surprised Anna still had energy after 3 games playing for almost the whole game each time and most of that time in the field.  I was glad she came though since numbers were pretty low.  We mostly just ended up shooting and messing around, but it was fun!  It is starting to feel like way too many people are out of town right now though!!  

 Church today was wonderful!  Primary went great and our littles are slowly learning and improving at sitting and listening and participating.   Choir after went great, then we had a fun evening playing games and helping Anna with her dress.  

Home Again

Monday morning, we headed to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  We planned to spend most of the day there, and it didn't disappoint!  We watched the shows, saw animal feedings, touched animals and just enjoyed the amazing sights to see.  After, we walked around Cannery Row for a bit to check out souvenirs and get some treats.  Then we headed back to our place for the night.  Dan and Eileen crashed and finished up a show they have been watching together, I went and walked 3 miles on a nice little trail nearby!  

Tuesday morning, we checked out and began our drive back north.  We stopped in San Jose for some In N Out Burger and a visit to the Winchester Mystery House.  Eileen actually really enjoyed that one - as did I.  It was kinda crazy, part of the tour took us through a part of the house that had been damaged in the 1906 earthquake, and as part of the tour they played the sounds of an earthquake in the room and had us imagine what it must have been like.  I didn't have to imagine that much - the sounds took me straight back to childhood and living through the 1989 earth quake.  It was a visceral reaction to something that wasn't happening.  I've never really experienced that before, but it was kinda crazy.  

After, we headed to the Oakland Temple and went through the visitors center.  We couldn't get an appointment to do baptisms with Eileen, but it was still a nice visit seeing the Christus and walking around the roof top garden.  

After, we headed to Nate and Ally Guinn's house for the night.  We went to a fun little Asian place for dinner and had a great time chatting and hanging out with old friends.  The next day, we had a long drive home.  We made it in safely just a bit before David's bedtime and then I spent the next 3 hours trying to burn all the extra energy I had from 9 hours in the car with a 3 mile walk/run with Koopa and a trip to the gym with Dan.  

On Friday, we had a little birthday party for David.  Unfortunately, David had mostly forgotten to hand out the invitations, so there were only a few people who came - and most of them were older kids.  Only one was close to his age, but he had a great time.  We had a ton of water balloons and a small slip n slide and snacks and a piñata and so he was happy.  Evie made his cake for him and put Happy Birthday David and Bob on it.  

Saturday morning, I met up with my old friend Anthony from high school for breakfast.  He was travelling here for work and we got together to catch up.  It was nice to see him and chat for a while!  

Saturday, we went out to Vancouver lake with some friends and had a great time enjoying the sun and the water and friends.  We headed home around 2 so Evie could go to a friends birthday party.  Evie went to swimming for her friend Olivia's birthday party and had a great time, I had a hard time getting her to leave and come home!  

In the evening, Anna and Aaron and I went to open polo.  There was a good turn out - including some friends of Anna's from Hillsboro.  It was fun and it was nice to get to play since I had been gone for a week and a half and Thursday at THills had had only 4 of us there....  

Church today was wonderful and we had a great Fast and Testimony meeting.  Primary went well and we had a good turn out for ward choir.  In the evening, we had the sister missionaries over for dinner and we had a great lesson and dinner with them.  After that, we went to a going away party for the Bennion family.  We will miss them!