And She's Gone....

It's been a crazy busy week.  The first half of the week was mostly crazy busy preparations for the rest of the week.  Wednesday, we had our Team Dinner before the first game of the season.  We had a blast - David had half the team wrapped around his finger and following him around the house.   

Thursday morning we got Eileen loaded up into the car and she and Dan headed out to Idaho.  They stayed the night in Meridian and then headed on to Rexburg the next day.  

They got her unpacked and her room set up.  She got to meet roommates and she was excited that one of them also liked crocheting and had an emotional support cat.  She left Thursday morning very nervous and anxious about everything.  By Friday, she was feeling like she had found her people and was happy and more excited again.  

They also met up with Bianca and Huistean who will also be in the area.  And she got to look at the Ceramics classrooms.  

Meanwhile, back in Oregon, the water polo team had it's first game of the season.  We played Tigard and mostly it went pretty well - we lost by 2 points, but there were times in the game where we were up also, so we could have won it, and overall they played pretty well for a first game.  Both teams were playing Co-ed so that worked well too since we were down a couple players.  There were a couple sketchy moments with one of the Tigard kids acting like a jerk, but mostly the kids did well.  And I think they now have a better understanding of how things work.  

Friday was a bit sparse on attendance for water polo, so we mostly had a fun workout.  

Saturday was busy,  On Friday, the band had sent out an email that they still needed a driver, and since Parkrose had been cancelled, I emailed and said I was available if they still needed a driver.  They did.  So I met up at the school and walked around with High School band kids for 6 hours while they asked for donations and played songs.  Evelyn joined me after she got back from the youth temple trip that Anna and Aaron and Evelyn went to in the morning.  It was a nice day, and fun to be out walking around.  

Then we had the sister missionaries over for dinner Saturday night, then in the evening, after putting James and David to bed, I took Anna and Aaron to Open Polo.  It was a good turnout and we had fun!  

Sunday was wonderful!  I got to sub in primary for a teacher who was out sick.  Dan went to his parent's ward (and having forgot to pack church clothes, he found his Dad's don't fit him and wore this) before heading back home.  

Just the boys having some fun out in the back yard!  

It's so good to have Dan home. We spent the evening playing some games before calling it a night.  

We have all had times where we missed Eileen this week, though I think I've done well - I have only cried twice.  :) 

Back to School Already?

I can't believe summer is already over.  Monday morning, Evelyn, then David and finally James headed off to their first day of school.  Evelyn starting as a freshman at Mountainside, David back at Cooper Mountain for 1st grade and James braving the middle school as a 6th grader.  Their first days went well and they came home excited!  

In the evening, after dinner, we did back to school blessings for the kids.  It was wonderful!  David was so excited and wanted to go first, so he brought the chair over and claimed it until we were ready to begin. 

On Tuesday, Anna and Aaron started school and Seminary started too.  Anna just had band and Aaron was starting his sophmore year.  Anna won't start her early college classes until later in September.  

Water polo is going well, we officially have both a girls team and a boys team, and we even have a sub on both teams....  They are doing so well though and learning and growing!  

On Thursday, I took Anna and Eileen out to Bonneville Dam.  Eileen has been wanting to go there all summer, but I thought she might enjoy it more if we didn't have all the younger siblings there too, so we went after school started.  It was a chilly, rainy day, but we had a great time, we got to see lots of fishies - we even got to watch salmon going up the fish ladders - heading back up river to their spawning grounds.  After, we stopped for lunch on the way home.   

David and James used their gift cards from Aunt Sandi to get stuffies, They have begun arriving and David was very happy and wanted a picture with his new stuffies.  

David loved his first week of school and is loving his teacher and his class.  He is making new friends and having fun with old ones.  The rest of the kids seem to be settling in well also.  

On Friday with the water polo team, we did an intersquad scrimmage.  I divided the kids into teams and we had parents running the clock and Chris and I acted as refs and the kids played and played well!  It was a fun day and they did amazingly well.  Girls who last year couldn't even have done a single quarter played 3 quarters and kept up - it was awesome!   We ran out of time and couldn't finish the last quarter, but a good time was had by all and it helped the kids get the idea of what an actual game will be like.  

Saturday was crazy busy, but wonderful!  We had friends taking out their endowments in the morning, so Dan and I went to the temple in the morning, then I took Eileen out shopping to spend her gift card from Aunt Sandi (mostly on yarn and wire for wire wrapping) and we had a nice afternoon together.  Then we game home and we went to a baptism for one of David's friends in the ward.  It was wonderful!  After, we went to dinner with some friends, then came back so I could grab kids and head to open polo.  I told the team about it, and a whole bunch of them showed up!  It was awesome, we had fun together and I think they had fun getting to play and getting to meet some of the kids from other schools.  

Church today was wonderful - we were out sunbeam teachers, so I went in to help out there, and then in the afternoon, choir went so well.  I love directing the ward choir and I love music!!!  In the evening, Sandi and James came over to play games for a bit, we had a fun time playing Wingspan one last time with Eileen before she leaves for college.  

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!