Starting School

The kids started back to school this week!  David started Monday morning, so we got him up and off to school.  Even though school starts 15 minutes earlier than last year, since there are free lunches and breakfast through the school, David is getting up about the same time as last year.    This week was mostly about finding and getting into our new routine.  Monday was a bit of a soft start since it was just David starting school.  I also had to check David out on his first day for a dentist appointment.  It felt a bit silly, but it was the only one we could get.  He's got a couple cavities and we are trying to work with him on remembering to brush more.  

So here is David starting 2nd grade.  He no longer wants to give me hugs and kisses when I drop him off and he is constantly trying to see how far I will let him go with out me...  

Tuesday, the rest of the kids started school and Aaron and Evelyn started Seminary.  It turns out that it works well for me to go swim, then take the kids to seminary, then get back and take David to school, then go work out.  Despite everything that has changed since last year things seem to have worked out well with what stayed the same.  

Aaron and Evelyn are starting their Junior and Sophmore years (respectively) and are both already busy with after school activites.   James is starting 7th grade and is not super excited about some changes in the school schedule this year, 

Tuesday morning was also when Anna left with Melissa and Seth for BYU.  She has been busy packing and trying to get everything ready.  She is amazing and I'm super excited for this new phase of life for her!  But we miss her already!

Tuesday, I also started back at my regular work schedule.  It was fun how many people noticed I was gone and welcomed me back!  One of the things I love about this job is the people!  Water Polo is back to it's usual 7:30 - 9 time slot at Aloha pool.  It's starting to feel like the regular season is beginning.  We've got a full 10 people on each team and it's an exciting beginning.  Our first game is next week and it's been exciting so far!  

Wednesday it was starting to feel like we were getting back into the regular swing of things.  Anna's road trip was going well and it's been fun to watch her Be Real posts.  James and Dan had their youth activity and Evelyn had band and Aaron and I had Water Polo.  There are other teams using Aloha before us for a couple weeks while their pools are being worked on, so it's been fun to see friends during transition.  

Thursday was regular routines now, and Friday also.  We are getting back into the fun of hanging out with friends after school.  David and Paxton are getting together as often as possible, and with the weather getting hot this week, they have ended up in the pool at Paxton's house a couple times.  I went over with them Friday to give Nicole a bit of rest and the kids had fun splashing around.  

Friday, Dan went out to get his final jumps in to get certified.  He can now go whenever he wants.  He's been having a fun time with this and it's been neat to see him get excited about doing somthing he enjoys!  

Saturday, became the day of the big(ish) move.  We switched the boys and girls bedrooms.  We worked in the morning moving the boys out and putting their stuff in the hall, then I took Aaron to water polo and we had fun.  He had some really great shots and I had some really great blocks.  While we were gone, the girls began moving their stuff into the old boys room.  I got home and Eileen was stressed and Dan was stressed out too, so I took over getting Eileen moved - we ended up getting her some organizational stuff at Walmart and got it all figured out, then we got the boys moved into their new space.  David is so excited to actually have a real bed now.  He is super excited about having his own space and it was nice to get everything cleaned up and tons of garbage thrown out!  Evelyn got moved then went swimming with friends.  Aaron and James watched Princess Bride and I went to open polo.  Numbers were low at everything this weekend because of the holiday, but we still had fun!  

Church today was great!  I woke up when I forgot to turn off my early swimming alarm and couldn't get back to sleep, so I was tired, but the fast and testimony meeting was wonderful and primary went great.  We had a great time chatting with Anna this afternoon and making way too much food, David has been having fun cutting up cardboard boxes and making a pretend computer for him to play games on.  He carefully copied my keyboard and made a mouse and everything.  It's super cute!  

Anna let David have her giant bear and he is SO excited about it.  He has been carrying it everywhere and playing with it and snuggling with is all over the house.  

And some fast Sunday silliness! 

Water Polo Begins!

Monday was nuts.  There was the usual laundry and groceries and swimming and work outs and such, then I also had to go to the school to pick up all our equipment for water polo.  The girls team is looking good - we already have 9 players and we have some strong new players coming in and some awesome old faces coming back!  We were still low on boys numbers at the beginning of the week - but it is getting better as the week progresses.  We have boys that have said they will play, but who have yet to sign up....  

Practices have been going well - I've really been enjoying getting to work with the newer players and helping them learn basic skills!  

Wednesday was out parents meeting after practice and then masters after that.  It was a lot of fun!!  The parents meeting went well

Thursday was a busy day getting things ready for our Team Dinner on Friday, and David helped me run errands - then fell asleep on the water polo balls in the back of the car!  It was so cute!  

Thursday, Dan headed up to Washington to run the Ragna Race with some old friends from high school.  It was cold and wet and crazy - but he had a great time!  

And he even remembered to take pictures for me!!  He was gone until Saturday evening - and he ran a lot and barely slept at all...

Friday was the team dinner.  It went well, we had a good turnout and lots of food was eaten and lots of fun was had!  

Saturday was crazy.  I got up in the morning to swim and got home and only had time to do a tiny bit of clean up from Friday night before getting the kids up and getting packed and ready to head down to Salem for little Evelyn's birthay party.  Then I took my Evelyn to band and then I grabbed the rest of the kids to head down.  We had a great time.  Eileen enjoyed showing off her mice to a sweet little girl at the party and James enjoyed making Evelyn jealous by having me send pics of him holding Harrison.  

After we got back from the party, I took Eileen to the Celtic and Fantasy Faire in Hillsboro, then took Aaron and Evelyn and James to the youth temple trip, then took David and met Eileen at the fair.  We had fun walking around and doing a bit of shopping and Eileen and I got dressed up!  Then we headed home just in time to grab some dinner and read some scriptures before taking Evelyn and her friends to a dance.  There was no open polo (boo) but after picking the girls back up and taking them all home, I was still very ready for bed!  

Church today was wonderful - the choir number went really well and the talks were awesome! 

 After church, we mostly took it easy and played some games.  Did a bit of napping.  Then dinner and the Seminary kick-off.  
  

Camping!

This week was our annual camping trip with our church friends!  Monday and Tuesday were mostly spent prepping for the camping trip, then Wednesday morning after swimming and working out we packied up and headed for the coast.  We also brough James' friend Caleb with us.  He had never been camping before and it made James much happier to have him (though admittedly, it made Eileen less happy)  

The weather had been threatening to rain the whole time, but then it ended up being clear the whole time.  It was a typical cool day at the Oregon Coast, but warm enough to enjoy being on the beach and for the kids to enjoy getting wet!  

One of the funnest parts about going with this group is that it means we all have friends to hang out with.  It was fun since Eileen mostly chose to hang out with adults (and around whatever fire she could find) so she hung out with me a lot!  

The other fun thing is getting to share food and games together.  There was a group of teenagers playing D&D and multiple s'mores nights and the Olsen's always had yummy food that they wanted to share.   

Eileen also had fun sharing her crochet creations with the kids.  She gave head scarfs to Kallie and Fiona and Rory and they all looked so cute in them!  She also brought out her mice and the kids had a blast playing with them.  Rory was making my little boy mouse break dance on the table!  

The weather out on the beach was especially beautiful on Friday.  The kids all had a blast playing in the sand and getting wet and building a huge sand fort.  

Anna and Evelyn stayed home with Dad since Evelyn had band camp that week and Anna had work.  We got back early-ish on Saturday morning.  Aaron and I wanted to go play water polo, then Dan and I went to a wedding reception, then we met up with Evelyn at the school for the marching band preview show.  It was a lot of fun and we had a great time with her learning how to march.  

That evening, Anna and I went to open polo and had fun since a bunch of friends showed up!  

I am in the process of gearing up for Water Polo season.  I spent a lot of time this week talking with the new head coach and asking questions and deciding how we want to proceed with stuff.  I am looking forward to the new season and I think it's going to be awesome!  

Band and Polo and Swimming and Friends

 This week was the beginning of band camp for Evelyn, so she has been gone from 10 in the morning until 9 at night every day this week except Sunday.  We've had to make sure to drop dinner off for her at 5 and get her dropped off and picked up.  She's having a blast, but it's long and tiring!!  

I took the boys swimming a couple times this week - we also brought Paxton and one of the times they ran into their friend Anna there.  They had a blast playing together and Aaron and James were great with the little kids.  

David had a sleepover at Paxton's house.  They just switched back and forth between houses periodically during the week.  But they had fun together and they love playing together even if they can't play video games.  :) 

Wednesday at masters polo we had 30 people come!  It was awesome to see so many people!  Anna and I had a blast and met a girl who used to play for Mountainside who was home for a couple weeks and stopped in to play with us.  It was fun to chat with her!  

Saturday was absolutly nuts.  I had 3 places I was supposed to be.  at once...  There was the coaches clinic all day - I only got to go to a little bit of it before I had to leave for the open water tournament.  The part I got to go to was amazing, but I wish they would give us the date more than a week in advance... 

The tournament was a lot of fun.  It was in Lake Oswego.  The group we played with was awesome and we won all our games.  I had to miss one of the games though so that I could go to Brother Steven's funeral.  The funeral was beautiful.  After, I hurried back just in time for the last game.  We won all our games by a pretty large margin and everyone had a great time!  

Finally in the evening, I went with Anna to open polo and we had a blast - it was a good group with some good polo happening!  We started out with a full game plus subs, but people filtered out as it got late and we ended up with 4 on 4 by the end.  

Church today was wonderful - the talks were amazing as was the music.  Primary went well and we had a fun time and practiced the music.  After, we played games and ate dinner and had fun together.  I caught this cute sisters snuggling during scriptures.  

FSY

Monday morning, I got up to swim early as usual, then worked out as usual, then I gathered kids up and we drove down to drop them off at FSY.  Anna, Aaron and Evelyn all went with friends and we had a fun drive down.   

The kids had an amazing week - and I got glimpses of it through BeReal which was fun.  

Wednesday, I took Eileen, James and David to George Rogers park to play in the water for a few hours with friends.  We had a great time and the weather was perfect.  We had a wonderful day!  

Thursday, Dan and I went out to Rockaway Beach for a night away to celebrate our anniversary.  22 years!  We had a fun evening watching the sunset on the beach and watching some olympics.  Then a relaxed evening eating a yummy breakfast and walking on the beach and browsing some of the shops.  

Friday, we got home and got right back into busy.  Eileen was glad to have relief from the boys again and we got back into regular routines.  

Saturday, I picked up kids from FSY bright and early, then since none of us had had any breakfast, I took them out for donuts.  Anna found a fun little bakery with donuts that was open in Salem and we stopped there for some of the best donuts I've ever had.  They were a big hit all around.  

Saturday was crazy - we had water polo, temple trip, birthday party and more water polo.  Anna was exhausted after FSY and slept most of the day.  Evelyn immediatly went to hang out with her friends for the rest of the day.  

Sunday was wonderful.  Sacrament Meeting was beautiful, and primary went well with our little Olympic themed activity.  We had the sister missionaries over for dinner and then I took the boys to the park to play for a bit before bed time.  We met up with Paxton and his dad and brother.  The boys had a fun time playing together and then planned a playdate for Monday.  

YW Camp

Monday morning, after swimming, Anna and I met up with the other YCL's at the church to head up to camp.  We mostly ate lunch on the drive and arrived in time to get uloaded and ready for all the prep work that needed to be done before Tuesday.  I had the easiest job - as the lifeguard I was in charge of the pool and keeping the kids safe there.  I spent a couple hours a day walking around the pool deck in perfect weather watching kids have fun.  The only stressfull part of the whole thing was that they were having some issues with the pool being cloudy, so I had to restrict what they could do in the pool, but they were awesome about it!   

The food was wonderful - the people were wonderful and it was a week of awesomeness and spiritual uplift and making friendships! I fired a rifle for the first time ever - didn't do great, but I hit the target.... 

The theme of the week was fruity - One in a Melon disciple of Christ - so we had fun with fruit clothing and other stuff!  

I got to enjoy off hours reading in a hammok and crocheting.  

Anna called everyone to flag and food with her trumpet which was awesome! 

Anna taught hair braiding and I offered my head as a practice head.  

And of course lots of time hanging out with friends!  

After a wonderful week - we headed home Friday evening, and I got back in time to put David to bed!  

While we were gone, Dan had fun with the kids at home.  They took a fun trip out to Tillamook and the beach.  And he and James got awesome hair cuts.

David and Eileen built a mousy fortress and had fun playing in the sand together!  

Saturday, Dan and I went out to Dan Moffat's pickle ball party.  We had a fun time playing games and chatting with friends.  After playing with us some, Dan actually knew people there this year which made him more comfortable.  It was a blast and the time flew by.  We finally left so we could get home and get David to bed.  

Evelyn went with friends to a dance out in Oregon City and I went to Open Polo - we had a good turn out this week and had lots of fun!  

Church today was a bit crazy.  James and I both gave talks today.  James did a great job!  Primary went well and was relatively busy!   After, we had a nice quiet afternoon of games and quiet time.  

Lots of Fun

Monday morning I had to get up and drop off Aaron at summer school, then I went to work out, then I went back to bed.  I was tired!!  I went to the afternoon swim and had a fun time with the afternoon group! 

Monday evening, Aaron, Evelyn and I went down to Newberg to play water polo. The masters women were invited to play with the kids again and we had a great turn out.  Lots of fun and lots of great water polo was played.  

Tuesday, I got the boys off to school, then went to the afternoon swim practice again since I'd been up late playing water polo the night before.  Then Wendesday, I worked the early morning shift, so I swam in the afternoon again. 

Wednesday night, Dan and I went to see Company.  Emily Chandler had given us tickets and we enjoyed walking around downtown and going to a play together.  It was about relationships and marrige in general.   It was interesting, I don't know that it will go down as one of my favorite musicals, but I enjoyed it and it made you think.  

Thursday, after being out late with Dan, I went to afternoon swim again.  Then in the afternoon, Dan and I took David and went to meet up with Paxton's family down in Wilsonville to see Paxton's grandpa play with his oldies cover band.  It was a TON of fun.  The boys had a blast together and we all had fun dancing and hanging out and being together!  

Friday night, Eileen, Aaron, Evelyn, Dan and I headed out for our adventure.  We stopped for dinenr on the way, then met up with Marcos and his friend Ken at the campground.  We had fun chatting for awhile before heading to bed!  

The next day, we ate breakfast, the headed out for the river.  We had an awesome day on the river - full of joking around, getting wet and enjoying nature.  We did the natural water slides - Eileen was the bravest of the group and went first - Aaron and Evelyn saw her go, then decided it was ok to go to.  Evelyn just wanted to go again and again.  Then we rode the rapids in our lifevests - once again, Evelyn wanted to just keep going.  We all had a great time - but she was grinning from ear to ear the whole trip!   We managed to rescue some people who had fallen out of their boat, and even had a crazy moment where one of the people in ours fell out and it took some effort to get everyone back in.  It was awesome!  Evelyn is already asking to go again.  

After, we got ice cream, then drove back to town.  Just in time for Open polo!  Marcos thought we were crazy, but it was a ton of fun - not a whole lot of people there, but lots of fun with the ones who were!  

Family Reunion Time!

We started out with a pretty normal week - It was a lot of fun on Wednesday at Masters - Anna came and we ended up with a big group of people!  Then Thursday, some Masters women went down to play with the Newberg girls which is always fun!  

Friday morning after mom went swimming, we packed up the van and headed south.  We decided to stop at the Wildlife Safari to see the animals and have some fun together.  After driving through the open area, we then went into the little zoo area and had fun petting goats - Evie and Anna got obsessed with taking .5 pics of the animals.  The we grabbed some ice cream and ran into Paul and Candace and family!  

Then we headed for the family reunion out at Bandon.  Finally we get the reunion close to us!  lol  It was nice to have just a short drive (4 hours ish) instead of days of driving!  

We had a wonderful weekend of family and faith and fun.  We did minute to win it games and ate yummy food and held adorable babies (James and Evie were smitten with Elizabeth and Harrison.)   We went to the beach and played Jones Ball and almost everyone got sunburned.  

Sunday was church and lots of time spent playing games and crafting, plus a baby shower for Emmalee and Bianca.  Late Sunday, mom left with Aaron to get him back for Summer School, and Dan stuck around for one more night!  

Happy 4th!

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday this week were mostly getting back into routines.  Summer school for David and swimming and water polo and work.   

Thursday was the 4th of July.  And we had a busy day planned.  I started off with a morning swim, then we took the kids who wanted to go and went on a hike.  Evelyn brought her friend Ashley and we went to hike up to Elowah falls.  It was a beautiful hike and not too hard.  We had a great time! 

After, on our way back (ish) we stopped for some fancy ice cream!  We wanted to get the hike in early enough that it wasn't too hot, and it was perfect, but an ice cream after, really hit the spot!  

We met up with some friends at a park for some celebrating.  We did a pot luck lunch with a bunch of David's school friends and their families.  We had fun with water balloons and sidewalk chalk and of course firecrackers.  The kids had a fun time together and so did the adults!  

In the evening, we went down to Tigard for a drone light show.  We hoped it would be a bit less noisy and a more fun event for Eileen.  It ended up not being all that exciting - starting late, we couldn't hear the music and rather short - but in addition, all the surrounding neighborhoods were doing fireworks, so it was still really noisy and not any better for Eileen.  It was a fun new experience though!  

Friday night, Dan and I took Anna out for Korean BBQ.  We had a fun dinner together then went walking in search of Boba.  It was a fun evening out together! 

Saturday was the usual crazy - swimming, water polo, friends, family and food.  We had Hector over for scripture study time with the missionaries, and then had some yummy ice cream. 

Sunday was church - wonderful and busy - and then game time together after.  

Rocky Mountain High

It has been a crazy and wonderful week!  Monday was a day for laundry and shopping and such, then after I went swimming on Tuesday morning, we packed up the van and headed out to Idaho.  The trip to Grandma and Grandpa Jones' house was relatively quick and easy.  We got in just in time for dinner, then headed out to the nearby school to play and run around.  The kids had fun playing and Eileen had a great time with Grandpa shooting her bow.  Grandpa made a makeshift target for her and they had a grand time together.  Grandpa had done some bow hunting when he was younger and loved talking with her!  We also did a little birthday celebrationw for David and Anna.

The next morning, we got on the road early (early for the kids) and headed for Colorado.  We stopped at Little America for ice cream and fun taking pictures, then another quick stop in Laramie to pick up some things for a friend.  

Then dinner at Firehouse Subs and into Denver.  It was after 10 by that time, so we all headed to bed.  

Thursday we were waiting for Grandma and Sandi to get in, so once Grandma got in, and we still had hours waiting for Sandi, we went to the Museum of Nature and Science.  It was cheaper to get a membership than to pay for the family, so we are members again.  :)  We had fun there for a few hours and then headed back to the house to meet up with Sandi and get dinner.  

Friday morning, we headed up to the cabin to help get things ready for the wedding.  We did some decorating and hiking up to the mine and hung out until we could check in at the airbnb.   Then in the evening, some of us went to where the reception was happening to get it set up.  Anna, Sandi and I ended up staying late with Chris (Julia's husband) and his friend Will to clean the kitchn which was kinda gross.  But we did hard work and got it looking SO much better!  

Saturday morning, we went to rehearse with the guitarist and finish set up for the wedding, then the wedding!  Sandi and I were singing while everyone walked down the aisle, and it went well.  The wedding was beautiful!  After, we headed over to the reception and had fun eating and dancing.  

In the evening, some of us went over to the cabin to sing around the campfire.  It was a fun group with the bridesmaids (who are all musical) and some of the groomsmen and a few other friends and family members.  It was a lot of fun and we got a great view of the stars!  

Sunday was a bit different.  With some of the kids struggling with lack of sleep/altitude sickness, we decided to watch our home ward at the airbnb.  So we watched Sacrament meeting in the afternoon.  In the morning, mom's cousin Jill took the kids to teach them how to pan for gold.  The kids had fun and even found a few specks.  

Jill also took the boys fishing and they had a great time, but only James caught anything.  

Then after church, we met up with Julia and Chris and some other family at South Park City.  The weather for the whole weekend was perfect and it was so much fun to be with family!  It was really nice to see Julia's mom again and to see Thomas's daughter acting as Flower Girl.  She was so cute and sweet!