When I left off last week, we were awaiting the return of Scott and Tanner from "Camp Helaman"--a 50 mile canoe trip for all the teachers and priests in our stake. We found out they were going to be later than we thought, so we took the younger two kids out to eat at Red Robin while we waited. They didn't get home until close to 9:00. They were sunburned and dirty (and minus one Camel back backpack--Tanner lost his) but they had a great time, apparently. I made them pose for some pictures before they showered:
I should have taken "before" pictures. They don't look all that dark here, but trust me--they are a lot darker than they were when they left!
In this one, you can see the places the life jackets covered and the places they didn't!
And here you can see the tan lines on their legs! I should mention that they got this bright red in spite of going through an entire brand new bottle of sunscreen apiece. They have much stronger muscles in their upper arms from all the rowing and they said the devotionals they had every evening were very inspiring. On Sunday a lot of the boys (including both Scott and Tanner) shared their thoughts in testimony meeting and it was pretty amazing all the different analogies they were able to make between their experiences on this trip and life / the gospel. So I think it was definitely worth the work and expense getting them ready.
The guys got unpacked that night and we put several things on the back deck to dry. They took longer to dry than we anticipated, because within an hour a big thunderstorm blew in. Frank and I turned out our bedrooms lights, pulled up the blinds, lay down in our bed and watched the show. (There was a lot of lightning.) I actually enjoyed it, but Snickers didn't--he spent the night in our room. Seth slept through the whole thing and the older boys were too tired to stay awake. I was surprised to find out the next day that a lot of damage was done and that a lot of people were without power. It didn't seem that bad to me where we are. We are lucky--we never lose power!
Saturday was busy with a lot of the usual things. Scott went in to work to get his paycheck and check his schedule and got talked into working for three hours that evening. Before that, he went to a graduation party for a friend for about an hour. I went on a couple of YW visits that morning with the other YW counselor. After I got back, I spent a lot of time finishing up the preparations for my lesson. Jared finished packing for scout camp. That evening I watched Regarding Henry on Netflix (good movie) while everyone else (except Seth; he was asleep) watched the second Ghost Rider movie; no one liked it at all, though.
Sunday was a nice day of rest. I think my lesson went pretty well. We had another big storm that night although not as big as the first one. It's been very hot and humid ever since, as you've probably been hearing. I took this picture about an hour ago:
That's actually not a very high temperature compared to some of the others we've seen the last few days. It feels like August already. I hope it's not going to be like this all the way through July and August, although I guess if it is, we kind of deserve it after the mild winter we had! And at least we are getting some rain and aren't dealing with wild fires.
Jared left early Monday morning for Scout Camp. We didn't sleep well because of the storm so Frank went into work a little later than he had originally planned and took Jared to the church first so that I could get a little more sleep (much appreciated!) In addition to the usual Monday chores (laundry, vacuuming, and grocery shopping) I ran a lot of errands--went to the bank and to the library and also to JoAnn's, where I finally remembered to get the supplies I need to make the seats for Trek. I also got a rotary cutter, self-healing mat, and quilter's ruler--early birthday presents that will help a lot with making Jared's t-shirt quilt. I've been wanting them for a long time anyway. I'm sure they will be useful for a lot of projects. I got a book with quilting projects from the library and there were so many beautiful quilts in there--I am really wanting to try another quilt, once Jared's is done. Late Monday evening I did some online research looking for shirts for the boys to wear on Trek. I managed to find some pioneer-type shirts for a really good price, but the company required a $100 minimum order. So I sent out an email to some of the other moms with boys in the ward and managed to round up enough people who needed shirts for their boys to place an order, which I did Tuesday night.
On Monday evening Scott went up to scout camp--they needed another "adult" helper for that night and the next day and since Scott didn't have to work he volunteered to go. He ended up staying longer than he'd planned because the dad who was replacing him Tuesday evening had an emergency come up but Scott did come home late Tuesday night. I think he had a great time and would have been happy to stay another day! He got to go kayaking again, for one thing. Meanwhile, Tanner was invited to spend the night with his friend Ryan to help celebrate Ryan's birthday, so we only had Seth home with us Monday night.
On Tuesday I got the Wal-Mart shopping done (I usually go on Wednesday but wanted to avoid going on the holiday) in addition to the other Tuesday chores I normally have to do. I have given myself a "de-cluttering" project for every week for the rest of the summer so I worked on that too. Frank was gone that evening for a few hours--he was helping with cooking. A family in our stake does a big 4th of July breakfast and program every year and they have the missionaries help with the set up the day before, then feed them all dinner. He was helping with the dinner for that. Then he got up really early on Wednesday to go help again--this time cooking breakfast!
I gave up going to the breakfast a few years ago because it isn't much fun to chase Seth around while Frank cooks (the older boys always want to hang out with their friends). I thought this year I might give it a go since Seth is getting older, but when Frank got up to leave super early I didn't go back to sleep for over an hour and by the time I woke up again it was only 15 minutes before the breakfast started. None of the other boys was up yet anyway--Seth slept until nearly 9:00--so I would have had to wake him up to go, which I didn't want to do. We had a pretty relaxing day (Frank took a nap after he got home from cooking) and didn't do much except have a nice dinner and go see fireworks. Unfortunately, the fireworks turned out to be a frustrating experience--we got there an hour and a half early to secure a good viewing spot, and then right when the fireworks started a family walked up right in front of us and totally blocked our view. Then they acted like we were super rude for asking them to please move, and never did move so we missed a lot of the show. Maybe we will pick a different place to go next time. (Or even better--maybe we will be in North Carolina or in Utah for the 4th next year!)
I slept terrible on Wednesday night so I admit I wasn't in the best of spirits Thursday morning. I pulled myself out of the dumps eventually, though! Scott and Tanner went that morning to help put some wheels on some of the handcarts for the Trek. A local newspaper agreed to do a "before and after" story about the Trek, so a reporter was there to take pictures and to interview some of the kids. While they were gone I exercised, vacuumed the whole house, and showered. Frank got home from work early, which was nice. He made me a blueberry cheesecake in lieu of traditional cake (my request) as well as a strawberry cheesecake for his boss--he had just found out that his boss's birthday is the day after mine! I received several cards for my birthday and my gift from my family is an iPod. I was suprised about that. Frank found one for me on eBay for cheap. It's used, but it is the newest version. The reason it is so cheap is the screen was cracked. He ordered a new screen but had difficulty installing it and broke it too so I have to wait until he can get another screen before I can start to figure out how it works. Everybody sang to me and I opened the box from Mom & Dad:
I'm excited to start reading my new book, but I have to finish the one for book club first. Last night I signed up to be a family search indexer, which I've been wanting to do for a long time. I've already tried it out and I think it's going to be addicting! But at least it will be a productive way to spend my time. Really late last night, Jared called to wish me a happy birthday. We were suprised to get a call at 11:00 pm!
Today I've been busy updating the budget--my usual Friday activity. Frank and I are going to go set up a bank account for his business in a few minutes. Scott just left for work. There's not much to say about today!
In between everything else I've been reading the book for book club. It's a young adult book called High Wizardry. It reminds me of a lot of other books I've read including Harry Potter, A Wrinkle in Time, Percy Jackson, and the Chronicles of Narnia. It has it's own unique twist, though, so I'm enjoying it. Definitely not heavy duty reading and it doesn't have the pull of some of those other books but still, it's pretty good. I'm interested to see how it turns out.
We hope everyone enjoyed their 4th of July celebrations! We are looking forward to seeing Jared again tomorrow and hearing all about his adventures.
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