I am definitely going to make up for the lack of pictures in last week's post with this post. When I left off last time Tanner & Jared had just left for Youth Conference. They were only gone for two days...Frank picked them all up on Friday evening (the 1st). They seemed to have had a good time, although they haven't shared a lot of details.
Saturday the 2nd was really busy. I had an auxiliary training meeting in the morning...one of the counselors in the general YW presidency spoke at that. Her remarks were geared more towards YW, but it could all be applied to RS too and it was very good. Jared came with me because he was singing. Tanner was supposed to come, but he didn't have a voice so he stayed home. Also that day I had my hair done, visited Wanda, printed up VT slips (finally got all the changes figured out on Friday evening), and the Elders came to dinner.
On Sunday I had Ward Council and helped with Wanda during church which always keeps me really busy. After church I met with the bishop for my monthly PPI--usually held on the first Tuesday of the month but he was going to be out of town so we had it on Sunday instead.
The week of the 4th to the 8th was pretty busy because we had all the normal things to do, plus getting ready for our camping trip, plus a few other things. The boys' friend Nathan stayed with us until Monday--I took him over to another ward member's house that morning so that they could take him to the airport. Jared had an orthodontist appointment that day and Tanner was getting his Eagle application finished up and putting his binder together.
I spent quite a bit of time helping a sister in our ward who was moving last week. Sadly, she and her husband are separating so she was moving into a place of her own. On Monday evening I took Tanner and Jared over to her old place to help her move her heavier items of furniture over to her new place. Another ward member who has moving vans was there, plus the Elders and another family in the ward. Between all of us, we got all of her stuff loaded, transported, and unloaded in a little over an hour (she wasn't taking a lot). She was happy about that! We stayed a little later than the others so that Tanner and Jared could put her bed together--everyone was really impressed that they knew how to do that!
The next day I took her lunch and visited a little and the day after that I took Tanner and Jared back over so they could help her hang a heavy mirror. She seems relieved to be in her own place. It's been a really hard year for her and the last couple of months have been particularly trying and she wasn't living in the best of circumstances. I am glad to see her settled in her own place and it is quite nice too even though it's a small condo.
On Tuesday Tanner had to make some changes in some of his classes at BYU. Then that evening we met with the guy in our district who approves the Eagle applications and sets up the Board of Review for Eagles. There were no problems with Tanner's application or his binder, but we ran into difficulty when we tried to schedule his Board of Review. Turns out they only hold them once a month, the fourth Wednesday of every month. For August, that happens to be the day after he leaves for BYU. Then of course he won't be around in September, October, or November either. He comes home in December but they are holding the Boards of Review a week early that month because of Christmas. Unfortunately, that puts it right in the middle of BYU finals, so Tanner won't be back in time for that. Then by January he'll be gone again! The irritating thing about it is that this guy just looked at us like "too bad" and didn't offer any solutions. I thought he was really quite rude about the whole thing and acted like it was all our fault. I seriously began to wonder if Tanner just wasn't going to get his Eagle because this guy wouldn't schedule a Board of Review for him. I finally had to ask him if he would please hold a Board of Review just for Tanner on an alternate date when he would be in town, which he eventually agreed to do (but not until December). But overall, we just left there with a bad feeling. (I'll leave out the details on a few other things he said that I thought were pretty rude.) Tanner is very mild mannered and doesn't get angry easily at all, but when we got in the car he said "That guy was being such a big jerk! If that's what being an Eagle Scout makes you become, then I don't want to be one." So it wasn't just me. I certainly don't think he was kind, courteous, reverent, or a lot of other qualities in the scout oath. But, as long as Tanner gets his Eagle rank I will forget about it. He has worked very hard, so he certainly deserves it. We did get the Eagle application faxed in to the council and it was returned approved, so all he has left now is the Board of Review.
The rest of the week I was trying to keep up with RS stuff (we had a meeting via email, plus I had lots of phone calls to make and emails to send) and get packed for our camping trip. On Thursday afternoon I visited one of the sisters in the ward for a few hours...she's been going through a lot and I hadn't had a chance to talk to her in a long time. We wanted to leave for our trip by 1:00 on Friday but we had so much to do that we didn't leave until closer to 3:00. One of the things I had to do was take Snickers out to the ladies who were watching him for us. Here's a funny picture Frank got of Snickers earlier in the week:
He doesn't often nap like that, but it's funny when he does.
Anyway, we finally got on the road Friday afternoon. I had to take a few pictures of the boys, not just to show them, but so you can also see how full the back of the Expedition was:
We took the back seat out completely so we'd have more room for all our gear. You have to take so much stuff when you go camping! Not just clothes and hygiene items, but food, shelter, and all that cooking equipment. Plus fuel and flashlights. And so on.
Frank was glad to be on the road too, and he wore his horrible Hawaiian shirt so he looked like a tourist:
The trip went pretty smoothly. We had decided to camp at a campground near Rehoboth Beach, in Delaware. It's supposed to be a 3 hour drive but it took closer to 4 hours because a lot of people head to the beach on weekends--go figure!
Here we are in line to pay the toll to get on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge...see, there are a lot of people going the same way we are:
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge is LONG! But it's pretty cool. Apparently some people get really freaked out on it, but we all liked it:
After the bridge, we drove through the Delaware countryside and went through several cute little towns, but I didn't get any pictures of that unfortunately. We got to the campground in time to get everything set up before dark. Dan and Erin got there an hour or two after we did but were also able to get their tent and everything set up. Then we went and got some dinner--we hadn't planned to cook that night, thinking we'd want dinner on the way. But we ended up eating lunch so late that none of us were hungry until after we got the camp set up. After eating, we had time to come back to the campground, build a fire, and make s'mores before everyone was ready for bed.
Tanner tried sleeping in a hammock but gave up sometime around 4:00 am and came in the tent. I didn't sleep all that well...I kept going in and out for hours, and finally around 2:45 gave up and made a trip to the restroom. I slept better after that, until Tanner came in. Then I was awake again for a while. It was actually a little on the cold side--we've been having the weirdest August weather ever! (I am NOT complaining about the lack of miserable heat and humidity, though...no, not me!)
In the morning, Seth was the first boy awake, as usual:
Erin and Dan made us a fabulous biscuits and gravy breakfast (pictures of the campsite and boys mixed in):
(Seth in the hammock that Tanner tried to sleep in)
(Tanner being helpful)
(Our tent)
(All our chairs, plus Erin & Dan's tent--the grey one)
This amazing contraption is a camp oven. We saw it at Wal-Mart last week and Frank HAD to try it out. Just stick it on the propane stove and it gets really hot inside. We made rolls in it, and they turned out great.
(Jared's in the hammock now)
Sausage gravy--yum!
Tanner caught a little frog.
Dutch oven biscuits!
The rolls we made in the camp oven.
My breakfast--it was delicious! Dan made the scrambled eggs in the dutch oven too.
Erin has her foot in a plate of water because while making the biscuits, she backed into the lid of the dutch oven, which had been left on the ground behind her, and when her flip flop bumped into the lid, the shoe came off and she stepped on the rim of the hot lid and burned her foot! It was pretty painful but she was a trooper about it and limped around all day without complaining.
After breakfast was over and cleaned up, we all got in our swimsuits, piled in the car, and headed to the beach! No need to shower first since we were just going to be getting all covered with salt and sand anyway. Dan took this picture of Seth in the car:
And here is a not very good picture of a sign for a sushi place that we took just for Anna's benefit:
(Sock it to me?!)
The drive to the beach was only a few miles but took quite a while because the traffic was ridiculous. Just because we were going to the beach, does that mean everyone had to? Apparently, yes! But we finally got there and actually found a really good parking place, miraculously. We found a good spot on the beach to set up our gear. Then we spent the whole day swimming, playing in the sand, and enjoying ourselves. It was a perfect day, too. Not too hot, not too cold, a slight breeze, sunny, beautiful!!
I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves. The water felt cold at first but it wasn't hard to get used to it. Oh, and I really was there...I took most of the pictures and no one thought to take a picture of me all day so I have no proof, but I really was there!:
(Did I mention this was Seth's first trip to the beach EVER?)
(Jared is teaching Seth to keep his eyes on the waves coming in!)
Seth got totally doused by a big, unexpected wave and Jared had to rescue him:
Tanner took these pictures:
Back to me photographing:
Jared took this one:
Erin and Dan's sandy toes!:
My sandy toes (see, I was there!):
There was a fun little boardwalk nearby and I got lunch at this cute little English fish & chip place:
Doesn't it look yummy? It was!:
This bird liked the smell of my fish:
Cool restaurant / hotel on the boardwalk:
Seth:
We got some saltwater taffy and Seth got this gigantic lollipop:
We had a great day! After we got back to the campground, I took Seth to the playground for a while and a few of the boys got free ice cream cones (We all had ice cream on the boardwalk earlier, so most of us thought we should probably pass on ice cream twice in one day--plus it would have been hard for me to beat the pumpkin pecan ice cream I had. It was SOOO good!) Everyone took showers and for dinner we made foil dinners (hamburgers, potatoes, carrots, and onions) and ate the rolls we made that morning. We all got to bed pretty late again.
On Sunday morning we had planned to pack everything up and then attend a ward in Delaware on our way home. (Erin and Dan's ward doesn't meet until 1:00, so they were planning to get home in time to attend their own ward.) I think Erin & Dan were successful in carrying out their plan, but we weren't. It took us a lot longer to get packed up than we anticipated and we soon realized we weren't going to make the 10:00 sacrament meeting we had planned to attend. Unfortunately, we didn't make it home to attend the last ward in Frederick either (which meets at 1:00) so we ended up missing church entirely, which was a bummer.
Here's the view going back over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge:
When we got home, we got everything unpacked and put away. Then we went to pick up Snickers. We were all exhausted after that and Frank and I even took a short nap. (I did sleep a lot better the second night in the tent, but I was still tired.) That evening I took Jared to a song practice for a song he'll be singing in church this Sunday.
This week hasn't been nearly as interesting. I mean, no trips to the beach or anything. We did still keep busy, though. Tanner and I had eye appointments on Monday. We both have new prescriptions for contact lenses and Tanner is getting new glasses. (His current ones are two years old and somewhat worse for wear.) I'm not bothering to change mine since I don't wear them enough for it to be worth the expense (especially since the change is mostly in my close up vision, and I didn't get bifocals; I just take them off if I need to see something close up). Although I do wear these glasses a LOT more than I have worn any of my others because I actually like them.
On Tuesday we all had dentist appointments and everyone made it through that with flying colors...no cavities! Oh, and I discovered that the lady who was cleaning my teeth is a less active member of our ward. She heard Jared talking about Scott being on his mission, and she said "I thought you looked familiar. I'm LDS too, but I don't go to church very often." I asked her what ward she was in and was shocked when she said she was in Walkersville Ward. I said "Wait! What's your name?" Then when she told me, I recognized her name and realized that I did know her...I've seen her a few times at church and spoken with her briefly. She's worked for our dentist for 7 years and I've seen her there lots, but I never put together that she was the same person I saw at church. Crazy! But it was good because she told me she's anxious about her son getting baptized next year...he hasn't been to church enough to feel comfortable going to class. But she really wants him to get baptized. So I told her we'd have to get her son and Seth together for play dates (they are the same age) and with some of the other kids in the class too, and then when he comes to church he will feel more comfortable. Plus his birthday is in October so he can go to some of the other kids' baptisms as well. She liked that idea, so hopefully we can work something out.
It rained a lot on Tuesday but the rest of the week has been sunny and mostly beautiful. We are still enjoying cooler than normal temperatures. It is so nice to go outside in the mornings and it isn't all muggy & hot! It's refreshingly cool instead. And the days are totally pleasant. Monday, in particular, was just about as perfect as a day can be. It is usually so miserable around here in August! I am really grateful!
On Wednesday Frank took Jared to get his learner's permit. They got over there and found out he had to have a certificate of attendance from the high school. I have no idea why that wasn't on the list of documents needed on their website--I had even gone to the trouble to look it up so they'd have everything they needed! I found it later in a different part of the website...whatever! Anyway, they went over to the school to get the needed certificate and then went back...so Jared did get his permit that day. That evening when they went to YM, I let Jared drive around the church parking lot a little bit. Tanner and Jared both got new temple recommends that night too because their old ones just expired.
Another family in our ward is moving this week...this is the family I mentioned earlier who are moving to Alaska. Frank has helped them cook at a lot of events, so they are good friends. We've been over there several times this week as they are packing, painting, cleaning, etc. We went over Monday evening after family night because they had a bunch of stuff they wanted to give Frank. He got some cool cooking gadgets like a rice cooker, a big roasting pan, and a chocolate fountain. I have no idea where we are going to put all that stuff, but Frank is thrilled to have it. I went back over on Wednesday to help with some packing and they gave me a bunch of plastic storage bins. Then Thursday I was over again, to help clean out some kitchen cupboards. They are leaving on Monday. We are really going to miss them!
On Thursday I took Seth to the park and we met our carpool family over there. The kids played at the park for about an hour and then they had to go home (one of the kids needed to use the bathroom) and they invited Seth to go play with them at their house. He ended up staying there a lot of the day and he had a great time.
Seth went to Wal-Mart with me this week and while we were there he saw a Batman toy that he really wanted. I told him he could buy it if he had enough money so when we got home we counted his money and he had enough (mostly thanks to the birthday money he got from Grandma & Grandpa) so I went back later (after taking the boys to the church) to get it for him. It's a Gotham City jail playset and it's cool because it comes with an action figure that he didn't have, plus it goes along with his Batcave and all the other action figures that he already has, so he can play with all of them together. He's been having a lot of fun with that the last few days.
Frank has had a busy week because he did maintenance for all his clients, in addition to his regular job and a few other things that clients needed. Besides all the other things I mentioned, I had a whole lot of laundry to catch up on (I'm still getting sand out of the lint collector on the dryer). Also--maybe it's back lash from the camping trip, where I just had to resign myself to living in disorganization and dirt--but I've been randomly cleaning and organizing little areas of my house this week. Not as much as I'd like to, but a few areas look a lot better than they did before. That always makes me happy! I am starting to feel a real "cleaning, organizing, fixing" bug coming on. I hope I really get enough energy to actually accomplish something! I am always busy, of course, but the last year has been particularly so because besides all the RS stuff, there have just been a lot of extra big things going on...mostly Tanner's...like applying for college, Eagle scout project and paperwork, getting ready for the Hill Cumorah Pageant, and getting ready for college. I mean, Tanner has had to do a lot of the work himself but he needed a lot of help with most of those things too. So I feel like I have been constantly putting the things I'd like to do around the house on the back burner. I suppose something else big will probably come along, but right now I see my huge list of extra stuff dwindling and after I get back from Utah, maybe just MAYBE I will actually have the time and energy to get a few things done. We'll see!!
That brings you up to date on all of our doings!
