I have been working hard getting more food storage accumulated, put in buckets, etc. It feels good to get it done. This week I'm packing for our yearly camping trip to Green Canyon Hot springs with a bunch of homeschool families. The kids will take swimming lessons there, two lessons a day Tues-Saturday. After swimming, all the kids play capture-the-flag until evening when we sit by the campfire & share stories & songs. It will be fun! Recently I spoke in Stake Conference. It was a little intimidating because it was just me and two general authorities (Elder Neuenschwander, and Elder Marchenko), their wives, a member of the temple presidency, and the Stake presidency. It was a great experience for me to plan the talk, I spoke on “why the temple is important to me”
Aliysa just finished seminary, and finished the Physical Science course that her and her friends did together this year. (You can see some of their experiments on their blog - link to the left) They are excited to continue with high school biology, although Aliysa doesn't want to dissect any critters. She also finished the babysitting job that she had this year. She is enjoying having a break, but wants to find a way to continue earning money. She went to a fun dance the other night with two of her friends at a dance studio that one of our friends owns. I'll post pictures of her later, her friends put makeup on her (despite her protests), and she looked quite grown up. She just got a cute hair cut, we cut about 8 inches off her hair, and then she got bangs & layers put in later.
Her cat just had kittens, so she'll be finding homes for them soon. Aliysa and Jace have been going with our friends, the Partridges, to do baptisms for the dead every Thursday at the Idaho Falls temple. I think it is great that they can go so often.
Jace was just called to be the Deacon Quorum secretary. When he was set apart, he was told that it will be his responsibility to help activate any boys that are not coming, and to do a good job keeping records of their quorum. He has a job working for our next-door neighbor (a widow), doing her yard work this summer. Jace has been observing many birds nests in our yard, and watched a robin hatch out of an egg the other day. He rescued an egg that he found lying on the ground, found a nest to put it in, and it did hatch & is being raised with the other starlings. (Bob wasn't so sure that rescuing a starling was worth it, but around here we love all the birds.)
A couple of weeks ago, Jace went on a scout campout to Craters of the Moon. There are tons of caves, and an 800-foot long lava tube. They hiked through it, and saw lots of bat guano (poo) and pigeons. Jace found a tiny hole in a rock, and squeezed inside it. It was a cave about 15 feet long, 3 feet high, and maybe 4 feet wide. His nickname now is “groundhog” because he went into every cave and tiny hole that he found.
Courtney & her cousins making fruit kabobs for their "summer club."Courtney is excited because she just finished her fifth grade math program. (Only one more grade to finish until she can have her ears pierced!) Last month, we were making french fries, and Spencer tried to pour the hot oil into a plastic container. It melted the plastic instantly, and it spilled across the counter and down Courtney's leg. It was a very bad burn. Thankfully it is much better now. Courtney loves to babysit for me whenever Jace and Aliysa are gone, and she does a great job. Abby completely adores Courtney. Each morning she looks for Courtney and wants to be held by her and play with her all day. If Courtney goes out of the room, she usually bursts into tears, and will not be comforted until Courtney comes back & holds her. Courtney and Aliysa will be starting soccer soon, Courtney is excited to be on her first sports team!
Spencer is enjoying summer. He flies through his school & chores each day so he can get out and play. We've been playing badminton lately with the family, and he really likes it (Bob is taking a methods of teaching badminton & soccer class this semester, he was told that he is an excellent badmitton teacher, and a real natural at playing badminton. Who would have known?)Spencer is dying to be able to play sports, but I make my children wait until they are 10 before I will let them play organized sports, so he'll just have to wait & enjoy badminton with the family for now. :) I am still the Cubmaster in our ward, so Spencer and I have fun doing scouting together, along with Jace who is our den chief.
Mallory is as busy as ever. She has developed quite a mind of her own lately, and being so determined makes her work hard to keep up with her older siblings in school. She has decided to learn cursive, because the others were practicing it. She is careful to do all of her schoolwork each day, and reminds me if we ever have skipped anything. She makes herself practice piano almost every day.
Zachary is just in his own little world a lot of the time. He likes bike riding and loves playing sports. He is better at badminton than I am. He is generally well-behaved unless Andrew gives him an idea of some mischief to get into, then Zach laughs and joins Andrew. Zach and Andrew play outside almost all day, they have been helping to take care of the little chicks we are raising. Andrew is always trying to carry the chicks around, which is a funny sight to see. They have also enjoyed catching a few little frogs.
Abby is just at the cutest age! She is definitely loved in this family. She has learned to walk, and she chatters on in baby language that is so cute. She loves to be outside, and has loved seeing the baby chicks and kittens. Her favorite animals are our dogs, she observes them in quiet awe. She loves shoes, and is always trying to put on any shoes she finds in the house. The other day I was telling all the kids to get ready & get in the car when we were going somewhere. Abby crawled in the mud room, and stayed busy pulling the kids shoes off of their shelves, and trying them on. She finally settled on wearing Courtney's pink cowgirl boots. She squealed in delight and chattered happily until we all came and told her "good job!"
Our ward is moving to a newly finished building next month. There are four wards sharing our current building right now, so they are letting us go use the new building until they re-do all the stake boundaries. We have to drive through Rigby to get to the new building, and we probably pass about 7 other ward buildings on the way to church. All our kids are already dreading any changes in the stake, they are worried that we won't be in a ward with many of their good friends. I keep trying to tell them that they will still see their old friends and will be able to meet new people, but I think we'll all be a little sad when it happens.
Life is busy & wonderful!
A whitefish
Measured like a true fisherman. (Doesn't 14 1/4 round up to 15?)
We love you Jace!
