Summer Vacation

I know it has been a long time since I wrote, things get busy. We are enjoying our first week of summer vacation. The kids are happy to be out of school. Andrew and Caleb are figuring out how to “jam” on the piano and trombone together. Andrew is teaching Caleb some little patterns to do on the piano and they talk about what key they are going to play in, it is fun to listen to them. Spencer has been busy working on making things with the erector set this week. He made a working elevator (with a little motor) and a truck. Spencer also has the goal to read all the “Hank the Cowdog” books this summer, there are 71 of them. He has read about 8 so far. I am glad that the library is close by so we can keep him stocked.

Ruth is getting ready for girls camp. She and her friend Brianna have gotten together a few times to get their things ready for the back packing 4th year hike. They will hike a total of about 15 miles over two and a half days, two nights. Then they end up in the camp with the rest of the Stake. They are so excited about this and on Tuesday night Ruth went to Brianna’s home and they practiced setting up and sleeping in the tent. Ruth enjoyed her sleep over and they did sleep in the tent all night. I took the girls shopping to get their food and they are getting it all put together. They leave early next Monday morning. 

Ruth and I both had vision exams. Both of us didn’t have much change in our prescriptions, which is good. I am glad that Ruth is leveling off and hopefully she wont get as bad as me. I got new glasses and am trying to get use to the new frame and how I see with them. Ruth had new lenses put into her frames.

Tonight Neal took Ruth and Andrew to the temple to do Baptisms. So we ate dinner a little early and I had some time that I thought I would use in writing. Ruth and Andrew are also going to do volunteer work at the public library this summer. Ruth did it last summer and Andrew decided to try it out this year. They had a training meeting this afternoon and will start doing shifts soon to help with the summer reading program.

This summer we are doing our Bear Canyon Academy (BCA) classes again. The classes where parents teach kids in our ward and a neighboring ward simple classes and our kids take classes from others. This week I have been teaching a bread baking class. We have made wheat bread, fry bread, muffins, and today we did cinnamon rolls. It has been fun. The kids like what we are making. It is mostly boys that are coming over, well I have 2 girls and 3 boys in the class but with my 3 boys on top of that it is mostly boys helping with the cooking. We have played games while we wait for things to bake and I think they enjoy that almost as much. The first day I taught one of the boys Clue and now every day he wants to play it. Friday will be the last day of this class.

Yesterday we had the suburban in for repairs. I dropped it off at the mechanic shop and walked home. I have been doing morning walks again every day and enjoy the cool weather and pretty sunrise time. My knees have been bothering me more than usual, so it is getting frustrating to me. We got the suburban back at the end of the day, I am glad they fixed the problem in one day.

Well, so much has happened this month. I would like to mention a few highlights. On the 11th Caleb had a field trip to the river outdoor class room the school district has. He enjoyed going on a hike and learning about the river, Rio Grande.

On Saturday the 12th Ruth and I went to see the play “Les Miserables.”  We enjoyed our date time. The production was excellent, it was a broadway touring group, and I am glad we went. Ruth was glad she read the book, because then she understood the fast moving plot better.

On Tuesday the 15th the elementary school did a track meet for the younger grades. I went to help with it. I helped to line the kids up for their races. The PE teacher had it very well organized. Caleb did well. He ran hard and took 3rd place in the 100 meter race for 2nd grade boys, 4th place in the 400 meter and 6th place for the long jump. He was happy to bring home some ribbons. Thursday the 17th was the track meet for the older grades. I again helped with it. Spencer competed in things but didn’t place. He ran well, there are just a lot of fast 5th grade boys.

On the 15th in the evening we went to Andrew’s jazz band concert. He enjoys playing his trombone.

On the 16th I went to a lunch for the school library volunteers. It was nice to sit and visit with the ladies. I went in to the library on the 22nd to see if the librarian needed any more help and I did a little and then wished her a happy summer. She thanked me and gave me a hug and asked if I planned to help next year. Yes, I do. It is nice to feel like I have a place at the school.

On the 17th Andrew had a 7th grade end of year party. He enjoyed hanging out with his friends and playing games at the school. Andrew also enjoyed doing a swim unit in his PE class the last two weeks of school. There is an outdoor city pool on the edge of the school grounds.

On the 18th Neal took the boys on the father and sons camp out. They enjoyed the time together, playing with friends there and camping. Ruth and I bought some fast food and watched a couple of older movies. Saturday morning I took Ruth shopping at the mall for some new clothes. We enjoyed our time together too.

On the 21st Spencer had 5th grade promotion that I went to. The week before I went to the 5th grade talent show. Spencer was a prop changer person and he said it was funny when he was doing it in the afternoon for the younger school kids when he came out to move chairs a group of kindergarten kids yelled out his name. He enjoyed doing “book buddies” with the younger kids. They would meet every week and read together. He is good with younger children so I can understand why the kids like him. After the promotion activity the 5th grade had a swim party. They went to a city indoor pool and got to play the rest of the day and eat treats and pizza on the grassy area outside the pool. Spencer enjoyed his day.

On the afternoon of the 21st I had noticed clouds gathering and was happy to see them. We have had a very dry winter, in fact I read in the news that only two times during the winter months we had measurable rain. Well it came down on that Monday. I left to go pick up Ruth because of course it started to rain right as she was getting out of school. I met her part way home and she was already soaked. We got home right as it was starting to hail. I worried for my garden, but it came through it okay. The rain stopped before the boys got out of school. We got a total of a half inch that afternoon. We need more.

The water that accumulated in our pond after the storm

On the 22nd in the evening I went to a Relief Society activity. We soaked our feet, ate smoothies and talked about body image and taking care of our selves. It was a nice evening. I met a new sister there, Petra. Her husband, Sam, graduated from USU and has his first job here at the labs. After talking to Neal we decided to invite their family over. Petra, Sam and their two cute kids came over Sunday evening for dinner. It was nice to visit with them. They appreciated getting to know a family in the ward.  It reminded me of when I moved to Texas and felt a little out of it not knowing any one and having the Vance family invite us over for dinner our first week there. They are still our friends 12 years later. It is nice to have friends in the church.

Wednesday the 23rd was the official last day of school. Ruth was finished with her finals on Tuesday and didn’t need to go Wednesday, unless she needed to make up work, which she didn’t. The boys went to school because they wanted to see friends and play with their classes. The kids all did so well with school this year. Ruth finished her first year of high school with straight A’s (many with the + behind it) and Andrew did very well too with a lot of A+’s and only one B+ the entire year. Spencer and Caleb had high marks, they don’t do grades in elementary school here. I am glad that they enjoy school, have many friends there and do well with their studies. We have encouraged them to think about what they want to learn about this summer and do things every day that facilitate learning. With the boys I plan on studying a famous person each week. I checked out some children’s biographies and we read about Marie Curie this week. I had the boys write short essays about what they learned. We are also encouraging math and any other subject they want to learn about. Caleb checked out a video on Tornados today. Ruth has some books about different countries and cultures. I hope it can be a good summer of learning.

Caleb with his teacher (it was pajama day at school)

Spencer with his teacher

On the 24th I gave the boys much needed hair cuts.

On the 25th Andrew met a group of boys and a few of their dads for a bike ride on the mountain trails. They want to get together often to ride together this summer. They will get together again tomorrow. Andrew is also working to finish his Star rank in boy scouts and almost has everything done for it. Spencer has worked hard in cub scouts and has finished his Webelos and Arrow of Light requirements. He has also worked on the NOVA awards and has earned two, almost 3 of them. He likes his leaders.

On the 26th Neal and Andrew hiked Sandia Peak. From the east side of the mountain you can drive to the summit and we have done that as a family before. From the west side of the mountain you can hike a trail to the summit. That is what they did this week. They did the round trip in 6 1/2 hours. They enjoyed it.

Monday the 28th was Memorial day. The kids helped me clean up the fountain and we got it working. They enjoyed playing in the water most the afternoon. Caleb’s friend Charlie came over to enjoy it too. We had a grilled hamburger for dinner and ate outside at our nice picnic table. It was a nice day to spend together as a family.

Yesterday Charlie’s family invited Spencer and Caleb to go to the park with them to play. They also got a frosty at Wendy’s. They had lots of fun playing and stayed all afternoon. It was a bit quite since Ruth had gone to work, it was just Andrew and I at home. Ruth is working at Kumon still during the summer. Thankfully the employment is very flexible and she can get days off easy. She also will try to work extra shifts on the weeks she is home and able to work.

Well, I think that catches me up to today. Caleb just got done with his first shower ever. (He has been doing just baths) He came running down and said that showers are wonderful and he will never take another bath. I enjoy his enthusiasm for life.

Happy May

I am enjoying listening to the music from “Les Mis” in anticipation to go see it performed this Saturday.  Last fall Ruth saw an advertisement for the play to come here and asked if she could go to it. I said I would take her if she read the book first. It took her some time to get into it but she finally started reading some from it every week. In her French class they talked about the story and watched the movie in class. So that helped give a push to finish the book. I thought it was great she read the unabridged version and enjoyed the story. This Saturday we will go see the play together. I think she will enjoy the play better for understanding the story from reading the book. I bought the tickets last January so I made sure I could fulfill my part of the bargain. Neal was my back up date for it. I am excited to go see it again, I went to it when it was playing in Salt Lake City about 16 years ago.

Caleb has had fun with birthday parties. He went to one for his friend Xan at Gravity Park. It was a fun place with trampolines and foam pits. Caleb loved it. Then he went to a party for a friend from school, Max, at a park. I stayed with him for part of that and enjoyed visiting with some of the mom’s who were there. Tomorrow Caleb will go to a party for Leah, a friend from church, at an art studio. He loves going to parties and is happy that friends invite him to parties that aren’t on Sunday.

The Saturday of Max’s party things were busy. Neal and Andrew were on a boy scout camp out. They went to the Bad Lands in New Mexico. They did some back packing into the area and Andrew had a good experience carrying everything he needed in his own pack. Andrew is the troop historian and was asked to take pictures of the outing. So we got a lot of pictures of that adventure.

Andrew and his friends

Neal and his long stride

Andrew is in the green stripe shirt on the left,
Neal is the tall one in the back

That Saturday at noon Spencer had a Primary party. His teachers wanted to do something fun for the kids. They had pizza and watched the movie “The Princess Bride.” When I went to pick up Spencer the movie was at the end so I let him finish it and was talking to the teachers and their wives. I said they had picked a fun movie to watch and that everyone seems to enjoy it. Then one of the men said he had heard that when the movie first came out it wasn’t very popular when it was in the theater. I then said “yes, I remember seeing it in the theater and didn’t really like it. I hadn’t expected the comedy in it and was disappointed in it.”  Then they said “you saw it in the theater when it was new?” One of the ladies said “It came out in 1987.” I said “yes, and I was in high school.” When I realized it was quiet and they were all looking at me funny I realized that none of them had even been born when the movie was first out! I laughed and said “I guess I am just showing my age.” It was kind of funny. Spencer had fun at the party.

Another event of the same Saturday was I went to a Bridal shower for a sister in our ward. Well, her fiancé is in our ward, I enjoyed getting to know her better and visiting with other women there.

That afternoon I took Spencer and Caleb to the church for the baptism of Caleb’s friends Seth and Charlie. Neal and Andrew had just returned from camping and attended the baptism too. (Ruth was at work). After the service we went to both the familes homes for food and visiting. Both families had invited us over. It made for a busy evening. It was a busy day! I am thankful that not all days are so busy.

After we were home at the end of the day I was tired from the busy day and got a phone call from missionaries calling to confirm a dinner appointment for Sunday. I was confused because we haven’t had missionaries in our ward for about six months and I wondered how I was asked to feed them. I told them I would be happy to feed time and set the time. I asked Neal about it and he said that the previous Sunday he had signed up to feed the new missionaries assigned to our ward. They also cover another ward in our Stake. It was nice to have them over Sunday evening and have them in our home. I had missed having missionaries over.

Last week was the elementary school book fair. I enjoyed helping with it. I went in before school for three days and helped with the rush first thing in the morning before school started. I enjoy being of help. Yesterday I went to a reception thing for volunteers at the school in appreciation to our work. I enjoyed visiting with the teachers and other volunteers. I am glad that I can be a part of a good school.

Tuesday evening I went to Book Club. I enjoyed visiting with the women about our book this month. We read “The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio.” It was an interesting story of how a woman would enter contests from companies and actually win. It was set in the 50’s and 60’s when contests took some skill and not just luck. She had to write slogans and poems for contests. We had a good discussion about families and how society has changed. It was a nice evening.

Thursday Ruth and Andrew had fun meeting with the youth at the local mall for a scavenger hunt. They had to go find things and take pictures to show they had found it. It sounded like lots of fun.

On Friday I planted my garden. I bought some tomatoes and peppers and planted lots of seeds. I probably over planted my space. I like so many things and I have a small space so it is hard to choose what to plant. After school Spencer asked if I had planted green onions and I said no. He was disappointed and since I had some seeds we went out and found a little spot he could plant some. I hope that things can grow. Things are so dry. We are in a bad drought since we didn’t get any snow pack in the mountains this winter. And we have had very little rain this spring. It is getting hot too. We have had highs close to 90 the last few days.

The roses are starting to bloom. The yard smells great. 

The front patio area, I planted flowers in the pots. Some of the small

 crepe myrtles aren't doing very well.

The garden

I like all the colors of roses in the yard

Friday after school we went to the state fair grounds to see an elementary school art show that Spencer had work displayed in. He forgot to give me the paper with the information on it and we just made it to go see the art show. It ran all of April and we went to it the last week end it was out. I am glad we went. I enjoyed looking at the children’s art work. Spencer did a nice job with his too. There were about 15 kids from each elementary school that had something on display, so this was a special thing for Spencer to be chosen. I have artistic kids, Andrew had work in the same art show two years ago.

Last Saturday Spencer went on a hike with his Webelos group. This was his last requirement to finish to get his Webelos and Arrow of Light ranks. For his Webelos rank he had to go on a hike and for Arrow of Light he had to help plan an activity. He helped to plan this and did a good job. There are five boys who turn 10 in the next month so they were all invited to join in on the hike. Spencer enjoyed being with a larger group of boys.

Spencer and his den, he is in the red on the right

Saturday morning Neal and Andrew went mountain biking. Andrew needed one more long ride to finish his biking merit badge. They rode for 22 miles on a rough biking trail south of us. When they came home Neal looked so tired and Andrew acted like he had just gone for a ride in a park. Andrew likes doing things like that. I do have to say that Neal has also had a cold this week and that drained his energy more than normal. By evening Andrew was very tired and ready for an early bed time.

Last week end was our Stake Conference. I enjoyed our Saturday evening meeting. We had some excellent talks on ministering and examples of how people helped or received help. Sunday we had a good meeting too. They had some youth get up and talk about seminary and studying the Book of Mormon this year. I think Ruth was happy she hadn’t been asked. She enjoyed going to seminary this year though. It is over for the year. I believe she misses seeing her friends every morning.

Tuesday evening was Andrew’s band concert. Ruth and I attended it and enjoyed the music. The teachers get so much out of the kids. I am amazed at how well the middle school band sounds. Neal took Caleb and Spencer to an activity at the elementary school. They were doing a biking activity and Caleb really wanted to go. This was Caleb’s first school biking event because he wasn’t a good enough bike rider for the previous ones. Caleb was happy that he did the entire six mile ride with the group.

The cadet and concert bands were combined, so it makes it look huge. 

The trombones are on the left, back row. Andrew is 4th from the end.

Well, I think I remembered things. As you can see our lives are rather busy right now. School is almost over for the year. Andrew had a big smile on his face as he left for school this morning and said “Only 10 more days.” We have a busy summer already getting planned too.

At the end of April my uncle Randy passed away. He had been in the hospital in a coma for a few days. On April 26th my mom talked to me on the phone about how he was doing. They live by Waco Texas and he was in the Waco hospital. My aunt doesn’t drive and my cousin, who she lives with, was busy during the day with work and family. My aunt didn’t have a way to get to the hospital. My mom asked me if I knew anyone that might help her, seeing that I had lived in Waco for nine years, although it has been almost four years since we left. (My cousin, his family and his parents moved there two years ago.) I thought of my friend Shelley. I contacted Shelley and said my aunt who lives in her ward needed help. Shelley immediately stepped up and helped. Shelley took my aunt to the hospital the morning of April 27th and Aunt Jane had a time with Randy and said her good byes. He died later that day. Shelley told me how sweet it was to be there to help and how much it blessed her life. I am thankful for friends and church members who always are willing to step up and help others. Life is precious.