31 July 2016 - Birthdays and more

Preparing to leave for High Adventure early in the morning....

Monday, early, early in the morning, Stephen took Jonathan to the airport and then came back to pick up Samuel and take him to Br. Hanis' house to start the High Adventure Scouting activity for our ward. They left at 5:00 in the morning to head for Idaho and the Salmon River for a 73 mile white water rafting experience. How fun!!!

Dock at the Ranger Station in Hell's Canyon.

Stephen leading out in the front of the boat....

Samuel is wearing the hat with the bridge up.

Nightly devotionals.

Stephen at the cooking station.

Samuel watching his dad play horseshoes with Br. Shumway.

Samuel's birthday surprise.

Samuel floating in the water.

Samuel guiding and rowing the boat....
with his Gilligan's Island look.

Crusin' down the Salmon River/Snake...

Nightly devotional.

A hot birthday cake made out of peach/cherry
cobbler...melted the candles.

Horseshoes with Bishop Mitchell.

Relaxation caught by Br. Shumway.

Samuel sporting the "pirate" look.

Heading for the daily dousing in the river.

Water fighting on the river.

Stephen was the "long" thrower.

Beware the water bucket.....

Got'ja....

The team 

Camping on the sand.

Preparing for take-off.

Filling the tank for the journey.

Emeri's cake and cupcakes....

Tuesday was Emeri's 4th birthday. I had some visiting teaching with Sr. Winona Laird and Sr. Ann Sirrine (Tomlinson).  Jenna and Liz took all the kids to the Woodland Park Zoo. The kids had a great time at the Zoo. They saw lots of animals that aren't at the Dallas Zoo, including the Tapir, Grizzly Bears, wolves, Snow leopard, and Orangutans. Emeri told the Zoo personnel that it was her birthday and they gave her a special button and free tokens to ride the Carousel at the Zoo. Liz mentioned that she would not have said anything but  Emeri was quite pleased to be FOUR years old. Free rides for everyone in the group was a great treat. They had a blast.

At the  Zoo Entrance.

Climbing the Trees.

Playing on the "Monkey Bars"....

I went to La Huerta Mercado in downtown Kent and purchased a Tres Leche Cake for her birthday. I also purchased a pizza from Costco and made some Mac-n-Cheese. Emeri seemed to be pretty happy with her card with gummy bears and $10 and a CD player that played 3 discs of Disney music. It was a toy that Liz bought a long time ago and finally felt that Emeri was old enough to play with it. She loved it.

Celebrating Emeri....

Wednesday morning we started making Loganberry jam with Carli. She made 2 batches and I had a little left after she went to work so I made some Loganberry Rhubarb jam that ended up as syrup but it was very good over pancakes. Liz took her kids that morning and went to visit Paige Farr Stanley in Enumclaw so it was just Jenna and her kids and me. It was so different to not have to worry about Samuel going to YM but I heard he was having fun in the sun with his dad.
Thursday I made it to Deseret Industries with a truck load of stuff. Liz and Jenna have been helping me "thin down" and "dejunk". I also am trying to find homes for the "valuable" stuff that we have that we don't need any more, such as the wedding linen and decor. Sr. Jung came by that night and brought some gifts by for Ben & Carli and Sarah & Michael. She also came upstairs and saw some of the wedding lights etc and took some of it off my hands. Hopefully they'll come back and get more.
Thursday was also Samuel's 16th birthday but he wasn't here to celebrate it so we planned on a party for Sunday.
Friday, I went to work early in the morning as Ben was getting ready for work. He was to have a tour of the Boeing facility by  Br. Rob Welch in hopes of getting an internship next year. He has also been working for a lady from BPD who needed a deck replaced at her house. He was gone early in the morning for his construction job and then he would go and teach dance lessons or go right to the home where he worked on the deck. Carli would go to the studio to teach lessons and then meet up with Ben at the house where he was working.
Friday Carli had the day off and Rebekah did too, so they decided to go to Dash Point and the Beach for the day. The kids had a great time and Rebekah got burnt before she had to go to work at the temple.

Playing in the sand at Dash Point.

They decided to stay one extra day and leave on Sunday instead of Saturday which was wonderful for us since Stephen wasn't suppose to be home until Saturday night. Thankfully Stephen text me Friday night to let me know that they would be coming home that night by 1:00ish. Unfortunately due to a wrong turn and a flat tire they didn't make it home until 2:30. I tried to stay awake for them but I could only last until 1:00.
Saturday Stephen needed to sleep in and I needed to water the yard. Ben went to finish up on the deck that he started and he was able to get some pictures of the work he did. It really looked nice. When he got home, Rebekah had some water balloons and they filled them up for a water balloon fight in the backyard. Ben was the quickest and the hardest thrower but the little boys had lots of fun and the little girls did a lot of squealing.

Preparing for battle.

Later that morning Stephen had to take Samuel back to the Hanis home to get all their gear and help pack up the equipment. He then said they could store the trailer at our home until they could take it back to where it belonged. We were able to celebrate Samuel's birthday with a chocolate Angel Food cake and ice cream. He looked pretty pleased.

16 candles....

Jenna switched out for Kathleen in the family shot.

Today at church he was ordained a Priest in the Aaronic priesthood by his father and all the priests and the bishopric in our ward. There were lots of young men there and it was a special experience. Stephen was the only member of the Stake Presidency in town this Sunday so he had lots of Temple recommend interviews and a Priesthood ordination interview all in Spanish. He says it's taxing mentally for him but it does a great job. Today I cooked up Dutch Oven Lasagna and Stephen asked how hard it would be to make it for a young men's camp out. It actually is very easy and it would be an excellent choice to make during a campout.

24 July 2016 - Pioneer Day

Sunday was Pioneer day and there was no other celebration besides singing pioneer songs and mentioning the day. Rebekah played the piano for the rest hymn at church with "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief". For not practicing, she did an excellent job. We don't live in Utah so it's not a significant holiday in Washington.
The week was full of things like dejunking and preparing Stephen and Samuel for High Adventure. I had to work twice that week and it really didn't rain so I was watering, weeding and picking pea pods, squash and onions.
Jonathan flew into Seattle from Dallas on Friday morning. He still had to do some work for his job so he needed quiet time for most of the day but Saturday he was able to go with everyone to the Recreation Center in Federal Way with all the kids and the family. I had to work again so I missed out but I believe they had lots of fun!

Here I am at work with the tools of the trade. At least I look like
I'm playing around a little.
I sure missed out on the fun at the pool.

Nathan in the tube.

Andrew in the Lazy River.

Jon with Gracie.

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17 July 2016 - Family Fun Week

This week has been busy and fun.On Monday Ben and Carli went to work. Ben for the construction company and Carli at the Dance Studio. 

Jessica, Elizabeth and Jenna had great activities for the kids and also made time to exercise and bike. They rode the Soos Creek trail on Monday and did Elizabeth's Camp Gladiator workouts on Tuesday and Thursday. Monday night was FHE with a "Don't Eat Pete" game by Grandpa Stephen. 

On Wednesday they went to Remlinger Farms. It was a bit of a disappointment since they changed the rules and didn't let the little ones ride the rides that they rode last year and the big ones were to big to ride on most of the rides so they didn't get to do as much as they planned. 

A ride on the train...

But it was Nathan's birthday and I baked the vegan vanilla cake that Jenna gave me the recipe for. Unfortunately, I didn't double the recipe so it was very small. So I started making a carrot cake to go with it but it wasn't done in time and I started to not feel so well so I waited until Thursday to frost the cake. That evening during the birthday celebration. Isaac decided to make a quick turn with a little bike on the side patio and he face planted on the cement. His eyebrow was very swollen very quickly and he had a black eye the next day. 

Ice  pack to the eye. 

Thursday, Jenna had some moles removed from her arm and her thigh so I stayed home with her and Joshua while the rest of the gang went to catch a ferry ride from Bremerton into Seattle. They took two vehicles and stopped at Jessica's friend's daycare. So it was a productive day.

Friday Stephen walked the older kids to the park for lunch and the ladies were going to take the younger ones with them shopping at Value Village. On the way I remembered that the car was to be serviced so we stopped the walkers on Kent-Kangley and I spoke was Stephen. He said he would need to take the car in so we were to go back and  bring the van. He seemed somewhat frazzled with 5 kids. 

That night we had a campfire in the backyard. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows and made s'mores. The kids seemed to really enjoy the moment and it was a nice finish to the work week. Stephen created a new sensation with the addition of fresh raspberries to his S'mores. Everyone agreed that it was an excellent addition. 

After the kids were in bed, we played games and finished early. Stephen had to get up at 4:15 to help Jessica get her kids and luggage to the airport by 5:00. I was grateful that I didn't have to go since I had to work that day but I couldn't get back to sleep so I might as well have taken her.

After work I had a hard time staying awake and found myself drifting off the road several times. By the time I made it home, I stayed in the car to finish the chapter in the Book of Mormon that I was listening to and I must have fallen asleep because I was jolted awake when Stephen opened the car door. 

Stephen created a fresh raspberry s'more.
Tasted like chocolate raspberry pie...yummy!

Saturday must have been a whirlwind for the girls because the house was nicely cleaned when I got home. What a wonderful blessing. When I got home, Ben was outside with the older kids and a BB gun shooting at targets. Katelyn was the first one to hit the target and she was very excited. Isaac also hit it along with Andrew. They really enjoyed the activity.

Target practice.

We had spinach ravioli with spinach/basil pesto and peaches for dinner. Everyone was to bed early that night. I was to be up early to get Rebekah to the airport for her trip to SLC at the same time that Jessica had left the day before. I called Jessica that night to make sure about the timing. She said she had plenty of time and not to get there before 5:30 but Rebekah didn't hear that conversation so she was texting me before 4:30 in the morning wondering where I was. She made it in plenty of time.

Today Stephen spoke in the Spanish Branch. He is getting better and better with his Spanish. He was able to just speak from the heart after about 1/3 of his talk. He felt good about it. It was what I felt last week when I spoke. I just had to follow the spirit and pray that I was in tune to what needed to be said.

Following Grandpa's example....

Nathan enjoyed his marshmallows and s'mores.

Emeri, Gracie and Katelyn eating their hot dogs.

Andrew likes this activity...

Joshua was "hanging out" with Jenna...

Rebekah got into the action and added the chocolate bars and
graham crackers.

Ben and Carli joined in with Jessica, Elizabeth and Hadlie.

Grandpa taught the kids how to hold the stick right at the heat
 without letting it get burnt.

Katelyn go into the "horn" blowing contest. It helped
keep the smoke out of her eyes.

Hadlie just decided to "blacken" the marshmallow. It was
'easier that way and she enjoyed the color...lol.