First things first, let's discuss Grant's summer camp. Wow.... what an adventure and I do mean that in every sense of the word. Last year when we put Grant's summer camp, we had been in lock down for months with all the time in the world to prepare and organize and plan. We had energy and focus and time on our hands. This year..... not so much. We were coming off of a 2 week trip to Seattle, followed by a week of beach camping and only one day in between to prepare for 15 kids and 10 hours of activities, art, games and baking. But Grant worked hard. He planned, he cleaned, he organized, he hired his best buddy Carson to be his assistant. He was a leader and an amazing counselor and when all was said and done- the camp was a huge success in almost every way. One small, slight problem.... we found out AFTER the camp, that certain of us were asymptomatically carrying Covid. It was an incredibly horrifying discovery. We had assumed since we were vaccinated and the kids and I and Blake had a slight runny nose and really no other symptoms- that we just had a cold the week prior. It wasn't until Blake was tested because he's a health care professional, that we discovered it was actually a break through case of Covid. It was horrible. I had to make SO MANY hard phone calls and we had to miss the Ahlstrom wedding in our backyard. I was terrified we had infected the kids or friends... but when all was said and done, no one came up positive. SO CRAZY. Even those with runny noses who assumed they had caught covid from us, came back negative, though most of us in our family were positive. Wow- I would not want to relive those few weeks- but it's all over and done now and thankfully, no one became ill from us! I guess the fact that the camp was mostly outdoors was a blessing! I was so rattled I couldn't even meditate or focus on anything aside from covid fears for a few weeks... haha!
a few pictures of the Ahlstrom wedding at our house!
We enjoyed so much visiting with the Paces in Pismo. It was super short, but so sweet. Loved watching movies together, riding bikes, sitting at the beach and enjoying home made breakfasts from Adam. Loved chatting with Jamie and Katie and eating delicious pumpkin bread from the Avila Farmer's Market. Pismo Beach is one of my very favorite traditions of all time.
We missed our Yosemite trip this year (COVID) but enjoyed having the big group over after the fact for pickle ball and swimming. And we decided since we missed out on our camping trip that we would spend the day before school started with a trip to Disneyland! And it was such an incredible day! No lines, lots of yummy food, fireworks, Star Wars' Rise of the Resistance, characters everywhere you looked. We adored this day though we missed Dane who chose to spend it with his friends. More on my high school social butterfly a little later.
Anna- single rider about 10 times... ha!
In other news.... we have a new addition to our family.... a cute little kitten named Charlie. Love him so much. It's taken Louie some getting used to, but he actually likes Charlie a little bit too. He's added a lot of fun times to our home and we adore him! Loved celebrating Loui's 2nd birthday too this month with dessert and singing. Why are cats so fun?? Dane would prefer a dog, but the rest of us are pretty keen on our two cute little fur balls.
Had the best weekend ever with Dave and Jen and kids in town. We met them up at California Adventure of the day. We stayed up late watching movies and making s'mores. We walked over to the Poway High football game and swam all day long! We went to Seaworld and Handels ice cream! We truly loved spending time with each of them. What a cute bunch of kiddos... wish we could see them more often.
My mom sent a bunch of amazing old pictures of my childhood a few weeks ago. She was cleaning out a closet and found them. I don't see old pics very often so of course I LOVED it. Loved seeing my parents young, and my grandparents and Aunt. I really loved my childhood.
Blake's kept busy this month at the office. He punched through a wall to add to his patient waiting room, along with fixing his broken down claw machine! Blake amazes me with his skills and business savvy. He doesn't like to talk about it much, but he is a genius at what he does and I am always so proud of him.
Loved sending the kids back to school IN PERSON. I was nervous it wouldn't happen! We had a wonderful back to school dinner and theme: Of this be sure- you do not find the happy life, you make it! By Thomas S Monson. Grandma sent an amazing back to school package with gift cards to target and sweet little notes of encouragement. But overall, yes I was nervous that the kids might not go back to school with all the talk of the delta variant and the spread happening so intensely! And speaking of being nervous, let me tell you there were a lot of nerves and a lot of stress happening at our house that first week of school!
Grant started middle school and it was not pleasant. It's hard to go back for 6.5 hours after a year and a half of easy street! I worried we'd have a meltdown of colossal nature in the near future as Grant appeared quite discontent. But that cute kid has really pulled himself together. He has worked so hard to stay on top of things, despite his fears and his dislike of sitting still all day long. I'm so proud of him and so grateful for the growth and skillset he's obtained over the past few years that have helped him cope with hard things. Love that Grant is so responsible to charge his new middle school lap top each night, pack his own lunch and remember his schedule each day. Grant made Papa's salmon for our family last week- complete with lemons, onions and pats of butter-- he had remembered every detail Papa had taught him! Grant played in quite a few tournaments this month- coming in first place and second place each time. He changed positions from forward to mid field and he's loving it. It's always a joy to watch him play. Grant is considering trying out for ASB and lacrosse at his middle school. We'll see if that pans out- but for now, he's still very into his soccer and scootering.
Evelyn is attending Classical Academy for 2 classes: Physics and Spanish 3. She is at Palomar Junior College for English Math and Career skills. She is LOVING it. SO proud of her for finding her classes all by herself at age 16 on a huge campus 25 min from home. She is so responsible and intelligent. She is hoping to graduate early- next December! She is completely on track for this goal and I'm happy for her. Evelyn has kept busy with our neighbor friend- Dylan. He also attends Classical and the two have become good friends. She sees Emma every weekend for football games, dances and church dances. Ev re-did her room recently and completely recreated her photo gallery wall, cleaned out her old clothes and spiffed the room up in a major way! She is very into her film photography and baking- cookies, pumpkin bread- you name it! She exercises every day and reads a ton. Excited for all the new adventures that lie in store this year.
Dane has been thrilled to start high school with his gang. He has a gang now, btw. The gang consists of about 6 boys and 3 girls. They walk over after school every day and hang around for a bit before their parents pick them up. It's really fun for me to have them here though I try my best to stay out of the picture. Kind of. Haha. I love that one of the girls sends me allllllll the pictures from their adventures. Dane wouldn't dream of taking pics much less sending them to his mother! I love Annalise for doing this for me. Dane is taking Spanish, English, PE, Autoshop and Biology. He decided to quit SDSC soccer and now plays only for Nomads. After a few tournaments with Nomads and Coach Conner, Dane realized it was a better fit and Blake and I could not be happier about it all! So fun to actually see Dane get play time and to see his confidence grow! He's planning on trying out for the Poway High team this winter season. Dane has really embraced the high school life. He's attended the MORP dance and party beforehand, the white out football game, freshmen orientation, and of course seminary. In fact, Dane is giving his first devotional this week. Absolutely love how much Dane is growing up and who he is becoming. Just last week Dane asked if we could re-do his bedroom from a beach theme to a black and white vibe. I'm always up for a redecorating project so I was all in! I'll report on the new look soon!
Anna has kept incredibly busy since school has started . She has a lovely teacher- Mrs. Glynn- who is incredibly kind and a great reading teacher! And she has a good friend (Maddie) in her class whom she adores. She is thrilled with school and dance and everything in between. This month Anna started de cluttering her room and even organizing for other family members. She organized Dane's bedside cabinet and his special drawer. Whilst doing so, she found all of the letters she had written Dane over the years in the drawer and she felt touched. She pulled them out and put them in the bottom of his new beside cabinet. These two have always had a pretty special relationship. Love them both so much. Anna went school shopping without me if you can believe it! She and Ev went out and bought a few darling little ensembles for the beginning of school. She lays out her clothes the night before and is so responsible each morning to get her own snack and get up and ready on time. It's SO much better than last year! Anna ordered adorable panda disposable masks for school- they've been soft and breathable. It's been fun for her! After school, you'll find Anna playing Settlers of Catan, swinging, cuddling the kittens, dancing or playing with Kate across the street. Life is good.
As far as my life goes.... I've been busy working on getting my California state license to be a school psychologist here in California! I have a temporary license, and a license in WA, NY and UT.... but have hesitated to get the actual CA license because of all the work entailed. But since I will be starting a job next month ( very part time!) I wanted to get this show on the road and gather all the paperwork together.
Aside from this, I've been playing pickle ball with friends quite a bit, walking, meditating, decluttering the house, organizing, and planning singing times. Loved last week- having the kids build temples out of legos while we sang "I love to see the temple". Next week we will have instead of the Mandalorian, the Song-dalorian visit our primary. I will not be happy when I'm released! Its been my calling for 3 years and I've never loved anything more. Life is good! So grateful that the kids are mostly enjoying school and feeling good about their new routines. I sure love having a little bit of time to work on my own goals and pursuits! It's been heavenly:)
made these affirmation marbles for the kids
