Welcome to our World

Back away slowly: we now have a student in every grade of middle school!  Lol. It’s time for Kate to rule the school as an 8th grader. This (hopefully) will bring opportunities she has been waiting for such as playing on the middle school volleyball team.  Only 8th graders are allowed to play against other schools in games so Kate wanted to wait until 8th to feel like it was worth the time commitment. I hope they are able to have a volleyball season and that she will make many great memories.  Danny was excited to see friends again but was sad to say goodbye to summertime. The day before 7th grade he finished memorizing all 50 states!  All three of my middle schoolers took me up on the offer that if they did so I would pay them $50. I also said they could earn another $50 by memorizing all 50 capitols but no one took me up on that. Maybe next summer? Our newest middle schooler was so excited she was awake at 6:30am and just waiting to be let out the door for 6th grad...

When we decided to go to the Colorado Renaissance Festival I was expecting white canopy tents and a few hundred people but we showed up to one of the biggest Renaissance Festivals around with so much to see and do we only got around to about half of it!  We saw Dragonfore, Cydeshow Cy, Craic (our favorite) and Celtic Legacy.  We saw jousting and a little of the Living Fountain and The Reelin’ Rogues.  We ate meat on sticks for lunch and snacked on delicious kettle corn and the girls even got ice cream sandwiches. Note: Kate and Danny were both invited but Kate opted to go to P’s house and my mom and dad took care of Danny so he could go to baseball tryouts (more on that later).  I think Danny would have loved it and we’ve got him convinced he needs to come with us next year.  I could just see him throwing knives and practicing his archery skills and looking at all the neat shops along with watching the shows like we did. Pretty sure we won’t be able to get him t...

 I have never in my life seen such wonderful pictures of a boys trip.  These leaders definitely went above and beyond the call of duty for these 10 boys.  I am so grateful to them for sharing their time and talents so that my son can have a wonderful time with other children his same age and gender and religion.  I think this week will not only have an impact on these Deacons for now but will impact them for a long time. Here are some of my favorite pictures.  These boys got to sleep in tents but eat cafeteria food.  They got to hike, play pickle ball, pool, air hockey, fuse ball, chess and Apples to Apples.  They got to go tubing, rock wall climbing, mini golfing, and walk on stilts.  Even with zip lining getting rained out they got to have s'mores, tie dye shirts, use stilts, and do archery.  They whittled with pocket knives, played basketball, provide service  and had scripture study.  I am so glad my son got to go along and have...

One thing the pandemic taught me was the value in not being over scheduled.  I made sure there were weeks when we had nothing much to do. We have enjoyed swimming and water fights, baking, puzzles, games, the Olympics, and of course, hanging out with friends. Kate has had so many friends spend the night here and she has spent the night at so many friend's houses I would be hard pressed to supply all their names, let alone the details!  She has also enjoyed shopping and getting her nails done with her friends most recently.  No photographic evidence since I'm still not supposed to take pictures.  Speaking of no photos, Michelle set up and hosted a book club for A Wrinkle in Time . After they talked about the book it was so fun to see six girls ready for middle school watching a movie together in our new theater chairs.  Afterwards, when it was time for the parents to come pick them up, the girls were literally tied up in knots because they were playing the game T...