Summer is still in full swing with Natalie going to her Young Women's camp and having a wonderful time hiking, tubing, star tipping, and glamping (in a barn). She continued to take softball and cello lessons every week or two (until her coach hurt her shoulder and the school year began) and hanging out with friends, listening to audiobooks, baking, and being a help around the house.
Michelle is working hard and was caught by a coworker falling asleep on the way back to town next to her friend from the Waldorf school. She showed me that most of their group text is photos of everyone asleep in the vans on the way back to the fairgrounds. But she'll take this over school any day and hopes to be able to get this job again next summer. They have a policy to only hire back up to 50% of the previous summer's workers so only time will tell.
Can you spot me in my pioneer dress and blue bonnet? We had a fun little pioneer activity for the ward primary doing things like horse shoes, stick pull, potato sack & 3 legged races, making a handkerchief doll and butter in a jar to put on rolls, my Apples to Oregon book, and a few primary songs. I thought it would be easy to have 3 presidency members running the show but we ended up being very grateful that Bishop S. and Brother B. were willing to help out.
That same afternoon I got to see my beloved college roommate, A, for the first time in about 20 years! She has been living in Germany ever since our oldest kids were little and I always meant to visit but never actually made it to Europe. They have moved back to Texas and turns out her brother-in-law lives half an hour away from us so when they spent the day with him they got away to see us. She and her two daughters and Michelle and Natalie and I had a lovely time eating lunch together and talking about everything from being able to express yourself in two different languages to orchestra to travel. We hope she ends up visiting her brother-in-law every summer!
While we were having a very girly lunch, my boys were at the final basketball tournament of the summer. I loved getting Hubby's updates and hearing all about the games and drama in person when we were all home together. And they got to end the season as silver division champions! Danny is so happy he got to play on this team and is already looking forward to his next high school season.
Also while the boys were away, Michelle, her friend, M, Natalie, and I went hiking at Rocky Mountain National Park one more time before our pass expired at the end of July. We got to check Nymph, Dream, Emerald, and Haiyaha Lakes off our wish list. I could have stayed at Haiyaha for hours. So pretty!
And we finally got to celebrate Father's Day properly (6 weeks late) by using the Top Golf gift cards we had given Hubby. We had a blast and are so lucky to have this man in our family. (He was also kind enough to go to my coworkers house and be my arm candy at her end of summer party. Thank you, Hubby!)
Not pictured: Michelle and I attending a free yoga class at R. Park in perfect weather and our epic finds at the thrift store afterwards while running errands like picking up her ice cream bowl from Crackpots. She decided she didn’t spend enough time with friends last summer so has made quite the effort this year and is hanging out with friends almost every day. It helps she found a couple within walking distance that are ok with impromptu. So now all 4 of my kids are either having people over or going somewhere else OFTEN. Good thing all our doors work.
Even though Natalie has been hanging out with friends she has been bored lately. Bored enough to make Harry Potter a 45th birthday cake to serve to my book club friends! I didn’t grab a photo but luckily Shelly did so I asked her to send it to me the next day. And not bored enough to run errands with me unless I’m going to Target or Scheel's (pictured here). Well, she had to come with me to Scheel's for a uniform try on so we know what sizes to buy her for her new team. She got to see a couple of her teammates and coaches she knew. We are so excited for her to be part of this club again.
Kate is all done with her summer job! Last Friday night they had an end of season party that sounded like a lot of fun. She is happy to have had the work and is happy to have a week and a half off before her senior year begins. (I stole these photos from the farm's Instagram page.)
Michelle is not as happy to have time off before school begins because she absolutely loved working for the Youth Corps. Last Saturday she and two of her coworkers and I went to watch another one of their coworkers perform in a musical that sounded questionable but was so so so so good! It was a glorious thing to see coworkers so supportive of each other and celebrating each other's success. Oh, and this was after Michelle volunteered at the County Fair parade with SCLA (and I stole this photo off Facebook). Then the next Friday night they went to the fair together. This job was such a great experience for Michelle!
Bucket List Item Complete! We finally went to the Drive In movies!!! And we learned to look at the weather forecast, especially if you're driving an hour away because for the first movie (Fantastic Four), we had to watch out the windshield after playing an intense game of Uno but luckily the rain stopped and we could watch Superman in classic pick up truck form. We had cushions & pillows from our porch's sofa and our movie watching blankets from the basement. Although Michelle, Natalie, and I all fell asleep during the second film (that started at 11pm), we are so glad we finally got to go!
After Michelle’s last day of work she went straight to helping with welcoming the incoming freshman to the leadership academy. I bet you know where I stole this photo from. They also went to Fun Center, where Natalie and I went miniature golfing the next day. Had to cross that off the summer bucket list before my first day of work! It was neat to be back with my coworkers but we all had a hard time sitting still and keeping on track from 8am-4pm. Lol. Looks like my part time partner in crime and I will be going to science and social studies classes all day long this year. Another reason to only work part time. Ha! It’s hard to believe school will be starting in just a few days. We better find Danny’s iPad stat. Other than that, I think we are ready!
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