The Rest of the Summer Has Come and Gone

Kylie went to Europe with the Washington Ambassadors of Music.
London was her first stop and she saw Prince Harry!
She saw Les Mis in London!!!! Nick Jonas from the Jonas Brothers guest starred as Mirius. She said he was amazing and all the girls screamed!
Next was Paris!
She loved Switzerland and the Matterhorn the best.
They sang in some beautiful cathedrals.
She visited Germany, Italy, and Austria as well. I keep thinking she will blog it for me soon:)
While she was away, we went to the Seattle Science Center.
We spent the whole day there.
Even my teenager wants to go back. It was fun.
Then we went to the Ure Family Reunion!
Jory was able to go with us this year!
We never get tired of the slip and slide.
I had to make everyone play Just Dance!
I think my brother Rychael was the best:)
Then I rushed back to Seattle to welcome home my baby! She enjoyed a safe and wonderful trip.
We spent many days on the river!
My sister and her family came and played with us as well.
We had to take the boat out.
We swam at the neighbors!
We love our neighbors.
We went to Silverwood.
It was Cody's first year and he loved all the rides. Next year he'll be tall enough for the rollercoasters!
We went to the fair and had to ride the mechanical bull.
Kylie hasn't lost her touch!
Dallin's been riding since he was one year old. He's still got it!

WANTED: More Summer
REWARD: Labor Day Weekend

Summer is half way over?

I can't believe summer is almost half way over! Time flies when you're busy. We started out taking Kylie to basketball camp at Gonzaga University. She had a great time. One game she got really upset and told her teammates, "If I wasn't a Mormon, I would call her a bad name!" All the girls laughed at her. One girl said, "You're the nicest Mormon I've ever met." She's the only member on the team. Her coach gave her a tub of white frosting for being the "whitest" girl and the "purest" girl. Jory T. drove to pick her up and went shopping at Cabellas for the first time. Cody liked shooting the guns (so did I:).
Thanks to my mother-in-law coming to stay, the next week Jory T. and I went to the LDS scout encampment. I was on the cook crew. I got there Sunday night at 7p.m and we started putting lunch sacks together. We assembled over 4500 lunch sacks that week. We fed on average 1500 scouts and leaders for three meals. It was HARD work. I don't know how our team leaders planned so well. Those boys ate well! They were very thankful as they came through the lines. We had a few wards come help with clean up and many leaders helped with dishes. I don't think I've ever seen so many cookie sheets. My hands and back are still recovering. I knew it would be hard, but I wasn't expecting to feel the spirit like I did. I cried after seeing how happy my son was one night and how much fun he was having. He told me later he didn't need to go to church. He'd gone to a week of church! Wait till your mission kid The next week Kylie and I went to girls' camp. It was like a vacation compared to scout camp. I didn't have to cook all week. I took a few naps and loved being a stake leader; card games at night, raiding the fridge for homemade ice cream, showering when I wanted. Talk about a vacation. :) Ropes course Kylie on the rope swing Cards at night with the ladies.
After camp, I helped Kylie get ready for Europe! We rushed around Monday morning and got her packed. Her dad met us outside of Kennewick and gave her a blessing then off she went with a friend to the pre-camp in Puyallup. It was my bday that day, and our new encampment friends had a post scout camp party. The rest of the kids got to swim and they sang happy bday to me. It was nice. Wednesday, my super friend took me to the movies for my bday and then to dinner later! She's the best! Thursday, the kids and I went to Puyallup to listen to the Washington Ambassador's choir Kylie is in. It was awesome! Such talent throughout the state performed after only two days of learning the music. We took Kylie with us to a hotel and swam all night. Then, Friday morning I took the shuttle with her to the airport and off she flew. She sang today for church services at Wesley's Chapel built in 1777! The rest of Friday, the kids and I went to the Pacific Science Center in Seattle. We had a blast. This bike was pretty scary. Dallin tried it first. I think he was braver than Jory. The Space Needle was right behind us. I asked the kids if they wanted to walk around it. They said no because it was right there. The circus building was the most fun for the kids because of this bouncy thing.

The insect house was fun. Yes those are bees. That's a cockroach. YUCK! Cody did not like the Butterfly House.

Survival

Yes! We survived the last week of school. Why is this significant? Because everything must be scheduled in this time. Every night must have two to three events or it would not be the last week of school. But, we made it and tomorrow will surely be a day of much needed REST! Monday: Camri and Dallin performed in their school's talent show at 7p.m. Kylie had volleyball and basketball practice till seven and needed a ride. Luckily, Jory picked her up on his way and they arrived at 7:20 just as Camri took the stage. Camri tap danced and did an awesome job! Dallin played his piano piece again. He said he was nervous performing in front of so many people. He did great! (I only took video of him, sorry) After Dallin finished, I ditched and went to my softball game that started at 7:45. I was late, but it was still fun!

Tuesday: Kylie had practice for basketball that ended at 7p.m.. Dallin had scouts that was from 6:30 to 7:30. I cancelled scouts because I couldn't pick him up and my dad came to town. Dad had to watch the playoffs so I didn't ask him to pick up either:) Instead the boys stayed home and watched basketball while I had a Relief Society Activity at 7:30 p.m. that I was in charge of. I grabbed Kylie at 7 and threw her out at our corner to walk the rest of the way home. You may think that's mean, but I wasn't late:)

Wednesday: Jory T. was supposed to help with cub scouts at 3:30, but didn't show up after school and I couldn't find him, so I went to help with scouts. Got home at 4:40and made late son fix dinner while I fixed Camri's hair for dance rehearsals. Took Camri to rehearsals, left her with her class, called Jory to tell him to find his own ride to his school's awards ceremony (was not happy with that child), picked up Kylie from practice early, took her to Camri's rehearsal to keep eye on Camri, ran back to watch Jory T. receive an award for Academic Excellence (still trying to figure out why his grades don't reflect this award), took him home, went to a meeting for my upcoming adventure to boy's camp as a cook, and finally made it home. Jory managed to swing by and pick up Kylie and Camri.

Thursday: Felt like things were fine till Dallin informed me at 5:20 that he was supposed to be at Steven's middle school at 5:15 for mad mallets! Drove like a maniac and threw him out the door in front of the school at 5:35This was actually a picture from last week. He had his Mad Mallets concert for parents. At the end, they taught the parents how to play a song. He was excited to show me. Back to my week...made it home in time to grab Jory T. and take him to his school for 8th grade graduation. Pushed him out of the car and then drove back for Dallin. Picked him up and turned around to go back to the graduation. Sure would have been a lot easier if Dallin could have preformed at Jory's school. Got there in time to find a spot on the floor and watch them walk in. Remembered I forgot to tell his father and made a quick call. Jory looked so grown up. It was a little sad thinking he would be in high school next year. His dad made it just in time to see him get his certificate. Good thing, because I left after and made it to the end of my girls' camp meeting. Luckily my dad had showed up again in time to pick up Kylie from basketball, or I might have forgotten her all together.

Friday: Borrowed my dad's car and took Kylie for her driving test at the DOL. Anyone wondering why? SHE PASSED AND NOW HAS A DRIVER'S LICENCE! Got Dallin from school and sent him with Grandpa back to Idaho for a week. Took Kylie to practice (I still need to get her insured:), fixed Camri's hair and took her to my good friend to do her makeup and give her a ride to dance recital, picked up Kylie, let her drive us home in the standard, picked up Jory T. and went grocery shopping for the father-son campout, unloaded groceries, kissed my boys goodbye and went to Camri's dance recital. It was AMAZING! Such talented groups. Afterwards, went for drinks with my friend and the girls (LEMONADE:). Came home to find boys! What? Jory didn't get home early enough to go.

Saturday: Jory, JT and Cody got up and went four-wheeling Kylie drove Camri to my friend's to get her makeup done. It was just in the neighborhood and saved me 15 minutes! Enough time to finish my makeup and hair. She even drove the standard. I picked up Camri and my friend's daughter and took them to the recital, dropped Kylie and her friend off at the mall, went to Costco because we are out of food, went home to unload groceries and then went back to watch Camri. She was adorable. After the show, Camri and I went to eat since I missed out on shrimp Friday with Debbie and the girls;) Then we went to pick Kylie up from the mall. While at the mall, Camri spent her bday money and got her ears pierced. Kylie, Alex and I laughed at her reaction. I thought I was recording it, but never pushed the record button:( All in all, my busy week had me in tears for both good and bad reasons. I never knew mother hood could be so hard and so rewarding at the same time. I wouldn't trade it for anything! I shall endure........
Jory performed at his graduation. I recorded it with my phone since I forgot the camera in such a hurry.
Dallin's mad mallets program.