Girls Camp at Cumorah

Brief little blip on the Japanese Gardens in IF... they're small but beautiful! We decided to go check them out together on a Sunday afternoon and I'm so glad we did!

There are about 15 other attempts to capture these 4 on this rock. LOL The wind was blowing, the kids were looking other ways etc. But I persisted and wala!

Girls camp was at the LDS owned Cumorah Girls Camp this year. It was an interesting experience this year. Last year the camp was on a ward basis. This year it was on a stake level and the stake felt it was important for the girls to know they were not alone. So in an effort to communicate that, they divided the girls into camps by school grade rather than by ward. I understand their efforts and it was a cool idea but with one itty bitty oversight. Jaedyn is the only girl in her grade in our ward and she did not know anyone else in the entire stake (our stake is split over 2 middle school/highschool boundaries) so rather than feeling reassured... she felt very very alone. They held stake prep activities in advance to help the girls prepare and it felt to Jaedyn like everyone knew each other but her. She was very reserved about the whole idea and resistant to the point of almost not going to camp!

Then inspiration struck her. Mariah is in her age group but behind her 1 year in school. Could she join the 8th grade camp based on her age? It was approved and suddenly, I had a very excited teen again.  

I think they look pretty happy to be together! I was only up for a day and a half but can tell you, they ate well, hiked beautiful country, and crafted their hearts out. There was also a lake for swimming which made the heat bearable for the brave of heart... despite the leech infested waters. I kid you not. Think BIG leeches. Nasty! 

We live in Idaho so of course we were camping in bear country. As such we made a big emphasis on no food in the tents! And of course several of the girls ignored that advice. It about gave Jaedyn a coronary. She is a responsible camper who has been well trained and educated. She kept coming to me with this news upset, because her tent mates were eating in the tents. I tried multiple times to educate and warn but to no avail. Alas, Jaedyn got a good lesson in allowing others their free agency. Aaaand she switched tents. LOL She and Mariah moved into mine when I left the 2nd day.

And last but not least... a tribute to good friends. We have some neighbors who have a son Jaedyn's age and another son that is Lilia's age. They get along so well. Sometimes the youngers get teased a bit as they try out business ventures together. Lilia gets pretty frustrated by the teasing. It's not us, mind you! So Landon wrote up this little beauty for Lilia... and I preserved it for posterity because... wouldn't you?

It so reminds me of the country song "Check Yes or No" by George Strait!

 

Summer Day to Day

It's been a tough transition to summer! But transitions have always been a little tough. Along with the hard comes the good. And as I was just telling my daughter today, the things with the greatest payoff are usually hard, if we avoid the hard, we also avoid a lot of the good. So here's to a good summer!

One of the reasons it has been a little tricky this year is that we had a summer drama camp the first 2 weeks of summer for the older two. This prevented us from establishing a bit of a routine. The girls started the camp with a bit of trepidation, hesitation, and well... disdain. I wish they would have trusted me a little more. Because low and behold, they loved it! And they were so sad when it ended this weekend. 

The house was full of music and dancing for the first 2 weeks which was fun to witness as they practiced for their performances. They met many new people and even ended up liking them LOL. And they both learned some valuable lessons for their future acting careers (wink wink).

Lilia is becoming quite the cook! Behold delicious egg rolls made solely by my 11 year old. I LOVE that she loves to be in the kitchen. She is just so sweet to come and offer help, she loves to learn new things, and is unafraid to try anything! I really appreciate all the help and my taste buds do too! The kids have all requested this dinner multiple times this week... we may have to indulge again soon!

Meet Sadie! We dog sat this week and this little boxer girl is a little houdini! We had to get quite creative to figure a way to keep this little sweetheart in her crate at night! And to keep her in the yard during the day. My leash hooked to the zipline was one of the many fails (I thought she would enjoy running across the yard) you can see the end result of that brilliant idea! 

She FINALLY learned to respect the electric fence and ignore the horses. We got along great the last half of the week!

Spent too many hours turning the deck white. Still not sure I'll love having a white deck but it matches better, and it's a temporary fix anyway while Chad decides what he wants to replace it with. I like having the deck but Chad isn't a big fan. The wood is getting pretty worn too though so whether or not we get rid of it or keep it... it will be a big project. In the meantime, it needed a new protective coat.

And of course, we take lots of walks to strengthen our legs for the hiking season! That is, until little sisters poop out and don't want to ride anymore. Then big sisters get to swoop to the rescue. I wish this picture could have captured the ridiculousness of Jaedyn riding McKinley's bike! It looked SO hard! She then pipes up with "Mom her tire's practically flat, no wonder it's so hard to ride"! Yep. That's it. It has nothing to do with the size. LOL

 

Lion King Jr

The Idaho Youth Arts Council (IFYAC) holds 2 week summer camps and in that time puts together some incredible productions! This year they were doing Lion King Jr and Newsies. I really wanted the kids to do Newsies but the dates wouldn't work for us so they spent the first 2 weeks of summer working on Lion King Jr. Jaedyn played the part of Sarabi and Lilia played the part of grass, hyena, wildebeast, and spirit. 

You guys! The costumes, the dancing, the music, the set... it was all so incredible! And they threw it together in TWO WEEKS! I do believe we will be doing it again. The kids originally told me they were interested. I signed them up, paid and then suddenly summer was upon us and the girls didn't want to go! They didn't know anyone. Lion King was for babies. They didn't want to wake up early. They didn't want to pack lunches. Etc etc etc. I was beyond irritated. But by golly they were going! And go they did. And they loved it! They made friends, loved the dancing and singing, had fun with the acting, loved their mentors, enjoyed the script and learned so SO much! And it was fun to watch them love it together.

After one of their matinee productions I caught them on Pride Rock.  But not before Lilia had changed from her costume. 

Lilia was such a funny hyena! I wish I could have captured her better. She had her tongue hanging out of her mouth, her eyes crossed, and her bobbing up and down. It was pretty hilarious. I don't know how she did that and sang and danced at the same time! But she didn't miss a beat. 

The lionesses mourning a fallen Mufasa.

A quick pose in character. The costumes were so great! And I love the lion heads they made for the lionesses!

Such a fun group! And that little Zazu there in the front row was pretty incredible! Lilia was pretty excited to come home the first day and tell me about a girl who was older than her but smaller than her. She played a great Zazu, complete with British accent and everything!

Jaedyn poses with Scar

Funny side note: Jaedyn was allergic to the black makeup they used. She has been sporting wheals on her face in the shape of donuts across her forehead where they outlined the yellow circles and whiskers across her cheeks for days! The yellow circles just left orange rashes that make her look like she forgot to rub her concealer in! She's a good sport about it though. 😂 She hasn't even tried to use concealer to cover it. It is all that remains of the good memories formed the last 2 weeks and she just laughs about it.

 

First week of Summer!

First off: the 5th grade bike ride right before summer hit! They had a wind storm the week it was schedule originally, on a work day so I couldn't go. But when they rescheduled it because of the wind... I got to go and Lilia and I both were so excited. And I was also excited to see that several of her friend's moms, who are friends of mine, were also going! We rode to Iona park, about 5 miles away and the kids cruised the whole way there! We spent a few hours at the park with several schools playing games and had a picnic with grilled hotdogs (the school splurged and provided beef dogs for the adults... I was grateful!)

And then... school ended. And it has been a flurry of activity ever since! 

We have had numerous playdates, dentist appointments, optometry appointments, and even well checks. None of the 6 of us had cavities this round which was super exciting for the kids as we give them a payout of $25 if they don't after each appt, it helps motivate the brushing and decrease the fighting each night. And saves mom and dad a lot of money, totally worth it! Jaedyn was the only one who needed glasses and was excited to get a large set of plastic rims to which she will undoubtedly roll her eyes in 10 years and wonder what parent would allow a child they loved to wear such things. But ... 🤷. Lilia is 3rd percentile in growth and was offered growth hormone to which she emphatically exclaimed "I like being short!" and the conversation was over. I was proud of her for liking herself, our bodies are a gift and I think we get too caught up on appearances for our own good sometimes, but also I was grateful she felt that way. Because what she didn't realize prior to her emphatic refusal is that growth hormone is delivered via daily injections and have I mentioned that kid's extreme needle phobia? She is so mature, reasonable, and calm in so many ways... but when it comes to her immunizations... the kid gives the nurse a run for her money. EVERY. TIME. 

We have visited the library and read many books

And read them again.

Picnics and playdates, tea parties, and games.

More reading

And park visits! McKinley declared this was too beautiful not to capture and requested I take a picture as she took a break from her fun to enjoy the scenery. I love that my kids do that!

And what is summer without a fire in the backyard complete with roasting hotdogs and s'mores?

True to form, Ebony saves some yummy chocolate for later.

And the only picture I have from my extended family reunion yesterday... is a selfie Lilia took in the car on the drive there! LOL. Unfortunate too because we don't have those very often at all and I saw several cousins that I haven't seen for years!  

Jaedyn and Lilia have also been going to a 2 week drama camp. Next week they perform their new skills in a production of Lion King Jr. Our house has been filled with dancing and singing as a result. It's been a fun start to summer!

 

Convos to Remember

 It is wonderful having the kids home! But there is always so much noise! And some of the kids are louder, more consistently, than others. We have an Alexa device which allows us access to music, internet, weather, etc via voice activation. But she also gets loud. Chad and I tell her "Alexa! Volume 5!" constantly because the kids like to listen to her LOUD. 

Well Jaedyn was being exceptionally loud this afternoon and it was getting to be too much. Chad got exasperated and hollered "Jaedyn! Volume 5!" Which did not have the same instantaneous results as when speaking to Alexa. He said it again. No response again. He grumbled, "I think our Jaedyn is broken" to which McKinley, without pause, piped up and declared "Yeah... we should take her to the D.I." 😂😂😂 

That kid catches on so quickly to Chad's humor and has such automatic and witty responses sometimes! Jaedyn was not amused. But the rest of us were! We love you Jaedyn! But really... volume 5!