Summer 2024 - The beginning of the busy month

Our summer is very top heavy. Just about everything I have planned is happening in June. Like we haven't gone to Utah AT ALL this year, and I am going there FOUR times in June.

This first week of June kicked off the busy-ness. 

It was tech week for Brandon's play. Usually rehearsals go from 7:00 to 10:00. But during tech week they go from 5:30 to 10:00 or later. The actors get into costume and make sure their mics work and then run through the whole play. Then they go right into opening night and several performances. It's like running a marathon every night for a week. 

Tech week is always CRAZY at home, but I've learned a few tricks for surviving it. One is to primarily use paper plates at dinner. Two is to make REALLY simple meals. Three is to plan things to stay occupied while Brandon is gone. 

And this time it helped that it was summer. This is the first summer play that Brandon has done. Tech week was so much easier this time around because I wasn't balancing the kids school schedule. 

Another thing that was going on this week was that Charlotte and Lydia were at the Modern Manufacturing Career Academy at CSI. This is an amazing day camp that runs for a week. I dropped the girls off at 9:00 every day and picked them up again at 3:00. They had a great time learning lots of hands on manufacturing skills like welding, operating a CNC machine, wood shop, etc. 

And the final thing that made this week busy was that the pool was open. That's not a bad thing, but we definitely went there a lot. 

So let's take a closer look at this crazy week. 

On Monday I dropped the girls off for the Modern Manufacturing Career Academy. The girls did this last year so we knew exactly where to go. They were a little nervous that they'd be in different groups. So they were happy to find out they would be together. 


Last year I'd liked this camp, but the logistics around it kind of stressed me out. Derrick was still in behavioral therapy and was supposed to be picked up every day at 9:00. I'd asked his therapist to come 15 minutes early, but sometimes he was late and that was stressful. Also I'd drop the girls off at the college and then have to basically drive back home to go to my office for work. 

This year things were a lot better. Derrick doesn't have therapy this summer so I didn't have to worry about the logistics of that. And my office has moved near the college. It was so nice on Monday to drop the girls off and then just drive over to work. 

Work was good. When we first moved to this office we had a problem with a lot of our mail getting lost or taking a long time to forward to us. I usually can have claims paid within a month of the appointment happening - but all those lost checks really slowed things down. There were so many unpaid claims. Those issues have mostly resolved so I'm feeling much more on top of that area. 

I got off work around 12:00 and came home to hang out with Derrick and Veronica. They had been happily watching movies. They were going through the Star Wars movies starting with Episode 1. At some point in the week they watched Episode 2, but before they did they were like, "Mom are we allowed to watch that one alone?"  The last time we'd watched that movie I'd fast forwarded through all the long scenes with a lot of talking parts. But they thought I'd been fast forwarding through "bad parts."  I was like, "Oh sure you can watch it. I just fast forwarded through some boring stuff. So anyway they watched that. 

When they got to Episode 6 they were like, "We're done."  I asked them if they'd watch Episodes 7, 8, and 9. They were like, "Nope."  And left it at that. So yeah, they don't consider that third trilogy as cannon. 

I had been planning to take Derrick and Veronica swimming right when the pool opened at 1:00. But the weather was a little chili. Nobody wanted to swim that afternoon. So instead we ran some errands. We went to the library and then we went to the pool so I could at least buy my pool pass. I'd had trouble buying it online this year so I had to do it in person. That was good because I desperately needed to replace our cards. I've had the same little barcode cards since 2020 and they were in rough shape. They barely scanned last summer. So now I have nice new cards that scan so well. 

Then we went home and I'm not sure what we did. Honestly I probably took a nap. Around 2:30 I went to pick up Charlotte and Lydia. But first I stopped at Deseret Book to pick up tickets to Les Mis. It's being put on by a teenage theatre group in a few weeks. Tickets are like $3 cheaper if you get them in person so I got those for me and Brandon. 

Then I picked up the girls. They'd had a great time doing autobody things. They'd practiced painting little cars. I joked that Brandon was going to put them to work on our cars. 

Back at home I made pizza on French bread for dinner. I'd asked everybody how we wanted to handle dinner during tech week. Did we want to eat all together at like 4:45 or did we want to have dinner a little later without Brandon? The kids said they all wanted to eat with Brandon so they could see him. So we had dinner at like 4:45. Then Brandon got his stuff together and left. He'd actually spent the last few hours finishing the details on his costume pants. 

I went outside to the garden and picked a bunch of spinach. I'm really liking this baby leaf variety. 

Around 7:00 the day seemed warm enough that we decided to go to the pool after all. I knew I wouldn't get in the water, but all the kids wanted to. They said the water was warm, but I didn't believe them. 

There were only like one or two other families at the pool with us. It was nice to basically have the place to ourselves. 

Here's someone doing a handstand in the water. 

On Tuesday I dropped the girls off at camp, but I didn't have work until the afternoon. Veronica came with me and we went to Walmart. She'd ordered a Tie-Fighter lego set and that was ready to pick up. And we needed to go in the store for a few things. So we bought the in store things and then picked up the lego set. 

Veronica and Derrick went to work on it as soon as we got home. 

Here it is all complete (many hours later)

Between those pictures I went to work. I haven't worked in the afternoon since last summer so it's kind of strange to do that again. I feel like I've lived 5 lives by the time I show up at work. 

Brandon had tech rehearsal again that night. Our friend Payton came over again while her parents were at the rehearsal. She's fun to have around.

 

Lydia mowed both the front and back lawns on Tuesday night. So on Wednesday morning I went out and took some pictures of how good both yards looked. Here's the front of the house. 

My peonies were starting to bloom.

Here's the house from another angle. I'm loving that path lined by long grass.

And here's the backyard. 

These garden beds are starting to have lots of good things in them.

And here's the Sun Burst Locust. I love the color and it smells so good. I'll go put my nose right up to it. I'm like, "Don't mind me, I'm just smelling my tree."

Here's the new garden bed up against the fence. It's looking really good. 

I went grocery shopping early in the morning and then I took Charlotte and Lydia to camp at 9:00. Then I had my scripture study class at 10:00 on Wednesday morning. 

This week we studied Mosiah 15 which honestly was the chapter I was most nervous for when I started this whole Scripture study project. The first 5 verses of Mosiah 15 can be very confusing and I've been in many a Sunday School Class that has bogged down over what they mean. (They seem to be referencing a Trinity.) Half the reason I bought the "Brief Theological Introduction to Mosiah was because I knew there was a chapter that attempted to explain those verses.  So going into planning the lesson I thought we'd spend a lot of time to fully understand those verses. 

Well . . . . that didn't happen. The chapter about those five verses was something like 22 pages long! And frankly I was bored of the whole thing by about page 11. 

I actually was way more interested in what was happening in verses 10-21. Way back in Chapter 12 the priests of Noah ask Abinadi to interpret a passage from Isaiah and in Chapter 15 verses 10-21 he FINALLY does that. 

I was actually so thrilled by what I discovered that I turned it into my blog post for the exponent this month. It's called Who Has Beautiful Feet - Interpreting Isaiah in Mosiah Who Has Beautiful Feet? - Interpreting Isaiah in Mosiah. I'm super proud of this. Like if I ever get asked to give a talk in Sacrament meeting without being given a topic THIS is what I would talk about. But that doesn't seem to be happening anytime soon so I'd be thrilled if you gave it a read.  

If nothing else you can enjoy this meme that I made when I was making my lesson plan for Chapter 15. 

I didn't have work that afternoon and so right at 1:00 I took Derrick and Veronica to the pool. I got in the water with them for a little while. Then I laid on a towel and read a book called The Bee Keeper. My sister Emily recommended it to me. It's a nice read - especially after finishing the Vengeance is Mine book. 

Around 2:15 my friend Jamie showed up with her kids. We talked for a bit and then another friend, Megan, arrive. Megan was there about 5 minutes before I had to leave to get Charlotte and Lydia from camp. I told her, I have to leave, but it's not because you came. 

So at 2:45 Derrick, Veronica and I left and drove over to CSI. I got the girls. They wanted to swim and Derrick and Veronica stayed home so we went home and dropped off Derrick and Veronica and Charlotte and Lydia hurried to change. Then we went back to the pool and I went back to talking with my friends. 

We got back home around 4:30. I was reflecting on how much time I'd spent at the pool. I was like, "hmmm that was a lot - even for this family."  And then I realized that I really do have more time this summer because we don't have all sorts of therapy happening. 

Brandon had made dinner and we ate that and then he went to rehearsal - again. Charlotte, Lydia, and Derrick all had activities for Young Men and Young Women's, but nobody was interested in what was offered. So we just went to the pool when it reopened at 7:00. 

Yes in one day I went to the pool three times. 

In the summer I wake up around 5:30 and Thursday was no different. I don't really mind it though. I'm able to get up and water the yard and do some yard work before anyone in the family is up. 

Here are my pretty irises. 

I took Charlotte and Lydia to camp at 9:00 again. Veronica came with me again. This time we went to Winco after we dropped off the girls. When I'd been shopping on Wednesday the whole freezer aisle had been blocked off with lots of boxes while the workers restocked everything. I was like, "I'll just come back."  So this was me coming back to get all that freezer stuff. (Derrick had barely survived Wednesday without corndogs.) 

Back at home I hung out with Derrick and Veronica for a while. We had a good time. But around 11:30 they were getting antsy. They were like, "Can you leave so we can watch a movie."  I laughed and was like, "Yeah, I might as well we already had lunch so there's not much else to do before 12:00."

So I left for work a little early and they got to watch their movie. 

I went to Ivan's and did some things there. At some point earlier in the week I'd had a major break through in a problem I'd had with one clients claims. It was a HUGE win. So it was fun to celebrate that together. To make things even better, another difficult claim issue also seemed to be resolved. I was getting close to FINALLY having all the old claim issues resolved. 

My conversations with Ivan are kind of funny because we'll be talking about insurance one minute and then the next we are talking about the play. He told me that Brandon was doing really well. I told him that Brandon was loving being part of the play. 

Then I went to Aspen Grove and got a lot done there. 

At home Veronica made a whole Star Destroyer to go with her tie-fighter. This is the top view. You can see the tie-fighter parked inside.  

Here's Darth Vader talking to the hologram of the Emperor. 

This was a conference room. (Earlier Darth Vader had been in here, and one of the people was slumped over from being force choked.)

I think this is just a room with lots of people and aliens walking around. 

Here's the tie-fighter. 

And this shows princess Leah (with the blue hair) being held captive. 

Veronica had her last vision therapy appointment. (She still has one more appointment for an evaluation this week and then she is DONE.) Brandon took her to that. When that was over he picked the girls up from camp. 

We had dinner and then Brandon went to rehearsal. This was the Dress Rehearsal. Another cast member was taking pictures and took this AWESOME picture of Brandon. 

Brandon had so much fun putting this look together. The shirt is from a costume shop in town. He made the bandana. He ordered boots from Amazon. I'm trying to find a picture that shows his pants. He bought a pair of pants that was too big and then put rivets on the sides. He cinched them up with cord. It looks so cool. I seriously need to find a picture.  He also ordered a bunch of temporary tattoos and had fun putting them on.

That night I could have taken the kids on a hike along with the Relief Society for that month's activity. But instead we went to the pool. Big surprise there. 

Friday was the last day of the twins manufacturing camp. And I was getting ready for it to be over. I dropped them off at camp and then went right to work. I was planning to stay there for 3 hours, but I wasn't really in the mood. I was kind of just staying busy until the mail came. It showed up and there was only one check. So I hurried and go that done and then just went home. I'd made it 2 hours and 15 minutes. 

At home I had Derrick and Veronica help me get stuff ready for that night. We were going to Dierkies Lake so we had to find the blow up tubes, the pump, and a couple other things. 

Here are my peonies in all their glory. 

They are so pretty! And I remembered to support them this year. 

At 2:00 we went to CSI and met up with Charlotte and Lydia for a little reception. We all got soft serve icecream and we could look at their creations from the week. 

They'd made the birdhouses that day.

Charlotte was like, "They dried like and hour ago."

I loved this super cute house they made out of metal. They'd welded designed on it. 

Here's the little cars they practiced painting.

They'd made this in the welding unit too.

I'm not sure when they did this, but it was cute. 

We went home and I immediately found homes for everything in my garden. 

This house looks so cute in the back garden. 

Here's a bird feeder. 

Look how cute this is with the flowers. 

Charlotte helped me put the bird houses up in the back along the fence. (You can see one of last year's bee house by her hand).

These are just adorable together. 

My plan was to hang out at home until Brandon left for the play at 5:30 and then go to Dierkie's lake, but around 4:00 Brandon was like, "I'm going to take a nap." So I was like, "Hey kids, let's go."  They got in the car so fast Derrick and Veronica forgot to put shoes on.

We drove to the lake and the kids helped me carry everything over to the grassy area by the lake. When we go to the pool we travel light. We just bring towels, the bag with goggles and toys, and maybe a bottle of water. But I've learned that Deirkies Lake needs more prep. We had a tote with a big picnic blanket, and the 4 travel pillows. We had a cooler with dinner in it. We also had another bag with water and a few dinner things that didn't fit in the cooler. We brought the four boogie boards. We also brought three life jackets because Veronica had needed one when we first went to Dierkies last year.  We had the towels and the bag with the masks. And we had the blow up tubes and the pump. 

It was quite a lot of stuff, but I was planning to stay for HOURS and I wanted to be prepared. We actually took two trips. We took most everything to our spot and then went back to the car to blow up the tubes at the car.

As soon as we were back at the lake everyone jumped in. I got in my tube and floated around in the water for a long time. 

Derrick had bought an RC boat that week at Toy Town and he was itching to try it out. So he brought that and drove it around in the water. The battery only worked for about 15 minutes. But he was the most popular boy at the lake for those 15 minutes. 

After about an hour we were getting hungry so I got out of the lake and went to the shore to help the kids get dinner. We had store rolls and I'd brought lunch meat and cheese to make little sandwiches. We had pickles, and cheese puffs to go with them. I also had home made rice crispy treats. It was a good time. Here are me and Veronica hanging out. 

Here's our view of the lake. It had been a lot of work to get there but it was worth it. I'd learned when Brandon was off doing things with the Army that it was easy to pretend that he was just at work on week days, but that weekends were a lot harder. I knew I had to plan something for that night so that we wouldn't feel bad that he wasn't home on a Friday night. 

I'd invited some people to come hang out, but I didn't really have any for sure confirmations. So it was exciting when Jori and her family showed up. And a little bit later my friend Kori and her family came. It was really fun to talk with all of them during the evening. 

At one point the girls wanted a break so they were laying in the blow up tubes with the blankets. In this picture Charlotte and Lydia each have their own tube while Veronica is stuck on the outside. A little later Charlotte and Lydia shared one so Veronica could have one. 

I sat and talked with Jori and Kori and their families. Derrick was in the water and Jori's kids were narrating everything he was doing. They were like, "Look, he's going under the water!"  "Look he's swimming!"  Then we watched Veronica walk over and they were like, "Look, she's going to jump in again!" Then we watched Charlotte and Lydia come over and they narrated what they were doing. 

Soon I had all four kids in the water again. Kori said something like, "My five year olds told me not to call them babies any more. They want me to call them big kids."  Then she said, "But I said they aren't big kids until I'm like Valerie sitting on the grass while all my kids swim in the deep area by themselves."

Jori and later Kori left, but my kids played for a long time. We were some of the last people there. 

Here's a video of the kids playing.

Around 9 we carried everything back to the car and drove home. I was the first one to take a shower because I was going to an after party with Brandon and I knew the play was going to end around 9:30.   The kids watched a movie. 

At 9:40 Brandon texted me, "Applebee's in about 20 minutes." So I drove over there and met up with him and a whole group from the play. The cast usually goes out to eat together after the weekend shows. I've always stayed home, but this time I was like, "Hey I know these people too, I want to go hang out with them."

It was so much fun to see everyone. Brandon was sitting by Tim and Brent who I don't know really well. Tim was Mayor Shin in Music Man and he's Long John Silver in Treasure Island. He was hilarious to sit by. I didn't know Brent at all. He was playing the First Mate Mr Arrow. He was funny too. Rebecca who plays Joyce was across from me. She was another new person. Next to her was Kota. I do know Kota. He was Lydia's dance partner from Music Man. We were talking about how people are often known by their character names during the play (and after.) He said, "I was in the ensemble in music man. I was just known as Lydia's dance partner and the Whatdah Talk Guy."  I was like, "Yep." 

Kota is playing a character named Alan and I laugh every time I think about that. The character list has a bunch of scary names and then Alan. It's so funny. It reminds me of this comedy sketch. 

Kota was talking about his death scene and I didn't really have anything to reference for it. But when I saw it the next day I felt like it was one of the most honorable and yet saddest deaths of the play. He plays a character who is asked to join the pirates and then refuses and is killed. 

Ivan was on my table, but he was kind of far away. I went over to say hi. He was like, "Oh were you there tonight?"  I felt kind of bad saying, "No, I'm coming tomorrow night."  Later he told a bunch of people around that I was incredible. Brandon says that Ivan says that all the time. 

And, not to get all prideful here, but it IS true. Ivan is a very smart man and he's very good at his job, but I've been able to do things with the insurance billing that would take him twice as long. I often talk about all the problem claims, but I rarely mention the fact that 80% of his claims are paying within one month. He has a lot of clients with secondary insurance and I take care of submitting all those after the primary claims come back. And let me tell you, Secondary insurance is kind of a pain. So yeah, I'll take that complement. Brandon once told me, "Ivan could probably run his business without you. But he couldn't run that business and direct the play at the same time without you." And that is probably true. 

I also took a moment to say hi to Kerri and her husband Nate. Kerri was playing Jim's mother. Nate was Squire Trelawny - and was hilarious. My friend Rachel was there too. She's one of the pirates. My friend Sara was a little too far away to really talk to, but at the end I told her, "Hey I signed Veronica up for the theatre class you are teaching this fall."  She was like, "Oh cool!" Sara was Charlotte and Lydia's "fake mom" in Music Man. She's a really scary pirate named Georgia Merry. 

Brandon and I ordered an appetizer platter to split. Everyone ate and talked and joked and laughed and just had a lovely time. Brandon has been tentatively looking at some jobs in other parts of Idaho. It's more of a "let's just see what's out there" kind of exercise rather than an actual plan to move. As we sat there I kept thinking, "There's no way we could move away from THIS."

We got home around midnight and the kids were still awake. But soon we were all in bed. 

Saturday was the first Saturday we could sleep late in like a month. I celebrated by staying in bed until like 10:00. 

When we did get up we cleaned up the house. Then we went outside and blew up our two inflatable pools. One of them was our pool from 2020 and I knew it had a leak, but I wasn't 100% sure which pool was which. Plus I couldn't remember how bad the leak was. So we blew them both up. 

Charlotte was being funny with them. 

The city pool was closed for a swim meet that day so these two pools were the best we had. The kids played with them for a while. (And when the darker blue one deflated after about 3 hours I threw it away. 

I did some yard work, but it was a really hot day and I started getting a headache. So I went inside and worked on my lesson plan for the Exponent. (This was the first day we turned on the air conditioner so it was nice and cool in the house.) At the beginning of the year I'd signed up to write four lesson plans - one per quarter. I'd picked the plans based on when I thought I'd have time and not necessarily the content. 

I'd signed up to write one that would go up on June 17th. That one covered Alma 13-16. When I sat down to start reading the chapters about a month ago I was like, "What the heck is this?" Alma 13 starts with someone just talking about Priesthood for like half the chapter. It wasn't until I was almost done with the chapter that I was like, "Oh this is the middle of the Alma and Amulek story."

I had to back up into the previous week to find out that Alma was the one talking and that he was (sort of) responding to a question from the chief ruler Antionah. I was like, "this is such a weird place to divide the story."

I realized I couldn't write a very good lesson plan for only half the story. So I signed up to also write the lesson plan for Alma 8-12. I REALLY wanted to do that. But I also kind of regretted it. I was still working on lesson plans for my Mosiah group. I had to write my June Exponent post (which, even though it was based on my Mosiah lesson plans, was still a lot of work.) And now I had TWO lesson plans to write on Alma 8-16. Good thing I like writing and I like theology and I like writing about theology. (Also this is why this blog is a little late.)

Anyway, I worked on the blog for a lot of Saturday and a lot of Sunday. It was published Monday afternoon. You can read it here: Come Follow Me: Alma 8-12: Jesus Christ Will Come to Redeem His People.

Brandon spent a lot of time cleaning up the garage. Then he spent an equal amount of time drawing fake tattoos all over his arms. His knuckles are some sort of acronym for Dead Men Tell No Tales. Later someone added a snake to his arm.  Oh and that's his high school class ring on his finger. 

He went over to the play around 5:30. The kids and I left around 6:30. Derrick was in a really bad mood. I'd made him take a bath and he'd got soap in his eye.  Somehow that kicked off him saying "This is the WORST day EVER!"  He could not get over it. 

I was like, "Derrick, you are going to love this play. It's about treasure! It has pirates. You are going!"

So I somehow got him to the theatre. But he was determined to have a bad time. Still I was trying to make the most of it. Charlotte and Veronica were willing to take a picture with the poster. 

I got Derrick inside the lobby and then to our seats. But things just seemed extra loud. One of the actors, JR, played "The Old Sea Captain" who was the narrator of the story. He was greeting everyone as they came out of the lobby. It was really cool, but he had a very loud voice, and Derrick did not like that. 

I ended up taking him up to the messaneen level where it was a little quieter. He was very angry and yelled and cried up there and then we went back to our seats. I tried everything to get him to calm down, but he kept insisting I take him home. Finally I told him, "I can't take you home and make it back here in time. And you are in BIG TROUBLE if I miss this play. I WILL ground you from TV for a WEEK if you make me take you home."

He calmed down a little bit after that. But he started crying again when the play started. He wasn't the only one making noise though. There was another boy with some special needs who was making loud noises - but I think his were from happiness instead of frustration. 

Derrick was getting kind of loud and at one point said, "That pirate is mad at me," When Billy Bones was talking. So I took him out to the lobby. He said his eyes hurt so we washed them out with water from the drinking fountain. After that he was a little more resigned. 

We went back in and he sat quietly with his eyes shut for a long time. He didn't even open his eyes when I told him, "Look there's dad!"

Brandon looked SO GOOD. He was definitely a scary pirate. 

Eventually Derrick opened his eyes and watched the rest of the play. But he seemed determined not to enjoy it. I was like, "What the heck?"  This was the type of behavior I expected from Derrick when I took him Guys and Dolls. This was his SIXTH play. He's had no problems up to this point. I don't know why he was having issues this time. (Actually I think it had to do with the midnight bedtime the night before.)

Anyway, after Derrick was calmer I could enjoy the play more. And oh it was good. Everyone was doing so well. I kept thinking about how this play had been only a rumor less than a year ago. Ivan had written the script and given it to Jarod as a present after Music Man. Then the two of them went over it. Everyone knew it was going to happen at some point, but no one knew when. And now here it was. 

There were a lot of good moments. There was a lot of killing. Brandon had a swore fight scene that ended with his death. When another character died a little girl in the audience started crying and had to be taken out so we were assuming that was her dad. 

There was also a lot of comedy. The character Ben Gunn was absolutely hysterical. 

At the very end there was a scene with "The Old Man" and young Jim. I started crying during it. There was something so touching about seeing a young actor and an old actor together. Also JR was The Old Man. He'd been King Triton in Little Mermaid and I'd loved the quartet where he sang "If only." I think I've had a little crush/soft spot for JR ever since then. 

Brandon dies about two thirds of the way through the play. Some of the characters that die before him come back as background characters in the play. But basically from his death onward they all stay dead and hang out in the green room in the basement. He says that as more characters join him downstairs he'll greet them by saying, "Welcome to Hell."

At the end of the play they all came back on stage for final bows. Then they ran out to the lobby to be there as people walked out. 

We went out and the kids went right to Brandon and gave him hugs. (Well everyone except Derrick. He went right outside to the benches.) I would have liked to go around to every single person and tell them how well they did. But I was feeling very emotional from the end of the play and from Derrick fraying every last one of my nerves. So we just left. 

But on Sunday morning I wrote this for Facebook:

I took the kids to see Treasure Island last night. It was so good. So good.

Here are my rambling feelings. I'm going to number them so they look somewhat organized.

1. I used to listen to The Nerdist Podcast and the host, Chris Hardwick, was always urging people to "Create a Thing." Last night I saw a lot of people put on an incredible show because one man decided to "Create a Thing." This version of Treasure Island was co-written and directed by my friend Ivan. Everything else that came from this play was possible because of his work.

2. Brandon has grown as an actor. This was his third play with Magic Valley Rep. This was probably his biggest role yet. He had several lines and also had some pivotal moments. And his death scene was excellent. He did a great job playing one of the scary pirates.

3. All the actors were bringing their A game. I knew probably two-thirds of the cast from other productions. When I saw the cast list I KNEW this was going to be a solid play just based on the names. They all did wonderfully. Last night I told Brandon that the play might have been about choosing to follow Long John Silver or Captain Smullet, but in reality every person on that stage was fiercely loyal to Ivan. They were determined to bring his vision to life.

4. The theatre community - especially in Twin Falls - is incredible. When we first moved here Brandon was lonely. He didn't have any friends outside of church. Being part of Magic Valley Rep has been the best thing for him. He has made so many friends from the plays. The rehearsal schedule can be a bit demanding sometimes, but I don't complain because I know how good it is for Brandon to go "play" with his friends.

That's probably enough of my ramblings for now. Basically, if you were in the play - GREAT JOB. If you live near enough to see the play - get tickets. And if you have any desire at all to "Create a Thing" you should get to work on that.

Ivan later told me that he was so touched that he printed it out and glued it into his journal. 

I'd been on the fence about going out to eat with Brandon and the gang that night. I decided I'd rather just stay home (and make sure the kids went to bed at a decent time.) So I went home. They all went to Buffalo Wild Wings (Fun fact: Applebee's and Buffalo Wild Wings are the only two restaurants that stay open past 10:00 in Twin Falls.) He got home around 11:30. I was already in bed reading. We stayed up talking about how great the play was. 

Sunday was a relaxing day. It was the first day in a week that Brandon didn't have to do anything with the play. It was actually one of two days in the next two weeks that wouldn't have any play stuff. The play would run through a matinee on Father's Day and then they'd have to tear down the set afterward. So we decided it would be best to just celebrate Father's Day a week early. 

So after church we gave Brandon his presents. He was really excited.

The kids were too.

He got two BIG lego sets. Charlotte and Lydia had bought him an x-wing with their own money. And I'd bought him and Indian Jones set after Veronica told me that she and Brandon had seen one at Walmart. 

Brandon LOVES legos, but somehow these are the first sets he's ever received as an adult. Usually he wants tools for presents. But I felt like he needed something FUN this time. 

He and the kids spent the whole afternoon building things. I took a nap. 

We had orange chicken for dinner and we also had root beer floats. It was a good Father's Day. 

And that gets us through that week. But it was just the beginning of the busy-ness. 

Thanks for reading. 

Summer 2024 - On ramp to summer

This was our first full week of summer. It kind of felt like the on ramp to the summer. We took care of a lot of boring things like laundry during the first half of the week. But by the end of the week we were on our first camping trip of the summer. 

So let's recap.

Monday was Memorial Day. Brandon was off work and I didn't go into my office. We'd already gone on an adventure for the weekend on Saturday so Monday was really just about getting caught up around the house. 

We cleaned the house in the morning and then did a lot of outside work in the afternoon. I worked on weeding. Brandon and the twins worked on creating a roof for the chicken run. Our original plan was to leave it open, but then we started to see hawks flying low over our yard. So we figured out a quick way to install a roof. 

The twins helped Brandon mount PVC pipe on top of the T-Stakes. Then they spread bird netting over the top. 

(I'm adding this after publishing because I COMPLETELY forgot to write about something.

At 12:30 Brandon and I went to see Back to the Future at the movie theater. They do throw back movie matinees every week. Back to the Future is Brandon's favorite movie, but it came out when he was two. So he's never seen it on a big screen.

It was really fun to watch it like that. Also there was an older couple behind us who seemed to have never seen the movie before. Normally I hate when people talk during movies, but their little comments were so funny. Brandon said I was almost like we were back in 1985 watching it with other people for the first time.)

That evening Brandon cooked Hambergers on the grill. So that was kind of holiday-ish. 

I'd also done a lot of laundry on Monday. As the kids put it away I had them give me anything that they were done with. There were things we could save for fall, but there were also a lot of things that would be too small by fall. We put those things in a bag. 

On Tuesday we took those clothes to DI and donated them. Then we went inside to find shorts for everyone. There was a lot of really good selection. All the girls were able to find shorts - including me. Derrick was really good at looking at toys while we were looking at and trying on clothes. And the girls were really good at trying things on. Everything went well that I even took a minute to try clothes on. I haven't taken all 4 kids to DI (or really any stores) by myself for a long time so I was really happy with how well everything went. 

After we were done at DI we drove over to the college and I let the kids play while I was on an important phone call for Derrick's insurance. I'd actually spaced that this call was happening and the lady had called me while we were at DI.  I was like, "Um can I call you back in 15 minutes?"  She was very understanding. 

Here's what the kids looked like while I was talking on the phone in the car. They had a great time playing near the creek. 

Charlotte reminded me that we needed more milk so we stopped at Smiths on the way home. She also told me we needed Creamies. So we bought those too. All the kids went out to the hammocks and at Creamies when we got home. This was a very good summer picture. 

I went into work in the afternoon and got a lot of things done - after I realized I'd locked my keys in the car. That's the second time I've done that in a week!  My boss used his keys to let me into my office and later Brandon came and unlocked the car and gave me my keys.  Later he found a big lanyard and put it on the keys.  

I have been going grocery shopping on Tuesday evenings, but I realized that it will be so much easier to do it Wednesday mornings this summer. So Veronica and I went grocery shopping on Wednesday before anyone else was up. 

When we got home Derrick wanted to watch a movie, but I wanted to actually do something with him. We settled on making paper airplanes from some tutorials. Here he is testing on out on the stairs. 

At 10:00 I had my scripture study group. It was on Mosiah 14 which is basically just Isaiah 53. 

Normally I wouldn't work on Wednesday afternoons, but since I took Monday off I needed to go in on Wednesday. So I went to work. I stopped off at Castle Therapy to touch base with Ivan. He'd been on vacation for a few days so we had some stuff to catch up on. 

Then I went to Aspen Grove and did a lot there. I actually ended up on a roll with some things that I've been stuck on for a while. It was good to get on top of all those little things. 

Brandon was in charge of the food for a breakfast at our Ward Campout that weekend. He was putting together a list of things to buy and where to buy them. He wanted to get some things at Costco and some others at the Chef's store. He had an online cart full of things at the Chefs store and asked me to check it out for him while he went to costco. I was going to be the one to pick it up anyway so he wanted me to make sure it was in my name. 

I was fine with that, but before I checked out I took a look at the cart and got a little concerned. Brandon had a TON of food in the card. And the total was quite high.  So then I started texting him with pesky questions like, "What's the headcount for this event?" and "Is there any sort of budget limit on this?"

He said the headcount was 60. So then I was like, "Do you really need 180 eggs?"  

He responded with something like, "I'd rather error on the side of caution."

And I just laughed at how different our personalities can be sometimes. 

To him, "error on the side of caution" meant make sure there is enough food for everyone. To me it meant maybe not blowing the whole ward budget on one meal. 

I ended up not buying the things in the cart and Brandon ended up deciding to buy a few fewer eggs and other things. (But as you'll see we still had PLEANTY  of food.)

That night our friend Payton came over while her parents were at rehearsal with Brandon. She really likes our tree house and spent some time engineering things for it. 

Charlotte and Lydia had the camp kick off for Young Womens, and Derrick had Young Mens. The activites started at different time and I didn't want to spend half the night driving back and from the church - especially when I was supposed to be watching Payton. So I had a leader give Charlotte and Lydia a ride to and from the activity. I dropped Derrick off at the church, but I asked one of the leaders to bring him home. That all worked really well. 

Veronica also worked on Lego things. She made a lego house. This is the first floor. 

the second floor. 

And the outside. 

Thursday was a CRAZY day. I had so much I needed to do, but I wasn't sure how to fit it all in. 

I needed to take the kids to DI for a few more clothing things. I needed to take Lydia to look at a cello. I needed to take Charlotte and Lydia to drop off artwork for a contest, I needed to take Veronica to vision therapy. I needed to pick up food for the ward campout. I needed to work. 

But I realized I wouldn't have time for it all. Walmart could wait because Derrick had enough shorts to start the summer, and even though Veronica and Charlotte didn't have sandals they did have ones from our "extra" pile that would work. 

Lydia had been hounding me about the cello for weeks so that couldn't wait. I decided to take her and Charlotte to the music store and then to drop off their art. Lydia wanted to go from the beginning, but Charlotte didn't want to go at first.  She rolled out of bed at the last minute and told me, "My art is too fragile. I don't trust you with it."  So she came along basically wearing the clothes she slept in."

We need to give some back story on the cello. And that starts with Charlotte's violin. Last summer we bought Charlotte's violin with some grant money. The grant was some sort of Covid funding to help students catch up on learning that they would have lost during the pandemic. But somehow musical instruments are in that category. 

We'd gone through our local music store, Welch music, because they were an approved vendor with the grant program. I planned to do the same thing to buy Lydia's cello this year. 

Then I figured out that the grant program could also pay for Veronica's vision therapy. So I used the grant money for vision therapy and decided to use the money that had been ear marked for vision therapy to pay for the cello. 

That meant we could go anywhere to buy the cello. But I figured I might as well start with Welch music because they had been so awesome to work with when we bought the violin. I emailed the lady I'd worked with before and asked her what cellos were available. 

She emailed me back with 3 options. And I nearly fainted at the prices. The cheapest was $1200. Remember, I paid $1000 for our current van. I was not very comfortable with paying $1200 for an instrument for a 13 year old. 

So then I was thinking that maybe it would be cheaper to buy an instrument in Utah. Maybe since there was more selection/competition the prices would be lower. But when I looked at the websites for Summerhays and Riverton Music I saw cellos that were even more expensive. So Utah was out. 

I emailed the lady back and was honest with her. I understood why the prices were what they were, but I just wasn't comfortable paying that much for a cello for an 8th grader. I asked her if she knew where I could get maybe a more beginner model for a little less. 

I thought she'd reply back with a quick no, but instead she took the time to call around to some of her contacts to see if they had less expensive cellos. None of them had anything. She also asked the store owner if he could lower the price.  He agreed to sell us the $1200 cello for $1000. 

I was so impressed by her effort and I realized that this was the best deal we were going to get. So that's why I was taking Lydia to play this cello. 

We got to the store a little after 10:00 the sales clerk pulled the cello out and we all saw that it was so new that it still needed the brings put on and the strings tuned. That would take a few minutes so I told the store people that we'd be back in about 30 minutes after we ran another errand. 

So we left and went to the Magic Valley Arts Council.  Charlotte and Lydia each had an entry for the youth division of the Art and Soul Art Contest. Most people were dropping their art off on Saturday. But since we'd be camping I'd asked if we could drop ours off on another day. They'd said we could drop them off anytime during the week. 

We got there as a man was finishing up at the gift shop counter. He had a big bag with him. When he was done he asked Charlotte and Lydia, "You look like Youth Artists?  I'm a reporter with Channel 6 News. Can I interview you for a story I'm doing about Art and Soul?"

Charlotte agreed right away. Lydia took a minute and then agreed too. 

The man got everything set up and started interviewing Charlotte. She had the dragon wings that she'd made for a school art project. They opened and closed with some strings. She showed them off while he recorded. Then he asked some questions about why she likes art. She did a great job.

Then it was Lydia's turn. She had a picture she drew of a castle. She also did a good job answering the reporters questions. 

The reporter told us the story would air on either Friday night or Monday night and then be available on the news website. I haven't seen it go up yet, so I'm guessing it will air on Monday. 

The girls turned in their pictures. We left and were giddy with how much of a coincidence it had been that we showed up right when that reporter was there. 

I'd been thinking that maybe there would be time to buy things at the chefs store before going back to the music store, but the news interviews had eaten up all that time. So I texted Brandon and told him he'd have to do it that afternoon. (That worked out well because he was able to compare prices at Winco and get a better deal on some things.)

I took the girls back to the music store and the cello was ready for us. Lydia tried it out and I couldn't see any reason to wait so I told them we'd buy it. I transferred the money from savings to checking and soon we walked out the door with a cello. It came with a really nice case and a good bow so really the cello itself was like $800. 

Here's Lydia playing it. 

I basically had time to eat a quick lunch and then I had to run to work. I'd already done about an hour of work from home that morning before anyone got up. But there I needed to do some more at work. So I went to work for about 2 hours. 

At 1:30 I left work, picked up Veronica, and basically drove right back to where I'd come from so she could have vision therapy at 2:00. My goal was to have no therapy this summer, but we'd skipped some sessions for our vacation and the day the power went out. So Veronica has three weeks of vision therapy in the summer. It makes my Thursday schedule super weird so I'm hoping Brandon can take her to the last two appointments. 

He couldn't take her this time because he had to prep for teaching at CSI that night. And that prep time actually got taken up by shopping. 

As if being interviewed for the news and buying a cello weren't enough, Charlotte and Lydia also had a lego set show up. They'd ordered the Millennium Falcon with money they'd been saving. 

Brandon came home a little after I got home with Veronica. Everyone helped him carry food into the garage. Then he drove out to CSI. 

I went and took a nap. My plan was to take a quick nap and then get the car packed for camping with the help of the kids. 

But I woke up from the nap with like zero desire to do ANYTHING. I didn't even make dinner. We just had cereal. 

I did eventually get around to washing the dishes and going over the calendar for June. I also straightened out the bank account. There was money going every which way in there. I'd been paid, I'd bought the cello, I needed to pay our mortgage, I needed to move money to cover the food purchases until we were reimbursed. It was crazy!

But we never did pack the car. I was like, "We have plenty of time to do it on Friday." Which was true, but also stupid.

Anyway, on Friday I went to work - again. I was very ready for the weekend. 

Then I came home and the kids started helping me pack the car. I'd asked them to pack their bags while I was at work so they already had their clothes packed. That was good. 

I went out to the garage and started trying to find things. But this was easier said than done. We'd just kind of thrown everything into a pile after our Texas trip. Brandon had haphazardly put the stuff from that pile onto the camping shelves a few weeks ago. There was no rhyme or reason to where anything was. 

The tents were easy because I'd bought new ones. But it was harder to find the 6 sleeping bags, 6 camp chairs, and the 3 air mattresses.  Hardest of all were all the little accessories like the air pump and the lanterns. They were just scattered everywhere. 

I was planning to meet with Ivan real quick that afternoon, but I had to cancel because packing was taking forever. 

Eventually, we had everything located and packed into the back of the van. I'd folded down the back seat because we were going to take two cars.  

When Brandon came home we helped him load the food into the Pilot. 

We drove south to the South Hills and up Rock Creek Canyon to the Porcupine Spring Campground. I was super happy to be going on this campout. Our ward has done "Father's and Son's" for several years, but last year they decided to do a ward campout. However, by the time they planned it too many people had other plans and it had to be cancelled. This year it's been scheduled since early April so people were able to get it onto their calendars. Some of my very favorite people from the ward would be there.

So I was very excited to be there. But when we arrived I was not looking forward to unpacking anything. I was like, "I just spent two hours getting all this stuff loaded up. I really don't want to unload it."

Brandon could tell I was not very enthusiastic so he sent me off to hang out with people while he and the kids set up the tents. I did not complain. 

So I went and hung out with Jori, and Megan, and Lindsay and had a great time talking with them. 

I went back to our campsite to help with the air mattresses, but that's all I did. 

Here's our new tent. We thought about duct taping the broken pole of our old tent. But that tent had served us well for 4 years and was showing a lot of wear. It was just easier to buy a new one. 

This is Derrick and Veronica's side. 

And here's me and Brandon's side. 

And here's Brandon showing off that there is a lot of head space in the middle. 

You are probably wondering where Charlotte and Lydia were going to sleep. Well, our new tent will hold all 6 of us if necessary. But we decided that everyone is getting a little too big to squish into one tent every night. So we bought Charlotte and Lydia their own little tent. 

They were so happy with it. And it really was comfortable to have the extra space. 

Our ward was in Loop B of the campground. There were individual spots for tents and trailers, but there was also a big central area with a huge fire ring. That's where everyone was congregating. The Elder's quarum president, Jeff, led everyone in gathering firewood and making a big pile by the fire ring. Brandon and Lydia worked on lighting it. Lydia was basically sitting in the fire ring. 

There were lots of picnic tables ringing the fire. Each family kind of claimed their own table and prepped dinner there. But there was a lot of mingling and talking. 

I'd made pasta salad on Thursday. (I guess that's another things I did besides pack.)  We had that and hot dogs for dinner. 

Derrick had been really helpful and packed up Ladder Toss for me at home. He went and got it from the car and set it up all by himself. Then he invited other kids to play with him. 

Here are some pictures of the group. We had about 10 families up there. 

It was fun to see everyone interacting in ways that just aren't possible at church. And because of that there were some cool connections made. A guy from the elders quarum presidency brough his guitar and a little song book of sorts. He passed around the songs and we all sang along. My favorite was when we all sang Take Me Home Country Roads. My friend Jori's 9 year old daughter went and stood right by the 60+ year old guitar player.  They sang together on song after song. She was singing perfectly on songs that none of us knew - she'd never heard them either. She'd just read the words and follow along and belt out everything with confidence. It was incredible to watch. 

Here's Brandon. He was having a blast talking with everyone. 

And here I am. I spent most of the afternoon sewing more of Lydia's patches to her backpack. 

I'd already sewn on the Yellowstone, the Bruneau Dunes, and the Bryce Canyon patches when we were camping in Texas. This time I added the Canyon Lands, the Arches, and the Sawtooth patches. 

Here's the fire that got more built up as the night went on. Brandon's friend Mike had found a huge log. He and Jeff drug it back with Jeff's truck and then rolled it to the fire ring. It burned for hours and actually was still huge when we put the fire out for the last time on Saturday morning. 

Veronica made friends with Chandler's dog. 

This dog was all over here. Veronica took the dog on lots of walks. 

Jeff had a rope game that he had everyone try. 

It was kind of fun to see how everyone brought something to contribute - without even being assigned. Megan's family brough bubble gum and we had an informal contest to see who could blow the biggest bubble. Olyvia's family brought glow sticks for the kids. 

When the night got darker we had a little spiritual moment where Jeff shared some things and then the bishop shared some things. After that it morphed into a comedy hour where Jeff, Veronica, and a few other people took turns sharing jokes. Jeff is always swapping jokes with Veronica so it was funny to hear them do it for a crowd. 

Derrick kept wanted to tell scary stories, but I told him no because his stories are so long. But finally I said he could tell a short one. He likes to involve his audience so he singled out the bishop and his wife, Bryant and Jenny, and told them that they were in the story. Then he started saying something about them being alone in a forest. He was really laying it on thick with lots of dramatic pauses. 

All of a sudden Jenny screamed. Unbeknownst to any of us, Veronica had snuck up behind her and spooked her while he attention was on Derrick. It was so funny. It was even more funny because Derrick and Veronica hadn't planned that.  Veronica just saw her chance and took it. 

I wondered how many people were hearing Derrick talk for the first time on this trip. 

After about an hour of hanging out Derrick announced, "Okay, I'm ready for bed."  He just got up and left. That seemed to break the dam for several other families to get up and put their kids to bed. Within minutes the only people at the campsite were Brandon, Charlotte, Lydia, me, and Jori. 

We stayed up talking for a long time. At one point I said, "I'm going to bed at 11:30."  And then at 12:30 we really did all go to bed. 

In hindsight it might have been smarter to just get my sleeping bag and try to sleep in a camp chair by the fire. I probably would have slept just as well. 

But instead I went to bed in the tent. I knew there was a problem when I was snuggled in my sleeping bag and my back was cold. I was like, "this is my super warm sleeping bag. Why am I cold?" I figured it just needed a minute to warm up. But it never did. I shivered through most of the night. Eventually I used the blanket that I was using as a pillow as a blanket and that helped, but I was never very warm that night. 

It's been a long time since I'd had a camping experience in the cold. I've become complacent. If I'd thought ahead I would have brough wool socks and maybe a winter hat. But I didn't even think about those things. 

In the morning I found out I wasn't the only one with a cold night. Pretty much every family in a tent had been cold.  The people in campers were warm. My kids had done okay. The girls were all sleeping in their sleepers so they were warm - except their feet. Derrick was probably the only tent camper to complain about being hot. He has a mummy bag and sleeps pretty hot anyway. 

Anyway, cold aside we all made it through the night. Brandon and I got up at 7:00 so we could start prepping breakfast. Three other Elders Quorum guys helped too. The guys cooked the eggs and sausage. Brandon cut pineapple and quartered muffins. And I washed and cut the tops off the strawberries. Jori came over and cut melons. 

At 8:00 we said a prayer and let everyone that was around start eating. Throughout the morning more people wandered in and had food when they were ready. 

Here's the table loaded with food. And this didn't even include the sausage and eggs which were over by the grills. Everyone LOVED how much food there was. (Though note to self: Next year buy the same amount of muffins, but half the fruit.)

The morning was really unrushed. At first we'd been told that we'd need to leave around 10:00 for another group to come in. But there was no one scheduled after us. So no one was in any hurry to leave. The kids ran around playing together for a long time. 

Here's Veronica with her adopted dog again. 

Derrick went on a hike with some people and then came back and took me to see a deer limb they'd found. 

I sat and talked with people for a long time. Towards the end I started "auctioning" of the left over food. I was like, "Here's an unopen box of poppy seed muffins. Do I have any takers?"  I also joked that no one should leave without their party favor. People were able to take the uncut fruits and the cut fruits. Someone took a lot of extra sausage. We ended up with all the extra uncracked eggs.

Around 11:00 we started packing up their campsites. Normally Charlotte and Lydia help Brandon take down the tent. But they had graduated to their own tent. So Derrick and Veronica helped Brandon. I got the car somewhat organized again with all the stuff. 

And then it was time to leave. It was kind of sad to go. We'd had such a good time. I really hope this becomes a new tradition in our ward. 

When we got home I told the kids that we needed to unpack the food, but that everything else could wait. I wanted to organize the shelves before we put anything back on them. 

So the kids started taking showers and I went and took a nap on the patio. When I woke up I took a shower and then I went to work on the garage. 

I took everything off the camping shelves. I took a good long look at some of it. Like we still have the tent that broke in February of 2020. Why do we still have that? I guess we thought we'd fix it?  But we've never even opened it up again. 

Same with the kids old sleeping bags that have all lost their zippers. I think I've been hanging on to them "just in case" we needed them on a cold camping trip or something. But we just went on a cold camping trip and I didn't even think about them. 

So I tossed a lot of that old stuff into a pile. I found homes for some of it. Two of the old sleeping bags are now emergency blankets in Brandon's car. One will find new life as a picnic/emergency blanket in my car. The fourth will be our patio blanket. So much better than being forgotten on the garage shelves. 

The old tents will get scavenged for parts for Brandon's bag of straps and things. The old air mattresses will get tested to see if they leak and either get thrown away or put back on the shelves. 

After I had the shelves cleared off it was time to put the camping stuff away. But I made sure to put the stuff we use often on the most accessible shelves. I also labeled the shelves with where things should go. Here's the final result.

I also did some organization on the other set of shelves. I designated areas for "recreation" and "emergency" stuff.  It's all so much better. 

After I was done with that I watered the garden. There were lots of pretty things happening. 

Roses were blooming on the big bush. 

It's not quite at is full glory, but it's getting there. 

Here are the chicks walking around. 

These irises are in the side yard. 

So are these.

Here's the path in the front yard. 

More irises. 

And look!  Front yard strawberries!  These are so fun to find. 

Here's a rose in the front yard. 

And that gets us to today. 

I woke up around 5:30 and I was like, "Oh I guess I got all the sleep I need."  And then I rolled over and slept until 9:00!

Everyone else woke up a little after me. We were on time to church. It was fun to see all our friends from the ward campout. 

We are having a lazy afternoon today. This is the last "normal" day for a while. Brandon starts tech week next week. His rehearsals will start at 5:30.  And then they start performances on Friday. So that will all be very busy. 

The pool also opens next week. I think that will make it feel like we've started summer vacation for real. 

Anyway, thanks for reading.