Parties and Family and Family Parties

We've had a some visits from family penciled in on the calendar all summer. We knew that at some point my sister Emily would probably come for a visit. We also knew that at some point Brandon's brother Bryan would also come for a visit. And my sister Lindsey had also been hoping to come visit.  

Lindsey's visit ended up getting cancelled because her husband had a surgery in May that had a long recovery time. (He's fine now.) Emily's and Bryan's visits were still very much a possibility.  But neither of them gave us very solid dates for when they would come.  For a while I was preparing for the possibility that they would show up at the same time. 

When we finally did nail down the dates for their respective visits the dates did not overlap. But only just barely.  Emily and her family as well as my sister Hillary and her kids would come from Friday the 23rd to Sunday the 25th. Then Bryan and his family would arrive on Monday the 26th and stay until Wednesday the 28th.  Then on Saturday the 31st we would go down to Utah for a dinner to celebrate Brandon and Bryan's 20th high school reunion. 

All those things - and more - happened in a two week period.  I'm going to try to cover that period all in one post. So settle in and get ready for a long post. Because the two weeks between Sunday July 18th and Sunday August 1st were jam packed with events. 

We are going to zip through these first couple of pictures because the first few days of the week weren't very eventful (in comparison to the later days. )

Brandon and Derrick made this beautiful Cherry cheesecake on Sunday night. 

On Monday night I was able to spend the evening working in the garden. I also took pictures.  Here's Lydia enjoying the play garden.

And look! Here's my first tomato. We got off to a rough start with the tomato plants. Four died from the heat. But four are still living and starting to pay off. 

Lydia posing with some mud. 

Charlotte helped me start harvesting some of the onions.  They are ready to pull when they flop over. 

We put them to dry on the patio table. 

Brandon spent a lot of time getting the house ready for guests.  Each morning before work he cleaned up a different room in the house.  He did our bathrooms, the guest room, and the kitchen.  He also worked on straightening up the garage. Here he is working in the garage one evening. The kids were playing on the roll chair and the creeper.

My strawberry patch was super crowded and encroaching on the raspberry patch.  So I moved a bunch of the strawberries to a new bed.  I was worried they wouldn't survive the transplant, but they all did really well. 

I also weeded the onions.  

Here's Charlotte in the play garden. 

I think this is still Monday evening, but it might have been Tuesday.  The kids played in the front yard for a while and the sky was very pretty.

They played some sort of ball kicking game. 

Veronica really wanted to wear her soccer jersey so she put that on on Tuesday.  Then she posed with a basketball. 

For about a week all three girls had been working on making a pet store out of Legos. 

 Here is the finished product.  I love all the aisles and the cash registers.  It's hard to see, but they even had a wall of fish. 

Later they added people. 

This turned out blurry, but Charlotte even figured out how to write, "Pets Smart" across the front. 

That wasn't the only creative thing the girls did this week. A teenage girl from our ward was doing a free art class for kids as her Senior Project.  The class was on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and was for kids from 8-11. When I heard about it I knew Charlotte and Lydia would LOVE this class.  For one because they LOVE art.  For two because it was taught by the older sister of a boy in their primary class who they both like.  

They had such a good time attending the class each afternoon.  They met a lot of other kids from the ward and had a great time.  Veronica was very sad that she didn't get to go to the class. I reminded her that it was for kids that were older than 8 and that she was only 7. (Both of us forget her age a lot.) I probably could have asked to have her in the class since she is so close to 8 and so tall. But I knew that Charlotte and Lydia needed something that was just for them. 

On Wednesday the kids had a little "Art Showcase" where families could come and see the things they'd created all week.  Here's Charlotte's work. 

And Lydia's. 

It was a really fun event. The girls talked about all the kids they met and how cool their teacher Lauryn is. They want to be just like her when they are in high school. And yes, they had a great time interacting with the boy they like.  

Okay, let's pause and talk about how school was going for me.  I've been taking one class a week this summer and keeping that pace has taken a lot of work. The first 7 classes I took were all courses that ended with a final 70 question test.  I'd read through the online text book and take tons of notes Monday -Thursday.  Then I'd take the test on Friday or Saturday morning. I'd take a break from school on Saturday and Sunday, but be right back to work on Monday morning at 5:30 am. 

This was all doable, but starting to wear on me - especially after the behemoth of a class that was Global Business. So I was very happy that my next 4 classes had a different structure. Instead of taking a test at the end I would have to do a writing based assignment.  Basically I had to write a bunch of 3-5 sentence paragraphs about different concepts from the course. I didn't even have to read the full text book. I could just read the relevant parts if I needed help with my answers.  

This week I was working on Innovative and Strategic Thinking. It took a little bit of time to switch from test mode to writing mode in my brain, but I got it figured out and was able to submit my writing assessments by about mid week.  I didn't have to wait to pass the assessments before I could start my next course. So I started working on Emotional and Cultural Intelligence ahead of schedule.  

I was able to get partially thought the writing for that course before family arrived. I finished it up (as well as rewrote an answer that had been rejected from the earlier course) during gaps between family visits the next week. By the end of the second week I was done with both classes.  

I was really happy with how the timing of all this had worked out. I don't know what I would have done if I'd had a heavy reading class during all these family visits.   

Okay, here we are on Thursday and this is when we shift into higher gear.  

We hadn't been able to go to the pool all week because of the Art classes so we made sure to go on Thursday.  

There were going to be some races that weekend so the pool was set up much differently than usual.  Normally the rectangular pool is divided between the deep end and shallow end with a bulwark/bridge. The bulwark can slide along the sides of the pool to change the sizes of the deep and shallow sides. Normally the deep end is square shaped, and the shallow end is a long rectangle.  To get into the deep end, any child under 14 has to take a swim test.  The test is done in the deepest part of the shallow end. A child has to swim across the pool to the other side, wait 5 seconds and then swim back. The life guard walks along the bulwark and watches the child take the test. They are making sure the child is doing the front crawl with their arms and doesn't touch the bottom. They are also there in case the kid can't swim the whole way. 

This time the pool was set up completely different.  The bulwark had been moved to the very front of the pool. It was separating the shallow end from the beach entry zone. The pool was divided in half long ways.  Half of it was already set up in racing lanes.  The other half was still available for open swim. There was a floating divider rope between the deepest part of the deep end and the shallow end.  But it was in a much different spot than usual. The water was about 5 feet deep before we got to the rope. This kids and I had fun going out to that deep water.  

The real deep end still had the diving board available so Charlotte and Lydia wanted to figure out where the swim test was so they could go in the deep end. We realized the swim test was still being done along the bulwark. But instead of being in the deepest part of the shallow end it was at the shallowest part.  And the life guards were only making the kids swim to where the lanes divided the pool and back rather than to the wall and back.  Charlotte and Lydia were able to pass the test easily and went to play on the diving board.  They've been able to do this for a year. 

Veronica and Derrick and I were content to play in the shallow end like we always do. But I got to thinking.  I told Veronica, "Hey, today would be a good day to try the swim test. It's in the shallow end so it will be easy to stand up if you get tired. And it's shorter today."

She wasn't so sure about that, but was willing to try.  I had her do a practice test with me watching her swim across the pool. She didn't touch the ground and so I said she was ready to try the test. 

So she got in line and waited her turn.  When she did the test it was the best swimming I've seen her do.  She front crawled all the way to the swim lanes and back.  I was a little in shock. I hadn't expected her to actually finish the test. Before I could really process what had happened, the life guard handed her a green wristband that signified she had earned her place in the deep end.  

She hopped out of the pool and went to join Charlotte and Lydia at the diving board.  Soon she was jumping off the diving board and landing in the water.  I was busy with Derrick in the shallow end so I had to just watch from where I was and hope that she really could swim. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw her climb back out of the pool and go for another dive. 

A few minutes later I got out of the pool and took these pictures. 

I love her smile in this picture.  You can tell she is thrilled to be with her big sisters. 

Here she is, fearlessly jumping off. 

And here she is getting out of the water.  I'm always relieved when I see her getting out. 

And what about Derrick?  Well he really wanted to try the swim test too.  I explained that he had to swim the whole way and not touch the bottom.  I had him do a practice test with me and he touched the bottom.  So I told him he couldn't try the test.  He was bummed out about that.  

By the time the 3:00 safety check rolled around, the kids were pretty tired.  I took this picture, and Charlotte really exaggerated how she felt. We went home and watched a movie or something.  

That evening we'd been invited to a neighborhood block party.  We'd received an invitation in the mail and on our door.  Brandon and I had been kicking around the idea of a block party ever since we moved in, but thank to Covid never really got the idea off the ground.  So I was super excited for this.  It was being held on a street that was kind of around the corner from us so I was excited to meet new people. Plus the invitation promised a bounce house.  We are all about free bounce houses in this family. 

I assumed that some rich older couple was hosting the party or maybe a group of neighbors on that street. So I was surprised to learn that it was hosted by a young couple with a baby. They were providing free hamburgers, chips, snack packages of cookies, and water. Plus there was this bounce house and a balloon artist. I couldn't quite figure out what was going on.  

But I didn't really care either.  The food was great, the bounce house was super fun, and I was able to talk to a lot of people.     

One of the first people I talked to was named Liz.  She was friends with the people who owned the house.  She lived in a different neighborhood, but was there to help. She mentioned that her husband was a pastor and they had moved to Twin Falls to start a church.  I immediately asked if they had a Women's Ministry. I explained that I'm LDS, but back when we lived in Alabama I loved hanging out with the Protestant Women of the Chapel group. It started out with me attending their craft morning, but by the end I was part of a Bible study group going through the book of Romans.  I've missed that and lately have been looking for a women's ministry here in Twin Falls. But the ones I've found have either been too far away or at times that don't work for me.  

So when Liz told me that yes, they did have a Women's ministry, and they met at a church close to my house, and they were currently studying the book of Titus, and that they met on Friday mornings at 6:15 I was like sign me up! She invited me to come the next morning at 6:15. I told her I probably would. 

After talking with Liz I moved on to talking with other people.  There were many people from the neighborhood, but I also kept meeting people from Kansas City. They were there to help their friends with the party. About this same time I realized the background music was Christian Rock. It all clicked. This was sponsored by the church. And the people hosting the party was the minister's family. 

And my main response was to think, "COOL! I wish my church did stuff like this."

Brandon showed up when he got home from work. Right as he showed up, Steve, one of the people in charge called out that it was time for the raffle. We'd all been able to enter the raffle and so I was holding 5 tickets. I figured we had a good chance of winning. Steve asked for a volunteer to pull out the first ticket. Derrick raised his hand and went up to help.  I had a feeling that Derrick would pull one of my ticket numbers.  He wouldn't do it on purpose, he is just lucky like that.  And sure enough, when the Steve read off the number it matched the number on one of my tickets.  We won a gift card to Culvers. 

Then it was Charlotte's turn to pull out a ticket.  She pulled her ticket number.  Like exactly.  I'm still not sure if that was intentional or not. We got another gift card from that, but we decided to let another family have a chance to win so we gave it back. 

After the raffle Steve and Brandon got to talking. It started out with just talking about how lucky our kids are but quickly moved on to other things. Steve was part of the Kansas City group. He and his family would be visiting Yellowstone after they finished up some things in Twin Falls. He asked, "have you ever been to Yellowstone."  And boy did we have an answer to that.  

After talking about Yellowstone the conversation moved onto RV's.  Brandon says that people like talking to him about RV's because most people have one. That conversation went on a long time and involved Brandon explaining how to diagnose AC unit problems.  I wandered off and talked with some other neighbors.  Every time I looked over a Brandon the group of guys around him had grown. The conversation wasn't just about RV's. The two church pastors are both from Louisville, Kentucky. Brandon went to Louisville twice for the SKILLS competition so he had fun talking about Louisville and other things.   

Meanwhile the kids were having A BLAST. They loved the bounce house/side.

And the balloon artist apparently had no limits to how many creations he'd make per kid. Here's Derrick with a bow and arrow.

Lydia and Veronica with a dog on a leash, a fishing pole, and a flower hat. 

They were piling creations on a bench.

Derrick spent a lot of time playing Frisbee with a girl named Morgan. 

We were some of the last to leave the party. The kids gathered up all their balloon creations and headed for home.   

We were all riding the high of that fun party.  I'm trying to put my finger on what made it so fun.  Obviously the tangible stuff like the food and the bounce house was great, but it was really the chance to connect with people that was the best. Part of what made it great was how it reminded me of church things in the south. I've missed the way that southern people are so open about their love of church and Jesus. Talking to all these people from Missouri and Kentucky reminded me of all the good Christian friends I had in Texas and Alabama. There's a part of me that has been missing that. 

So on Friday morning I got up at my normal study time, but I didn't study for school. Instead I got ready for the day and was at the bible study group by 6:15.  For the next 90 minutes we dived into Titus Chapter 2 verses 1-5. 

Yes, we spent an hour and a half discussing 5 verses. First we took turns reading them from different translations. We looked at them from a the authors perspective (what was Paul trying to tell Titus), from God's perspective, (What was God trying to tell people) and finally applied them to our lives (What do these verses mean to us.) 

We also had a great discussion about how these verses aren't so much a checklist, but the fruit of being close to Jesus.  If we try to follow the checklist we will fail. If we are close to Jesus he will help us become the type of people described. This is a principle that I first understood in PWOC in Alabama.  It's talked about in LDS theology, but we do NOT talk about enough in LDS culture. I loved hearing about it again. 

I left feeling fellowshipped and spiritually fed. Something I have not felt much at my own church for a very long time. 

So am I just up and joining this other church? No. 

This has been a hard year for me as I've grappled with whether or not I still want to be part of the LDS church. I'll be honest, sometimes I don't. But there are things about the LDS doctrine that I don't want to leave. At this point I've determined that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is my spiritual home. But that doesn't mean I can't visit other people's homes - especially if they feed me better. 

Okay, enough about that.  We still have so much more to talk about.  We haven't even made it to the family visits yet.  

Oh this is going to be a long post.  Maybe go take a bathroom break or something.  

Anyway, I went straight to work after Bible Study. As soon as I was done with work I hurried home and picked up the kids so we could help with the set up for the Children's Clothing Swap.  If you've read my blog for a while you know that I love clothing swaps.  I've organized a few over the years, but I haven't had to organize any in Twin because a FABOULOUS swap already exists.  I'm always willing to help out with it because I want to support the ladies who do organize it. 

They made some adjustments this year.  Instead of doing the swap at the YMCA they were holding it in the front yard of the house where all the clothes get sorted.  This simplified things quite a bit.  Previously we had to load all the bags of clothes into a trailer, drive to the YMCA, unload the truck, and then sort the clothes by size. This time we just had to move the bags of clothes out of a storage shed and over to the tables. 

When I first got there the kids played while the grown ups got the bags out of the shed. That was a big job all by itself. 

Then we called the kids over and they helped us carry the bags to the tables. Here are my kids taking a little break on the pike of backs. 

Everyone worked really hard.  They also made friends with the boys that lived at the house.  Veronica remembered one of the boys from her kindergarten class. They worked together to carry the heavy bags. They'd each take a side of a bag and walk with it together.  Veronica and the boy talked together the whole time. Charlotte and Lydia talked with the other boy.  He was close to their age. Derrick spent a lot of time in the car (with the windows down) but he realized that was pretty boring so he came to help by the end. 

Here's the result of all our work. There was a table for each size from Newborn to 14+.

So many clothes!!!!!  We could have stuck around while the bags were opened (and even enjoyed first pick of some of the clothes), but it was hot and we had other errands to run.  I was content to sort through the clothes on Saturday morning when the swap officially opened. 

It seems like we spent the rest of the afternoon waiting for things. We had a Ward Dinner that would start at 5:30, Emily and Hillary were supposed to show up with their families starting after 7:00, and Derrick was waiting for his bow and arrow to arrive in the mail. 

Derrick's thing happened first.  He'd ordered this with money he'd "earned" while participating in a language study over zoom. He was so excited to get the bow. He'd loved playing with one at the YMCA's community day and I'd been impressed by how well he could load and aim it.  I figured it was good practice for his fine motor skills so I let him buy it. He loved testing it out. 

I took a nap in the afternoon, and then woke up with the realization that I was supposed to bring a salad to the Ward Dinner. I had all the ingredients, I'd just completely forgot to put them together.  So I rushed to do that.  And then suddenly it was time to go to the dinner. 

I didn't take any pictures, but we did have a good time. It was at a pavilion and so we ate on picnic benches. My previous Ministering Companion sat with me and we talked about how we both seem to have forgotten how to go to a ward party. 

Derrick joined a bunch of boys playing with one of those footballs with wings.  He played for a long time.  At the end there was just one teenager and Derrick playing.  So for the second night in a row Derrick had someone playing catch with him one on one.  

Amy Toft and I were watching him throw and she commented, "I can't believe how far he can throw that." I said, "Yeah we really aren't a sports family, he must be adopted."

Brandon showed up after work and when he was done eating he once again ended up talking about RV's with a bunch of guys. 

When the dinner ended the bishop sent us home with bags and bags of pulled pork.  This came in very handy over the next few days.  In fact, when Emily and David showed up at the house later that evening they had pulled pork sandwiches right away. 

Hillary showed up a little later and we had quite the party.  Emily and David have 5 kids and Hillary brought her 2 kids.  So we had 7+3+6=16 people at our house. Earlier in the week we'd moved some of our extra tables and chairs out to the patio so we'd have seating for everyone. We spent the evening on the patio while the kids ran in and out of the house. 

It was so fun to hang out with family. This is one of the reasons I love having our awesome patio.

When it was time for bed we found a place for everyone in the house. Emily and David had the guest bed downstairs and one of their boys (I think Bridger) slept on Veronica's old mattress on the floor. Asher and Titus slept on air mattresses in the Family Room. Vance slept in Derrick's room. He was supposed to sleep on the futon, but he insisted on laying on the floor next to the train tracks he'd been playing with since he'd arrived. Hazel slept on Charlotte and Lydia's floor.  3 year old Walter ADORES Veronica so he wanted to sleep in her room.  I made him a little bed on the floor, but then he insisted on sleeping in her bed with her. His head was one direction and hers was the other. For day's he'd been asking to "go to Wanica's" so he was super happy to be at our house.  Hillary slept on our living room couch and Baby Penny was in a pack in play in the living room. 

Saturday morning was the morning of the clothing swap and Hillary and Emily were coming with me.  When they'd been talking about coming that weekend I'd told them, "Well, if it will help convince you to come that's the day of the clothing swap."  That had been enough to sweeten the deal. 

We went at the early bird time. I had an early bird ticket because I'd contributed clothes to the swap. Emily and Hillary each had to pay $5 to get in at early bird time.

They definitely made back that $5. They also made back any money they'd spent on gas to get to Twin Falls.  We each made multiple trips to the car to dump our overflowing laundry baskets.  

I really needed this swap for a few reasons. It had been a long time since I'd picked out school clothes for my kids.  Everything they owned was either ragged or too small.  And handme downs don't work in my family because all the kids are basically the same size.  So I depend on the swap to help me update the kids clothes without breaking the bank.  I'd contributed at least 4 boxes of clothes that my kids had outgrown and I knew I'd find about that many clothes at the swap. 

Earlier I'd gone through all the kids clothes and figured out what I was looking for. Derrick and Veronica each already had plenty of shirts so I knew I didn't need many of those.  What I did need were shirts for Charlotte and Lydia and pants for everyone, plus any pajamas I could find.  I was able to get all of those things plus two winter coats. Thanks to the swap I was able to find enough clothes for the school year.  The only things I had to buy for my kids were shoes, socks, and underwear.  

Back at home we had lunch and then set up for a Water Party. Emily and her kids had come to visit us in Idaho last summer we so didn't feel like we needed to take them on any big sightseeing adventures.  We were content to just do things at the house. We blew up the pool and started filling it with water.  

Bridger helped figure out how to bring the front hose into the back yard so we could use it to spray on the water slide we'd made out of plastic. 

I moved the Honda out of the car port so there would be a shady area for the kids to draw with chalk.

Here's Penny modeling her new swimming suit that Hillary found at the swap.

We'd bought little straws with umbrellas at the dollar store.  Those were fun to have with our punch.

The highlight of the party was the Water Balloon Fight.  Here's the first round with 100 water balloons. 

We did a second round with another 100 that was slightly more organized. I didn't get a very good picture, but we used those balloons that all fill at once.  They are kind of pricy, but totally worth the time saved. 

I think I took this picture to document how brave Hazel was with Marsha.  Last year she had been terrified of her, but this year she loved her. 

The kids discovered that the tubes for filling the water balloons actually made really cool bubble blowers.

Here are some of the chalk drawings. 

Derrick and Walter played in the mud and dirt for a while.  Walter usually HATES dirt so this was a big deal.  When he finished he had a look in his eye that seemed to say, "I don't know what came over me. Why did I let myself get dirty?"

Here's Derrick after playing with the bubbles. 

I'm not sure what the kids did after the party.  The kids probably went in the house and played legos.  Emily and Hillary wanted to go back to the swap during the free hours so we went back over there.  There were still SO MANY CLOTHES.  I found another basket full.

Back when the Adult clothing swap ended in April there had been a lot of extra clothes. These were still bagged up. The swap organizers were offering them as "Mystery Bags" for $5. Hillary thought that sounded super fun so she bought one.  The lady in charge let her pick 3. So When we got back to the house Hillary opened them up and we had a fun time commenting on the clothes.  She found a couple things that she would actually wear. 

After dinner the kids went in the basement and watched MegaMind.  Hillary wanted to put a Baliage in my hair so she started doing that.  I was super tired and so once again I was trying to stay awake while Hillary did my hair.  But when it was all done it looked great!

We stayed up talking for a while, but I think everyone was in bed by Midnight.  Hillary ended up with a rough night with Walter so when Penny woke up early in the morning I just brought her into bed with me.  She is super content to just sit with me so she hung out and probably went back to sleep.

After everyone was awake we had a pancake breakfast on the patio (how do I not have any pictures of this? It was so fun to see everyone eating together.) Then we went on a walk to the Evil Knievel Jump Site.  This gave us great views of the canyon. 

Emily's family was impressed. 

Here's the jump site. 

Most of the kids stopped to play on the hill, but some of us kept going to see Shoshone Falls. 

I love this view. 

When we made it back home we got all the kids showed and dressed in church clothes in record time. We made it to church for sacrament meeting at 1:00. We were able to fit all of my family of 6 and Emily's family of 7 all on one row long row. Thanks to the long walk the kids were able to sit quitely through the whole meeting.  I was so tired I had trouble keeping my eyes open during the meeting. After sacrament meeting all the kids went with their cousins to Primary. 

After church there was more fun with Legos.

And Asher and Lydia made chocolate chip cookies together. 

Oh look I did take a picture of everyone eating. (Though Hillary had gone home by this time.)

Brandon had made two big pans of lasagna and they both disappeared super fast. 

Emily and David would have loved to stay longer, but David had work on Monday.  So they left for Utah around 7:00. It was a good-goodbye though because we knew we'd see them again soon. I'm so happy they have moved closer. 

As soon as they were gone we started prepping the house for our next set of visitors.  We washed sheets and cleaned up a bit.  The nice thing was that after hosting 10 people we knew it would be easy to host 5. 

Okay we've made it through the first week.  This would be another good place to take a little break because there is much more to come in week 2. 

On Monday I spent some time sorting through all the "new" clothes.  I divided them by which kid would wear them. For most of the clothes it was pretty easy to know who they would belong to.  Veronica needs long shirts, Derrick likes sweatpants, Lydia likes leggings, and Charlotte likes jeans. But I didn't know how to divide Charlotte and Lydia's shirts.  I ended up having them sit next to me while I went through the pile. I'd hold up a shirt and they would say "Mine" if they wanted it.  If they both said mine it when into a separate pile. I'd say about half the shirts had a clear owner.  Then we went through that contested pile.  The girls made deals over the clothes like, "Charlotte can have the sparkly shirt if I get this one that has a cool saying on it." In the end everyone was happy.  

Here are all the clothes packed up and ready for school to start.  (Right now the new clothes are what's making Charlotte and Lydia excited about going back to school.) 

The biggest excitement on Monday was that our road was getting resurfaced. I'd come home from work right as the oil truck went down the street.  There was no way I could get back to my house so I drove around the block and parked in front of my friend Kaymie's house. (She'd parked in front of my house when they'd done her street a week or two earlier.) Then I walked home.  It was fun watching the trucks spray oil and then other trucks come and drop gravel on top. 

I was worried that Bryan and his family would show up when our street was being worked on, but they had great timing and came after all the gravel was laid. 

I gave Bryan and Kara a tour of our house.  This was the first time they've visited us here in Twin Falls.  They've been living the full time RV life the past couple year and have spent almost a year living in Florida.  We haven't seen them in person since before Covid. 

I made pizza for dinner (and impressed Bryan and Kara by making it from scratch.)  Kara asked if she could help and I told her, just sit there and talk to me. So she did. We had a great time catching up.

Brandon came home from work just as the pizzas were done.  We ate on the patio again. 

After dinner we changed into swimming suits and went over to Shoshone Falls/Dierkie's Lake. It's always so fun to show off  this waterfall.

Here are all the cousins checking it out. 

This rock had lots of coins on it and the girls were trying to figure out a way to get to the money.

Bryan too a picture of me and Brandon together. It seems like we always stop here on the way to the lake so we never have fancy pictures of us with the waterfall.  Maybe one day.

After checking out the waterfall we went over to Dierkies Lake.  This was our first time here all summer.  We came a bunch last summer, but on one of our last visits the water cleared out a bit and the girls could see the plant growing in the water and the fish swimming in the water.  They'd told me they NEVER wanted to swim in the water again.  And they stuck to that every time I bought it up this summer.  

But it was a hot day and the water was cool so they found themselves back in the water. 

I hopped in one of our blow up tubes and floated around the swimming area while everyone swam. Brandon said the water was too cold so he stayed out and took pictures.  He did an excellent job taking this blurry picture of me. 

Last time we were here the kids jumped off the diving board repeatedly.  They did that a few times, but something else caught their interest. 

There were people diving off the rocky cliffs into the lake.  

Bryan wanted to try it out so he dove off the cliff.  His son Owen wanted to do it too.  And Charlotte wanted to try also.  Brandon told Charlotte that she had to convince me.  I told her that she could do it.  I fully expected her to get up on the cliff, look at the water, and chicken out. 

Fully expected it.  

Charlotte, Lydia, Owen, and Chloe all went up on the cliff.  It took them a while, but they all ended up jumping!  Brandon was taking a Marco Polo video for his family and somehow timed it just right to start recording just as Charlotte Jumped. 

You can here everyone cheering for someone named Morgan to jump off along with the kids.  Morgan was none other than the same girl who had played frisby with Derrick for half an hour at the block party. She was at the lake with Liz from bible study and Liz's family. We were all excited to run into each other again.  

Morgan never did jump off the cliffs, but someone else did.  Derrick noticed all the commotion and decided he wanted to try to jump too.  I made him wear a life jacket, but I let him go up on the rocks.  You can see him jump toward the end of this Marco Polo video.  (And you can hear Veronica jump off the diving board off camera.)

We stayed at the lake for a long time. The Florida kids were cold, but mine kept playing in the water.  They were out on the platform for a while. 

It's so fun to see them all together. 

We went home and got everyone settled for bed.  Bryan and Kara were in the guest bed. Navy was on Veronica's old mattress. Owen slept on the futon in Derrick's room, and I think Chloe was with Charlotte and Lydia, but I'm not 100% sure. 

In the morning I had to go into work.  While I was at work Brandon took everyone to the Perrine Bridge and they watched BASE Jumpers go off the bridge.  

When I got home I started cleaning out the car in order to pack it for a camping trip.  Yes, we were going camping on a Tuesday night.  

I've had a trip to Banbury Hot Springs penciled in on the calendar for sometime in August.  But when Bryan and Kara told us they were for sure coming to visit us in Idaho I decided we should do the trip with them. Brandon and I really wanted to give Bryan and Kara a favorable impression of how cool Southern Idaho is and so an overnight trip to one of the hot springs seemed like a great idea.

I always have Wednesday's off of work and Brandon was able to request Wednesday off so it worked out perfect to go camping on Tuesday night. 

We didn't have the dates of the visit nailed down until about a week and a half before the visit so there wasn't a lot of time to reserve a campsite.  I was lucky and there was one left.  I paid $15 for the site and then $10 for the second tent.  $25 was a great deal.  

Part of my original idea for the trip was to rent Kayaks at Banbury and take them down the river to Blue Heart Spring.  (Seriously follow that link, you'll want to see the spring.)

But the more I thought about it, the more the idea seemed a little crazy. Seven kids to four adults just didn't seem like a good ratio.  And even though the lady I talked to at Banbury said that the river was probably calm enough for 10 year old to kayak solo, I just didn't think it would work. This trip had the potential for greatness, but also the potential for disaster. 

So I decided to shelve the kayaking part of the trip. When I started packing all our gear I deliberately chose not to bring any of the life jackets.  I thought, we aren't kayaking, we wont need those.  

It seemed crazy to abandon our air conditioned house too early in the day so we hung around the house for a while.  Bryan went grocery shopping to pick up some last minute things.  Kara and I ended up having a super in depth conversation for over two hours.  It's probably the best conversation we've ever had. 

I also got notification that my head shots for East Idaho Moms were available.  

They turned out so freaking great!

Around 3:00 we decided it was time to get going.  Our first stop was the Museum on the college campus.  The adults and kids loved all the exhibits.  

Then we drove out to Buhl and to Banbury Hot Springs. First we set up the tents.  Actually I didn't even touch the tent.  Charlotte and Lydia basically got it up themselves.  When they started setting it up I'd thought, "hmm, let's see how this goes." And before I knew it the tent was up.  They probably would have needed my help with the rain fly, but we decided not to bother with that.  It was so hot I even said, "I would love to get rained on tonight."

 

It was so hot that we were not interested in doing anything else at the campsite.  We put our swimming suits and went to the pool. 

While we were waiting in line to pay to get into the pool Derrick turned to me and said, "Mom, we forgot the life jackets!"  I'd been so focused on the fact that we weren't kayaking that I'd forgot that the pool had a deep end.  There were some life jackets/water wings available for free, but most of them looked too small for Derrick.  I didn't want Derrick to be afraid of the water and I knew he could swim okay without a life jacket so I just said, "It will be okay, you are a good swimmer."

He took that phrase to heart.  As soon as we got into the pool area he walked over to the diving board and jumped off!

I was like, "Oh crap, I didn't mean you were that great of a swimmer."  But he popped right up and swam over to the side of the pool. 

He spent nearly the rest of the evening jumping off the diving board again and again. The other kids played on the diving board a lot too.  Owen and Chloe showed the girls how to do flips off the diving board so they all practiced those.  Somehow I didn't get a picture of any of this. 

I did however, find time to take a picture of me. (I'm not sure what is going on with my eyes here.)

The pool had a big log anchored in the middle of the pool. The kids had a ton of fun trying to climb on and then stay on.

Here's Derrick popping out of the water. He loved pushing himself down all the way to the bottom of the pool.

The water wasn't quite as hot as I'd expected, but it's possible they were mixing in more cold water since it was summer time. 

Brandon arrived from work around 7:30.  He could have joined us, but we were about to get out and go have dinner.  So he opted to go back to camp and start cooking.  Charlotte went with him.  Gradually the rest of us left the pool and went back to camp. 

Back at camp we had hot dogs and the last of the pulled pork for dinner. 

Brandon helped the kids light a fire for the hot dogs and I took this opportunity to burn all the homeschool workbooks from last year.

I fantasized about this pretty much the whole school year, but I waited until the grades were final to actually burn the books. 

The kids had been looking forward to this too. 

Oh it felt good!

We spent the rest of the evening hanging out and talking. 

They kids spent a lot of time coloring and talking too.

When it was time for bed I just slept on top of my sleeping bag.  I think it was about 5:00 am before I was cold enough to climb in the bag. 

In the morning Derrick and I walked down to the river.  It was a beautiful morning.  We could see trout jumping out of the water. 

We stood on the dock and watching the river for quite a while. 

Here's Derrick looking at the map of how to get to Blue Heart Spring.  We'll go there one day.

When we went back up to the campsite I noticed a bunch of sticks all lined up according to size. Veronica was the only kid I could see and this seemed like something she would do, but there were quite a few sticks here and I hadn't been gone that long. Then the rest of the kids emerged from the trees each carrying a bunch of branches.  

They proceeded to sit around the fire and attempt to light the fire by committee. They asked me for matches and I was like, "let's see what happens with this." and I gave them the matches. 

I was pretty impressed when the kids actually got the fire going. And yes, I'm fully aware that my children had been exceeding my expectations for them ALL week long. 

We had cereal for breakfast and then cleaned up camp.  Derrick had his heart set on fishing, but it wasn't allowed at the Banbury River access.  So we decided to take Bryan and Kara to Ritter Island.  But first we wanted to show them the Malad Gorge. So we went there. This view never looks real. 

And then we went to Ritter Island so the kids could fish in the crystal clear spring water.  We spread out sleeping bags and had a great time sitting on the bank.  A lot of our group went to see the waterfall, but I stayed with Derrick so he could keep fishing.  

My phone was basically dead so I didn't take a lot of pictures here. The kids ended up changing into swimming suits and braving the cold water.  I was content to just go wading. 

When we were done at Ritter Island we parted ways with Bryan and Kara.  They had to go back to Utah for some other things they had planned.  But we planned to see them again on Saturday night when we got together to celebrate Brandon and Bryan's 20 high school reunion. 

We went back to our house and unpacked from the trip.  I started doing laundry so we could have clothes available when we packed for the Utah Trip.  

We were planning on taking a little breather from family for a few days.  We'd go down to Utah on Saturday and hang out with my sister Emily and then go to the high school reunion.

But that plan changed as soon as I watched a video my sister Hillary posted on Instagram.  

The video was of my sister Hillary at her hair school.  She comes out to get her next customer.  She calls out, "Norma?" And then reacts in complete bewilderment and joy when she realizes that her next customer is really my sister Lindsey.  She askes, "What are you doing here?" 

I watched the video over and over again. Lindsey lives in Texas and had repeatedly told me that she probably wouldn't make it out to Utah this summer. What was she doing in Utah?  And how long would she be there?

I didn't have to wonder for very long because Lindsey called me as I was watching the video for the 10th time.  She told me that she had decided to drive to Utah and had come in with her kids over the weekend and spent a few days with her inlaws in Cedar City.  Then she'd come up to Utah and spent the day surprising family.  She'd pretended to be a Walmart instacart delivery at my sister Emily's house and had gone to my parents with Emily.  But Hillary had been the best one to surprise.  She'd even signed up for the hair appointment under the name Norma Rockwell as a callback to an inside joke we all had about Norman Rockwell. 

Lindsey told me, "I wanted to come up to Idaho to see you, but I hear you are coming down here.  When are you coming?"

And I told her, "Well it was going to be Saturday afternoon, but now it will be sooner."

In an instant I'd decided that we would go down to Utah when Brandon got off work on Friday.

So Thursday ended up being our only Family Free Day.  I spent the day finishing up school work, working, and doing laundry. 

This is probably another good place for you to take a break.  Honestly I've thought about breaking this up into two posts, but hey I didn't get much of a breather so neither do you.  

On Friday I decided it was a good time to do school supply shopping.  I have a whole post for East Idaho Mom's about my school supply shopping technique so I wont give away all the details.  But it basically involves this chart and shopping online.  I was able to get the whole order put together and ordered on Friday Afternoon. We'd start getting shipments of supplies on Monday. 

Brandon got off work around 5:00 and I had everything ready to go so we started driving down to Utah.  The kids were watching The Lego movie while we drove and Brandon and I kept giggling at it.  That movie is a comedic master piece. 

We arrived at Hillary's house and everyone was outside playing in the grass. My kids jumped right on in.

Here I am with my sisters.  The last time we were all together was our sisters trip to Zion National Park. 

Lindsey was staying with Emily at her temporary rental house and I was staying with Hillary.  Emily and Lindsey went back to the rental and got their kids settled down and Hillary and I got our kids settled down and then we all met up at Letherby's for ice cream.  We had such a fun time laughing and talking.  When the icecream was done we realized we weren't ready to leave so we ordered cheesy fries.   And when those were done we went to Lindsey's car and talked more. 

We made it back home around midnight.  Hillary had to be up early for school so she went right to bed and so did I. In the morning I was able to chill out with Penny some more. 

Since we didn't really have a house that could hold all of us Lindsey had put together some quick plans for what we could do out of the house.  The first thing was a hike to Donut Falls.  

It took some time to get us all down to the trailhead. Here are the kids waiting.

But eventually we were all there and started on the trail.

Hillary had to work, but Joe had come with Walter and Penny.  He had Penny in a front carrier.  Walter was being kind of clingy so I picked him up and carried him most of the way.  He was very concerned about the hike for most of the way up. I tried to distract him with the things I usually talk about with my kids in hikes. I asked him what kind of birthday cake he wanted and what he wanted to be for Halloween. (He wants a chocolate icecream cake and I can't remember if we ever decided on something for Halloween.)

We stopped for a snack break.  Hazel put her gold fish in her orange peel and I thought that was pretty clever. 

Some of the kids were sitting on this bridge and we were able to coax the rest onto it.  This is 14 of my parents 15 grandchildren. The only one not pictured is my brother Billy's little boy William. But he was excused since he lives in New Zealand right now. 

The last time I'd been to donut falls was on a date in Highschool. But Emily and Lindsey had been here last year.  Their kids remembered the hike pretty well.  So when the trail came to a spot where you had to climb down some rocks the bigger kids had not problem going down. I assumed that Lindsey was ahead of me with most of the kids.  So when we got to that point I told Brandon, "you better go down there to help Lindsey with all the kids."  He went down the rocks while I waited for Joe to catch up and keep an eye on Walter so I could help Veronica down the rocks.  Joe arrived along with Emily, David, and Lindsey.  I realized that Brandon was supervising at least 7 kids on his own on a trail that he'd never been on. So I hurried to get down there with him. 

By the time Veronica and I got down the rocks, Brandon and all the other kids were climbing some other rocks up to the waterfall. 

I'm glad there was at least one adult up there with them. 

Veronica and I crossed the stream, but when we reached the other side she was pretty done with the hike.  So we took this picture to celebrate how far we'd made it.  

Brandon and the big kids started heading back down.

On the way out of the ravine my kids wanted me to take this picture. 

We climbed out of the ravine and were back on the main trail.  I met up with Joe and Walter and took over Walter.  He'd been nipped by a chipmunk and told me all about it on the way down.  Aside from getting bit, he was actually in a really great mood the whole way down.  He talked about a lot of things. 

We made it to the parking lot and celebrated with pudding. Brandon had the closest car so all the other drivers piled in with him and he took them to their cars and then they all drove back to get their passengers. 

We went straight from the canyon to Chuck A Rama. This was a great place to eat because everyone could choose what they wanted.  The kids had a blast with the drinks and the soft serve icecream. 

My parents joined us there too. 

After Chuck a rama we went to Murray Park and the kids played in various parts of the park. 

Throughout the day I started getting emails from Walmart saying things like "Good news, some of your items were in stock. We've delivered them to your house." and "Your items have been delivered." I texted my next door neighbor, who happens to be my ministering sister, to ask her to please pick up the things off my porch. All in all I think there were about 5 different deliveries - some even on Sunday.  I was happy the school supplies were being delivered, but the timing could have been better. 

Around 5:00 Brandon and I took the kids to my parents apartment.  This was part of the original plan for the weekend.  My parents were going to watch the kids while Brandon and I went to celebrate his High School 20 year reunion.  

The real reunion had been 2 weeks earlier.  But it had had a price of $30 per person.  I was willing to go if Brandon wanted to, but he wasn't that interested in seeing everyone from his graduating class.  Really he just wanted to hang out with his twin Bryan and his best friend Jake.  So the three of them decided to just do their own reunion.  

We all went out to dinner at a place called Siragusa's. It was in a strip mall next to a Savers and it didn't look like much at all from the outside.  But inside it was really cute and the food was good.  Kara was there as well as Jake's wife Heidi. And Jake's brother Tyler came too because he hung out with the guys even though he was a year younger.  

We had a BLAST talking together.  I wish we'd taken a group picture at the restaurant. But we didn't. Instead here is a picture of my ravioli. (I was still stuffed from Chuck o Rama so I ordered one of the smallest entrees.) 

After dinner we drove over to Taylorsville and walked around the outside while the guys told stories about highschool. There were a lot of laughs. Here are the guys flashing their Taylorsville Warrior sign. 

We stood around talking for a long time. Tyler is a teacher at Kearns High which is where I graduated.  He told me about some of the changes that have happened there.  

Eventually it was time to say goodbye.  This really was goodbye for Bryan and Kara.  They would start heading back to Florida in the next few days.  

We picked up the kids from my parents.  They'd spent the evening watching the Olympics.  I'd had high hopes for watching the Olympics this year, but the opening ceremonies had coincided with family visiting and we hadn't had a chance since. So I was glad my kids got to watch a little bit of the Olympics.  (And really my mom is the FUNNEST person to watch the Olympics with because she picks her heroes and villain's super fast and then cheers accordingly.)

The rest of my siblings had spent another evening at Hillary's. That was just winding down as we arrived.  We put the kids to bed and went to bed ourselves.  

In the morning Brandon and I took the kids to the super fun park by the Kearns Oval.  We had a good time playing there. 

When that place got to hot we went over to David Gourley Park. This was the park that was closest to my house growing up.  We would spend hours playing here in the summer.  This park hasn't changed much so Lindsey planned on it being a good place to spent a few hours together. 

My sisters arrived with their kids and later we picked up my dad (and all the lunch stuff). 

The kids had fun playing in various parts of the park. 

Here are Eliza and Hazel playing with stuffed animals. 

The kids also spent a lot of time on the playground.  This is about the only thing that has changed since when I was a kid. 

Around 2:00 we decided it was time to get going.  Our drive back to Twin felt like it took extra long.  Usually we stop in the Ogden area to see Brandon's family after visiting Hillary in Salt Lake and then we leave from there. But most of Brandon's family was on a road trip to the Redwoods in California.  (We'd considered going, but Brandon couldn't get that much time off of work in the summer.)  So we just went straight back to Twin.  

We got back and had all the kids take baths.  I really don't remember what else we did.  I'm not even sure we fully unpacked the car until Monday.  

Speaking of Monday, we didn't go ANYWHERE or see ANYONE the whole day.  After nearly 10 days of nonstop family we needed a break.  

But I wouldn't have traded those 10 days for anything.  It was so great to be with family.  And they are all welcome back any time. 

And look, we made it to the end.  

Congratulations, you made it!

Thanks for reading.