FSY and Barclay Bay

I officially started my summer break! That makes it a 7 week break before school is back in session, way too short for my tastes. I heard Ms Hill got a job at the elementary school she applied for, bummer. Another awesome teacher is gone because of toxic work place and terrible administration. Dude. 

My main task was to clean the girl’s room. We worked most of the day sorting, throwing away, and setting their things back in place. I was very proud of the girls for parting with an entire enormous trash bag of stuffy toys. That makes the herd much more manageable, the condition was that the animals go to cousins. I can make that happen. That was quite the transformation. I was joking that the girls upped the ante on my childhood game of “House and McDonalds.” I hope what Jana and I managed was not what my girls accomplished in their room. I was having serious anxiety over that mess. Friday afternoon I deep cleaned the front room. I sorted all the various piano books back into the file drawer, dusted, and touched every item possible. Hooray for small starts. The big task was organizing 3 of the craft drawers. I actually threw away those little pieces of ribbon, odd items I hoped to use one day, and projects I never started. My goal is to free up an extra drawer or two for other purposes. 

It was quite low-key all week with just the little girls around. Evelyn had a short orthodontist appointment to check on her new appliance. As we drove home Del Taco flashed a burrito in my face so we swerved into the parking lot to get a couple burritos. Yum. Evelyn saw one of her Starbase instructors getting her lunch, we chatted about the program for a few bits. I heard the my Mom was at the hospital getting her gall bladder removed. She was in the ER the night before with 8-10 level of pain, ouch! I spoke with her a few days later and she is feeling MUCH better. 

Josie’s tummy was not feeling well the next morning. I planned to take the girls out for a game of mini golf after Evelyn visited with Nina. Instead Evelyn and I brought home some doughnuts and went shopping at Kids Again. I worked on making a Girl’s Camp Songbook and Wanted posters for the rest of the afternoon (Tangled theme). Making a booklet layout was too complicated for my brain. I could not get the dang pages to print exactly how I wanted them too in the right order. That was frustrating. 

Justin took a long weekend off from work. We spent a lovely afternoon at Barclay Bay with Sara, Oliver, the Young family, and Heidi Ipsen’s family. We smushed the little kayaks into the back of the van, that was quite a tight fit. Josie’s friend, Lucy, came to the lake with us. Lucy’s mom is our school cafeteria lead. I saw her at Walmart on Saturday looking quite pale and unsteady. Turns out she suffered a stroke due caused by birth control. Scary! I hope to help out with Lucy a few times each week for the summer. Lake days are heavenly. We floated, drifted, kayaked, snacked, sanded things, and toasted in the sun. It was lovely. 

Justin and I took the girl’s miniature golfing on Friday. It was only 65…cold and windy…of all things. Justin triumphed. Josie came in second place with Evelyn and I in last place. There was a lot of Phineas and Fern quotage going all about golfing queens and such. We quite enjoyed our little outing. 

The older kids all attended FSY at the College of Idaho in Caldwell. I dropped the kids off plus Kyran and Ben Monday at 11 am. Amelia and Ambree, Phillip and Ben, then Everett and Kyran all roomed together for FSY. I loved the random photos and tidbits throughout the week. Everett had an incredible time. He came home with a very strong desire to study the scriptures each morning, I hope he can keep that goal alive. I heard the class, Spiritual Math, was exceptional. The gist was that Christ never divides or subtracts, he always adds and multiplies. That is quite a concept. All the kids loved their counselors and groups this year. The counselors played some very fun games this year! Everett cried this morning when his counselor had to leave the group chat. I hope this spiritual high will make their testimonies burn even brighter. It was very nice too have them back home. 

Clare and Fallon stayed here for the weekend. Tessa (finally) got married. Clare wanted to attend the temple and the reception for her friend. We took the girls out for ice cream Friday evening. Saturday was the wedding and reception. Amelia, Evelyn, and I got our stuff packed for Girl’s camp. Heidi gifted us 7 tickets to the circus…so we went to the circus. After watching “The Greatest Showman” the outdoor circus was not as glittery and cinematic. I about fainted when one of the performers tripped on his jump rope on the OUTSIDE of a spinning double hamster wheel thing. That was close. 

James broke both his wrists securing rafts to his vehicle. He is in double splints until he gets surgery. Miekka posted about installing a bidet so she wouldn’t have to clean James’ butt. Yep, that would be a limitation. I can’t even imagine not being able to use my hands. It will be quite a recovery for him. Prayers and more prayers. 

Lastly, the US military launched an attack against Iran, obliterating Iran’s nuclear sites on Saturday (Sunday in Iran). This morning we listened to General Dan Caine, while his demeanor was serious I could hear the smile (and challenge) that retaliation by Iran or its proxies would be “an incredibly poor choice.” We will defend ourselves. From what I can glean the strikes were precisely targeted, minimizing loss of life. All day I’ve read vacillating opinions regarding President Trump’s strike from “what a f**ktard,” to “defender of our nation.” When you posture against America we might just decimate your nuclear program…after 10 years of warnings.