Staycation

The first week of August, we had planned on visiting Nathan in Provo.  I had hoped to leave on Saturday August 1st and have a full week, returning on the following Saturday or Sunday.  However, Alex scheduled a young women backpacking trip over that weekend.  The backpacking trip actually got cancelled, but Owen had already committed to work that Saturday since we couldn't leave until Sunday. We also discovered that Nathan's roommates hadn't moved out yet, so we couldn't even stay at the house with him.  Nathan was also working that week.  By the time we calculated the costs of renting a vehicle and hotel costs, plus not actually spending that much time with Nathan (who we would see a few weeks later), it just didn't make sense to go.  We decided to do a staycation instead, where we committed to mostly put aside work and other activities to spend time doing local things as a family.  

We had a really fun week.  On Monday we did a Spiderman movie marathon, grilled hamburgers, and had dessert at a restaurant downtown.  We walked around downtown for a bit too, which Alex really likes to do.  On Tuesday we played board games, with everyone getting to pick a game they wanted to play.  We played Ticket to Ride (my choice), Harry Potter Clue (Owen's choice), Trekking (Alex's choice), Sheriff of Nottingham (Weston's choice), and Telestrations (Savannah's choice).  We went out to eat that night.  On Wednesday morning, we biked to the beach, about 12 miles total.  We had to round up a couple bikes.  We had issues with one bike, which wouldn't switch out of 1st gear.  Savannah started on it, then Weston tried it out, and then I finished out the ride to the beach.  Owen rode the 6 miles back from the beach.  The weather was really nice, and it was actually our first time to do a family bike ride together.  In the afternoon, we went bowling, which was fun but a lot more expensive than I remember it being.  Four of us even had our own shoes, but we still paid over $100 to bowl 3 games.  On Thursday morning, we went to the Newport Beach Temple.  We watched the new Spiderman movie in the theater that afternoon, followed by eating out.  On Friday, I stayed home and did a work day while Alex took the kids to a small waterpark.  We had pizza for dinner. On Saturday, I made a nice waffle and bacon breakfast.  We had a beach day, where we played some 4-square volleyball and got in the ocean.  It was cold at first but we got used to it pretty quickly.  We had tacos for dinner at a local taco place.  It was great to spend the week together!

More Pics from Girls Camp

 I got a few more pictures of girls camp (from June) from Savannah.  

Yosemite Backpacking

Alex and the boys went on a backpacking trip to Yosemite in July with some other church guys.  They spent 4 days doing 25 miles.  They started at Virginia Lakes, hiked up over a pass, and finished at Tuolumne Meadows.  On day 2, they hiked extra (13 miles total) to get to day three's campground so they could just hang out the third day.  I think they enjoyed that "day off" during the middle of their trip. 

 

July Misc

 It was a pretty brutal summer in July and August as far as the heat.  We had several days in the mid-80's and some 90's.  I know that's not bad in other places, but it's miserable when you don't have air conditioning in your house.  We watched the temperature creep up each day and did our best with fans.  It's hard when it doesn't even cool off at night. We tried not to be home as much, spending time at the church buildings or anything other than in our house.  We only turned on the oven maybe once or twice in July and August.  

Weston did some more driving training and practice this summer.  He's getting better.  We put the "Student Driver" magnet on for a while, although I think people honked more... 

Savannah had some fun hanging out with friends a few times.  She decorated Bibles one day and they made a cute video.  Grace made us some Mongolian food one night, with food similar to empanadas.  

Owen played varsity summer league basketball.  He didn't get a lot of time and didn't end up scoring any buckets, so I didn't end up with much for a highlight reel.  We were laughing at one of the games when Owen had to guard a guy much taller than him (as seen in the photo below).

We were laughing at Owen's imitation of a video of a little kid in a disciplinary moment talking back to his mom with the word "grasshopper".  Owen does it pretty well. 

Weston's Birthday

The week after FSY, Weston turned 16!  Alex was back in time to celebrate with us.  Weston asked for a particular Lego set, so at least he was easy to shop for.  I don't think we need more Legos... but the boys still like them and have quite a collection.  Weston is still making some Lego stop-motion videos, so I guess he needs more materials for those videos. He wanted french toast, eggs, and turkey bacon for breakfast and Mongolian beef for dinner. 

Weston does have his driver's permit, but he hasn't practiced driving much.  We're still in the scary stage and have a little time before he's ready to get his license.  Maybe by January?  The other new thing for Weston is getting contact lenses.  I never thought he'd ask to get those, but he did, and he somehow figured out how to get them in and out. He mostly wanted them for running so that his glasses don't slide off when he gets sweaty.  He's getting a lot taller and has outgrown Owen (although Owen is in denial).  Weston is a great kid and still makes us laugh.  We recently came across some cute videos of him when he was 4 years old that makes me laugh every time.  

FSY

The week after the 4th of July, the kids went to a 5-day church camp called For the Strength of Youth (FSY) on a local college campus.  They got to stay in the dorms, meet new people, eat lots of food, and have a week with spirit-filled devotionals, dances, activities, and hanging out with friends.  I only got some pictures from Savannah and snagged one collage from Owen's Instagram (so his pictures aren't great resolution).  When I asked them what they liked the most, the first thing they said:

Savannah:  Testimony Meeting, then meeting new people and the classes
Weston:  Food, then the counselors
Owen:  Camp Counselors (he wants to be one later), and then the hanging out with friends

They came home on a spiritual high and most importantly with things they wanted to change.  Savannah had already been reading scriptures and taking notes.  She learned about pondering and making scripture study more about quality and not quantity.  I have also been impressed that Savannah wants to read scriptures with me, so we've been reading a chapter together every day.  Owen was inspired to make some changes in his life, and he also came back with the desire to be a camp counselor after his mission.  He came back singing the FSY music and has a play list with church music that he listens to.  Weston came back with a stronger testimony of Jesus Christ, as his friend, someone he wanted to be like, and to be a disciple of.  He also wanted to get better at sharing the gospel with friends and wanted to make more effort to talk to people.  Before FSY, they had the chance to pick a roommate.  Owen roomed with his friend Joshua.  Savannah tried to line up a friend to be her roommate, but it didn't work out.  However, she ended up being roommates with another one of her good friends, so that was a fun surprise for her.  Weston purposefully didn't choose a roommate, because he wanted to make a new friend.  This shows the mentality he has been in and a desire to be more social.  That's pretty big for Weston, who is independent and content to do his own thing.  I like how these camps are changing them for the better.  They had a great week!

4th of July

Alex was out of town for the 4th. The rest of us went to the 4th of July breakfast at the church.  After that, Owen and Weston worked most of the day, manning a parking lot.  When they got home, we had dinner and then later ventured out to watch the city fireworks.  We decided to do something we hadn't done before, which is watch the fireworks at the beach where they shoot them off.  We were so close you could FEEL them!  It was great hearing them and seeing them up close, but we didn't really enjoy some of the crowd (the ones smoking weed or setting off their own fireworks right behind us).  It didn't take us too long to get home and parking was free, so it was almost the perfect experience.  Next time we might need to get just a little bit further from the crowd.  Otherwise it was really cool to be so close to the show.