Apart and then together (again)

While at a wedding reception at our church, I thought a notebook used as a doorstop looked familiar. Yes, it was Henry's teachers quorum binder. "Oh yeah." he said when we sent him this picture. It had been missing for a couple of weeks. It was one of their activities to create a picture in the leather. Henry chose a cheeseburger, of course.

Sarah was in Kenya, Erica at girls camp and Henry at FSY so for two and a half days James was an only child. That meant he got taken out to Chick-fil-a for lunch, to get Thai for dinner and ice cream for dessert (not in the same day) while they were all gone. He thinks that's how life would be all the time if he were an only child.

The last morning of girls camp Justin and I went up for breakfast and testimony meeting. These girls love Bishop Dye so much. It's hilarious. I get it but it's still funny.

It was Erica's and a few other girls' first time at girls camp and if you ask them, they loved it and had a great time. If you ask their leaders.....there were a few tears and wandering off and drama. 

After girls camp, Justin went to a work meeting and I went to the airport! We got our Sarah back! I have tons of pictures from her trip but I'm only posting a few because it's her story to tell and I couldn't do it justice. I'll just say she had a terrific time in Kenya and Switzerland and was in Paris long enough to see the Eiffel Tower before she flew home.

Kenya

We got pictures from her leaders at the end of each day. My question to Justin: How did she get in a safari jeep with all boys??

Yeah, that's my daughter teaching a bunch of Kenyan's half way around the world how to line dance.

From there she went to Switzerland with Bro Bell (in our ward and who runs RXP) and a couple of his granddaughters (who Sarah is good friends with from last summer) and a couple of leaders and their grandkids. It was so generous of him to invite her.

Why yes, that Dorito shaped mountain is the Matterhorn. Made famous by the ride at Disneyland.

She loves cheese and chocolate and mountains so Switzerland was a dream come true.

"Figured you could wake up to a heart attack" is her caption.

"I did not sign a waiver for this," was my reply.

They flew into Paris late at night and caught their flight home the next morning but she was still able to sneak a peek at the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, and Arc de Triomphe at 5am.

After 3 weeks she was finally home!

We missed her like crazy! It was nice that once she was in Switzerland we got to hear from her each day (In Kenya, the youth didn't have their phones). She updated us in real time and video called each day.

She was super jet-lagged but she handed out presents when everyone was home that evening. Hand carved animals and a blanket and wood bowls from Kenya.

Chocolate from Switzerland. 

I'm loving this tiny jar of Ovomaltine so I'm sad I can't eat any more once this jar is gone.

This morning Henry came home from FSY so we are finally all together again for the first time in 25 days! We've got some school shopping to do and then we are heading to Colorado for a much needed family vacation. Can you believe our only free week this whole summer wasn't until the week before school starts?

Mapleton Day and Pioneer Day (not the same day this year. Not even close.)

We asked the kids individually to rate on a scale of 1-10 how much they wanted to participate in pioneer day stuff. The parade, fireworks, and park got high marks; pancake breakfast, ping pong ball drop got low.

That's how I ended up participating in an epic land grab 36 hours before the fireworks. And I dropped off our chairs at the school 24 ahead of time for the parade.

It's worth it for these kiddos. 

Look!  A real-style parade and not just a truck promoting their karate business.

The Scottish band was one of my favorites.

After the parade we took our chairs over to the city park. Justin and I found a shady spot to relax while the kids played on the bounce houses. They were done pretty quick so we left after an hour or so. They were kind of lackluster about the parade too and we made them re-rate their desire to do the parade and park again. Are we done? Have our kids aged out of the kid stuff?? We shall see what next year brings.

For dinner we went to Provo to eat at a sandwich shop the kids had never been or don't remember going to. The inside of the shop is covered in funny posters and the tables are covered in comics. Justin found this one just for Henry.

Then we went to the park. We got there right after the ping-pong ball drop (low on the rating list). 

It's too hot and not so fun until the sun sets and then it's a magical time.

After the concert it's time for the fireworks! This year a drone show was an opening act and it was pretty cool.

Mapleton is half as old as the USA.

Don't come to the fireworks because it's crazy crowded. But just now it's like 40 minutes of a grand finale.

Six days later. On REAL pioneer day, we had my family over for a nontraditional pioneer dinner of chile verde cooked in a traditional cast iron dutch oven. Thank you Justin. We ate inside because it was hot AND windy (I can only handle one of those things). Then we went outside for fireworks.

I didn't get many pictures of Henry because he was always out in the road lighting stuff.

Do you love my Sanpete County shirt with a covered wagon as much as I do? 

Blessed, honored, pioneer!