A Post About Firsts

We didn't really want it to happen...

but school started on August 25th. This is Jumble on her 1st day of 11th grade,

Minnie on her 1st day of 8th grade,

and Jet on his 1st day of 4th grade.

Kindergarten starts a week later, so Atom will have his 1st day this Wednesday, September 1st. But he had his kindergarten assessment appointment on August 25th so he got to walk down the "red carpet" like Jet did. This was the 1st time I have seen anything like this on the 1st day of school. The teachers were all dressed up in tuxes and formals, standing on either side of the red carpet, cheering each child into school! (School was starting by the time we had to be there for Atom's appointment, so most of the teachers were inside by this time.) I don't have any photos of Jet because I didn't know they had this cool idea planned so I didn't have my camera with me when I dropped him off. This was an hour later (the schools have two start times around here--half the kids at 8:00 and half the kids at 9:15.)

This is Atom outside his classroom, waiting for his turn with his teacher.

And this is the 1st pumpkin we have ever grown in our own garden (we have 5 more out on the vine.) This is also the 1st time we have succeeded in growing yellow squash and zucchini in our garden, but these are not the 1st specimens. They have already been eaten. There's also a tiny cucumber under the zucchini on the right. They haven't grown too well. Maybe they'll do better next year. Lots of tomatoes, as usual. Love tomatoes!

The infant girl I babysit is no longer an infant. She is celebrating her 1st birthday today. We went to a 1st birthday party for her last Saturday.

Last, but certainly not least, Niles will have his 1st day of work at his new job next Tuesday, September 7th! He will be the Community Development Director for the City of Highland, UT. Hooray!! His place of work will be 2.5 miles from our house (instead of about 30 miles) and will also brighten our job security and financial outlook. We are very grateful he has had a job these last 4 years, but it has been pretty uncertain and turbulent, so we are VERY grateful for this new opportunity for him. He certainly deserves it!

Separate Adventures

The last few weeks, our girls have been off on their own adventures. Minnie saved her money for a plane ticket to Arizona to visit her friends. She was gone from August 2nd to the 8th, her first time flying all by herself. The first half of the week she stayed with her friend, Rio. The second half of the week she stayed with our friends, the Marispini's. She had a great time--but didn't really take any photos, so I don't have any to post! We missed her, so it was good to get her back.

The same week, Jumble left on Wednesday with the priests and laurels in our ward to Island Park, ID and also spent one day in Yellowstone. They came back on Saturday night. Here are some photos of her adventures, mostly taken by our bishop:

They stayed at a cabin owned by the YM President's family. Jumble, Ian, Cami, Emi, Chandler, Seth, Kim.

Sis. Miller, Kim, Ryan, Jumble, Taylor, Emi, Seth, Cami, Ian, Bro. Scott, Sis. Scott, David, Bro. Nelson, Bro. Abel

Jumble swinging into the lake!

Letting go.

Bro. Scott, Sis. Scott, Seth, Bro. Nelson, Ryan, David, Chandler, Emi, Cami, Taylor, Kim, Ian, Jumble, Bro. Abel

Seth, Ryan, David, Chandler, Emi, Cami, Taylor, Kim, Ian, Jumble--a great group of kids!

At Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

At Artist Point overlooking Lower Falls. Ian, Cami, Kim, Chandler, Jumble

More of the kids overlooking Lower Falls

Jumble writing



Jumble brought a bison home. She named it Appa.

Jumble taking a photo of Old Faithful

Emi, Jumble, David, Taylor, Bro. Scott, Bishop Sharp, Ian, Ryan, Sis. Scott, Bro. Nelson

Meanwhile, the Saturday that Jumble and Minnie were gone, I went on a hike with the Mia Maids and the Beehives to Stewart Falls up Provo Canyon. We had a low turnout--1 Mia Maid and 4 Beehives--but those of us that went had a great time:

Jillian, 2 Gilmour girls (not YW yet), Sis. Gilmour, Kari, Stephanie, Brooke, me, Sis. Peck, Sis. Mower, Jacob Mower, Bro. Stoker (Stephanie's dad) Bro. Gilmour took the photo.

I got back from the hike in time for Niles to head down to Delta, UT to help set up for band camp. Then this week, Jumble spent Monday through Thursday at band camp. She came back in much better shape than her first year! She has been having a little bit of trouble with her knee most of the summer so we got her into the doctor on Friday and she is going to PT tomorrow morning to have a gait analysis. Hopefully they will be able to get her in shape for show season.

This weekend some of us are heading to Boise for Anna's wedding and then school will start next Wednesday, ready or not! Niles took Friday off work and took the kids shopping for school clothes and supplies (I was babysitting.) That was really great of him to do that. So at least we are physically prepared for school to start. Mentally and emotionally, that's another story...

Happy Birthday Harry Potter!

So, as I'm sure you all know, Harry Potter celebrated his 30th birthday on July 31st. Cousin Emily, along with Minnie, made sure we marked the occasion appropriately. Emily, Izak, Micah, Zane, and Gwen all spent the night at our house on Thursday, July 29th and Emily brought recipes and ingredients so she and Minnie could make Butter Beer (non-alcoholic, of course!) and Treacle Fudge. Emily also made Snitch cupcakes for everyone to enjoy.

Atom, Emily, Zane, Gwen, and Snitch cupcakes.

Gwen and Minnie with Butter Beer and Treacle Fudge.

Jet, Atom, Micah, and Zane

Gwen, Izak, Emily, and Minnie

Emily cuts the Treacle Fudge.

Minnie enjoys all the treats.

Then on Saturday, July 31st, Minnie invented her own version of Cauldron Cakes...

made some more Butter Beer, and invited some friends over to celebrate:

Minnie and Samantha try Cauldron Cakes

Kari likes them too.

In other news, we celebrated Pioneer Day with a bar-b-q and fireworks at Tim and Rachelle's house. And our very own Jumble was on T.V. marching in the Days of '47 Parade in Salt Lake City. But we can't really show that on the blog, so you'll have to take our word for it. And here's also a couple of photos of the boys at the splash pad in Highland.

Jet

Atom

Dad and Mom at the Pioneer Day Bar-b-q.

Niles and Tim--master ice cream makers!

Micah, Izak, Zane, and Atom play in the backyard.

Jet, Micah, Zane, and Izak.

Tim, Erin, Minnie, Emily, Jet, Zane, and Taran about to light fireworks and sparklers.

Jet and Anders.

Atom

Camp Liberty

Jumble, Minnie, and I spent July 5th-9th at beautiful Heber Valley Camp in the mountains above Heber, UT. Unfortunately for Jumble and Minnie, I get to go with them so I come home with millions of photos of them, about half of which I am going to post here:

Minnie on the bus--ready for a fun week of camp. Jumble had a parade to march in that morning as part of the Provo Freedom Festival, so we arranged for her to come up a little later with another band member in our stake.

We were in Camp Rebekah this year. Here's Minnie with her friends at the opening orientation at the amphitheatre. Everyone is still clean because we'd just arrived!


First order of business--paint our lanyards red, white, and blue with stars. And make S.I.S.T.A.s friendship bracelets. Minnie with Kari.

The Youth Camp Leaders (YCL's) welcome the girls to camp with a rendition of "Lean on Me" You get to be a YCL for your 5th and 6th years of camp so this was Jumble's first year as a YCL. Makenzie, Kim, Cami, Mallory, and Jumble.

Our ward camp director shows off our ward flag.

Our stake theme this year was "Camp Liberty" Be Brave, Bold, Beautiful, and Free. It was all about being brave, bold, and courageous in standing up for what you believe and know is right; increasing your inner beauty by living with righteousness and integrity, and remaining free by using your agency to make correct choices. Along with that was a patriotic theme. One of the service projects we did was to write thank you letters to American soldiers. Our ward theme was "me and my S.I.S.T.A.s" which stands for Strong Individuals Standing Together Always. For our camp kick-off, we (the leaders) introduced our theme by dressing as "Sistas" in nun habits and doing a dance while singing to Diana Ross'es "Ain't No Mountain High Enough." Thankfully, no one seems to have gotten any good photos of that event to blackmail us with!

The back of our t-shirts had everyone's name. Can you locate all three of our names?

The YCL's helping the younger girls with certification. Jumble is on the far right (with her friends Kim and Mallory) making a face at me for taking her photo.

Minnie at certification. That's a mirror that she is using to reflect the sun into her friend's face.

Jumble roasting her hot dog and mozzarella sticks for dinner.

The first night for FHE we held a flag retirement ceremony. Jumble and the other YCL's were in charge of this. Here she is seen with Makenzie.

Helping Mallory and Emi cut one of the flags (we had two.)

Minnie (far right) stands with her friends Kari and Stephanie and solemnly observe the ceremony.

Emi and Jumble cut the stars.

Jumble places one of the stripes in the fire.

And there goes one of the stars.

Every night we had our very own edition of the evening news. Here Jumble does a spotlight on Stephanie, one of the 1st years.

As a 2nd year, Minnie was responsible to help with a flag ceremony. This is the morning of July 6th, our second day of camp.

Jumble, Mallory, and Jillian relax and soak in some sun at lunchtime. The weather was quite cool the entire week so we usually needed sweatshirts in the shade for most of the day. The nights were cold but our cabins were warm--even I didn't get cold at night, for which I was very grateful!

The challenge course has many team-building, problem solving activities. This is Jumble's group at one of the stations.

Minnie at another challenge course station.

Jumble and Haley "processing" what they learned at one station.

Minnie is blindfolded!

Jumble helps hold the rope for others to cross, along with Camille, Savannah, Brogan, and Haley.

Minnie balances on a log with Jillian and Emi.

The last station was a swing , you are pulled about 30 feet into the air and then the swing is released--backwards! Jumble gets ready to go here.

On the way up.

Wheee!

Minnie doesn't like drops. It took her awhile to get up the courage to try the swing. Here she is still not sure why she's agreed to do it!

Going up.

She did it! (And liked it--except for the first drop.) I wasn't feeling too well that day, so I decided to stay on the ground and be the official photographer.

Me with Lady Liberty.

Skit night. Minnie and Jumble are playing the part of trees. Can you find them?

Our amazing stake leaders!

Every evening during our nightly news, we had "commercials" which were "Win it in a Minute" games. Here Minnie prepares for a puzzle challenge as Jumble looks on. This was one of the tamer activities. Some of the other nights were very wild and hilarious. We were sworn to secrecy about some of what went on!

The next day was hiking day. Minnie came prepared with a Camelback Pack.

A few places were a little steep and required helping some of the more timid girls by holding hands. Jumble was one of the helpers for Suzie (in front of her) and Kari (in back of her).

Back from the hike--time for a craft--Minnie, Kari, and Haley are making "purse journals."

Goofing off while waiting for the stake dinner to start. Brooke, Minnie, Amanda.

It may be Girl's Camp, but that doesn't mean you have to rough it! Our wonderful camp cook (who is also my next-door neighbor and a professional caterer), brought her chocolate fountain for "spa night."

Jumble laughs as they prepare for facials, manicures, and pedicures. Each girl paired off with a girl from the 5th ward to make friends while pampering each other.

Minnie gets a mask applied to her face.

Jumble doing the same with her 5th ward friend.

Now it's time to peel off that mask!

Spa night wouldn't be complete without pina coladas with little umbrellas! These are some of the best leaders ever--Jill, Tammy, and Heather.

Spa night ended with spa kits for each girl with lip gloss, lotion, flip flops, etc. Do we spoil these girls or what?

Jumble and Makenzie anchored the nightly news that evening.

The next morning started with Kneader's french toast (yummy Kneader's cinnamon bread) with strawberries, cream, and caramel syrup! Yum, yum!!

Remember, our fabulous camp cook is a professional caterer? Our YW president is an amazing seamstress so she made these very cool aprons and hats as a thank you for Jean and her faithful assistant, Heather.

Gourmet french toast. This is definitely NOT scout camp!

Jumble got a mosquito bite, and as usual, it became very swollen. Some people actually thought she had broken her arm, the bump on her arm was so large it made her arm look bent! You can't really tell how huge and swollen it was in this photo.

Minnie during morning scripture study.

Thursday was lake day. Jumble steers her canoe with Kim.

Amanda, Minnie, and Kari in their canoe.

The leaders get paddle boats so we are better equipped to rescue girls if their canoes tip over. We actually had 3 canoes go over during our session (none from our ward) and we (Jill and I)ended up toting two of the soaked girls back to shore in our paddle boat.

Back from the lake, it's time for another craft. Jumble is working on a friendship bracelet.

Amanda, Minnie, Kari, and Heidi work on the YW/YM theme blocks.

I was in charge of this craft. Niles and my dad cut all the wooden blocks out for me. Here's how some of them turned out.

Late on the last night, after testimony meeting. It's been fun, but we are ready to go home.

Jumble helps hand out camp awards to everyone. I'm sure she is responsible for awarding me the "paparrazi" award. I was bugged by everyone all week for how many photos I was taking, but the camp slideshow would have been pretty lame if I hadn't since hardly anyone else took any photos this year.

Minnie and her friends receive their camp awards.

Sisters (and S.I.S.T.A.s)--waiting for the bus home.

The End.