Random summer in a nutshell

4th of July was loud and festive, as always. Vancouver City Council actually just banned personal fireworks beginning 2017, and it will be interesting to see if that affects the Armageddon mentality of those of us who live outside of city limits. 4th of July (and the days preceding and following it) is CRAZY here. Every kind of firework is legal, and it feels very much like a war zone.  

But first, the day started with our little Felida fair. It was cute and small-towny.

Afterward we got ourselves some Tropical Sno to cool off.

And then we prepared our backyard and home to host a barbeque for our good friends the Kartchners and Harringtons. 

As it started to get dark, we moved to the front yard and witnessed at least three huge fireworks shows within half a block.  At first it was fun.

 But pretty soon it was way overwhelming. These smart boys brought out noise canceling earphones, sleeping bags to huddle in, and a big umbrella to shield the from falling embers.

 Before long, our guests gave up and cautiously inched their way out of the warzone on our street to return home to some peace and quiet.  The next day we picked up well over 300 spent firework shells in our yard. Who knows how many are stuck on our roof!

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The next week Aubrey flew back to Utah, so Joseph was an only child. Each night we tried to find something fun for entertainment.

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I'm not sure whose phone this picture came from, but how fun that the Brandon and Bailey Coke bottles were right next to each other!

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Joseph spent several fun afternoons at the Crusans house, sometimes doing cool stuff like archery and beebee gun shooting.

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When Aubrey got back in town, she and her friend Emma did a fun photo shoot one day in the field behind our house (where 150 homes will soon be built. Sigh.).  I love so many of the pictures of our beautiful Aubrey.

But I especially love that she has a sense of humor and posted this picture as the picture on her home screen (and she posted it and other bloopers on Instagram).

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 The third week of July was Cub Scout Camp, at, which I was a parent helper. I love the enthusiasm of 10 year olds!  

These boys have been best buddies since they were babies.

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Other exciting news . . . Aubrey got her driver's permit and began her reign on the roads. She has settled into being a good driver.

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Aubrey also did something really challenging, and we rewarded ourselves afterward with BlueStar donuts in Portland.  She contacted the Oregon Children's Theater and arranged an audition for their Young Professionals Theater Company. It was such a grown up thing to do, and she was very impressive. It was a good experience all around, and she was proud of herself for doing it.

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The second week of August I spent a few days in Boise with two friends from childhood, Julianne and Rachel. We had a great time reconnecting and had lots of adventures (such as the ridiculous airbnb accomodations, where we weren't allowed to talk after 10 p.m. and we shared our space with two huge dogs  . . . . floating on a raft down the river . . . . watching Shakespeare's 12th Night at a cool outdoor ampitheater and agreeing it was the most ridiculous adaptation of the dumbest Shakespeare play . . . walking the streets of the historic part of Boise and ogling the architecture of some of the houses . . . . eating delicious food every meal, including the Boise Fry Company - 3 kinds of french fries and 30 different sauces!)

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While I was gone, Dan talked the kids into going with him to the Clark County Fair to see the Kansas concert. Afterward, Aubrey went on rides with friends and Joseph and Dan won a humongous stuffed bear and rode all the non-spinny rides.

There are some other big pieces of our summer I haven't covered yet, but I'll handle those in separate posts!

Round-up of missed moments - February through June 2015

Buckle your seatbelt. I am going to catch up. It won't be impressively creative or insightful, but it will be done.

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In February the girls and I attended the Rogers & Hammerstein broadway show Cinderella.  It was really amazing, especially the two times when Cinderella twirled around and somehow completely changed her gown mid-twirl. Mind blowing!! Before the play we had dinner at the Laughing Planet, a very Portland-esque eatery.

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Mid-March we celebrated when we completed our last Pinewood Derby. Joseph wasn't thrilled with the performance of his car, but we were all happy to be done.  

Ha ha ha ha . . . . have I mentioned that as of August I have a new church calling, and as part of my calling I am now over Pinewood Derby for the stake?  Oh, someone up there has a great sense of humor.  

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The following pictures are visual proof that I am a good mother who bought a egg dyeing kit, boiled eggs, and provided the opportunity for my kids to color Easter eggs. Not one of them cared about it whatsoever and only colored an egg and posed for a picture under duress. I think I am at the end of my egg dyeing days.  Whew.  

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Mid-April I was able to spend a weekend in Moses Lake with my Grandma Palmer, who just celebrated her 87th birthday. I had a truly wonderful time taking Grandma shopping and to lunch and seeing her home in an assisted living center. I also loved spending time with Aunt Lora and Uncle Brent, who let me stay at their house. They are such genuine people, and it was a treat to spent hours talking to them about their life histories. We typed up an outline of their lives and posted them on familysearch.org.

I love the stuffed animals Lora sets on the guest bed to welcome visitors.

Funny story about this picture. I handed my iphone to Aunt Lora to take a picture of me and Grandma by a pretty spring-flowering tree.  Because Lora has an iphone, I thought she would be comfortable taking a picture. Unfortunately, instead of a picture she accidentally took a 5 second video. I had Brandon pull this very low quality picture off the video, as proof that I was with Grandma that weekend.

When I asked Grandma where she wanted to go to lunch, she said "let's go to this really good pizza place in town for a lunch buffet."  I drove us there and found that it was the Pizza Hut. And the lunch buffet was over. So we ordered pizzas. I thought we might each get a personal pan pizza, but Grandma said she wanted to get a LARGE, and she wanted the meat lover's combo on her half, with extra cheese in the crust.  I guess when you live to be 87 you are entitled to as much meat lovers pizza as you want!

And then I took Grandma shopping for white pants to the new store in town, Ross Dress for Less.  We found a pair that looked good until I spotted the bedazzled rear pockets. We laughed ourselves silly at the thought of Grandma wearing her blingy pants around the assisted living center!

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Around this time also, from Mid-March to Mid-may, we put an offer on and then purchased a triplex in Provo, Utah. My parents had been helping us out and looking for a suitable property for us for the previous 9 months. It was pretty intense and frightening to buy an investment property from afar, but I think it will end up being a good investment. It is also a nice option for our married kids to live in while they are going to school.

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A project that Bailey and I tacked in the spring: re-doing her bedroom (just in time for her to move out of it!)  She had been ready for a change for awhile, as the choices she had made as a 13 year old didn't really reflect the young adult she had become.  

It took some serious painting to cover the bright fuschia and orange paint on the walls! Bailey did lots of patching on the walls to cover holes from where she had hung pictures and Christmas lights.

I tackled a sewing project and sewed a yellow band on the bottom of the curtains Bailey and I found at HomeGoods on clearance. It took a lot of measuring and re-measuring. At the same time, I sewed a panel to the back of one of Bailey's new dresses, making the low-cut back more modest.  I was pretty proud of my sewing finesse!

Bailey had a certain shade of greyish greenish blue in mind for the wall, a color which would evoke the ocean. But when we painted what we thought would be the perfect shade, it turned out to be the exact color she had on her wall for much of her early childhood!  That had to go.  

And the finished project.  I am still trying to figure out what to do with the walls, especially on the wall behind the bed. 

photo to come

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I put this picture into a file labeled "FHE" on my computer. I cannot remember why Dan was standing on his head for family home evening, but it's definitely a  picture was worth documenting!

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I really love this quote, on one of the rocks outside Aubrey's high school. 

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Joseph performed in his 6th piano recital on the late afternoon of Bailey's birthday in June. It is so fun to listen to him play both piano and cello!  Even more fun than listening to him play Minecraft.  

 

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And another Joseph picture - a spy outfit he put together one day in the midst of graduation craziness.  I'm so glad that he still dresses up in costumes now and then! 

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And finally, we spent as much time as possible hanging out together as a family of five before Bailey left to college, even gathering all together on Bailey's bed. And Bailey looks very thrilled that we are in her room, right? 

Bailey's 18th birthday

For a birthday outing on the day that she became an official adult, Bailey asked the family to go to Portland to the International Rose Test Garden and the Portland Japanese Garden, and then to her favorite Mexican food place on Alberta Street. It was a lovely early summer day!  

What a beauty this girl is, inside and out.  Oh, and the roses were beautiful, too.

Aubrey and Joseph were patient with all the perusing. 

Well, pretty patient. It looks like Joseph was getting a little irritated.

More shots of my amazingly awesome kiddos.

And then on to the Japanese Gardens, which are so picturesque and serene.

And then to Alberta Street, where we took a few fun birthday shots along the way.

And enjoyed some scrumptious and authentic Mexican cuisine!

We finished the outing with a stop at La Petite Patisserie on Alberta Street, where we got amazing French pastries and goodies.

Rewind now to the way the day began, with breakfast in bed: pancakes with butter no syrup, "smoothie in a bowl" with granola, and blueberries.

Opening a few gifts before getting ready.

These are from her Daddy, her hiking partner.  Walking sticks. Which Bailey thought were a little "old ladyish",  but which Dan insists will be helpful for the next big hike.  

At the end of the day she opened a few more gifts, including some super exciting kitchen stuff for the new college student.  She was thrilled to have her own set of Demarle cookwear and Magic Bullet!

Yay for Bailey - a lovely adult human being!

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I interrupt this regularly scheduled blog catch-up to interject a quote I heard yesterday from the April 2015 General Conference. I've been listening to all of the last conference as I walk every day in the gorgeous crisp fall weather. This quote really pierced me. I believe it with all my heart.

"No other work transcends that of righteous, intentional parenting!"

Russell M. Nelson

And, my favorite talk from last conference, filled with incredible advice about helping children to love the gospel:  

The Music of the Gospel by Wilford W. Anderson

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/04/the-music-of-the-gospel?lang=eng