A whirlwind tour through Summer 2016

Looking back at last summer, the last day of school Joseph helped me decorate the car in celebration . . .

 ... and then immediately took off on a trip to Utah. I'll cover that trip in a different blogpost. We got a lot of second looks on our long road trip because of our colorful and interesting van!

Back in Washington, on 4th of July we spent the day at the Ridgefield City celebration. Aubrey made tons of money face painting for Crusan's dental office and Joseph and Ian checked out all the fun events, including the spider show. Joseph held a TARANTULA!  I cannot believe he was brave enough. I could hardly stand to be standing a few feet away!

 An important rite of passage . . . Aubrey got her checking/debit account. She also had a headshot taken so that she could audition for a theater company in Portland.

And after the photoshoot we did some shopping, and Aubrey suggested a dapper outfit for Joseph.

 We enjoyed our first Tropical Snow of the year, a hallowed Porter family tradition.

 After Aubrey's audition for the YP program at Oregon Children's Theater, Aubrey and I enjoyed lunch at a food cart pod nearby. 

 And then we did some amazing shopping at a Goodwill. Aubrey found some great school clothes . . .

 plus, she found this stunning sparkly outfit for the "theme day" at the Metro summer camp. Aubrey spent much of the summer working for MPAA as a theater teacher/assistant choreographer. Hooray for earning money!

 The third week of July was my presidency's first stake Activity Day Camp. It was SO MUCH WORK to plan the 3 day camp but it turned out incredible and meaningful. Here is our committee standing by the time machine we made (from which scripture and historical heroes emerged a few times a day amidst bubbles and a time machine soundtrack). 

 To prep for the camp we did a million things, but one of my favorites was using a borrowed Cricut to make shapes and letters for the class I taught. 

We also painted wooden swords for each of the girls. Preparing the swords was a long, fun day with good friends! At the camp, the girls decorated their sword and wrote their "hero" word on the sword before performing a song about the Armor of God at the closing performance for the parents.

Another one of my favorite events at the camp. The girls learned about women heroes in the scriptures, and then they were able to choose from amazing costumes to dress up as their favorite hero. Then we had a professional photographer take pictures of them in front of this backdrop which we hung outside the building. 

Here are some examples of the amazing pictures:

 

My classroom for Activity Day Camp - I taught a class and how to get power from scripture reading.

The last week of July was Multi-Stake 11-year-old Scout Camp, another big event Stake Primary is in charge of. Everything went great, and it was so fun to spend time with Joseph at the camp. Pictures are in a previous post called "Joseph is a Boy Scout."

Joseph, who isn't a fan of many food flavors, was entranced by a Beanboozled jelly bean game in Summer 2016. Half of the jellybeans in the pack are yummy flavors and half are disgusting flavors like spoiled milk, lawn clippings, dog food, rotten egg, booger, barf, and stinky socks. He and his friends had so much fun gagging and laughing when they accidentally ate the gross flavors. Go figure!

 The very end of July Aubrey and I were able to go to the Piano Guys concert outdoors at the zoo. Look at how close we were to the stage! It was an amazing concert and a gorgeous night.

 I thought this was so funny. We were babysitting the Kartchner's fish so we walked the fish home from their house to ours. Definitely something you don't see every day.

Other summer faves:  Fresh local strawberries. Oh my, when they were in season I bought flat after flat and we ate strawberries nonstop!

 Beautiful rainbow over our cul-de-sac.

 Yummy lemon blueberry muffins I tried. I need to find this recipe again.

 Much of the summer Aubrey and I ate strawberries, basil, and fresh mozzarella.

Joseph and Ian at the Ridgefield Night Out. Aubrey made more moolah face painting while the boys and I checked out classic cars and collected free goodies from the vendors. 

 This is fun - Joseph collected all sorts of armbands from his summer adventures at scout camp, Class Skating in Utah, the fair, and I'm not even sure what else! His goal was to wear all of them until he started school.

 We visited the fair as a family and had a pretty good time. The fair is a must-do in the summer, but every time I go I am slightly underwhelmed. Maybe it just doesn't measure up to the fair of my childhood or the Disney trips of my adulthood?

 Aubrey tried a few new recipes herself. They were delicious.

 One day we checked out Boise Fry Company in Portland with our friend Seth. Afterward we all walked to Salt and Straw, because Seth had never tried it.

 Here's my man doing some heavy lifting in Crossfit.

 The four of us Vancouverites saw The Lion King musical the first week of August. It is an amazing show.

 Bailey was home for one precious week between college semesters, and she planned a lot of fun adventures for us during that week. Just one of the fun outings . . . she and I visited Pittock Mansion in Portland and then got Salt and Straw on 23rd afterward. Such a beautiful mansion and view, and so fun to spend time with her!

Another Bailey adventure - she chose a hike to go on with me and Dan. We hiked Angel's Rest in the Gorge. It was so beautiful and so fun to hike with our amazing daughter.

 After our strenuous workout we headed to a super popular Portland breakfast restaurant, Screen Door, for some decadent food. We were SO lucky and had no wait on this day! And the food was absolutely delish.

Aubrey on the day of the performance of Beauty and the Beast, for which she was an assistant choreographer. She took her Beast to each performance for good luck.  Directly from the last performance we flew to California.

 And finally, a fun summer selfie with Joseph.  

September 2016 Summed Up

Working backward still . . . . I set a goal to work on our family history/blog at least a little bit every day this well. This will be possibly possible because life isn't quite as crazy as it has been the last few weeks. I was in charge of some really big events last week, and they took all of my time, energy, and quite likely a few weeks off my life!  Now I am in that sweet spot before March Birthday Month begins in our house.  For some reason, every year once March hits it doesn't slow down until . . . usually the end of August.

So, today I'm going to look back at events at the very end of August and through September.

My birthday was lovely. This was the breakfast in bed the kids and Dan brought me

 

And these are the fresh produce and flowers my friends Becky and Cami brought by.

For dinner Dan made tacos and  picked up my favorite German chocolate cake from Chuck's!

The next day was Joseph's Orientation day for 6th grade - the beginning of middle school! How can it be?  Left, he compares schedules with his friend Matt.  Right, meeting his favorite teacher, Mrs. Pele. She makes science SO MUCH FUN!

School started the next day, the first time our kids have ever started in August!  Aubrey started her Junior year. She was very nervous about it, but within a week or so was glad to be back in the routine and had worked out her classes in a way that worked for her.

Joseph started 6th grade at the Middle School. He was also nervous, but gave school a tentative thumbs up.

After school cookies on the first day of school. 

This is out of order chronologically, but the very end of September Dan flew to Arizona to hike the Rim to Rim of the Grand Canyon with his brother Rich and a few other family members. It was a strenuous hike, but he was really glad he did it!

Beautiful view from the bottom of the Grand Canyon!

Joseph at Pack Meeting, receiving a lot of awards and merit badges he earned over the summer and Aubrey dressed up as a Grandma for a Advo "Tea Party."

Joseph and I stopped one day after school at the Harringtons to check out their tiny baby chicks. That brought a smile to his face!

I am a big fan of sunsets. Unfortunately, they are hard to see from my home, with all the trees blocking my view. So whenever there is a good sunset I drive to an open spot and take a moment to revel in the beauty!

The second weekend in September our stake helped at the local food bank farm. We picked carrots and packed them for distribution on the loveliest fall day you can imagine before running Joseph to his soccer game.  Here Joseph is shaking the dirt of carrots with his friend Alex.

The view of the Salmon Creek one day when I was walking.  Seriously, I live in a beautiful place!

Our traditional "school started" celebration dinner.  Mod Pizza - a place that EVERYONE in our family likes!

On another sunny September Saturday we did a major overhaul of the garage. We got rid of lots of stuff, including some school projects we had been holding onto. Joseph had fun destroying his Longhouse project, old Valentine's school boxes and other assorted things which were headed to the trash!

And then he practiced rollerblading in the garage.

And that's a summation of September! It's always one of the most beautiful months here in Vancouver. Fall is one of my favorite seasons!

Parenting Thought

I've been organizing things (it's January, after all!), and I came across this quote I had torn out of an article. The article addressed the growing sentiment that having children is an unecessary burden. I love the thought expressed by the author.

"The truth is, we need children. We need children because we need to be changed.  We need what nurturing them teaches us, what it reveals to us about ourselves and the change that it invites in us. 

It has been painful to be so exposed to my own weaknesses in mothering. And the truth is, I recognize I will always be far from where I know might be best for them. yet, how can I be grateful enough for them, for teaching me, for inviting me (or forcing me) out of myself? As Novak so poignantly says, 'They are, I know my liberation. They force me to be a different sort of human being, in a way in which I want and need to be forced.'

Before having children, I had thought much about how they would need me - but now I  know it was really I who needed them. I needed them to need the best in me, because it would invite me to try to become just that for them."
                                                                      Jenet Erickson