The frenetic speed of life

How do people find time to do things like write in a journal every day or keep up a blog? I'm pretty lousy at both. We seem to move from one busy season to another, and any downtime is usually in the company of my family, in which case I choose to not sequester myself in the den to catch up documenting life events.

In addition, life has been really tough lately for people I love. And that puts all things in perspective and sometimes mutes my desire to write about the minutiae of our lives.

But I know it's important. My kids like to look back on the paths we have walked, and my memory bank is getting so full at my advanced middle-age that I won't remember everything if I don't take a picture and write it down.

So today my goal is to summarize some of the major highlights in the lives of my family from July through September.  I'll add posts with pictures and more details later.

Our house is really feeling emptier these days. We have a completely empty bedroom for the first time. I only have to keep track of two children's packed schedules. It feels weird.

Brandon and Angela are busy finishing up school classes (Brandon will graduate in April and Angela a semester or two later).  Brandon finds lots of opportunities to expand his skills and make himself immensely useful in the world of video editing/colorizing.  He is very good at what he does and seems to really like it. Angela is finishing up her Microbiology degree and is looking at Pharmacy school.  

Mid-August they spent a week with us in Washington (lucky us!) and right after returning to Utah moved into a triplex we purchased in Provo.

Bailey attended BYU for Summer Term (and now is in Fall Term) and has had a great time, as we knew she would! We are so proud of her and miss her so much. 

She has literally climbed mountains since leaving to college, and has pushed herself to do lots of fulfilling things, including going to a leadership camp and signing up to help with some BYUSA projects. She is tackling some difficult classes this semester and is learning a lot about juggling college-level stress with fun social activities. 

She and I took a whirlwind trip to San Diego with Mianna and Laura Sullivan right after summer term ended, and then she also spent a week with us in Washington. We were so lucky to have all our family together for a few precious days!  Bailey is going to ditch college for a few days and fly to CA to join us in Disneyland in a few weeks.

Aubrey had a super busy summer.  I will consult the calendar on my phone so I can remember everything. . . 

She drove with us to Utah the day school ended to drop off Bailey at college. That same day we dropped off Aubrey at BYU for a week at EFY with her good friend Kate. At the end of the week we drove home and she attended a tap dancing class every day the next week. Then, during the weekend she flew back to Utah to spend a week at the Young Ambassadors camp, a really special experience. She attended with our friend in the ward, Hailey Johnson. 

She arrived back from Utah on Saturday night and early Monday morning left on a backpacking overnight 4th year girls camp hike. (Which she ROCKED and really loved). The girls went straight from the hike to a week at Girls Camp, their last year before they are youth camp leaders. I was there as a leader, so Aubrey and I bonded during a fun and dusty week at camp.  

After camp Aubrey had her only free week of the summer, during which we crammed all sorts of doctor and dentist appointments, all the while packing up for Pioneer Trek. On July 29th Aubrey, Dan, and I left for a 4 day pioneer trek. So much more to say about that, but it will have to go into a separate post.  

Two days after returning from Trek Aubrey started daily rehearsals for a musical called Seussical and 3 times a week driver's ed classes.  She finished rehearsals for the play and performed three times the weekend of August 21st. She was AMAZING, but once again that needs to be the subject of another post. The week after the play we did all her school shopping, went to the lake with some youth in the ward, and then it was time for school to start!  

Aubrey is a sophomore this year is and is doing really well. She has been involved in quite a few fun social events, some of which she hosted! In addition to her three times a week theater/conditioning/dance/vocal classes through her theater company, she takes lessons off and on with three different vocal teachers.

Joseph was all about the friends this summer. He liked the trip to Utah, during which he connected with a good friend who recently moved from Vancouver. Once he returned home he spent his days planning which friend(s) to invite over. Socializing is not a problem for him!  

In July he attended Cub Camp with Mom as a helper. He finished his Webelos badge and read the first two Hunger Games books. Joseph was able to have a few sleepovers at his best buddy's house while we were involved in youth activities (camp and trek) this summer. 

Joseph wrote numerous pages of dystopic and futuristic books over the summer. He plans out entire series of books and then plunges into writing the first book. Sometimes he gets tired of writing one book so he switches gears and writes about another compelling idea. I am his official editing helper, and he has hosted several "author lessons" to teach me how to write better.  

This year Joseph is a 5th grader, the big kid in the school and on the bus, and loves it. He is on a great soccer team and is just about to start basketball.

Dan and I were really busy making sure all the above things happened.  The end.

Okay, maybe there is a little more. Dan just began his 4th year of teaching seminary. So far so good. He has the prep down to a science, but has a really squirrelly freshman class this year.  He continues to like to work out (he and Aubrey work out at the gym in the mornings after Seminary and before she goes to school at 9:30.)

I received a new church calling just before Girls Camp in mid-July. (Stake Primary President).  I had almost six weeks to stew over counselors and to try to effect a smooth transition from my job in YW before I was finally sustained on my birthday the end of August.  The new calling has been an interesting ride. Humbling. I am learning a lot, including how much I don't know, and the Lord is stretching me, which is a good thing. Yesterday I spoke at the 7 a.m. Sunday Stake Priesthood meeting. It went well and ended up being a good experience, after an agonizing week (okay, 3 weeks) of preparation, trying to get the message to be what the Lord would want it to be.

In addition to going to San Diego with Bailey, I also was able to spend a few days in Boise in August with a few friends from high school. It was fun to reconnect with them.

Life is Good We are back in the swing of the school schedule, which means we are pretty busy. But life is good.

Such a busy summer

I don't have a lot of hope that I will ever catch up on the blog. During the busy school months I told myself that I would have time to catch up during the summer.  So far the summer has had a lot of extremely busy days and very few relaxing catch up days.  I'm actually looking forward to school because I have this erroneous belief that I'll have time to catch up on life then!

A few days after Bailey's graduation school ended for the other kids and we took off for Utah to take Bailey to college and Aubrey to EFY. We spent a week in Utah and then returned home. Aubrey did a week long tap camp in Vancouver and then flew back to Utah for a week of BYU Young Ambassador camp. A few days after she flew home, Aubrey went on an intense overnight backpacking trip with the 4th year girls in the stake (she totally rocked it!). Then I met up with her at Girls Camp, where we spent a week.   Like always, I thoroughly enjoyed being with the girls and women.  Like always, the physical conditions tested me somewhat, but being in nature was heavenly. And the overall experience was totally worth it.  Last week I helped at Cub Scout Camp, which was exhausting and really fun to be with my favorite 10-year-old and his buddies.

In two days Dan, Aubrey, and I leave on our stake's Pioneer Trek. By the time it ends I will have spent a record number (for me) days this summer sleeping outside in a sleeping bag, cooking in the great outdoors, and using a porta potty. I'm generally a fan of cooking in a real kitchen, sleeping in a real bed, and using clean flushable toilets. Because Dan and I are a "Ma and Pa" we have spent weeks in preparation for trek and collecting the long list of camping and other items needed for our "family." Our entire house is filled with piles of camping gear. Gathering the pioneer clothing has been more time consuming and frustrating than it should have been. 

Aubrey is anxious about the trek experience, and so am I, to be truthful. This is a big unknown, and it's going to be hot and tiring. But I have been telling Aubrey that I am handling this anxiety by focusing on the good things I know will come from it. I like the feeling of doing hard things which push my comfort zone. I look forward to getting to know the youth in our "family."  And I know this is a once in a lifetime experience I will never forget, so I'm going to enjoy the adventure.  

Here's hoping we survive!

Graduation Events

We remembered from the last time we had a graduate . . . graduation is a multi week activity, with different events almost every night.  We did our best to enjoy every one of them with Bailey. Some highlights:  

Baccalaureate was on Sunday, June 7th.  

Here are some of the LDS graduates.

and all the LDS graduating girls, including Lauren and Elissa who have been Bailey's very special friends for many years and have helped her decide to be pursue special education as a profession. 

Posing afterward with good friends Nina and Laura.

"Look, it's our future!"

I'm not sure what they were going for here - maybe fear and anxiety??"

 

a few with Mom and Dad.  

Posing by the Skyview sign.

The culmination of a week's worth of graduation events was the actual graduation day. Grandma and Grandpa Springer drove into town to be there for the graduation.  

Before graduation we took pictures and then ate dinner at Sweet Tomatoes.

We didn't have enough tickets for everyone to sit in the gym, so they sat in the overflow auditorium.  Believe me, they got the better end of the deal!  They had air conditioning, softer seats, and this was their view when Bailey walked across the stage.  

And this was our view.

 We sat on the upper level of bleachers for what felt like a VERY LONG TIME.  

 After Bailey was officially graduated we met up with her for a few minutes until she had to leave for the "official but not sponsored by the school" all night grad party.  

 So, 5 years ago we took a snapshot of Bailey on Brandon's graduation, indicating that she would graduate in just 5 more years.  

So we couldn't resist having Aubrey and Joseph do the same.  3 years . . . . . 8 years.

And now, you thought we were done with graduation events, right?  Nope.  Seminary graduation was a few days later, on Sunday the 14th.  

This year Bailey did a great job serving as seminary president. She learned so much from the experience, including getting comfortable with public speaking and how to lead when people don't always follow through on assignments. I really appreciated the theme the council chose for the year,"I have learned for myself," and the uplifting thoughts the council members frequently posted on the seminary facebook page.  

Here Bailey is standing to the right of her teacher this year, Sister Allen (who just might be her favorite teacher ever, but don't tell her sophomore teacher, her Dad!).  

 The Seminary Council, minus a few people who were out of town and plus sweet Elissa, who jumped into the picture.

Next up, off to college.  Five days after graduation and the day after school ended for the other kids!

A few of the graduation decorations:

Our dreams came true - a Disney Cruise!

Bailey and I have dreamed about a Disney cruise for years and years. We frequently looked at all the pictures on the Disney cruise website and studied the itineraries and layouts of the different ships.  Each of our kids has the chance to go on a senior trip with parents, and Bailey debated for a long time but chose a cruise on the Disney Wonder with a 5 day itinerary on the West Coast, from San Diego to Vancouver, Canada, with a stop in San Francisco. Because we weren't able to figure out how to get both Dan and me on vacation with Bailey for a week, Dan stayed home to man the homefires and I was the lucky chaperone for the senior trip!  

We traveled to San Diego a day early to walk around Old Town and eat some fabulous Mexican food.

We posed by lots of cheesy faux Mexican backdrops and walked all around Old Town San Diego, touring the Mormon Battalion Visitors Center and sampling chocolates at a fantastic candy store.

The next morning we were on our way!  Look who was there to greet us!

Our stateroom was so perfect.  Small but just big enough for us.  The bathroom was teeny tiny.

Of course, every night our steward left us chocolates on the bed with a folded towel animal.

Before the ship left port we walked around all the decks and checked out our temporary home.

The ship is so charming and filled with special Disney touches.  

We especially liked the section of the ship modeled after Route 66.

and all the fun portholes.

But one of the highlights of the cruise was the amazing food.  Every meal was in one of the themed restaurants, and the food was delicious and imaginative. We ordered anything and everything that sounded good from the menus.  Our motto was "why not."  As in . . . . "I can't decide between the chocolate cake, the baked Alaska, the cheesecake and the torte.  I think I'll have them all.  Why not?"

Some of the time for lunch we ate at the buffet restaurant and sat outside on top of the ship.  That worked great until the last few days of the cruise, when a cold front dropped the temperature dramatically!

Bailey and I loved, loved, loved the day we spent in San Francisco. It was quirky and unique and full of history, beautiful buildings, and delicious food.  

We bought hop on/hop off tickets but after waiting in lines several times to re-board the buses we decided to just walk.  So we walked up and down almost every neighborhood in San Francisco.  It was a great way to get a feel for the city, and also a good way to work off some of the extra desserts we had been eating at every meal!

Bailey definitely wanted to see these famous "Painted Lady" Victorian Houses which provide an interesting juxtaposition to the nearby modern skyscrapers. Is she a fan of architecture? Nah. She wanted to see where Full House was filmed! 

We had a gigantic ice cream sundae at Ghiradellis to re-fortify ourselves.  Because why not?

Back on the ship, we played Disney Music Trivia and Bailey just about took the grand prize (which was a Mickey ribbon). I knew all those years watching Disney cartoons would pay off big!

And the evening entertainment every night was just sensational.  Broadway-caliber shows performed in a big theater.  Our favorite was the final night's performance of Disney Dreams. I have to admit that it made me cry!

When we were relaxing in our room we watched the Disney cartoon channel on our TV or listened to the channel of nonstop Disney tunes.

 I tried my best to convince Bailey to pose with all the Disney characters. This is the closest we got to a picture with the princesses.  

 On the final day she agreed to one picture with Mickey.

On our last full day we took some dressed up pictures around the ship. The light was pretty weird for photos.

 Sadly, all great things have to come to an end, and Monday morning we packed our bags and said goodbye to the ship.

We then spent the day touring Vancouver, Canada. We have always wanted to see how this Vancouver differs from our hometown.  We had an interesting tour guide who gave us lots of interesting Canada nuggets as we drove around the city.  We did decide that both Vancouvers are very green and full of trees and bridges over water.

And look at this . . . we found a serendipitous Mickey Mouse icon in the parking lot of Stanley Park.

And finally, flying home to Vancouver, WA on this teeny tiny plane.  For the first time in my life I had to collect my luggage right on the tarmac and then walk quite a way across the tarmac to the terminal after deplaning.  

It was a gift to spend this week with my oldest daughter before she begins new adventures far away in Utah. It was a perfect week in every way!