An Evening With Jane

Sick of enduring and watching life pass you by?

Are you ready to have a cheerful visit with a friend?

Have you been pondered what is missing from your life?

Are you bored to tears?

Are you ready to celebrate the good things in life?

You might be ready to spend an evening with Jane!

Last week, my friend had a group of us over to enjoy an evening reliving her recent "Jane Austen" trip to England. I'll be sharing some highlights in my next couple of posts.

Another Day, Another "A"

When I was in High School every time my friend's dad, Brother Dunlop, would dropped us off at school after Seminary he would make us say, "Another day,another A" before he would let us out of the car.

Here are the Girls heading off for another year of success.


E- 3rd Grade


R- 1st Grade


H- Pre-Kindergarten


The Walking Group


The Carpool

E's teacher, Mrs. Brownlee

R's teacher, Mr. Schiewe

H's teacher, Miss Michelle P.

To help take my mind off of missing my kiddos on their first day back, I went to lunch with a couple of friends and the younger siblings.

To let the Girls know I missed them and was so proud of their hard work at school, I had a plate of Chocolate Chip Cookies fresh out of the oven ready for them when they got home.

Here's to a great year ahead!

Released

Today, JR was released from working with the Young Men at church. This has been such a big part of our lives I thought I, Karen, would write down some of the memories that stick out to me.

First, and for most, are the Young Men themselves. As you know, we don't have any boys of our own. It has been so much fun to have these fine Young Men in our home and sharing in our lives. I wish I had a picture of all of them but here is a small sample.


Working in Young Men has been "A Mountain Top Experience"
Hiking Mt. St. Helen's was the crowning moment.

One of my favorite skills JR has acquired is Dutch Oven cooking. He is a master!

There has been river rafting trips.

Mountain Biking excursions.

Shot gun shooting.

FYI, when JR was first calling to YMs we had no camping equipment. Now, not only do we have camping equipment, we also have equipment for all the activities shown above.

I know we haven't even lived here for four years yet, but while in this ward JR has gone on 4 High Adventures (really 4 1/2, but that is being technical).

The 1st, I call the Plan B High Adventure, was suppose to be wind surfing and sailing catamarans. A lot of time was put into preparing for these activities, but the weather didn't cooperate. Instead, every day was a new adventure to see what they would do.
This was when JR discovered the beautiful waterfalls around here. They even went down natural water slides.

#2, This time they headed to Swift Reservoir and camped on an island.

John Larkin and JR (They did quite a few YM camp outs together)
This trip's highlights were building the raft, water baseball, and a campground that was only accessible by boat. It also rained the whole week.

Then there was the 3rd High Adventure. Last year, they went on a 50 Miler. JR loved the 50 miler. My memories of the trip start with the day long re-planning Ben Weiss and JR had since there was still snow where they were suppose to go, and the crazy calling around to try to solidify rides which ended up with us renting a 15 passenger van. Then waking up the morning of the hike, to find that some of the boys had snuck over and attached a cargo carrier to the roof so there could be more leg room. Then all the reports through out the week of the condition of every ones' feet. When you are walking 50 miles, having your feet be blister and bruise free is very important.

The 1/2 High Adventure was that summer too. JR went up for a couple of days to join the Teachers' while they kayaked up in the San Juan Islands. JR was taken by the beauty around him and how close the porpoises swam to them. I remember the Bishop dropping his keys in the Sound and JR's phone being the only one with coverage. I am glad there are cell phones and overnight express delivery service!

This summer was the Fourth and Final High Adventure, for this time around with the Young Men. They headed to the Coast. You can just look a few entries back for more details.

Here is a word cloud about Young Men:

Monthly Camp Outs, Planning Meetings, basketball, knife making, snow caving, down hill skiing, Scout Training, tennis, snow shoeing, Ape Caves, water skiing, blue cards, merit badges, Eagle projects, Preach My Gospel, Dustins' Cabin, Lewis Falls, Goat Rock, Eagle Creek, broken car window, Young Men driving activities, cross country skiing, preparing boys to serve missions ...SO MANY MORE

Finally, my girls calling them "Daddy's Boys"

Now, that chapter is closed. JR is a Ward Missionary. He has had his first meeting. The missionaries are coming over Tuesday to share a message with our family. Wednesday JR is going on exchanges. The boys are in great hands; another man that needs his own "Daddy's Boys"

BIG GUY you'll do terrific!

Life is Fine When You're Nine

While we were in California, E celebrated her 9th birthday.

Her cousin, S, shares the same birthday. We were able to have double the fun!

Even their Great-Grandmother, Lala, is an August birthday. She stopped by to be part of the celebration as well.


We started the day by having E, S, their sisters, Grandma Jill and Mom go out to breakfast. We went to play at a park (that didn't last long--sick=no energy). Later in the day, all the girl cousins got together and went to Build-A-Bear. Now, all of our houses have more furry friends to help remember the day.


S with Grandpa Mike and her "Harry Potter" bear

That night we headed down to the beach for dinner. We roasted hot dogs, made corn on the cob with sea water (It is so delicious), salad, fruit, Smores and birthday cake.

The girls even opened their presents down at the beach.

Even a little Boccie was played.

Here the girls are making a wish.

Aunt Jen gave everyone the perfect gift... Glow in the Dark Flip Flops!

Relaxing in the OC

Over the mountain and the tip of the sea to Grandmother's house we go,
The pilot knows the way to guide the plane through the light and drafting clouds,
Oh, ...

Vacation can do a lot to rest the body and raise the spirit.
Here is JR after a few days of unloading the worries of the world.

H- cheerful as usual


Grandpa Mike has started a tradition of doing the "Wild Rumpus" dance whenever he is around our girls. The dance was inspired by the book Where the Wild Things Are. I wish we lived closer so we could all go together to see the movie when it comes out this fall.

Grandpa leading the dance

More Wild Rumpus!


One of the best things about going down to the OC is seeing the cousins!

R(1) and E with cousin R(2) (Her and my R have the same initials: RAZ)

H with A1 and S. H loved these two. She had them babying her all the time.

One not so bright part of the trip that I need to mention is the girls were sick the whole trip. They had a fever and were tired; this didn't stop them from having fun. However, at the end of the day, and sometimes the middle, they were BEAT.
Most nights they were asleep before we were out of the room from tucking them in, like this night.

H and furry friends

R, so tired

E-She was the last one to get ready that night. She hadn't had a chance to sleep yet.

While we were down there JR, E, and I were able to go visit JR's grandparents. (We decided not to take the other two since they were sick). I feel bad saying this, it was such a nice visit. I was able to sit down and talk. We had a wonderful conversation. I was able to participate instead of referring fights, keeping an eye out to make sure no property was destroyed, and all that other mom stuff you have to do while visiting with your kids.

Bobee and JR. Bobee is in his 90th year of life, as he likes to say. (Translation he is 89 years old)

The final night, we went to JR's brother's, Mark, house for an outdoor movie.

The Z men enjoying the flick: JR, Mark(standing), Matt, and Mike

The crowd watching from the hot tub: H and A2

Making their own entertainment: R2, R1, A1, S

Home again, home again, jig -a- dee- jig