So much for relying on outsourcing my blog posts! Hahaha. Grace says that she's started working on her Girl's Camp/FSY post for me (and Jane claimed weeks ago that she wants to be the one to recap our Taylor Swift concert experience), but time's a-ticking and we're T-1 week from school starting with absolutely nothing from our summer covered. The only solution to the situation, therefore, is to dump everything into one gigantic post! (Minus the road trip, obviously, which gets its own special treatment and will not be lumped in with everything else.) Will I resort to mostly doing a photo dump? Yes. Yes, I will. So, without further ado -- I give you the Super, Major, Epic Summer (of 2023) Recap!
FSY
Our summer kicked off with a week of FSY ("For the Strength of Youth" -- basically a big youth conference) which Grace and Jane both loved. Of all the things I was expecting from their weeklong experience, however, getting a text from Grace saying that Jane LOVED gospel study wasn't even a blip on my radar. Hahahaha. I assumed that games, activities, dances, etc. would be the thing to have her raving, but nope. It was gospel study. In all honesty, I initially thought Grace was being sarcastic, but after Jane sent me pictures of her personal scripture study notes and a text of her own proclaiming, "I LOVE GOSPEL STUDY," I realized it was the truth! Hahaha.
I can do all things through Christ!
"Rejoice in the gift to DO better and BE better."
I LOVE GOSPEL STUDY
"I can remember in darkness that there will be light because He has a plan for me and he loves me so so much even when I'm struggling."
Jane: I just cried because we're leaving
Jane: we were singing as sisters in zion all together and i started bawling
Me: 💗
Me: My darling my dear*
(*Mercy Watson book series reference)
Girl's Camp
The week following FSY was Girls Camp. Grace and Sophie were both YCLs (youth camp leaders) this year and I'm told that all of the girls in their groups LOVED them. Grace apparently THRIVES on stuff like this and went to town making welcome cards beforehand and notes for each of her girls afterwards.
"I'm Extra Excited to Be Your YCL"
Camp was crammed with the usual -- swimming, dancing, games, devotionals, testimony meetings, etc.-- and by the time the girls were back home, they were exhausted and ready to crash. Grace and Sophie had an overwhelmingly happy experience for the week (minus a minor food allergy incident with Sophie that necessitated some Benadryl which then wiped her out for the rest of the day), but poor little Jane was not such a happy camper thanks to her asthma, environmental allergies, and the Great Outdoors. Womp Womp.
It didn't help that Jane apparently forgot to take her Zyrtec every day, but it was especially unhelpful that her inhaler ran out of puffs by the end of Day 2. Fielding frantic texts from Jane at almost midnight saying that she was struggling to breathe and didn't have the albuterol she needed -- while being 2+ hours away from home -- was not exactly fun for us either. We managed to resolve the issue for that evening by tracking down a leader and having her borrow an inhaler from a friend, but with Jane's still empty we couldn't exactly rely on using someone else's for the rest of the week. Fortunately, another leader was planning on driving up to camp that next day and we were able to hand off a new inhaler to be passed over once she arrived. UNfortunately, it wasn't quite enough to eliminate the problem and by the time they rolled into the church parking lot at the end of the week, Jane was in tears and still struggling to breathe. After a quick drop-off at home for Sophie and Grace, I ran Jane over to the urgent care where she got a breathing treatment and a prescription for prednisone which finally did the trick.
Poor little lamb. 😢
Temple Open House
On the heels of Girl's Camp -- as in they needed to leave like an hour and a half after getting home (with Jane ready to go in barely the nick of time after getting back from Urgent Care and showering all of the pollen off of her) -- the youth in our ward were able to go to our new temple's open house for a special walk-through before it was open to the public. Sophie was crashing a little too hard after just getting back from camp, so Grace, Jane, and Alex were the only ones that made it from our family. (Well, except for Scott, who was one of the leaders/drivers helping to get everyone to the temple.) I thought it was really sweet how Alex, in particular, couldn't stop raving about how beautiful the building was inside.
Youth + Leaders
Young Women
Young Men
I don't know why this iPhone camera angle is so popular with my girls, but here you go. Hahaha.
Obviously, we couldn't let the Temple Open House window close without getting our whole family up there, so a week after the youth trip, we headed on over ourselves. As an added bonus, Jane's friend Quinn joined us as well. The temple really is lovely -- both inside and out -- and we finished up our tour with just enough fading daylight to sneak in some pictures. :)
The fam + Quinn
You'll note a recurring theme here, with Isaac being a ham in almost all of the pictures I tried to take.
Quinn and Jane
There's that camera angle again.
One of the only "normal" Isaac pics.
LOL
Father's Day
Father's Day squeaked by with a bare minimum of effort this year (and let's be honest, every year) from the kids, but since Scott is super low-maintenance, it was all good. Between the candy poster created by the girls and the cute card made (at school) by Isaac, Father's Day was a bigger success than I was expecting. Although, to be fair, that bar was pretty low. Haha.
A candy-gram created by Jane and Grace using some of Scott's favorite candy to create a fairly nonsensical message -- "WE LOVE YOU! Instead of doing [ICEBREAKERS] with you, we thought we'd write you this! You are the [SWEDISH FISH] in our hearts! We wouldn't trade you for [100 GRAND] OR [TWIN SNAKES] (snakes {the animal} that are twins). We wish we could take you on a [TROLLI] in Great Britain! You are like a [HOT TAMALES] (we'll leave that up to your own...interpretation hahaha). Sometimes you can be a real [SOUR PUNCH] (like when you...) but you'll always be in [STARLIGHT MINT] condition. Here are some [TWIZZLERS] (I know, lame-O). Anyways -- you're a real [STARBURST]. Love, your [HARIBO(o)] and your [SOUR PATCH KIDS]. p.s. [HI-CHEW] on this!! Sponsored by [CREST]
You gotta love these fill-in-the-blank Father's Day cards. Haha.
"Glad You're My Dad!
My dad is so awesome! He is 45 years old. My dad is really good at engineering. I really love to play with him. His favorite sport is soccer. He loves to eat pizza. My dad is really smart! He knows how to roller skate. I think my dad is special because he keeps me safe. I love my dad more than anything, even more that ice cream. I think he is a hero because he helps me. He is the best dad in the whole galaxy."
Ethan's 20th Birthday
The end of June saw us celebrating our first-born-in-the-wilderness turning 20. Which is just nuts. The fact that we're old enough to have a 20-year-old is...sobering. Hahahahaha. It's hard to know what exactly to send to a missionary for their birthday, but I think we really pulled through with some high key bangers for Ethan this year. (LOL) Granted, the bulk of the package consisted of candy and P&G products, but we slipped in some fun stuff as well. Like a WWJD bracelet hand-made by Jane. And a Wubble Bubble ball from Isaac. And when you throw in a tie and some Dr. Scholl's shoe inserts -- well, THEN you've got yourself a proper party. Hahahaha.
Ethan's card is a nod to his Apple (as in registered trademark) birthday cake from 2016. He caught the reference. Haha.
Note -- this Old Spice deodorant wasn't actually P&G swag...
The Royal Oils Head & Shoulders, however, WAS.
Ethan is always such a good sport when it come to humoring me with my special requests -- such as sending me some unboxing pictures (and videos) as well as a snapshot of the whole haul.
Taylor Swift Concert
And now we get to the highlight of at least Jane's life -- the Taylor Swift Eras Tour concert! When the girls found out back in February that T Swizzle would be performing within a 4 hour radius of where we live, you better believe they started begging me for tickets to the show. It was a HUGE (*understatement*) rigamarole to purchase said tickets -- resulting in tears and breakdowns as the day wore on and we still weren't getting into Ticketmaster and the girls were afraid we'd miss out completely -- but in the end, luck ruled the day and we were able to get 4 seats together. They had roughly 5 months to earn enough money to pay me back for the concert, and -- even though some may have cut it closer to my self-imposed deadline than I'd like -- in the end, pay me back they did!
(Grace was not interested in using a fundraising thermometer to track her progress.)
The original plan was for the concert to be a Girls Weekend Trip, but when my mom ended up coming to visit in time to watch the boys for us, I happily allowed Scott to join us on our journey and act as our chauffeur for the evening. Especially since I have terrible night vision and was really stressing about driving back to the hotel after the concert when it would be completely dark outside. Considering what a zoo it was with thousands of other concert-goers also trying to leave, I was SUPER glad to have Scott there to pick us up and deal with all the craziness instead.
My hero!
As for the concert itself, it was awesome. Not gonna lie. Heading out early that Saturday morning, we made it to KC in time to eat a late lunch before checking into our hotel to get ready to go. I was told that we had to dress up according to one of Taylor's "eras," so I joined Grace and (I think) Jane (in the end -- after several different outfit idea changes) in representing the Lover album while Sophie rocked her Debut. Grace had found a TikTok tutorial (or something like that) weeks earlier for doing a glitter heart around the eye and while I worked on doing hers and then mine, Sophie and Jane did their own thing. It really was a lot of fun to see the girls getting all dolled up and excited to see the concert.
In case anyone was wondering, the glitter hearts required a highlighter crayon, body glitter gel, eyelash adhesive, and lots of multi-colored and -shaped glitter/sequins. Let's just say that there was a lot of "glitter on the floor after the party." 😜 And that adhesive was STICKY. Like as in SUPER difficult to remove at the end of the day.
I mean -- a picture of them taking a picture of themselves plus their reflection in a mirror?? Come on, now. How could I not snap a picture of that. Hahahaha.
My girlie bugs in front of the stadium.
This cute girl had an Instax camera with her and was offering to take pictures of everyone passing by. It gave us a fun little memento of a super fun moment. Haha.
The stadium was super packed, the merch lines were LONG, and the noise was insane, but I'd do it again in a heartbeat for all the memories we made -- that Taylor Swift really knows how to put on one heck of a show! After waiting in line for a super long time to buy some merchandise, I made it to my seat and joined the girls RIGHT as the opening acts were finishing up and the main event was beginning. The anticipation in the crowd was like a living, breathing thing and when she finally took the stage, the energy in the air was absolutely electrifying. To the point that I have to admit even I got a little teary-eyed along with Jane at the start of the concert. Seriously. Goose bumps everywhere! I know it may seem silly/ridiculous, but Taylor and her songs mean A LOT to a lot of people and to be there in the presence of all these people connecting with her -- and everyone around them -- through her music was kind of amazing.
The girls briefly joined me in line when I got closer to the front so that they could point out what they wanted before scurrying back to their seats.
I snapped a rapid series of pictures right as Taylor Swift was coming out on stage to capture Jane's reactions and raw emotions. She is the hardest-core Swiftie in our family and this was a HUGE moment for her.
I can't accurately describe how LOUD it was in the stadium. I was kicking myself because I had brought ear plugs along with me from home but then ended up forgetting them at the hotel when it was time for us to leave. Womp. Womp.
While the girls were on their feet the whole entire night, singing and dancing along with the crowd, I peaced out for a couple of sets to go and get snacks and drinks for all of us and to sit down and rest my tootsies.
Thank you T. Swizzle for a once-in-a-lifetime experience!
Miscellany:
Alright, we're getting to the end here! The rest of the pictures and activities of note in this post are a rag tag assortment of whatever else was left in my Google photo albums to document our summer. Like the following screenshots from a slideshow that Grace put together to try and convince us to let her take the car out to college with her when she leaves for UVU. She claims that every time she's ever made a slideshow, we've ended up getting her what she wants, and looking back -- she's not wrong. Hahahaha. Apparently, she has some massive powers of persuasion when she puts her mind to it. Lol. Enjoy the following sampling of the reasons why we should let her have the car in Utah.
Table of Contents
01 WHY
in this section I will give you an elaborate explanation as to why you should consider
02 CONS
don't fret, in this section i will look into the cons to tickle your fancy
03 PROS
to really try to convince you lovely folk, i will list the never-ending pros here
04 THANKS
of course i can't go without thanking you for your consideration, find that here
logistics
i know that he {she's talking about the car -- which she has named Percy} is supposed to be the third family car for the kids to use, but even if sophie got her permit right now, she wouldn't be able to drive on her own until november. also, by the time she would be able to drive him alone, it is not like she would even have a parking pass to use at the school. additionally, she could drive yours or dads car to other places when needed since it is rare that both of you are out of the house at the same time (especially since it's not like you drive at night which is probably when she would even be wanting to go places.)
i am self-aware enough to know there are cons.
NO 3RD CAR
obviously if i have the car out in utah, it will not be here
DANGER
i could get hurt in a car and you would be far away i guess
COST
car stuff is expensive (gas, maintenance, etc.)
PRINCIPLE??
it's like the principle of the thing you know?
these apply to both of you silly geese
STORAGE
if percy is gone, there will be more space in the garage along the side
RESPONSIBILITY
i will have to fix the car and stuff without you guys which will be a good lesson
GARAGE
mom can park alone in the double garage and dad can park alone
SAFETY
other kids in the household won't get in a car accident with him if they don't have the option
INDEPENDENCE
i won't be as dependent on you or other family members
HAPPINESS
you will have a very happy child if granted with this fantastical privilege
i have been oh so very good this year
- i did very well in school this year
- i've done my chores most weeks (you can check the sheets)
- i have run errands for you (prescriptions, food, getting maxwell, etc.)
- i have shuttled you around at night
- i wake up on my own for school most days
- i carpool other people
THANKS
do you have any questions?
pls do not reject me right away and really deeply consider this. if you do say no i am fine with riding the bus just having a car would be ideal yk?
kisses! bless your souls! lava you!
Hahahahahaha. I mean, who can argue with that kind of logic?? Haha. Her slideshow success rate continues unbroken, though, as Scott will be driving the car out to Utah next week for her to use at school and to share with Ethan once he's back from his mission next summer. (For the record -- we were already leaning towards this option, but she brought up enough valid points in her argument to push us over the edge.)
Next up on our summer recap rundown: Is any summer complete without an attempt to tie-dye some T-shirts?? I think not! Haha. Isaac was possibly the only child super on board with the idea and excited to make it happen, but I did manage to convince Jane and Alex to make one even if Sophie and Grace were a bust.
The concentration!
His turned out pretty awesome actually and featured prominently in his road trip wardrobe.
And speaking of things without which the summer wouldn't be complete: Our Summer Reading Challenge made its annual appearance! With the reward of money dangling over their heads for each book they finish in our 12 different categories, you'd think this would have a much higher rate of completion.
This year's categories: a Caldecott Award winner; books made into a movie; dystopian; sci-fi/fantasy; graphic novel; your choice; a book written the year you were born; a classic; biography/memoir; middle-grade fiction; an (any kind of) award winner; and mystery/thriller
As it stands, Sophie and Alex are the only ones to have finished all 12 books -- although Isaac and Jane are not too far behind. I'm doubtful they will get it done before our end-of-summer deadline (which is this week), but any amount of summer reading is better than none, right?? Hahaha. Alex has been the most voracious reader this summer and has flown through the tail end of the Harry Potter series over the last few months. Since school ended back in May, he has read books 5, 6, and 7 for a total of over 2,000 pages! Needless to say, I'm so proud of my little bookworm. :)
Non-Sequitur: The following pics of Isaac at a friend's birthday party don't really need a lengthy (or any kind of) explanation, so I'll just let them speak for themselves. Hahaha.
And finally (FINALLY, amiright??): I present my favorite idea I came up with for the summer that no one else has been all that into. For our "Summer Movie Madness," I created a list of 25 "must see" kid/family movies with the idea that we'd watch one or two a week throughout the summer. That didn't really happen, but for the few we actually saw, I thought it was a lot of fun.
The Options:
1. ET 2. Flipped 3. The Sandlot 4. The Parent Trap (the OG version with Hayley Mills) 5. Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure 6. Cheaper By the Dozen 7. The Karate Kid 8. Ramona and Beezus 9. High School Musical 10. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory 11. Mrs. Doubtfire 12. School of Rock 13. Jumanji 14. Camp Rock 15. Back to the Future 16. Big 17. Enchanted 18. Forrest Gump 19. Ferris Bueller's Day Off 20. Tangled 21. Frozen 22. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day 23. Napoleon Dynamite 24. My Babysitter's a Vampier 25. Troop Beverly Hills
Isaac helped me create a spinner wheel on some website to help us randomly choose a number (1-25) that would correlate with the list of movies. The ones we've watched so far include:
E.T., Flipped, The Parent Trap, High School Musical, Back to the Future, Enchanted, Tangled, and My Babysitter's a Vampire
And there you have it -- the super, major, epic recap of Summer 2023! School starts one week from today, and my to-do list is a mile long and every day of last week and this week has been jam-packed with stuff that needs to get done before the kids start school and before Grace heads off to college. My brain is sufficiently scrambled for now, but hopefully things will have settled down in a couple of weeks. Hahahahahahahahahahaha. (As if our life ever settles down. Lol.)
Just a little peek at what we have going on.
