YW Camp

Catherine's first year at YW Camp and I got to tag along! 

Attending Bynum Run YW ready for the two hour drive to camp.

Catherine opted to drive with me in the van full of luggage.

We blasted music and sang very loudly.

It was awesome.

Crafting with Brie at the Craft Cabin:

We are so beautiful!

Camp this year was very different. The big adventure was hiking the Appalachian Trail, which I think is just so cool! The oldest girls spent two nights on the trail, the middle group spent one night, and my group (the youngest, which included Catherine), only did a 5 mile day hike. I got to go with the energetic group, who basically ran the entire five miles. This may have caused extreme stress for the stake YW president, who kept telling the girls they needed to stay in vision range. That mostly was a failure. Their goal was to be the very first group done. They ended up being second, which is still pretty impressive considering we started after everyone else!

Running down the trail

My group of trail runners. I had so much fun with them!

Catherine survived the hike and enjoys a snack while waiting for a ride back to camp.

Catherine surprised me a few times at camp. The biggest shock was when she agreed to participate in the camp-wide talent show. She and three friends did a karaoke version of Taylor Swift's 'Love Story,' complete with a garbage bag wedding dress (featured below). I couldn't believe it when they signed up! It was so fun watching her be silly and just have fun with her friends. 

Our last night was Bishops' Night. 

We made mini pizzas and had a testimony meeting around the fire.

Sis. Sergent and Catherine making pizzas.

Catherine is wearing a mask because the smoke from 

the Canadian wildfires was really bad while we were at camp. 

Bynum Run YW with Sister Kraczek and Bishop.

Also, that is my glorious green tent in the background.

They insisted I needed to be in the picture as well.

I am not good at selfies. 

Catherine and friends enjoying some pizza on the last day of camp.

Added a few friends to the mix!

Apparently on the way home from camp there is an elephant emporium, which sounds weird. But apparently it's not really about the elephants, it's about the CANDY. It's a giant store full of all kinds of fun, rare, unique candy. And it's tradition to stop there on the way home. So we loaded a bunch of stinky, dirty girls into cars and unloaded them on the Elephant Emporium. And there was much candy purchased and much happiness had. 

Camp was both wonderful and difficult. We had a special needs YW who required someone to be with her one-on-one at all times. We also had some phone use issues, some personal space issues, and the usual camp issues (mostly lack of sleep). But I had several wonderful friends up there who helped me be a little more patient and forgiving, as well as letting me vent when I just needed to complain for a minute. 

Catherine had a great time and is so excited for next year. I'm so glad her first year of camp was awesome, and it was so fun to get to share it with her. Also many thanks to Jon for taking the week off work so that I could go!

Hershey

 Despite having lived in this area for almost 16 years, I have never been to Hershey Park. Jon has gone with Seth & Catherine, but this time we decided to take the whole crew, plus Timmy, Jacob & Natalie. Jacob & Natalie got to spend the summer in DC, which meant we got to see them almost every other week, and it was AWESOME. We're totally crossing fingers that they end up out here one day. 

Turns out I am not the hugest fan of Hershey Park. Part of it was our mistake: we went on Juneteenth. Never go on a weekend or holiday. Lines for the big, fun rides were 90-120 minutes. We went to the water park and there was a MASSIVE LINE TO GET IN THE WAVE POOL. Who even HAS a line to get in the wave pool?! Everything was crowded, plus it was a huge hike to get from one section of the park to the next. Not my favorite. 

I also made a terrible mistake right at the beginning. Elijah had so much fun at Lagoon and went on some pretty exciting rides, so I was pretty sure he was a thrill-seeker like Elise. So the first ride I took him on was a little intense, but obviously not too intense since little ones could ride.

He freaked out. And that was the end of doing anything fun at Hershey. 

Catherine was also super lame. We told her that next time she gets to stay home and babysit Elijah while the rest of us go. She is 100% on board with that idea. 

So glad we paid $40 a person to ride in tiny, slow cars. 

Tiny slow carts. 

Good thing I love this cute, wimpy face.

Catherine loves when I ask her why she's on the train with all the toddlers. 

Aunt Natalie got Catherine on the SooperDooperLooper!

And Catherine even confessed to maybe liking it!

Elise, on the other hand, was up for ALL the fun!

View from the Ferris Wheel

(which actually terrify me because 

DO YOU KNOW HOW EASY IT WOULD BE TO JUMP OUT?!

I prefer to be securely strapped in when I'm up that high, thank you very much.)

Hot little girl in the swings:

With Elise and Aaron on the SooperDooperLooper, which was so fun!

And also the only cool ride I got to go on.

Elise and Aaron are allowed to go to future amusement parks.

All other children are lame and can stay home. 

Last Day of School

The only proper way to prepare for the last day of school 

is to dye the tips of your hair bright pink:

 

Jon was not impressed.

The words "trailer park" may have been used.

He's so behind in fashion.

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!

On to 10th and 7th grades!

ROUND TWO!

On to 7th and 2nd grade!

(not pictured: Aaron and Elijah,

moving up to 4th grade and Pre-K 4)

Last day of school calls for a family trip to Burger King!

Proud of these guys and how hard they worked this year.

And SO ready for summer break!

Catherine (and a bit of Elijah)

 Catherine has an enormous fuzzy pink pillow named Foof-Foof.

It's Elijah's most favorite pillow of ever.

You would think he would enjoy laying on top of it, but no:

Poor Elijah.

Crushed to death by a giant pink Foof-Foof.

And in other big developments...

She is a makeup minimalist, but she does wear it almost daily.

How did we get here already?!

Another cat sitting gig: 

Mika was Catherine's favorite cat until she kept staring at Catherine like this:

Now Al is her favorite.

One of Catherine's church/sewing teachers recommended the Fort McHenry Fife & Drum summer camp. It was free, and you got a free fife out of it. Catherine was super excited to go. 

Wearing her official Fife & Drum Corps shirt/uniform

She made it through all of one day before realizing that 6 is a LOT of hours to practice fifing and drumming. And that fifes are really obnoxiously high pitched. She also got sick, and used that as an excuse to just never go back. But she got to keep her fife, so...win?

Catherine has also discovered shopping. Favorites are Bath & Body Works and Target, but Dollar Tree is a bit hit as well. Sadly for her, I LOATHE shopping. But I will go along in order to spend quality time with my Catherine. Sigh. 

Lady Elise

 Elise came home with this and I might be in love.

Not sure what it is about slightly creepy children's' drawings, but they have my heart.

Speaking of slightly creepy...

One size definitely does not fit all.

It was pouring rain one afternoon.

Which obviously meant it was perfect trampoline weather:

Elise and Freya living the dream

Another friend, another kind of fun: karaoke!

Probably Taylor Swift because Taylor is ALL THINGS right now to Elise and friends.

Elise has SO MANY wonderful friends.

She has a more impressive social calendar than anyone else in the family by far!

CHERRIES

Our friends have two lovely cherry trees in their front yard. Previously neither tree produced much fruit, but this year they had a bumper crop. They picked and froze and made jam and still had too many. So they invited friends to come pick whatever we wanted! We actually ended up going a couple of times because there were just so many. 

 

Me & Bekah climbing high to get to the top cherries.

Our two giant tubs of cherries.

And yes, we definitely shared with neighbors!

A house in our neighborhood that we frequently walk past has two sour cherry trees along the sidewalk. Every year it makes me sad that they all go to waste. So this year I got brave and asked if I could pick the cherries. It was only their middle and elementary school kids at home, but they said it was fine. And then they watched us from the window like we were crazy while we picked. But look at these beauties!

(Two thumbs way down to the neighbor with the mulberry tree who completely ignored us when we knocked to ask if we could pick his fruit. So instead it just fell on the sidewalk and got eaten by birds. We know you were home, buddy...)

Fresh cherries, cherry milkshakes, and delicious cherry fruit leather!

So delicious and no added sugar! 

Hoping our friends are blessed with loads of cherries next year as well!

A Bit of Aaron Art

Aaron has been very into rankings lately.

This has mostly led to loads of questions such as, "Which is stronger, muscular or buff?"

I told him most adjectives aren't ranked like that.

Aaron decided to change that.

Here are his rankings:

 

Also, this gem from his General Conference notes brought me great joy:

Pretty sure the 'Dad' label was added on later by an older sibling.

But still.

The accusing finger?

The cross held high?

The angry eyebrows?

Shout lines? Or maybe holiness lines??

I love my Aaron Best Friend.

Also, this gem from when Elijah was being obnoxious and Aaron was tired of listening: 

"You're in the spirit world. Nobody can hear you."

End of School Celebrations

With the end of the school year come the inevitable parties and celebrations. Except apparently our school district has decided that award ceremonies are lame or offensive or obsolete, because all of my public school kids came home with certificates, and there was zero announcement or celebration. I'm actually a little upset because they all worked super hard! And all they get in recognition is a piece of cardstock handed out unceremoniously during homeroom. So. Lame. 

Elise worked hard to qualify as a Patriot for the 2nd year in a row!

She had to learn about our country and show her work to a volunteer evaluator.

Seth's high school finally figured out how to print certificates instead of just handing out 

Towson University stickers! We are all so proud. 

Look at all those straight As! 

We won't talk about the single B that slipped in last quarter.

Thankfully not enough to lower the overall grade, but he was still unhappy.

Not our celebration, but we did attend MANY graduation parties for kids in the ward. As we were leaving one such party, Catherine hopped in the driver's seat and pretended she was going to drive us all home. Jon jokingly went along with it and popped into the back seat by Elijah. 

But Elijah is no fool.

He was TERRIFIED and would not stop crying until Catherine got out.

No way was he going to let her drive him ANYWHERE:

Seth's AP US Government class had a day where they presented their legislation ideas to family members and community leaders. Seth researched emissions and made suggestions on how we could improve our air quality:

His friend Fionna drew the car.

Seth's style involves questionable cutting and pasting onto green paper.

And getting his friends to do work for him. 

But he did a great job with the actual presentation part!

Public speaking is not something he struggles with.

And then it was Elise's 1st grade Luau Party!

Carrying cotton balls in a spoon.

Because that's what you do at a luau. 

All dressed up after the relay race:

And Catherine, with her straight As and her Musicianship Award from her band teacher:

Good thing my kids thought to actually hand these to me instead of just putting them in the black holes they call 'backpacks'...sigh...

Birthdays and Fun

Since we were driving home from Daniel & Wendy's house on Jon's birthday, we opted to celebrate our birthdays a couple days after we got home. This year I opted for cheesecake and Jon went with a cherry milkshake:

I also went out to lunch with two of my besties:

Not technically for my birthday (it was actually for Summer's), but still lots of fun!

My most memorable gift was from Catherine. I told her that I all wanted for my birthday was for her to say that she loves me. All she could manage was "I deeply enjoy your presence." New favorite Catherine quote. 

When I set my goals for 2023, one of my physical goals was to run a 10 K. I asked my runner friend for advice and she sent me a great training program. I made it about halfway though before I figured I could probably go the full distance. And I did. 

So I upgraded my goal to a half-marathon. I kinda wanted to do a legit half-marathon (meaning you pay, and run with a bunch of people, and get an official time), but they were like $60+. Plus the idea of handling the nightmare logistics of getting to the venue, and finding parking, and running with hundreds of other people...nah. So instead I signed up for a virtual marathon to be run anytime in the month of May. 

I picked a Saturday that was cooler, with a bit of misting rain. Perfect for a long run (another benefit of choosing when you race). I didn't even tell Jon what I was doing because I wasn't quite sure I would be able to finish (because, once again, I had only completed about half of the training program). I had big plans for using Seth's CamelBak, but the stupid thing leaked all over, so I gave it up and ran with a plastic water bottle in my hand the entire time. 

Pros of a virtual half marathon:
-no crowds of people
-starting line is your front door
-cheap as free

Cons:
-there's no one to hand you water or snacks so you have to run with a stupid water bottle in your hand and a fanny pack full of Stingers and Gushers
-finish line is a random spot along the MA & PA trail with zero people to cheer for you
-you have to buy your own swag

The finish was actually kinda lame. I hadn't pushed myself super hard because I was so afraid I would run out of energy near the end. Plus I didn't tell anyone what I was doing, so I had no one waiting for me to finish. Instead I just kinda stopped running and thought, "Shouldn't I feel more tired?" Which was about the point where Jon finally called and asked where I was. He was very kind and came and picked me up since I was still several miles from home (I hate running a prescribed route. I like being able to just randomly pick where I want to go. So I didn't make it all the way back). 

Since I didn't get any official race swag, I bought myself two vinyl stickers (since I couldn't decide between them). 

Swag #1

Swag #2

I put zero 13.1 stickers on my van, in case you are wondering. But I am still super proud of myself! This was never something I thought I could do. New life goal? Marathon with Kenna!

June was a bit sad because we had to say goodbye to some dear friends. Paul and Tessa and their girls had been our church friends, homeschool buddies, and generally awesome people to have around. We were lucky that we got to keep them a year longer than the Army originally scheduled, but it was still the worst to say goodbye. We threw them a giant party in our backyard to show our love. And, because there is balance in life, we also turned this into a Hello party for Adrian's family, who were FINALLY all here! 

A wonderful mix of church and homeschool co-op friends.

Some of the very best people I know are in this picture.

Many thanks to Timmy for hanging out of Catherine's window to get the shot.

And, for extra fun, I also got to make a wedding cake!

It was small and simple, but fun to get to create again!

Also fun to remember the bride as the 8 year old in my Primary class who struggled to sit still and would walk along the seats of the chairs during lessons. I love that we have been able to stay in the same area for long enough to watch entire families grow up.