HXP, Pocatello, NC

I've been able to go on a couple of hikes this summer...not as much as I'd like, but I'll take what I can get. Kim and I drove up Guardsmans Pass and did the Blood Lake and Lackawaxen Lake hike, which was about 5 miles roundtrip. It was beautiful! And the weather was nice. I love that it's cooler up in the mountains. We saw several moose along the way. 

Monday night, June 29th, Scott and I took Annabelle to the airport and helped her get her bag checked and then she took off for her HXP trip. All the kids who go on this trip have the same backpack and the same shirt, so it was easy for her to spot fellow HXP goers in the airport and she had several from her group going to Ghana that were on her same flight which was nice. 

Once she got to JFK airport, they wait for their next flight which goes to Kenya. JFK is where everyone from her group meets before they take off. And it's where they turn in their phones for the next couple of weeks. Annabelle said she's never slept so well on a plane as she did this time when she didn't have her phone distracting and entertaining her. 

From Kenya they flew to Accra. Unfortunately, Annabelle's checked bag, as well as several others from her HXP groups' bags, didn't make it to Accra that day. And since they were taking another plane early in the morning to go on a fun expedition in Mole national park, they didn't get their checked bags until about 4 days later, once they flew back to Accra. That flight was also delayed due to the rain. But her group was fantastic and they just rolled with the punches and were happy to be together and it didn't matter the circumstances! Needless to say, she had a great trip! 

Once back in Accra, they did some humanitarian work. They were building the walls of a school, they made and planted a garden, and they dug and cemented a large hole in the ground where trash will go and be burned. 

They had early mornings and went to bed around 1030ish. They always met for daily devotional. 

While she was on the trip, we got a phone call from HXP saying we didn't fill out the Kenya visa and needed to do that. I had no idea what they were talking about. Apparently a few months ago they decided to go see giraffes during their long layover in Kenya on their way home, but they each needed a Kenya visa for that. That freaked me out a little at first because I knew how long and hard it was to get the Ghana visa. Luckily, Kenya's visa is nothing like that. We filled out all the information online in a matter of minutes, and we received it in a matter of minutes which we could then email to HXP. I'm grateful that ll worked out. 

This is where I've spent many hours of my summer. I'm working on a book and I spend some time on it most days. It's been fun for me and I hope to continue to consistently do creative writing. 

Fourth of July weekend, Scott, Nora and I decided to drive out to Pocatello and hang with Elisabeth and Tayson and their family. We got to stay the night at their basement apartment for the first time. We got to go boating with them Friday and Saturday which was fun, and I actually got up on my own this time!!! Both days! I was very, very excited. We drove back home Saturday night. 

Nora's team has been trying to do track workouts on Monday mornings. I ran one of them when Stef was gone. The girls did well and we had popsicles after. 

Wednesday July 8th, Scott, Nora, Jane and I flew to North Carolina. We stayed at Krissy's house Wednesday night, then we stayed two nights at Topsail beach in a condo (Scott just stayed one night with us and went back with his family early); that Saturday Andre and his family met me and the girls at the beach, and then we stayed Saturday through Monday night with Krissy again and headed back home Tuesday morning. 

We enjoy stopping in the beach stores and looking at the t-shirts and jewelry etc, and of course, we always grab an ornament as a souvenir. 

Baby Emma still won't come to me, or let me get close without yelling, 'no!'. I'm going to have to up my game. Maybe next time I see her I'll bring candy and try to bribe her to come to me. Ava on the other hand loved when I'd take her out to boogie board. She could spend her whole day in the water. 

I, unfortunately, didn't have the common sense to bring any sunscreen for day 2 at the beach(we used Kellys the day before) and neither did Andre so I got very burned all over. Thankfully, Krissy had aloe at home, and I used it a lot over the next few days. Nora, too, as she got burned on her back as well. 

We got to spend a lot of time with Kelly and Krissy and their families which was fun, and we were able to visit with Scott's mom a couple of times, and his dad for a little bit too. 

We stayed in baby Bailey's bedroom, and she stayed in her crib in the closet of that room. She's currently potty training and won't go poop in the toilet, so she waits to go poop until they put a diaper on her at night (we know those tricks! our kids did it too) and then she goes! So a couple of nights after we'd waited for Bailey to fall asleep, when we walked into the bedroom it was so stinky! Wade would change her and she'd go back to bed, and then we'd need to keep the door open for a bit to air it out, but then the cats would try to run in, and with me being allergic, we couldn't have that, so I sat guard at the door and stretched on the floor while reading as we aired the room out before crawling into bed at night :). 

We went swimming, made and ate meals together, watched some World Cup and had dinner at Kellys one night. 

We got to see Grandma's new place which is so stylish and cute, and then we enjoyed a beautiful walk with her and grabbed some lunch after. 

Before we left, we stopped by one of Grandpa's jobs to say goodbye.  Until next time! 

 

Roomies, FSY, Father's Day, ID reunion, Elisabeth's Birthday

One of my BYU roomies, Ashley, was in town from Missouri.  Since the 6 of us still chat on Marco Polo, I invited whoever could make it over for dinner. April lives nearby in Sandy and was able to come, but the others were out of state and unable. We caught up, and looked at old pictures and had a good time. 

My gospel doctrine lesson this month covered the story of David and Goliath. It's such a good story with so many applicable lessons. I love teaching gospel doctrine; or at least I love all the time I spend in the scriptures preparing to teach gospel doctrine. All the time I spend each day in God's words (through his prophets) is making me a better person. 

Annabelle and Jane filled these forms out during their church class. I love that they both put the same answer for 'when dad comes home from work he likes to..." A: Kiss mom. It's true! 

Father's Day dinner Scott requested pasta salad and a pretzel jello salad for dessert. We also added sandwiches and chips. I'm so grateful for Scott and the attentive father he his to the kids.

Isn't this picture adorable? Scott reading to Jane on his lap with Charles snuggled close by his side and Annabelle listening in while also reading a book of her own. 

A picture of my dad with either Luis or Pepa. 

Jane was able to attend FSY at university of Utah. She went with her friend Savannah. She made a good new friend from bountiful, Ryker, that she's hung out with a few times. Jane was not happy that we had to pick her up a day and a half early for our family reunion in ID. But in all fairness, she knew before she picked her FSY date that we had our family reunion that week and that she'd have to leave early for it. 

I reached 500 days on Duolingo for Spanish practice! 

Annabelle bought second hand clothing to take to Africa for her HXP humanitarian trip, which we then hung and sprayed with a clothing mosquito spray in preparation for her trip. 

Thursday night we drove out to Idaho for the reunion. Friday morning we went to the temple for Bella's temple endowment. It was fun to be in the temple with siblings and family. 

That afternoon we went back to Romney's for a birthday party in honor of Ava and Rain. They rented a large inflatable water slide that many of us went down. It was so tall! 

The weather wasn't great that weekend. It was in the 70s and rained off and on quite a bit, but we still enjoyed it. 

Because we were all coming in for Rain's baptism, we also had Blake's side of the family there which was fun. 

While Nora and Cora were out on the trampoline it started hailing. They stayed out until it started to hurt then they came in. 

I suggested they grab cups and see if they could catch some of that hail. They didn't get much. It was a little scary driving back to our VRBO that evening as the roads had flooded. We had to drive through several large, deep puddles where I wondered if our car was going to make it. Elisabeth and Tayson stayed at the house we rented with us. It was fun to have everyone together. 

Rain's baptism was beautiful. for the special musical number, Becca played an old video of my Mom singing and playing at Bella's baptism from years ago. It was very special. 

After the baptism we changed, ate lunch and went back to the church for games. We played with nerf guns, spike ball, pickleball and basketball. 

Charles is doing well in Ghana. He loves the people there. And he's always got people to teach about Jesus which is a blessing. 

Elisabeth and Tayson came home with us Saturday evening and stayed through Monday, which was her 22nd birthday. We celebrated Sunday night since both Jane and Nora left early Monday morning for girls camp. We had stuffed pasta shells and fruit pizza and played spike ball and Nertz. 

Monday night Annabelle flew to NYC where she met up with her HXP group before heading to Kenya and then Ghana. On her flight to JFK, she met some other HXP friends...they're not hard to identify as they're all wearing the same shirt and have the same Cotopaxi backpacks. Once in Ghana they found that many of them had lost their checked luggage, including Annabelle...it had remained in Kenya (or so my AirTags showed). The day after they arrived they flew to Mole National Park for some fun, but it meant they didn't get their bags until they got back to Accra area. So they went without the first 4 days. But she was fine and had everything she needed in her backpack and carryon, and if there wasn't something she needed, she could borrow/share from a friend in the group. So it all worked out. She had a great group who never complained and just was happy to be there, to be together and had fun with whatever they were doing.