Today we had the seminary fireside to kick off this year’s seminary program. I took Kirstyn and she got to meet her new class and her teachers. They are studying the Doctrine and Covenants and Church History this year and so she is excited about that! She loves seminary and can’t wait for it to start tomorrow! 🙂
Today we had a fun breakfast at church for the ward 24th of July activity. We got filled up and then after that, the youth did some family history work together and then went to the temple to do baptisms for youth conference. They had a lot of fun and it meant so much more to them to actually do baptisms for names of people in their own families. Angela went as a leader as well and enjoyed the time with the youth! The rest of the day, the boys and I lounged around the house, relaxed, watched a movie or two and ate some junk food. It was fun! 🙂
The boys are back in swimming lessons and they are going well! They love the water and want to go swimming ALL the time!
Tonight our home teaching families came over for a 24th of July BBQ. Not sure why, but we didn’t get any pictures. Due to some rain, we had to cut the outdoor part a little short and come inside to eat dessert. A funny (but embarrassing) thing happened. As the rain let up, Ben and Zach went back out to do stick pull.
Ben got hit in the stomach while they were doing it. He came in and said he wasn’t feeling well and proceeded to throw up all over our floor right by the kitchen table and right in front of everyone. : – | Yikes! After that and getting cleaned up, he felt MUCH better!
Only at the Halliday home in front of guests… 🙂
Today, Ben lost his 2 front teeth! He was SO excited for 2 reasons: 1) the Tooth Fairy, and 2) he is becoming a “big boy!” We had to laugh about that. He’s quite the kid!
In addition, today, Kirstyn came home from girl’s camp! She had a GREAT time and loved the experience! She was so worried that she would not be able to break her board (interesting challenge that I don’t really understand too much other than the fact that it signifies you overcame your challenges) on the first hit of her hand! 🙂 Great job Kirstyn!
When we picked her up she was pretty ripe from all that hiking and lack of showering, but she was really happy!
When she got back home and got all her smelly things unpacked, she took a LONG shower (I would venture to guess at least 30 minutes)! 🙂
This morning Angela took Kirstyn over to the church and drove down a bunch of 4th year girls to camp. She took them to their trail head and watched them take off on their 20 or so miles of backwoods adventure!
Once Kirstyn got there, she really got excited and is really looking forward to this experience! It’s not like the little 2 mile jaunt down a forest preserve path like they did in Illinois! They are rock climbing and rappelling down cliffs, climbing to over 13,000 feet, and there are no outhouses! 🙂 Good luck Kirstyn! Be safe and have fun!
The last couple of days, Zach has been at Cub Camp! Angela went one day to help out so those are the only pictures he has. He’s almost a Webelo which he is very excited for! The theme was a space theme they entitled Galactic Trek. Zach got to shoot guns and do all sorts of other fun things. They had a military chopper fly in, land, and talk to them, they got to shoot arrows, etc.
Ben got to go with Angela as well and hang out in the non-cub kid area for the day. He had a blast too! 🙂
Yesterday we got Kirstyn all packed up and ready to go to girl’s camp. For the 4th year hike, everything they bring has to be packed on their backs. Since it is such a rigorous and demanding experience (hiking and living on the trail), they take it very seriously. Tonight we had to take all of her stuff over to the church and do a check-in where their packs would be unpacked by leaders, checked to make sure they had all the right stuff (including food) and that they didn’t have any of the wrong stuff (too much of some things).
Kirstyn passed with flying colors. That made her feel better and a little less nervous. She’s going to do a GREAT job and have a blast!
Today we had our annual teacher appreciation dinner. Unfortunately, this year, there were some last-minute conflicts, so some of the teachers couldn’t come, but we did have most of the seminary teachers (Eisele, Hermann, and Dawson), and the girls’ choir director at CVHS, Heath Walter. We had a fun time eating, recognizing the teachers, and getting to know them better.
Not sure why we didn’t take a picture…. Strange!
Teachers, we appreciate you and all you do for our kids! 🙂
Today we all went up as a ward to the Temple to perform some service. We pulled up old flowers and got the beds ready for planting.
There were a LOT of flowers that were still really good that they were throwing away, so we got some bags, dug up some of them carefully, and put them in the bags to take home (with permission, of course)! 🙂
When we got home, we planted our new flowers in front of the house and they look really great! 🙂 Ben and Zach had a great time!
Tonight was Seminary Graduation! Kirstyn finished up her freshman year, and Brittany graduated with her 4 year certificate. Both also received the Stake President’s award.
We are so proud of you girls for giving so much to be there every morning so early and to be ready to learn and love the gospel!
Today, Zach went on a trip to the zoo with his mom as a chaperone and they had a great time. Tonight, Brittany had Mormon Prom. She went with Ammon Gatrell and a bunch of other awesome kids and they had a wonderful time as well. We got tons of pictures of them…
Brittany has some great friends who have really made her feel welcome and loved since we made the difficult move for her here. We are so grateful to them for their friendship! 🙂
Angela went down for a service at Garden of the Gods for AMI. I was really peaceful and at some little chapel that AMI has there.
She brought Kathryn Holyoak by on the way to take her to the airport. The boys were really excited to see her. 🙂 They ran up and gave her huge hugs! She wasn’t sure that they would really remember her, but they sure did! 🙂
