We can’t believe that school is just around the corner again! Tonight we had our end-of-summer swim party at the South Pointe pool and clubhouse for the young men and women in our ward. We had a great turnout and a lot of the kids had friends come to join us. Brittany had 4 I think. No surprise that all of them were GUYS! Oh well, we can’t take the total and complete boy-craziness out of her so we might as well learn to live with it (to a certain extent). 😐
Angela attended her first roundtable as a cub scout leader tonight! She looks so cute in her new scout uniform! 🙂
Today we had a big and busy day! We started out going to the temple to take pictures of Zach in his suit (like we do for all the kids when they are baptized). We had an enjoyable time there and Zach looked so cute in his suit and tie. 🙂
After the temple, we drove over to the Chicago Botanical Gardens where we spent the rest of the day relaxing and viewing beautiful flowers, trees, and landscapes. We had never been there before as a family (Angela was the only one), and we very much enjoyed it. At first everyone was not too happy that “mom was going to make us do this,” but when we got there, the mood changed! 🙂
By the time we had walked at least 7-8 miles around the place, we were exhausted and ready to go home and take a load off our feet! We got some GREAT pictures and had a great time together. The day couldn’t have been any more perfect! It wasn’t too hot and the sun was out and shining! Good last weekend family activity before Sarah leaves to go to school! Sniff sniff… 🙁
Sarah got a new piccolo the other day because they don’t march with flutes at BYU in the marching band. She’s pretty spoiled! A new open-hole flute for Christmas, and now a new $1,100 piccolo for band! She’s not even gone yet and we already feel the sucking sound for money from Provo! 🙂 She has started up her lessons again to get prepped for her marching band camp in about 10 days. We can’t believe she is already leaving. 🙁
Happy BIG 40th Birthday Angela!!!!!
Wow! Where has the time gone! Since you won’t let me do a surprise party for you, I guess I’ll have to do the celebrating here!
We had a great day celebrating Angela’s birthday. We had a birthday Family Home Evening, and Angela opened her presents. She got a lot of cool stuff from family and friends!
As part of the birthday celebration, the boys created a music studio, practiced their hearts out, moved the studio upstairs, and performed a birthday hit for their mom! 🙂
It was the cutest thing! They were rocking out and having a blast! 🙂 Zach was quite the drummer, and Ben was quite the lead guitarist! 🙂 After they performed, we had cake and ice cream. Hope you had a GREAT birthday sweetie! I can’t believe it’s been 21 years and every year keeps getting better and better! I love you beautiful! 🙂
Today we had a special Stake Conference and they re-aligned ward boundaries in the northern end of the Stake. Everyone knew last week that this was coming, so the talk of the week has been about what the boundaries might be, who will go where, who will be affected, who we will get new in our ward, etc. What a funny thing to watch! 🙂
When the new boundaries were announced, emotions were all over the place. Some people were crying, others were very excited, and still others had a “not a big deal” attitude. Our ward boundaries changed (got bigger) but we didn’t get too many active people added to the ward. We did get a couple of GREAT families that we are very excited to get to know.
Overall, I think that this will help our ward. We will have the opportunity to do more missionary and re-activation work as well. We are looking forward to new experiences!
Yesterday and today, Brittany had a Marching Band leadership conference at the VanderCook College of Music in downtown Chicago. She was really looking forward to going because Sarah had said so many good things about going there when she was a Section Leader. Brittany is the Section Leader for the Pit this coming year and is very excited to try out her leadership skills! 🙂
They spent all day on Friday there, came back home late, and then left early this morning to go back downtown. They got back this afternoon and had a Section Leader party which she really had fun at. We’re hoping that she does well this year. They are very excited about the marching show this year which entitled “The Music of Styx.” I know all the adults who grew up in the 70’s and 80’s will love it! 🙂
We’re proud of you Brittany!
Angela came back home from Idaho this evening! We’re glad to have her back home with us. Unfortunately, I had to drive up to Milwaukee to pick her up! That was a pain in the evening traffic, but coming back home wasn’t really a big deal. It was nice to have some quiet driving time to talk to her about the great time she had out there with her family!
Brittany and Kirstyn got home from Girls’ Camp today and were very smelly! 🙂 We got them in the shower ASAP and after that, the house was much better! They had a GREAT time and did a lot of fun stuff. Kirstyn has a TON of pictures which I won’t post here on the blog, but some will be in our yearly family album.
Today was Mark’s and Jocelyn’s big wedding day! Angela arrived safe and was very excited to be there with family. The rest of us were sad that we couldn’t all be out there, but with the short notice and the fact that we were all just out there, we couldn’t make it work.
Angela had a great time and said that the ceremony was beautiful and the luncheon and reception were great as well! Tomorrow morning early they are heading up to Salmon to get ready for the open house up there! Busy busy! Congrats Mark and Jocelyn!
Last night, our friends, the Gaul’s, left for vacation and dropped off their Foreign Exchange Student from Spain to stay with us until Friday. Her name is Paula and she’s really nice. She’s a little younger than Sarah and the boys took right to her!
This morning, Angela and I left at about 3:30 to drive to Milwaukee so Angela could fly out to Idaho for Mark’s wedding. It was really early and quite the long drive when you’re that tired (even though it’s only about 2 1/2 hours away. 🙂 I’ll have the wonderful privilege of picking her up from Milwaukee next week again! 😐
After dropping her off, I drove back home and worked from home today while watching the boys. Paula for the most part watched the boys and played with them. Sarah had to work her nanny job, and so after lunch, I took Paula over to hang out with Sarah. They had a great time together.
After Sarah and Paula got home and I finished up work, I took everyone to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner. It was fun to watch Paula deal with an all-you-can-eat buffet! 🙂 The boys had a great time and I’ve never seen them eat more than they did tonight! 🙂 Yikes!
Today, Brittany and Kirstyn got up early and headed off to Girls’ Camp! They are pretty excited to go out and have a blast with all their friends from the Stake. It will be fun for them to get all dirty and slimy, camp out in tents, and be crazy with a bunch of other girls!
They have been working on these crazy tutus and just seeing what they are going to do makes me (as a guy) appreciate scout camp more. 🙂 I’m sure they’ll have a GREAT time!
