Kara and Luke Drive West

Last night Kara and Luke were here. We heard about their week at the beach in North Carolina with his family. Then they headed out bright and early this morning--Kara in their car, and Luke in their new truck. They tried out their new 14-mile radius walkie talkies, and seemed satisfied that they would be able to keep in touch over the long drive to St. Louis today, and tomorrow to Denver.

It brought back memories of Dave and I traveling in two cars in the opposite direction--from Utah to Maryland, when we were first married. I'm not very good at driving more than about an hour at a time, and it took us about 10 days to get here--with a little stopping with family in between. Raised in the West, I've lived my married life in the East. Now my 'Eastern' daughter plans to settle in the West. Go figure.

Kara has left and come back several times over the past years in college, but this time they have no plans to come back. They have one more semester at BYU-Idaho and Dave and I plan to see them graduate in December. Then they hope to settle in Denver. We'll miss them, but are happy for them and their bright futures.

Happy Birthday/Anniversary

Happy Birthday Dave! --To the greatest husband and father ever. (It's on the internet. It must be true!) Here he is with five of our six children tonight as he opened gifts.

(By the way, James is wearing his Rocktagon shirt--from Daniel's band.
You can go to my July 22 /07 entry if you missed his group's video or click here.)

Besides Dave's birthday, today is also Kara and Luke's wedding anniversary--one year today. Congratulations.

DEEP CREEK

We went this week to Deep Creek for a 3-day vacation. Here is where we stayed out of the rain, had a barbecue, played pool, watched a movie and went in the hot tub.

On Monday we went jet skiing for a couple hours, changing drivers every half hour. Daniel was old enough to drive this year. We had zero people flying off, tipping over the jet ski or colliding with anything. That made the event a success. We also dodged the rain and had a beautiful day. On Tuesday we rented a motor boat and tube, and everyone--including the old parents-- got a turn on the tube. Here is Andrea.

James tried the most angles. The one I got the biggest kick out of was the 'Lotus' yoga pose--where he crossed his legs and put his hands up (thumbs touching the forefinger) in a meditative pose while going lickety-split across the choppy water.

Dave was the only one unfortunate enough to have me as the driver. Hold on for a rough one!

Julia waiting back at the dock.

James reads, Erika plays the guitar and Daniel waits back at the dock while David, Andrea and Julia jet ski. We went mini-golfing. Andrea climbed the wall at the arcade there. She made it up in no time.

Wednesday was rainy, so after our trip to Lakeside Creamery for a shake, we headed home and we saw a movie at home--'Bourne Ultimatum' for the guys and 'Hairspray' for the girls. Yesterday we went bowling and to lunch together. It's sad to see the summer end!

A Day at the Art Gallery

Erika and I took the Metro down to DC last Saturday.

Our first stop was the National Archives where we looked at the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the beautiful domed building that houses them.

Then we went to the National Art Gallery. We both like the Impressionists the most. Here we are with Degas' ballerinas and Mary Cassatt (American).




This Monet is hanging in my sewing room. I was surprised to remember how many of these paintings I have prints of, and have hung in various rooms at different times. It's a familiar feeling coming back to see the originals.


My long time favorite, Vince Van Gogh (Pronounced Van Goff in England)

BAND CAMP

Daniel and Julia finished Band Camp last week. Daniel is entering his junior year next week and plays the trombone. Julia is an incoming sophomore and plays the clarinet. Band Camp was 8 hours a day--(all of them very hot!) for two weeks. On the last night families attended a spaghetti dinner with their students.

Then we got to see them perform their routine (four songs) which they have learned already. The theme is about a plane crash and fighting with natives and they spell out SOS at the end. It's not your typical marching, but involves alot of running--some of it backwards and sideways. It looks like a real challenge at times not to get hit by someone else or their instrument.

They also had a march-off where students demostrated their ability to follow marching directions. Then family members came out and tried to march. Daniel had James come out, and Julia asked Erika. Kara and Luke were there too, so it was fun to have the whole family there, especially since last year we couldn't all attend the Band performance because it was held the night before Kara and Luke's wedding.


Julia--The first time they played the songs without marching.

Julia with Erika (wearing her hat)




Daniel with his friend Colin

Daniel's 'High Adventure'

At the beginning of August, David was able to go with Daniel on his 'High Adventure' with the young men from church. They began in Cumberland, MD at the beginning of the C & O (Chesapeake and Ohio) Canal. They biked for four days and 186 miles over bumpy, gravelly roads to the end of the canal in Washington, D.C. David followed the first days with an equipment van, but was able to ride with the boys on the last day when they covered almost 60 miles! Way to go, guys.

Day at the Beach

Last Saturday, August 11, was the only day we were able to gather all our children for a vacation. It was great to have all 6 of them together (and our son-in-law Luke) since Kara, Luke, Erika and James will all be heading out to BYU-Idaho in the next couple weeks for school--the last semester they will be there together.

We went to Ocean City. It looked stormy that morning and the waves were really high and rough, but it got calmer and sunnier as the day went on--enough for most of us to get a burn.











Afterwards we went to Salvatore's where it has been our tradition to get a 36-inch pizza. This year we were really crazy and got another Large besides. Here are pictures of us that night and one of Andrea the next day with a leftover piece.

Summer Projects

This has been a busy summer, but also an enjoyable one. One of the main projects I hoped to complete was painting my bedroom and bathroom. Julia and Daniel helped me paint the bedroom, and I'm really happy with the new sunny color. The hardest part was painting the window which is one floor above the room. We balanced our 10-rung ladder on top of our dresser and partially on the two nightstands which are the same height! Daniel did most of the high painting for me. Since these pictures were taken I also made a headboard in the fabric I used to cover the ottoman. Watching all those home design shows may have paid off. :)

We also grew a lot of tomatoes this year--mostly grape tomatoes, but also plum and your basic round variety. Knowing we couldn't eat them all, Dave encouraged me to try to can some. Our neighbor, Mike, heard from his son that I was in need of a little help, and he offered to have me bring my stuff to his house the other evening where he helped me cut and cook the tomatoes in my large kettle and grind them in his food mill to get out the skin and seeds. Then I bottled the sauce and juice (leaving one jar with him) and put the jars in my steamer/canner to boil 40 minutes. I felt very satisfied the next morning when I tested them, and they each had a tight seal--meaning I can put them on the shelf and save indefinitely. I realize that they might not get a blue-ribbon at the county fair--the way it separated is kind of weird, [but then you probably know by now that I already won a blue ribbon at the Utah State Fair in fifth grade for my peanut butter crisscross cookies. :)]