Beautiful Ruth at the gardens

Queen Ruth

After a week of waiting, Ruth was thrilled to hear that she got the role of Queen Sultana, Jasmin's mother, in the play.  It is a major supporting roll and will be Ruth's first big part.  Her character bosses around the Sultan and generally runs the show in Agrabah. In the end Aladdin wins her over with his jewels and the Sultan finally stands up to her which causes her to storm of the stage in tears. Ruth is very excited to be playing such a flamboyant part.

View from our back yard

Gardens and Ash

Kaitlin is gone to California with her dad, and Jared is in school, so it's just been Ruth and I all week. We walked around a nice garden on Tuesday and we've done some shopping but other than that we have just been hanging out.  We had a fire on our mountain again this week, the 2nd one this year, but it didn't threaten any houses; it just caused a lot of smoke and ash.

Kiai! 気合

Jared took his first belt test on Saturday and is now a yellow belt in Kenpo Karate.  The test included demonstrating some basic katas, self defense routines, and board breaking.  He was well prepaired and performed strongly in all areas.  After three months Jared is still loving his classes and talks about them all the time.  I love that there is a strong emphasis on having respectful behavior in all areas of his life and doing well in school.  Here is a video of Jared doing the self defense part:

A Week of EFY

Kaitlin had a great time at EFY (Especially for Youth) this week, a summer program for older teens put on by our church.  New license in hand, she competently drove herself to and from every morning and night, only leaving her lights on and killing the battery once (that was a 80% success rate!).  The week involved lots of games, dances, singing and classes and she had a great time and wished that she could live at EFY forever (no, really, she said that). 

Aladdin Auditions


Friday was auditions for Abracadabra, Aladdin, a children's play that I am music director for.  We had over 60 kids audition for 20 speaking parts, and another 40 sign up for the chorus.  We'll have a big cast!  Ruth's audition was great and she is going crazy waiting to hear if she has gotten a part.

Pioneer Day Parade

Bright on early on Pioneer day I went downtown and checked in as an official parade pacer.  We were #97 out of 114 entries so we waited for hours before we finally made it to the parade route. In transporting to the parade, somehow the camera system that we had set up for the driver malfunctioned, so our float driver was totally blind.  There were two of us walking on either side of the float with walkie-talkies giving directions.  It sounded something like this: "right, right, right!, a little faster, slower, Slower!  right, right, RIGHT!, okay, that's good, a little left...."   It took us about 45 minutes to traverse the route, and the spectators were stacked 5+ deep the entire way. We made it to the end without incident, though our driver was a little loopy from breathing the fumes.

Self portrait as I walked down the parade route. It was Hot!

What a great experience it has been, from our first meeting last fall, to choosing the theme, the long construction process, the parade preview, and finally walking it down the parade.  I'm so amazed at the exciting and diverse experiences I've had because of my membership in the mormon church. I offer the Lord my willingness and he promises to help me and takes me on all these wonderful journeys - hard and time consuming - yes, but wonderful.  You can see more pictures and read about the award we won HERE.



 
Watch Out World

Yes, I made her pose for a photo with her new license.

Kaitlin went on her final drive along on Wednesday and her driver's test.  She felt nervous because Gonzo (our Kia) had been broken down for the past two weeks and she hadn't had time to practice driving, as her driving instructor had strongly encouraged her to do.  But, Hooray!, she passed her test. On Friday we went down and got her license. 

Here we are, the original designers of the float, in front of the finished float. It's be a fun journey.

  Parade Preview

On Monday we went to the Days of 47 Parade Preview where our float was proudly displayed amongst 35 or so others.  Every year when I go to this event I am amazed at the creativity, resourcefulness and hard work of the volunteers that are called upon to create these moving marvels.  This year was no exception.  Some of the floats astounded me.  While our float was very traditional there were several entries this year that were like nothing I've ever seen before. All in all our float wasn't the best, but it wasn't the worst either. It was colorful and beautiful and we were proud to have made it.  I'll be walking the parade with the float on Tuesday.  We are entry #97 of 114 total. We totally hope that the parade is on time so that we get our 15 seconds on TV.  We will also find out if we win any awards that morning.  We are hoping for at least one.

This incredible pioneer air ship is the boom arm of a crane and the body of the crane is at the back covered in cotton clouds.

Many of the floats had photo ops and activities to do.

My favorite float was this train that really rolled on the track back and forth and shot steam out its nose.

This is our float. The kids are doing the same expression as is on the cat behind them.

Young Woman Camp (aka Girl's Camp)

Our group was the "Happy Shining People"

On Tuesday morning bright and early the girls and I were off to camp.  I've never been up to the property and it was very nice.  At camp we did canoeing, archery, zip line and crafts. Evening firesides were full of silly songs, goofy skits and a small mix of religious admonitions.  It was a different experience going (this is my 7th time as a leader and I went 6 times as a girl) when I wasn't in charge of anything and could just enjoy spending time with all the girls.  It has left me with a new perspective of camp and I think I'd be a better leader if they ever ask me back again. Mostly I learned that leaders need to spend less time sweating the little stuff and more time hanging out with the girls.  I was able to take up my guitar and play a little, which was fun.

Kaitlin is doing one of here trainings.

Kaitlin was a youth leader and taught some classes on extreme weather preparedness. She did a good job and had a great attitude during all the camp.  I was really proud of her.  This was Ruth's first time at camp and she also seemed to have a fun time.  Both Ruth and Kaitlin really liked the archery and Kaitlin even asked for us to buy a bow.

We came home Friday afternoon, tired and dirty. Even now, I don't feel like I've fully caught up on my sleep.

Kaitlin and I made a great canoeing team.  Here we bumping canoes with our camp director, Sis Vance.

The hike down to the canoeing lake was quite strenuous.

Kaitlin and Ruth on the archery range. Ruth is the one in the back.

Ruth took her first ride on the zip line.

The Bachelors

Chuck was able to arrange to work at home this past week so he could hang out with Jared.  The reports I heard were that Jared ate pizza at every meal and spent his days watching whatever shows he wanted on TV, playing on the Internet and leveling up all his Skylanders (wii game).  Jared seemed disappointed when we came home. It wasn't all fun and games, Chuck did replace the alternator on Kaitlin's car.

 Cub Camp

This weekend was Jared's two day cub scout camp.  I drove up with the scouts the first day. Things have changed a lot for me since last year when I went camp and was totally clueless.  This time I was knowledgeable and prepared.  At camp the boys were able to shoot  BB guns, bows and arrow, sling shots, play games and do crafts.  Jared seemed to have a really good time and we were lucky that it was cloudy and cooler than the 100's we've had this week. Even though I just had the follow the boys around and supervise, I came home exhausted and both Jared and I were filthy.



First Date

Kaitlin went on her first date this week.  On Tuesday she was texting back and forth with a guy friend and then a moment later the home phone rang and he asked her out on her first date.  They double dated with another couple and went hiking and watched a movie. She was so excited all week and she had a great time.


Off to Camp

Last Sunday I was called into the bishop's office. I met with a member of the bishopric and this is how it went:

Bishopric Member: "We'd like you to be a young women's camp leader." Me: "For next year?" Bishopric Member: "Um...no...for in eight days." Me: !O-O!  

It took me a couple of minutes to wrap my mind around it, but when he asked me if I needed to check my schedule, I told him that it wasn't necessary; I'd make it work.

The girls are excited that I am going with them, especially Kaitlin. This is her last year of camp and she has always wanted me to go with her.  We leave on Tuesday early.

My family watching the parade

Fun Fourth

We had a great holiday. It started with us going up to my parent's town and enjoying some small town USA. I've posted before about their cute little parade that goes down the road one way throwing candy and then turns around and drives back the other way throwing candy again. Only this year the fire trucks were late and some of the parade started up again behind the trucks so we got to see some of it three times.  As long as they were throwing candy we were happy to cheer for them.

They dropped 100s of these parachutes of candy

And then they had the candy drop from the airplane.  This is the first year all of my children were able to obtain their own candy parachutes.    Afterwards we had a nice picnic at Snow Park and had a nice visit with my siblings and their families.  In the evening we had a fun BBQ with the neighbors (a family from Turkey, and some Canadians) and the kids played water games and we lit fireworks. All in all a fun Forth.


The Maiden Voyage

Our Days of 47 float made it's first appearance on Tuesday in the city parade.  It looked wonderful and while there were maybe 12 floats in the parade, ours was by far the largest and most colorful.  I'll be walking by the float in the Days of 47 parade as the safety person.  They tell me I get an official t-shirt and everything.

Here we are queuing up for the parade

We call the right side the "KSL side" because it is the side that will be shown on TV

Bows and Arrows

For Family Home Evening this week we made two bows out of PVC pipe.  It was a little more involved than I expected but in the end the bows worked really well and we were able to hit a target with them at 20 feet.  You can find the instructions for the bows here. 



Coming Up

We have a lot of things coming up.  This week, Jared and I will be going to Cub Scout day camp.  Then, next Monday and Tuesday is the Days of 47 Float Preview party, where our float will be displayed for the public and judged.  We know we won't have the best float there, but it won't be the worst either so we are hoping to win something.  Then, unexpectedly (I was just asked today), I'll be going church camp with Kaitlin and Ruth for 4 days next week.   So that's a lot going on for us. It's good we didn't plan our family vacation until  next month.

The view from our back yard.

Another Fire

Yes, we've survived our second fire in as many years.  This one was different in that it was not as close to our home. It wasn't like the fire two years ago that barreled down our mountain right towards us, and gave my children nightmares for months after.  That fire only burned a few homes, and no one we knew.  This fire was further to the west, but burned right through the yards of several of my friends from the Arts Council.  One friend was decorating for her daughter's wedding reception when the thirty foot flames blew towards their house. What a blessing, she said on facebook, that so many people were there because of the reception to dig fire lines and douse their home with water. 

My friend Julie's house

So while farther away, this fire was also close to home for us.   Today in church, a policeman told of the fire sweeping across a field towards the subdivision he was evacuating.  He saw the vinyl fence barrier melt as the flames licked closer and ran towards his truck for his life, then the wind suddenly shifted and the fire blew away, sparing all the homes.  He felt in his heart that it was the prayers of the people that saved the homes.

My friend Debra's house is the one in the middle front.

In the end, four homes were lost.  My friends were all safe but three of them lost their yards and outbuildings.  It gave special meaning to us today, in church, when we sang the Star Spangled Banner together - the feeling that, as a community, we are there for each other - that we are in this together.

No More Teachers

This week was Ruth and Jared's final week of school.  For Ruth this was her big graduation from elementary school.  She is looking forward to middle school and the first long summer break of her life.  Thanks to our year-round system, Jared will be going back to school at the end of the month.  He's excited to have a fresh start with a new teacher, as he has struggled with his teacher this year.

Finishing the Float

We had a big push this week to finish our Days of 47 float.  I hadn't worked on it for a few days, so when I went to work on Saturday I was so impressed and happy to see how wonderful it looked! Our float makes it's debut on Tuesday night in the city parade.  We are excited but also trepidatious that the transporting of it will damage it.  There are a couple of weeks between the parade and the preview where our float will be on public display and will be judged that we will have to repair and improve it.

Kaitlin panning for gold with her friend Susan.

Youth Conference

Kaitlin spent several days at a youth conference with her church group.  They went camping and spent a day at This is the Place Pioneer Village, doing service and learning about pioneer life. She got to pan for gold, rake weeds and go on a hike to a waterfall, among other things, and reports that she had a great time.