An Unexpected Surprise 

My phone rang a little before 8:00am. Caller ID showed it was my neighbor one circle up from mine.  "This might sound a little strange, but I didn't know who else to call," she began. "Yes?" I responded; my curiosity was piqued. "You have a teenage daughter, right? Is she old enough to date?" "Well, yes, Kaitlin is 16."  Now I was worried.  "Well," my neighbor continued, "my kids found the strangest thing on my doorstep this morning..." After she explained to me the situation I promised to come right over as soon as I dropped Jared off at school.

When I got to her house it was just as she described: broken balloons, little scraps of paper all over the table, and two teddy bears, both adorable. "Here's the poem." She thrust a small rolled up paper into my hands that contained a cute attempt at rhyme asking the recipient to the Homecoming Dance.  The gist was that you had to spell out the name of the asker with the provided letters.  Spread across the table were about 20 letters on little squares of paper.

My neighbor explained that the bears and balloons arrived with no explanation, so she assumed that someone was inviting their family to some sort of party so she popped the balloons to get the message.  When she realized that the invitation was not for her (she has no teenage daughters) she was puzzled and was trying to think what girls in the neighborhood it might be for. She thought it was probably for Kaitlin, as her house is in the same position in her circle as ours is in ours, but she was unsure because she also had a teenage girl right next door that it might be for.  We puzzled out the letters, but couldn't be certain what name it spelled, and even if we came up with a name how could we know which girl they intended to ask?

I came home to find Kaitlin eating breakfast.  I explained the situation to her and she agreed to post a "to whom it may concern" notice on Facebook.

I'll let Kaitlin tell the rest of the story:

Well, lets be honest. As soon as I heard the whole story, I was pretty certain who had asked me and what had happened. But how can you know FOR SURE? So after about 20 minutes online, my facebook post had earned 15 likes and 2 comments. And then my friend Aysa called, which was when I got completely confused. She said she knew which boy had made the mistake, that he was freaking out, and asked for the my neighbor's address. After 2 hours of agonizing, "Who did it? It was for me! But maybe it was for that other girl! I hope it was for me! But then so and so had said such and such about Homecoming yesterday, which could have been a hint that someone was going to ask..."etc, etc. a gift arrived on our doorstep. Whaddaya know? 2 teddy bears and a poem, and 2 sad balloons filled with letters. 

As soon as I looked at the letters, I knew that my suspicions had been correct, but just for kicks, I tried to spell out the individual names of every guy in One Direction and David Archuleta. Alas, not enough vowels. ;)

While I was screaming on the phone to my besties about the awesomeness of this whole experience, I found out that all of my friends knew about this plan to ask me to Homecoming, and had for at least 2 weeks. That's awkward. So I guess it all worked out in the end. But gee, it was sure embarrassing for my Homecoming date. It makes me sad to think he was trying so hard to do a good job, and then just screwed up the address. Out of respect, when I retell the story to people, I conveniently leave out the whole wrong-doorstep problem.:)  But I'm excited. My best friend got asked the next day, and we hope to go dress shopping together. I admit to being a little stressed out, never having gone to a formal dance before, anddd so I don't know the protocol. I suppose I'll figure it out sooner or later. 

PS I drove to my friend's house today to pick up some stuff. I was like, I have to go to Mattie's. And Mom was like, okay! See you in a few! and then I got in the car and drove there. The little joys of life. :)

Becky here.  I got a call from my neighbor later that day. She said that a very embarrassed and humble young man showed up on her doorstep to ask for the return of the teddy bears. He told her that this was the first ever time he had asked a girl to a dance, he screwed it up, and he knew that he would have to spend a few weeks living his mistake down at school.  Poor kid!

Vacation Time

We've returned from a very fun family vacation. The combination of juggling year-round school, church camps and visitation always makes planning and holding a family vacation a challenge but we staked out the last few days of the summer, pulled Jared out of school, and made it happen.

Lagoon

Our vacation started with a fun day at Lagoon, our local amusement park.  We met Kaitlin there, who had just returned from two weeks at Yosemite National Park and Portland. She was tired but happy to be back with us. The kids are all old enough now that we skipped the kid area for the most part and focused on the big rides.  We were able to ride all our favorites like the little Bombora roller coaster with it's smooth ride and surfing music and the swinging pirate ship.   In my old age I have zero tolerance for spinning, so I sat out of about half the rides, which was fine with me.  I did indulge in two spins on the Tilt-a-Whirl because it's my all time favorite.  We stayed all day catching our second wind after dinner and didn't leave until almost closing time.

Cove Fort

The next day after church we headed off to St. George. On the way we stopped and toured Cove Fort, a pioneer fort that has been restored and is now a museum.  I am always amazed at the ingenuity and sheer will and grit of early pioneer settlers. Out there in middle of no where they had built a large fort out of lava rock, including turrets  and twelve bed rooms.  The fort had a wonderful vegetable garden around it and I asked but they wouldn't give me a tour of it.  After an hour there we headed off again and reached our hotel by evening.


St. George

Our hotel had an indoor and outdoor pool, and hot tubs. We spent our first morning sleeping in, enjoying all you can eat breakfast and playing in the pool. In the afternoon we went thrift shopping and then played two rounds of laser tag. I guess there isn't a big demand for laser tag on Monday afternoons in St. George, so we had the place to ourselves.  It was a very nice, large arena with multiple levels, black lights and fog. 

Coming out of laser tag we noticed our van pouring out anti-freeze.  I'm not sure what it is with us and having our cars break down while on vacation but it seems like the only time we have car problems is when we are hundreds of miles from home.  We made it back to our hotel and luckily there was a place within walking distance where Chuck took the car.  They were nice enough to get to work right away on replacing our blown radiator hose and flushing and replacing all the fluids we had lost on the street.  We had tickets for a backstage tour of the Tuacahn Theater that evening, but the car wasn't done in time.  So we walked to a restaurant close by and grabbed dinner while we waited.  The car was finished in time for us to make it out to the theater for the start of the show Aladdin.

Aladdin

The Tuacahn is a wonderful outdoor theater in a red rock canyon, with only the canyon walls at its backdrop, where they put on broadway quality productions every summer.   The production of Aladdin was very high energy with extensive use of pyrotechnics and special effects.  We had really good seats and enjoyed the production overall.  Jared, however, isn't a big theater fan in the first place and wasn't feeling well.  After a snowcone at intermission he was doing better so I could better enjoy the second half.  We were a little disappointed that the main role of Aladdin was played by an understudy that night, who was good, but not the best actor. And Kaitlin, in particular, was thrown by how they had translated the stage version from the movie (which she loves).  But the genie was great, they flew the actors on a carpet right over our heads and overall, it was a very enjoyable night.

Zions

After sleeping in again and enjoying another all you can eat breakfast we were off for a day at Zions National Park.  I had only been to Zions one time before many years ago, and it was more beautiful and amazing than I had remembered.  They have a wonderful shuttle system there, so you just park and ride the shuttle to the various hikes and sites.  We took several shorter hikes and saw some waterfalls and beautiful rock formations.  There was a lot of wildlife too, lizards, squirrels and deer.  By late afternoon we were hot and tired, so we headed back to the hotel where we enjoyed more swimming before bed.


Home Again Jig-a-dee Jig

We took our time the next morning sleeping in, eating a nice breakfast and then taking one last swim before heading home.  Our drive was rainy and overcast which we appreciated because it was very hot. We stopped in a little town called Beaver, where there was a big sign touting that they had the country's best tasting water.  The water was indeed delicious and we filled our water bottles.  We made it home in time for Jared to go to Karate, and then to Cub Scout Pack meeting, where Jared got 5 belt loops!

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.