June happenings

Alice had her last track meet on the 5th of June. She did a good job in her long jump and improved every week. She got 2nd place in hurdles. She was very proud of her time! She ended up 5th in the 100 meter race and wasn't happy with her placement so she gave a half hearted effort in her shot put and got 5th place in that as well. She liked Track way better than soccer and wants to improve for this next year! Alice's summer is more low key than her siblings and some days the boredom takes over and she pines for buddies. She's had a few play dates, but it's hard being young enough that Mom is not willing to send her off into the neighborhood to play like her brother. Alice had to join Kendal and I at Kendal's basketball tournament. She occupied herself fairly well for most of Friday, but three games in and half a day of sitting through games was a lot, so Aunt Nicole was sweet and had Alice over to her house to play with Ashley and Hunter. She got to pal around with cousins, play in the pool, and got a much coveted sleep over with a cousin. Nicole even kept her Saturday to play which was a bonus for all of us ; )

 

The first full week of June Pete started swim his summer swim league. He goes 4x a week for 6 weeks. It's the same as last year where the students work on their different strokes and dives and have "trials" against each other every other week. He's there at the same time as his buddy Austin so he's happy to go and grow in his skills. We've also been sending him every morning to go running with Austin this month. He may  protest getting up and going every morning, but still willingly goes running because he gets to be with his buddy. Pete got spoiled and got to spend a couple of nights with his cousins while we were in Logan at the beginning of the month. He has such a fun time with those boys and loves when we visit! Pete had Deacons camp this past weekend. He was packed for over a week and so excited to go! His pack probably was half of his weight, but he managed and had a great time. The boys went backpacking to Washington Lake (in the White Cloud Mountains - between Sun Valley and Stanley). There was a lot of snow where they went and he was cold the first night in his little hammock (silly kid didn't actually get in his sleeping bag because he didn't know how to wiggle into it laying in his hammock.) He had a great time with his group, hiking, fishing, making fires, and being in Nature! He celebrated his birthday while he was gone backpacking. We've kind of spread out his birthday all month long He got gifts in Logan from family. He's gotten a few gifts from us throughout the month, and we gave him his last few gifts Tuesday of this last week. Pete got a huge stuffed turtle shell that he can get cozy in. He wasn't satisfied with the fluff factor and continued to add stuffing till he was happy. He's got such a blissful smile when he puts it on, it cracks us up! He got a bunch of backpacking gear (backpack, sleeping bag, hammock, and dinner stuff) for his birthday as well. Finally he got a star wars video game. 

 

Kendal has the fullest schedule out of the kids this summer. She runs every morning. Twice a week with the high school cross country team, and the rest on her own. She does weight training every day either in the girls session or with the cross country team. She's also had basketball practices twice a week for the past month and she's been to two tournaments. Kendal got to go to DC with Casey and the other Kimberly Students the first week of June. She had a great time and sent my pictures of all she got to see that week. Kendal has been to two basketball tournaments the past two weekends. She went up with Casey two weekends ago to Mountain Home with a bunch of Freshman girls. Her team won 5 out of 9 of their games and had a good weekend working hard together. This last weekend Casey was gone so Alice and I took Kendal over to Marsh Valley for a tournament. The team was way smaller with 6 freshman and 1 sophomore playing in the JV side of the tournament and a bunch of older girls playing in the varsity side. Kendal's team won 4 out of their 5 games Friday (Loosing the one in overtime). Saturday put them in the Silver bracket for tournament play and Kendal's team had to play older girls the whole day. They won their first game, and then lost the next two to end up in fourth place over all.)  Kendal is taking online Health this summer. It's taken up many hours every day, and she's had to squeeze in hours when her busy schedule takes her away from home. She will be doing drivers Ed online in July with weekly drives scheduled out. She also has to complete a book and paper this summer to prepare for Honor's English this coming school year. 

 

 

I had a nice birthday. Cheryl came to the kids' track meet on the 5th and took Alice, Pete, and I to Olive Garden for lunch to celebrate my birthday early. Casey set up a sweet scavenger hunt for me for my birthday since he was gone. I took the kids down to Logan and got to study / hang out with my family for my birthday. I studied, crammed, and questioned my sanity leading up to my last ABCTE test that I took on the 7th down in Logan. I knew I passed the multiple choice right away, but had to wait 5 days for my essay results which thankfully came back with a 5 and passing! It's such a relief to have that program done. It's been a lot of hard work, and added stress to my life this year. I'm so grateful I'm done, and know with a couple of more courses I'll be Idaho certified in no time. . . then I'll worry about getting my Library endorsement. 

 

Casey has had a very busy month! The last weekend in May he was off to Idaho Falls for a basketball tournament. The following week he and Kendal spent most of the week in DC. (I'll have him write about that below.) The second week of June took Casey up to Boise for a couple of days to do PBIS training. He was home for a night and then took Kendal the following two days up to Mountain Home for a basketball tournament. We got to celebrate Casey last week for Father's Day. I got him some goodies and a lazer tag game that the kids and us played with the rest of the day. We are so very lucky he is ours. The kids adore him and we love him so very much! This past week Casey went down to Nevada for Zions camp with the 14 and older boys in our Stake. Being in the Stake leadership he did various assignments and helped out all over, but he got to do the ropes course like he did a couple of years ago when he went last time. 

Alice, Pete, and I went to Logan and got spoiled with love and care while we were there. My parents treated the kids to Mini Golf. They also got in some four wheeler time that weekend. 

 DC trip

Tuesday, June 4

At around 3:00 Tuesday morning our group met at the middle school to hop on a bus to the airport. Our flight left Boise at 6:35 going to Phoenix and then on to Dulles International. We arrived a about 4:20 local time. This was the first of many times that I had to count to make sure we still had 28 people. After grabbing our bags, we hopped on another bus to take us to DC. We then made our first stops at the Lincoln, Vietnam, and Korean Memorials. We finally finished our day at Fairfax Marriott at Fair Oaks. It was a long day, but a good start.

Wednesday, June 5

Each morning, breakfast was at 7:00. Our first stop was the White House and its Visitor Center. After a quick stop at the Washington Monument we went to the Holocaust Museum. This is always a pretty emotional stop for most of us. We then hopped on our bus to eat sandwiches on our way to Mount Vernon. Though there was a lot of work happening at the house, there was a lot of other things to do at the museums and on the grounds. We even survived a tornado warning! Dinner was some excellent pizza and a stop at the World War II Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial followed.

Thursday, June 6

We began our day at Arlington National Cemetery and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. After lunch we went up Capitol Hill to visit with Senator Risch in his office. Unfortunately, Senator Risch was busy, so we visited with some of his staff instead. Though they were good to meet with, a lot of people felt that this visit could have been bypassed. We then went to the Smithsonians (Natural History and American History), always a highlight for many. After eating at the Ivy City Smokehouse in a very sketchy part of town, we finished at the MLK and FDR Memorials. Back at the hotel, we celebrated the birthday of one of the students with cupcakes. 

Friday, June 7th

Our final day began at Ford's Theater where we toured the house Lincoln died in. We then visited our founding documents at the National Archives. After lunch we went on a tour of the Capitol. We saw some awesome artwork and statues. This was our last activity as we then headed back to the airport. At 5:15 we flew to Boise after a nice, long layover. We got back to Boise at around 10:40. We got on our last bus that took us back to the school. We got to the school at around 1:45 and I got to sleep in my own bed at 2:00 Saturday morning. 

Kendal's highlights were the Natural History Museum, American History Museum and the museum at Mount Vernon. She likes museums. Casey's highlights were the Capitol tour, National Archives, and the Smithsonians. Also, not having to count to 28 a hundred times and wait on mom's babying their children was a highlight of the end!

Peter is 12!

Pete is 12! Pete completed his first year of middle school this past year. He managed to come out alive and well in his advanced math class and enjoyed being in the middle school with a variety of classes and opportunities with friends. He grew in his knowledge and skills this last year and has worked hard in so many ways. He had nothing but good things spoken about him from teachers this year. He may have been a quirky ham on occasion, but they thought he was a great kid! Pete worked hard and was on the high honor role the whole year in school! Pete continued to improve an progress in his sports and running. He's continued to run this summer with Austin as well as enjoy the swim team with him this summer. Pete has such a loud and fun personality! He is such an amazing kid with a big heart and we love him so very much! 

Favorite animal: Monkey / Turtle / (asks mom and dad for a dog a lot)

Favorite food: Cup Bop (Korean BBQ)

Favorite snack / treat: chocolate granola bars, Kit Kat, Twix

Favorite book: Hyperspace High / Harry Potter

Favorite activity: Lego's, Running, Basketball

Favorite subject in school: Math

Favorite color: Blue / Gray

What he wants to be when he grows up: Engineer (Space)

Nickname: Pete, squudgy pudgy, bud

At age 12 Peter is 5ft tall! 

Favorite part of his birthday / gift - Pete was off camping on his backpacking trip for his birthday. He had such a great trip and wants to do it again! His favorite gift was his turtle squish suit. 

 

Last week of school . . .

Pete got to go fishing with the 6th graders on the 20th. Fishing wasn't a big success, but the kids had a good time. Pete even got to help start a fire that would've cooked the fish (if they caught any, which they didn't). Wednesday I was in charge of the AR Field trip for the middle school. Both Kendal and Peter earned the whole year reward and got to go with their fellow whole yr AR friends / students. We got to go to the movies. Kendal joined her friends to watch IF, and I ended up in the pg-13 theater watching Godzilla vs. Kong with Pete, and the students that chose that movie. Afterwards we had a pizza party in the Library. (The students all loved the movies, 96 kids vying for pizza all at the same time was not so great.) Casey was over the 7th grade field day on that same day and did a corn hole tournament and games with his students. Thursday was the awards assembly. Kendal got a leadership award, recognition for being on the executive council this year, a Gold medal for getting all A's her whole middle school career, and a top AR reading reward. She presented in each assembly and  even gave out my AR awards for 7th and 6th graders when I had to head over to Stricker. Pete got very good grades this year. All A's and a few B's. He also got perfect attendance and should have gotten fastest mile, but was cheated out of it by a dishonest student. The last day of school was Friday the 24th. Alice got to have a field day at Stricker, and Peter, Kendal, and Casey went to Nat-So-Pa for a swim day with the middle school. I stayed back at the middle school trying to play catch up with my long list of to do's. Alice got to go to a birthday party after school on Friday. She got to go swimming for Reagan's birthday! 

  

 

  

 

Saturday the 25th we headed up to Boise for the State Middle School track meet. Pete qualified to do the triple jump. He had a good jump his first go, scratched the middle two and had a decent jump his final time. He ended up in 4th place out of 4, but it earned him a medal and we're so proud of him for getting to state in the first place. Kendal made it to state in the triple jump and 4 x 400 relay. Out of twenty something girls she made it in the middle of the pack for long jump. Her 4 x 400 didn't go as hoped (her shin splints got the best of her, but the girls were proud of their efforts. Alice was good most of the day with the bag of crafts I brought, but she was very done when it hit dinner time and we were still waiting for Kendal's run. Grandma and Grandpa D came to cheer on the kids as well. David and Becca had some events, Becca metaled in all of her personal events, and David did a good job in his. 

 

Sunday Casey and I went to put flowers on Kate's baby's grave and then we hunted down family graves in the two twin falls cemeteries. Memorial Day was spent cleaning house and running errands for the week. Nothing special, but we did have a fun movie night with the kids. 

Tuesday Casey and I had our last day of work. I still had more to do so Casey came and helped me on Wednesday, and I left him home to take the kids on an outing to the Twin Falls Zoo on Thursday while I finished up in the library. I was over 3 inventories the last few weeks. One at Stricker, and Two (books, and then computers) at the middle school. My plate was full, my thoughts and world was chaos these past few weeks, but it's done for now and I can focus on studying for my ABCTE test and going forward with summer happenings. 

Casey took the kids to the Zoo on Thursday morning. The zoo has birds, snakes, fish, turtles, and other simple creatures. The kids told me Casey got the birds to dance with him. Alice would only pet the turtles, but the others got to pet a variety of animals. 

Alice had two Track meets this week. Her first meet was on Wednesday. She chose to do the Long Jump, and Hurdles. She also requested the shortest runs and chose to do the 100, and 200 meter runs. She had a second meet on Friday to make up for a canceled meet from the previous week (due to weather). She improved her time in the hurdles, and 100, as well as jumping almost 2 extra feet than her first meet in the long jump. She chose to do the shot put instead of the 200. We'll see what she chooses in her last meet this week. 

Casey was over Stake Standards night this past Wednesday. They've been planning for months and put together quite the event for all of youth of our Stake. He also was off to Idaho falls for Friday and Saturday for a basketball tournament. Kendal didn't get to join this time since they only took the varsity girls. 

We did a corn hole tournament after church today. Alice ended up trumping us all (helps she had a closer proximity advantage, but she truly beat us all!)

We let the kids have a lot of late nights this past week with movies, and let them sleep in as much as they wanted since the rest of the summer Kendal and Pete wont be so lucky with Cross x runs multiple times a week in the early morning. Kendal and Casey are off to DC this week, Pete starts swim team, and Alice will finish track.