Holy Cow! It’s July. Where did June go? How does this happen?.[‘; John recently commented that I don’t have a pause button. At first, it hurt my feelings. In hind sight, he might be right. That is how I lost most of June and now we are into July and I am scrambling to remember what happened in June.
This happened in June. Lilli got her driver’s licence. We celebrated with some ice cream (I had ice water). Now she is independent and even drives herself to Salem for work and appointments. She is so independent that she even went into the bank to solve her debit card issues on her own. They grow up so fast.
This happened in June. The pool went up in the back yard. The grand kids are finding endless fun swimming, splashing and water fighting. Even the teenagers are joining in the fun.
This happened in June. I got John this hammock chair for the back deck to relax in. It was a winning Father’s Day gift.
This happened in June. Caiden had a birthday.
We all cruised over to McKay and Myles’ house and had birthday ice cream cake… well… John and I watched the cake eating and chatted and played with people. The cake looked good. McKay was smart and layered ice cream sandwiches with whip cream and chocolate sauce to make the cake. I think it was a hit.
This happened in June. The state legislature has a bill on the table that would make the cost of trucking things around more expensive. Not only are jobs threatened, but all of the things we all enjoy buying are threatened. I get protecting the environment and respecting and caring for this beautiful earth God has blessed us with, but I don’t think increasing taxes is the way to protect anything. Salem traffic was nearly crippled because every road leading to downtown Salem filled with trucks in protest.
This happened in June. John’s mom passed away. We made a 48 hour trip out to Utah for the funeral. We drove all day on a Friday, slept, and went to the funeral on Saturday morning. After the funeral and family dinner, we hopped back into the car and drove all the way home again. We got home at 5 in the morning. I was so tired I was nauseous. We slept most of Sunday. I needed to recover because I needed to start CET on Monday.
This happened in June. Lillian and I started CET one more time. This time Lilli is a staff member. She got a job as a TA. She is helping in a tap class, beginning dance, devised theatre, and with the park play. These are long tireing days. But we are making it… two weeks down.
This happened in June. Lenayah and I started “grandma school.” Once a week she comes over and does school-like activities with me. So far we have talked about shapes, practiced writing, made some crafts, fixed silly foods like octopus noodles, broccoli tots, dinosaur nuggets, and played at the park. We have only done it for 2 weeks, but we plan on doing it one day a week all summer long. It’s good for both of us.
This happened in June. Lilli and I left CET early and drove to the Portland airport. In fact, everybody came to the airport. Hannah was headed home!
Lilli was so excited. She couldn’t hold still and cried when she finally got to be the first person to hug Hannah.
Myles brought the kids and they made cute signs (McKay was at a book convention). John drove Kimber and 2 of her kids so that they could meet Hannah at the airport. Lilli and I drove up with Ethan. Chad and McKay were present via Facetime (Chad in Arizona selling pest control and McKay at her book convention). By all accounts, Hannah had a great time on her mission and actually preferred to stay. However, since she also felt strongly that God needed her to come home, home she came. It took us forever to get back to Salem for her release with the stake president. Traffic on the freeways was awful. We sat and sat. For real. It was 3 1/2 hours home from the airport. Hannah said is was the longest car ride of her life.
We are all super glad to have her home!
But as soon as she go home, she jumped into the pool, dress and all. Then, we had a pizza party. Jeff stopped by. John Hatch stopped by. All the family who live in Oregon stopped by. It was a party!
This happened in June. I started my design and tech responsibilities for CET. These are my models for the main shows at CET this season: Frozen, the Musical JR, The Phantom Toll Booth, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and the Hobo-ken Chicken Emergency. I start with these tiny works of art and…
… and change them into this. The above is all the work I accomplished over the first week at CET. I brought the 16 foot turntable from Central and John helped me reassemble it. Then, we started building a structure to go on top. I also brought over the rolling bath tub we made for Seusical the Musical a few years back. We started all the fabric parts for the set for the Chicken Emergency. We started the set for The Phantom Toll Booth.
Week two we did the above. There is so much to do. The Phantom Toll Booth set is nearly done. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is moving along. We started the PVC pipe frames for the background of the Chicken Emergency. The Frozen set is moving along. It is massive. Two week until performance time. I hope I make it. My feet, ankles, knees and hips are so sore that I often can’t sleep. I end up taking a cocktail of Tylenol and Ibuprofen to sleep. That isn’t good in the morning. I get pretty groggy. Seriously. I am wondering if I have arthritis. I am not sure I should keep working this hard.
This happened in June. Last Saturday I went to Dr. Marc’s office and then to the high school to begin the float for the parade. After working a few hours on that, I headed home to get my list of paints I needed for CET, better to go shopping on Saturday than to fight the traffic on Monday. As I drove home, I knew I needed to go buy a car for Hannah that day. I had $3000. I wasn’t sure if I could find something that would work for that price. I made Ethan and Lilli go with me (Hannah and John were headed to the temple for the day). We went to a couple sketchy used car places. It was hot and I was tired and the teenagers weren’t having fun. I said I would go to one more place. I walked on to the lot and looked at what they had. There was Jeep that looked promising, but was more money than I had. Then, I asked the sales guy about some cars off to the side. He said they had just got them but that they needed to be detailed. I pointed to one in the back and asked about it. He said I wouldn’t like it. They thought it was in too bad of shape to be sold and that they were going to send it out for new seats. I wanted to test drive it anyway. I liked it. They planned on selling it for $4800 after the new seats. I ask if they would sell it to me for $3000 as is. They did! It did take me 3 hours to clean it up. But it turns out there was a great car under all that dirt. Now Hannah has a car to drive that she really enjoys while she goes to her new job- working for McKay as one of Keiden’s care givers.
This happened in June… well, everyday. Kirby is often left alone while we all go to work. Sometimes we take Kirby to Kimber’s house so he doesn’t get so lonely without Charley around.
And then we were in July. I helped the Thespians with their 4th of July parade float. These kids are great. I was on my own in the truck this time. Jeff was gone to Ashland. But I had a great time with the kids. I helped out my friend Tiffany with my gaff tape and even used my gaff tape to repair a reindeer suit. We passed out around 24,000 fliers and $100 in candy along the parade to the largest parade crowd I’ve seen yet.
We even won a 1st place ribbon for the 3rd year in a row. That was fun too.
Most of the family watched from the side lines. They saw some fun floats. John liked the giant fish. Kimber liked the log trucks. They all liked the scout float starring Ben and Freya who rode the float with Yvonne. I liked the floats from the local flower shop. Who doesn’t like Christmas in July?
Finally, now that Hannah is home, projects around the house are in full swing. Hannah has started with her room… new paint, blinds and something new for the floor. She has big plans for stuff to get done all over the house. Maybe next week we can report on the results of her project. She just wants to feel like she has somewhere to unpack.
OH! and big news! Chad surprised everyone and flew home for the 4th of July weekend. He gave up his trip to Mexico to come home and hang out with family and friends. I don’t have pictures of the moment he walked in and Hannah started screaming. I didn’t know he was coming. I’ve missed that goofy kid.
Resigning as the General Manager of the Universe 
That was a busy month 🙂
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LOOOOVE the family gettin together!The photo of Caiden with John is simply beautiful. Way to go, Chad with the surprise!! Love you all and wish you could help mevfind a car for $3,000 – $3,500. No. Really. I’d love your help shopping for one.
Loves to you all!!🌺💗🌺💗🌺
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