Kicking off the summer!

We ran off for the summer as soon as possible after the girls were back from their activities.  I decided that driving is miserable no matter how you do it, and we went for 2 long days of it instead of 3 shorter days.  It was rough, but we did it.

We made a short detour for lunch in Phoenix so I could say hi to my awesome friend April.  It was 110 degrees there.  Yuck!

I was all excited to stop by the Cadillac Ranch.  The GPS said it was right off the highway so I thought it would be a perfect potty stop.  And we planned for that.  Unfortunately, it is just this- a bunch of cars, nose down in a field, but no facilities at all.  The problem is, that I had timed it just right for a bathroom break and we did not have time to get out and play with such full bladders.  So we did a drive-by and made a beeline for the closest gas station.

We made it safely to Dad's house, but later than I had hoped. We were delighted to settle in.  And Marian was delighted to befriend the local wildlife.

This little guy was super cute!

And Marian wanted a shot of his pretty tail.

We enjoyed walking the gravel road, and it also provided some new friends.

So cute!

 

Marian's Backpacking trip

The stake has a Backpacking Trip for all the seniors each summer.  Since Marian was a senior, she was invited.  She decided that she did want to go.  The plan was to drive to some mountain near Palm Springs on Tuesday, take a tram halfway up, then hike to their base camp and set up tents.  Friday they would hike to the peak and back.  Then they'd hike back out Friday and drive home.  They needed to bring everything they needed on their backs- tents, food, water, everything.

Here we are, trying the pack on for size.  It ended up weighing in at 30 pounds.

And I told her to take pictures.  She came home having taken exactly TWO photos for me.  Sigh.  And apparently I didn't even download them because now I can't find them.  So please enjoy the pictures I swiped from the group share from the other hikers.  

Marian said she had a good time.  She shared a tent with one of the other girls from our ward (who is awesome!) and it went well. There were 10 or 11 youth on the trip and they were all pretty great. Marian said she had some altitude sickness the first day and was physically miserable and felt terrible.  She got some meds from one of the leaders and felt better in the morning.  She liked hanging out with the group and had a really positive experience.  When I picked her up Friday evening, one of the couples that chaperoned told me how awesome Marian was and how much they enjoyed her coming on the trip.  The three boys in the back of the vehicle nodded and agreed. Marian did mention that she couldn't believe that one of the boys wore skinny jeans to hike in and didn't change his clothes at all for the whole trip!  She was cranky that I had told her to pack a pair of clothes for each day, when she apparently did not need to.

 

Callie went Camping

Callie had the opportunity to attend YCL Camp with the other girls from the stake.  It was held up in Yosemite, so they left on Monday and drove 8 hours up there. Then they spent Tuesday thru Thursday doing camp-ey stuff and drove back on Friday.  It was a long time for her to be away when she wouldn't have any cell service!

Our traditional pre-trip selfie.

Last photo before she's heading out. She is with the only other girl from our ward who went.... so the only girl Callie knew.

Group shot of the girls and leaders.  I think there were 11 girls.

The green tent is Callie's.  She was going to take a tiny one, but I encouraged the larger 6-man tent so she'd have room.  She said it was a good choice.  She did have it all to herself and she liked having her own space.

And she did collect photos for me so I could see some of what she did.  She was not impressed with Yosemite, because it is just mountains and trees. I still think she got some pretty photos. And here are her pictures:

 

Wrapped in Hugs

The "Mama Dragons" group that I am in does a Wrapped in Hugs program where you can sign up to make a blanket or quilt for a kid who  needs some love.  Moms or others can nominate a kid and they will put the stats on the FB group and you can sign up to make one.  

One lady said she could do the tops of two Harry Potter themed quilts, but couldn't put them together, so I offered to put them together.  

She finished the two tops and sent me the tops, plus some Hogwarts fabric to do the backs.

Cute top, right?

Well, mostly.  There were some issues.  Mainly that the backing was stupid microfiber, which had zero stretch and was super light and a royal pain to work with.  Also, she didn't anchor her seams (should have backstitched at the edges!), so the edges were coming apart.  It was frustrating and definitely not my best work.  

And man, the backing was upside down on one and totally off center on the other.  Sigh.  But a lot of love and work went into it, so I hope that's all they saw.

It was an exercise in love, that's for sure!

I picked up a project for a kid who liked purple and cats, and I found this awesome fabric!!

Isn't it fabulous?!

And the backing is minky fabric and so soft.

This blanket I was very happy with and it did come out really cute.

 

The End of an Era!!

Rylee is the last kid in the family.  And this week, she finished elementary school.  This means we are ALL DONE having children in elementary school!  How crazy is that?!!

This has nothing to do with school, we just have been experimenting with her hair to try to dampen the poof and encourage the natural curl.  It is going fairly well. 

Anyway, she had a short and sweet "Promotion Ceremony"  Which consisted of waiting her turn, then walking into the gym, posing for photos and collecting her certificate.  

This is the masked photo, since all the kids had to wear masks at school.

And faces!  The unmasked picture. The aid is on the left, and Rylee loved her.  Her teacher is in the right, and we loved him too.  It was a good year and a good ending for her.

And here is our selfie to celebrate!