The Past Few Weeks...Beware

It has been a fun few weeks!! School ended and was very busy. The girls and I are so happy to be done with that. I finished a pair of socks for Travis and here they are, hairy legs and all!! They are really nice and will be appropriate for work. They took a little more time than my socks did. Hopefully he likes them and wears them knowing they were made for him with love!!Right as school was ending, my scarlet (or swamp) hibiscus bloomed. This is a natural hibiscus that i have seen growing in the creek and swampy areas in our neighborhood. A friend gave me a cut of this and the flowers are very showy and pretty. They are about 8 inches across. We get a lot of questions with the plant. As you can see in the background of the picture, the leaves of this plant look a little...suspicious. People see it and say, "What do you have growing here?" Yes, it looks like marijuana, but it isn't. Travis is working on his Wood Badge for scouts and so he took the boys in our ward and "the other ward" to the rail yard. Here they are by an auto container. They were able to take a look-see in the cars which were loaded with cars. He also did some other stuff with them inside, teaching them about routing and such. He had such a great time. Maddie finished sixth grade and elementary school. They have a promotion ceremony which is really nice. She had a new dress to wear. She is looking all grown up - or at least well on her way to grown up. These are the church girls finishing 6th grade. She was very busy getting pictures with all sorts of different friends.

This here is the whole reason for my trip to Minnesota. The trip was about 10 days too short. The weather called for severe thunderstorms on the days of both the graduation party and the graduation. Miracles occurred and it didn't rain!! I'm very glad I could be there. Congrats to OJ!!This was another very exciting moment in Minnesota - I got to meet my new nephew, Austin!! He was delightful! Check out the Shoebox Princess to see a picture of all of us together: Sara, Jenni, Jake, Mike, and Dave. The babies got passed around Jimmy's party. They were very good. And adorable!!

While I was in Minnesota, the dance team at home was busy kidnapping the new girls and taking them out for breakfast!! Rozzie is in the pink hair and McCall is her big sister! She was absolutely thrilled with being woken up at 6am and being all dressed up and Saran wrapped. She had the best outfit. Some girls were just wrapped, but these two pictured here got the special treatment!

Meanwhile, at Grandma's house, Annie and Mimi did a lot of stunts for me to see. They love to do "stunts" and they do them quite often.

Steph, Jake, and kids came by a few times. Mimi, Annie, and Maya are getting to know each other quite well and looked just ravishing in the American Girl hats!

No trip to Minnesota is complete without a visit to the Arboretum. This is a new display. It is made of willow branches and is quite something to see and walk around it. There are rooms inside!

I got home and went right to work! I was a driver for the dance team getting them over to Jacksonville University for a camp. Here is the team after doing their first routine. Rozzie and the other freshmen were not involved in this dance as the team has been practicing since April for this and the freshmen were still 8th graders at the junior high. Now it is time for them to be involved!!

Here is Rozzie and McCall in their dorm. They are roommates as McCall is Rozzie's "big sister" for the year. Rozzie reported today that she received "superior" ratings and blue ribbons on all her routines. They are judged individually and she was pretty happy. She is really tired and is now packing to come out to Utah.

Speaking of Utah, that is where Maddie and I are right now. We flew all day long yesterday to get here. We got up at 3am for a 6am flight. But them our flight was delayed. We had the crankiest flight attendant ever on that flight. she rolled her eyes at people and her announcements were given with sullenness and disdain for the customers she served. We flew to Minneapolis, missing our connection to Salt Lake by minutes. We were rerouted to Kansas City which is the grossest airport ever. None of our layovers were longer than 30 minutes, so there wasn't any food time and we arrived in Salt Lake very hungry. We packed sandwiches and bananas, but after such a long day, we needed some refreshment, so we stopped at Cafe Rio. We're are staying at Dave and Lisa's. Maddie has jumped right in for fun with cousins. Pictures will appear in the following days. We are glad to be here and ready for an adventure!!