Summer is finally here!

Hi!

It has been a fun couple of weeks, with wrapping up school activities and final concerts, etc.  I know I have been driving a LOT, so that means the girls are keeping busy.

LIFE LESSONS.  David is 2 weeks into his internship, so he's not helping me drive anymore :(

His "life lessons learned" so far with the full-time job...
1) Your "gross" income does not equal your "net" income.  Ouch #1.

2) Taking public transportation (commuter train) in to work ...wait for it... costs money. Ouch #2.

3) It also takes time to get TO and FROM work.  To catch a 7a.m. train, then walk from the train station to the office ... He leaves here by 6:40a.m. and arrives home around 6:20p.m.  Many people get an hour for lunch, that they're not paid for... He is gone 11 1/2 hours, and only gets paid for 8 of them.  Ouch #3.

LAST DAY.  Monday was the kids' last day of school.  Kind of late this year, but what do you do, right?  I tutored for the last time this year on Monday, also.  I just work one year at a time.  The district does not guarantee the tutors jobs more than that.  But as far as I know, I will do the same job again in the fall.  No official notification yet, but they have "told" me my position will be the same.

NOT my toes, BTW!

TMI (Too Much Information) WARNING.  Just to give the story closure (I hope).  2 months ago we hiked the Grand Canyon, and both my big toenails got all bruised, I guess from hitting the end of the hiking boot for 9 hours straight.  I lost one!  Eeeewwww.  The new nail has grown in about 1/2 way.  So now, summer and sandals and toenail polish season is finally here, and I have to wear a band-aid instead.  :(


TREK.  Every summer, the church youth in the region go on a 3-day "Youth Conference." It can be 3 days at a local university,  where they stay in the dorms and attend devotionals, listen to motivational and spiritual speakers, as well as lots of social activities with each other.

Every 3 or 4 years, however, the youth conference takes the form of "Trek."  As in, "Pioneer Trek."  The pioneers moving west and settling the untamed territories there, are actually a big part of our church history.  Those people believed in something, and were often persecuted for their beliefs.  Many were chased from their homes and had to leave everything they owned, to follow their hearts and a prophet they believed in.

"Trek" puts the youth in a pioneer-type setting.  The youth are grouped into "pioneer families," and each "family" pushes handcarts, cooks and eats outdoors, and for 3 days lives the life of a pioneer.  We also have devotionals, and give them opportunities to study scriptures and discuss gospel principles.  The purpose is to help the youth think about what they, themselves, believe, and to give them a chance to think and pray, and strengthen their own testimonies of gospel principles.  We hope they can come closer to Christ through these discussions and experiences.

Frank and I were asked to be one of the "Ma and Pa" 's of a "pioneer family."  We will have 7 or 8 youth (14-18 yrs old) assigned to our "family."  We have pioneer clothing, and we'll load up a handcart with everybody's stuff!  Our trail meanders through the outskirts of a camp the church owns in New Hampshire.  We'll hike 21 miles over a 3-day period.

Trek is this Thursday through Saturday.  Since summer is "thunderstorm season" in New England, our prayers right now are focused on "good weather" for the trek.  I'll report on it when we get back.

Have a great rest of the week!  Kari

High School Graduate!

Well it has been a whirlwind couple of weeks!  End-of-year activities, AP tests, senior's last day, and final Senior outings have filled the end of high school for David.

SENIOR AWARDS CEREMONY.  That was a neat occasion last week.  David received 3 awards:


Honor Roll for 4 Years
National Merit Letter of Commendation and
Achievement in Business Law

PIE NIGHT.  Friday night we had some of David's friends and their parents over, for Graduation Pie Night!  I had hoped for good weather, so people could be outside and the kids could jump on the trampoline some...but no, it was not to be.  Pie Night was a torrential downpour--we stayed inside!  Ha.  It was fine.

It was a record-breaker for our little house, though.  51 people were here!  24 seniors came, and quite a few of their parents came too.  It was a nice chance to catch up, and get to know better some of the parents we didn't know so well.  What a nice group of people David hangs out with. :)

We put pies at the dining room table, pies in the family room, and pies downstairs.  Yum.  Of course, I was scrambling so much I didn't take photos while the people were here...just of some decorations.

Can't forget the Graduation Ducks...and ninjas.

GRADUATION CEREMONY.  After the downpour, we held our breath...it was supposed to clear up for Sunday's ceremony, but...would it?

walking into the stadium

diploma from Dr. Tutwiler, principal

Turns out that it did clear up for us, and it would not have been nicer if we had put in a special order.  Blue skies and sunshine for the afternoon, and temps right around 80.

There were 3 student speakers, 2 adult speakers, and the band played on...there were just 215 graduates.  We live in a small town.  In the case of a graduation ceremony, this is a good thing. :)

Here are some photos.  It was a happy, happy day for everybody there!  And it was held outside, so no restrictions on how many could be there.  If it had rained, the graduates only get limited tickets.

Congratulations, David!

Home Improvements and Cape Cod

Hola!

This is the season for my head to spin just a little.  Just because of the calendar and end-of-year activities.  Add to the mix this year, that David is graduating this coming Sunday (yippee, David!) -- and that has some extra activities going on for us, too.

And, add to that our "second wind" of home improvements (yes, it's been almost 5 years since we moved in and did the first round)!  We have a few messy projects going on at the moment.

So when I think "what should I put on the blog," too many things are in my head!  So here is my "something is better than nothing" mentality.  I chose 2 things: the fireplace, and Kara's 7th grade Cape Cod trip.

FIREPLACE.  We are having the super-old fireplace remodeled, if you will.  The house is from 1950, and that's the age of the fireplace!  We'll get marble tile placed on the front--it will be pretty.

Teresa helps with the cement coming out

But the first thing was to break out the hearth, and of course Frank said "I can do that!"  Always a quick job to destroy things, right?  ...Right?  ..........ok, well, not really.

Let me just tell you that our fireplace...was built to last.  That hearth tile was NOT coming out!  Pounding and chiseling away with every tool we could find and borrow, Frank worked on it 2 hours and only had 4 of the 40 tiles out.  UGH!

Home Depot to the rescue, he went and rented a mini-jack-hammer.  Still took some time, but for sure that was a lifesaver.  Here are some pictures.

It's a work in progress.  I'll post again when next steps are further along.

CAPE COD.  The 7th graders go to Cape Cod as a class trip each year.  They follow Rachel Carson's example of studying the coastal and ocean environment, and how we affect it and how we can protect it.  They go to the tide pools, the sand dunes, on boats, take walks through marshes on boardwalks, journal things...I'm telling you this is a very. cool. trip.  They pack more into 3 days and 2 nights than I can imagine.  And the most amazing thing?  Are you sitting down?

Every. Teacher. Goes.  No, really.  They have all the students and all the kids and it is a wonderful trip where they take BIG buses down, and stay in cabins at night and do all this cool stuff together!

Then they have the assignment to gather all of their notes and photos and journaling samples and memories, and compile a "Project." It can be a memory book or a 3D type project.

Since I do so many shutterfly books, that's what Kara wanted to do for her project and memory book.  You can look at hers!  It's really quite good.

I'll try this and see if it works: Click KARA's BOOK to see her Cape Cod project. Sorry it's too small to really read any captions or journaling.  But you can see the photos.  :)


Have a great week!  Kari