Insulation, Plane Tickets, Lists

Happy August!

The summer is flying by.  We'll stay in town the rest of this month.

Kara is CIT'ing this week again, then next week soccer camp.

HOME IMPROVEMENTS. This week we're having the attic better insulated.

 All of our attic storage is currently stacked, floor to ceiling, in our bedroom.  Disaster :(

Next week we have guys coming to build a new front porch with some railing.  It's dangerous in the icy winter without railing.

LEAVING SO SOON?  I was just looking at the calendar and choking a little: Teresa leaves 2 weeks from tomorrow!  I've been in denial I think.

She will attend a week-long program called "Late Summer Honors" so she can get settled in and do some classes/activities for the week before ALL the other students come.  It's kind of like an orientation BEFORE freshman orientation.  That starts the 20th, regular freshman orientation starts the 27th, and school starts August 31st.

We'll put her on a plane, like we did for David...we talked through it all, and she figures she'll have all these organized activities to go to and wouldn't be spending much time with us if we went out anyway.  My aunt & uncle, plus 4 cousins & their families live out there, so we have their resources to draw from if she needs anything.

She's been working at Best Friends (I think I mentioned that) in Sudbury, and on her "off days" she plans outings with friends she "just has to see because then I won't see them until Christmas or even longer." 

SHOPPING GURU. Just this week Teresa said she'd make a list of things she needs, and take Kara with her shopping sometime. (Kara is so much more fashion-aware than Mom, of course!  I admit it:  "I'm even happy to pay for the clothes, just don't make me choose them for you!")

It is weird, now that I think about it, and I will be sad to not have Teresa around the house, even if her presence has been pretty sporadic for the past 6 months.

Just a quick update!  Have a great week :)

Kari

Hiking, Cooking, Archery

Hola!
We returned from a week of Camp for the Young Women in our congregation...girls ages 12-17 can go.  There are 4 years of certification, and then the older girls are YCL's or Youth Camp Leaders.

Kara was a 4th year camper this year, and Teresa went as a YCL for the third time!  She's been to camp now for 7 years, and really loves it.  She helped out the 1st year campers.

COOK FOR YOURSELF!  The 4th year girls (Kara's group) also gets to go on "Primitive," an overnight pack-your-own-tent camping trip, where they hike in and swim and cook each meal for themselves.

 Then the next day they get to go on a ropes course, all of this the day and night before the rest of the girls start camp.

Frank went with them, and a good time was had by all.

ropes course

 He taught them some of the camping skills he teaches his boy scouts in his group.

Kara looks like she's walking on air

Rope tying, hatchet sharpening and wood skills.  They got a couple of sprinkles, but they dodged the real rain.

I'm 3rd from left: the fan is blowing my bandana
so it's flying off of my head :)

COOK FOR EVERYBODY ELSE! I was a cook at camp, since this camp has a big dining hall and kitchen!  The girls cook some each day in their camps, but the other meals are provided in the dining hall.  Our head cook, Tanya, is a master at cooking for the masses.  We had pulled pork, monte cristo sandwiches, cookies and amazing cinnamon rolls.  The taco bar on the last night ended with banana splits!

LAKE TIME.  We had some fun time planned, too -- we got some scheduled time to take the kayaks or paddle boards out on the lake.

SHOOTING.  We also got to try our skills at archery, and also practice some target shooting with the .22's.  Here are some pics that Kelley took with her phone.

I was not Suzie Shutterbug this time (we stay pretty busy in that kitchen, you know...), so I didn't get photos of Teresa in action.

I'm going through all kinds of photos right now, so I'll post one from 6 YEARS AGO!  Teresa found a tiny baby chipmunk in our yard and asked if she could move it.  She put on gloves and here she is.

Have a good week!  Kari

Warm Temps, Fireworks, Musical Treat

Hello and Happy July!

SUMMER WEATHER.  We turned the calendar page, and it's warm outside, and sometimes muggy!  I think that means it's officially summer.

We ordered new Cutco knives from Teresa -- in her "fast start" period (first 10 days), she had 13 appointments and sold roughly $2800 worth of knives.  It was a good beginning, and showed her the process.  It remains to be seen if she wants to continue for the whole summer.

you remember Teresa...the graduate :)

The knives came in today, so now we get to officially use them!

School got out, and Kara uttered some wonderful words: "I have so much TIME!  Can I make some meals?"

Kara is cutting up zucchini right now, as I type this.  Zucchini fries are on the menu for this evening.

4TH of JULY in BOSTON.  We got to see 2 fireworks shows, one on the 3rd, and one on the 4th of July.  On the 4th, we went downtown to Boston.  Always a treat!  The weather cooperated completely, and the show went off without a hitch.  The Boston Pops Orchestra puts on a show before the fireworks.  Wonderful music, wonderful show.

Frank looked it up and the biggest fireworks displays in the country are:

1) New York City

2) Washington D.C. and

3) Boston

So, we just watched the 3rd largest fireworks display in the U.S.!

YOUTH CONFERENCE.  Otherwise, we're getting ready for Youth Conference (with the church group, ages 14-18), on Thursday.  Frank and I are chaperones.  We will ride buses with kids to New York.  We get to see the Hill Cumorah pageant, and some of the church history sites in the area.  We'll stay in college dorms Thursday and Friday nights.  Should be an adventure! :)

Oh, and we got a real treat last night:

MORMON TABERNACLE CHOIR.

We got to see them in concert, on the last night of their 2-week Atlantic Coast tour!  I think I've only seen them one time, in a live concert.

So that was our weekend!  Hopefully you had some good weather too.

Love, Kari

Summer Work and Play

School's out!  Our summer has officially begun.

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL.  Kara had a 1/2 day of school on Monday, making the last day for us June 22.  Neighboring towns and districts went to school an additional 2 or 3 days, since they took a couple more snow days than we did this past, very snowy winter.  So because of that, we feel lucky!  We "only" went to school through June 22!  ha.

BACKYARD S'MORES.  She hosted a "games" afternoon and "camping" sleepover for those who could stay overnight, where they put up the tent in the backyard.

 We also just got one of those little firepit things, to build a backyard fire and roast marshmallows!  It's not really a pit.  It's a metal bowl on legs.   We fought off the mosquitoes and made s'mores.

Here they are playing volleyball...














then the goofy balloon relay game where you are trying to run up and pop the balloon by sitting on it.

Popsicles, ravioli dinner, and s'mores.

There were about 15 during the day, and 7 could sleep over.  The weather cooperated and I believe a good time was had by all.

CAMP COUNSELOR.  Kara is currently doing a "CIT" program at the high school. Counselor In Traning.  Each week, the town of Wayland (parks & rec) have a different summer camp for elementary aged kids. They have paid counselors, and they also have 2 CIT's help out.  These CIT's can then, the next summer and beyond, apply to be the actual counselors next summer, or whenever.

She's helping with this week's camp and next week's camp.  The kids can be Kindergarten through 5th grade, I think.

Teresa has an interesting combination going on this summer...

LEARNING ABOUT KNIVES.  She is going through training to be a sales rep for Vector, selling Cutco knives.

She will make appointments to present them in people's homes.  Lots of college aged kids do it.  We figure it will be good for her to learn about pyramid-structured companies.  For every Mary Kay, Nu Skin, Silpada, Pampered Chef, etc., she'll have an idea of how they work.  One perk with Vector is, she'll get a little bit of pay for DOING the presentation.  It's not ALL commission.  Of course she'll get paid more if people buy lots of knives.  But at least she'll get a little for showing them in the first place.

DOG BOARDING. The other opportunity came up just a couple of days ago.  She interviewed at Best Friends Pet Care, just about 2.5 miles down the road from us, and got the job!

 It's a boarding/grooming/training place for dogs, and there is some cat boarding too.  She could be out front checking animals in, or cleaning the kennels: they can board something like 400 pets at the time, so there are lots of kennels.  She could take dogs out for walks, or "babysit" the dog rooms.  Small dogs and large dogs socialize in different rooms, and staff has to monitor them and play with the dogs when that is their assignment.  There are also people working in the kitchen, washing dog dishes and preparing their food.

For one week in July, she'll go to YW Camp and be one of the youth leaders.

Anyway, we think it will be a good mix!  She'll enjoy being around the dogs so much at Best Friends, and she'll learn some new things at Vector.

It is weird to think that Teresa has less than 8 weeks before she goes to BYU.


STILL EMPLOYED.  Frank just (digitally) signed the (email) paper that says he still has a job.  HP will officially split into 2 companies on November 1, and he'll be with Hewlett Packard Enterprise.  Here's the logo.

I know...it's a green rectangle.  A little boring, but I'm sure that many hours of thought, discussion, meetings and philosophy went into that logo!  We are VERY happy Frank still has a job, and a good one at that.  We'll take the green rectangle :)

Have a good weekend!  Kari

Softball or Tennis, anyone?

Just a quick post on Teresa and Kara trying out new sports this past spring!  I was excited that both of them were willing to try something new.

SOFTBALL. Teresa had not participated in an 'official" spring sport at the high school...for her first 2 years of high school, she played Ultimate (frisbee) with David and his friends after school sometimes.

But this year, she had some volleyball friends who said, "You should come try softball in the spring!" She thought about it all winter, then signed up for it in March.

Teresa batting

Teresa running out to center field, on right

Teresa "on deck," left

It turns out, she does really well with softball!  The coach was a little disgusted that she waited until her senior year to try it.  She had to learn the rules, since we are not huge baseball fans.  We hadn't watched it on t.v. or gone to many professional games.

"Senior Night," 2 coaches + 3 seniors

But she is actually a good player, and she won some awards at the Spring Sports Night.  One for having a good attitude that supported and lifted the team throughout the season, and the other was "Most Improved." She held multiple "best" records for the whole team, from just this season.

TENNIS.  Kara also tried a new sport.  She was interested in tennis, and started by being in a camp last summer.  Then during the winter, she took some lessons and practiced some with a girl who was already on the high school team.

doubles, back left

serving

She signed up, and in spite of the snow making it impossible to actually practice for the first 3 weeks of the season, she got to play lots of "doubles" matches with the JV team.

Her award at the end of the season talked about how she had a positive attitude, and everyone on the team liked to be paired with her.  That she enjoyed playing, and was happy with any partner.

Overall, this has been a fun spring for us, too, to watch their games and learn the sports with them.  I didn't even know how tennis scored points, actually.  And softball has some rules that I had never heard of!

Once the snow finally melted, they had some good opportunities to learn the sport and play.

Graduation

Hola!

I have done a pretty poor job of keeping up with our family blog!  I am, however, staying on top of David's mission blog...I will make a better attempt at doing both :)

intricate wood carvings

We had a great week, with 3 grandparents here, for Teresa's high school graduation!  I'm so glad they were all willing to make it work.  It is a very "eventful" time of year, and we so appreciate the support of Grammie D, Poppa Dave and Grandma Kay.

They all were supposed to come the same day, but the Whitesells' flight got delayed and changed, so they got to come into Boston by way of Wisconsin (?!?!?!), about 8 hours late.  So Frank picked them up at midnight.  Blah.

this "quilt" is carved from wood! Not joking.

Jenga!!

Boston Temple

We did get to go to the temple the next morning, and had some family names on both the Whitesell side and on the Webb side.
 It was so nice, to go to that peaceful place, and think about family and our ancestors a few generations back.

I was tutoring the next day, so Frank took them to Salem for an awesome museum visit and a walking tour of the town.  They mentioned the witch trials briefly, but there's so much more rich history of that place!  And they did, actually, film a couple of episodes of Bewitched there in the 1970's, so they have a statue of Elizabeth Montgomery commemorating that.

Teresa w/favorite teacher Ms. Lehmann

Teresa had lots of activities every day and almost every night, so we didn't really see her much.  But we played some games, had 1 or 2 dinners together, and there was a yummy banana cream pie by the combined efforts of Grammie D and Grandma Kay!

Banana Cream Pie with meringue :)

Sis picture, after the ceremony :)

And of course went to the graduation ceremony on Sunday afternoon.

It was a little stressful, watching the weather for the 10 days before.  If it was going to rain and they needed to move the ceremony inside, that would mean fewer people could go.  4 tickets per graduate, and we would have had to scramble to find some more tickets!  Angela came too.  This summer she's in an apartment in Boston, working a couple of part-time marketing internships.

So, here are a few pictures of our graduate:

Teresa & Astronomy tchr Mr. Rideout, with Sam photobombing