First day of school 2012

I like having my kids home for the summer, but it is pretty much a bazillion degrees here and that makes it hard for me to want to leave the comfort of my air conditioned home.  I think the kids are happy to go back to school so they have something to do.  I don't know, it's a theory.  This year the middle school changed start time (again!) to 9:00 so the elementary school got moved back to 9:30.  There are three schools basically starting and ending at the same time.  Plus there is a bus yard right behind the school that the buses are all trying to get to at the same time.  Traffic is a mess!  That said, it's kind of nice to have all the kids at school at the same time.  I get six whole hours to do whatever I want!  That's right, I can clean the house and go grocery shopping and take a shower all on the same day.  It's a whole new world, and I think I can get used to it.

 

 

The Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Two Weeks...

A couple of weeks before I went to girls camp I was noticing some warm spots on our floor.  After some googling it sounded like it might be a water leak under the floor.  The Saturday before I left for camp we had someone come check it out and sure enough a leak.  It hadn't come up through the floor yet so we scheduled to get it fixed first thing Monday morning.  Sunday afternoon I thought Dalin had spilled some water on the floor but it kept coming back after I wiped it up.  The leak came through.  Luckily we were already scheduled to have it fixed and the insurance will cover it.  Poor guy, out of the 15 years we've been together it ended up being the absolute worst time for me to be out of town and I couldn't get out of it.  Here are some highlights from the rest of the week that Chris had to deal with. Alone.

• Chris had to do his own work from home and cover for two of his other co-workers who were out of town.
• Our nephew was supposed to come for a visit on Monday after 5pm.  His dad showed up at 11 am and asked Chris if he could watch him for the rest of the week.
• Floor and baseboards had to be pulled up and replaced
• To prevent mold high powered very noisy fans were running constantly for almost the entire week
• The kids bathroom wasn't functional because they rerouted the pipes through the attic and started in the bathroom
• Watching his two nieces for several hours (that's seven kids folks!  In our tiny house with no furniture in the front room)
• The kitchen was being used to store furniture thus rendered less than useful
• Chauffeuring kids to various activities (karate, mutual etc.)

When I came home they had barely put the couches back in the front room but there was still no flooring.  I felt so bad that I couldn't be there to help out.  But wait there's more.  While I was in NY the fun continued!

• Still working from home
• The flooring was being installed so the front room and kitchen couldn't be used again
• The air conditioning went out.  Do you know how hot it is in this village! (Luckily a guy Chris knows from work was able to come fix it fairly inexpensively) 

 I tell you what, Chris more than earned his keep!  When I came home there was still a day and a half of floor and baseboard installation, but really I missed the worst of it.  I think I complained about what Chris had to deal with more than he did.  My husband is AWESOME!

NYC!

My brother and his little family got sealed in the Manhattan temple, and due to great generosity from my parents and sister I was able to go.  So less than 36 hours after I got home from girls camp I was on a plane to NYC.  I traveled with my sister and we just kind of winged it.  Chris couldn't believe that we were only talking about what we might want to do about an hour before we left for the airport!  Whatever, we had a great time.  We got there about noon on Monday and we were pretty proud of ourselves that we made it from the airport, to the bus, to the subway to the Staten Island ferry without getting lost.  We didn't fair so well the rest of the week, but I'm clinging to our first triumph.  I'm not usually very good at remembering to take pictures, but when I take them on my phone they are stored on our home computer as well.  Chris was able to see where I was and what I was doing so I took more pictures than I normally would have.

Lady Liberty and me

I wanted to have a true NY experience and to me that included buying food from a street cart.  Here I'm buying a way over priced shish kabob that wasn't even good.  You like how my purse is a wide open invitation to rob me?

Time Square!

I'm on that billboard!  Can you see me?  That's okay, neither can I;)

Can you see the angel Moroni?  I knew the temple was just on a city block corner, but it was so cool to be walking past all these buildings then look up and there's the temple!

So cool!

Another food cart try.  Jenked again!  Overcharged for a dry soft pretzel.  I blame TV for leading me to believe it should have been great.

Grandpa and Penelope

Central Park with my seester:)

Porgy and Bess.  Carmen wanted to see a Broadway show.  Our journey to this theater kind of overshadows our previous direction achievements

Dave wasn't even there.  Where's the love man!

Empire State Building.  I'm not really impressed by tall buildings, but this one got me!  It's kind of amazing.

Austin, Amelia and Penelope

Girls Camp

Kaylee has kind of a hard time being away from home so I had been thinking about volunteering to go to girls camp with our ward.  Then one day in ward council we were talking about needing a volunteer from each ward in the stake to be a cook.  This sounded like a way for me to be there for Kaylee, but not cramp her style so I volunteered.  I'll be honest, I hate camping.  What was I thinking?!?  I was mostly dreading going.  I know you think I'm going to say it turned out fantastic and I am really glad I went but really that is only a quarter true.
Pros:

• I got to work with and become friends with some really really wonderful women.  
• I surprised any one who knows me with "Girls Camp Sis. Edwards".  Apparently big groups in the mountains brings out the show boater in me.  
• Kaylee got to see me enough to help her not be homesick, but plenty to be embarrassed by my antics.  I got my fair share of eye rolls from her (kinda loved that).
• Being the first group to tip over our canoe on lake day

Cons:

• It rained, heavily, every night but one while we were making dinner.  We had a priesthood leader who was keeping water draining off the tarps almost full time (much love Bro Esplin).
• The fabulous cot I borrowed from my brother didn't fit in my tent so I had to sleep on the ground the first night. Luckily one of the sisters from my ward had an extra air mattress so I wasn't completely miserable.
• Cooking for 250 three times a day.  We were in the "kitchen" constantly
• I hardly got any pictures of the whole experience.

The "kitchen"

Blind makeover

Zipline

I would maybe do it again now that I know what to expect, maybe.