Open House with Pat Paff - July 30

Neta made a special invitation to Pat Paff, one of our special grandma friends from the neighborhood who has watched the kids grow for the last 10 years. Neta absolutely loves Pat and wanted her to come to the temple with us, so, via my email address, Neta sent Pat an email invite to come with us on July 30. Pat responded that she would love to go with us.

Eric picked Pat up, swung by the office and then picked me up from work (I'd ridden my bike so we wouldn't have two cars).

Angel Moroni shining 

Neta and Pat Paff
in front of the temple

Neta wanted to wear her baptism dress

Nate took this picture -
Highway to Heaven is kind of what he called it

Another pretty floral picture

We went to the reception tent afterwards and Neta was excited to show Pat everything and Pat seemed generally interested, especially in the mock pieces of different pieces that are within the temple. It was fun to watch the video that was a time lapse of the construction of the temple and then a years passing with dots to represent when and where the temples were built. It started very slowly and then exploded right around the turn of the century - 2000 - and dots just popped up everywhere. That was awesome and the kids loved it. 

There was a Christus in the tent and we hadn't taken our family picture in front of it and I wanted to do that. I took advantage of being there to get our pictures snapped.

Holding hands with the Savior

Family with the Christus

The open house has been such a wonderful thing, of course. I have loved to share and talk about it with co-workers and to see the excitement in the kids' eyes and their desire to go. 

Temple Open House - July 22

We've been waiting for this day for a LONG TIME!! Finally it came and we were able to go through the Indianapolis Temple and my friend, Jessica Wingate, came with us.

I raced there afterwork, getting there a little early and before Jessica and my crew.

Picture from my car,
parked next to the chapel

It was so exciting for me to see the inside and especially to take the kids & Jessica through. It is soo beautiful!! The symbolism of the circles & 'x' and the poplar tulip - it was so perfect (of course). The one improvement I would make would be to lower the sealing room mirrors so that you can see "eternity" from the altar, or at least standing up. The mirrors are too high, so unless you're six foot tall, you only see the top of your head. We lifted the kids up so that they could see forever in the mirrors.

I hope they remember the beauty and the feeling they had while walking through the halls and sitting in the celestial room being being in the sealing room. Jessica had to hurry off because she was starting to have some stomach issues, but she really enjoyed being there, took some pictures and even "checked in" on her facebook status.

Here are a few more pictures from our evening at the temple. Xela took my camera and had fun!

Angel Moroni

The landscaping was beautiful

Nate loves the Temple

Our circle - crossroads fountain

Close up

Xela told me, afterwards,
that I needed to wait for her to sneeze.
Sorry!

Families can be Forever

Sun setting on our new temple

Eric and I are voluteered on August 1 and were very much looking forward to that opportunity. We also looked forward to inviting other friends to go through the temple with us. I made a general invitation to all those at work, via email and some additional personal invites. It was exciting for me to have questions and, especially after my first tour, to talk about the absolute beauty and serenity found inside.

Cub Scout Day Camp - July 6

Instead of putting on our own day camp, Sister Shipley and I decided that we would get the boys to Camp Belzer's day camp. They each had to pay $50 in addition to a 3-5 hour service project that waived the additional $50. I took the day off and attended the first day of camp with Nate, Gavin and Ryan.

They were excited to be there and I was too. It was finally sunny (way too much rain this summer) and they were able to do all the activities scheduled for Monday. As it was my only day there for the week, I probably went a little overboard taking pictures (110 pictures). You'll see some of the pictures representing all the activities they were able to do below. Monday and Wednesday activities were the same. Tuesday and Thursdays were similar, except there was rain on Thursday, and with the earlier rain from the summer, they weren't able to go rafting. Nate was pretty bummed about that.

BOWS & ARROWS

Instructions on how to use the
Bow & Arrow

Listening to on-site final instructions

Ready....Aim....

Fire!!

They had to collect their arrows;
Nate got one in the center.

CRAFT TIME!

Leatherworks

Making a bracelet

Pounding in a design

Listening & watching

Final product
(Leather is still a little wet)

ZIPLINE! OBSTACLE COURSE &

BLACK MAGIC

Each boy yelled their favorite food
on the way down 

 PEEETZZAAA!!!

Running the obstacle course
after the zipline

This Darryl using "black magic"
to figure out what object the boys picked.

Calling the other "Darryl" back to find the next object.

LUNCH & TRADING POST

Eating their home lunches

Arrow boys

SWIMMING!!!!

Instructions first

Nate taking his swim test
in order to play in the "Barracuda" pool

Nate & Gavin playing in the pool.
All the boys had fun playing tag with one of the scout leaders.

FIELD GAMES & FOOD

The yellow tribe receiving game plans

Catch - if you miss, you have to get closer to the ground.
I wonder how good of a throw Nate is????

Pigs in a blanket...

...cooked over the coals.

Enjoying the fruits (or meats)
of their labors.

They played Heads Up, 7 up after eating
(at least that's what we used to call it).

If I had known that the leaders could swim with the boys, I would have brought my suit! It was a great day for a swim. The boys had a good day and seemed to enjoy the rest of the week as well. 

Friday, July 3, was family day. I took the second half of the day off work to take the three younger ones. I didn't realize that for the non-cubs to do the things that the cubs did, you had to pay for each person - except for swimming. That was free. Guess where we spent the majority of our time - the pool! And this time I brought my suit! (We did have to make a quick trip back to the house for suits as we thought we would be busy doing other things and didn't bring out suits.) After the initial frustration, I think the kids enjoyed themselves. 

Neta Gets Tubes - June 29

Eric and Graigry headed to Scout camp Monday morning, June 29. They had to leave the house at 3:30 so they could hitch a ride with Scotty to the church to pick up the other boys. This same morning, Neta had to be at Community North Hospital to get tubes put into her ears, check in at 6:30. I tried to get back to sleep after sending off the boys, but that didn't work too well.

I woke up Xela before I left and had Neta in the car by 6:00. We checked in and they had Neta in a gown by 7:00. It was only about 20 minutes before she was back.

Tell us how you really feel. :)

Because they had given her a mild anesthetic, they wanted her to hang around for about 30 minutes and make sure she didn't throw up. She had some apple juice to drink, which she did, little bit by little bit. She got bored, so I let her play with my phone.

They finally gave us the go ahead to leave, so we did. It was not even nine o'clock. As Eric was gone, I had a half day off in order to take her to the appointment and then had permission to bring her to work, hiding her in the "closet" office for the second half of the day. We stopped by Kroger and bought some cookie cereal (she hadn't eaten before we left) and headed to the house. After eating, I took a nap. Neta got out of pjs and we were on the road to work by noon.

Not many people in the office knew Neta was there. She played on my computer and watched a movie. Then it was time to go home. Miraculously, my computer's battery lasted almost the entire ride and she was able to finish her second movie. There didn't seem to be any complications or side effects from the tubes, not even much drainage, so overall, the day went very well.

The rest of the week went almost as planned. When Eric is gone, I like to try to get as much house repair and/or clean up done as possible. I got the two walls in the upstairs bathroom drywalled, mudded and sanded; it took longer than I thought (like most construction projects). I didn't do the ceiling and I had wanted to get the painting done, but finished the sanding on Saturday morning before they got home. Xela and Ro helped me the first night and Xela commented that it was like the "good 'ol days" when we used to work on our house instead of rentals and the properities.

Ya...sometimes I miss the good 'ol days.

Trip to Florida June 2015 - Farewell Florida & Surprise Stop

Friday, June 19, departure time. Sadly, yes, the time had come to leave our wonderful Florida family and head back to reality. The plan was to leave between three and five so that we could get some daylight driving time in and get to the Walkers and get some sleep.

In order to prevent a sleepy driver, Diane took the kids to the Disney's release, "Inside Out" so that I could nap. I actually napped. I tried to stay organized during the week so that packing wouldn't be very time consuming and I did want to make good time on the road as a lone driver, so I slept.

Kids got back around three, if I remember correctly. Diane had purchased a birthday cake for Aurora, knowing that the majority of her birthday would be spent in the car.

Happy pre-Birthday my 14 year old!
Everyone enjoyed the delicious chocolate cake!

We delighted in some cake and ice cream and then packed the remainder for the journey home. After packing the van and helping clean up our week's worth of evidence, we climbed in the van and started the 14 hour drive home.

As we crossed into Georgia, about three hours in, Aurora decided to throw up in the back seat. We pulled off at the first exit we came across, which happened to be in Arabi, Georgia. I had to pee so I took my keys and my phone and headed to the bathroom after throwing Ro some napkins and a garbage bag to try to do some initial cleaning.

I hung my keys on the purse thing on the back of the door, with the thought in the back of my mind that I was going to forget them. My phone I put on the toilet paper holder. As my mind was in the car and having a long road still ahead in a vomit smelling vehicle, I hurried up, washed hands and headed back to the van. The other kids had gone to the bathroom as well, Graigry bought a small bright yellow shirt and the lady cashier got on them to not touch the glass of the door as she had just cleaned it. If I had been paying better attention, I would have realized they were getting ready to close (they had to unlock the door for one of the kids to use the bathroom.)

Finally, kids had pottied, the vomit was as cleaned as it was going to get until we got home, and kids had rearranged themselves, leaving Ro in the backseat with her vomit residue. I plopped into the driver seat and was ready to go. Where are the keys?

I looked in what had been my drop spot but they weren't there. I had my purse and my phone and....CRAP! I'd left the keys in the bathroom stall!! I pounded on the locked glass door to no avail. I googled the phone number and called the store. No answer. I decided to call the local police and they sent a sheriff out, who was very friendly. He was willing to take us to the nearest hotel, but the van had opened windows, which I couldn't roll up because we had no keys. I declined the offer, not wanting to leave the van unlocked and unattended. We had plenty of food, but I asked if we could get some water, which he was willing to, and did, fetch for us. They even tried to contact the owners/employees of the place to come an unlock the door, but the employee was already home drinking. Great! There were no hours posted but the officer said they would probably open between nine and ten. Double great!!

Thus there we were: after a good afternoon nap so that I could make it to Tennessee, getting a good stretch of the drive done, we were stuck in Arabi, Georgia. This is a small town I had never heard of before and now will never forget. We resigned ourselves to spending the night in the van and tried to pass the time (a few hours because the kids had all taken naps during our short stretch). Xela and Graigry got a semi empty water bottle and played some soccer in the parking lot.

Graigry & Xela in the Arabi, Georgia parking lot;
Our temporary night's abode.

The bugs, more gnats than others, were getting a little annoying. Kids wanted to be home. Kids wanted Daddy (who I didn't call because I knew I would get laughed at). The older girls were good sports about the whole situation. We had some snacks and waited for the hours to pass.

As things got dark, we found an outside outlet. HALLELUJAH!!! Want to watch a movie? I plugged in the laptop and the kids watched Despicable Me 2.

Enduring the bugs while sitting on concrete
to watch a movie to help the hours pass.

 By the time that finished it was around 10:30 or 11 and we packed in the van to try to sleep. Ro, not wanting to sleep in the vomit-residued back seat, tried to make herself a bed on the floor space between the front seats and first bench. Doors were left open to help keep the smell at bay.

I did not sleep well (imagine that), up every few hours hoping that it was morning. After about 5:30 I was really in a minute by minute sleep as I hoped with all my heart that there would be an employee show up to open the shop. Every car that pulled in brought with it hope and then as it pulled out, took that hope with it. I can't tell you how many cars came in and left.

Finally, around 7:30, an SUV came in and parked by the front door, but no one got out. Was it an employee? Were they going to open the door?? Please, please!! I waited with anticipation, but no change. Then another white sudan pulled in an parked to the side of the building. Then the passenger in the SUV exited as the driver of the sudan came around the corner, with KEYS IN HER HAND!!

As soon as the door was open, Xela and I headed to the bathroom stall only to find that the stall was void of any hanging keys. My heart sunk and I told Xela to go ask about a lost and found. As I did another look through, she came back with the keys in her hand. WE WERE FREE!!! I thanked the ladies for opening the doors, shared a very brief summary of the night's events, made sure the kids hit the bathroom and then we were out of there like a bat of, well, you know.

I found myself, at one point, going ninety miles an hour. I mentioned to Xela that I probably ought to slow down before an officer found me, although I hoped understanding of my situation would find mercy. Thankfully I didn't haven't to test that hypothesis. That speed was a physical evidence of my anxiousness to get out of Arabi and head home.

We made a brief stop in Eagle Mountain, Tennessee to stretch legs and say hi to cousins. After about an hour, we packed back into the van and headed back to Indianapolis. We got home before dark adn prepared for Sunday and the reality check of Monday. :p

Trip to Florida - Hello Horsies!

John's "backyard" neighbor has two horses (and because I'm doing four months later, I can't remember their names). We went to meet them and feed them some carrots. The kids love animals, so it was a perfect thing to do.

Here they come!

Neta was excited to see and feed the horses, until they were up close and BIG! She was a little hesitant to get too close to their faces and feeding them took a little encouragement. Aurora, on the other hand, was all over it, playing the horse whisperer part that she so likes to play. :)

Aurora, the horse whisperer

Uncle John handing out horse munchies

Meeting the horses,
with just a little intimidation.

Neta admiring from a short length away.

She fed the horse!
As soon as he touched the carrot,
Neta let go and got a little giggly
at having fed the horse.

A few more carrots before saying good-bye.

Johns neighbor, and again, I can't remember her name, mentioned that she could hear the kids playing in the pool and asked if we were having fun (OF COURSE!). She mentioned that she liked hearing the laughter. I'm hoping she didn't hear too much of the arguing that also happened. Lesson, you never know who is listening and being affected by what they hear.

We piled back into John's truck and headed back to the house.