At Peace with Summer Vacation

Summer vacation is officially here, it has been one full week today!  I don't want summer to zip on by. I want slow, relaxing, lay under a tree and read, summer. We don't have much planned this summer since we are going to Disneyland in November.  I, naively, thought that this meant I would have weeks of unscheduled unplanned time.  Well, as I was filling out my calendars for the summer, this is not true!  With Scout Camp, EFY, Youth Conference, Family Reunion, 4th of July in Idaho, Mutual, swim days, park days, temple days it is nearly full.  At first, I had major anxiety about this but then I looked at all the great things we are doing and I realized how blessed we are and how lucky I am that my kids get to go to all these activities.  I realized how grateful I am that Cole and Maddy want to go to as many temples in Utah as we can this summer to do Baptisms.  I cannot think of any other place I would want to be with my kids than at the temple.

There are so many things on the "to do" list, but they are things "to do" with the kids and the family.  I love having them home.  I love listening to them play. I love that my back patio has been transformed into two apartments, even though, that means that half the girls rooms and some of my food storage and kitchen items have been hauled out back.  They have been out there for hours, no tv, no electricity, no noise, just outside, sisters, and a friend.  I love watching five girls, ages 12 to 8, play Mother-May-I in my front yard. I love listening to three 14/15 year old boys talk about their day at EFY over root beer floats and milk shakes. Escorting two girls every where they go, showing us the Sandwich dance, hearing how they can prepare to be missionaires, and how they can attack temptation were some of the highlights.  I love watching So You Think You Can Dance all together.  I love that we can all play Rock Band together.  Mostly, I observe Norm on the guitar, Cole on the drums and one of the girls singing.  I love hearing Cole's enthusiasm about Moab and a new found love of mountain biking.  When one of the bishopric members that went on the campout told me that Cole was the first one up the Klondike trail by a long ways, I had to smile. It is refreshing to have something you love to do and that you are good at. Packing baggies of peanuts for the girls to take to a Bees game with Grandpa, Lauren, Tanner and Bridget epitomizes a summer activity.  Tuesday night is free kids meal night so the $10 I gave the girls for treats got them two hot dogs, a drink and a slushee!  A sleepover after the ball game at Grandma's house is short of a little bit of heaven.  Grandma wasn't there but Grandpa, Lauren and Adrienne (of course Tanner & Bridget) were there.  Wearing somebody elses T-shirts and lucky Lauren had some toothbrushes that allowed for a spontaneous sleepover! Free food at Chick-fil-A = awesome!  Watching the girls swim like fish with their cousins and  being with my sisters while enjoying the energizing warmth of the sun made for a nearly perfect afternoon... we just needed Grandma there.  Seeing the girls and their friends lounging and chatting on a tire rope swing at park day brought me so much joy. Arctic Circle makes the best family night treats... regular sized twist cones (not the crappy tiny courtesy cones) and a vanilla brown topper with nuts in a cup.  Shopping at the mall for new work clothes for Norm was a tiring but family bonding experience.  I encouraged the girls to check out picture books from the library at our visit this week.  The ones I used to read to them when they were little... I have missed reading them stories.  I want to start reading to them again.  We have gone back and forth with reading chapter books but we always seem to lose interest so I think the short picture books will be the perfect solution.  Mountain Blue... an acapella southern gospel quartet... performing, for FREE, at the historic Brigham Young Park = A fantastic night out with the Derieg's eating Chicken Black Bean Rice Taco mix, chips and salsa, fruit and fruit dip, cookies, licorice and orange slices in the windy park.  A BBQ with many friends at the McRae's = yummy food, great company and a beautiful yard for the kids to play.

This has all happened in the last week and all I can say is that I am at peace with summer vacation.  We are spending time together and creating memories that hopefully will last us a lifetime.  It doesn't matter if we are busy, it only matters if we are together.