Another Summer in the Books

Our last hurrah before the kids went back to school was a trip to Lava Hot Springs. We rented a couple of camping cabins at the KOA for Biz, Dad, Tay, Lauren, cousin Kristi, and us. I recommend the cabins because they have heat, air, lights, and bunk beds. Eliminates the need for any sort of preparation really, which is fantastic.

On Friday night, we had a fire and made s'mores. Then it was off to bed.

So we'd be awake and ready for an early morning trip to the hot pools. It's so nice to be there right when it opens and enjoy the warm, quiet pools first thing in the morning. I would be quite content to stay all day.

Yes, let's take a close-up selfie when I haven't showered or put on makeup.

But Mickey and Dahlia prefer to float the river and do the water slides at the pool. So we did that too. We had hamburgers for lunch at what may be Mickey's all-time favorite cafe, then made a quick stop at the museum and the candy shop. It's a fun-filled Saturday for sure. One of our favorite Father's Day traditions that we never manage to do anywhere near Father's Day. Oh well.

 

He's a Keeper

Loving this corner cabinet Jason built (built!) for our front room. He saves me so much money at Tai Pan.

Also credited: Heather for the floral arrangement, Kristin [Mickelson] for the pillow, Taylor for the tree carving, Biz for the "Home" sign, Jess for the Willow Trees, and Megan & Taylor Barlow for the family photo. I wish I could say I hand-dipped the candles myself. That would be a lie. My special skill is knowing really talented people.

Sad But True

So I'm shopping with these two and Lauren loudly announces to the cashier, "THIS IS NOT OUR MOM." I quickly clarified that I was their aunt and not a random kidnapper. The cashier then asks the girls if I am their cool aunt and Lauren responds, "She's not cool. She's Aunt Traci." And there you have it.

Button, Button, Who's Got the Buton

"Traci, do you have a needle and thread? I've popped a button off my suit and I'd really be more comfortable at my meetings with The Brethren if I have a button" says the Un-named General Authority my first week on the job.

Nope, says I, but I'm sure in this building I can find one. So I send a flurry of instant messages and starting knocking on doors. Within a few minutes, I find someone with thread (black and white) at her desk and I'm sewing on the troublesome button. I'm sure in this new position, my "job skills" will become more varied than I can imagine at this point.

PS - Tonight I'm buying a sewing kit. Next time, I'll be prepared.

Wherein I am Eaten By a Leopard

We spent a lovely afternoon with Mick and Dahlia at the aquarium. But you would never know it from this picture, which clearly shows me about to be eaten by an angry leopard. I don't know if the kid taking pictures in front of the green screen has an awesome sense of humor - or zero photography skills. Either way, it might have been a better picture if he'd asked me to move just a bit to my right.

Dahlia liked the sea turtles the best.

And Mickey claims to be friends with a very large snake who lives there. (If this is true, it will be his first friend who is absolutely, under no circumstances, ever to come to our home.)

I'd never been to the Draper aquarium and I was really impressed with it. Except for the photographer I mentioned above. Although he unknowingly provided the best possible metaphor for my first week as a secretary in the Office of the 70. I'm calm and I'm smiling - but I have no idea what's going on or that I'm about to be destroyed by a fierce predator.

Happy Birthday Dahlia!

Happy 9th birthday to this sassy sweetheart. She will tell you how it is - and then some. I love that.

We are doing the ABCs of summer this year - with an activity for each letter of the alphabet. I believe this is "R" for ribs.

 "P" for Pastry Cottage.

And "T" for toes. Happy birthday pedicure to Dahlia.

Catch Up

Once again, I'm behind on blogging. Here's a quick catch-up.

I accepted a new job and will be working for the Office of the 70 in the Church Administration Building. (That's "CAB" for those of you familiar with church acronyms and "the building in the front" for those of you who are lucky enough not to recognize the CAB.) My first day is August 8th. I'm excited. And nervous. And mostly nervous.

I was able to go to the Tabernacle Choir's Pioneer Day concert this year featuring The King's Singers. It was music heaven.

We celebrated Dahlia's 9th birthday a couple of weeks early to include her cousins who are visiting from Pennsylvania. We had a classic tea party complete with dresses, fancy hats, fruit platters, nut cups, and cupcakes. (Pretty much everything but tea.) Mickey graciously volunteered to be our server and took everyone's drink order, "Would you prefer raspberry tea, lemonade tea, or chocolate milk tea." He also offered to take everyone's coats, but since it was July and over 100 degrees, no one really needed his coat-taking services. I love that kid. Seriously, what 11 year-old boy volunteers to collect coats at his sister's birthday tea party? In a suit jacket? On purpose?

Finally, Jason and I canned our first batch of peaches. We have three peach trees in our yard and I'm realizing that my summer months will now revolve around when the peaches come on. I'll admit, my canned peaches are not as neat and pretty and uniformly sliced as my Mom's canned peaches always were. But they still taste delicious and they're still a perfect reason for me to ask Jason to make his cinnamon French toast so we can have breakfast for dinner. With peaches! I was kind of excited to write "Peaches - 2016" on the bottle lids and imagine my cold storage room all stocked with canned fruit. We'll get there. We did a batch of apricots already this summer and want to try pickles next. It will save us a lot of money in our "pickle budget" if we can learn to make pickles that Dahlia will eat. That girl loves her pickles.

So now I feel like I can at least go into August with a clean blogging slate. Ready, go!