so what have we been doing while counting down the days till Andrew's return?

Hannah went to Young Women's camp on Tuesday...but it turns out that it was pouring rain at Buck's Lake when they arrived and they were flooded out, so they wound up going to Fort Churchill. And instead of coming home tomorrow morning, they are coming home tonight-- which is perfect for us since we leave in the morning for the airport and now don't have to make special plans to get Hannah from camp.

no, mom and dad, Hannah doesn't wear glasses...she uses them as a fashion statement

Eric had his comic book-writing marathon with his friend Kevin. They did this 1 1/2 years ago. Weren't as productive this go-round (supposed to make 1 page/hour and wind up with a completed 24 page book) and their friend Joe couldn't make it, but they had plenty of snacks and I'm guessing a good time, too.

about 5:15 am...18 hours down and 6 to go at this point

Glen, besides working on tons of projects in and around the house, made some bagels just for the fun of it (we really like to make things from scratch, for some weird reason). These were made with the flours of 2 different wheat family members: kamut and spelt. They were very good.

So, how many days till Andrew gets home. Let's check the countdown chain:

Yep. That's right. One link left. As I'm typing this sentence and believing Andrew's flight will be on time tomorrow, his plane lands in 17 hours. Wow.

more summer activities

Besides counting down the days till Andrew comes home...

1st day we started the chain--June 12th

...and taking naps on Sunday (and napping other days of the week as well)...

...and trying to rescue baby birds (if it weren't for the dogs getting to him--and Alex doesn't know yet that's how he died--I think he had a good chance of living as he was a good eater)...

yes, that's a worm sticking out of his mouth...eww

 ...and enjoying Father's Day...

in Primary we made photo tie tacks for the fathers using ink jet shrinky dinks!

...and doing lots and lots of cleaning (I'm sure we'll post Hannah's garage cleaning job when she's finished)...

...we have also enjoyed a few other activities:

The museum had its annual ice cream social on June 9th. Not only did we get ice cream, Glen was given their volunteer of the year award (he used to be on the board of directors and the last few years he's been one of their bookkeepers). His name is now on the broken hammer plaque hanging in the museum. He was given a gift certificate to The Wok restaurant. Glen and I had lunch there on Thursday and only used 1/2 the amount, so we get to go back!

On June 16th Glen and Ryan (along with David and Michael, Alan and Brent, and some other young men in our ward and some ward leaders) went river rafting in California and then took in a Reno Aces baseball game (the Aces won, in case you were wondering). I have no photos. :(

Last night was stamping at Michelle's. These were the cards we made:

Toni's card--you'd never know she was new to stamping

Tina's card

Michelle's card--the dry embossing machine is the new rage

Becky's card (with more dry embossing)

one of my offerings--I have a hard time choosing just one design

my other offering...variation from the first

Today Glen, Eric, and Ryan are up at Buck's Lake (about a 3 hour drive from here) shoveling snow and getting it ready for Young Women's camp next week. Hannah will be a 4th year, which means she gets to go on the hike and sleep on the trail with the other 4th year girls and their leaders.

Hannah spend the night a Walley's Hot Springs with her friend Jamee as well as her cousin Madison and Aunt Carey.

I am still in the middle of my cleaning projects, but everything should be ready by the time Andrew arrives home on Friday. We still need to get a bed in Eric's room for Andrew, but that won't be a problem.

BYU's Education Week is less than 2 months away now and I am spending some of my time looking at the class offerings (half the fun of attending Ed Week is planning what you are going to do and see once you are there). This year's theme is "That All May Be Edified." Just found out that one of the evening performances available is Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida. I saw the Pleasant Grove High School perform it a few years ago as part of Glen's annual Utah Thespian high school conference and loved it. Deni (who will be at Ed Week with me) isn't familiar with it, so I put the songs I could find from it at the top of my playlist.

So, that's what's happening here...

the end of the school year and the beginning of summer vacation

The school year ended without much fanfare as no one in this house was graduating from anything. Congratulations go out to niece Sarah (co-valedictorian) and nephew Brent who have graduated and to nephew Zach who graduates tomorrow (June 14th).

Ryan, Hannah, and Alex did all managed to get Perfect Attendance Awards. How'd that happen? Well, we generally are a healthy family and since Glen is a school teacher we never go on vacation during the school year. So congratulations to my healthy children. I think Eric would have earned one, too, if they gave them out for college. Hey, and Glen, too. He didn't use any sick days this year.

So, summer began with Glen and me starting to take our walks down Perazzo lane and back. We haven't missed a day yet (today was day 10).

nothing exciting...just part of the view from our walk

Saturday June 4th also started my intense cleaning schedule for the month. I started with the closet in my bathroom that was full to overflowing with material and crafting supplies. I have pictures...but no cord to connect my camera to the computer so I can download them...

This past week I actually spent 4 days, all day, cleaning and organizing the kitchen. I discovered why it is so hard for me to keep my "tupperware" cabinets in order...I had over 38 differently shaped containers in there--some stacked nicely, but some didn't. Got rid of some and things are much better. One day was spent in the pantry. This week's areas are the bathrooms and the kids' bedrooms (which they'd already begun). We should have the house all in order by the time Andrew comes home.

This past week Ryan went to Utah for Especially For Youth, a really neat week long religious camp at BYU (they have it at other places, but Ryan and his cousin Michael went to the one on the BYU Provo campus). He had a great time. He arrived home Saturday afternoon and is really missing his new friends.

Even with Ryan being gone, we were not one short this week. Hannah's friend Jamee, who is from Fallon and will be back here in the fall, has been living in Hawaii for the past year with her family--her Dad is military and is stationed over there for a few more months. She came to visit and spent the week at our house. Hannah (who was also busy this past week taking driver's ed...and has it again this week) had a great week visiting with her friend.

Alex is participating in the summer reading program at our library as well as playing with his cousins.

So, not too exciting around here (at least from Eric's point of view), but our summer is off to a good start.

Hannah's half birthday

June 1st. Significant because it meant that:

1-Hannah was 15 1/2 and eligible to apply for a learner's permit. She passed and is now driving. A little bit freaky, no? But she'll be a great driver, I think.

She asked if we could celebrate her half-birthday instead of her real one. I said sure. What do you do for a half-birthday? She didn't want a gift as she is saving up all her gifts (probably for the next few years) because she wants a letterman's jacket to go with the letter she earned for playing on the tennis team this year and for being in Young Republicans (and in the future she hopes to earn one for track, though that goal was not realized this season). What do you do to celebrate a half-year? Make half a cake (with half the number of candles on it), of course:

(notice the black tu-tu? For those of you not in the know, Hannah calls it her lucky tu-tu and she wears it to her finals--and other activities for which she feels she needs luck)

2-Andrew will be home in a month...actually 4 weeks from tomorrow. That's freaky, too.

3-School's almost out. At some point I suppose the weather will warm up and help to convince me it's summer.