JUNE

SCHOOL'S OUT FOR THE SUMMER! NO MORE HOMEWORK, NO MORE BOOKS, NO MORE TEACHER'S DIRTY LOOKS!  SCHOOL'S OUT FOR THE SUMMER! 

- Summer Theme Song by Kasen

SUMMER WK 1 - Another summer started off again with a bang!  Saturday morning I got an email reminder about an area youth fireside with the YM General President and his wife.  Ava wasn't especially thrilled to go, but she is such a good girl and told me she would.  We sent out a text to all the other 13 beehives inviting them to go with Ava and then to get Orange Leaf frozen yogurt afterward.  Only one responded, but one is all it takes not to feel lonely!  So Ava and Sicily went together.  Their yogurt creations were inspiring.

The next day, which was Sunday, there was a youth fireside with President Nelson broadcast across the whole world.  All the Beehives and Deacons met together to watch.  President Nelson challenged the youth to do 5 things listed below.  He said, "You are among the best the Lord has ever sent to this world. You have the capacity to be smarter and wiser and have more impact on the world than any previous generation." Ava said the 5 challenges were going to be pretty easy for her since she already does most of them. :) The prophet also said, "The gathering of Israel is the most important thing taking place on earth today."  Ava is such a good girl and we are always so proud of her.  Earlier that day she went and bore her testimony about the Book of Mormon.  She got a little emotional testifying of how important reading the Book of Mormon is.  Both Jed and I had so many people from the ward text, tell, or email us commenting on how touched they were with Ava's testimony and how strongly they felt the Spirit as she was talking.  Ava made a commitment a few conferences ago when President Monson talked about the Book of Mormon that she would read it everyday.  It has been over a year now and she hasn't missed one day of reading the Book of Mormon.  She is a good example to me. During the fireside she had taken notes and one part made me smile.  There was a part she had listed people to pray for and among them were Muslims, Korea, Russia, and Nepal.  She had also written "pray for Maryland" which is how she thought you write Aunt Marilyn's name. :)

Dallin continues to rule the house.  He is so funny and talks so much and so good.  He has gone to the bathroom on the toilet a few times.  When he does he gets a cookie which he enjoys.  But then he wants his bottle.  We will probably never get that bottle away from him until he goes to kindergarten.

The kids all had a playdate with friends this first week of summer.  We had the 3 Cantwell kids who match up with our kids in age over and then Kasen wanted to invite his other friend Bryant who ironically has a sister that is Ava's age too.  It was fun having a house full of siblings!  The girls started making slime and got a little carried away with the shaving cream.  Then the boys saw what they were doing and took it a few steps farther of course.

The kids also started swimming lessons.  They will take for the first two weeks of summer.  I knew it would be pretty hard to sit and watch the three kids swim with Dallin so I signed him up for mommy and me lessons.  I did these with Ava when she was 2 yrs old, but have never done them again because of the ages of my kids and not having anyone to watch them.  So I was pretty excited to have one last time with my last baby.  Dallin didn't like having to be contained in one little area of the pool and listening to a teacher.  The first couple of days were a lot of him screaming no.  But by the end of the first week he would put his mouth in the water and jump of the side and let me dip him under. His favorite part of his lesson is the last 5 minutes when he can go down the slide by himself.  He probably goes down 30x in 5 minutes.  Kasen was excited this year for safety day because he is an advanced class and could be in the CPR/Lifeguard class.  

June 9th Kase was able to go to his last Cub Scout Day camp.  Next year he will be 11 yrs old and in Boy Scouts.  He was pretty excited and there is a big, fun group of boys his age that went too.  His favorite part of the day was shooting BB guns and buying some reverse glasses and a nice moustache at the trading post.  He definitely can pull off that moustache alright.

 

The same Saturday Kasen went to day camp was also KINSLEY DAY #2!  She was pretty excited for another bit of time to spend with us all to herself.  Jed suggested we take her to a little cafe for breakfast scones.  They were as big as an entire plate and pretty yummy.  Kinsley got the cinnamon sugar scone with a side of whipped cream and enjoyed it in record time.  The activity she wanted to do was go for a little hike.  So we hiked along down the greenbelt along the Boise River for over 1 mile.  We stopped a few times to look at plants and different trails down to the river.  Kinsley had packed a backpack with snacks and her binoculars.  On our last stop Jed taught her how to skip rocks.  We loved celebrating Kinsley day again.  She is a pretty special girl.

 

SUMMER WK 2 - For FHE we all went with Jed while he practiced roping.  The older three kids ran the chutes and did a good job.  Kasen and Kinsley had to teach Ava everything because it's been so long since she's helped with roping. (That was all according to Kasen.)  We were hopeful for Dallin, but he was still a nightmare.  He does not like being on the sidelines - whatever it is he wants to be right in the middle doing it.  So the whole time I was trying to hold him back from running after and getting trampled by steers and ropers all while he was screaming and swinging at me to let go.  I can't say for sure, but I'm pretty certain if I could go back in time Dallin might be a spitting image of his dad or Grandpa Erickson when they were 2 yrs old!  The new thing Dallin learned this night was that his dad likes to yell at steers.  When Jed ropes he always yells, "HEY HEY HEY!" or "HEY STEER HEY STEER" as the header ropes and he hazes.  Dallin thought it was the funniest thing ever.  So he started yelling at the steers too.  When we ask him: "What does daddy say when he ropes?" Dallin will say, "HEY HEY!"  It's pretty cute.

Week 2 and the kids are getting into their chore routines.  One of their chores each day is to do secret service to someone in the family.  I usually get a lot of notes and candy during the summers. :)  I'm also trying to get myself into a better routine about cooking and organizing a menu for the week.  I wish we could just not eat and plug ourselves into the wall to charge up like we do with our phones.  I've been making a lot of smoothies for them.  Dallin has become obsessed with them and will try to sneak the other kids' away when they aren't looking so he can drink them.  I caught him hiding around the corner with Kinsley's smoothie one night.  I'm sure Kinsley conviently wasn't paying attention as Dallin snuck it away.  I have to watch him or he will easily and quickly drink 1+qts of green smoothie in one sitting.

We finished up swimming lessons this week and the kids all did great.  Ava thinks she wants to try-out for the swim team next year.  Kasen passed his class and can advance into Ava's class which is getting ready for swim team.  Kinsley improved so much this year!  She is a little fish and loves diving to the bottom.  We also finally got a trampoline this week.  We have been procrastinating buying one for almost a whole year.  Due to the way the trampoline pit was made we had to get a custom trampoline with each leg cut a different length and the only company that would do that sells their trampolines for a lot!  So it took a lot to commit to buying, but the kids have been having a blast on it and Dallin loves it so much.  Plus Jed didn't have to put it together so there was that positive part.

Thursday night Jed and Kasen left to go to a roping in Reno.  They went last year and so now Kasen thinks it is a yearly tradition and calls it "Boys Weekend."  The roping is over 6 hrs away and Jed said that Kasen travels like I do! haha Jason and Will go too so it is fun.  Kasen and Will rope the dummy all day and get to hang out with their dads, and Jed/Jason get to rope so win win.  The only bad thing is that Jed hasn't actually won any money either year so I guess it's not technically a "win win" in that way, but other than that... This year Kasen brought me home a gift - a gross lizard.  Jed also brought home a heel-o-matic to practice on.  It hooks up to the 4wheeler and Ava will drive it around for him to rope.  The kids have even gotten on and tried roping it. He thinks we are all going to spend every second of free time roping and driving it around.  The kids have tried it out and said it is pretty fun.  It better be more fun than Disneyland for how much it cost. Sometimes I think roping might be the most expensive "hobby" out there...

Kinsley lost her first top tooth on Friday!  It was soooo wiggly and could stick straight out.  It was beyond ready to come out and bled about two drops of blood once we pulled it.  Now we call Kinsley "toothless".  She was pretty excited about it and thank goodness the Tooth Fairy actually remembered to come the same night the tooth came out.  Usually she's a few days behind schedule.

SUMMER WK 3 - This week started off with an interesting twist!  Sunday was Father's Day and we were all ready to celebrate Jed.  Tresa and I had made plans for a yummy steak dinner after our meetings.  But that morning as we were getting ready for church Kinsley was complaining about her head hurting.  We thought she was just tired and grumpy but sure enough we walked into sacrament meeting and right immediately after we sit down she projectile vomits everywhere!  Jed had dropped us off at the door because it was pouring rain outside so he wasn't in yet.  So I'm trying to get Kinsley out to the bathroom and she is covered in vomit and I'm covered in vomit and there is throw-up all over the floor and chairs (luckily we were in the very back of the gym on plastic chairs)  Kinsley threw up a few more times in the bathroom so in between that I'm racing in and out trying to mop up the puddle of puke.  Finally Jed comes in and was able to help clean it up (if you ask him to tell the story he did all the cleaning of course).  So I brought Kinsley and Dallin home and we spent the rest of the day home.  We had done k-bobs the night before and were planning a big meal with Tresa so I didn't have much groceries so the worst part of the day is there wasn't anything to yummy to eat.  I think we had cereal for dinner. So probably not the Father's day Jed was anticipating!  The kids had made him cards and so hopefully he still felt loved.  Kinsley was especially proud of her card - Jed fighting Super Duck.

The week just kept getting better!  We had decided we would go to the Incredibles 2 later that week to celebrate Father's Day.  The kids were so excited about it.  Jed's office was having a company picnic that afternoon so we had decided we would just go after that.  We were only about 20 minutes into the picnic when Roman brings out this fabric circle band that he called the "slingshot".  Four people get in it and then stretch it back and two people across from each other run and switch sides - in effect the tension release on the band "slingshots" them across and makes people fly across to the other side without much effort.  At the last picnic he brought this out and an MA got hurt so I was surprised he was doing it again.  Sure enough within 30 seconds they slingshot their front desk lady and she went flying and broke her collarbone.  I had just taken this picture below of Kinsley with another little girl because they had matching pants on when I heard a commotion.  So that brought the picnic to a screeching halt and Jed and Roman went tearing off to take her to the office and do some xrays. (The other picture is just Dallin playing in our yard covered in buttercups.)

We waited and waited forever for Jed at the theater.  He had told us he still wanted to go and he would meet us there.  But we missed the first movie and then the second waiting for him.  Dallin was just crazy at this point so finally Jed came and said he would just take Dallin home.  They went home and watched the first Incredibles movie and Jed said Dallin lasted about 15 minutes and then he was done, so it would have probably been a disaster with him in the theater anyway.  The other three and I loved the movie.  I felt bad once again Jed still got the raw end of the deal!

One of the most anticipated and exciting events of the summer was this week - Ava's Science Camp.  She had been planning this camp for over a month and had done it all on her own.  It's one of my most favorite qualities of Ava.  She is such an industrious girl.  She is also very capable and independent.  When she starts a project I know she will finish it and I won't have to usually help at all. :)  So she had organized 4 days of science camp from 10-12:30 each day.  She had organized each day to correlate with a different branch of science so Day 1 was botany, day 2 was meteorology, day 3 was zoology, and day 4 was chemistry.  She had researched activities for each day, crafts, a scientist to study, etc.  There were some words on her flier I didn't even the meanings of!

At the last minute the weather shifted and Monday was going to be a rainy day so she decided to switch that day to Meteorology.  She started each day with a quick 5 minute lesson and some handouts they could tape into their science journal.  On meteorology day they learned about clouds and went outside to observe.  They made tornadoes in jars (above.)  She also taught them how to make an anemometer (device used to measure wind speed) and they made different types of clouds with cotton balls.  She had them bring lunches each day and then there was time to play and run around in the yard.

Tuesday was botany.  I personally thought this was one of the most fun days.  We have a great space for studying botany.  They made plant houses out of sponges and seeds they could continue to grow at home. (Think chia pet)  They also had a plant scavenger hunt which was fun to watch.  Lastly, Ava took them around the yard and pointed out different leaves and flowers.  Anything they liked they could pick a sample of and then tape it into their science journal. 

As a side note, total Ava had about 25 kids sign up to come.  Because our stake was having trek that same week though not all the kids could come everyday, so some days she had less and some days she had more.  Of course Kinsley and Kasen were there and so Dallin thought he was supposed to be too.  He did pretty good most days tagging along.  Sometimes he just observed from the garage with a bottle of milk. :)  Just as Ava had organized and planned everything, she also made a list of all the supplies she would need and went shopping and bought it all.  All of her expenses came out of her income.  I realized it was a great way to teach her some budgeting lessons as we were mid-way through it.  After the week was over I took her to return her unused items.  Overall she made just over $200, and she realized some important things.  For instance her supplies cost about $70 so if she does it again, she might pick different activities that don't require so many things.  She also decided that she needed to raise her admission price up a bit!

Day 3 was zoology.  To start off this day she brought out Darwin and let the kids play with him a little bit.  Then they made their favorite animal out of clay and also got to paint it .  She walked the kids around the yard looking for different animals and tried to find animals from all the animal groups - reptile, amphibian, bird, mammal, etc.  She explained the difference between invertebrates and vertebrates and they looked for some bugs.  They went frog hunting and got to see WJ.  Ava also taught them how to play animal tag - a game she made up with Kasen and Kinsley about 3 years ago.  It is basically tag but some kids are prey and some are predators.  Ava was really excited about this day, but she didn't feel like it went as good as other days. 

The last day was chemistry and everyone was really excited for this day because they knew they would be making slime.  Ava showed them the periodic table and most of the day was spent mixing different things together making different potions and such to see if their would be any sort of reaction.  This was the only day I had to help out the whole time.  There was a lot of measuring and pouring and instructions.  Ava started off with the classic volcano eruptions in plastic bottles.

Then everyone got divided up into groups to mix different combinations of things in muffin tins.  They also made something called goop - it looks solid but when you pick it up it turns into a liquid. 

The big highlight was everyone got to make their own slime.  Ava took a poll at the end of this day and it was unanimous that the kids' favorite day was chemistry.  The camp was for 7-9 yr olds so I guess that would make sense.  There next favorite day was a tie between botany and meteorology and then zoology the last.  It was so great that Ava was able to do this and share her passion for science with others.  She said she was exhausted by day four and had no idea how teachers do it! haha  Initially as she was planning this camp she wanted to plan one week each month during the summer for science camp.  But after this one she said she felt like one summer camp a summer was enough. :)  She did such a great job and lots of emails from parents saying how much their kid loved science camp so that was awesome!  Our Ava is a pretty amazing kid alright.

Our stake had trek this year and Jed was asked to be part of the Posse that rode into camp.  I was going to go ride up with him, but then we sold our horse Chex so we only had one horse.  Jed said it was really pretty and a great experience.  He wouldn't take a picture, but shared these with me of other members of the group.  The next time our stake does trek both Ava and Kasen will be able to go which will be awesome.  The next day, Sunday, they invited youth that went to share their testimonies during sacrament meeting and the spirit was so strong.  Trek seems to be just an amazing experience and testimony builder for youth.

The last big event of a really full week was our 1st Annual Boise Foster Reunion.  I had talked everyone into coming here for two reasons.  There are so many fun things to do in Boise and also I thought it would be fun to host something at our house so my family would actually come see it!  We've been here almost a year in our new house and no one in my family has been over besides my parents (1 time.)  My Uncle Jed and Aunt Patricia always mentioned the "Boise Curse" growing up but I didn't think anything of it.  Now I know it's actually real - no one ever comes to Boise to visit!  Malorie and her boys came up on Friday afternoon but everyone else got here on Saturday.  I had tried to commit people to like a Thursday night - Saturday type of thing but I got about 24 hours out of them so I'll still call it a success. :)  Obviously Katie and Josh didn't come, but my other 3 sisters came with their kids (no husbands though) and my parents.  At least all the cousins were together!  I had planned some fun excursions, but after I found out everyone was there for such a short time we just hung out at our house which was great for the kids.  The weather was great and it was wonderful to see the yard filled with little giggling children.

These are two of my favorite pictures from the reunion.  Kinsley and Raleigh together and Kasen teaching his younger cousins how to shoot a bow and arrow.  Kasen is always so nice to his younger cousins and they all think he is so cool.

June 25th (Sunday) was also my mom's 60th birthday so Abby beforehand had gathered information and pictures from all of us siblings and made a book called "60 Reasons Why We Love You".  It turned out so cute.  Malorie spent some time in the kitchen with her great newfound baking skills and made two delicious birthday cakes we enjoyed.  There was also a lot of sitting around chatting, jumping on the trampoline, hide and seek, playing war with all of Kasen's weapons...

We tried some badminton, t-ball, tag, and at one point my dad was teaching the Haka dance in the baseball field...

Ava showed off her driving skills by providing razer rides and there were a lot of opportunities for animal encounters.  Sydnee brought their brand new puppy Coco and Jed gave some riding lessons.  Even my mom and dad took their turns on the horse.

Dallin had a blast with his cousins.  He loves doing whatever the bigger kids are doing.  He loves a big group of fun - definitely a youngest child.  It is fun to watch him play with everybody.  It only took him a few times being told, but then after that he remembered all his cousins names.  Dallin actually has a great memory.  He is always excited to see Jaxon.

There was even some time for reflection - haha.  We didn't do much, but it was fun for everyone to be together.  Sunday we went to church and then had a nice dinner.  Jordan had showed up Saturday evening and surprised us - he had gotten rained out farming so he decided to come over.  Sunday after lunch we had another surprise when Austin showed up.  Maybe next year they will all just come at the same time. lol  One of the funnest things of all was my sisters and I staying up until 3 am talking, laughing, and reminiscing about our childhood.  We had laughed so hard - it was so fun.  I have great siblings and it is so fun to watch my little sisters be moms.  They all have great kids and are doing a great job as mothers and wives.  I'm hoping we can make this an annual event.  I do think Boise is such a cool place and wished more of our families were a little bit closer.  But we will take them when they can come and we were glad people made the effort to come celebrate our Foster family and my mom's birthday!

SUMMER WK 4 -  Wow! I am honestly shocked that this is already the last week of June.  When my kids were little it felt like time went so slow and I was wishing it would go faster and now I just want time to slow down and it keeps going faster and faster. The first big event of this week was dropping Ava off for girls camp!  This was her first girls camp ever.  She was pretty nervous and a little disappointed that everything had changed and she wouldn't be able to do all the girls camp certification like they used to.  She asked her dad to give her a blessing Sunday night and that made her feel a lot better.  We have about 75 young women in our ward - I'm not sure how many ended up going to girls camp - but there was a big crowd gathered Monday morning!  They got Ava all loaded up and then they were off!  The girls weren't allowed to bring any electronics even on the drive there (camp was in Oakley, ID) so we had no contact with Ava at all for 3 days.  It was pretty weird actually.  It was a little glimpse into what sending your kid off on a mission would feel like.  You are so excited for them and know they will have great opportunities and are in the right place - but you really constantly wonder how they are doing and if they are happy, ok, healthy, struggling, lonely, etc.  Missions will not be easy for me! :(  The girls got back Wednesday night.  Ava used a leader's phone to call me when they were about 10 minutes away from the church and she was giggling so hard I could barely understand her.  I heard "10 min away", "funnest car ride", "Sicily peed her pants."  It was fun hearing about all the things they did.  I took a picture of the girls in her car that she had so much fun with.

While Ava was away we stayed busy recouping from our fun family reunion.  We had lots of laundry and cleaning to do.  We slept in everyday too to catch up on our sleep from those late nights.  Somehow every morning I got kicked out of my bed though!  Tuesday was so hot!  It was 92 degrees so the kids played in the sprinklers.  Tuesday night we had family hang out time on the trampoline where Kasen, Kinsley, and especially Dallin wanted to wrestle their dad.  Then we all got in the hot tub.  It is so nice to have a space outside to go and in the evenings our yard is so nice and shady.  It has been really peaceful and good for the soul to be outside so much again.

The last few days of June were spent hanging out.  The kids have spent so much time on the trampoline.  Dallin has learned to jump and they play so many games on it.  I don't ever worry about Dallin getting on and off.  Most nights we all end up out there on it at some point (even Jed and I.) Even though it was so pricey, I'm so glad we bought it for summer. 

A few funny things to remember about Dallin this month.  He is obsessed with Kasen's basketball card collection.  If he can get his hands on it he will go back and forth through the pages for hours.  We can point to a card and he will say what the player is doing (dribble, shoot, triple threat).  Kasen has been so nice about letting Dallin look through them and also so patient because Dallin usually rearranges all the cards when he is looking.  It is so funny to me how obsessed he is about basketball. 

Kasen learned the art of wall climbing this month.  I found a note in one of Kasen's notebooks about why he had that particular notebook.  My kids have so many notebooks - one for drawing, one for sketching, one for leaf collecting, one for secret codes, etc.  I liked that Kasen now has a dream notebook too.  He usually has a notebook wherever he goes and I will often find him using it outside.

The very last day of the month our ward had an adult only bike ride down along the Boise greenbelt which ended in downtown to get ice cream.  Then we rode back.  It was about 3 miles each way.  Jed surprised me a few days earlier with two brand new mountain bikes for he and I.  I have been wanting a new bike for awhile and I was so excited.  We had a great time getting to know more people from the ward and biking down was so fun too.  We got ice cream at a place called the Stil which stood for the Sweetest Things In Life.  This was a fun activity we definitely want to do again.