Summertime!

Since we are not going to to Montana for summer vacation this year, we decided to do lots of fun things in our neck of the woods - things that we don't normally do because we're out west. So, the next few posts are going to be about the new and exciting things we're doing this summer.

The first thing we did in June was go to Pittsburgh to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. It's a wonderful museum and we had a great time. We especially loved the dinosaurs and the animals of North America. Then we walked down the street to a dive called The "O". It's a hot dog and french fry joint that's been featured on TV. We enjoyed an enormous helping of double-fried fries and their famous dogs.

It's about and hour and a half from our house and on the way home there was a wreck on the turnpike and we had to go about 20 miles an hour FOREVER. So it took us twice as long to get home, but we had a great time together and it was a fun way to start out our summer vacation.

Homecoming!

Our highlight of May was that Seth came home from his mission in Brazil. It was such a wonderful and long-awaited day! Steve and I took the day off from work, we took the kids out of school and we all went to the Pittsburgh Airport to pick him up. The kids had made posters for him and we went down to baggage claim to wait for him to come down one of the two escalators. There are two escalators about 50 yards apart and groups of people would come down one and then the other. We were pretty early because we didn't want to take a chance on missing him and we wanted to be right at the bottom when he came down the escalator. So we would watch one group of people coming down, then we would all run to the other escalator to watch the next group coming down. I don't even remember how many times we did that but we must've looked like such goofballs because people started to giggle at us. But we didn't care. We were so excited! And we had Brooke on the cell phone, too. There were so many guys with dark suits on and we were just watching for that nametag. Finally, there he was!! It was so wonderful! He looked a pretty tired and a little skinny to us, but what can you expect after walking around Brazil for two years!

Anyway, we are so happy to have Seth back. He was only home for two weeks and then went right out to school to take a couple classes. He got another homecoming at the Salt Lake airport with Brooke and they are happy to be at school together. Seth is especially happy that Brooke always has good food in stock and that she and her roommates are great cooks!

So, needless to say, I'm one happy mama!!

4 nights on Broadway!

Well, it felt like four nights on Broadway, anyway. The highlight of April was our school's musical, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Our four kids were in this production and it was AWESOME! Our school does a musical every year and our kids are usually a part of it. It's always so good and we always say, "that was the best yet", but this one was especially great. It's such a fun and upbeat musical with a great story and terrific music. We just left it feeling so happy after every performance. And another super neat part of it all was that Brooke flew home for it and brought Grandma Adele AND Great Grandma Taylor from Montana. It was the first time Grandma Taylor had ever been out here to see us and it was just priceless. We enjoyed their visit so much!

As for the musical, Kelsey was one of three narrators (and their harmonies gave us goosebumps), Jacob was Asher and Gideon and Savanna were part of The Children's Chorus. They all just loved it and had such a great time. For a small school, it's amazing how much musical talent we have and what our wonderful chorus director gets out of these kids. We were all so sad to see it come to a close and to have our sweet visit end, but what wonderful memories we have!

Summer's here!

So, we're finally out of school for the summer and loving it! Except for the fact that things haven't slowed down yet as much as I'd like them to. My blog is one of the things I wanted to catch up on so this is just a brief synopsis of what's going on at the moment.

Savanna just finished her softball season and Gideon is playing for the Little League Championship tomorrow night. Right now they are also both going to a daily basketball camp in the mornings. Kelsey is doing basketball and volleyball open gyms, basketball camps and getting ready for Girl's Camp next week. She was put in charge of the music at camp so she got a guitar, created a new camp songbook and is teaching herself to play the the guitar - in a month. Her musical ability is something else! Jacob is crazy for basketball and spends as much time as possible at the gym, weight room and anywhere that it's being played. So, that means lots of running back and forth for Mom.

Seth returned home from his mission last month, stayed for two whole weeks and is already out west with Brooke going to school. I will blog about that soon, but it is wonderful to have him home. Brooke is doing great and having so much fun at college. She loves having her brother out there with her!

We have decided not to go to Montana this year for vacation. Instead, we are going to explore the area around us and do things that we don't ever have a chance to do since we always go out west. I hope to blog about our adventures. We are excited to do lots of neat things together!

Missionary update...

I know it's been a while, but I felt the urge to post tonight. I was reading everyone else's blogs, loving them and just felt like sharing.

Something that is on our minds right now is the fact that Seth is going to be finishing up his mission next month and will be coming home. It is just unbelievable to me that two years have gone by already! Seth has been a great missionary and we are so happy for him and what the Lord has helped him accomplish. In these times of turmoil and unrest in all of the world, what a great blessing it is to have an opportunity like he's had to serve others and be a part of a great, positive and uplifting work.