Summer Wrap-Up

 Time with Turtle Lady at the library.

Turtle Lady brought lizards too!

A storm with such powerful winds that it flipped our neighbors trampoline over our fence, 

then on top of our tramp and then off to the other side of our yard!

Trees were down all over the place and most of the

 electricity was down throughout the city.

Aspen learned to ride her bike within about 15 minutes total!

Smores on the BBQ.

Summer goal charts...we were a bit ambitious and learned that our expectations were way over the top, next time we will keep it a little more simple.

Swimming at the pool with friends.

I read this great book that every woman should read!

Reese got her first official hair cut. 

Her non-official ones took place at home with Mommy a couple of time before this one.

A trip to the ZOO.

 

Fun with friends.

A performance at a city festival.

Top appliance removal!

Sack lunch with Mom at Lifetime after class.

Naked backyard rides.

What a fun, crazy, at times quite challenging, rainy, sunny summer!

Visitors

A few weeks back my cousin Austin and his wife Jen visited us for an overnight stay.

Austin just started medical school in Cleveland and we are thrilled that they will be 

coming to Columbus with some frequency because the closest temple to them is here.

 

Jen and Austin are filled with joy and light. 

We loved spending time with them and reminiscing late into the night about our journey through medical school/residency and about their upcoming one.

Two years back when we attended the big Woolley family reunion the girls naturally 

gravitated towards the happy playful couple. 

When Austin was a baby I naturally gravitated towards holding him at all family functions...

just as I did with each of his siblings during their infancy and the rest of the baby cousins.

We had to give the girls a reminder that Austin and Jen

 can't run and play games during every moment of their entire visit.

We look forward to more visits in the future!

 

 *******

 The following weekend (Labor Day weekend)

 we had another very special visitor...Nikki!!

At one point our relationship consisted of me singing Nikki bedtime songs and creating princes crown barades in her hair for school...fast forward to today and Nikki is a delightful, articulate, brilliant, responsible, caring grown up.

Nikki is currently finishing her final year of university at Chapman in California, 

completing her bachelors degree in only three years!!

Throughout the years we have enjoyed the opportunity 

to have Nikki come visit. She is an important part of our lives.

During this visit we had fun going to the  

movies, swimming pool and roller skating.

We are thankful that she worked hard at her summer jobs 

which made it possible for her to fly our way!

Back to School

The girls are back to school!

Brinley is in 5th Grade and Mrs. A is her teacher.

 

Avery is in 2nd grade and Mr. A is her teacher.

Reese wishes that she were in school and insisted on being in this picture.

 

Aspen is in year THREE of preschool and will be good 

and ready for kindergarten next year.

 We take her friend Lucy to school and Lucy's Mom picks up Aspen after school.

 

Witsy

I forgot to add this jem of a photo to the Utah posts.

Here is little miss Rella with her ever dear pet pal rat Witsy.

It was so cute to watch as Rella mothered her little rat.  

It brought me back to the good 'ole days when Kelty would spend hours nurturing her childhood rats.

Pot Stickers

The day after we arrived home from Utah  

we were invited over to our neighbors house 

to learn how to make pot stickers.

Our neighbors own the best Chinese restaurant we have ever tried. 

When we take visitors from out of town to their restaurant they likewise  

agree that the food it pretty incredible!  

They also have another sushi only restaurant which we have yet to try.

Below is a picture of the herbs they grow in their backyard to use at the restaurants. They pick them in the morning before heading into work.

 

It was so fun to cook with Christina and learn more about her 

experiences growing up in China.

 

Although there is a language barrier, 

we have really enjoyed getting to know this family better.

It broke my heart to hear that the Chinese government still seeks out pregnant women who are expecting baby #2 and forces abortion.

In fact, Christina's husband's mother went into hiding after she became pregnant with baby number two. When she was just a few weeks away from having the baby she was discovered and forced to go to a medical facility 

 where they "gave her medicine and killed the baby." It was horrifying to learn about this tragedy and sad to hear from her that this is commonplace.

Of course the pot stickers were quite delicious and the 

girls downed an embarrassing quantity. 

A few days later Christina brought over a new pot sticker steamer and the wraps for us, which was so sweet of her...and now I better get my Chinese cooking on! 

We survived!

On the evening prior to our flight home I stopped at the grocery to pick up a few food items for our long day of travel. 

I inwardly protest fast food in general, and especially expensive airport fast food!

As I walked out of the grocery this was the scene unfolding before me. I looked around at all the people getting in and out of cars not taking a second glance at the natural beauty which envelopes my hometown. As I took a moment to soak in the view I thought about how I failed to fully appreciate the natural wonders I grew up around.

 

The next morning I was up at 3am to get out the door by 4am 

with the kids...ALONE.

We woke up Grandma to say goodbye and then 

headed off to SLC, rental car full with kids and luggage, 

to embark on a day of pure joy.

 

The big girls did quite alright on both flights, but Reese was another story. 

It was essential that I devote each minute of each flight and layover to minimizing tantrums and maximizing smiles rather than screams. 

Let me tell you how fast a 3.5 hour flight can feel like a 12 hour flight...real fast, especially when it's flight one of two.

After walking off that last flight and gathering all of our luggage with four cranky, 

tired children in tow, 

I felt like a mother-warrior! 

I snapped the above picture of Reese exactly 3 minutes into our drive home from the airport. 

Of course she saved up the slumber moments for the drive, 

certainly not wanting to waste those on the plane!

All in all it was much more do-able than our four day drive across the country last year...

I kept reminding myself of that!

The Provo Wrap-Up

Kelty and Duane provided this gigantic tent for the kids, and a lucky adult, to sleep in at night.

This "camping like" experience was top notch, 

especially for the Young children whom have yet to EVER camp!

There were a few precious fleeting moments for adult conversation, 

which we thoroughly enjoyed!

 

We spent one evening at a beautiful park near my Mom's, 

we call it the "bowl" park. 

We grew up playing there in the summers and sledding there in the winters.

Aunts and Uncles are much more exciting and playful than parents!

 

One night after dinner was devoted to a family talent show.  

Little miss Audrey captured our hearts and stole the show with her ever so elegant and sophisticated ballet performance.

 

We met up with family members for a  

morning hike up Rock Canyon. 

It was fun to see Jennifer and her son who just moved back to the U.S.A. from Greece.

 We were fortunate to also have Emily, who lived with our family at one point in time,

 and her children along with us on the hike.

Sleeping was certainly not the only event that took place in the tent, there was also much daytime play in there as well, including a pillow fight between Audrey and Aspen.

 

Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles.

 

Grandma put together a wonderful  

Family Home Evening night all about family history.

The lesson was complete with enlarged pictures and  

stories about our ancestors to go along with each photo.

At the end there was a quiz, which was an indicator that the 

children were very much paying attention to the lesson!

Beading was a popular craft at Grandma's and  

we came home with a variety of colorful hand-beaded jewelry.

 

One afternoon Avery and Aspen came up with their own production.  

Alas, after much practicing they put on quite the show. 

Reese was excited to imitate her big sisters one the show ended.

 

Rock painting...yet another engaging craft for all ages!

 

 This outside table in the shade was host to many artistic endeavors!

We were reunited with our dear friend Bonnie 

who joined us for an afternoon and evening before we left.  

We love her dearly and consider her a part of the family!

We packed quite a bit into these few important days with family. 

We certainly appreciated Grandma's delicious meals, countless crafts and swimming pools,

 which made these days full of fun.

 We are all so thankful to the Lewis clan, who flew from England 

 to be there with us. Now that is devotion!!!

Birthday X2

On August 7th Kelty planned a sweet celebration for Duane's birthday.

We played pin the apple on the mac and a true or false game 

with questions from Duane's life.

Kelty found a panda pinata, which is the mascot at Duane's work, 

and the kids loved smashing it to smithereens.

Two days later was Kelty's 30th Birthday. While Arian took Kelty on a birthday lunch date 

(Pic. above=Kelty's gives the best neck, foot, back rubs and Arian makes sure to never miss out on this opportunity), 

the rest of us rushed into action carrying out the 

previously planned 30th surprise birthday celebration.

While Cody and I picked up 30 helium balloons, Jill brought out all of the packed card supplies and the kids each made a personalized birthday card.

Grandma had 30 pictures scanned and enlarged, one for each year of Kelty's life.

We tied each picture to the bottom of each balloon.

Kelty was completely caught off guard as she walked through the door to the tune of exploding streamer guns.
 She had NO clue what we had been up to. It was quite the surprise!

Aunt Jill created a crossword puzzle with clues from 

Kelty's life to assist in filling out the game sheet and we played yet another fun game of 

"pin the walker on the granny."

It was so fun to celebrate these birthday's all together!