This is going to be, HANDS DOWN, the longest letter of all. And the funny thing is, this is the week where NO ONE WAS HOME. If there were a few kids home at a time, they went to play with friends, and the house was SO EMPTY AND QUIET. But the pictures will probably fill up at least 7 emails. =)
Ok, Monday, Jeff, Miranda & Derek drove Carlie & Morgan to EFY. They stopped at the grocers for munchers. Very important.
They checked in & went to lunch at Arby's. =)
Then took them to their luxurious quarters in Helaman,
Installed them on campus, and drove home through Provo Canyon to admire the gorgeous view... without a picture. I know. I'm confused, too. =)
This is what I mean by no one being home... While that part of my family was gone, Connor got invited to go swimming & playing in the neighborhood,
And H&K ran around finding friends to play with. I found myself alone a lot this week - lots of laundry & cleaning was accomplished. =)
That night during FHE, the kids were charading The Good Samaritan, and couldn't pick up the injured man to get him to the inn:
So the village strong man came and hefted him into town over his shoulder. In the scriptures they just used the donkey as a kind of analogous creature that people could understand better.
Tuesday, Halle & Kierste had their horseback lessons,
Then packed their bags (let's be real: they carefully packed them the day before in excitement) and went to Katie's house in Logan to hang out with their cousins for a few days. They were beyond excited.
Miranda straightened her long hair for the last time,
Stopped by campus with me to drop off some things Carlie forgot (this is Miranda's face when Carlie told her she wasn't meeting us at the Wilk anymore... it was that moment, like, if I was my normal healed self, I could trek down to Helaman and chase you down, but that's not how it's going to work today). It's the only picture we got of us being on campus, even though we ran into MORGAN and a gaggle of GIRLS as we made our way to the bookstore. Oh my gosh it defined the week for him. Haha!!!
Then we went up the canyon to take some long hair pictures to capture all this hard work!! Guess if this is why the letter is so long this week. =) These were taken on the nice cam, so only a couple will fit on each email.
The End.
I know, right?!?!?!
(Carlie's baes are on her left [#1 bae] and her right [#2 bae]. Hard to see. We'll visit this again.)
Connor was at his little ENGINEERING CLASS (right up his alley) at AF rec,
(Only Morgan's #2 bae is in this, so I don't even know why it's in the letter! jk)
HK are in Logan,
I had Miranda,
and Jeff went haircutting and eating out at TX Roadhouse.
That night (STILL TUES), we whitened Miranda's teeth.
Ok, Wednesday, Miranda made a donation for a good cause. She's the best. =)
SO CUTE!!!!!!!!! When they told us it would be $120 to do a color, we decided to shop around. =)
Meanwhile, the kids are having a blast. Morgan with Mariah (#1 cutey) on his left:
Carlie with her group. =)
H&K having a "fries & drinks" break on a hot day. =)
Still Wed, Connor finished another engineering class. They talk about a different field of engineering: mechanical, chemical, space, electrical, each day for a week.
So Thursday came, as it does. We went to try on some wigs. I loved how they looked on Miranda! Medium length:
That evening, Jeff checked Miranda for stitches because it was all itching where she had her port inserted:
And Morgan got into the top 4 in Paper, Rock, Scissors. He had a paparazzi sis snapping pics of the whole thing:
Their company was called "The Greatest of All." And they kind of ended up winning best everything. =)
Short:
Long:
And blonde:
Still Thursday, Halle & Kierste had another half day of relaxing at Katie's, and then came home to us. =)
Connor had his last class!! He liked it so much!!!
Saturday, these teenagers came home with their tales. Here's Carlie & her roomie:
Carlie & Morgan had a good day, too. It was formal day/ testimony day. They both have incredible stories of growth... what a great week for them.
Friday, we had the carpets cleaned... with this many pets, we should have it done more often, but I found this great deal, and I'm having him come once a year. Just the 2 main living areas, stairs & hallways. Don't feel like moving bedrooms out!!
And the baes. Morgan with Mariah (#1):
Aubrey (#2):
Carlie with Hunter (#1) on her left, and Adam (#2), ran up at the last second to bomb with them:
Miranda & I went for some pre-hospital mani/pedis:
Then we came home and had a girls' night while Derek & Connor played video games in the basement. We put on princess songs, braided hair,
Put on Peter Pan, did gel nails for the twins, and mud & charcoal masks.
Morgan was literally crying that he had to leave a certain someone. That's ok. We've all been there. First of all, I have to point out that while he was telling us about the week, Sterling came and sat on his lap. THAT NEVER HAPPENS. Except to Morgan, the pet whisperer. He doesn't even feed him... not fair.
Honestly, this is mostly what Saturday was about; listening to the tales, and marveling that they had such an amazingly uplifting & fun week. I had to get these of Morgan telling Miranda about you-know-who. He was so in love I didn't know if he'd make it through the day. Good news: She lives in Lindon.
Then, when Miranda left for her temple shift, all clean & beautiful, we loaded up and went to this park in Orem for a Father's Day BBQ for my side of the family. WHY didn't I take a picture of the pavilion with all of us eating together? What is wrong with me?!?!? But it was wonderful to celebrate with my dad & siblings.
Today we celebrated Father's Day with Winn. We gave him a Ring for their door. An interactive camera that texts you when someone's at your door, so no matter where you are, you can talk to them, give them instructions, call the police because they shouldn't be there, etc. =)
Ok, here are the clues in order. See what we need to change asap.
Ok, and this has to be shared. If it puts me into a 10th email to catch the memes, so be it.
We told Morgan we need to send this pic of him with (Keri's) Claire to Mariah, because chicks dig men holding babies.
We went home and gave Jeff his presents. He was so excited and fun about his drone. =) He is going to love it for High Adventure this week and Lake Powell later in the summer. Now to practice so it's not a super expensive trip...
We played some good old Telestrations. Here's while Halle is sharing hers on the Apple TV. You'll have to see the picture someone drew of you & Miranda kissing... it is quite amazing, and then, unfortunately, from that stunning picture, someone guessed that it was Jeff & I kissing. It was dumbfounding and humbling. We need to step up our game & make kissing look better.
Miranda's on the LEFT. You heard me.
Why would they guess this?!?!?!
And then WHY WOULD THEY DRAW THIS?!?!?!?!? Clearly we need to demonstrate more frequently.
I'm hoping I'm at least the wolf looking one on the left. Not the bald duck on the right. We are hot.
Yep, it's going to.
And memes!!!!
Some Father's Day:
Jeff:
And some more t-shirts.
Hey, Tuesday is the day again. If you're going to pick a day to say a prayer, that's the day. =) Miranda will stay overnight for her first treatment, and it's not going to be an easy one. She's so strong, though, and everyone is determined to make this as easy as possible. Her doctors are on hand to adjust any meds they need to, and Daddy will be watching over all of it, helping to advocate if anything needs changing. =)
This girl has so much faith and happiness inside her. She's still such a light to everyone. Today I got a text that a couple was moved, just by seeing her come into sacrament meeting so bright, happy, calm & peaceful. It is so fun to have her home and everyone wants to be around her. It's almost impossible for the kids to fight when she's around them... almost. =) She has brought so much peace and light into our home. I am so grateful to her, and also to Heavenly Father for bringing her home to us.
Have a great week. Can't wait to read how you're doing!!! Love, us
