Misha's 14!

This lovely young lady is 14. She is determined, beautiful, creative, and fun to be around. I love that she has interests so totally different than her sisters. Hard to believe that she will be in high school this fall.

For Christmas, Kristen gave Misha an eye-Pad (similar to the one in the picture below, but just one).  Kristen thought herself to be hilarious.  On Misha's birthday, Kristen had to put some finishing touches on her gift for Misha.  The "iPad 2" was part of the package.  We all laughed at her cleverness and humor.  Misha responded: "I'm feeling generous today.  Anyone want my iPad 2?"  That's what you get with a house full of girls!

I Don't Want a Sissy Car

I suggested to Amy that she ought to do some researching on the best "used" car for a new driver that we should consider.  I suggested that it would help her dad out and give her some valuable research skills and knowledge about what the best car might be.  I suggested that she check Consumer Reports Annual Car Issue and look at value, price, reliability, and ratings.

So, this is a text conversation that she had with her dad (he was in London):

A:  http://www.cargurus.com/Cars/l-Used-Chevrolet-Camaro-d606#listing=113744369

    http://www.cargurus.com/Cars/inventorylisting/viewDetailsFilterViewInventoryListing.action?sourceContext=&newSearchFromOverviewPage=true&inventorySearchWidgetType=AUTO&entitySelectingHelper.selectedEntity=d606&entitySelectingHelper.selectedEntity2=&zip=80504&distance=MILES_100&searchChanged=true&colors=Black&maxPrice=20000&maxMileage=57000&modelChanged=false&filtersModified=true&sortType=PRICE&sortDirection=ASC#listing=114388753_isFeatured

    this one is  manual

C:  U r crazy

A:  no I’m not

    its even a manual

    and not many miles

C:  U r crazy

A: nooooooo

    i want this car

C:  You just made my point

A:  how? its a good car

C:  It's not practical. And it's way too much power for a little girl.

A:  practical?

    its a car

C:  With two seats!

    And high insurance

A:  but i want this car

C:  And I want a pony

A:  no you don’t

    i just don’t want a sissy car

    with no power at all...

C:  A sissy car will keep you alive

    How about we buy a turbo smart car?

A:  NO

C:  Want to guess how much say you have?

    Rhymes with shear-o

A:  its gonna be the kids car so we should have some say

C:  You can say when we turn on the heater

A:  dad

    what kind of car are you thinking of then

    i don’t want something that has no power

    what if the acura became the kids car and you got a new one

C:  https://www.google.com/search?q=clown+car&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari#imgrc=8hG1zJdcxaAUIM%3A

A:  rude

C:   that's a great idea. I've always wanted to have a high powered camaro

A:  it is

    http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/cars/models/used/honda/civic/overview.htm

C:  You like civic?

    Can you find pros and cons for civic corolla and Sentra?

    And Mazda 3. If you want to learn how to research I'll help you. It's a good lesson. But no camaro

A:  ok

    i just wanna drive a camaro once

Personal Progress Value Experience

Amy has been working on finishing her Personal Progress requirements this summer.  She has a Value Experience and a Value Project left to complete and then she is finished.  Personal Progress is similar to the Duty to God program for young men.  I am really liking the Value Experience that she left until the last.  She had to prepare a menu for two weeks worth of meals, plan the groceries, shop, and prepare the meals.  She is a good cook, but I think this has been a great experience in creating balanced meals, planning ahead, and following through.

Some of the meals we have had are crepes, hamburgers, white bean chicken chili, grilled fish, grilled beef quesadillas, and chicken salad sandwiches.

Initials

I think it is kind of cool that our family has initials that are often used in magazines and displays...or maybe we are just the loser leftover initials that no one wants to buy!  I happened upon these displays in the store the other day.

Arnie the Cat

Arnie is usually a cat that doesn't take too kindly to grandkids who want to pet, play, or pick him up.  For some reason, he tolerates Kristen, maybe even likes her since he has been known to sleep on her bed when she visits Grandma.

Yep, he looks thrilled alright.

A Temple Date

Chris and I had the opportunity to take Amy and Misha with us to the temple on Friday evening.  Like Kevin commented, "Awesome on so many levels."  It was awesome.  We didn't realize it was the last day before the temple closed for summer cleaning for two weeks, so we missed our session.  We went to a sealing session instead while the girls were able to do baptisms. 

Both Chris and I commented to each other, 'How amazing is it that we are in the right place, at the right time, with our daughters."  We were so grateful to share the temple with them and hope to make it happen more often.  So grateful for the wisdom in creating open baptismal session times for youth to attend.

Being Homesick Sucks!

Kristen has been visiting her grandma Ball for a week and a half now.  They have been having lots of fun together--swimming, boating, kayaking, going to the zoo, playing at Bullwinkles for five hours!  For the first couple of days during her visit, it was non-stop cousins and fun and go, go, go.  And the kids had a great time together.  I called a couple of times to say hello and Kristen was always out busy running around and having fun.  Kristen even prepared a scavenger hunt and set up teams before leaving for her visit.  (She has a little bit of her dad and grandma in her.)

Cousin Twins

So when everyone left and it was just Kristen and Grandma and Grandpa, she remembered that she was far away from home and well, yeah, she missed her family.  It was a good quiet, but then again it was quiet.

I think it was early Monday morning that I heard Christopher's phone ringing.  I had been sleeping and groggily peeked out of one eye to see the clock gleaming 12:43.  And for some reason Chris' phone was ringing.  I might normally have ignored it and gone back to sleep, but someone whispered, "Get up."

I hurried downstairs, but by the time I reached the phone, it stopped.  It was Kristen.  She was trying to Facetime her dad.  I started to text her, "Kristen it is late here..." when my phone started to ring.  I hurried to the office and slid the bar to answer Kristen's Facetime call.  And she was crying.  Oh my poor, sweet girl.  "What's wrong?"  She was homesick.  I was just so grateful that I had listened to the whisperings of a voice that knew she just needed to hear from her mom.

She and Grandma had planned to sleep in the tent on the deck.  Kristen had been out on the deck waiting for Grandma to come out and she just got scared and lonely.  She had been trying to Facetime with Chris, with me, with Amy, and with Misha, just please anyone that would answer.

We talked for about twenty minutes.  She went to find Grandma and let her know that she was having a hard time.  Grandma came in, tucked Kristen in to the bed in the house, and promised to come back and check on Kristen after a couple of minutes when Kristen had hopefully fallen asleep.

I sang to Kristen, listened to see if her breathing lengthened, I hummed, and finally Grandma whispered to me that she was asleep.  I hung up from Facetime.  And from there the next couple of nights were full of a few more tears at nighttime.  Kristen would have a blast during the day, but when she had a chance to think about things, she realized that she was missing her family, her mom.

I started reading a book to Kristen, "Daniel and Nephi," and that seemed to help her settle down for bed. 

During the day, she and Grandma had been busy.  They went to the Aquarium with a new friend on Monday, swimming at the double decker dock, to Bullwinkle's with Aunt Lori and cousins for five hours where Kristen made bank (and I figure I should never have to take Kristen to Chuck E. Cheese's.  Ever.), hiking, boating, baking, fireworks.  So much fun stuff.

Except for the 4th of July, I have continued to read to Kristen every night.  Since she is an hour behind, sometimes I am up until 11:30 before she is home and settled into bed.  I am tired, but she is worth it.

I sent Kristen some packages via Amazon Prime.  Knowing something was coming for her made her a little more excited about what might be delivered, and they were fun crafts that would keep her busy when Grandma had cleaning and other stuff to do.

Kristen flies home on Wednesday.  Only three more sleeps and just in time for Misha's birthday!  I am excited to see her lovely little face.

4th of July

I was not impressed with the parade this year.  It was fairly lame.

Amy had to work in the morning, so after the parade was finished we made our way in to Longmont to pick her up.   We decided to stop at the park to listen to the Longmont Symphony.  Chris and Amy made a quick run to Chick-fil-A and Safeway to grab some food for us and we hung out in the shade listening to the music.  They played the 1812 Overture at the end of the concert using real cannons.  Amy and I watched as the cannon operators hurried between shots to get the cannon cleaned and reloaded.  They almost didn't make it for the final boom, they were hurrying as fast as possible, and the loader guy moved out of the way with maybe one second to spare.

We headed home after the concert and decided to make use of our beach.  It is still a work in progress, but within a week or so, it should be looking pretty great.  Not sure when we get sod, but that will make the biggest difference.

We kayaked, Amy and Chris swam, and Amy got to ride with our neighbors on their boat and float.  She was able to hang on the entire time.  Chris decided to set up our beach wifi, and that kind of took up the rest of his afternoon.  After awhile, Amy and I put everything away in the container and headed back to the house, so that we could make dinner.

We headed back down to our neighbor's beach for fireworks around 9:30 pm.  The South lake was putting on a fireworks show, and we had a great view as we climbed in to Batson's boat and watched from our lake.  As we returned to the house, we watched at least five other firework displays in the distance.

Home From EFY

Amy and Misha were able to spend a week at BYU attending EFY (Especially For Youth) and had a fabulous time, made great friends, and were spiritually uplifted.  It was a fabulous week.

They kicked it off by leaving Friday evening to stay with our family friend, Julie, aka Aunt Julie.  Misha's friend Lexie flew out with the girls and stayed with Julie for the weekend as well.  My girls love Julie.  Lexie wants to be adopted by Aunt Julie.  Julie totally spoiled them by taking them to Lagoon all day on Saturday, a picnic in the mountains on Sunday, and just being sweet and thoughtful and good to my girls.  Julie dropped the girls off at BYU on Monday morning and at the end of the week, picked them up early Saturday morning.

Check-in

We didn't hear too much from the girls throughout the week, usually some quick texts in the evening as they got ready for bed. They didn't have wifi in the dorms, so Amy relied on her phone and relayed messages to Misha.  They were having too much fun to spend time texting their parents--and that was how it was supposed to be.

Chris and I were home alone for a couple of days, or maybe I should restate, I was.  Chris still worked and had to be up in Ft. Collins most of the week.  We picked up the girls at the airport on Saturday afternoon and were met with hugs all around.

What you can't see is that I am on my tiptoes and both my girls are hunched down to hug me!

The Long Day at the Airport

Kristen was going to visit Grandma Ball for a couple of weeks.  My little peep vacillated between excitement to fear of flying by herself to homesick, sometimes within minutes.  She has flown home by herself before, but both times she has gone to visit Grandma, Chris flew out with her.  She was in Grandma's safe arms when she had to say goodbye to her dad.

Flying out to see Grandma by herself was a whole different story.

Chris was working in Ft. Collins for the day and wouldn't be able to come to the airport with us. Kristen and I stopped to get gas before leaving for the airport.  While at the gas station, I had the thought, "Do I need some kind of ID for Kristen, like a birth certificate or passport?"  I asked Kristen to text Chris while I filled up with gas.  We totally misinterpreted each other with Kristen reading the texts to me.  Chris said that maybe a birth certificate would be good and that I could find a copy of hers on Dropbox.  He meant that I could just show the electronic copy at the airport.  I thought he meant that I should have a paper copy to show.  We went home to make a copy.  That moment was our first strike in making us late.

We got to the airport, and I chose the wrong parking lot.  Strike two.  I had to exit and go around again to the garage.  Once in the garage, there was no parking to be found.  Literally none.  I finally found a lady leaving the airport and asked her where her car was so that I could follow her.  She wasn't too far.  I had to stop to watch for cross traffic and an old man turned in front of me.  Strike three.  The lady I was following told him that I was waiting for her spot.  He wouldn't budge.  I honked.  Kristen cried.  I honked.  He took my spot.  I said some not so nice stuff to him.  We found another parking spot, but by then I knew we were on the edge time wise.

We raced to check-in and the lady at the Southwest counter, Kandle, wouldn't let us even try for the flight at 3:45.  It was 3 pm.  The next flight was at 7:30 pm.  Ughhh.  So with calls to Chris and to his mom and then to his sister, we caught Grandma in time before she left on the ferry.  The last ferry returned to Grandma's home on Anderson Island around 7:30 pm, so there was no way Kristen was going to make that one.  If Linda (Grandma) came to get Kristen, she would either have to stay at a hotel with Kristen for the night or stay with her daughter Lori in Renton.  The other option was to have Lori pick Kristen up and keep her for the night.  What a mess, but we got it all fixed up so that Lori was on Kristen's ticket as one who could pick her up, and Lori graciously agreed to pick up Kristen at the airport.

Kristen was near tears and then so totally grateful that I would wait at the airport with her for so long.  So long became longer as her 7:30 flight was delayed until 7:55 and then 8:25.  We walked around the airport, checked out some of the shops, chatted with Amy and Misha at EFY, had dinner, and watched "Back to the Future" on my phone.  I hoped it would last as the battery depleted throughout the day.  Kristen had her iPod but her charger was in her suitcase, and I wanted her to keep it for the flight.

I had to laugh at Kristen as I sat looking at my phone.  She suddenly said, "Let's play the 'red car blue car game'."  I hadn't been paying close attention until I looked up when she said, "I choose blue."  Funny girl.

What a day.  She was finally able to board around 8 pm.  Rod, one of the Southwest employees, waited patiently as Kristen hugged me while crying and saying goodbye.  She finally took a deep breath and headed down the walkway to board.

I walked over to the window to check if her plane would have wifi.  Yes it did, and as I turned around, the gate agent looked at me and said, "She's coming back, Mom."  What?  The flight attendant walked back with her and said "She's got some time and would like to spend it with you."  So I held Kristen in my arms and prayed with her as she cried.  A cute girl waiting to pre-board came over to us and said, "I'm sure she'll be fine."  I smiled and thanked her.

Rod came back with this cute little stuffed dog and said, "Something tells me you'd like to fly with this."  So thoughtful.  The stuffie had a zipper down its tummy that turned it inside out to be a pillow.  The employees let Kristen stay with me until the last person boarded and then she walked away from me again, turning every 30 seconds to wave.  Ahh sweet girl, you are so brave.

I finally left after her plane was in the air.

Lori was at the airport early to check in to pick up Kristen. Again thank you.  They got back to her house around midnight our time.  Have fun with cousins and Grandma.

An Evening with Kristen

After dropping her sisters off at the airport, I surprised Kristen with dinner at Chili's and then a night at The Orchard (an outdoor shopping mall) where they have bands play throughout the summer on Friday evening.  She had been asking to go for a couple of weeks and was thrilled when I announced where we were going.

As we found parking and made our way to the bandstand, she shyly asked if I wanted to dance, thinking that my answer would be no.  We danced and my little girl was having the time of her life.  I was having fun as well.  I enjoy dancing, and she was a great partner.  You know there is just nothing that compares to slow dancing with your little one while they sigh with happiness and wrap their arms around you.  We danced, we sang, we had a blast.  And she got a pink balloon, what could be better?

To top it off, we stopped at TCBY for a little frozen yogurt on our way home.

Especially For Youth

Amy and Misha took off to SLC for Especially for Youth last Friday afternoon (June 19th).  They were going out a little earlier to spend the weekend with our friend Julie Stringer aka Aunt Julie.  Misha's friend, Lexi John, was also going with the girls and spending the week at EFY with them.

All of the girls had a blast with Julie.  Lexi wants to be adopted by Aunt Julie.  Julie picked them up from the airport on Friday evening, spent the whole day at Lagoon with the girls, took them to church on Sunday morning, drove up the canyon on Sunday afternoon for a picnic, and treated them to a royally fun weekend.

On Monday morning, Julie took time off from work to make sure the girls got checked-in at EFY (and will return early Saturday morning to get them again).  All of the girls had a fabulous time and would have been happy to come home after such a great weekend.  In fact, I think my two were a little home sick Monday evening.  Misha was especially sad because Lexi was in an entirely different EFY group and building.  They had wanted to be together.

From the reports I have had from Amy and Misha, they are having more fun as the week goes on.  Amy might wish that she were in the older (16-18) group but chose to be with Misha in the 14-15 yr old group.  Misha was pretty nervous to go and having Amy there made the experience a lot easier for Misha.  Thanks Amy!

Cooking Camp

My friend Chanel put together some fun cooking camps.  Kristen was excited that she would be able to attend the first one (she will be visiting Grandma and then in Canada for the next two).  All of the kids made cake pops and loved being creative.  Kristen made one of her cake pops for Chris for Father's Day. "You're the Best POP!"

Sewing Camp

Kristen was thrilled to participate in a three-day Sewing Camp with Marla B.  She had taken sewing classes before from Marla or "Grandma" and just loved the class and her.  This summer I signed her up again for the beginning class.  She was able to make a pillow case, a snap purse that was cleverly made with a tape measure, and a hobo purse.  Unfortunately, we won't be around for the next round of classes but Kristen would love to learn more.

Wicked

For Christmas last year, Misha was given two tickets to the musical Wicked.  (I thought it was this great surprise for her, but she happened to glimpse my iPad when I was buying the tickets a year ago.  Boo.  She had forgotten about the tickets by Christmas, which was a bit of a bonus, but still, Boo.)  Since Christopher was in Brazil, I was pretty much the obvious choice for her date.

I made dinner reservations at Osterio Marco.  I think next time she might just stick with The Cheesecake Factory.  Osterio Marco was pretty eclectic.  We chose to share a sausage, red pepper, and carmelized onion pizza with goat cheese.  It turned out to be rather tasty, but I know she was a little worried.  There weren't too many choices that either of us were excited about.

We had plenty of time for dinner and returning to the theater afterward.  We took a few pictures outside the theater and then jumped in a line for another picture with a huge Wicked mural featuring Galinda and Elpheba.  As Misha's turn came, she stood between Galinda and Elpheba.  The lady in line behind me remarked, "Oh, she is just stunning."  I agreed and thanked the lady.

We had fabulous seats.  We were in Orchestra section C row N smack in the middle of the theater.  This was my third time seeing Wicked in this theater, and I will say, the seats made the difference in picking up on facial expressions.  I listened to the family behind me who had never seen Wicked before as they made comments, "Oh, that is how he became the scarecrow," or big gasps when something tied in with the Wizard of Oz.  It was kind of fun to hear their excitement.

Merry Christmas Misha.

My Dad

Kristen and I were at the library on Tuesday afternoon (June 9th) with her friend Kayla.  We were watching Kayla for the day and needed some activities to keep the girls going.  As I sat reading a magazine around 2:30 pm, my brother, Brad, texted me that my dad had had a stroke.  What?

My parents were in Calgary.  My mom was having her second cataract removal surgery and this was the second time in a week that they had been in Calgary.  Previous to leaving for Calgary, my dad was laying low.  He has had a lot of heart challenges over the years and his heart had been out of rhythm since Saturday.  Both my parents were praying that it would return to normal before needing to leave for Calgary early early Tuesday morning.  Sometimes taking a cold shower helped to shock it back in to rhythm, and failing that, they usually had to make a trip to the ER to have it shocked with paddles.  Yeah, not a pleasant experience.  You can see why they were hoping it would just return to normal function on its own.  Apparently it did and they were up early for the trip to Calgary.

I don't know the entirety of the sequence of events, but when Brad texted me, the paramedics were with my dad and getting him off to the hospital.  Even though there was the stress of driving to Calgary (a 3-hour trip for my parents) along with the stress of driving in Calgary, it was a blessing that they were there.

Their home is in a small town that would be about 30 minutes from the nearest hospital.  As such, the Foothills hospital in Calgary was only five minutes from my parent's hotel.  Such a blessing and a miracle.

Turns out my dad had a TIA--Transient Ischemic Attack.

"When blood flow to part of the brain stops for a short period of time, also called transient ischemic attack (TIA), it can mimic stroke-like symptoms. These symptoms appear and last less than 24 hours before disappearing. While TIAs generally do not cause permanent brain damage, they are a serious warning sign that a stroke may happen in the future and should not be ignored." http://www.stroke.org/understand-stroke/what-stroke/what-tia

He was discharged on Tuesday evening and met with a stroke doctor at the hospital on Wednesday morning.  All this time, my mom was recovering from her cataract surgery.  She couldn't drive, and was not sure how she will make it to her follow-up appointment on Wednesday morning.

Brad was the hero here.  He booked a flight from SLC to Calgary to leave Wednesday morning.  My parents told him not to come, that they'd be fine, but there was a distinct sense of relief when he arrived in Calgary.  He drove them home and then spent the next five or so days with them at home.

Girls' Camp June 8-12

I didn't get any pictures of Amy and Misha's send off, and for their sakes, I opted not to take any pictures of them on Friday when Chris and I picked them up at Camp Batel.

This was Amy's 5th year at camp.  She was a YCL or Youth Camp Leader.  As such, she had the privilege of leaving for camp on Monday morning.  She had to work on Monday morning as well, so it was quite a rush getting her home from work and then off again.  She was already packed and had her gear ready to go. 

Misha left early Tuesday morning.  She had to be at the church by 7 am for a 7:15 departure.  Misha had dropped her gear off at Tirsa Allen's home down the street from us on Monday evening so that all of the gear was packed and ready to go Tuesday morning. Misha loaded up the 4-wheeler with her stuff and drove it on down.  Honestly, I think that was the highlight of Girls' Camp for her.

Since we had our Stake ward split, my girls have felt a little like fish out of water.  We were all hoping that this Girls' Camp experience would offer them the opportunity to connect with more of the ward's young women.  To be honest, they really weren't that thrilled to be going.  In fact, Amy said this was her last year.

I watched the weather throughout the week while they were gone.  Sadly, they were camping in rather unfavorable weather.  It rained on them most days and some days, their activities were cancelled because of the sogginess.

Chris and I were asked to drive up to Camp Batel on Friday morning to pick up girls.  They asked us to be there by 9 am which meant we needed to leave home by 7 am.  We dropped off Kristen at a friend's house since we needed all of the seat space for bringing girls home.  Except for the early hour (she had to get up at 6:30 am and usually sleeps until 8:30 am), she was happy to spend the morning with friends.

Unfortunately for Chris and I, the girls were nowhere near ready to go.  They were all eating breakfast when we arrived, and they still had cleaning to do followed by a closing flag ceremony and checkout.  Chris and I helped load up the kitchen area.  We could have been there at 11 am, and it would have been right on time to pick up kids and bring them home.  Amy was pretty happy to see us.  She was out at the road to greet us when we arrived.  Misha was happy to hang with her friends and gave a quick hug before heading off.

I had brought my camera, but decided to not record the girls after a week camping with no showers.

We left shortly after 11 am with three extra girls and headed home.  We stopped for gas, ice cream and french fries outside of Windsor and reached the church in Frederick around 12:45 to waiting parents.  We had most of Amy and Misha's gear in our car and just had to grab their camp chairs and a sleeping pad.  They were both in the shower within minutes of arriving home.