Mom and Dad come to visit

A quick trip to Spokane.  Dad helped Chet with a project – expanding their deck.  More outdoor living space is always great!  Mom hung out with us girls.  All was going well until Mom fell and hurt her eye.  Darn it.  So it’s sunglasses and surgery… Gosh Mom, we are so sorry.

 

Girls Camp 2011

All the girls at camp.  I missed them terribly.  I got to go up on Wednesday night for Bishop’s night to represent the YW presidency.  They always have such a great time with the leaders and friends.  Katie worked so hard to prepare for her girls and to be a YCL.  I am proud of her.

They start out so clean and normal looking….

and then they go to camp….

I got photos of some of our favorite friends as well.  It is deceiving because the girls get crazy and dress up on Bishop’s night so they all look a little extreme.

Megan let me document how dirty her feet were after 5 days at camp….  Please do not walk on my carpets!!!! Cute toenails though…  I love the spiritual part of camp.  The girls take their scriptures and read them everyday.  Melissa brought home a flower to press.  I have a little white flower in my scriptures from our trip to Jasper National Park back when Katie was a baby.   It is a wonderful memory.

Growing up

Packing is hard.  But it forces you to clean up and declutter…  But what do you do with the growth chart?  This sticker used to be front and center in their “Winnie the Pooh” room.  Then the decor changed as they got older.  Then it was on the back of the door.  So hard to see the kids going to high school, going on dates,  savin’ China….  but then to take down the growth chart. 

It’s killing me – but I can’t take it with me to heaven, so we decided not to take it to Boise either.  Thank heavens for photographs and memories.

Our Garden

Every year we plant a little garden.  Nothing big, but so therapeutic.  Tomatoes, basil, snap peas (that never make it in the house because we eat them as we pick them,) and maybe some hot peppers for Mike.  

One of my favorite things about this garden is the row of little purple flowers that I plant along the front.  This year they all came back spontaneously around the garden so I dug them up and moved them to the front.  And they bloomed so beautifully!

Last year we planted 3 little raspberry plants and got like 2 berries.  This year – they exploded!  And fresh raspberries?  Oh Yeah – so YUMMY!   The first ripe one that I watched for days disappeared the moment it was ripe, I think to a bird or squirrel.  So I outsmarted the little critters and covered the bushes with some mesh.  We had a wonderful crop of berries and ate every one.

So many yummy breakfasts with whipped cream and fresh berries on crepes, bagels, waffles…Diane let me have some of her raspberries and between my bushes, her bushes and Albertsons…. I had enough to do 4 jars of raspberry jam. (She has so much sun in her backyard and her bushes are huge!)

   And then later on I bought some blackberries when I drove thru Tri-Cities and made 12 jars of blackberry jam.  (My personal favorite!)  I had forgotten how much I loved fresh picked blackberries but Tammy brought me some home that she picked herself on the Oregon coast.  MELT IN YOUR MOUTH GOODNESS!!  The ones I bought were much more tart and expensive…  I love summer gardens!

Friends are Cooking

So fun to have free time in the summer to get together and have fun.  I think the girls had a community time in school for baking so they decided to make a cake one day.  I forced them to stop for a picture.  All of them in aprons.  So dang cute.  There’s something about “done with 8th grade - not quite to high school” phase.  I love these girls.  They’ve been such great friends through Summit School.

Paige, Megan, Jenny, Natalie And sometimes sisters get in on the fun too. Sophie and Melissa helped eat the cake.

More from McCall

Papa took everyone to Ice Cream Alley.  The favorite flavor is Huckleberry.  Yum!

    

Fun at the Beach: