How fun to have family come and visit! My brother Matt and his wife Elasha brought their four kids to visit from Pittsburgh. They were here for two weeks and split their time between all the family members. We had them with us for three days or so. It was fun to get reacquainted with the kids — we had never even seen Dallin who is already over a year old! He and Elliot seemed to especially bond — could it be because Elliot was willing to go down the backyard slide with Dallin on his lap oh, about 25 times one night?!
On the 4th of July we met the rest of my sibs and their families on Center Street in Provo to watch the parade. It was overcast and a bit cooler — so important to parade watchers! My favorite entry was all the missionaries from the area walking, shaking hands with everyone and singing! That night we all had dinner together at our house (Jared made Lime Rickys for everyone — quite the deal), and then we all went swimming in our neighbor's pool. The end to a fun day was home made ice cream and rice krispie yummies. Side note funny story about the ice cream maker . . . last year the one we've had forever (Grandma Morgan's) actually caught fire (yes, flames!) and basically burned up or rather out. Anyway, this year we bought a new one only to discover as we were about to pour the mixture in the can, that somehow we got one without a motor — opps! So ensued a last minute scramble back to 2 Walmarts to find one with all the pieces. Thank you Alan and Madeleine!
On the 5th of July we had our first ever Breinholt Family Reunion at a park in Sandy. Everyone came and it was so great to be able to "catch up" with cousins we don't get to see very often. Chuck and Kim Breinholt get the award for coming "reunion prepared." They brought a homemade rocket launcher and a giant sling shot for shooting an ice chest full of water balloons! All the kids had a great time! Of course I took a lot of pictures and one of my favorites is the 3 Andrews from different families. How happy my Grandparents Floyd and Tess Breinholt must have been to see us all together for an evening in the park. Alan, our family historian, counted and with Melinda's baby any minute and (who else's?) in October there are 73 direct descendants with 18 married ins!
Good friends are also always welcome to visit! We had the Collettes again, but this time instead of a quick visit, Melora and her daughter Jennica were able to stay a whole week while Thomas worked in Idaho and Miranda attended EFY. We had lots of time to play, eat, watch movies, swim and shop. It was fun to get the kids together this time. We even met up with the BYU kids for lunch. The blast from the past was visiting Tess in her apartment which is by coincidence the same apartment that Melora and I lived in when we were Juniors at BYU! We both got engaged while living there, so of course we had to take a couple of photos for old times' sake. How is it possible that we both have children going to BYU now?!
Madeleine went to Girls' Camp as a tent leader with the theme of Dr. Suess. Her tent was called the "Sneech Beach." It was all about "having stars upon thars . . ." or helping each girl realize that she is special whether or not she has a star. If you don't know what I'm talking about, go read the book — it's true.
Clark went every morning for a week to a music Jazz camp. He learned more about and gained experience being the pianist in a jazz band. At the end of the week we got to attend a concert and listen to three different jazz bands (they were grouped according to age). Clark had a great time and it rekindled his interest in jazz piano which we have now been enjoying more of at home.
One weekend we decided to get together with some of my family and do dinner up the canyon with the kids. We ended up in Big Cottonwood Canyon at the Storm Mountain picnic area, surrounded by beautiful rocky mountains. Melinda's husband Jared came through as always with his culinary cleverness and we had yummy Dutch oven potatoes and cobbler to go with our foil dinners. And of course we did the smore thing and had fun getting dirty and smoky.
More family visiting! Alan's sister Diane came from Minnesota for several days. It was so fun to have her to dinner here one night and then spend the 24th of July at the cabin with her and Pat and Wally. Clark and Elliot got a little "extra" time with them by spending a couple of nights at the cabin where it was really hot in the loft when going to bed at night and really cold in the loft when getting up in the morning!
It just so happens that July 19th is Grandpa Edward's (Pat's Dad) birthday and this year he would be 100 years old, along with Grandma Louise and Grandma Morgan who would have been 95 on that same day. So, we celebrated by learning more about his life and enjoying several of his favorite things — cribbage, nuts, fresh trout and root "beer." We appreciate Alan's parents giving us a family history home evening lesson each month — this one was especially creative!
72 hour kits
The project for the month has been updating our 72 hour kits. You know, you think things are good and then you realize that your food and water is over 5 years old and that the underwear and socks you packed for each child is no way going to fit and so you have no choice but to repack. It was a bit grueling, but now we can sleep better at night!
In their efforts to earn money for a Wii, Elliot and Clark decided to run a day camp at our home for what they call "gifted youngsters." They made fliers and took them around to several families. They ended up with 7 kids and had a great week playing sports and doing crafts with these cute kids. Being July, it was a bit hot when they were outside, but as one kid put it, "I thought this camp was going to be stupid, but it's awesome!" Apparently the Wii is awesome too!
One day the kids and I were at Deseret Industries just for fun (yes, shopping at DI can be fun) and we found a book of yo yo tricks that came with 3 yo-yos for a dollar. The yo-yos were cheap and didn't hold up — we had to buy better ones — but within a day Elliot had turned into a yo-yo fanatic. Seriously, his finger swelled up and he had to keep icing it. But did that deter him? No way. In fact, we have already had to go online and order replacement strings, because apparently you can wear out your string — who knew?
Madeleine is now a proud new employee at Bed Bath & Beyond. She has been working there for about three weeks and is really enjoying it so far. She has nice people to work with and enjoys helping the customers but claims to already be tired of seeing coupon after coupon. I know I don't buy anything there without a coupon! Tess is working at the French and Italian Department at BYU helping professors and students and enjoys a sit down job in the air conditioning! Loren is working for BYU catering serving everyone from myriads of EFY kids to President Samuelson and visiting dignitaries.
Phillip is doing great and sent us a CD of pictures. It seems he has pretty much adjusted to the culture and the language and is really settling into the missionary work. Loren and Tess are winding down to the end of summer semester and are busy with papers and projects, working and of course playing — they are very busy people, but manage to get home for weekends here and there.