The Summer of Go

The family approaching the Flag Walk at Mt. Rushmore

We have been a family on the go this summer. School got out on June 17th. J. left for EFY (a church youth camp) on June 21st. I left for my yearly scrapooking girls retreat on June 25th. Joy came hom on the 26th. I cam home on the 27th, late. Then the whole family packed up and left for our Midwest Migration (we counted--we drove through all or part of 10 states, going from Oregon to Illinois and back again). We saw family in LaGrande, Oregon, then Yellowstone for the 4th of July, then South Dakota where we saw Mt. Rushmore, Deadwood, the Crazy Horse monument, and the Mammoth Site, as well as some of the sets used in the movie "Dances with Wolves." From there, we hit the Winter Quarters visitor's center, and then went to my parent's house in Lee's Summit, Missouri. We spent about 4 days there, mostly hanging out with my family. It was especially cool that my sister drove up from Texas, almost making it a family reunion (only my brother and his kids were missing). Two of my sisters were working on the crew for the Kansas City Roller Warriors, so Joel and I were able to enjoy a bout (they had free tickets) and I LOVED it (more on that later). After we left Missouri, we headed to Nauvoo, Illinois for the Nelson Family Reunion. That was a super-cool experience that I would encourage any and all to go to. Our family especially enjoyed the pageant. It's hard to put it into words. I have ancestors that were in the city of Nauvoo before the members of the church left to head west in 1846, as does Joel, so there is a lot of history there for us. I took a TON of pictures that will be on my flickr site (if they aren't already--I've been so busy I honestly can't remember if I've put them there or not yet). We returned home late-late-late on July 19, with Girls Camp beginning on July 20th (and lasting a week). Then Cub Camp (where H. helped out as a "red shirt" for three days) was the next week, with 11 year-old day camp on Friday the 30th. After that, we started our annual Back Yard Play rehearsals. Joel and H went to Scout camp the next week, beginning August 2nd. C. had eye surgery on August 3rd, and ever since then, we've been having daily 2hr Back Yard Play practices (I'm acting as the Vocal Director this year). I also taught a series of science classes at the ELC's summer program (I'll switch back to music in the fall).

I'll have more pictures later. Mostly, I just didn't want you to think I'd forgotten how to blog.