Summer 2021

 We filled in as much as possible during this summer. 

JUNE

Piano lessons for Gwen continued through the summer. She does a program called Let's Play Music and learns musical theory while in a group setting, so these one on one piano lessons were a hit. She liked them a lot and I'm excited for her to graduate from this program and move on to traditional piano lessons.

Gwen also did daily swim team and earned several ribbons during her meets! Go Gwen! 

Jake and I got to go to a Phoenix Suns game. We hadn't been for a few years, and when we were doing so well, we splurged on tickets. Even the nosebleeds were pricey! It was so much fun, and I teared up during the game several times. It was so good to hear the huge crowd, and it was just so fun! 

Gwen started and finished summer school. She had Mrs. Bretz and really loved her. We pulled her out on the last day to go to Nevada! 

We all drove to cousin camp with the Bishop family in Las Vegas, Nevada. Jan and Chris planned a weekend of activities including the waterpark and visiting the aquarium. The girls were a little emotional to not see us each night, but after the first night's sleep, they were good to go! Emily loved playing with baby Valerie, and Gwen keeps asking when she can see her besties again. She also refers to Benjamin and Liam as "my boys"--"When will we get to see my boys again?" It melts our hearts. Cousins are the best. Side note: At the aquarium, Gwen put her little feet in a tank full of fishes that eat dead skin. She loved it! 

We celebrated our 11th anniversary! We got a hotel while in Nevada and slept in and it was dreamy! A friend of mine posted something to her Instagram that resonated with me so well, and I'll include it here. "Sometimes love feels exciting, fun, and new. Sometimes it feels like your favorite pair of jeans that are falling apart at the seams: comfortable, reliable, and because of that sometimes we take it for granted. Sometimes love is hard; it's work." I just love that. This past year Jake and I have actively worked at improving communication, increasing our shows of each other's love language, and giving each other the benefit of the doubt. While on our trip to Hawaii (next paragraph!) we were walking on the temple grounds and Jake said something that really resonated. He was talking about the work we've put into creating a successful, respectful marriage has been like taking off your shoes after walking through the beach and emptying out all the pebbles and sand. The sand accumulates over time and sometimes you don't even notice its there until you empty it out. Clearly I love a good analogy/parable. I'm thankful Gwen and Emily have HIM for a father. I'm grateful I chose him, and so grateful he chose me. I'm glad that we pushed through exhaustive phases of life together, and look forward to experiencing more, side by side. 

WE WENT TO HAWAII! Years ago my sister Caroline mentioned a term that has stuck with me. She called her wedding anniversary her family's birthday! I LOVE IT. We've called our anniversary a family birthday since the beginning because of her term, but this year took the family birthday to another level with a family trip to Hawaii. Last Christmas, Jake surprised me with two tickets to Hawaii in March 2021. We planned on going with just the two of us, but I just didn't feel good about it, so we delayed our tickets. When we started thinking of doing a family trip, things just clicked right into place. It was MAGICAL. It was the girls first flight and we woke up so early (and Morgan woke up even earlier to drive from San Tan to take us to the airport. Shout out to my favorite brother!) to get to the airport. We took a flight from Phoenix to Sand Diego, and went on to Oahu! AHHHH! we could talk about this trip for days. Because of the time difference, we all got pretty good naps in and still arrived at the island in the early afternoon. While still on the plane we could see the approach of the island, and we saw Pearl Harbor immediately! 

After we got off the plane, we wanted to let the girls run off some energy so we found a hole in the wall restaurant, got take out, and went to a state park. It had a beautiful beach and was empty except for one other family. It was so great! We played here for a few hours, and then loaded back into our rental Jeep to go to our hotel in Waikiki. We stayed in a busy part of town and loved it! I love seeing the hustle and bustle of new places, and this was like no other! Our hotel was perfection, and had a live musician with the voice of an angel. We lost his business card, and I still think this was the biggest let down of the whole trip. We were really tired that day (again, the time change was major) so we ate dinner around 4, and went to bed right after. We couldn't stay awake! 

The next day we woke up before the sun and enjoyed a great breakfast at the hotel. Fresh fruit from the island was the main attraction, and we happily obliged! We got dressed and checked out and drove to see Pearl Harbor. We spent the entire morning there touring the submarine, exploring the USS Missouri, and see the aircraft museum. We didn't realize, even after hours of pre-research, that we needed to reserve tickets to seeing the USS Arizona memorial, so we got tickets to come back the next day to boat out there. We had so much fun! We had done a LOT of prep with the girls about what happened at Pearl Harbor. We watched movies for months leading up to the trip about the bombing, the war, the sinking of the Arizona, and more. They asked such wonderful questions, and knew we were in a sacred place. When we returned the next day to go to the memorial, a park ranger told us that it took 7 minutes for the Arizona to fully sink, and he told us the boat ride out there was 7 minutes. It was so heavy to think about how quickly the ship sunk. The day before we had gone on the Missouri, which is Arizona's sister ship. Jake and I were quietly realizing that there was no way people on the lower decks would even have had a chance to get out in those quick minutes. We told the girls about that, and they got it! They understood. I'm blown away at their understanding. They are smart and wise. We spent time at the memorial listening to rangers talk about how survivors of the blast would come to the memorial and preach forgiveness. We learned about a teenaged pilot flew kamikaze into the Missouri with the goal of destroying it, but did very little damage despite him dying immediately. The captain of the Missouri asked for a flag of the rising sun to give the boy a proper burial at sea, but because we were at war with Japan, we had none of these flags. The captain immediately tasked sailors on board to create a flag, and they hand stitched his home flag for his burial the following sunrise. When the war ended, the captain met with the boys family and gave him photos and his badges, and his family wept when they learned of the respectful burial he had. 

We went to the Polynesian Cultural Center. Next time we go to Hawaii, I will plan on at least two days for the PCC. Because they only are open from 12:45-5 pm, we didn't have time to see every island's representation, and I MUST! The PCC has six islands represented including Fiji, Tonga, Tahiti, Samoa, Aotearoa (New Zealand) and Hawaii. Each has it's own cultural presentation and it was incredible! We went to Tonga and Tahiti and learned about cultural customs (in Tonga if you do anything other than church and cook on Sunday, you can get arrested!) and foods like coconut bread, and dancing! We learned the proper way to greet the king and queen, which directly correlated to the things we do in LDS temples! It was amazing. IT WAS AMAZING. We also learned that BYU Hawaii is literally next to the PCC, and also next to the temple. We learned that most of the young adults working at the center were students at BYU who work for their scholarships. I told Gwen and Emily to go to BYU so we can visit all the time. Haha! Jake had a really great time while shopping at the PCC because there was a Korean family-owned jewelry place and they spoke with each other for at least an hour while we all shopped and sipped on pineapple smoothies.

We spent the next entire day beach hopping. We played in the water, built sandcastles, and got the most incredible sunburns ever. The girls went snorkeling and they were obsessed!!! We found crabs, fishes, dead fish(we always love this part...what's wrong with us?!) It was normal for any one of us to say "Let's move here!" followed by another person saying, "I miss Fred." ha! Seriously. We missed Fred, but loved Hawaii so much. 

We were able to go to church on our trip, and we feel so blessed by that experience. We were able to hear from a sister missionary who's original mission call was to Hong Kong. She was unable to serve there at all due to Covid, and expressed a principle she learned--God didn't answer my prayer to serve in Hong Kong, but he blessed my life in many other ways. At the end of her message, an older woman in the ward stood at the pulpit and sang Aloha 'Oe, and the entire congregation stood and joined in as she was given lei after lei. It was so special!!! The church was so beautiful. Jake took so many pictures of the ornate woods used. Each was carved so meticulously. It was just so beautiful.

When we flew home, our flight was direct from Hawaii to Arizona and it was the most luxurious flight I've ever had. There were tons of empty seats, and we all had plenty of room to sleep. Gwen was the funniest flier. She would ask the flight attendants for more snacks every time they walked by. We got such a kick out of that. Emily was such a great little buddy to sit next to and only got bored once. There were so many times I would see my family enjoying this time together and think, "My life cannot get any more joyful." I can't imagine that trip without those sweet women. They are our best friends. It was just so much fun. I can't wait to travel more with them. Though it's painful to not have any babies anymore, this next phase of life is already such a great adventure. Also, just this morning before going to school Emily told me, "I want to go back to Hawaii." SAME, girl. SAME. No lie, I definitely looked up jobs there and was like...let's do it. hahaha. 

JULY

We started the month off with a church fundraising breakfast for 4th of July. We ate eggs, pancakes, and bacon galore! The boys made a good chunk of money for their activities, and we had a good time playing! 

We had a birthday sleepover for Emily! We filled a weekend up with so many activities. We invited Holliday and Farris to go to the movies, spend the night, and go to the zoo in Camp Verde with us. The girls went swimming, played outside, built forts, and ate like teenagers. It was wildly successful. At the end of the zoo day there was a big accident and we got really delayed, so I called Allisa and told her the news and asked if we could have one more night of a sleepover, since we weren't sure what time we'd get home. She obliged and I'm so glad. We ended up getting home around 7:30 and had been in the car for HOURS and all the girls needed sleep. We went to church together, and it was fun all around. After Farris and Holliday got picked up, Emily said "when is my real birthday party?" and I almost fainted. Jake had to re-explain that the weekend with friends WAS her birthday. She cracks me up. 

Emily and Gwen participated in a week long gymnastics class that two sisters in our ward were doing to earn money for summer camps. It was pretty fun to see what they learned in just a few days.

My dear Aunt Karen passed away this month. Earlier in the year, she thought she was having an appendix related issue and was in a lot of pain. The doctors quickly determined that it was actually cancer, and that it was in multiple organs. I was able to visit her and my cousin Jonathon, and she was alert so we both just cried together. The next time we went, Jake and the girls came with us. Aunt Karen was unresponsive, and we spent time with her, Uncle Larry telling stories and singing, Aunt Janice giving updates, and Aunt Kathy just being the rock Karen needed. She passed the same night/morning we visited. I'm still pretty emotional about her passing. It was so fast. And then to think of my mom and aunts losing a sister (Aunt Berit) not even a year ago just makes me think about losing my own sisters. Aunt Karen's funeral was a beautiful representation of her life. I loved hearing Jonathon's stories about her, and loved visiting with family at the luncheon after. We went table to table and everyone introduced themselves and their relation to Aunt Karen. It was so fun to get to know cousins, aunts, uncles, and friends. 

I spent the summer learning how to make bread and rolls and consider myself quite accomplished for what I've produced. 

Gwen and Emily went back to school shopping, and then got their teacher assignments. 

Emily started ballet class.

Jake and I continued prepping for the pioneer trek our church youth are doing in October. We are a ma and pa, and have attended several trainings, dance classes, and hikes. Jake made our family flag and we are closer than ever!

At the end, please enjoy some of my favorite memes of late. I laughed at each one, and laughed again remembering it now. 

As always, I'm sorry for the way the pictures get out of order. I'm thinking of leaving this blogger site because it's such a mess! But I think that would be a huge project, so I'm putting it off. 

Some references for pictures since I can't caption each one anymore...

Emily and Gwen got a free oyster to shell, and we got a beautiful pearl!

A Tongan woman at the PCC made the girls crowns with a fish on the top.

There's a photo of Gwen and Emily passed out in the car. They had just had the first and only fight of the trip and it lasted about 3 minutes. They were hungry and tired, hence angry. Of course they remember this fight still, and say they fought so hard that it made the trip sad. Again....it was 3 minutes of name calling, and it's a highlight to them. hahahah

Gwen got first! Her friends swam in different heats and also got 1st!

Fish tanks and fishy toes!

These kids are the cutest!

We loved this aquarium! 

At the submarine museum.