Sending off Rachel

 It's been an exciting year for Rachel. All State Jazz band, graduation, and all that goes with that. She continued working at her library job over the summer where she could work a maximum of 19 hours, so she had a decent amount of down time, and a relaxing summer. She used some of that time to prep for college and get her mission papers ready to submit. We also had a mother/daughter temple prep class that we did once a week. She didn't want to invite a ton of people when she got her endowment, but Grandma Campbell came down from Utah, and Grandma and Grandpa Knight came, too (though we missed a picture with them because she had to be at the temple early, and they had to stay afterwards for their regular temple shift). 

We're so grateful that she has grown to be a lovely adult young woman who loves the Lord and is committed to follow Him. 

As Rachel started packing for college our house seemed to explode into one big mess. I snapped a picture of the familiar mess of Rachel's junk spot by the front door where she always drops her keys, trash, purse, and whatever else, so when it stays clean for the next 4 months I can have it to look back on. ;) 

Rachel submitted her mission papers on August 9th, which I thought meant she'd get her mission call as soon as I left Provo after dropping her off, but surprisingly it was just one week later on the 17th that she texted me from work saying that her mission call had come in! She was nice enough to wait until I got back from my meeting, but didn't wait until Ryan and Annie got back from marching band, so I sent her to pick them up so they could hear the news straight from her. 

Grandma and Grandpa Knight came over and after it took forever for it to load she finally read the news: She's going to the New York Syracuse mission, starting the MTC on February 3! She's excited to be able to wear her sweaters, and has since found out that Syracuse is often the snowiest city in the country. It's also apparently pretty humid in the summer. She's looking forward to it and is glad to have the waiting for the call done.

The last Saturday Rachel was here, we planned for one last big family outing, heading to the temple together (Rachel and I doing initiatories while the others did baptisms), then going to dinner at Pei Wei before heading home to watch a movie together. I'm so glad the kids all get along so well and are good friends. 

With marching band practice Monday night, we moved FHE to Tuesday and went to Jeremiah's Italian Ice for the last FHE with Rachel until December.

Wednesday night was rough for Annie and Rachel. They are good buddies and will miss each other lots. It was rough for me to see them crying, sad that they're going to be missing each other, too. Annie ended up sleeping in Rachel's room that night. Rachel woke up the next morning to say goodbye when they left for seminary. It was sad, but not quite as hard as the night before. I missed the picture of Rachel and Ryan hugging, but they had a good long hug, too. The sibling good-byes were definitely the hardest. It had me thinking about how things will never be the same again at home. Rachel will return only temporarily from here on out.

Megan was a little blindsided by how hard it was to say goodbye to Rachel. With Rachel tearing up, it was contagious and made Megan cry, too. It was a hard way to start the school day, and hard to stop crying, so I took Megan in to Sister Jensen in the copy room to hang out until she could pull herself together. I'm so grateful she had someone she trusted that could help her out. 

I went home from dropping off Megan, loaded up the last of Rachel's stuff, and we headed to the Reimanns. We had gone over the day before to get most of the stuff packed, but both girls had more stuff to add that morning. We somehow managed to fit all the extra stuff. Good thing we had side mirrors, because the rear view mirror was completely blocked! 

The drive was nice and easy. It was nice to have Jill to talk to, and the first day we went only to St. George. Rachel drove through Vegas and we were glad to make it through there before rush hour hit. 

We left early enough that we realized we could have time to do sealings that night instead of the following morning like we had planned, though we didn't have as much time as we thought because we forgot about the time change. 

It was cool seeing the St George temple. It's huge and beautiful. After sealings we grabbed some food at Chick Fil-A, then headed to some in-laws of Jill's to stay over night.

The next morning (Friday) we continued to Provo. After we dropped off Jill and Lydia with Jill's sister, we stopped in to visit Von and Patty, then headed to DI to see what treasures we could find. Rachel couldn't move in until Saturday evening at 6pm, so I went and visited my cousin, Carrie, then we went shopping at Walmart for last minute needs and groceries for Rachel. By that time it was time for her to check in, so we headed to BYU! After getting her key, we started unloading the car, and about halfway through, Jill and Lydia got there, and helped us finish up. They made decent progress unpacking and moving in that evening.

We had an enforced break at 8:30 that night to go to ice cream and meet Cari's boyfriend. We brought Jill and Lydia along, and it was a party. Cari's man is a good one. We're all crossing our fingers for them.

After ice cream, Jill took Lydia to get groceries and I took Rachel back to her dorm, where we hung out for a while unpacking. Rachel and Lydia went with their RA and another girl in their dorm to church the next morning, and when I came back over after church she was pretty well settled with her wall decor all hung up and everything in its place. 

We went to Grandma Campbell's for dinner, then the marching band fireside for new students and their parents. After hanging out for a while longer it was time to say goodbye. Rachel's tears made mine start, too. Knowing she's where she's supposed to be and going to have a great time doesn't mean I won't miss her. 

Saying goodbye was rough, but it's been fun hearing about what she's up to and getting her updates. Thankfully she checks in regularly via text and even calls most days. It's weird doing dinner with just 5 of us, and weird not seeing the light on downstairs when we go to bed, but we'll adjust. 

Back to school

 Megan was the only one to go back to school on Monday, since the high school starts 4 days later on Friday. Megan is a WEB leader this year. WEB stands for Where Everyone Belongs, and they help the new 6th graders, and other new students find their way around, and make friends. Megan is perfect for the job. She had 2 days of training the week before school started, and the Friday before school she and a partner led a group of 6th graders through a morning of orientation activities. Megan is also the only one to get a first day of school picture, I think.

Megan likes most of her teachers, but wishes there was a 2 day week and a 5 day weekend. At some point she decided that her bed wasn't comfortable, but the floor was more comfortable, and slept on the ground for weeks. Occasionally she'd head downstairs and sleep in the office on the guest bed, but for the most part she slept on the floor until Rachel headed to school and Annie moved into her room, leaving Megan with her own room. 

Back to school meant all the clubs started. Megan is doing drama club this year, and WEB. At the high school the clubs meet during lunch or Power Up, so they don't have to stay after school. Ryan goes to chess club most Mondays and Fridays, and Annie's only club, as far as I know, is the Thespians. Maybe she's doing Sigh, the girls acapella group, but I don't know.

We had a stake post-FSY activity to wrap up the summer. A few youth shared their experiences, and an FSY counselor shared some thoughts, then the kids got together and did some of the FSY line dances. I'd never seen this one, but they had a blast with it.

Right before I left with Rachel, Megan got her bed all ready to become the top bunk where her stuffies would live when they stacked the beds in her room. She was excited to have her own room, and definitely counted down the days.

Back to band

 Over the summer the new band uniforms arrived, so we spend a morning inventorying everything and hanging up what we could, then coming back a week before band camp, during percussion camp, to reorganize the uniform room and figure out how to hang everything up. We cleaned out a TON of old stuff. The dumpster was full. Then stacked perhaps a few too many heavy boxes on the shelf to be out of the way. I came back from a meeting to find that our shelf and rods holding up all our new uniforms had fallen. 

We hung stuff up on rolling racks, put in a work order to get it all fixed, and headed home. The next morning Marivic came in with her daughter and started organizing things by size again on other rods, and shortly thereafter we had another disaster with those rods collapsing, too. 

Thankfully the work order was completed before band camp started on Monday, so we were able to get the shirts fitted ok, and everything went smoothly from there on. It was quite an ordeal getting all the MANY pieces of the uniform sorted and figuring out how to store it all, but thankfully we have a good uniform team this year, and they did most of the work, so I just showed up and did what they told me to do.

Band camp had relatively nice weather, not hitting 100 all week, thankfully. I helped with snacks and uniforms and whatever was needed while Annie and Ryan sweated their way through the week.

Friday night there was the end of band camp performance and the big uniform reveal. 

The following week the band fed the Cienega staff. It's good to be back with the band moms. I miss them during the half of the year where we don't hang out all the time.

This year is the 25th year of the marching band, so we're planning a special homecoming, and some fun swag, too.

We've already kicked off the season at the Copper/Navy game. 

And soon the season will be in full swing with football games and Saturdays full of competitions.

Swim championships and synchro show

 With a slightly longer summer this year, the swim team championships were the Saturday after band camp instead of the Saturday after school started. The synchro water show was supposed to be the week previous, but it got rained out with a crazy strong storm that had us pulling over on our way back from the pool for about a half hour until it was safe to drive again. So Megan had a very full day with swim team championships in the morning, then running home for lunch, and back for the watershow in the afternoon.

Ryan swam butterfly, breast stroke, and freestyle, along with butterfly in a medley relay. 

Megan swam butterfly in the medley relay, breaststroke and backstroke, and swam in the free relay, too. 

Ryan got 1st place in all his races, and Megan placed in the top 3, getting 1st, 2nd and 3rd place medals. 

And that afternoon we were back to watch the Purple Heart synchro team perform their show to "That Girl is on Fire." They did great.

Megan's birthday (and Independence Day)

 Megan got face paint for her birthday, so I let my face be a canvas for her as she practiced her new skills. Perfect for the 4th of July.

She opened her presents a little at a time throughout the day, and for dinner we had burgers and dessert as a family. When it got dark we headed to the wash by Grandma and Grandpa's house and did fireworks there. 

They tried to set a record of how many of the spinning tops they could light at once. They managed more than 10, I think.

For her birthday party, Megan wanted to do a mall scavenger hunt, but all as one group rather than as a competition between two groups. The kids had a good time doing things like pose like a movie picture, find a bench everyone can fit in, and find a funny birthday card. 

Back at home they each had a personal mini pie, then played games. A fun time was had by all.

A few days later, Megan's dream came true as she was sleeping when Jacob went out the front door and there was a tarantula climbing on our metal security door. I caught it and kept it in a box overnight in our back yard so she could see it when she woke up the next morning. We let him loose in our garden, hoping that he would stick around and eat some bugs. We saw him again that night on the grass, but haven't seen him since, so we figure Wallacen the 2nd (as Megan named him) must have moved on. 

If we had actually gotten her a tarantula with a cage it could live in inside our house, that would have been her favorite present by far. Megan sure loves tarantulas. Instead she just got boring stuff like face paint, a weighted blanket, bedazzling kit, a new camera, and a few other things that she loved.