Summer 2019 {Week 9 : August 13 – 17}

Tuesday, August 13

Today we had a catch-up day. Laundry, emails, unpacking. Carly finished the last of her scheduled EPIC trash container cleaning with Jason’s help as the runner boy. Jason also got together with a friend today and rode their bikes down to Bartell drugs to buy some treats. In the afternoon we went to the library and picked up a few groceries with Carly as our chauffeur. A hodgepodge dinner tonight as Justin was working late and doing a Costco run on his way home. We settled into the 7th Harry Potter movie around 8:30pm making it another late night.

Wednesday, August 14

Today ended up being more ambitious than I planned. Carly decided late this morning that she I wanted to tackle the school supply shopping today. She has compiled the school supply list for the last several years and really enjoys the organization part of that. She is also helping me with Jason‘s birthday party on Friday so she had a list of things that we needed for the games that we are intending to play. So with shopping lists in hand we headed to Covington to do a Walmart run. 

I also had coupons for a free cookie at Chick-fil-A and some discounted donuts at a specialty shop. We also picked up some groceries at Fred Meyer before heading home. That’s the most physical activity I’ve done in the last couple weeks and I was surprised how tired it made me. Our youth activity today was a lake day for three oldest so they left the house around 3:30 PM. Katie had her first soccer practice for the season at 4:30pm and then I allowed Katie and Drew sometime on the Wii before bed while I worked on compiling all the reimbursement requests for our stake young women’s camp.  Phew, what a day!

Thursday, August 15

I had my two week postop appointment early this morning at 7:30 AM. Doctor says everything looks great and that I just need to continue to take it easy and let my body heal completely. This morning we finished organizing the school supplies and then Drew got to go to a friend’s birthday party who has a pool in their backyard. Drew also had his first soccer practice for the season this evening as well as Jason having soccer practice. Getting dinners on the table has already been difficult with everyone schedules and now I am being reminded that it will only be more difficult as we enter into the fall sports season. Both Abigail and Carly were babysitting tonight and Carly also had a babysitting gig this afternoon and Abigail’s been working every morning this week. Life is busy.

Friday, August 16

I have never been one who is particularly good at or enjoys planning parties. Now that I’ve been in Mom mode for nearly 18 years I am even less so. This is demonstrated by the fact that I have deferred last two birthday parties in this house to Carly for the organization, planning, and implementing of said parties. Tonight Jason had his 12th birthday party and thankfully Carly was willing to fulfill his desires of putting together a Minute to Win It party. I was really dragging this morning and there was much to do but both Abigail and Carly were working until the early afternoon. We managed to get the house straightened up enough, I made a Texas sheet cake for the evening and Abigail picked up pizzas for the boys to enjoy for dinner. 

Carly ended up having her friend Madi come over to help with the party games and they did an amazing job. It was nice that Justin and I got to basically be spectators at our sons party and be able to focus on taking pictures and helping with cleanup along the way. Jason and his friends seemed to have a great time and the games pretty much lasted until the end of the party. Because we needed even teams Katie was able to be included in all the fun.

He had a couple friends that wanted to stay and watch Jason open up gifts. 

Jason has a fun and unique group of friends. I’m glad that we are able to celebrate him today and that he had a great time.  We took lots of video clips so hopefully we’ll get those put together to watch all the fun again.

Saturday, August 17

My after-workout walking friends Andrea and Addy and I all happened to be in town today so we decided to meet up and do an easy walk and catch up.  Addy’s breast cancer diagnosis has taken a bit of a turn for the worse so a catch-up and briefing was needed. I am typically a fast walker and I was definitely slower than normal today and could tell that I was getting tired much quicker than I would have expected. Today was the first day I have closed my circles since my surgery. I think it’s going to be a long road back to my normal activity level.  The rest of the day was spent getting packed. Our trip to Alaska has is coming after several busy weeks so we really haven’t given much thought to preparing for it until today. It’s crazy how long it takes us to get organized and packed up.

Hipwell Family Reunion {August 7 – 12} - Bear Lake

I was asked to organize our family reunion this summer.  My Mom wanted me to find a place within a few hours of Salt Lake so that it would be easy for family members, particularly the older college aged grandkids, to come for as much as the reunion as they could manage.  Bear Lake is a very popular family reunion destination and I was able to find a house within her budget.  Getting some of my family members to commit is tough but thankfully we had everyone attend except Kaitlyn and Juston who were visiting Ashley who was working up in Alaska this summer.  The house I found was large enough for every family to have a room of their own.  The house was a bit of a drive from the lake, but houses on the lake were way too expensive.

Wednesday, August 7

I assigned my family dinner tonight because I wasn’t sure who besides me and my Mom would for sure be there in time for dinner and I didn’t want to stress anyone out. In hindsight it was a little crazy because we had a long 12-13 hour drive to make that day and I wanted to have dinner ready by 6pm.  So we were up early and on the road around 4am.  We had chicken salad croissants and had prepared most everything in advance so it was pretty quick to throw together when we finally arrived at the house.

Katie made a little welcome sign.

We didn’t notice the spelling error until the end of the reunion. 

Day one and there was already a puzzle underway.  I love this tradition we have and that so many of the older cousins truly enjoy it. Drew was quite captivated by any and all electronic devices.  Jayden was super sweet tolerating Drew’s unwavering interest all weekend.

My family was assigned to the bunk room which had 8 twin beds – 4 bunks.  The lower four bunks were basically on the ground and not super comfy, but Katie and Drew were thrilled to be sleeping in the treehouse room.  

In the middle of the night Justin woke up freaking out thinking something was crawling up his leg. It’s not unusual for him to have a nightmare of sorts so I didn’t think anything about it and went back to sleep. Turns out he really did feel something crawl up his leg – several family members saw mice in the basement our first night there and one decided to get frisky with Justin.  We called the management company in the morning and they sent someone over to put out traps.  On our last day there someone found a mouse in one of the traps, but it ended up wiggling free before someone was brave enough to go down to take care of it. For the most part it wasn’t any issue, but it was always in the back of my mind when I was trying to fall asleep.

Thursday, August 8

Food was a plenty this week and we never let ourselves feel hungry.  After breakfast this morning we kicked around waiting for Tyrone to show up as he was planning to head up a hike to either Bloomington Lake or to the Paris Ice Caves.  His arrival time kept getting later and later so Cammy broke out a fun shrinky-dink craft. I love that even the biggest of kids still enjoys working on a fun craft.  We have quite a few artists in the family.  Once shrunken down the charms could be put on a keychain or bracelet. Such a fun idea!

Also time for puzzles and food…

We didn’t have enough time after Tyrone arrived to do one of the larger excursions so instead they went on a walk along a nearby nature trail.  Apparently Drew and Kingston ran up ahead making it not as leisurely.

Tyrone was in charge of dinner tonight and order two HUGE pizzas.

Time for another puzzle

The house had a hot tub in the back yard that was enjoyed by many during the week. Justin thought it pretty funny to through a block of ice in with the hottubbers.  

I really enjoy being around my family and I appreciate their ideas and insights on various topics.  We are all very opinionated and passionate about certain things.  Tonight got a little political, with a dash of religion - I found it interesting but it did get a little heated.

Friday, August 9

Today was our designated lake day.  We headed out after breakfast.  Tyrone wanted to go to the north shore which was about 30 minutes away.  By the time we arrived it was already quite crowded but we were lucky to find some parking and beach near the end of the beach area. We had lots of water toys –  kayaks, tubes, and we brought our two paddleboards.  

It got quite windy in the afternoon so everyone was ready to head back a little earlier than we expected. I couldn’t resist stopping by La Beau’s for “famous raspberry shakes” – they were delish!

Tonight was our best opportunity to get a family picture.  I assigned Lee to that task and he and Cheryl found some great spots near the house with great evening lighting.  So happy with how they turned out.

I was really excited about my idea for our family reunion shirts.  I kept it a secret from everyone, only Jason knew because he was with me when I ordered them.  I love how they turned out and that it is a subtle reminder of my Dad.  

The kids played mafia late into the night tonight.  We also had a campfire in the backyard with smores.

Saturday, August 10

Cammy did such a fantastic job organizing a field day at our reunion in 2017 that I asked her to put it together again this year and she didn’t disappoint.  She kept track of the brackets and cycled everyone through quite seamlessly.  

Drew and Dylan ended up surprising everyone by winning the championship Bocce Ball game. Drew is a great little baller so it was fun to see him hold his own as the youngest player.

Jason and Jayden ended up winning both the Corn Hole and the Ladder Ball championship.

Cammy even had fun prize baskets for the winners.

After lunch the majority of the family went to explore the Paris Ice Caves.  I stayed back at the house since I was still recovering from surgery.   

Tonight we all had tickets to the Pickleville Playhouse.  On the way back to the show house Justin had the windows down and Abigail had the music up.  Drew wasn’t sure what to make of that.  We got a kick out of this video Abigail took because Drew’s timing of facing the wind was perfect with the tunes.  

The show was called Shootout at Shadow Mountain and it was hilarious.  Everyone in the family loved it.

More games and puzzles tonight.  Raymond was finally able to download a online game called Quiplash which we were able to project onto the big tv and play together on our phones.  Lots of fun until nearly 1am.

Sunday, August 11

Cammy made biscuits and gravy for breakfast before we headed to church with my Mom, Val and Brynn.  

After church a large group went to explore Bloomington Lake.  

I stayed back at the house and played games and relaxed.

This evening we needed to award the guessing jars and announce the “Who’s most likely” results since most families were heading home this evening.  Griffin, Justin, Jayden, Savanna, Liz – Carly won two jars and needed to choose which jar would go to second place.  

Notable “Who’s Mostly Likely…” in my family:

• Get Married Next? Abigail (I strongly disagree with this one!)
• Have 10 kids? Carly (wow!)
• Be a Disney character?  Katie
• Win a race? Justin & Jason
• Be an Olympic athlete? Carly then Abigail
• Pee their pants? Drew (he is the youngest, but I know for a fact some of us older ladies would be more likely that my steel-bladdered boy) 

Grandma also had a saran wrapped ball of candy and money that was passed around the circle and unwrapped in a frenzy.

Jayden and Savanna ended up with the cash at the end.

I had to take some pictures of some of the puzzles we completed during the reunion. Some we’d brought, but the house also had several games and puzzles available for us to use.  These were the bigger puzzles, but there were a few other smaller ones on other tables in the house.

Tonight was just our family, Grandma and Val, Ray’s family and Brooklyn and Kingston at the house.  It was nice to see Drew and Katie play so well with Brooklyn and Kingston.  Wish they could see each other more often.

Monday, August 12

Once the house was cleaned up and we had the van packed we were on the road home bound. We’d entertained the idea of stopping at Shoshone Falls on the way home, but when facing an already 12-13 hour drive taking any detours didn’t sound fun.  So it was straight home for the Fletcher’s.  

Abigail made a fun video of the reunion – looking forward to the next Hipwell Reunion!