August Priest Lake Trip

We just returned late last night after a grueling 9.5 hour drive home from our August trip to Priest Lake.  We drove up on Monday, August 14th, after the girls completed their 3-week run with Matilda at NWTL and stayed until Sunday, August 20th, due to Lia needing to be home in time to run the "Midnight Mile" with her XC team to kick off their fall season.  After we arrived last week, we spent the next two days at the cabin with my parents and Eric and Rebecca.  It was actually really nice to be at the cabin with such a small and quiet group and we all thoroughly enjoyed playing in the water in glorious, 100 degree weather both days.  After Chris and Natalee and their entire family arrived late Wednesday evening, we unfortunately woke up to forest fire smoke every single day after that.  Luckily, the winds were able to blow off the smoke by the afternoon on both Thursday and Friday, but the smoke was so bad from the Spokane fire by Saturday morning, that we never saw the other side of the lake all day long.  It was like we were stuck in a smelly, grey soup all day which made it so that no one even wanted to go swimming.  As a result, we were all ready to pack up and head home on Sunday morning.  The only problem was that the Spokane fire had closed a section of I-90 which seriously impacted our drive home.  So between a massive detour through Eastern Washington and traffic before Snoqualmie pass and also while trying to get onto Highway 18, it took me 9.5 hours to drive home by myself with four kids in the car.  Needless to say, I was very grateful to pull up into our driveway that evening in one piece!

As always, the younger children thoroughly enjoyed creating figures out of the clay that they can always find beneath the sand on the beach.  Here is Logan sculpting away.

Sweet Emmett running down the dock towards me.

Emmett swimming in the beautiful, clear water.

Lia floating around in the yellow tube that we sadly lost to a crazy wind storm later in the week.

Unlike last month, I was able to get Lia to agree to waterski two times this past week.  Hooray!

Emmett and grandma cheering on Lia from the boat.

Lia in the water after finishing her ski.

Emmett was a great helper and loved holding up the flag for skiers while in the boat.

Last month while we were at Priest Lake, the kids came up with a new and improved way of making food for their "beach restaurant" by using clay.  Here are Logan and Ella showing off their amazing food that they made including a giant, hoagie sandwich.

All four kids playing in the water.

Emmett loved riding in the boat several times this week while watching his cousins ski and tube.  Here is a picture of him with Garrett in the front of the boat and Chris behind the wheel.  All of the pictures from this point on were taken after the forest fire smoke rolled in and created a very bleak and grey background in all of the lake pictures.

Logan and Trenton on the paddleboard.

Riley and Lia cruising around together.

Chris was able to convince Ella to go waterskiing one time with the help of Callie in the water.  I was actually able to ride in the boat and watch her which was so fun.

The older cousins and Chris playing a wild, wrestling game on the water mat.

Ella trying to soak up some rays and get warm while relaxing in the boat.

Lia eating dinner out on the deck one evening with Chris' kids and Aunt Rebecca.

The younger kids all enjoyed playing around the edge of the tennis court more than once while some of the older kids and adults played pickle ball.

Grandma put on her annual, treasure hunt for the grandkids on the last day that everyone was there.  Here are the girls reading their first clue.

The boys running up the stairs from the beach below.

The girls walking back to the driveway after finding another clue.

Logan reading another clue to the rest of the boys.

All of the grandkids posing for the camera after the treasure hunt was complete!

Moses Lake Open House

After driving past the Moses Lake Temple several times over the past 1.5 years on our way to and from Priest Lake, I learned a few months ago that the Open House dates had been scheduled.  After checking online, I was so pleased to see that we would be driving right by the temple during the Open House days on our way to Priest Lake in August.  Since there was no way that I would make the 7-hour, round-trip drive to take my kids just to see the temple, I was so grateful that the dates had lined up so perfectly.  After leaving Puyallup on Monday morning, we made it to the temple around 1:30 in the afternoon.  I was thankful for the excuse to stop and stretch my legs as I was really starting to feel sleepy after a busy weekend of three Matilda performances while hosting Amy and packing for this trip all while still being pretty sick with the worst cold of my life.  I thoroughly enjoyed walking around this beautiful mini temple with my four children and being able to show them all of the sacred rooms that they will not be able to see in person for several more years.  In addition, we enjoyed admiring many of the local touches (that focus on agriculture which is prevalent all over Eastern Washington) that are located all over the temple.  Overall, it was the perfect way to break up the 8-hour drive to the cabin, and was a wonderful opportunity for me to share with my children a little bit more about the significance of temples in our religion.

The kids standing outside the temple in 100 degree weather.  It was so hot that day!

The kids and me in front of the temple entrance.

A family shot from the side of the temple.

A close-up of my cuties and me.

Lia & Ella Perform in Matilda

After going back and forth for several months, I decided to let Lia and Ella participate in the summer production of Matilda being put on by our beloved children's theater downtown.  This was such a big decision for two main reasons.  First, it meant that Lia was going to miss Girls Camp which is a really big deal since it is such an important, annual experience for teenage girls in our church.  Secondly, the musical that our children's theater puts on every August is much more than a 3-week commitment.  If you choose to participate in this play, you are signing up for a 10-month commitment as a "company member."  This means that once the performances are over, you commit to attending a weekly, Saturday rehearsal for the next nine months on top of attending a dance, voice, and acting class on a weekly basis at the children's theater.  This is in preparation to fly to Atlanta for MLK weekend in January to attend the Junior Theatre Festival which hosts over 100 children's theaters and performing groups from all over the country in addition to performing a 15-minute version of this musical at several elementary schools in our area in the spring.  So, needless to say, it is a massive time and financial commitment.  Since Ella really wanted to participate, I allowed her to audition with Lia since I figured that this would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience that these girls (who are six years a part and have very little in common) could share and remember for the rest of their lives.

So after much preparation back in June, the girls both auditioned on June 9th and 10th with call-backs the following weekend.  They then both had to wait a painstakingly long, 6 weeks until their first rehearsal on Monday, July 24th.  On the first morning of the first rehearsal, they found out that Ella had received the role of Hortensia, the "tough girl" at Crunchem Hall Elementary School who has been in the "chokey" five times.  Lia was assigned three different roles of parent, older student, and mechanic.  Since she was only a parent in one scene and the mechanic in another scene, she spent the majority of the musical playing an older student in the ensemble.  Although this was the first time that Lia had not received a lead or supporting lead role in a NWTL production, she was actually thrilled to be in the ensemble for the first time since it meant that she was able to be in all of the incredible singing and dancing numbers.  

The girls gave this theatrical experience their all as they spent 35 hours a week for last three weeks learning all of the blocking, dances, and songs for this epic, children's performance.  They then put on two performances on August 12th and one performance on August 13th at the beautiful performing arts center at Auburn Riverside High School.  It was so much fun to watch them perform and to see how amazing this production turned out to be.  They sang and danced their hearts out and Ella even got to be the only performer who did a cartwheel over a classroom desk!  Overall, they had one of the funnest and most memorable experiences of their lives and I am so glad that they were able to share it together!

Ella performing as one of the children in the song, "Miracle," in the opening scene of the musical.

Lia acting as one of the parents in "Miracle."

The little kids being scared to death by the older students while singing, "The School Song."

Ella waving a ribbon while singing, "Hammer."

Ella listening to Nigel during the Chokey scene.

Lia looking fierce while singing the Chokey song.

Lia making spikes in an imaginary chokey.

The little students listening to Miss Trunchbull.

One of the really cool things about this play was all of the lifts that the older actors were taught how to do with the younger children.  Lia was assigned to lift Ella during the song, "When I Grow Up."

Lia "flying" Ella around in a circle.

Ella doing stretches while singing, "The Smell of Rebellion."

Ella stretching away with other classmates.

Lia dancing during Phys Ed class.

Lia and the older kids dancing during "The Smell of Rebellion."

Ella yelling at Miss Trunchbull from the top of her desk.

Lia dancing during the awesome song, "Revolting Children."

I was able to go and watch both of the girls' matinee performances on Saturday and Sunday.  Ron took the boys to see the evening performance on Saturday, so our family was present at all three performances.  Here are Lia and Ella posing together after their first performance.

Ella had four friends come and cheer her on during the first performance on Saturday.  Ella, Avery, and Brooklyn (with her little sister) all are friends from her gymnastics team.  Her church/school friend, Madelyn, also came with her little sister and family.  Here is Ella posing with her gymnastics friends Ella, Brooklyn, and Camden.

Since my good friend, Amy, was going to be in town with her two kids, I bought all of them tickets to come with me to the Saturday matinee show.  In addition, we convinced Riley to bring Dominic (our German relative visiting from Vienna, Austria) to join us for the Saturday matinee performance.  It was so fun to have all of these people here to cheer on the girls!

I brought two of Lia's closest friends, Sienna and Mollie, to come with me to the Sunday matinee show.  In addition, Lia's good friend from elementary school, Rian, came with her mom and her close running buddy, Hope, came with her grandparents and younger brother.  Just like with Ella, it was so nice to have these friends there to watch and support Lia!

A Quick Visit from Amy

Less than a month ago, my dear childhood friend and college roommate, Amy, reached out to me.  She was planning a last minute trip to visit her sister in Eastern Washington and was thinking about flying in and out of Seattle.  As a result, Amy asked if she and her two children could spend the weekend at our house.  Since I haven't hosted her since 2010, I was super excited to have her join us for the weekend.  Unfortunately, I came down with a terrible cold and was still not feeling well when they arrived since I was up every night with horrible, coughing spells that would leave me feeling exhausted the next day.  So I did the best I could to be a good host during their short visit while juggling the girls in their three Matilda performances while packing for our big trip to Priest Lake.  Since Amy and her kids arrived late Friday night, I made a big breakfast on Saturday before taking them to see the matinee performance of Matilda.  We then spent time with Lia and Ella and the rest of the Matilda cast for a pizza dinner party between their two shows before heading to Seattle for the rest of the evening.  After going to church together on Sunday morning, we all returned home in time for Amy to pack up before driving to Eastern Washington and before I had to take Ella and Lia back to their final performance of Matilda.  Although it was a super quick visit, I am so grateful for this chance that I had to see Amy again and to reconnect with her children.

Logan and Emmett were able to spend an hour or so playing in the pool on Saturday morning with Amy's son, Clayton.

The group picture we took with Lia and Ella after the performance was over.

Enjoying the pizza party with the girls and the Matilda cast between their two performances.

The beautiful view of the Seattle skyline from Gas Works Park where Amy and I visited several times during our high school glory days.  We enjoyed taking her kids there to show them Lake Union before heading to a delicious ice cream shop down the street where we spent the rest of the evening before heading back home.