I have such issues with my tingling wrists if I sit at my computer for any length of time, that I've lost my blogging mojo and my outer banks memories are becoming misty and water-colored.... (
I want to take a water color class...and Whitney is SUCH a talented budding artist. I hope she continues to pursue that talent).
To wrap up these memories, it was so, so fun to spend time with everyone.....to have an afternoon free to lie down on the kid's beds and listen to them play and have them totally forget I was even there. To share meals together (including this night out for yummy Japanese food the night after we got back to Greensboro. Brandon was so antsy for us to get the heck out of there and go to dinner and leave him in charge at their house....go, git, have fun mom and dad and grandma and grandpa, be gone with ye!).
This is a random shot from the beach house. I will always remember reading scriptures every night and using electronic devices. Woo who!
...and Brandon's realistic portrayal of a body washing ashore :-)
Another random memory - when we got back to Greensboro I got to see
fireflies again one languid night. Reminded me of being a little girl in
Iowa City, Iowa.I took many photos like this trying to get a picture of them: I'm an awesome photographer, what can I say?
Loved spending this long stretch of time together and not have to worry about coming back to face work and church responsibilities. Looking forward to many many more of these. I read Ken Jenning's book "Maphead" while we were at the beach house. That was my 2014 Outer Banks book. Just like "Alive" was Andrew and my book when we were there in 2012 or 2011, whenever we were at that "angry" outer banks beach! Wow this beach was so friendly and perfect compared to that one!
AND ZEN....(Brandon used to say that when he was a little boy instead of saying "And then!....) I still like to say that in my mind...
AND ZEN when we came home we headed straight down to Springville to watch over Tony and Cindy's kids while Tony and Cindy were the session directors for EFY at the University of Utah. Denny picked us up at the airport late Sunday night and we were delayed a couple of hours so wouldn't have been able to get to Tony's house until after midnight. Lauren said she wasn't scared so we slept in our own beds Sunday night and did some wash and watered houseplants and got the mail the next morning and took care of the daily business of life, and then drove down to Springville.....and that was a great experience too! I took this picture of Calvin and Vivi and Eli running in the empty lot next to Tony and Cindy's house and I just love it!
Also, Lauren made dinner every single night to help earn money for when she went to EFY (except one night off where we gave her a break from slaving away and ordered pizza).
That was also the same night I forgot Eli would be coming home before anyone else got back from Mutual and I was at Jane's softball game with the little kids
....so he was all by himself at the house when he walked home after Scouts at 8:00 pm. Oh yikes! It's so complicated having 6 kids. He looked so cute and slightly forlorn when I pulled into their circle that evening, in the gathering twilight. He was half-heartedly riding around in the driveway on his scooter, still in his Cub Scout shirt. He was glad to see us, that's for sure! Eli really loved the week because he'd disappear for, oh, an entire day, before I'd think, hmmmmm, where's Eli? And he'd be upstairs playing a game on Lauren's phone!
It was so much easier not having to worry about getting the kids up early for school and trying to get them settled down at night. Here they are doing their late-night basketball game i.e.getting settled down tee hee:
......yikes,
We went to a splash park one afternoon - such fun - the older girls were at Seven Peaks, and Jane was nice enough to come with us to the park - although she was much too mature to be there!
Dennis stayed home with the boys one afternoon, and the girls and I went to Provo Towne Center and shopped. Lauren navigated. When we headed home she said hesitantly, "Now grandma, do you know the way home?" (she knows me well!). We split an Orange Julius 5 ways, rode mall animals yee haw, and shopped. Reagan found a bookstore that, had we not forced her to leave it, she'd still be there. (Reagan also watched the Audrey Hepburn movie "Roman Holiday" one afternoon while I slept on the floor and Dennis watched the little kids. She loved it, black and white and all. She couldn't even quite articulate to me how much she loved it, only that she loved it so much!).
One afternoon I went to their local Reams grocery store and bought some red solo cups (oh my I love that particular Reams. It's like I stepped back not even into the 1980's, but more like into the 1950's. And everyone who works there is so HAPPY. It IS happy valley. I can't figure it out.They are not fake customer service happy, they are cheesy really grinning nice and happy. I think it's the lack of traffic......(although Calvin's not particulary happy in this picture. I hadn't even noticed it until I uploaded it. funny).
the aftermath.........it's sure a fast clean-up though!
While I was there sleeping in the downy comfort of Tony and Cindy's white bed, I sped-read a book about Henry Beecher that Tony had on his bedstand. It was about 800 pages long, and I gulped through some chapters, but such fascinating history about the civil war and the beginnings of what would now be the evangelical churches during that time of the world. The guy was a Bill Clintonesque character.
Dennis let Cal and Vivi have Otter Pops one afternoon and they were out the back door in a flash. They know the drill when it comes to eating Otter Pops - enjoy them on the back deck in lawn chairs!
And finally, we played "Chopped" one day for lunch. I swore I'd never do it again after we did it a couple of years ago, because I'm the judge and I "chop" one grandchild each round. Imagine being 6-year-old Vivian, having just created a plateful of ritz crackers, bananas, chocolate sauce and cookies, and then like the grand poobah of Food Network t.v. I decree..."VIVIAN, YOU'VE BEEN CHOPPED!" and banish her from the competition..............I'm never doing it again. But oh my GOSH they did an amazing job creating appetizer, entre and desert and handling being chopped with aplomb.They were chopped exactly according to age and Reagan won, based in part on her entre which included getting out a pan and making a grilled cheese sandwich. We trashed that kitchen so bad I can't even describe it. Just know there was a LOT of Hershey's syrup involved in each round. And as we began the desert round, all frantic motion and chaos, the doorbell rang and it was the dishwasher repairman (and that's a whole other story). He could hardly pick his way around and through the contestants and debris and I was not about to be sidetracked from what was the final judging of the desert round. He pretended not to pay attention as I made silly comments such as "your plating is divine....I really like the play of salty against sweet...."
I could go on, but that's a pretty good history of our week!
We had a great time. XOXOXO
Mom
