Let's Go to Texas!

Friday afternoon, the boys were at Philmont and I was talking to Myrna on the phone and spontaneously decided to go to Texas. 4 out of the 5 of us had responsibilities at church on Sunday that we had to cover. Once we got those covered, we found someone to watch Kate and let Myrna know we would be coming

We drove to Oklahoma City on Saturday morning and did some school shopping. We then dropped Morgan and Marissa off at the temple and did some more shopping. I let Reagan pick the stores she wanted to go to so she could use her birthday money. Maddie & Reagan thought it was great they could just go from store to store shopping because normally I just take them to one store and say "This is the only place we are going!". I am definitely not a shopper!!

We then picked the girls up from the temple and drove the rest of the way to Dallas. It was really nice breaking the trip up into 2 sections. We drove straight to IKEA. Myrna and Savannah met us there. I got out of the car and had my phone in my hand to call Myrna, when Myrna came driving in to the parking lot. We coudn't have timed it any more perfect!

We picked out dressers for Maddie & Reagan for their room and a few other miscellaneous things. It all fit in the van without a problem and then we went to eat at Chilis!
When we got to the house, Savannah & Marissa decided to highlight Sydnie's hair. Sydnie was camera shy and the highlighting session didn't go too well. Sydnie bailed out in the middle.
I told the girls to pack light and Reagan definitely listened! She packed all of her things in DVD player bag and attached her DS to the side.

By Sunday afternoon, everyone was wiped out. Reagan and Maddie sleep while Luke & Morgan play on the ipad. The night before Myrna and I were up past 2 a.m. playing games on the ipad. Pretty funny! I got some new games, my favorite being the traffic game.
Marissa takes a nap, too.

We left to go home Monday morning because Marissa had an orthodontist appointment and then had to work. We had a great trip and we were all glad we went!!

Ice Skating

After we left the art museum, we went to McDonalds for lunch. The art museum, McDonalds and the ice rink are all really close to each other. However, we didn't have the address for the ice rink and so we couldn't find it on the GPS. We were kind of driving in circles when Morgan put the baseball stadium in the GPS and told us the ice rink was across the street from the baseball stadium. Marissa and I thought she was wrong, but it turned out she was right!!When we first got to the ice rink, there were less than 10 other people there. It was great!
Morgan & Reagan
This was Nancy's first time to ice skate.
The girls were all great to help Nancy.
A picture from behind.
Taking a break! We ended up only staying a little over an hour because Reagan got a blister and she was done!! I took pictures in the beginning, but then I put my camera away and ice skated. I am definitely not a good enough ice skater to take pictures while I ice skate!

Wichita Art Museum

When Reagan told me that she wanted to go to the art museum for her birthday, I must admit that my first thought was "Oh, no -- not an art museum!" However, I should have known that going to an art museum with my own kids would be just fine because they aren't any more interested in standing around admiring art than I am! We went upstairs and walked on the glass bridge, admired the glass chandelier and then walked through some art galleries without stopping until we got to the children's play area.
Reagan on the glass bridge that the kids all love to run on.
Maddie & Reagan underneath the big artistic chandelier.
Maddie, Reagan & Nancy dressing up.
Coloring some pictures. Morgan was in a "Don't take my picture!" mood.
Ha, ha, I got a picture of Morgan when she wasn't paying attention.
Madding posing while the others color.
The girls pose for an instant camera which Morgan is using while I take a picture, too.
Reagan breaks out from the boxes!
Nancy used the instant picture and made this. So sweet!!

Once the girls were done playing and drawing pictures, we walked back through the galleries and left. We actually all had a great time at the art museum!

Happy Birthday, Reagan!

Mark and Rob were gone on a scouting trip to Philmont Scout Ranch for Reagan's 7th birthday so the girls were being extra mindful to make sure that Reagan still had a good birthday.Maddie & Morgan got up early and made chocolate chip muffins for Reagan for breakfast.
The night before, Maddie & Morgan had decorated Reagan's room with crepe paper.
Reagan got to open her presents first thing in the morning. Here, Reagan shows off an ice cream maker which Morgan gave her. Morgan got her a whole bunch of fun presents which were on clearance at Target.
Reagan is thrilled that she got what she was asking for - a DS.
Reagan's birthday cake which she picked out at Target. It was a marble cake.

Marissa - A Really Great Girl!

My main purpose of doing this blog is to keep a family history and to have a way to let our family know what is going on with us in Kansas. I just really felt a need to do this post so this could be a part of our family history even though Marissa may not like it a lot (because she is so humble and doesn't like attention drawn to herself!)It is hard to believe that in a little more than 3 weeks Marissa will be leaving for college and our whole family will no longer be living under one roof! It will be weird not to have her here. However, I LOVED BYU and I am so excited for her to go to BYU. She is really excited, too, and I just know it is going to be an incredible experience for her!

I feel so grateful to have Marissa as my oldest child. She is such a good kid and incredible example to her younger siblings. She is a great student and so conscientious. The only grade she ever got in high school was an A. She has never been a follower and has no problem walking away from a bad situation. She does the right thing just because it is right and because she has a really strong conscience. She is also very thoughtful of others.

For girls camp this year, Marissa presented the idea of tie dying t-shirts for the youth leaders by using spray paint. She also cut the letters for the girls name from freezer paper and ironed them onto the shirts in advance. She also came up with an idea to differentiate the youth leaders by different colored headbands. Even before girls camp started, the leaders in charge of camp were very grateful for her help.

Once she got to camp, the stake camp leader over her level got sick and went home. The adult leader was there the first night when the youth leaders were there, but left before the first night with all the girls there. Once she left, Marissa became the "adult leader" over her level. She went to the special daily meetings with the the other adult level leaders. She also continued to do all her jobs as a youth leader as well. It was a bit stressful, but she felt like it was a great learning experience. She said that she could tell that she really "grew up" this week at camp.

When she got home, she told me that it really started to get annoying how many people were coming up and telling her how she did such a great job. Every adult camp leader that I have talked to since camp has also come up to me and told me what an amazing job she did. I've also had people who weren't at camp that have come up and told me that they heard what an amazing job Marissa did at camp. She definitely made a very positive impression on lots of people! The bishop told me on Sunday that he had at least 10 people come up and tell him how great Marissa had been at camp including the stake president, camp director and stake young women's president. Marissa doesn't like attention drawn to her, but she isn't afraid to take charge and get things done. She definitely likes things to be done efficiently!

Marissa really wants to be an EFY counselor and she won't be old enough for 2 years. However, when she is ready to apply she should have a whole posse of people ready to give her a glowing recommendation!!

Random Happenings

Some random things from this week.
We had to replace our sink because there was a crack in it. The new sink came in this great box. It provided tons of entertainment. The girls set up a hut in it and actually slept in it that night.
Maddie making tickets to come to the "movie"!
Maddie got into poison ivy about a week ago when she was helping at an Eagle Project. She has been pretty miserable. She's tried baking soda baths, calamine lotion, regular lotion. They all help very short term. But the key is short term!! Grandma Hislop suggested that she try a mixture of baking soda and vinegar. She tried that the same day she started on Prednisone. It may have been a combination of help, but it definitely seemed like Grandma's remedy was a great one!!
Maddie loves to bake cakes, to the point that most of us get tired of it. Today she baked this cake entirely by herself including clean-up. The fact that she cleaned up definitely made it a success in my eyes!!
Reagan and Marissa show off their colored mouths after chewing colored gum. Morgan got the gum from a pinata and girls camp and the other girls sure had fun chewing it!

Marissa was hanging out with her friends the other night and one of her friends' boyfriend was teasing her about going out west to college and was asking her when she was going to hit the Oregon Trail. She was laughing along with him and told him that she had actually called BYU that day and it was a holiday because it was "Pioneer Day". He thought that he was really funny after that!!

I finished reading the Happiness Book and it was awesome!! I also went to an all-day motivational conference this week with lots of famous speakers. I love stuff like that so it was awesome. All the featured speakers were great, but I'd have to say that my favorites were Lou Holtz ( he was soooo funny and he also had some great information) and Bill Self ( He told stories about Kansas basketball and also made some great points.)

Last week was girls camp so Marissa & Morgan were gone most of the week. It was Morgan's first year and Marissa's last. Morgan had lots of fun singing the camp songs and met some new friends. She got a little dehydrated the first day and was glad Marissa was there to help her out. It was a HOT week. Marissa said that one day they were swimming and the water seemed so cool so she checked to see what the temperature of the water was. It was 94. You know it is hot outside when 94 degree water feels cool!!

Ben came on Friday so that he could go to Philmont with Mark and Rob. We loved having him here even though it was only for one day. He missed seeing Marissa & Morgan since they were at camp, but Marissa will be seeing him soon at BYU!! The boys are now at Philmont in New Mexico and will be there for another week so we are having 2 weeks of girl time at our house!!

Exploration Place

We went to Exploration Place with some families that hadn't been before. Morgan wasn't with us today because she was at Girls Camp.Reagan, Gretchen, and Elisa up above in the castle area.
Sarah and Reagan riding their horses. Reagan was having a great time dressing up.
Reagan & Elisa with Grandma. (Gotta have another picture of Grandma from Exploration Place, kind of like the statues at the zoo - take a picture every visit!)
Michelle helping Truman keep the ball afloat.
Reagan doing a puzzle.
Maddie, helping Truman fly a plane. Maddie loves to be Truman's helper and Truman loves to go with Maddie.
Reagan and Michelle checking out the cow! We loved having Michelle come with us. She really helped entertain the kids!
Truman shuts Reagan in the tornado tube.
A busy day at the veterinarians office. The kids actually played here 2 different times. They LOVED it!!
Maddie, Elisa, Reagan & Sarah check out some animal x-rays.
Gretchen & Sarah running the office.

A Super Fun Day!

Today was a catch up day for summer fun activities, so we had a pretty fun day.Elisa, Reagan, and Maddie show off their homemade super balls. This was a fun activity. The balls didn't bounce too great, but they bounced good enough to make the process worthwhile.
A close up of the balls. As you can see, they are a bit lopsided!
Elisa & Reagan making a ping pong ball jump from one cup to another. This activity was a huge hit!!
Elisa, Reagan, and Sarah playing with slippery play dough, a play dough with lots of oil in it. It was fun to play with, but didn't store too great for later use.
Elisa and Maddie dipping paper towels to make paper towel butterflies. We had dipped paper towels in the past, but hadn't made them into butterflies. Maddie was very self sufficient in getting this activity ready to go.
Elisa and Reagan dipping some paper towels. I forgot to take pictures of the finished butterflies. Once the butterflies were done the kids took a pipe cleaner and twisted it around the middle to form a butterfly. The butterflies dried really fast since it feels like an oven outside!

We also had homemade miniature pizzas for lunch and Banana Crunch bars for a snack. We made fake snot which kind of worked, but kind of didn't. We also did an experiment where we transferred water from one cup to another with a paper towel. I did some major planning yesterday, so it was easy to do lots of activities today!

Summer Baseball

This summer for baseball Rob played on the American Legion team for his high school. The team was coached by the high school coach and it was great for Rob to play with all kids from his high school. It seemed less stressful for me, too, because the practices and home games were at the high school and Rob could drive himself.Rob looks on as his team mate, Blake, makes a play.
Rob at bat.
Fielding a ball.
A picture Mark took of a baseball. When I first saw this picture, I was trying to figure out the point of it, but the more I see it the more I like it.

The last game of the season the 3 younger girls came to the game with me in Newton. They announced that each foul ball returned would be worth 50 cents. The girls were all over trying to get the foul balls. Here, Morgan shows off one that she got.
Rob, talking with some team mates.

Summers are always hot in Kansas, but this one has been absolutely over the top. Most of the games in the last couple weeks of the season were played when the temperature was 105 or higher. There was one game in which Rob made an incredible diving play in the dirt. It really looked like he was eating dirt. He got the ball and threw it to first for the out. He looked even more dirty and hot after that game then usual!

I really like Rob's coach. Their team lost quite a few games this season because they are very young and they even played teams where many of the kids had all ready graduated. More often than not, the entire infield of our team would be made up of kids that will be sophomores in the fall. Rob's coach really emphasizes sportsmanship, hustling, etc. In one game, one of the really good players threw a bat and the coach benched him the rest of the game. It definitely hurt the team, but I was impressed that the coach emphasized good behavior over winning. The coach also says a prayer with the kids before every game. It means so much to me to have a coach that is a great role model and someone I am happy having Rob look up to!