Aaron the RM

A week ago Aaron was still a missionary--


But now he is home!

He is trying to adjust to his new life.
He looks kind of lost:(

Our whole ward was excited to see him again in Sacrament Meeting.

We had a fire in backyard the night after he got back.
This is my favorite picture.
I love Sarah in the background, John's strategically placed hand,
and Lily's peeping-tom look.

We went out for BBQ on the way home from the airport. It was very good, and very messy!

Lily, our fashion consultant, gladly volunteered to take Aaron shopping for new clothes.

I took him up the canyon today for a little photo shoot.

My John

I love Playmobile toys.
John has played endlessly in the tub with his ships.

Suddenly a shark comes along! What will the men do?

Buzz Light Year to the rescue!!
(Duh! Who else?)

John's says he is a baker in this hat he made.
I love how he has taped it to his head.
John thinks tape is pretty great and uses it for all sorts of strange things.

So cute:)

School projects

Rebecca's fairy tale project on "Thumbelina"




Sarah's cell project. We made it with glycerin soap. I thought it came out great!


And lastly, Rebecca's dinosaur project.

Happenings in the last month

We said goodbye to summer, and thus goodbye to all the mornings I would get up and there were already 2-5 neighborhood kids in the kitchen eating breakfast.

I finally had my Grandma Tracy's diamond put into my ring. It cost me all of $225 and I don't know why I didn't just do it a long time ago. It looks really nice.

Daniel came to visit!
Oh, yea, and Megan and Paul came too.
But whatever...
:)

Nathaniel got braces the 2nd day of school. When I tried to get him to eat something the morning after he refused.
"Mom. I don't even want to drink anything."
I ran to the neighbors and borrowed some ice cream to made him a shake.
Peter and I never had braces and we know almost nothing about them.
Evidently they are not that much fun.
See, this is why they put the bar codes on the actual soccer balls and not on the box.

Sarah got glasses.
They are very cute, she wears them all the time, and now she doesn't get so nearly so many headaches!

Daniel is helping Peter make some phone calls.

The kids started school the day Megan and Paul left.
Nathaniel in 9th, Sarah in 7th, and Rebecca in 4th.
Then a week later, on August 31st, John started Kindergarten...

John has an awesome teacher.
Yesterday Nathaniel told John to get used to homework, he has another 16 years to go.

I made a baby blanket for a girl I visit teach. Her daughter's name is Emma.

All the kids started soccer, but then we ended up taking John out.
He was excited for the first practice, not so much for the 2nd, and then cried the whole way through their first game that he wanted to go home.

Hosting for the Czech Republic

My Uncle Karl Allred and his wife Rayma were instrumental in starting the Worldwide Folkfest here in Springville and we had always wanted to host but it had never worked out until now. August 23rd they had a family drop out and called us. Two days later Peter picked up four exhausted boys from Czech.

Martin (20), Radik (16), Lebor (20), and Petr (18) in their new t-shirts we gave them the last day of their visit.
Martin and Lebor play violin, Radik plays clarinet, and Petr is a dancer.
They brought us little gifts from Czech.
A book of photographs, a plate, a bell.
Very cute.

We hiked Stewart Falls one day.

We invited my Uncle Gene, Aunt Sally, and Grandpa Johnson over for a BBQ and little concert in the backyard. The boys were really good.

Martin is currently in medical school and according to Lebor does nothing but study.
He was such a character. We called him "the eating machine" for a reason.

Lebor had a decent sized tattoo of a treble clef on his calf and when I asked him what his mom thought about that he said, "I don't know. I did not ask her."
He says that music is his life and I believe him.
He wore a ring on his neck and I found out he left behind a very cute Czech girlfriend.
Awww...

First experience with smores. They thought this was very interesting, especially when I showed them how to smoosh them together. "Ahhh--like a sandwich!" they said. Then they would eat like 5 more.
Thankfully the boys ate most anything, but had a special affinity for mayonnaise, which they would spread on their toast like jam. We went through 1 1/2 jars of it while they were here. I was glad that at least it was the light variety.

The host families were invited to learn the dances after a couple of the shows. Sarah and I camped out in the shadows waiting to take the boys home but Petr hunted us out & to my horror pulled me in to dance with him. I had not had anyone but hubby with his hands on my hips in a very long time so I had to get over that--and quick. I was so dizzy when the music stopped I honestly feared I'd fall over. Petr thought it was great fun just beamed at me. HUGE step out of my comfort zone.

Potluck karaoke

We went to the show 4 out of the 5 nights. They were with us for a week and had shows every night they were here. The language was a bit of an issue, but we got by. They all spoke some. As opposed to our Japanese students who would just continually nod even when they didn't know what we were saying the Czech boys looked at us blankly and said something like, "I cannot understand your words."
We had never hosted what I would consider truly European guests before. They were boys with little inhibition and would dress with the door wide open or walk to and from the bathroom in their underwear. We had one room that had a double bed. It took me two days to figure out there were two of them sleeping in there, which I thought was kind of funny, but in reality is just a homophobic American thing anyway I guess. On the last day I insisted that they must do some laundry. I started the machine and stood there willing them to put some clothes in and suddenly Petr is stripping right in front of the washer. I took my exit.
At night I would whine to Peter. "I left something downstairs but I'm afraid to go down there--I need you to go and get it!" That was the time of day they would shower and the door may or may not be shut, a chance I wouldn't take.
I've decided I'm a sheltered girl. Sometimes I wish I could be more comfortable in my own skin (or around other people's) but that just isn't going to happen just now. I still live under the allusion that in order to show skin a person must be flawless.
They were fascinated by all the big trucks out on the road and very interested to find out how much we pay for cars here. Evidently in Czech they cost about twice what they do here.
We have had several people wonder aloud why we would do something like this because of the invasion, the stress, etc. Of course it will be stressful, it always is. You expect that. But it is also a really neat experience.
It isn't for everyone but Peter and I like to expose our kids to other cultures to enlighten them to the fact that there are lots of different kinds of people out there who don't live like we do. You know, to give them the heads up that they are actually living it up pretty good around here! The kids think it is great entertainment and now we have developed new relationships. Creates memories we won't soon forget as well.

Rafting in Oregon

Our last stop in Oregon was Maupin, where we went river rafting. It was a highlight of our trip. Nathaniel and Rebecca took turns "riding the bull" and we all had a good laugh when we piled into the back of the boat to watch Rebecca hold on for dear life as the weight in the back shot her around in the air up front.
The place we stayed was very nice but also full of party hungry guides playing volleyball outside in their barely-there attire. I became uncomfortable when John made friends with a group of tattooed, drinking, smoking, crude-talking folks. John kept sitting on this one woman's lap and telling her she shouldn't be smoking "because you will die." To her credit she didn't disagree.


Even before we started rafting I can see how worn out we look at the end of this vacation.

Shipwreck

I set up a deep sea fishing expedition for the boys and they were really excited about it. The following pictures take place before Nathaniel spent the whole 5 hours retching over the side and Peter spent and equal amount of time trying not to wretch over the side. They were so sick they seriously considered jumping into the frigid water in an attempt to swim for land.
Needless to say, they did not to catch any fish.
When they came back Peter's brother Charles and I couldn't help laughing until we cried at the irony of it all. Our family has never caught a single thing while fishing together. (We also crabbed in Oregon and didn't catch any crab.)
I think we spent $200 on seafood that never materialized.
We must be cursed.