Orchestra Camp

Graig has been having a great time at orchestra camp this week. One of his favorite parts has been to meet the visiting artists, hear them play, and sometimes play with them. Guest Conductor, David Lockington with visiting artist, Anne Akiko Meyers talk with kids and answer their question about being professional musicians. David Lockington conducted the kids during the camp's orchestra rehersal in Abravanel Hall. He is like a walking encyclopedia of music history knowledge and Graig said he was a fun conductor. He told them the historical context of the songs they were rehearsing. They got to watch Anne rehearse with the Utah Symphony for her performance with the Utah Symphony tommorrow night in Park City. Anne plays on a Stradivarius Violin that once belonged to the King of Spain.

Bryan Hernandez-Luch poses with Graig. Bryan is a professional violinist and the husband of Deondra Brown. He will play a solo at the BIG concert on Saturday night. He is great to hang out during breaks and talk with the kids in the orchestra.

Anne and Graigry

Court of Honor

Warren with the group of boys and leaders he took to camp. All of the boys got a rank advancement and the older boys earned lots of merit badges. It was a successful camp.

Tyler pinning his tenderfoot pin on his mom.

Graigry FINALLY finished his camping merit badge!

The 5 Browns...and Graig?

Graig is attending an orchestra camp in Park City this week. The culminating concert on Saturday is with the 5 Browns! They came today to rehearse, give a private concert to the kids and answer questions about being a professional musician. Graig said it was a "really fun day."

Lehi Foam Day

To celebrate the 24th of July, the Lehi Fire department sprayed foam into a large field for people to come and play in. When you were done, you could get sprayed off in their giant shower.

Melanie

Jessica

Fresh foam!!

Melanie, Makayla, and Tyler

Graigry

Too Fun!!

Keeping Cool in the "Chocolate Milk Pool"

Filling the sandbox with water to make a swimming hole has been one of the kids favorite activities since they were little. I guess some fun things you never grow out of.

"I'm trying to dry off!"

Girl's Camp

Group shot

Sierra and Jessica L. on our old couch

Shelby, Shyanne, and Chelsea practicing our skit















Joy

Whitney and Kiera waiting for their turn to perform

An Expensive Fishing License

Graig is getting ready to go on a "High Adventure" trip with the scouts this week and one of the things he needs to do is get a fishing license. He is broke, so he asked his dad if there was anything he could do to earn a fishing license. Warren told him he could cut up and stack all of the branches we cut off the trees last fall and this spring. The branches were just thrown in the dog kennel, out of site. He went out yesterday afternoon to get to work and came back having stepped on a thorn which went through his shoe and into his big toe. We very carefully removed his sock and I could see it was pretty deep as the skin around the thorn was indented. We tried to pull it out with no luck. I had him soak his toe to try and loosen the thorn but it did not work at all. His toe was very sore. At that point I called the after hours clinic and they said to bring him right over. Dr. Whiting took one look at his toe and left to get some "supplies". He returned with what looked to Graig like a high school frog disection kit. Graig is afraid of needles and wasn't very cooperative when it came to laying still on the table. It took two of us to hold him still so that the doctor could numb his toe and pull the thorn out. The doctor gave him the thorn to bring home. The part of the thorn that was in his toe was 1.5 cm. No wonder it wasn't to be easily pulled out. Turns out when something puncture your foot through your shoe you are in danger of getting some bad infections from all of the bacteria in your shoe so the Dr. prescribed a strong antibiotic. So here is the total so far for the fishing license:
License: $26
Co-pay at the Dr.: $20
Antibiotic: $36
Total: $82
As a side note, the pills he has to take are huge and he is not used to swallowing pills. It is hillarious to watch the faces he makes as he tries to get those pills down.

EFY Rocks!!

Starting Monday, July 6 through Friday the 11th Graig and I went up to stay at our cousins' house in Layton. We attended Especially For Youth in Ogden during the day and slept at their house at night. It made for long hours, but I wouldn't trade it for anything! What a blast!!








Sunset over EFY prayer meeting




















Brayden

The company boys- carrying their counselor Jason




"Forever and Ever" (see Mosiah 3:19)
The best company ever!!
















My group: Melissa, me, Laura, Cassandra, Jandee
Regan, counselor Mackenzie, Kate, Emily









The only time you'll see BYU Blue next to die-hard Red:
cousins Graig and Josh













Josh, Graig, me, Jill and Jill's friends Jessica and Morgan

Seven Peaks

With Jessica and Graig at EFY I decided to take Melanie and Tyler to use their free passes to Seven Peaks. We Met Connie, Megan, Ashlyn and Emily. The kids spent most of their time between the wave pool and the Lazy River. Megan and Tyler went off by themselves for a while to go on slides and some of the bigger kids activities.

Connie and Ashlyn

Emily, Ashlyn, Melanie

Fourth of July Fun

A Family Tradition we really look forward to each year is going Aunt Gay and Uncle Stan's house on the 3rd of July for a BBQ and cousins party. The evening ends watching North Salt Lake's fireworks show while sitting on the golf course behind their house. What a fun night.

Graig and Tyler

The after dinner, pre-fireworks show is always a highlight of the night for my kids. Aunt Gay and Uncle Stan always make sure there are enough fireworks for everyone to get a chance to light one or two. Pop-its and sparklers are also part of the celebration.

Kara, Kayla, and Jessica

Jessica is eating again after getting those wisdom teeth out. Thanks to Smoothie King she didn't starve over the three days she couldn't eat.

No More Wisdom Teeth

Last Wednesday I took the kids to get their teeth cleaned. While we were there the dentist recommended that we have Jessica's wisdom teeth pulled as there is no room in her mouth for more teeth. We made an appointment with an oral surgeon for Monday. When the Surgeon's secretary called on our insurance she found out that there would be a significant advantage to having them removed before July 1. The surgeon rearranged his schedule and fit her in on Tuesday. The advantage to this was she didn't have long to worry about it. My Mom and Dad happened to drop by Monday night and so she was able to get a priesthood blessing to help calm her down. Everything went well with the extractions. When she started to wake up they came and got me to go see her. She was hooked up to a bunch of beeping monitors which gave me a flashback to when she was born and had to be hooked up to a bunch of monitors. She was sick the first day after the surgery but just swollen yesterday. She isn't in very much pain. She didn't let a little surgery keep her from a long piano lesson or a YW activity.