We drove to Orem Saturday morning and got to Emilys about 10. Her new apartment complex has a pool and so after lunch we had the kids go down with Andrew, Maddie (his girlfriend) and Matt. Emily and I were planning on going to see some Parade of Homes but decided to go hang out at the pool for a while. Once we got down there I sat and watched the kids swim for a bit and then Emily and I both expressed a desire to go swimming. So we went back up and put on our suits so we could swim for a bit.
After a lot of fun swimming we changed and headed out to look at some homes. We tried going to the first house but after Emily's phone took us no where near it, I put it in my phones map and it took us to the general location and then we found it by sheer luck. But then neither of our phone maps could get us to the next place on the list. It had no idea where to take us and so we skipped that and went to the next one. The third and final one we went to was a huge 9,ooo square foot home. It had a trophy room, an exercise room, a movie theater, a boat garage and many more rooms that just seemed over the top and too much. It really is a sad display of wealth when you look at all these unnecessary rooms and think of all the other useful things that can be done with that money. We spent a lot of time driving around looking for these homes and by the time we were done looking at the third home we were tired and done. Emily really needed to get gas and so we did that and then we started talking about shaved ice and how that sounded so good. Happily we passed a shaved ice stand and we stopped to get some. I ordered a small because I knew that would be plenty and a lot. Emily did not believe me when I told her that even the smalls were big and so she ordered a medium and it was so big she had to throw some of it away because she could not finish it. Next time listen to your big sister!
On Monday Emily had to go into school for a collaboration meeting and I drove Ben to meeting point for Scout Day Camp. He looked so cute in his uniform!
At the end of the school year Erin expressed a need for a distraction and so I invited her to come and visit us. She seemed keen to the idea and so I called her up and we discussed plans as I told her what we had going on for the summer. She decided to drive up to Utah while we were there to spend some time with Emily as well and then drive with us to Idaho. Kenedy and Alyssa have been wanting to get together for forever and I thought this would be a great time to make it happen since Alyssa could drive up with Erin. Alyssa was at Girls Camp that week and Erin would have to wait a couple of extra days to drive up but she seemed ok with that. So Stephanie called Jim, Alyssas Dad and asked him if it was Ok. He was fine with it but needed Alyssa home on the 30th since it was his birthday and he had a surprise for the girls. Erin was not planning on going back that soon and so we agreed it wouldn't work out and were bummed but thought better luck next time.
The next day Stephanie called me and said if Erin were still willing to wait to drive to Utah on Saturday when Alyssa gets back from camp that Jim called and said he would buy a plane ticket for Alyssa to fly home on the 30th! I could not believe it, that was incredible news and I was so excited! Erin said she could wait and i was so excited that Alyssa could some up with her. I didn't tell Kenedy because i thought it would be a fun surprise. They arrived really late Saturday night and the surprise was a bit anticlimactic because Kenedy was half awake and super confused.
Monday after Emily was done with her collaboration meeting Erin and I took the kids over to her school to see her classroom and help her out with getting set up and organized. The kids had fun looking at books and playing with her color counters and such while I decorated her door and Erin and Emily worked on the Calendar board.
Avynlea asked me what she should make with the geometric shapes and I told her "Me", so here is Me!
I had two ideas for her door decor, one was popcorn and the other used cookies. Emily could not decided and so we had the kids choose and they unanimously decided on popcorn and so I went to work. The door turned out so stoning cute and Emily was so excited when she saw it. All she has to do is add the names of her kids to the popcorn pieces.
After a couple of hours working in the classroom we went back to her apartment to eat lunch and then we headed down to the pool for more swimming. After Erin and Emily swam for a bit they left to go to the store while I took a little snoozer in the lounge chair.
Later we went up and got some food ready for a barbecue and more swimming. Seriously we are a swimming family and we cannot get enough of it. I love the pool so much! It is fun having kids who can swim so that we can all enjoy playing and being together and nobody is stuck on the sides not being able to participate. Having grown up in a swim team competing family having kids know how to swim has always been important and that is why I had them start younger so that they can be good at it.
Alyssa. Kenedy, Avy and Isabelle
The next day we packed up lunches and after stopping at a couple of stores headed back to Emilys to do some more fun stuff. I had an idea for a cute reading corner and I made tissue paper pom poms and hung them from the ceiling around the tree I made. I did not have my Cricut so I could not cut out the quote to go on the tree which when I do get it done will say, "Wherever I am, if I've got a book with me, I have a place I can go and be happy." by J.K. Rowling
The tree turned out so cute!
Kenedy put up the shapes posters and the girls all painted and glittered clothespins to put in the hall to hang kids work.
While we were at Hobby Lobby we saw this Lamp that would look so cute in the classroom on Emilys desk. It was on sale for half off but Emily could not get it yet. Erin said she would buy it for her for her birthday and I said I would go in on it since with the two of us sharing the cost it would have been about the price I would have spent anyway so we bought it for her and it looked perfect sitting on her desk.
I strung paper clips on fishing string and had Kenedy and Alyssa hang them from the ceiling so that Emily could use them to display kids work in the classroom.
We did so much and her classroom looks so good. I wish I could be a fly on the wall to watch her teach and see the kids enjoy what we did. I had so much fun being creative and really wish I could have done more. I now need to find more creative things to do to itch this need.
After we were done we, of course, headed back to the pool for more swimming and barbecue.
Rylee and Maddie