Lincoln City

We just got back from our family vacation and I am already missing the beauties of the ocean. We had a fabulous vacation! We left early in the morning, last Sunday, and headed to Lincoln City, OR. The kids were awesome and traveled so well...thanks to the wonders of DVD players! We had planned on meeting up with our family once we arrived in Lincoln City, but lo and behold, who is at the stoplight as we were pulling out of the Tri-Cities? My parents. We ended up right next to them at the stoplight...no matter how hard they try, they just can't get rid of us.

It is always a little shocking to the system to step out into the ocean weather when we have been dealing with 90 degree weather in Spokane, but it was worth it. We were meeting in Lincoln City for our annual Wilson Reunion, which is my dad's family. There are now 105 of us. Due to a few pregnancies, some living outside the country, and some serving missions, there was a grand total of 80 of us! That's a lot of Wilsons in one spot...we are a loud group!!! We have such a good time getting together and reuniting. There is just something about reminiscing and pulling out all those memories from so long ago. Since we are such a large group, we tend to do our own thing during the days, and get together in the evenings in the conference room we had reserved for the week. Carolyn and Janyse will appreciate that I led the entire Wilson family in 'Show Me How You Boogie Down'...Girl's Camp has forever changed me!

This is the view from our room....breathtaking!

On Monday, my sister, Kimberly, and I led our family on our annual Amazing Race - Wilson Style. This had become a family favorite event. It is a crack-up to see our family breaking all kinds of traffic laws to win. They get so competitive. I'm sure that one of these days, one of our children will get left at a location due to the chaos and panic of finding the next clue. We broke the family into three, equal teams and sent them on their way. We had a total of eight clues and 5 roadblocks. Our finish line was at a famous beach in Lincoln City where we could have a picnic and hang out. It was a great time for all!

Now, before I get into Monday evening, I must do some explaining. We are a family that definitely acts drunk without consuming a ounce of alcohol! Each year, my very talented aunts bring crafts for the kids to do. This year they was tie decorating, doll making, jewelry making and whatever your little heart and mind could think up. One of our evening activities was to have the men model the ties. Somehow, the men found masks too!

On Tuesday, we had our sandcastle building contest. This is a serious competition. With 80 people involved...it can get brutal! The gist of the competition is to build the sandcastle that will outlast the tide the longest. We attract quite a crowd as we are all frantically digging and building the best sandcastle! My dad, an engineer, takes this competition seriously. We call him the project manager/legal counsel. He is not about to be outdone by all of siblings..six of them girls! Unfortunately, we did not win, but it is fun watching with anticipation as the tide comes in and slowly takes them down.

Tuesday evening we will blessed to hear from the Wilson Band (which was put together in 4 minutes). We heard The Hello Song, B-I-N-G-O, and one other that I can't recall.

On another evening, the grand kids got to do make-overs to their grandmas. Isn't my mom so lucky? This is what happens when you have two four year olds in charge of make-up! Ouch. She is a beauty.

Some of the other highlights of our trip was whale watching, the candy store, late-night Skum playing, and hanging out at the beach.

Movie night with Grandma and Grandpa!

We left Lincoln City on Thursday and head to the Portland Zoo. I'm sure the kids were a little tired from being dragged around all week, but they had fun seeing animals. The day was pretty relaxing except for the Kyle's encounter in the petting zoo area with some rough goats and my episode with an elephant...you will have to ask me about that. We took a ton of pictures, but here a just a few.

This is before Kyle's encounter...he is now terrified of goats!

The elephant...innocent until proven guilty...I don't think so.

The next day, we headed to Tri-Cities for a day of swimming before we drove back to Spokane. We had such a great vacation. I love spending time together as a family...it just doesn't get any better than that!!!

Summer Fun

Disclaimer: Oh, I am so annoyed. I wrote a long and descriptive post of my week at my parent's house. It took me a good hour to complete. As I was going to spell check it, my computer blitzed and I lost EVERYTHING! Now, I am too frustrated to rewrite everything, so here is the very short versions:

This summer, I decided to take my kids to Tri-Cities for a week of swimming at my parent's house instead of paying for swim lessons. I know that it's the practice rather than the lessons that makes the difference. I hate having to pay $50 per child for lessons that accumulate up to only 4 hours of swimming. Instead, they got a good 25 to 30 hours of swimming in my parent's pool. They had so much fun diving and playing around in the water. They especially loved swimming with cousins and friends.

Cousins: Brennen, Kyle and Cecily

Cousin Eli

Kyle did so well. He is tall enough to cruise around the shallow end of the pool all by himself...pure heaven! He jumps into the water, dunks himself and flails violently around, and comes up believing he is swimming. Of course, his thrashing in the water get him nowhere, but at least he is in the water without blood curdling screams of sheer panic. Swimming this year was absolutely blissful! Oh, how I love the sun and the pool!!!

The boys! Tanner, Jamen, Jorden and Tyler

The raft is the hit of the summer...good idea Mike!

Chris' brother, Bill, relaxing with Eli

Like mother, like daughter....loving basking in the sun!

Cute, little Joshua! He's the newest addition to Bill's family.

Now, we are home, doing laundry and getting ready to take off to Lincoln City, OR tomorrow. I hope you are having a great summer making family memories too!

And...He's Off!

My little brother, Michael, is officially no longer on U.S. soil. He flew out last night to the Peru MTC. He will be in Peru for a couple of months learning the Spanish language and then will be assigned to his first area in Bolivia.

He had a three hour lay over in Atlanta last night, so he was able to call and say his final good-byes before he left the country. I can't even express how good it was to hear his voice one more time and know that he was okay and doing well. He is homesick, but said that he keeps reminding himself that "homesick has never had a fatal case". I have to admit though that as soon as I hung up the phone with him I broke down. I just started crying. As we said, "Good-bye, we love you. We will talk to you at Christmas. Have a great mission!" it just hit me. I am going to miss him SO much. He is the best brother! He is a fantastic uncle and he is fun! It will not be the same when I go home on Monday. He won't be there to jump on the trampoline, play with the kids, go swimming, and play games with. I know it will get easier, but it felt very final last night.

Michael was picked up yesterday morning, at the MTC , to be taken to the airport. Apparently, the church does this in one big dump/drop-off. They loaded his bags, along with the other 45 missionaries he was traveling with, into a U-Haul type of truck. When they arrived at the airport their luggage was dumped into a big pile on the sidewalk and the chaos began! Michael's flight plans were to fly from Salt Lake to Atlanta and then take a 6 hour flight from Atlanta to Peru. On the flight to Atlanta, he flew with 45 other missionaries. I told him that that's the kind of flight I would want to be on. Flying with 45 missionaries...you know that that plane is going to be protected and have a safe trip!!! Michael sat next to a couple that were traveling to Florida on vacation. Mike said his conversation went something like this:

Mike: So, where are you guys from?

Couple: Salt Lake.

Mike: Oh, so are you members?

Couple: NO!

Mike: Oh, so are...

Couple: NO!

Mike said the remainder of the trip was very quiet. Maybe one of the other 44 missionaries were able to get to them!

He flew out of Atlanta at midnight and should be in Peru by now. He is nervous because they do not speak any English at the MTC there. He is doing well with his Spanish but it is still hard to go from speaking English one day to waking up the next and only speaking Spanish. He will do great though!

Happy 4th!

Growing up, my ward held an annual Fourth of July Breakfast. I don't know if it's because we normally had cold cereal for breakfast, but we looked forward to all of the pancakes, bacon and sausage each year. We had fun running around with our friends while our parents chatted. We would run laps around the outside of our building chasing eachother and running from the boys. Even as I got to be a teenager, I still enjoyed going to the breakfast...I know I was probably looking forward to hanging out with my friends and boyfriend more than eating the food, but at least I sticking with tradition.

I love anything that reminds me of home, so when I heard that our ward was going to have a fourth of July breakfast I was very excited. It was nice being able to sit and get to know some of the 19 new families that have recently moved into our ward. Our kids had a blast running around our stake property. They played football, basketball and played in all the dirt. I wished I had had my camera to get a picture of Kyle dumping cups of dirt on top on himself....He literally had to be shaken before he could get in the van.

After our ward breakfast we headed over to our friends, the d'Hulst, for their annual July 4th BBQ. This has become one of our favorite traditions here in Spokane. The d'Hulst are a very gracious family and invite a few dozen families over each year. We have such a great time each year there. Along with all the good food that is brought, they rent a giant inflatable water slide. This is definitely the hit of the party! All of the kids have so much fun getting each other drenched and romping in the water. This year they also a cotton candy machine...another huge hit. I have to admit that I too enjoyed a few things of cotton candy! Yum!!!

After we left the BBQ, we headed down to Chris' office building to watch fireworks. The fireworks are set off just in front of his office, so we have the best seat you could imagine! We love snuggling with our blankets and sitting up on the roof of the building to take in the splendor. It is a magnificent sight! I felt this year was exceptionally good. The finale was so great that we could feel the building shake below us...kind of scary. The fireworks were going off crazily and it was extremely bright that we all jumped up at once to see if there had been an accident with the fireworks. We didn't hear about any accidents, so we will chalk that one up to a "wow!".

By the end of the evening, the kids were exhausted....most of them feel asleep before we got out of the parking lot after the fireworks. It is so great making all of these memories with our friends and each other. We already look forward to next year!

Crazy June

Life has been so busy around here. Here are some of the highlights over the past few weeks!

SCHOOLS OUT!

This school year came with a lot of change. My baby entered preschool! I can't believe it. Kyle absolutely loved attending preschool this year. I think he was the only child there that brought a empty backpack each day hoping to fill it with "homework". He loved interacting with the other kids and being a social bug. He is already excited about returning next year.

Can you believe that Jamen is done with elementary school...I can't. I have a middle school aged child now....when did that happen?! Jamen had a great sixth grade graduation. The evening before graduation the kids attended the Sixth Grade All Nighter. It was hilarious to listen to these kids talk as if they were so old because they were getting to attend the all night party...it was from 6 pm to 9pm! If we can only keep Jamen believing that that is what a all night party is we should be fine. At the party they had all kinds of games for them. Some of Jamen's favorite were the giant twister game, guitar hero and bowling. It was fun to see him with his friends having a great time living and loving life.

See the cute girl in the red?....oh, does it start young!

The next evening was Sixth Grade Graduation. We were very pleased with Jamen and all of his accomplishments. He was awarded the distinguished student award. Each sixth grade teacher picks one student out of their classroom who they feel is a "distinguished student", and Jamen was picked by his teacher. He was also awarded the Presidential Award. This is a recognition for kids who have been on the honor roll since fourth grade and have also passed the WASL. We are very proud of Jamen and his accomplishments. We know he is ready for middle school and will do great!!!

GIRL'S CAMP

As soon as school was out, I packed up and headed off for our church's girl's camp. It is 4 1/2 days of camping with twenty fifteen year old girls...yikes! From things that I had heard from people who have gone to camp before, I was expecting to be dealing with teenage drama, girls feeling excluded from the group, unwilling attitudes, bad food, mosquitoes, bees, dirt, and more dirt. None of these things happened. I have to say....I had so much fun! I think that it helped being with other leaders who are my friends. We had such a great time together and I learned a lot of new things.

This is our quaint kitchen area!

We had the best camp site...it was huge and beautiful

Before I had gone to camp, I had never put up a tent, lit a lantern or a stove. These tend to be pretty important things for the "leader" to know how to do, so it was quite comical watching as I and Carolyn (sorry for outing you Carolyn) experiencing all these firsts. The tents went up easily. The lantern was another story. Carolyn and I had a slight mishap with the lantern and nearly caught an entire field on fire...but it's all good now! So, you can only imagine our slight hesitation lighting the stove. We were jumpy and laughed at by the girls, but hey, someone has to give some comic relief!

The weather was great. I didn't see one mosquito or bee and the girls were absolutely delightful. The girls in our group were fun to be around and to get to know. They were all sweethearts. They were willing to help and a few were continually asking if there was something they could do. Of course, one of their favorite activities to do was chop wood. On our last night there, a couple of the girls stayed up all night. The other leaders and I were sound asleep in our tent, but from what we understand, the stake had to come up to our girls at 4 am and ask them to stop chopping wood. Now that's some dedication.

I just want to say thanks to all the girls, Shavonne, Janyse and Carolyn for making camp great! It wouldn't have been the same without you all!!!

ELDER WILSON

As soon as I returned home from camp, I showered, packed up some clean clothes, and headed out the door to Tri-Cities for our last family reunion (except for Crystal) before my brother entered the MTC. We had a wonderful time together. The kids did some swimming, we played games, roasted marshmallows over the fire and laughed over old memories.

There is nothing like a gooey smores!

On Saturday, my mom served an early Thanksgiving feast, since Michael will be in Bolivia during Thanksgiving for the next two years. It was a great treat to have Thanksgiving in June. Yum! Yum! We had the works. There was turkey, potatoes, stuffing, gravy, homemade rolls, yams, green beans, salad and dessert.

Sunday was Michael's farewell. We knew it was going to be a tough day when my mom walked into church with an entire box of Kleenex. Michael gave a great talk and showed us all how much he has matured. He spoke on the things in his life that helped him prepare for a mission. He spoke about the fact that he knows that it will be difficult and that he will be homesick, but that he knows that those times too will pass if you just stay strong, hunker down and get through it. My dad summed it up well when he leaned over to my mom and said, "He's a keeper." After church, my parents held an open house for him. It was great seeing so many people at my parent's house supporting him. So many of my friends and their parents were there. We spent the entire evening chatting away and catching up on each other's lives.

Here is the food...I got so busy talking that I forgot any other pictures.

Monday was bitter sweet. We spent the entire day getting Michael all packed. The first miracle that occurs on a mission is just getting all your stuff to fit into two suitcases! Oh my goodness. I had no idea all of the stuff they are told to bring. He had to pack bed sheets, towels, clothes hangers, outlet adaptors, bug spray, lots of Mylanta, and that's only the beginning. It took nearly the entire day to get him all packed and ready to leave. We then headed out to my parents stake president's house for Michael to officially be set apart as a missionary. It was extremely emotional. My sister, Elise, and I were crying by the time the opening prayer was said. It was tough to see Michael crying, my kids crying and my parents choked up. Although it was difficult to be there, I was so grateful to attend that special event in his life. I'm grateful that my children were able to witness that it is truly a sacrifice to serve a mission. Life isn't easy. It is difficult to say goodbye to your family for two years and know that things will change while you are away. I want my boys to know that it isn't easy to make the decision to serve the Lord by going on a mission, but if you are willing to make that sacrifice and give of your time, you will be blessed beyond measure. I know that to be true. I am so grateful for Michael's example. I could not ask for a better example and uncle for my children. We will miss him dearly but know that he is where he should be.

KYLE'S 4 YEARS OLD!

While I was at camp, Kyle turned four years old. Chris was also out of town that week on a business trip in Texas so we had decided that we just celebrate his birthday later. We told the kids to not even tell him it was his birthday. Kyle would have been heartbroken to know it was his birthday and not be getting any presents or cake. After we all returned home, we had a simple family party. We order McDonalds for dinner, had dessert and opened presents. I'm so glad that Kyle is still young enough to not care about all the hoopla that comes with birthdays. It was a perfectly relaxing evening.