2024.1.7 weekly

I have some final thoughts about our beach vacation. Sometimes when I'm madly trying to get caught up on blogging and there are a zillion photos to add, it takes a long time and my words get lost in the process.

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KeChel & Co were already in NC so they drove down to FL with us. The boys flew into Jacksonville and met us there. Although, they got to FL at 8 am and had to figure out what to do with themselves for 6+ hours until we got there and could check in. They went to the local library and all went well until they caught the eye of a suspicious librarian. After flying a red-eye they were sleepy and eventually got kicked out of the library for sleeping! Which is both funny and annoying. I suppose they looked like homeless people.  Eventually, they got an Uber, complete with a crazy driver and went to the house in St. Augustine.

It was such a fun week. The grownup version of our kids is so fun to see and experience. We forgot how much they eat, ha! It's gratifying to see that they all seem to like each other. Not to say that there isn't lots of teasing, harassing going on, all in good fun, of course.

Also, I must make mention of all the work that Stick did for this trip. A usual part of our vacationing over the years has been lots of treats/candy that we don't really eat in real life. A long time ago, Stick contacted the kids and asked for requests on the treats/meals and then he bought all the suggestions. He planned out some delicious meals and then cooked/cleaned all week. He had to make some quick alternate meal plans because the house BBQ grill wasn't working. He masterfully packed so.much.stuff into the Expedition, including two surfboards on top. He brought lots of the food from here, and did a couple of shopping trips while there. He drove 4+ hours to Orlando and back, taking KeChel & Co to the airport. A beach front vacation rental does not come cheap, it's one area of life that we are willing to splurge on. Stick's hard work makes this splurge possible. His contributions were a large part of the success of this trip. We love him and are grateful for all he does for us.

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If anything sums up the last week here, this picture probably covers it.

What is going on ?!

We had a lot of fun with the boys here all week.

They're loud and crazy and funny.

They played tennis at the high school for hours one day. I got this poor quality picture when I was dropping off Bekah for practice.

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This is a little old shack (or maybe it's a house) that I pass on my drive to and from the high school. Every year someone puts a Christmas wreath on it and I love it. Knowing the history around here, it's probably from the 1800's.

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We've spent a lot of time this week cleaning up from Christmas and our holiday traveling, which is necessary work, but not that fun.

I had the urge to do something creative before we get back to regular life. I pulled out these quilting quarters that the kids gave me a few years ago and made this table runner. I always crave some color in the cold dark days of January, so it fit the bill.

It was a quick, satisfying project. Although the teensy border I put around the edge caused me some trauma. Note to self: do a bigger border next time.

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Seminary, school and basketball are looming!

Actually basketball has already started with a game on Friday. Somehow the little patched together JV  team is surviving. Say a prayer that no one gets hurt. We played Statesville and wow, they are terrible. Our conference is so crazy. Either the teams are outstanding or they're terrible, there is no middle ground.

Bekah starts and plays almost every minute of the game. It's been such a good learning experience for her.

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Thomas and Spencer both took a night this week to cook dinner. They made Brazilian specialties they learned on their missions and all the food was delicious.

We've had some laughs hearing them talk about their respective missions. Even though their missions shared a border, they seem really different. The general consensus is that Spencer went to "rich" Brazil and Thomas went to "poor" Brazil, haha.

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Then, way quicker that we anticipated, the week was over and the boys all packed up, got on a plane and headed back to Utah. They're all living in the same apartment (technically a house, that's been split into a tri-plex), so I expect it will be quite the party. I'm sure the neighbors will be thrilled with the addition of Spencer, also known as "the loudest brother."