Summer Vacation Week 5

Yes, I skipped week 4, but I will come back to it after getting Madisyn's pictures.

On Monday night we had all of Daryl's student employees come for a BBQ. We did the chicken and the students brought different potluck items. The kids loved having them all over. We played volleyball and then water balloon volleyball. At the end the students showed a video they created about working in the IT department of the MTC. It was all based around the song "White and Nerdy" and Daryl played a great part of a nerd in it. I am kicking myself that I didn't make a copy of it after they left the USB drive that had the copy.

Ashlyn spent a week and a half at a dance camp. Our 13 year old neighbor was putting on the dance camp. Ashlyn who has refused anything involving dance was a bit leery to do it, but she loves Michelle so much she decided to do it anyway. She had so much fun going every morning and was a big help to Michelle since most of the girls were a lot younger then she was. At the end they had a recital.


The rest of the week was spent going to the last of ball games and preparing for our end of the week activities.

Have you ever been asked to give your baptismal date for church records, but can't remember beyond the fact that you knew it was the first Saturday of the month following your 8th birthday? Well Tyler will definitely remember the date he was baptized in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints since it took place on the 4th of July. I was a bit nervous knowing that we might not get much of a turnout since it was a major holiday, but it turned out to be a perfect day.

Right before the 9 a.m. baptism

Tyler was the only one from the ward getting baptized so it was just our family, which also meant that we had to prepare the whole thing. Madisyn practiced hard and played all of the prelude music. She also did a piano duet with me. Ashlyn gave a talk on baptism. Daryl helped her a little in the preparation the night before (9 pm when we realized we had been so busy we had forgotten that little detail), but she did most of it on her own. She amazed me though when she stood up to give her talk and did it all by memory without any cheat sheet. She must get that from Daryl.
Following Tyler's baptism and confirmation the family all came over for a yummy breakfast. We had omelets, french toast, fruit, juice and chocolate milk. It was perfect weather and the kids spent a long time playing volleyball. Then Daryl brought out a huge sheet of plastic and set it on our hill for an impromptu slip and slide. It was a hit with the little kids. Ashlyn got creative and put on a plastic bag so she could go faster. Unknowingly she dressed in a very patriotic bag.

After the fun we drove to see Ginnie's new house that they would hopefully be moving into and then we came back to the house to rest a bit. From there we headed to Sandy for a BBQ, parade and fireworks. About an hour before the fireworks Daryl decided to move the van to a spot where we could leave quickly and avoid traffic. When he went to do this he found that the van wouldn't start. They would charge the battery but it would die if his foot didn't stay on the gas the whole time. The needles on the van were also turning around in circles as if he was in the twilight zone so he had no idea how fast he was even going. At this point Daryl decided that we needed to leave right away to avoid the after firework traffic so he could maneuver the gas and the brake with two feet. He figured if we made it onto the freeway we would be good since he would have his feet on the gas the whole time. We took the kids weeping and wailing (because they didn't want to miss the fireworks) back to the van. After charging the battery we made it halfway around South Towne mall before the lights started flickering and the van died once again. A kind soul stopped to charge us up again and we made it back to our starting point, deciding that spending the night at Grandma and Grandpa's would be a better solution. Daryl's phone was also acting up, so the thought of being stuck somewhere in the dark with no phone just didn't sound like a good idea. Once again there was weeping wailing (Tyler) when we tried to get them back out of the van and to the fireworks. Through his tears he says "I just want to go to church tomorrow!" Another voice pipes up (Ryan) "I don't!". So the kids got to enjoy the fireworks. One of the cousins told his dad "I didn't know that they do fireworks when you get baptized!". Hopefully he won't be too disappointed when he gets baptized and there are no fireworks.
Before going to bed that night we decided that we would try again the next morning. Going to church the next morning was so important to Tyler since he just got baptized that we just couldn't disappoint him. Getting there on time for 9 o'clock church was going to be a challenge though. Amazingly everyone was up by 6 am and after praying that we could make it home safely, we headed back to our van. After getting it charged once again we made our way to the freeway. It was much better this time since there was very little traffic and it was easy to get on the freeway. We made it back home safely and Tyler was able to be at church to be called up to be sustained the newest member of the ward.