Fourth of July

The Fourth of July is smoothly ascending my list of favorite holidays. When else can you do all this fun stuff?!

 Ana bedecked in red, white and blue for the Idaho Falls parade.

 Bekah waving to her sisters while marching with the Bonneville High School band. 

Playing the trombone. 

Miriam and Winnie watching the parade. 

 Our troop (Aunt Jessica, Grandma Scott, Grandpa Scott, Ana, Miri and Winnie) talking to Aunt McKall and Uncle T during the parade. They rode their bikes (Uncle T is on the tall bike).

 Me blowing up Grandma Scott's bubbles for the kids to play with. We had a barbecue at Grandma Scott's house followed by bubbles and cornhole.

Ana with one of her bubbles.

 Grandma Susan, Kelsey, Hudson, Ana and Miri at the park in Menan during our picnic dinner.

 Winnie with her treat of choice: cotton candy.

 Seth and his treat of choice: diet Mountain Dew.

 Miriam teaching Winnie how to pass a volleyball.

 Ana using a GPS to take her sisters and cousins on a treasure hunt. Seth had hidden a few coins around and marked them on the GPS for the kids to find.

Oakley, Winnie and Kelsey rejoicing in fireworks.

Softball

My dad and I coached two teams again this year. I offered to coach a T-ball team for Winnie, but she assured me that she does NOT want to play ... she only wants to run around the park while her sisters play.

Our pitching machine team this year was the Fire-breathing Kittens. Last year's team went 0-12; this year's team was 11-5. What a difference a year makes. The girls are older and bigger, and they have had more time to practice. We did have a couple of newcomers (girls who had never played any softball before), but they made great strides throughout the year as well. Miriam's favorite positions were 1st base and right field.

We went into the tournament seeded 5th, and we ended up with 4th place (out of 12 teams). Not too shabby. We played four games the last day of the tournament. We couldn't have asked those girls to play any harder than they did.

Miriam ready for the catch at first. 

Running to first after her hit. (I'm in the background coaching the batters). 

The pop fly Miriam caught this season. We award all girls who catch pop flies with candy bars. 

 Miriam batting.

Coach Grover and Coach Scott.

Watching the Fire-breathing Kittens play during the tournament. Grandpa wore the wrong shirt, but he went home between games and changed. :-)

Bekah and Ana played fast pitch again. This year we let the girls vote on a team name, so we were the Base Invaders. We had several returning players (including our first-ever 8th graders!), girls who hadn't played in a few years, and one girl who had never played softball before (but you never would have guessed it). We went into the tournament seeded 4th and took 3rd after an extremely close game with the #1-seeded team.

Bekah pitched a bunch again this year as well as playing shortstop and catcher. Ana split her time playing outfield and bases (2nd and 3rd).

 I know it's out of focus, but I had to include this action shot of Ana making the catch at second.

 Rebekah the catcher.

 Rebekah and her grandpa getting ready for our team to bat.

Bekah running to first after hitting. 

Pitching windup. 

Pitching release. 

 Ana hitting.

And running to first.

Rebekah's jazz camp

Rebekah was elated when she found a friend whose older (and licensed) brother would be attending jazz camp at ISU this summer. That meant she had a ride to Pocatello for the week-long event. Ana and I made the drive on Friday, June 19 to watch her perform. The jazz camp kids divided into five ensembles to play mostly original compositions (one per ensemble), and then they all performed three Herbie Hancock songs together.

 Rebekah on trombone, and her friend Cameron on the bass during their ensemble performance.

Rebekah carrying her tenor recorder, trombone and music on stage for the large group performance. 

Rebekah got to start and end "Watermelon Man" with her tenor recorder. 

Rebekah soloing during "Wiggle Waggle." 

Ana recording the performance on Rebekah's phone.

Yearbook camp

While Bekah and Winnie stayed home with Grandma Susan and Grandpa Dennis (Bekah so she could attend the ISU jazz camp; Winnie because she's not invited yet), the rest of us had a working vacation at the annual Jostens yearbook workshop in Midway, Utah June 16-19.

Seth did a whole lot of this:

I took a bunch of pictures and spent a lot of time on the computer. We also did some of this:

 (And by "we," I mean " Ana and Miri." Because although Seth and I shot photos/videos of students in the pool, we never dipped our toes in.)

And this:

 Miri and Ana getting a backwards hug during lunchtime.

And this:

 Miri and Ana on the carousel. I rode with them while Seth was exporting the video.

And this:

Performing "Resurrection Fern" during the talent show with a borrowed guitar, Ana's uke, and a live music stand.

And we made this:

Rebekah is 14!

This beautiful, smart, funny, talented girl turned 14 and took another step further into teenagehood.

Rebekah on her birthday.

We were able to celebrate her birthday with a family dinner on her ACTUAL birthday! Rebekah requested egg salad sandwiches, so we had that (along with fixings for other sandwiches).

Trying to hide from the camera.

 Laughing at the present Ana gave her: a half-full bottle of Propel. Bekah had drunk part of it a couple of days prior. Ana thought she should wrap it up and give it to her sister.

The balloon Grandpa Dennis gave her sailing away. Winnie accidentally let go of it. 

The barfing ball that Grandpa Dennis got from the dollar store as a gag present (quite literally). It was a hit with all the kids. Rebekah got cash from both sets of grandparents and her parents. She put it toward a set of 7 recorders she ordered from Amazon.

Closeup of the barfing ball.

Rebekah with the berry trifle she had as a birthday cake.

 Ana trying to light the candles while Seth shelters them from the breeze. I don't know why we even attempt candle lighting when we hold birthday dinners outside. 

Trip to Washington

While Seth stayed home and worked (and celebrated his birthday) and Bekah got ready and went to Deaf Camp (full name: Sawtooth Camp for the deaf and hard of hearing), I took the three younger girls on a road trip to Washington for my nephew's mission farewell.

Friday, June 7 we left Idaho Falls in the morning and stopped at the rest stop between Mountain Home and Boise for a picnic lunch. I had thought we could dine al fresco, but it was much too cold for that. So we ate in the back of the van instead.

Girls posing before eating lunch. 

We drove the rest of the way to our hotel in Kennewick, swam in the pool, got cleaned up and went to Uncle Ethan's house for some pizza after Mason's high school graduation.

The next morning, we checked out some of the local spots.

The swing at Claybell Park. 

 The girls at the Columbia River Temple.

Then we got together with both sides of Mason's family for a picnic lunch at Leslie Grover Park.

Ana and Winnie playing with the giant kickball

 The Scott side of the family that was able to come to Washington.

Silly picture of everyone (both sides of the family) there for Mason.

 Miriam stole my phone. When I got it back, it had about 876 pictures like this.

Ana and Winnie climb one of the enormous trees at the park.

After regrouping at Uncle Ethan's house, we hiked up nearby Candy Mountain.

The group headed up to the top of the mountain.

 Ana chillaxing on top.

After dinner at Ethan's, we went back to the hotel to go to bed.

The next morning (Sunday), I let the girls swim at the hotel pool again to pass the time before church. Then we got showered, dressed and checked out of the hotel. We attended church with the Washington Scotts and listened to Mason's talk, then went to the house Grandma and Grandpa Scott had rented for a family barbecue. The girls and I didn't stay too long, because we needed to get to Boise in time for bed that night. Our pitching machine team would be playing a game at 4 the next day, so I needed to be back in time for that.

Monday morning we woke up, had breakfast, checked out of the hotel, then backtracked a few miles to Meridian so we could see the girls' brand new baby cousin.

Miriam holding Tayzlee at the Meridian Scotts' house.

We wished we could have stayed longer, but the game kept us on a tight traveling schedule. We made it home in time to get changed into our softball gear and head over to Iona.