A Week with No Boys

This week, Kent and Brandt are at scout camp.  I'm hoping to get some cute pictures of their time at camp as I sent them with the waterproof camera.  We'll see.  It's been just me and Blythe this week, and I've worried about how we would do.  On Sunday, Briahna Bushman asked what Blythe and I were going to do this week with the boys away, and I replied, "Fight."  That's usually how it goes.  But in reality, we did really well.  We did have a minor disagreement about whose class she's going to be in when they posted next year's class lists.  She wanted to be in the same class as Lilly Bradford, and she's not, and she was mad that I didn't request the right one.  But all her girlfriends are in different classes, and I assured her that Lilly would still be her friend, even if they weren't in the same class.  Otherwise, we've been busy doing some fun stuff, and we've managed to get along just fine.  Here's a rundown of our week.  I'm hoping to get the same from Brandt and Kent.

Monday morning, after getting Kent and Brandt out the door (a major effort!), Blythe and I went grocery shopping with Mikayla and her crew.  We had the great fortune to find a hippo pool pet, which I blogged about separately.  But here's a picture again.

After shopping, we drove up Hobble Creek Canyon to see Eva Fisher and wish her a happy birthday.  She's having a wedding at the end of the week, so stress levels were high, but it was fun to see her.  We made a stop at the Provo School District Foundation Golf Tournament to eat lunch and help award prizes and swag for the golfers, then met up with cousins, including the Brinkerhoffs, for a swim.  They are in town, we don't see them much, and we wanted to swim with them.  It was lovely to be in the water, the girls were good to play with Blythe, and I was able to get cute pictures for the 2018 Barrus Family Photobook.

On Tuesday morning, Blythe and I went down the street to help our neighbor, Ann Willardsen, pack a bit.  A widow, Ann is going to move in with a son who lives in Las Vegas, but she is finding the whole undertaking overwhelming.  Packing is always a nightmare, and I wanted to offer help and support.  Blythe and I packed two boxes and hauled away a bunch of stuff going to DI, and while it didn't feel like much, I suppose it was something.

After our small service, we met practically all the DeMartinis, some Coxes, and the Brinkerhoffs at a showing of Incredibles 2.  I felt sort of bad about going without Brandt, but we'll go again next week to see it again.  It was a fun show, and fun to be all together.  Sadly, no picture.  Too many bodies to try and round up, and Blythe went off to chase Cora and Brick when the movie was over, so I didn't even get one of her.  Ah well.

Elizabeth Cutler is hosting summer swim parties for her Primary class, and although Blythe is not in her Primary class this year, she was last year, and Elizabeth is including them, too.  I had agreed to act as life guard, so this afternoon we went and swam at Elizabeth's.  I was able to visit with Elizabeth and Corene Jensen, and we all got wet, which was just lovely.

After swimming, we met up with the Brinkerhoffs for dinner.  They leave tomorrow for Cedar City and then an immediate return to Missouri, so we wanted to spend as much time as possible with them.  We talked lots and lots as we ate, and Blythe played with Tess on her phone.  We miss the Brinkerhoffs and wish we all lived closer to each other.  We will need to go see them again next summer when they are a bit more settled, and we'll need to see Annie, Charlie, and Tess in Cedar City during the school year.  Three hours away isn't very far compared to 18 hours.

Foolishly, without Kent at home to tell me to go to sleep, I stayed up until 2:00am reading a book called 61 Hours.  It's a Jack Reacher book, gripping and exciting, and had to put aside.  I kept telling myself, 'Katherine, put the book down,' and then I just kept reading.  Eventually I realized I should just finish it and be done with it, which I did.  But very, very late.

Mikayla woke me just after 8:00, or I might have slept until 10.  Kal was up all night screaming, something was definitely wrong, and she wondered if I could have her kids while she took him to the doctor.  So I got up.  Brick and Cora hung around with us, and we went swimming at Grandma Sue's again.  My friend Lisa Christensen joined us, too, and we visited while the little people splashed around us.  Blythe was good to entertain herself and Brick and Cora.  We had a good time as the water was wet and cool.  We picked up lunch at McDonald's on the way home, giving Mikayla and Kal time to sleep and somewhat recover from the awful night.  Later, Blythe went swimming again, this time for Addie Lepinski's birthday party.  I did some ministering visits while she swam.

After all the running around we'd been doing, Thursday was a stay home day.  I went to the temple early, before Blythe was awake, and she played with friends during the day.  Lilly and Emma Bradford were here for a good part of the afternoon, and then they joined us at the rodeo.  With the DeMartinis, we went to the Strawberry Days Rodeo, an outing that has become something of a tradition.  We had good seats, Blythe participated in the cash cow dash (no money for her), we saw all the events, although there was no sadly no wild cow milking, including a trick rider who stood on the back of two horses as they galloped around the ring.  It was all a great time and we got home super late.

Chasing the cash cow with 300 other kids.

Can you say pandemonium?

Missy was at the rodeo with her kids, sitting just three rows away.

Mila and Vica came up to sit with us for a bit.

Mila and Blythe are twinners!

Bareback rider

Calf roper

Trick rider.

Barrel racer

Sisters!

Yum, yum, yum!

The lens of my camera was obviously smudged with something.

D*#!

 

Blythe slept in late on Friday, and after a bit of reading and TV watching, she went to help Mrs. Harrington set up her classroom for the coming year.  Mrs. Harrington had asked her just before school ended if she would like to help, and of course Blythe wanted to.  She and Kate and maybe one or two others wiped down chairs and other stuff.  Even though it was work, she had a good time, and Mrs. Harrington took them to lunch afterwards.

When Blythe got home, we went over to Grandma Sue's to swim again.  We were going to meet Mikayla there, but she never showed up.  We had a wedding reception Friday evening, for Hailey Fisher, and I had talked about all the work they had done on their house and yard, and Mom wanted to see it.  So she came with us, even though she wasn't invited.  What's one more person?  I knew Maureen wasn't going, so Mom took her place.  When I had been walking around the yard with Eva, she was telling me how the reception was going to go and she said, "And down there will be the buffet."  Doesn't that make you think there will be dinner?  A buffet has real food, not just a treat.  So we didn't eat.  Big mistake.  There was only a crepe and some fruit, no real food.  Blythe ate her crepe and fruit, then wanted to have three more.  We beat a hasty retreat and picked up dinner on the way home.

It was a good week, but we missed our menfolk.  Even Blythe.  About Wednesday she said to me, "It's so quiet around here."  It was.  Without Brandt to fight with, Blythe wasn't very noisy, and she and I got along, so no fighting from us, the kids can only watch 1.5 hours of TV a day, so that wasn't on the whole time, and so it was quiet.  Nice, but we were glad when Brandt and Kent arrived home.