Room Refresh, Camp(s), Shows & Shopping

The impromptu family reunion slowed as some left for home Sunday evening, including Matt & Whitney who were heading to Seattle, WA the next day.  Aaron also had a plane to catch first thing Monday morning so he left our house at 4:30am.  What are the crazy chances of running into each other on the shuttle from long-term parking??

Several misfortunate tragedies have occurred in Orlando, FL lately but I wasn't concerned for Aaron's safety. 

No time for play but he enjoyed a beautiful sunset one evening.....

Meanwhile, I caught a few incredible sunrises back at home while heading to the gym in the morning.  One must be up mighty early to catch a sunrise around here this time of the year.  What a way to greet the day!

Brinley, Alison, Quinn, Elsie, Isaac, Grant, Sariah, Anna

Sunday evening (June 19) the 24-hour "cousin/grand-kid camp-out" began.  Although Quinn is only 7 (and the magic age is 8), G-ma M didn't have the heart to leave little buddy out since the party basically shifted from our house to hers on Sunday evening.  He was so excited to sleep at G-ma & G-pa's and do fun stuff with the older cousins the next day!  Jared & Stephanie slept at our place but otherwise, it was relatively quiet for the next 24 hours.  By Monday night, I had a full house again.  Tuesday was action-packed with piano lessons (Q/A), a temple trip to the baptistry with cousins, a soccer team party for Anna, haircut for Quinn, basketball camp for Jantzen, work & school for Tanner, HCP cleaning for Brin, YM/YW projects for Jantzen and Anna etc.  Julia brought her girls over around 6pm and the two of us started painting Anna and Elsie's bedroom.  It was a crazy evening!  Since Jared & Stephanie's family left the next morning, the older kids decided to stay up and watch a movie together after Brinley got home from work at 10pm.

Anna and Elsie have wanted to 'update' their bedroom for a while now.  A few months ago, Julia talked with me about an upcoming sponsored post she needed to do featuring a queen size comforter. Initially, we both thought the comforter(s) available to select from (3) were rather ugly and dated.  Since the girls knew they would at least get rid of their pink walls, we decided to move forward with the post project as soon as Julia and Chris returned from a kitchen-makeover in Pittsburgh (where Julia is from).  Like I said before, I love doing painting projects with Julia - she does all the edging!

 We knocked this little project out in less than 36 hours (and that includes paint-drying time).  

The truth is - working with Julia makes it feel like an easy, little project.  She doesn't stress about anything and just goes with the flow.  So opposite from my approach to most projects:).

Wednesday morning (after the paint dried), Julia came over with the potential decor items she picked up the day before - mostly at Target and no-longer-in-use items from around her house (rug, mirror).   I called a few neighbors looking for available plywood and Matt Smith delivered!  

He's the best.  Cut to fit and at my door within an hour.  He had no idea what I even wanted it for.

See what two ladies can do with a staple gun, foam from an old mattress topper, $5 worth of fabric, plywood and two mounting hangers?

Julia picked up a few knobs I replaced on the girls' nightstands.  I was feeling pretty handy while Aaron was out-of-town.  Julia and I even mounted the wall shelf under the magnetic board (both items we had in the garage that Aaron ordered months ago and didn't use for HCP).  She read the instructions and I just did what I was told:).

Because we did this "room refreshing" with a house full of tired kids, Julia opted to come back Thursday morning to take the final pics for her blog (without Greta and Faye).

I guess this is why Julia makes money doing what she loves.  

That ugly comforter had potential after all!

At least, she certainly has the ability to pull it all together.

Quick and relatively inexpensively.

The nice pics came from Julia's blog.  

Checkout her post today about Anna and Elsie's room at www.chrislovesjulia.com

Aaron returned home around 1am (Thursday) from his trip to Florida and got a few hours of sleep before beginning the next action-packed day.  He was Super-Dad to take the younger three to a community event at Porter Park Thursday evening where the kids ate dinner and decided how they would spend their 4 precious tickets.

Anna chose to rock climb the wall.

I think Elsie and Quinn opted for the cotton candy?

Meanwhile, I took Jantzen to show his support for a local basketball camp he is participating in sponsored by fellow ward member and MHS team player, Jaxon E.

He just so happened to be interviewed during the process.
Jantzen thought wearing the mini-microphone was pretty cool.

Jantzen & Braxton (yeah, he's super tall for his age).

We're waiting for the link to the online news clip.

Jantzen & Braxton P.

Just one more activity before Thursday ended...

Aaron was given free tickets to a minor league baseball game.

The crew left at 10pm before the game ended but IF Chukars out-scored the Orem Owlz (11-7).

Jordan, Julia, Chris, Tanner, Heather

Nope.  Not another family reunion.  Just a HCP luncheon.  Jordan (nephew) came on board in early spring as a videographer for the company.  After three years of employment with HCP, Chris is finishing up his final week.  He and Julia have decided to have him work from home full-time on their ever-popular and growing DIY blog.  They are pursuing their dreams and that's what Aaron inspires all of his employees to do.  There have been a lot of staffing changes at HCP recently.  Things should start to settle down a bit soon.

Even with all of the yummy food available, Quinn's plate has only a roll and red/green jello.  Ugh.

Elsie and Faye

The Friday luncheon was a huge success even with the wind.  I seriously needed a ponytail holder to keep my hair out of the food - first time in about 15 years that I felt that way.  Oh, and because the SCR reached a specific goal this past month, upper management had the opportunity to sing a version of "On Top of Old Smoky" to the entire company.  Good job - Aaron, Erik, JC, Kire and Dee!

After taking Jantzen to the final afternoon of a week long basketball camp at the high school, I cruised up to the temple and left Brinley in charge.  She has helped out a lot this past week.  Upon picking up Anna and Jane from the movies, we took Jane home and met her new brother.  Baby Spence (#7) joined the Leatham family on Flag Day.  My younger kids certainly haven't spent time around babies like the older ones have.  Elsie was all about holding this newborn.

Anna and Kenli

Anna and Kenli have grown up together and only recently did the Twitchell family move out of our ward.  Kenli is developing her talents and has been asked to sing at several events lately (including The Star-Spangled Banner at lots of local fairs/rodeos, etc.).  These two hung-out together during the concert.  Aaron and I couldn't decide if one of the Walker boys was following them around or vice versa.  It was entertaining to watch nonetheless...

"Redhead Express" performed at the local fairgrounds Friday evening.  I wasn't familiar with them but watched a few youtube videos and decided they were worth supporting.  Aaron and I took those available (Anna, Elsie, Quinn) to the concert and enjoyed a beautiful evening of great music.

The opening band - "The Walker Boys" were equally talented and just so happened to be the younger brothers to the four red-headed sisters that make up the "Redhead Express".  This talented (Walker) family live amongst the southern/Branson musicians but grew up in Alaska.  It's always so amazing to me that people can play multiple instruments and sing at the same time.

Elsie was all about meeting each of the sisters though we only snapped pics with two of them.

Brinley spent Friday night babysitting (to make money) after staying out super late at the drive-in movies on Thursday night.  Tanner opted to get homework done so he would have a "free" Saturday.

The two of us headed out the next morning and spent the day shopping.  Yes, an entire day of shopping.  Missionary shopping.  We were happy with a few deals we scored and checked a lot of items off Tanner's long list.  He's getting closer to being prepared for August 24.