Girls Camp

I got to go to camp Mia Shalom! It was a lot of fun. I haven't been to girl's camp for about 20+ years since I was twelve. Don't do the math, please. I am in the Relief Society presidency of our ward and we were asked to come up to do a service project with the girls. We ended up making some thank you cards. They are given to parents of babies in the NICU of the local hospital so they can thank the people helping their babies. We also had lunch with the girls. Jamaican Jerk Chicken salad, yummy! After lunch we gave the girls some hats and mitten that were knitted by some of the sisters in our ward. They had the Young Women value colors on them to remind the girls of the values they uphold. Then we came home. It is about a 3 hour round trip so we had a pretty full day.

What a Summer! - part 2

I forgot to mention the 4th of July! Well, we didn't have any big plans. Robson, Becca and Camilla went to see the hot air balloons launch as part of
America's Freedom Festival.

The rest of us stayed home and slept in.

Then Grandma Kathy came over and we barbecued. Robson had to work in the evening with one of his elderly clients. So Grandma and the kids and I walked over to the elementary school when it started getting dark. The school is over a hill and a little bit further north. We can see the fireworks at Stadium of Fire from there. They are still pretty far away but at least we don't have to deal with the traffic, the noise and the smoke. Robson came by after getting off work and took Giulia and Anna home with him. That was good because the stroller broke on the walk over. After the fireworks we went home and lit some sparklers. We finally got to bed around midnight.

Well, in Utah we also celebrate Pioneer Day on July 24th. Robson and I both had to work because our parent companies are out of state. Pioneer Day is the day that Brigham Young and the first LDS pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake valley. Some cities do fireworks and have special events but Provo doesn't. I guess because they do the Freedom Festival just a few weeks before. We did barbecue again and then did some fireworks with some friends in the neighborhood. Then the next day we went down to Nephi and the Handcart Pioneer Pageant. It was really fun even though we sat on the bleachers for about 3 hours so we could get good seats. We weren't planning on taking Anna because we didn't think that she would behave for that long but she really wanted to come. She actually did really well, better than Camilla anyways. We left Giulia at home with Grandma Kathy. We probably could have just gone about an hour early and got the same seats but we didn't know how crowded it would be. It was a great experience and had a great message for the kids and adults as well. We need to be grateful for our trials because they make us stronger and build our faith in God.

What a Summer! - part 1

It has been a long hot summer. I haven't been as good at blogging as I would like. Hopefully, I can make up for it when the kids go back to school in 2 weeks. Here are some highlights.

We had a fun Devitt family reunion in June. Got to see lots of cousins and aunts and uncles. Aunt Carol asked the kids to sing a song in Portuguese for a talent show. Camilla didn't want to but we got her up there anyways. Robson and I even got in the act. A bunch of the uncles and older cousins also gave us a great rendition of a hula.
We had a nice visit from Grandpa John and Grandma Dottie. They just stayed overnight but we hadn't seen them for a long time. We hope to see Grandpa John again before he leaves for the winter. Unfortunately, they weren't able to build their cabin this year. Next year we will definitely be down in Eastland enjoying the beauties of nature that God has given us. Grandma Dottie gave all the kids really creative presents as usual. Where does she come up with these things?

Keiffer turned 10 years old on July 9th. I can't believe he is in the double digits already! Grandma Kathy and I took the kids to Seven Peaks water park on the 10th to celebrate.

I am a bad, bad blogger

I thought I would be able to keep up with it but since the kids are home for the summer I have no or very little free time. I just wanted to let you know that I will try to do better. We have had some fun, helping Grandma, going to a family reunion, etc. And Grandma has been great, helping out with the kids and letting me work a few more hours.

Have a great day!

Girls, girls, girls!

I love my 4 little girls. I really do. They are loving and sweet and sometimes even helpful. They can play nicely with each other and the other children in the neighborhood. They occasionally let me do their hair and they love to dress in cute clothes. Keiffer could care less what he wears.

The other day the girls found a pair of Robson's shoes and tried them on. Pretty soon they were wearing not just my shoes and Robson's shoes, but our clothes as well. I was treated to a little impromptu fashion show. It didn't matter that the fashions were all strait out of my closet. They were having fun. Even Giulia wanted to join in. At least I think that is why she was trying to get into my closet.

I love it when they are creative and having fun. They all love to read and regularly give me kisses and hugs. I must say that Keiffer does that as well.

Sometimes, however, they drive me nuts and I wish I had all boys like Robson wanted. They are picky about clothes and food and I am dreading them being old enough to date. Oh, the drama that goes on at our house on a regular basis. Camilla was getting ready for school this morning. She was dressed but we still needed to find some shoes and eat lunch and fix her hair. She has a particular pair of shoes that she likes to wear alot. The velcro was worn out and the straps kept coming undone. Grandma had put some new velcro on them a few weeks ago (Thanks Grandma!) but the glue was not holding. I suggested several alternate pairs but nothing else would do. Other shoes didn't match or were uncomfortable to walk home in or just weren't up to snuff for some reason. I decided to take a shower at this point and let her figure out what to wear. By the time I got out of the shower, Camilla was in tears sitting on the floor next to her closet. I finally offered to sew the velcro on the shoes while she ate her lunch.

This is the kind of drama that you get with girls and it is only going to get worse.

Happy 6th Birthday, Camilla!

Another birthday has come and gone. Camilla just turned 6. Because her birthday is on a holiday weekend, we usually don't get a huge attendance at her parties. A lot of people going out of town or at family picnics, that sort of thing. So this year I let Camilla invite whoever she wanted, no limit on the number of friends. She invited 6 little girls from her kindergarten class, 2 friends from church and 2 friends of the family. Of course, almost all of them showed up. So we had eight 5 and 6 year olds running around the basement and making tons of noise. But it was lots of fun and turned out just fine. I even made her a cake. A double layer chocolate cake with teal cream cheese frosting and chocolate sprinkles. Everyone thought it turned out great. The decorating needed some work but I did the best I could without any decorating tips. Where is Suzy when I need her?! Oh yeah, she is in Czech with that tall guy who stole her from us.

Camilla looking like a mini-Suzy.

Am I having a senior moment?

For the last month or so I have been having acne break outs around my chin and nose. It usually doesn't get too bad and only lasts a few days. But the pimples just kept coming. I finally had to get some new face wash. It finally seems to be clearing up. I thought that maybe I was regressing to my teen years. Then this last week some other things happened and I know I am not a teenager anymore.

We decided to movc the computer downstairs so the kids wouldn't always be in our bedroom. Robson has a friend from work that does some computer stuff on the side and he came over Saturday morning to help us do the rewiring. He parked his truck in the driveway behind Robson's car. I had to leave and get my hair done. I didn't want to take the gas guzzling van for just myself. Robson's friend was parked kinda far back in the driveway. I thought I could crank the steering wheel and get around his truck with Robson's smaller car. I found out that I couldn't. I ended up running over the sensor for the garage door.

So now we are opening and closing the garage door by hand until we can scrape together the money to get it fixed. I was leaving the other day and had opened the door. Then I got the girls in the car and started to back out. Camilla shouted and said the garage door was too low. I tried to stop but my reflexes aren't what they used to be. I ran into the garage door. I wasn't very low but just enough to hit with the top of the car. The door survived but one of the rollers came out of the track.

I am glad to know that I am not the only one breaking things around here. We have a little carousel that we keep the numerous remote controls in. One of the kids (no one confessed) broke it into a million pieces. Well, maybe ten. I still haven't gotten around to gluing it back together.

But on the bright side, my hair looks great! Thanks, MarJean!