Omaha Zoo, Golden Spike Tower, Fort Morgan Museum

 On Monday as we were getting ready to head out, my mom got the news that my Aunt Ragena had passed away. She was in a lot of pain and not living a good quality life so it feels a little bitter sweet. Bitter because we will miss her but sweet because she will finally be relieved from suffering. In a prayer later, Penny asked that Ragena and Isaac would have fun together. It was really sweet.

After the phone call it was time for our visit to the Omaha Zoo, it was a good distraction. Penny got a little tired and hot and whiney but I think she still had a good time. It was a big zoo and we definitely did not get to everything. Some highlights were probably feeding the fish (there were SO many), the splash pad, riding the skyfari (we are all scared of heights but we were so brave) and the rainforest building was pretty neat (although creepy with bats just hanging around un-caged). I had also promised Penny a stuffie so she ended up with a cute red panda stuffie which she later told my Aunt Irene that getting it was the favorite part of her trip.

Can you see all the bats below?

We finished up the Zoo early afternoon and then headed onward to our hotel in North Platte, Nebraska. On our way there we stopped at this hole in the wall shop called Lee's Legendary Marbles and Antiques. Lee was there and gave Penny a bag of free marbles and showed her some really cool (and really expensive marbles). I also found some Pokemon marbles for Ben, a GM one for Tyler and a cool Beer Stein for Tyler (because he likes to drink his soda out of fun drinkware). It was a fun stop. 

Our second stop was near our hotel, it was the Fort Cody Trading Post. It had a little Museum dedicated to Buffalo Bill and some fun souvenirs. We ended up getting some yummy Huckleberry Taffy, some chocolate "gold" and some candy cigarettes- I only buy quality stuff.

 

Our motel in North Platte was less than fancy. I apparently didn't do a great job of picking them this year. It smelled of strong air freshener(I ended up finding the source and turning it off) and the room was quite ancient but it gave us a place to rest and the breakfast the next morning was satisfying. 

On Tuesday we had some extra time before our next destination opened so we found a park to play in. The first playground was ghetto and surrounded by geese but then we found a better one- more new and no geese. However, there was a car that kept circling by while Penny was playing that made me nervous. I stayed close to her, sure they wanted to kidnap my pretty, blond girl.

Then it was time to visit the Golden Spike Tower. The tower looks out onto the world's largest railyard. Once again we braved heights as we stood out on the balcony and then Penny had fun coloring while I wondered the museum reading about train things and grams watched a video about the Orphan train. We also watched train cars go over a hump and get sorted to the proper train track. It was neat.

For lunch, much to Penny's despair, we ate at Village Inn. It was finally not fast food so it made my tummy very happy but for Penny, she had wanted another toy from Wendy's, so her heart was broken. She refused to admit that she actually enjoyed her chocolate milk and strawberry waffle, 2 of her favorite things.

Later we stopped at a random little museum called the Fort Morgan Museum. It wasn't anything fancy but Penny liked listening to a little Native American girl's story and then there was Jimmy at the Soda Pop Shop exhibit ;)

On our way to our hotel in Canon City, Colorado we had seen that there was a flash flood watch so when the rain started coming down super hard on the freeway, I panicked and got off the freeway and parked at the top of a hill. While it was coming down, I called Tyler and asked him to look at the weather radar for me. He informed me it was moving the opposite direction that we were going and it was moving fast. So as it slowed some I got brave and got back on the freeway. There were only a few big puddles and overall it was smooth driving after that, thankfully.

Then we picked up TV dinners and Penny did some swimming in the (too cold for me) pool and we called it a night.

Tornadoes, Frederik Meijer, Amana Colonies

Last Saturday we had a tornado warning and spent some time in the basement. It freaked out the girls and they were emotional catastrophes, especially as the light flickered out. Apparently they didn't get their dad's survival skills. I read to them by flashlight in an attempt to calm them down. Thankfully we had no wind damage to our home and the tornado touched down in Clarkston and not in our town. The worst thing to happen to us was that we ended up being without power for 2 days. During that time I was very grateful for our generator so that we were able to still have running water, our devices charged, our refrigerators on and we even got to plug in a fan in attempt to keep cool. 

Sunday we had the blessing of in person church with a/c, the power had stayed on there, just some street lights not working on our way to the building. In YW's Maizie taught a great lesson about obeying the commandments and all the girls seemed to have fun analogies to contribute that helped them understand the doctorine. 

Monday we spent the afternoon at the beach in order to stay cool. Sitting in the shade at the beach with a cool breeze was much better than our stifling home. Shortly after we got home the power turned back on and all was normal again. It was glorious.

Grams really wanted to go to Frederik Meijer Gardens so on Wednesday we took a road trip there. Steven's friend Max came with us. The beginning of the drive wasn't terrible but as we neared the end they got so loud and obnoxious. Once there Steven and Max took my phone and did their own thing, while the rest of us toured the statues. It was a warm and humid day so the kids were super whiney but we did find a pond off the beaten path that had a turtle, and frogs that was fun. After not too long the kids were just too sweaty so they went and played at a water area for a bit and got good and wet. Then the teens were ready to meet up so we toured the inside a bit, took some pictures of the teens outside to prove they actually came and then bought unnecessary things at the gift shop. Max went crazy and bought like 20 tiny bottles of "gemstones." I wonder what his parents thought of his frivolous purchases. The drive home I started to get a bad case of afternoon slumps, so we stopped at a gas station for snacks. This helped me and the slurpies quieted the kids down. Win-win.

Thursday I was grateful that my friend had my girls over at her house so I could get the house cleaned. It's amazing how much better I feel when the house is cleaned. I just wish the cleanliness lasted more than an hour. Friday I finished up packing and then in the afternoon we had Etta's birthday party at our beach. It was a little cool but he water was still warm from previous weather so the kids still had a good time. Then Saturday me, Penny and my mom started our adventure across the country. 

Saturday was a long day of driving, almost 8 hours. We stopped at a rest stop with a playground where Penny made friends with a chatty girl who was on her way to Wyoming. 

Then we stopped at a Wilton Candy Kitchen which I thought was going to be a big candy shop but was really just an old, hole in the wall ice cream/soda pop shop with a tiny "museum" in the back. Penny was impressed with the rotary phone and we were all impressed with the ice cream. It was really good.

Our last stop was Mormon Handcart Park. It had a few plaques and was a nice cool, pretty walk. Penny got tired with our 5 minute walk, how lucky she is that she wasn't a Pioneer that had to travel thousands of miles...pushing a handcart.

After that we checked into a hotel, got dinner and played at a nearby park. Penny made another friend who was a little bit of drama. He attacked his sister because she said their daddy was in jail *cringe* and then yelled at Penny telling her that she couldn't leave him when it was time for us to go. 

Sunday we went back to the park but the other part of it- this part had tons of things to climb and Penny had fun climbing them all. And this time, no drama friends.

Our next stop was to see the World's Largest Nickle. Aren't you jealous?

Then we headed to our main destination of the day, the Amana Colonies. It was an old, really beautiful German village with lots of shops to spend your money in. I bought some of the most amazing caramels and Penny got a chocolate covered pretzel at the Chocolate Haus. At the rock shop they had a pile of rocks in front that Penny could search and keep 1 treasure. She found a sparkly rock and is convinced it's gold. For lunch we ate at the Millstream Brau Haus and Penny and I split a giant pretzel and chicken tenders. For being a touristy place it didn't feel too peopley and I really enjoyed our visit MINUS Penny throwing a fit because I wouldn't buy her something at the toy store that had generic toys you can find anywhere. It was really my mistake because I had said I would buy her something there but I was thinking something special to the area, not a $10 toy car she could buy anywhere. I ended up calming her down by promising to get her something at the Zoo. Man my parenting skills with my youngest are subpar and she is sooooo spoiled.

After lunch we had an almost 4 hour drive to our next hotel. On our way we stopped at a Jesse James Historical Site- the site of the first ever train robbery. Super exciting ;) I had also wanted to stop at this Danish Windmill Giftshop but it closed before we could get there so we just kept going to the hotel.

When we got there Penny did some swimming and we watched some of "Parent Trap" and then it was time to call it a night.

Eastern Market

Monday I got the news of who my replacement as young women's president will be. This lady is very emotional, opinionated, easily offended and just a lot of drama so I was pretty much in shock when Bishop told me. He had already called her (apparently against the advice of everyone in the Bishopric) so when he asked my thoughts...what could I say? I was just like, you already called her so yeah...I have a lot of worries about how my yw will mesh with her, how all my hard work to get the yw leading might be in vain (she likes to take over things) and I also worry about the large budget I have left (she's terrible with money). But this is all very judgemental of me and I am just hoping and praying she will be better than everyone expects. I really hope that for the sake of my young women.

Anyways after reeling from that surprising news, I had a beach day with my friends. That was nice. Whenever I am there, I just always feel like that is exactly how kids should be spending their summers. Afterwards I took Steven to his archery class we had signed him up for. He had it everyday but Friday this week and it went really well. The coach said he has a natural ability and he just needs to keep practicing. I wish Tyler wasn't so busy because I am clueless about where to take him to practice archery but I really do want Steven to stick with it.

Monday night the missionaries came over for dinner and we invited Jacob and his parents as well. Jacob's Step Dad didn't come but his mom did. It was a good evening spent with the missionaries and they taught a good lesson about faith. I think his mom would have enjoyed it more if Jacob hadn't made some jabbing comments at her about hiding snacks from him. Sometimes, that neighbor of ours.

Tuesday morning I met with my replacement and tried my best to tell her all the things and be positive about it. Unfortunately they won't call her until 8/8 and she says she will be going out of town for a week after that. I think she expects me to just keep hanging on but lady, I have another calling. I quite honestly feel like waiting until 8/8 to release me is far too long. 

Tuesday afternoon while Steven was at archery the rest of us hung out in Milford. My mom went to the bakery and the kids played in a little stream by central park. They had all expressed that they wanted to do this but Ben did not last long before he was bored and went and got a book out of the car to read (he has really become a reader over the last school year). Then the girls got bored and wanted to go to the playgroud, except they didn't want to wear shoes because of wet feet. Essentially there was a lot of whining and it was not the fun outing I thought it would be. After that day I just left them at home with Grams during Steven's archery class and enjoyed some alone time.

Wednesday we had a nice morning at Scarlett's park with some friends. David has been at camp and Alissa has been out of town so it's been just Etta and Steven hanging out as far as the teens go. They seem to mesh well though and she doesn't seem to get crazy around him (even though Etta has told me many times she has a huge crush on Steven). That night for our yw's activity though, Etta was super hyper. I had managed to get Aleahna to come to an activity and she was being "too cool" to hang out with everyone but that didn't bother Etta. She just kept following Aleahna and talking non-stop to her. I can't decide if Aleahna was happy about that or not. Teens are tricky. The activity itself was frisbee golf and I only did one goal but I did really good (for a beginner). I might have to try it again sometime.

Wednesday night Tyler proposed at Bishopric that we do Seminary at our house. Bishop said he was not comfortable making that decision over Zoom and wants to meet with us in person when he's back in town. I am so frustrated that he is dragging this out and that he won't just let us do it at our house. It just makes sense and we are just not as far as he thinks we are. If he would just google map it he would see...Tyler got on my case later saying that I needed to come to terms with the fact that Bishop might say no and I might not "get my way." With all my super anxious feelings that I was having at that time, I pretty much had a melt down. He apologized later but, woof. Sometimes having anxiety and having a husband that don't understand proper responses to anxiety can be difficult

Thursday I had my Dr's appt and I am going to start taking birth control. I haven't taken bc pills since I first got married but the Dr thinks they will help regulate my crazy hormones so I am hopeful. Unfortunately they apparently will make me crazy before they start regulating so that should be fun.

Thursday evening I went to Amy Day's house to learn all the things about seminary (she teaches the kids from the other school district). It was good and also a bit overwhelming. She's amazing. But we also had a good conversation about life and other things afterwards and that was really nice. 

Friday I spent the morning cleaning and clearing things out. I went through the kids closets so I could hang up their school uniforms and I went through the bookshelf in my room because it had become so full. After the clearing out, I took a bunch of stuff to Salvation Army and then ran a few errands with my mom and the girls (Steven was at Max's and Ben was with Jacob). 

That evening I picked up Kassandra and we went and saw Abbie in "Zombie Prom." There was a super risque song and a few other sexual innuendo's that made me feel super uncomfortable since I was there with one of my yw but I guess overall it was fun...

Saturday morning I took my mom and the girls to the Eastern Market in Detroit. We got lucky finding parking because it was super busy but it was still a good time. I found a cute dress for $10 and I bought sunflowers, Kettle Corn, Strawberries and Cherries. Lots of good things.

Also on Saturday,  Lucy put together a whiteboard I bought at Ikea. She was pretty proud of herself. 

Girl's Camp, Saginaw, Broken Alternator

 On Monday I drove a few girls up to Girl's Camp and then stayed there until the evening. I was originally not asked to go but one of my yw was trying to flake out and I felt prompted that if I could take her and stay for the day, she would stay too. She did end up staying the whole time and even though she did try to get her mom to pick her up at one point, I still call it a success. For me, it was an exhausting day. The campsite was pretty far from the lot so I had to help girls haul a lot of things down. Then later that day there was long trek down to the lake to watch girls go kayaking. The kayaking didn't feel super worth between the tetris game of trying to fit a ton of kayaks on a trailer and the distance to the lake but I think the girls still enjoyed it. By the time evening came I was ready to go home. The long walk to my car through the darkened woods by myself was eerie and I accidentally killed a firefly which temporarily caused my hands to glow so that was all fun. But I am also glad I didn't have to spend the night in a tent so there's that.

On Tuesday I played catch up with life- laundry, groceries and other errand running. I also put together a care package for my friend's daughter who was getting surgery for her scoliosis. The girls and I got to drop that off and chat with them for a bit. Both mom and daughter were pretty anxious about the surgery but everything went well.

Tuesday night I had a puzzle night with friends at Grace's house. Overall good. They had a moment where they weren't so nice about someone and that wasn't my cup of tea but other than that conversation was good.

Wednesday I had to go back to girl's camp to teach a class and then help take girls home. I was running behind that morning and then my car wouldn't start so that was fun. I ended up taking my moms because Tyler and Steven were off at Deacon's camp. Unfortunately her car needed gas so that set me behind some more. Then I took a wrong turn and it took me a bit to realize and correct. While I had hoped to make it there super early, I ended up right on time. I guess at least I was on time. With all the events of the morning I was fairly flustered so I was a little nervous and shaky teaching the class and I didn't do a lot of teaching. Mostly the girls just doodled and colored but I think they enjoyed it.

After my class I sat with one of my yw (the one who hadn't wanted to come) and found out that she felt 80% of camp was fun. That's a win, right!? Then we had lunch and took down camp. I had the biggest struggle trying to help a girl put her sleeping bag in it's bag. That is not my strong suit. This time we got to load all our stuff up in someone's car and have it driven down to the parking lot so that made things easier.

Thursday I had my annual check up. That day I also found out that the Elementary had still not sent the kids records to our new school and so they still could not complete enrollment. So after my appt I went down to the District Office to complain and they were absolutely unhelpful. The whole thing gives me anxiety. Thankfully after a less than happy email to the new school, they said they would register my kids without the records...but they still want the records. So I guess the saga continues.

Thursday afternoon we hit up the Milford's Farmers Market and my mom was nice enough to buy all the kids cookies for later(except Steven who was still off at camp). And then she was even more nice and bought us Subway that night for dinner. It was nice to not have to stress about making dinner.

Friday I finally had no plans so I decided it was a good day for an adventure. We drove out to Saginaw and first toured the Castle Museum. It was definitely cool looking and the kids seemed to enjoy it. Especially cool was that this Museum used to be a Post Office and we got to go to a special room upstairs where the Boss could watch all his workers. We learned a lot about Saginaw and how it used to be a booming lumber town until there were no more trees to cut down.

It was a really nice day so we ate our lunch outside after we finished in the museum and then we headed to another museum, Marshall M Fredericks Sculpture Museum. This was like a much smaller (and free) version of the Sculpture Gardens in Grand Rapids. The kids still seemed impressed by the sculptures (and didn't get too wierded out by the naked sculptures). They always make me nervous in fancy museums but at least I have cultured them ;)

Friday evening, after our adventures in Saginaw, I ordered pizza for dinner. I went to go pick up the pizza and decided to use my car (Tyler had left camp to come jump start it the night before). It struggled to start but then it did so I figured it would be fine. Well it was NOT fine. I was sandwiched in a left turn lane during high traffic when it literally just died. I watched as the battery level went to zero. I was on the phone with Tyler and he told me to stay in the car and he would come but he was at camp 30 mins away. I called a close by friend and she said she would send her husband. I was waiting there, being honked at and trying to motion to people to move around me as my emergency lights flashed, when I saw my neighbor Christy come out of a car in front me. Such a tender mercy. She sent her husband and Jacob out and they helped push the car to a safe location (along with a couple strangers who jumped out and helped). I had the fun of trying to steer with no power steering and feeling stupid because I didn't know what direction to turn the wheel. I am not good in high stress situations. My friend's husband came near the end and was nice enough to drive me to pick up the pizza. Then when I got home Tyler was there and together we went back and he towed the car back while once again I had the joy of steering. And stomping on the breaks. So stressful.

Saturday I went back up to girl's camp to teach my hand lettering class to the second session of camp. There were only a handful of people in my class this time and it was honestly pretty nice to have a small class. It was less stressful. I did not stick around after since my yw weren't there and it just wasn't the same.