Happy Birthday Libby!

 Oh Boy!  I can't believe we have a 16 yr. old!  We had her family celebration on Sunday the 23rd (combined with Kaj.). Apparently I took zero pictures.  Her boyfriend Andrew and his mom and sister came too.  She thought her gifts were pretty funny & awesome--2 alarm clocks (a mom can dream, right?), her photo book, and the coach purse & wallet set I got on an SPD facebook group.  She wanted spaghetti and Kaj wanted burgers so we had both.  

She was sad though, that we were leaving on her birthday because her friends had been planning a surprise party.  I was glad she told me, because I secretly texted them and invited them to come surprise her in the morning before we headed out.  And they did a great job.  Streamers, flowers, cupcakes, gifts, and a birthday banner.  

She got a 2nd fun birthday surprise when we got to the Worldmark.  Geneva had let them know it was her birthday.  So they left some sparkling cider and a card signed by all the Worldmark Staff.  So fun.  

Also, since she passed her drivers test the Saturday before we left, I got online that morning and got her official (paper) license.  The real one with come in the mail with the same picture from her permit. 

She was anxious to get home from the family reunion to be with her friends and DRIVE!  She drove to meet friends for brunch yesterday and then to hang out at one of their houses.  She can't drive friends for 6 months, so that's a pain (and she's going to be VERY tempted to break that rule--but we're holding firm.) 

We are preparing to buy her a car in January if all goes well with her mental health & grades. 

Fehlberg Family Reunion 2023

 While I wasn't super excited to get back in the car and head off...at least this time we were home for Saturday and Sunday before we had to leave again! And, we were headed to a place I was excited to go, and to see people I love.  So it was worth it.

We decided to make the drive to Tahoe in 2 days.  We drove to Klamath Falls OR on Monday and stayed in the Worldmark there (thanks Geneva!).  It was beautiful.  The one disappointment is that there are actually no falls to see in Klamath Falls.  So our plan for Tuesday morning changed from checking out the falls to sleeping in (everyone else) and doing yoga on the deck & taking a walk around the property (me.)

We checked out right at 10 am and headed to Tahoe, getting in right at the 3:00 pm reunion start time. 

I was sad to drive through Reno without time to stop and see Aunt Sissy and Uncle Ron.  But I fell in LOVE with Tahoe, so hopefully we'll go back and next time we'll make time for an Upton stop! 

The reunion was amazing.  The Paul Fehlberg clan did an awesome job organizing.  The Zephyr Point facilities were great!  The food in the cafeteria was really good (I've had a lot of cafeteria food lately between 5th grade and wrestling camp...this was by far the best.) The schedule had just enough things to do.  A great mix of active (lake & hiking) and family fun (relays, skits, time to chat).  It was all just so nice. 

Here's a quick photo dump.  My personal favorite things were getting in 2 paddle boarding times (I'm 1/2 way to my goal of 6x), 2 fun hikes, and yoga on the deck overlooking the lake.  I also loved getting to know some of the cousins who haven't been before (or in a long time).  

We drove home in 1 day.  It was long, (and it turns out Derek and I don't have the same taste in books--we tried 2 different books we abandoned and finished one that he loved but I'd give 4/10 One Second After--Ugh.) But we got in some good Planet Money and Wait Wait Don't Tell Me. 

While we unloaded, the kids got in the lake...some more voluntarily than others. Libby pushed Ben all the way in.  Ben wasn't quite strong enough to get her in.  

Ben & Les, our niece Paige's son.  He's adorable.  Laughs all the time.  Super chunky thighs.  Love this kiddo. 

The skit night was super fun.  My skit was with Sarah and we were in the "3 little animals club" hiding from the Big Bad Animal Control in our houses of sticks, straw and bricks.  Haha. Libby and Alayne were narrating their skit and it had something to do with Clark and Derek being dragons named after the uncles.  Haha. 

Ben and Clark jumping in.  Can you believe the color of this water? It's so amazing. 

One of our hikes was to Eagle Lake.  It was a for real hike.  Ben loved getting in the water.  He didn't love the chaffing he got from walking back down in wet shorts.  These were Ben's favorite littles, Little Clark and Addie. 

View on the way up to Eagle Lake (looking back at Tahoe). 

Libby teaching little Siggy to wrestle.  

More of Ben with Clark & Addie

My feet in Tahoe.  This was at the end of hike #2--it's a paved path along the lake.  But the beach had awesome waves, just like the ocean. 

Enjoying the waves. 

Once again, Ben couldn't resist getting all in.  More chaffing, this time with all the sand in his shorts from body surfing. 

Derek didn't get to go on the 1st hike because we couldn't find parking.  He dropped us off and we hiked without him.  But he went on the 2nd one. 

Sarah's favorite 2nd cousin Alexis! 

 Ben and Little Clark on the hike back from the wave beach. 

Winners of the relay races.  #1

Limbo time! 

Leanne got this gem.  Love it. 

Cousin time! 

Wrestling Camp 2023

 There were SO many things that went wrong last year at wrestling camp.  This year we felt more prepared going into it.  We had a better handle on things all around.  And it went awesome.  There was still a lot of stinky laundry (we did about 105 loads over 2 days).  But we were ready for it!  And ready with plenty of inventory for the store.  We did a much better job.  Even if the only thing that went better was that I figured out to sleep in a place where any movement wouldn't trigger on the overhead lights it would have been better.  But lots of things went better.  Highlights:

We bought smaller laundry bags and gave them to every camper.  We had 2 laundry drop off times.  We took the laundry, did the laundry super efficiently (after we figured out there were 4 bum dryers) and got it done! We spent about $500 at the laundromat.  That's a lot of one dollar coins and quarters.  

Both Libby and Sarah (but especially Sarah) had much better years.  Libby was in the finals for every competition and she won the sumo competition.  Their dual team took 1st (out of 6 girls teams).

We always had frozen otter pops.  (Last year this was really problematic, but this year there was a freezer close and I pre-froze about 1/2 of them.)

No fire alarms went off (except the preplanned test of the system).  (There was one random building alarm at 5 am that impacted only the girls rooms though).

The food seemed better.

We did a clean room competition--so it stayed tidy! 

This wasn't an us thing--but it was about 10 degrees cooler all week than last year. That was a huge bonus. 

Libby did come home with a staff infection (on her butt cheek--yikes).  But other than that we came home tired, but not much worse for the wear! 

We do have a running list of thing to do to make it even better for next year. 

We also hired a dog sitter on Rover.  He came and house/dog sat.  It was great!  We are doing that again this week.  Nice peace of mind.  (Not cheap--but yeah--dog life.) 

Ready to turn around a head out again to the Fehlberg Family Reunion. 

Libby ended up bleeding helping us move into the camp store.  But it was just a shaving cut that opened up. 

SW girls!  Also Abi came later in the week.  They had a great time together. 

Sarah, actually smiling! 

Take down! 

Finalists for one of the competitions...Libby and Izzy. 

Down time meant card games. 

Clark and I did about 105 loads of laundry.  It was so much less stressful than last year though. 

Laundry buddies! 

Derek invited Lucas, an incoming 8th grader.  He and Ben had a great time hanging out.  The height differential is hysterical though. 

It's not your typical week of family vacation, but we love being a wrestling family.  And we made a bit of money (total still yet to be determined pending all invoices being paid, etc.) So, it was an all around win! 

Utah Trip 2023

 The day after the Hardies left, Sarah, Ben and I took off for Utah.

The plan was to camp with my parents for 2 nights in Thousand Springs and then head to Utah for Sarah's BYU Writers Camp.  Well....

Plans don't always go as expected.  So when my parent's tent trailer collapsed (luckily with no one inside), they ended up spending the weekend buying a new (much nicer full on) trailer.  We got to spend some quality time with my cousin Daniel (my closest first cousin in age) and his fun family.  He made us some super delicious meals and hosted us both on Friday night and Sunday after church.  

Ben, Sarah and I did get to spend some time in the Thousand Springs hot springs pool and Ben and I paddled around the river there for an hour or so.  While we waited for the RV walk through to finish. Then it took about 2 hours longer...so we hung out at the campsite in the inflated raft, took naps, and eventually went and got pizza for dinner.

 Next year--Rafting!

We got to Utah and had a mostly really relaxing time.  I got to see several friends (took no pictures!!) and we spent a day at Cherry Hill with my cousin Wes & his family.

Ben was pretty bored because the neighbors he usually hangs out with were gone.  My friend Bradshaw's son was on trek, then camping.  Poor guy.  But we did go to the new Indiana Jones movie, and he got some fun time in with Papa the night we picked up Sarah from her workshop.  I got in 2 temple trips, Bountiful and Provo City Center with my mom.  It was lovely.  I also helped her learn to use her new cricut.  She wasn't sure she wanted it....but I think she'll end up liking it...maybe?

Sarah had a great time at her workshop. There was a lot of walking.  But she made some friends and learned a lot.  I mostly found out by watching the pictures that showed up in the camera roll.  I'm so glad she loved it.

 Pictures are in a strange reverse order...

Sarah's room...

We attempted a hike to the V...should have trusted google maps.  But we got in a good hike! 

Ben learned to play Scrabble.  Mimi won the first game, I won the 2nd. 

Sarah's cute roommate

Waiting in the raft that never actually saw water. 

Paddle boarding.  We didn't have life jackets, so we took it easy.  It was mostly sitting paddle boarding.  But we took turns paddling. 

All smiles, thinking we are about to raft! 

One bonus of the broken tent trailer was getting to go to Shoshone falls and hike around the area while we waited for the meat to finish cooking. 

Also Derek is on a commercial!  He's famous. Don't fly drones over the stadiums! 

Happy 4th of July!

 We spent the 4th of July reunited with our COVID family--the Nordies were back together because the Hardies came to visit from Arkasas.  It was so much like old times, except we crashed Maren's house in Woodinville.  We were having so much fun catching up, playing games, and lighting off fireworks that we didn't stop to take nearly enough pictures. 

We finished the party at our house, and took a trip to a sushi place for Wren's summer bucket list.  Since Derek had just gotten home from Japan--he wasn't super impressed.  But it was fun.  Libby even got a pass to take the 4th of July off from her program to spend the day with us.  (She realized she's gotten a little old for the little kid play that she used to love...) Overall, we really miss our Nordie clan.