Ben Summer Update

For some reason I didn't do a Ben summer update when I wrote the girls'.  

Ben just got back from YM camp.  He had a great time.  He's also been doing lots of fishing and swimming at Logboom Park with Jack.  He's been chatting with a girl from FSY (she lives an hour or so away.) 

He had back to back to back camps this summer--he was busy, but very happy. (FSY, Reunion, Youth Conference, Wrestling Camp)

Tomorrow he starts football and driver's ed.

He helped clean out the pod at Grammy's house.  

Fish! 

The bouncy house party at Aunt Maren's

Spiderman! 

Young Men's camp

Lake Easton Camping Trip 2026

 I was heartbroken when I realized that the Lake Easton camping trip overlapped with the drive to drop off Libby.  But we headed up early on Thursday so I some lake time on Thursday and a bit on Friday before I had to come home and finish packing Libby up (hard to pack in a sling.) 

The weather was just about perfect.  I see from the photos that everyone continued to have a great time after I left.

Ben got his permit while we were there.  Sadly I didn't download it and now we need to go in and get a printout (or we'll get a photo version.) 

Had a great time chatting with Harlow.  Harlow and I became the giardia twins after both engaging in high risk behavior.  They ate a chip that fell in the water.  My cup tipped over and my straw got in the water.  Oops.  (Luckily we both came out okay--at least I did.) 

These boys are all so old! I just saw in my FB from when we first did this campout 6 years ago.  They are so big now. 

My meals worked out great.  Hot dogs, beans, veggies, and chips the first night with elephant ears for dessert.  Boiled omelets & hash browns for breakfast.  The nice thing was super easy cleanup.  Which was important so I could make my exit to drive Libby.  

It is for sure the weekend of summer I usually relax.  Will I be okay without it?  I hope so...

Iowa or Bust Round 2

 This year getting Libby off to school had several more challenges than last year.  

The first was that after showing that she didn't make good decisions about driving, we wouldn't be taking her car.

2nd, she had surgery so she couldn't drive.

3rd, her move in was the day before girls camp.  Oh boy.

So, I found a plane ticket that could get me out in the evening on Aug 10, so I could move her in and get back for camp.  I rented a van.  Then I realized that me doing 26 hours of driving over 2 days was not going to work. Thankfully when I realized the issue, Derek hadn't filled his weekend with OT yet, AND the plane ticket for him to come home with me was reasonable.  

So it became a 3 person roadtrip to Iowa.

We stayed in Centerville Utah on the first night.  Sadly my parents were still in Africa. 

We stayed in Omaha at my cousin Stephanie's house the next night (total blast to crash the cousin sleepover.)

Then we did what maybe was the fastest move-in + Target trip ever.  She was all set, including meeting her coach by 3:15 pm so we could hit the airport.  

The flights home went smoothly enough (the final leg through SLC was 20 min delayed, but that wasn't too bad considering).

Sarah picked us up so I could finish the girls camp packing and be ready to head out at 8:00 am.

Not ideal, but so thankful that it went well.  

Libby's new dorm set up is really awesome.  She has 3 freshman teammates as roommates.  Hopefully they don't mind a mess.  Or maybe she'll turn over a new leaf? 

She starts school tomorrow.  Yay for a new year.  It's a much bigger school than last year (would be hard not to be bigger.)   So lots of new things to navigate.  Excited for her (a little jealous honestly.  I loved college.) 

3 full Target carts since she needed some stuff for a bathroom this year too. 

Fun with new 2nd cousins. 

My favorite sign on the road trip. 

Derek and I read two Harlan Coben books.  (Actually we have like 2 hours left of one book...we need to hang out this week and listen!)