the weekend

 She got to meet her cousin’s new little baby for the first time:

We soaked up that girl for the day and a half she was home, trying to get her unpacked and re-packed.

A couple months ago when we got all Elle’s Jerusalem information we found that there was a required group meeting up in Utah the day before she left which parents were encouraged to attend.  I didn’t think I could make it, but low and behold, there happened to be an awesome quick fare to get up and back so after a little deliberation I seized that opportunity.  Max was moving apartments at the same time so it turned out to be a serendipitous adventure for me to help those big kids and for Dave to have some quality time with the kids here.

So I headed out in the wee hours of Saturday morning and did some of this:

(I want to always remember that hike filled thick with goodness in a discussion Max and I had on the way down the mountain.)

And this:

 …and this:

 (sushi stop with cousin and Max’s roommates)

…and this:

…oh and this:

(Sunday dinner at my brother’s house.)

And this:

 (sisters came to meet us too…)

And this:

All those kids made it to the top of the “Y”…pretty outstanding (Max and Elle had other commitments so they had left after dinner).

We stayed up late discussing “choosing” faith and belief and some of the most beautiful scriptures I will have to share in a “Sunday Ponderings” post this week.  The spirit was thick and beautiful sitting in that little family room that night.

We checked out Max and Noah’s work that is progressing wildly and happened to be celebrating their first release of the software they are designing right that very day.

Loved getting to see it and experience it in person up there.

The next day Elle and I headed to her Jerusalem meeting together, and this screenshot of the map to get us there is the only picture I have, darn it.

I was SO glad I got to be there, so interesting to reminisce the days when I was the one heading off to that Holy Land (I need to post some pictures of those good old days soon), to meet one of Elle’s new roommates, (who happens to be the daughter of a friend I knew in Salt Lake years and years ago), and for the opportunity to share in the prep of getting her out the door on that next adventure, and give her one last hug before I scrambled off to catch my flight and get back five minutes before Grace’s coaches showed up to help set up for the end-of-season tennis banquet at our house.

(Grace had already set up all those tables…she rocks…and it was the best night, but that’s a whole post of it’s own with tennis-wrap-up stuff soon….)

Claire utilized her time off school today by “shadowing” a few friends at a charter school (still in session) today. 

Grace is deliberating over two summer job offers she got (!!)…she’s so grateful and has worked so hard for those…that deserves it’s own post as well…soon.

Lucy has built and destroyed and re-built practically every Lego masterpiece she has, and has organized all the playdates she can talk me into.

Dave and I swapped places, he had to take off for some business right as I was returning, and is en route home as I type.  I cannot wait to get him here.

Elle is in New York City as I type on a layover, wishing she had enough time to go see her new cousin there, and prepping with her big study abroad group to head out over the ocean to the Holy Land.  She was filled with a little extra trepidation last night, she vaguely knows only one other girl who’s going (a fellow BYU Hawaii student), and change is always a little intimidating.  But she’s already made a bunch of new friends on the first leg of her journey and that excitement is seeping out.  She is so lucky and she knows it.

Max’s first post-mission semester of college began today and he’s bracing himself for all that comes with college classes accompanied with part-time work.

So, it’s been a wing-dinger of a weekend. 

And I just got an email that school will indeed resume again on Thursday, so we better take advantage of our one more extra “weekend” day tomorrow. 

As for tonight…it’s our “Tech-Wise book club” I talked about back HERE.  Man alive we have a lot to discuss, I’m trying to figure out how we can touch on all the things we’ve all been pondering lately in our allotted time.  Wish us luck!  I am hoping to post a collection of thoughts from that tomorrow…and hoping that whoever else read the book will chime in with thoughts and suggestions.

The end.