Regional Convention, 2014

 

Once again, it's the yearly post where I say that I will not/do not/have not/will never discuss religion here on the blog, however we do attend a yearly convention and due to the fact that our family all lives a few states away, I do post pictures from said convention.

This was a special year for many reasons, but especially because Seattle was having an International convention (missionaries serving in other countries get to attend these special conventions and the host cities "take care" of them with a few weeks of special activities. They are happening all over the world this year).

Seattle's convention was the same weekend as ours at the Cow Palace in San Fran, so we were able to be connected into their convention to watch and hear some of the special talks that were taking place.

We also got to hear and see them singing songs, which was special, as well as the conclusion of the convention Sunday afternoon.  There were many signs expressing love for these delegates, lots of cheering and tears.

For Brian and I it was extra special to be tied into Seattle, as our families were attending that convention, so we got to hear the same speakers, and sing the same songs at the same time, get to see newly released books and brochures at the same time, and on occasion, cry at the same time.

It was just an amazing convention all around!

 Every morning this was the scene...leaving sunny east bay for the clouds

 This was the first year for this type of technology. Our convention was being filmed...I believe Brian said for future streaming for people who were not able to attend??...maybe...as well as a crowd cam that showed us all singing during the songs.

 Those screens are what we watched the Seattle convention on, as well as some tvs, and below is one of many signs put out after the conclusion on Sunday in Seattle.

 Delegates serving in other countries waving to the crowd in Seattle.

 Seattle had both hot sun, and rain, and 31,000 plus people at Husky Stadium.

There you have it! It was one of the most memorable conventions of my 37 years of attending these! Very special, and we are so very grateful!!

Summer Pictures

 Backing up to the last day of school, Emma got 2 awards, one for maintaining a 3.9 or higher all year (she got one B early in the year, but ended the year with a 4.0), and one for showing the quality of Initiative. Pretty cool.

 I've been trying to get her to try some different hair-do's on her own.  To her, that meant watch how-to videos on YouTube and then ask me to do it for her : )

 We went to this ladies special graduation! She's only 16, but a very hard worker and got done 2 years early!!

 We've spent a few days up at Lake Anza in the Berkeley hills. Notice my feet, not just burried, but decorated with feathers, too.

 A walk through the Botanical Gardens near Tilden.

So much Redwood Sour (aka Redwood Sorrel). They aren't supposed to pick anything, but I let them each eat one.

 Make-over night in prep for our convention this weekend. Nails, masks, and a little brow waxing.

 These next pictures are for mom, she's been wanting pictures of my flowers.

 See my Dahlia's mom? I got them to bloom!

 Red peppers, Green peppers, corn, and tomatoes.

Mom, that's the bougainvillea outside the kitchen window that we thought was dead when you were here. It was just sticks but came back well!

 The camping lantern is for our late night swimming and card games outside.

 What I find in my living room almost every morning.  The kids seem to travel around the house at night.

 Another day at Lake Anza.

 So I gave them a $10 and let them go get 3 ice-cream cones.  Guess what? It wasn't enough $. I was shocked, but I'm also the mom who usually gets their cones at Burger King for 75Cents each.

 Above, what was supposed to be a bike/run and turned out disastrous, and below, a run with just Emma.

 Service, and service break.

And the first batch of party fun stuff!!! So exciting!
Ok, that mostly catches you up with the first 3ish weeks of summer break.  We have convention this weekend, so this will have to hold you over till next week. Have a great weekend!!

Still Here!

We are in full summer break mode! Sorry to not be blogging as much, but we have been busy having fun!  I do have a camera full of pictures....maybe I'll get to that this week.

We are also in full party planning mode, which is kind of fun! Who knew. We've never done a big kids party, so this is a whole new experience for us. Myles definitely earned a good, fun party. While we are not going overboard, there are a few things that he's really wanted, like a bouncy house. So that has been ordered, plus a snow cone machine, tables and chairs.

In the mean time, we knew we needed a 16x15 foot level space for the bounce house, so we needed to drain the pool and move it over to make room. We have a 15 ft x 48 inch above ground pool that the kids love and use daily. Got it drained, moved, and refilled up (no easy task). We had about 20 friends over for lunch today and guess what....the pool busted open...like way open, flood the yard kind of open, and was empty in about 45 minutes. (it usually takes about 5 hours to drain).   So...add that to the party supplies since all the invitations said to bring "pool" clothes.

We spent an evening at party city with Myles showing us what he had in mind for decor, and hit both Costco and Safeway to look at cakes and pick one out.

Aside from party stuff, the girls went to their first sleep over, have had friends over, done lots of crafting stuff, and are keeping busy.  We spent a long day doing volunteer work  out in the country and got to walk around a ranch and saw the cutest baby pigs! There was a batch less than 24 hours old, and another batch 1 week old.  So cute. Made me really want a pig....but then I took at look at the mama's and realized they were the size of a small car. No thank you.

We have our Regional Convention (formerly known as district convention) this coming weekend, so this week will be busy with prep, but we are really excited. We will be tied into the convention happening at the same time in Seattle where my mom, uncle, cousin, and all of Brian's family will be, which is kind of neat!

I'd love to post about all the running we've been doing, but we just quite honestly haven't been doing much.  Brian and I are back to working out in the evenings when he gets home, and that has been great....but I'd really love to be getting some runs in. The 12 hour is literally right around the corner, and coming out of last year's I was stoked to go for 50 miles this year.  At this point I'd be thrilled to hit a 50k. I don't think I'll hit what I did last year (41 and change), or maybe I should say it would take a tremendous amount of effort to break even with what I did last year and as out of shape and under trained as I am currently, I don't know how wise that would be.  I'll really be happy to hit the 50k and keep going and see what happens......which is exactly what I said last year and I had a great time, so there you go.  I'm quite honestly looking forward to getting outside and moving for 12 hours, all numbers/mileage aside.

Anyhow, hopefully in the next few days I'll have a real post with pictures and not such lame content : )