The Beginning Of Our Utah Adventure

It has been a while since my last post, lots of things have been going on. Summer is officially off to a good start. My kids have really enjoyed the summer movies at the theatre. We have been spending lots of time with friends at their pools. Thanks Shumways, Hubbards, Kendalls, and Hardys, your pools have been a lifesaver! Bryndee has been busy with cheer at the high school. I don't think she realized how much hard work it was going to be. Porter was able to participate in a 2 week basketball camp at the high school. It is so good to see him active in basketball again.
This past Saturday the kids and I got up really early (4:00 am), loaded up the suburban and headed up to Utah. We have been looking forward to this trip for a long time. We got Porter signed up for basketball camp at BYU and Bryndee signed up for EFY at BYU. The problem is Porter is the 1st week in July and Bryndee is the 3rd week in July. We had planned to go up as a family and have Ron fly home after a week and fly back and bring us home. Silly us for thinking our well thought out plans would work. When Bryndee made cheer, our first wrench was thrown into our plans. Cheer Camp was the same week as basketball camp in Phoenix. The second wrench was Ron took off 2 weeks in June to attend the Trek, Scout camp, and Girls camp. When he went back to work there was no way he could take off again that soon. So I got to drive 7 kids (Porter's buddy Prescott came with us to attend the same basketball camp) 12 and under to Utah by myself. It actually went really well, only 1 stop. A quick thanks to my parents, who live in Utah, for letting all of us stay with you. I have 2 sisters that also live in Utah and my kids are having a great time with their cousins. We attended church with Cassie Sunday morning. It was kinda funny Cassie's husband's calling does not allow him to attend his home ward, so with my 7 kids and Cassie's 6 kids we had 2 single women with 13 kids all sitting together. Makes for a fun Sacrament Meeting.
Monday morning I headed off to BYU to get Porter and Prescott registered and settled into their dorm room. Everything went really well. We didn't even get lost, thanks to Cassie.

This is Porter and Prescott just after they registered. Poor Porter I ordered the wrong size shirt, it is kinda small. Sorry Bug!
We were able to let Porter and Prescott room together. Here they are in their empty dorm room. It didn't even dawn on me to send snacks with them. as we were walking down the hall every room we came to was filled with lots of good stuff to eat. I told the boys to make friends with their neighbors and mooch off them. :o}
After lunch it was time for me to leave them. I think it was harder for me than Porter. He looked too small to be left alone on that big campus. Porter was nice enough to give me a big hug and kiss when he left. Thankfully he has not grown too old for that.

For those of you who know Porter, know he is a "nervous nelly", and when he is tired his nerves go in overdrive. Well Monday night I get a call from him in tears. He is too worked up to be able to relax. "What if I can't sleep at all tonight? What if I don't wake up in time tomorrow? What if I am too tired to do well in practice tomorrow? (and my favorite) What if someday I make the NBA and the practices so long I get too tired and can't do it?" After awhile I got him calmed down and was able to go to bed. The next night when he called he told me he was doing much better and had a good day. Thank goodness, I don't think I could have handled another long night of trying to encourage him.

While we were up here in Utah Bryndee went to her cheer camp. She really enjoyed it. I wish I could have been there to watch her do her stuff. The school did really good in their competitions; they got 5 blue ribbons, 1 purple ribbon, and a trophy. Great Job girls!!

While Porter and Bryndee are at their camps the rest of the kids and I are just enjoying our family. Lots of movies, swimming at the local pool, and just hanging out. So far our Utah adventure is off to a good start, but I sure do miss Ron.