summery summary

Wow, it has been a really long time since the last post! It is embarrassing that my last post was such a rant, as well. I have been doing a lot of thinking about this blog; whether to continue it, take a prolonged (?) hiatus, or totally bag it. By this time, I am sure, very few, if any, people read my silly little thoughts. Readership is not why I began blogging, however. The purpose was to record my life, and the events of our family. Since I haven't touched a journal/diary since my mission days, there is very little recorded about the past 22 years. After re- reading my last post, I wonder how much I am just blithering on, and how much actual history I am recording. Perhaps I should make this a private blog? I don't know. Thoughts, anyone?

In any event, a quick catch up is in order. We have had a busy summer- as everyone else has. For the life of me, looking back, there are not that many "events" that stand out.

One of the things that happened was that my side of the family had it's first annual family reunion- and it was a blast.
To kick it off, we had a family temple baptism night. My siser lost an 8 month old baby to death, and she would have turned 8 this year. Since she would have been baptized that week, we decided to go to the temple as a family, and did over 250 names. What a wonderful experience- our whole family there, dressed in white, being baptized for our ancestors. My dad's sister and her husband both died with the last couple of years, and so their baptisms were also done.

Over the next few days, we barbeque'd,had water slides, played games, went to Leavenworth to see "The Sound of Music" in their natural amphitheatre (which,by the way, is definitely a must see- it was sensational!), and just sat around and got some quality relationshipping done.

Labor Day weekend rolled around, and it was Paul's turn to host his side's family reunion. We went up to Scout-a-Vista ( a BSA owned facility that has campsites, a lodge, winter cabin, etc.)looking forward to some volleyball, Bocchi ball,croquet,and campfire time. Instead we got 3 days of rain!! The rain actually turned out to be a blessing, because everyone congregated in the lodge. There were home made donut/fritters, early Christmas candy, games, art projects, puzzles, and LOT'S of visiting. Since each family took a turn preparing,serving, and cleaning up a meal, there was much less stress, and more fun. You knew who was cooking by the various genre's of music being played on the stereo in the kitchen. We even took up some guitars and amps, and the cousins had a blast jamming together.

Another high point of our summer, was our garden. That sounds really lame, but we have had many gardens over the years that just didn't produce much except weeds. This year, we put up corn, carrots, beans, peas, tomatoes, peppers, and even got a few onions. It was very rewarding to actually benefit from all those hours of sweat and dirt!

Many people know that we have homeschooled our kids for the past several years. This year, however, a Kimber Academy has been started in our town, and both of the boys are enrolled. After 3 days of class, they have memorized 20 historical dates along with the people from the Book of Mormon and Old Testament that are associated with those dates, as well as one event for each date. They have covered the various forms of government around the world, and begun math reasoning.

Each student will have memorized 40 "hook" dates,with at least 100 facts for each date which equals 4000 facts, by the time they graduate from the academy. The dates/facts include religious as well as secular history of the world. In order to graduate, they will write a thesis from memory, in story form, of the the history of the world from the beginning to present time. They will also place at least at a college freshman level in the 22 areas covered by the diagnostic GED test;this test is given every 90 days throughout their years at the Academy. Their study/academic goals are set according to the results of these tests. We are extremely excited to have the Academy here in our little town. In about 3 weeks it has gone from 6 students, to 20, with more "in the wings". In a word, the Kimber Academy is AWESOME!!!

Last night, we went to bigger town to see my baby sister sing the National Anthem at the semi-pro hockey game. She did fabulous! And the hockey game was really exciting, with tons of action and some good brawling at the end. Super fun!

Well, I think that basically catches us up, Josslin is back at BYUI for the fall semester, and is doing very well. Ironically, 2 of her roommates from summer semester got engaged over the break,so today they are shopping for wedding dresses. How fun is that?!!