Summer Camp

Sam and Jacob are enjoying the Summer Youth Bazaar camp they've been going to down at the junior high. Even Sam and especially Jake. The camp has an overnight program for the kids their age, so they decided they would stay tonight. (Kait's in the daycamp program at the same place.)

Jacob's been taking his guitar everyday and to listen to him talk it sounds like he is on the fast track to superstardom with the camp crowd. When I dropped them off this morning, I asked Sam if anyone had told Jake that he can't play the guitar yet. He said he didn't know, so I told him not to say anything because Jacob seems so happily ignorant of that fact. Sam just smiled.

Jacob says that he is having a hard time singing and playing at the same time. To illustrate the problem for any guitar-players out there, try forgetting everything you know about music and take your guitar and play bar chords (of course you don't know they're bar chords because you don't know what chords are) starting at the first or second fret and go down a few frets, then up a few frets all to the rhythm of the song, say, Blue Suede Shoes. Now try to sing along. Okay! That's the problem! Sam has a great ear and great feel for rhythm and zero passion; Jacob has tons of passion, but no ear. The great thing is your ear can be trained, so he'll learn. He'll learn because I'm signing him up for guitar lessons at the college starting in July.

Easy Listening

Some of my "test of time" favorites with the artist I prefer:

COME IN FROM THE RAIN - Captain and Tenille
SO FAR AWAY - Carol King
SATELLITE - Dave Matthews
GOOD MORNING HEARTACHE - Diana Ross
VINCENT - Don McLean
DESPERADO - The Eagles
THE BEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED TO ME - Gladys Knight and The Pips
UP ON THE ROOF - James Taylor
ADIOS - Linda Ronstadt
WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD - Louis Armstrong
DREAM A LITTLE DREAM OF ME - The Mamas and The Papas
UNFORGETTABLE - Natalie Cole (with Nat King Cole)
CRAZY - Patsy Cline
THE NEARNESS OF YOU - Nora Jones

Today's My Birthday...

...and I'm forty-hmmmm. Oh okay--seven! I'm forty-seven today, and so far forty-seven is good; all of you lesser ones should look forward to it.

Casey's present to me was that he took the day off from work. Only we who know him well can realize what a special gift that is from him. I remember when Kaitlyn was born he planned on taking two weeks off from work--it turned out to be, maybe, 3 or 4 days. So I love this gift! Right now he's taken the kids down to deliver the older ones to summer youth camp and I'm here alone blogging and listening to some of my favorite tunes courtesy of Limewire. Modern technology can be good when it wants to be!

I let Kaitlyn stay up late last night to help make my birthday cake. When she gets home this afternoon we'll finish it with cherries and whipped cream. Eden met me in the yard when we came home from our morning walk...she was picking flowers "for your birfday". The older kids were horrified when I said that Dad was going to take them to camp today so that I could stay home and get a few things done like the breakfast dishes. They can't imagine a fate worse than dish duty! I used to feel that way too, but as I get older it doesn't bother me. I remember Grammie Boone saying that she really didn't mind doing the dishes and I guess I don't either.

Well, Casey's back and has gone directly into the office to return some phone calls--I guess what he said was that he wasn't going in to work today...

Father's Day

Casey's upstairs making banana bread. It smells like the holidays instead of the middle of the summer, but we've had so many bananas coming off the plants Casey's been cultivating in the jungle that we've got to use them faster. These are the nicest eating bananas--as opposed to "cooking" bananas--that we've had; they're as big as the ones in the store! They completely cover the small table (well, it seats six!) we have in the back of the kitchen.

We've had a nice Father's Day today. Levi called this morning before church and Alexa called after we got home. We haven't heard from Mallory, but she doesn't have as easy access to a phone or computer right now, so we'll probably hear from her tomorrow because she'll be at Grammie and Grampie Haskins for a family gathering. Our day here was quiet with no visitors or guests--just the family. We had a nice dinner complete with local watermelon--they're so good this year!--and strawberry shortcake for dessert. It's usually impossible to find fresh strawberries on island that aren't moldy and gross and $7.99 a pound, but amazingly enough there were good ones for about half that price this week so we had a real treat.

It's 10:45 P.M. here now which puts it at about 8:45 Sunday morning in Maine, so I guess I'll go call Dad and wish him a Happy Father's Day.

Bye-Bye Baby

A lifetime in a week. . . sounds very melodramatic, but I guess I'm feeling a little bittersweet right now--another child leaving home.

Mal's graduation from Kagman High School was very fun. We went out early in the day with the little kids and picked flowers for leis for her and other graduating friends. I had made candy leis for her and Lisa the night before and when they were finished Mal and I sat on the bed talking and eating the leftovers.

Graduation was at 4:00 in the afternoon and it was outside--the first outdoor graduation ceremony I've been to. It's always fun to go to graduation here because the kids look so great piled high with colorful leis around their necks and mwaar-mwaars on their caps. The best part was the awards--Mallory was one of two that received the Robert C. Byrd scholarship. She also received a departmental award in science and in business, was #7 in the top ten, and was named Outstanding Female Graduate by the Governor's Office of Women's Affairs. It was very fun.

On Friday night we had the graduation/going away ice cream party. We had one when Alexa left island and it worked out so well we decided to make it a tradition. There must have been 100+ people here working their way through 9 gallons of ice cream and every topping we could think of...YUM! Then on Sunday Mallory received her Young Women's medallion--along with a couple more mwaar-mwaars from well-wishers.

And so here we are at the end of Mal's time with us. It's hard to believe that the first baby--she's the youngest of the Utah kids--is off. Her Dad was going to take her out to lunch, but when she found out she informed him that she is fasting today, so maybe they can go tomorrow. She's already asked him to give her a blessing before she leaves on Wednesday--I know she's going to be fine.