CH Home School Conference

I know...it's been two weeks today since the first day of the conference and most of you have probably forgotten it. But, posting this has been on my to-do list for a while and I can't leave one box empty on my list.

So, here are some of my highlights...

-Spending time with great friends - the Van Cleves, Susanna Cash, Bryans, Hainlines, Booys, and many others!
-Having a "Jamba Juice date" with Krissy, even though it only last about fifteen minutes.
-Meeting Allen Wolfe, S.M. Davis (I didn't officially meet him, like "Hi, My name's Susanna", but I did help him, his wife, and grandson take down their booth in the vendor hall), Diego Rodriguez's wife and daughters, Steve Riddle, and Ryan Yamane. I almost had my picture taken with Voddie Baucham (that was NOT my idea =P), but he left just as we were getting close to him. =)
-Diago Rodriguez's message "Astronomy in the Bible". I wasn't able to go to the "How Big is God" session, but we bought the DVD and watched that Sunday afternoon. It was amazing!
-Singing in the Choral
-Fainting Saturday night (it's the one thing that I will remember most about this conference.=)

Thursday Night

Today...

...after cooking and packing, we are going to head to Grandpa and Grandma Scoville's for our second Christmas this year. We'll spend the night, and have the party Christmas Eve. We're disappointed the Sarah and Stephen and Gracie can't make it, but are looking forward to seeing Jon, Kelsie, Betty, and Phil. We'll come home that night and then it will be...Christmas!! =)

Are you all ready for it? =) Merry Christmas!

It was a BIG shopping day!! =)

We shopped 'till we dropped! =) We left around eleven with Sarah and Gracie, stopped at a store in The Dalles, then went to Portland and shopped at J.C. Pennys, Cost Co, and WalMart. We got back aroudn three-thirty a.m., then stayed up a couple more hours to made a big soup for the Azure workers. It was a long day! =)

Just got back...

...from a WONDERFUL weekend with the Hainlines at the Oregon coast! We had so much fun playing in the water, playing volley ball, and talking. Hopefully, we can go again next year!

I don't know where to start!

This past weekend has been very full! I'll try to do a day-by-day journal of what's been happening.

Friday night Daddy, Stephen, and Ronald arrived.

Saturday morning, after breakfast, we packed all day long. At around four, we headed over to the museum to practice the song we planned to sing at the goodbye party that night (we packed our piano the week before.) After practicing several times, we headed back home, we started dinner and dessert. Then, back to the museum we went! The party was wonderful! Thank you so much, Mrs. Weese and Jon! It was great spending time with friends and saying goodbyes.

On Sunday, there were many tears shed at church! Afterwards, several families headed out to Birch Bay, where we had lunch, dinner, and s'mores. The girls and I headed out to the beach, threw rocks and Hannah M. and I even had a head-dunking contest without getting our clothes wet. (Well, at least that was objective. We weren't soaked, mind you, just a little damp.=D) Momma said that we were wading and our heads fell in the water.=D

Monday morning, Daddy, Momma, Hannah, Ronald, and I went to the Weeses to pick up a dryer, oven pick-up truck and trailer. When we got back, I called the McD. and VC families, saying that we were getting close to leaving. =( Jon and Kelsie and the Weeses came over and help us pack billions of boxes. Finally, when the trailer was packed, we said our last goodbyes. I have never cried that much in all my life. Lots of tears, and billions of hugs, "goodbyes", "I'll miss you's", and "I love you's" were passed around before Daddy, Matthew, Joe, and I climbed into the truck and headed out. It took a whole half an hour for me to get ahold of myself, then I stuck my nose in a book to forget the sad parting. The trip was pretty uneventful. We arrived at Sarah and Stephen's dead tired and headed straight for bed.

And, today, Tuesday, has been pretty slow, which is great! We've washed, folded, and ironed clothes, washed dishes, spent time on the computer and watched Gomer Pyle, Donald Duck, and Goofy movies on YouTube. (Hey, don't laugh! Donald Duck is cute! =P)

The last I heard from my family back home is that they are going to head down to Grandma and Grandpa's house tonight, spend the night, then head here tomorrow. Then, the cleaning and painting begins!

Hannah McD's Goodbye Party

Saturday morning, we finished the chicken butcher later then we planned, then ran home, got dressed, redid our hair (FYI, if you are going to a hair style competition, don't curl your hair in the morning, then spend four hours in the rain butchering chickens. You hair won't be quite so curly afterwards.=), then drove to the McDonald's house, about an hour late for the party.

When we first got there, we had a delicious lunch (thank you SOOO much McDonald family!!). We then played games, shared memories (and lots of tears), danced, played outside, and had lots of great fellowship. (Check Krista's blog - she has some great pictures there!)

Thank you so much Hannah, McDonald family, Krista, and whoever else helped with the party! You all did a great job - the party was wonderful!

It's Going to Be A Busy Day Tomorrow

-Wake up REALLY early and do our hair up fancy =)

-Chicken Processing starting at 7 a.m.

-Grandma and Grandpa come

-Hannah M's goodbye party for us 11 a.m.

-Guys load U-Haul truck

-Realtor comes

-Rapture at 6 p.m. =D

Highlights of the Conference

-(Susi) Driving about five hours from Portland with Daddy and my sister Faithie!

-(Hannah) Driving up from Lynden early Thursday morning with my family anticipating the conference

-Staying at Grandma's house

-Having late night girlie talks while ironing clothes for the next day

-Helping stuff packets, fold place cards, and being a messenger girl on Thursday

-Holding Gracie

-(Hannah) Having food brought to me during busy moments

-Explaining and handing out "conference welcome packets" on Thursday

-Talking as fast as I could explaining welcome packets Friday morning

-Being able to work with vendor hall and pre-registration

-Learning about POPs (Parents of Preschoolers) and welcome packets (both of which were new this year)

-(Hannah) Learning to use the credit card machine

-Being able to answer people's questions

-Being offered coffee, tea, and water by the "hostesses"

-Working with several very sweet and fun girls all weekend

-Meeting and getting to know several girls

-The choral practices and performance!

-(Susi) Going out to eat pizza with the Van Cleves Friday night (thank you so much!!)

-(Susi) Being allowed to see Family night when I was on duty =)

-(Hannah) Being able to see half of Family Night

-Buying the Family night and Choral Performance DVDs

-Going through the Vendor Hall

-Getting a free book from one of the vendors!

-Delicious food! =)

-Being able to go to some of the messages

-Great messages from Kevin Swanson, Jeff, Anna Sofia, and Elizabeth Botkin!

-Getting all of the messages on CD free so we can enjoy them forever!

-(Hannah) being able to sit in the balcony during Family Night and the last General Session

-The appreciation banquet and message by Jeff Botkin

-Singing, playing the piano, and dancing with my sister and a couple other friends Saturday night

Home Sweet Home!!

I'm home after three weeks of being away. When I first came in the door, I had to run through my house. I had to play my piano. This morning, I got to unload my dishwasher and put my dishes away in my cupboards in my kitchen.

Today, after we get unpacked, we're going to start packing up the girls' room upstairs. Pack books, pictures, decorations, clothes, almost everything. This is a new experience for me being the very first move I've ever been apart of!

Today is the Conference!!

Whew!

I'm glad to get off my feet! Sarah and I have been working in the kitchen for a while cooking tonight's dinner, tomorrow's breakfast and lunch, and freezer meals. I have an excuse to get on the computer since I'm holding lil Gracie. The little imp is awake when she's supposed to be sleeping and sleeping when she is supposed to be awake.

Tomorrow, Daddy and I will be leaving at the latest nine o'clock for the conference. I've been looking forward to it for a long time and now it's finally here!

Oh, dear. Gracie is falling asleep again. I need to wake her up again.=)

Tomorrow is the First Day of the Conference!

To Do List:

-Finish packing

-Make cinnamon rolls

-Make muffins

-Freeze Strawberries

-Clean house

What I've been Up To...

I've been told by a couple people that I need to keep my blog updated while I'm here. Sorry that I don't have any pictures. I left my pain-in-the-neck camera at home so I will have to bore you with my ramblings.=)

Daddy and I left home late Sunday afternoon and got to S&S's house at about eleven or so. I went straight to bed and woke up the next morning at eight. Stephen and Daddy had already left for work and Sarah and Gracie were getting some extra sleep, so I just wondered around the quiet house. I finished a book called "Buckskin Brigade" which was about some not very well known men who were mountain men, trappers, missionaries, wagon train leaders, and pioneers. When Sar got up, we made a schedule for the rest of the week. Monday: Clean; Tuesday: Pack; Wednesday: Cook; and Thursday: Leave!

So, on Monday, we cleaned.=) Gracie had an upset tummy and wanted to be held and nursed all the time, so Sarah had her hands full! That night, I made dinner of meatloaf (my first time making it!). I left a huge pile of dishes on the counter since I was too tired to wash them and went to my room at about nine. I read for half an hour, and went to bed at nine thirty.

This morning, I woke up at six thirty and made breakfast for the guys. (Stephen helped me make hot rice cereal.) After the guys left, I read some more, then did the huge pile of dishes. Since then, I finished reading a book, and starting another.

The conference is the day after tomorrow! I'm getting really exciting and can't wait to see a lot of you all there!

All Packed and Ready to Leave for Oregon Tomorrow!

Clothes for seven days, two blankets and pillow, piano books, laptop, and enough books to last me a month.

Slight Change in Plans...

In about an hour, our family is going leave for Grandma and Grandpa's house. I'm going to be staying with Momma, Bekah, and Lydia at Sarah and Stephen's house 'till Saturday, while the rest of the family will leave on Tuesday. More time with the little muchkin!

Today is Adjudications!

I've been preparing for this for a long time. I'm not nervous...not yet anyway.=) I'm going go be playing Sweet Memories and Velocity. Oh, dear! I've got five minutes!!

Valentine's Day

For a couple years now, every Valentine's dinner, we made a special dinner for daddy and momma, which they ate upstairs in our girls' room. This year we decided to have big family affair. We all helped cook turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, onion green beans, rolls, veggies, and pumpkin pie. We girls put our money together and bought everyone Valentine's candy. Before we started eating, Daddy told us that each girl had something under her plate. Daddy and the boys had written us sweet cards! After we enjoyed the meal, we children opened our candy bags and soon we started a game with the sweet heart candies. Matthew would pass one that said "My Cutie" to me, and I'd pass one that said "My boy" back to him.=) After the table was cleared and the dishes washed, we took a few family pictures, then watched a few "Gomer Pyle USMC" episodes.

What did you all do for Valentine's Day?

At Sarah and Stephen's

Laura taking down the old curtains.

Nice new blinds!

The girls' sleeping quarters.

The baby's gettin' bigger!

Joshua and Katherine Cohen's Wedding

Mr. and Mrs. Bradrick walking their daughter down the aisle.