Pretty Princesses!

I woke up from my nap to find that Jenna and her friends were doing a "Cinderella Photoshoot." I guess at FSY some of the kids told her that she looked like Cinderella and even started calling her "Cindy." I guess she decided to dress the part with Janika's former prom dress, ha ha! She really does look pretty! I included a picture of Janika in the same dress in the same spot ten years ago! Then a couple of days later I came home from an appointment to find all of the girls like this, ha ha! Beautiful girls!  

Father's Day Flee!!

We had a short, one day Father's Day Flee this year. Here is the invitation that was sent out. Of course we had to give Rick a bad time about forgetting the "s" on scriptures. "So, are we only supposed to bring one scripture?" haha

When the Westra Father's day party finished, the kids and I picked up Rick from the Salt Lake airport after his week long work cruise (interpreting). We skyped with Janelle and the other kids in the car while we headed to an Airbnb in Orem. The next morning Janika and Brandon and Everett joined us. The kids were all excited to finally meet their new three-week-old nephew! Everett got lots of snuggles and attention! Jase, Ellen, and Evan were in Maryland, and so they were not able to come. Jared was at FSY and so he was not able to come either.

Janika and Brandon were in charge of making breakfast and made a delicious breakfast casserole, which we all enjoyed! Rick taught a really nice lesson on the "Process to Perfection." If you read the invitation above, you will understand a few of the pictures below! 

Rick had gotten fishing hats for all of the boys (I think he got them on his cruise). He even got one for the baby boys. Some other things we did at Father's Day Flee was workout in the gym, go swimming, layout, play pickle-ball, go for a walk, and watch a movie. I wished that we had more time, but I was grateful for the time that we had. Tuesday morning we checked out and headed to the temple in Cedar City to do baptisms. As we were driving home Rick got another cruise request leaving Wednesday morning and decided to accept it! So he basically just washed his clothes and repacked them! 

Here is the Father's Day Flee lesson! 

Happy Father's Day!

 (Copied from Jens Father's Day Post on our Family Blog):

Sunday, June 19, 2022 ... the final group gathering and family photo with the back patio of Scott and Amy's home on Old English Road in Draper as the backdrop. Change is in the air, and the house was on the market and sold in the months afterward. 

Scott sent out the annual invitation June 2 ... "Hey Family! You are all invited to the annual Father’s Day extravaganza at our home on Sunday, June 19th. We will probably start around 6:00 pm if that works ok. I will fire up the BBQ and the Treager if Grayson can provide me some smokin’ tips. Please bring the 9 square game. Let everyone know what you can bring and pass the invitation along to all your family members."

On June 19, the day of the party, Scott sent an update ... "Happy Father’s Day! It looks like a cold front will be blowing in early afternoon and the evening temperatures will be on the cool side. Who would be able to come if we moved the start time to 5:00 pm? Please let me know and if that doesn’t work for everyone, we can keep it at 6:00 pm. Please let me know and I will send out a definitive plan early afternoon. I will be smoking some tri-tip on the Treagar and will have our traditional Sprite chicken on the Weber. We will also have baked beans and fruit. You are welcome to come earlier to visit and help. I know many of you will be disappointed to not see me in my short-shorts and tank top but I still hope to see as many of you as possible. Bring a sweater. "

The change in the weather was ironic, as just last year (Father's Day 2021) a heat wave hit the holiday and the festivities had to be shifted a little later to accommodate! With the cool temperatures this year, there wasn't any water fun, as was the case in many Father's Day parties in the past. 

There was food, and visiting. Many got to meet little Letti  for the first time. Layla had a little beaded bracelet business going, so there was some crafting going on. Chris's crew brought some fresh eggs from their chickens for a few people to take home, and Jen brought some tomato plants she'd picked up at a Blackham family reunion the day before. 

It was a bit breezy, and we weren't sure the 9-square would work with the weather.

But we got some games in.

It was a smaller group for this final farewell to Father's Day here at this house.

We missed those who couldn't make it.

... for a fun look back at all the photos from this back porch.

Starting in 2006 in the top left corner, ending with 2021 in the bottom right. Skipped 2011, as while there was a Father's Day photo at the house, that year it wasn't taken on the back porch as all the others were. All of these years have party recaps with additional pictures. Check them out by year (chronologically on the blog archive in the sidebar), or scroll through all the Father's Day posts. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Great post, Jen!! I love the collage of Father's Day family pictures through the years!! 

We had a fun time at the party! Now for a little background information on our plans before and after...

Josh, Jenna, Jaiden and I left to head up North on Saturday evening, the day before Father's Day. Rick had left the week before to go on his first interpreting cruise (Royal Caribbean) and so he wasn't with us. (I will do a separate post about his cruise). I dropped the girls off at Shane and Alicia's house so that the girls could spend time with their cousins and go to church with them the next day. Josh and I stayed the night with Janika and Brandon. I went to church with them, but Josh was still not feeling well and stayed in bed all day. 

I hadn't wanted Rick to go on the cruise over Father's Day, because I wanted our family to go to our annual Father's Day party and also spend the weekend together. But he had been really anxious to try cruise interpreting and said that this week worked well with his schedule. He said that he would be flying home on Father's Day and could fly right into Salt Lake and be there in time for the party. I was worried that he wouldn't make it in time (and he didn't). At the time he accepted the cruise he didn't know when the flights would be. I wasn't surprised when the flight showed him arriving later that evening instead of during the day like he had hoped. I was disappointed that he wasn't there and I was also not happy about having to leave the party early with the kids to go pick him up from the airport, especially since I wasn't comfortable navigating through the Salt Lake airport. I hadn't been to the SLC airport in years and didn't know my way around. Of course I got lost and and was stressfully driving around in circles. 

We finally connected and he took over driving. Then Janelle called for her weekly call and all of the other kids got on the zoom call too in order to wish Rick a Happy Father's Day and hear about his cruise. We had decided a while back that we would have our Father's Day Flee right after Father's Day and had reserved an Airbnb, so we drove straight out there and Janika and Brandon planned to meet us the next morning. Janika and Brandon didn't come to the Father's Day party since Everett was just three weeks old, but they planned to come to our Father's Day Flee. We missed Jase and Ellen and Evan, who were in Maryland for the summer. Jared was at FSY this summer and so he wasn't able to come either.  I will write about Father's Day Flee in another post! 

Later this cute collage popped up in Jaiden's Google Photos... Jaiden and Layla at the same party three years ago and today! 

Josh Boating: Lake Powell and Gunlock

Josh went boating with the Young Men at Lake Powell the week after the Young Women went. He went June 15-18. Unfortunately, I only have one picture of the event -- of Josh with a little fish. 

The leaders took the boys' phones away -- and I support that. Josh pulled his first all-nighter and I do NOT support that! Josh learned how to surf without the rope and was able to go fishing (which he loves). The YM leaders said that they would take pictures and set up a group album. I am typing this up three weeks after the event and I still haven't seen anything. Josh got home that Saturday about 5:00. The girls and I were anxiously awaiting his return so that we could head up north for the Father's Day party which would be the next day. Josh didn't want to go because he was so exhausted -- surprise surprise, but he finally acquiesced and we headed up north. 

I dropped the girls off at Shane and Alicia's and Josh and I went to Janika and Brandon's for the night. Rick was out of town interpreting for the first time on a cruise (Royal Caribbean) and so he wasn't with us. The next day Josh wasn't feeling well and slept pretty much the entire day. I really hate when the kids' pull all-nighters! 

Josh went boating again a week or so later (June 28) at Gunlock with his friends, Max Torres and Hailey Sullivan, and they DID get a few great pictures. So I will include those here instead! 

Jenna FSY

Jenna doesn't have a phone yet (we don't give our children phones until they are at least 15 years old). I still wanted to get pictures from FSY though and said, "We might have a little camera that you can bring." Jenna sarcastically retorted, "Ya, and maybe I can just bring a cassette player too!" 😂

Now for the official write up written by Jenna:

I went to FSY this week and it was the best experience ever and I know everyone probably says that, but it actually was the best. We started by getting checked in and stuff then we went to our dorm rooms and set everything up. We met all the girls in our company and went to the company spot which was like an area where we all meet up after stuff. So anyway, we got there and were talking when the guys in are company came and we started playing some get to know you games and those were super fun. After that we went to the stage room for the morning devotional, and I got to sit by this really cute guy named AJ and it was a really good talk about trusting in the lord and after that we went back to the company spot to play more games than relate them to the gospel. We went to dinner, and we had a home evening lesson and set goals as a company for the week and for ourselves too and after that we all said goodbye to the boys and went back to the dorms to have quiet time. That is where you do a spiritual thing of your choice and also get ready for bed, so I just read scriptures and we had r and r (reflect and review) then went to bed, I did not sleep at all the first night, I was awake the whole time.

Tuesday morning, I woke up at 6:00 and took a shower and got ready we then we had a small devotional led by two of the girls and then left to breakfast. After breakfast we went as a company and did gospel study, so practically you go talk about something as a group and then split off and listen to a conference talk or read scriptures or write in your journal, so we did that for 30 minutes, then left to the morning devotional. It was really good, and they did this thing in all the morning devotionals where he would take up a group of 5 girls and 5 boys and they would each say a word of the scripture proverbs 3:5-6 so we could memorize it. After that it was our first day of classes and so we went with our group of friends, so Chloe, AJ, Elyse, Gabbi, me, and Sawyer and Gabe.

That class was the worst because all my friends were saying that I should go and write something on the board and I was like no, but then AJ was like if I go will you come with me, so then we both went to go write answers on the board and I put reading scriptures as my answer and then the guy in charge of the class said can anyone testify that any of these are real and work and AJ stood up and said he could testify that reading scriptures can help you feel the spirit and I was like oh my gosh because that's the answer I put on there. After 2 classes we went to lunch and then to classes again and then during the 30 min of free time me and Elyse went and tried out for the variety show and I thought it went well but we didn't get in and after that we finished free time and went to dinner. Then I met up with my company and made up a cheer then had dance tips and went to the dance. It was so much fun doing the line dances with all my friends and screaming the words to all the songs and I slow danced with AJ so that was fun too then we went back to the dorms got ready for bed had r and r, which is just reflecting on the day and then went to bed. 

Wednesday morning, we got ready and me and Elyse had the devotional, so we did that and left to breakfast. After that we did gospel study and I love how we do gospel study because I always feel the spirit so strong. We went to the morning devotional and then went to classes, then we had lunch, then classes again, then free time, then dinner, and then learned how to play lots of games for games night, then went to games night and we played games against the other companies, and it was really fun. Each company had their own cheer and banner and skit even though ours was really weird because me and Chloe were cows, but anyways after that we came home and did quiet time and r and r and went to bed.

Thursday was the day where the young men and young women split up into separate classes and we had to wear church clothes and the talks were really good. In the girls’ room we learned all about who we are and our place on earth and we studied in the young women’s theme and wrote down what we are, like I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, so that was really cool, and I really liked that talk and then we also learned a song that we were going to sing later with all of us in the auditorium. Elyse had to leave early that night, so we had to say our goodbyes that night, which was really sad because we were going to have an all-nighter and watch HSMTMTS (High School Musical the Musical, the Series) but we all had to say goodbye and I was crying so much and I don’t know why because Elyse is my neighbor, but still I was sad to say bye.

Friday was the best and worse day all at the same time because I felt the spirit the most on Friday, but I was sad the whole day because it was the last time we are ever going to see each other. Our company met together in the morning and ate breakfast and then we did gospel study and then everyone went to the stage area for the taking it home slideshow. It was so sad seeing that our memories are almost over, but it was really fun seeing all of the memories we made over the week and how close we got to everyone.

I didn’t cry then, which was good, but little did I know I would be bawling my eyes out later, so I don’t really remember what we did for the rest of the day. I think we spent most of it in the auditorium and then we had the dance that night and that was fun, but not as fun without Elyse there for me to talk to and try to get to dance with boys, but I still had a fun time even though I couldn’t find Chloe half the time. It was fun, but I did dance with this guy and I’m pretty sure that he thought I was older because he was 16 and so that was really weird and after we were done with the dance we all stayed in the gym to do a short devotional and that was at 8:00 and that’s when I started to cry realizing this was my last day and then I made Chloe cry and Julianna and Aj and Ellie and so they were all mad at me, but I couldn’t stop crying.

Then we all went to the company spot and me and my friends were already crying but here is when I felt the spirit the most, it was when I was saying goodbye to everyone and we sat in a circle and kind of shared our testimony a little bit and now everyone was crying and I tried to pay attention to what everyone was saying, but I was crying too loud and then Chloe went and I lost it, I was crying so much and she was saying about how when she first saw me she thought I was going to hate her and now were like best friends so that worked out well and we were crying so hard and every time I would even just look at Chloe we would cry even more I was not ready to say goodbye to everyone, I loved them all so much and it’s crazy how I became so close to everyone in just a week.

Then we stood up to go back to our dorms and everyone was crying and hugging and as we were walking down the hall we stopped at the part where there was the stairs so we were going to have to say goodbye to the guys in are company forever and I was dreading this moment were I would have to say goodbye to all my friends, AJ, Sawyer and Chloe for good and I was crying so much as I hugged Sawyer and AJ goodbye and then they left up the stairs and now was the hardest part when I had to say goodbye to Chloe. I couldn’t even look at her without feeling so sad because I wasn’t going to see her again. We hugged and I can’t remember what I said, I think I said I don’t want to say anything to you because I don’t want it to be the last thing I will ever say to you and then she left and I went to my dorm room and cried for a while then I got ready for bed and then fell asleep really fast but before I did I prayed that I would wake up on time because I didn’t have an alarm clock.

Saturday: I guess my prayer from the night before didn’t work because I woke up at 6:55 to the sound of someone knocking on my door and I was freaking out because I hadn’t even packed yet and we had to leave at 7:00 so I answered the door and a girl from my company said that my friends were here to say goodbye and I was like, wow I look terrible, I fell asleep crying so my yes were puffy and I was not ready but I went outside and said goodbye to AJ. Sawyer, and Chole and AJ gave me his sweatshirt and I went back inside to pack up and luckily my mom came to my dorm and helped me pack. Ten I left and saw AJ and Sawyer in the parking lot and waved goodbye, and I was sad I didn’t get to see Chloe again and I went home feeling grateful I could go and have that experience, but way sadder then I have ever been in my life because I had to say goodbye to one of the best weeks of my life.

 

Jaiden Wisdom Teeth

Jaiden got all four of her wisdom teeth out this morning. I think Jase only had two wisdom teeth. Why is it that we even have wisdom teeth if it is just something that needs to be removed later on? 

Anyway, Jaiden and I were the only ones in town. Rick was interpreting on a cruise, Josh was at Lake Powell with the Young Men, and Jenna was at FSY.  Jaiden had her procedure done at a place called, "Simply Wisdom Teeth." Janika and Janelle had gotten theirs out at the office of Dr. Shawn Davis, but I guess they are not contracted with our insurance company any more and so I did some shopping around and this place had really good reviews and the price was very reasonable. It cost $899.00 total and insurance covered a good part of that and so we only had to pay around $350.00. I barely had time to go through the paper-work when she was finished and they were wheeling her out. She was pretty entertaining and we got some funny videos. Her friend, Lizzie Bryner, got her wisdom teeth out also at the exact same time (different office) and so those two were sending videos to each other and they were hilarious! I will have to see if I can piece together some of the videos and add it to this post. I think it is funny that she is trying to "pose" in this picture. 

I remembered that Janelle had gotten sick and thrown up in the car and so I mentioned that to the nurse who was going through instructions with me and she gave me an emesis bag just in case. I was glad that I had it, because Jaiden did throw up on the way home and luckily it all went in the bag. It wasn't a lot since she hadn't eaten anything, but enough that I was grateful for the bag! 

On the way home she asked for her phone and called Maddox. We passed the freeway sign for Vegas and she said in her loopy, slurred voice, "We're going to Vegas?" This was while on the phone with Maddox and he was telling her how there is an M & M store in Vegas and so she kept talking about that the next couple of hours... "We are going to Vegas and going to the M & M store!" She was also sending Marco Polo videos on the way home to our family chat and texting her friends. Why is it that someone who is loopy from anesthesia can still master technology perfectly? 

When we got home Emily and Audrey came over. They talked with Jaiden and took some funny videos of Jaiden talking and singing and they watched Phineas and Ferb. Then they left to go see Lizzie and Maddox came over to spend the day with Jaiden. I was glad that he was there since she wasn't supposed to be left unsupervised and I had to run to the store to pick up her prescriptions. I picked up some applesauce and yogurt and made her mashed potatoes and gravy.

I didn't end up filling the Tramadal, because I remember how sick it made Janelle and there are risks with narcotics, and so we just stuck with the Ibuprophin and Extra Strength Tylenol, alternating every three hours. She also was prescribed an antibiotic. I had to write everything down in a notebook -- which medicine she took at what time and set timers for the next dose so that I could keep track! She and Maddox watched movies and even went swimming. She wasn't supposed to do any exercise, but it wasn't really exercise -- just lounging around in the pool. 

She took it easy the next few days and then we headed up north for the Father's Day party and Father's Day Flee. Her teeth were still bothering her, but at least she was able to keep the pain at bay with the medication and enjoy time with family. We came home from that on Tuesday, stopping to do Baptisms in the Cedar City temple on the way home. She ended up getting someone to cover her shift on Tuesday night. We would have made it home in time, but her teeth were still bothering her and so she was glad she didn't have to go to work. She went to work Thursday night but came home early saying that the next five shows were cancelled due to a Covid outbreak in the cast. 

So she ended up with lots of time with friends. She and Emily and Lizzie decorated their matching backpacks (that Rick had gotten them for the cruise) and went shopping. We also watched the Nationals for Distinguished Young Women Thursday, Friday, and Saturday to cheer Isabel on. I had to pay $25.00 for the steaming link and so I was really disappointed when the technology wasn't working for the first 30 minutes or so, but they finally fixed it. 

I was worried when Jaiden left for FSY on June 27th because her mouth was still bothering her, but she was able to go and have an amazing time and didn't mention being bothered by it at all. She got back home on Saturday July 2nd and I had her go back into the office on July 5th to check out a bump that was growing on her gums. Jaiden said it felt like there was something hard in there. Sure enough, there was a piece of bone, which they removed with tweezers, so I was glad that she went in. She also asked for a syringe to wash out the holes. They had said that she couldn't rinse, or spit, or drink with a straw for fear of pulling out the scabs that were supposed to heal over the holes, but maybe she can do that now that it has been a couple of weeks? I don't know, she has been rinsing them out now to remove food particles, but now says that her teeth have started hurting again. So the whole thing has been a bit of a stressful process. I will be grateful when her mouth is completely healed! 

 

Girls' Camp -- Lake Powell!

Sorry for the overload of pictures! I tried to pull lots of pictures into PicMonkey to make collages, but for some reason it isn't working. So after several attempts I just tried uploading them here and it worked, so I left them "as is." I was grateful that the leaders took lots of pictures and shared them over a shared album because Jenna doesn't have a phone and Jaiden left hers at home (which is great -- proud of her!)

Here are the girls' reports. (Jenna's was pretty much one long run-on sentence with very little punctuation, so I did add some commas and periods to make it read-able. I also added capitalization to the beginning of sentences on Jaiden's because she does hers over text and doesn't bother with it!)  

Jenna's Report:

Girls camp was so much fun! When we got there on Wednesday we had to bring all are stuff down on these wagon things and it was so hotttttt.  After that we decided where we would be sleeping (I slept on the deck) and we didn’t know what to do and since it was like 1000 degrees, so I decided to go down the slide in my clothes and it felt amazing! Then we all went swimming and we had pasta factory for dinner, which was so good. We just kind of chilled and went swimming when we felt like it (that was one of the fun things we went swimming all the time). 

Then we went to sleep at like 12:00 because we were tired then we woke up at like 6:00. We had a good breakfast of French toast and went on the hike horse shoe bend and it was really pretty and looked like an illusion, but it was cool. After that we went boating and surfing and I stood up on the surf board for a long time but I could not throw in the rope. We also went boating and that was the best boating day ever it was so much fun and Justin went kind of crazy but it was fun. We came back for dinner and we had leftovers and then went boating again because we had so much fun earlier, but later wasn’t as fun because it was super windy wand the waves were choppy, also this was a different boat too so I think the other boat was funner and I also got whiplash really bad so I came in early.

The next day we went on the hike antelope canyon it was so pretty and cool not hot because we were in the canyon but I still did not feel all that great, I felt dizzy and light headed but after both hikes we got milkshakes so that was good and made me feel much better. Once we got back we went boating again and this time it was with the bishop driving and he goes so crazy but I like crazy so that was so fun. Everyone couldn’t stay on the tubes except me and Mia so we went together and had so much fun going over huge waves and with bishop doing donuts. Then we came back and played this super fun game called secrete Hitler and we had a delicious dinner of Navaho tacos and went night swimming and played mafia at like 12:45. The next day we packed are stuff and left and I think it was the best girls camp experience ever.

Jaiden's Report: 

Wednesday I finished getting ready to leave for camp! We drove up to lake Powell and then started bringing everything down to the docks to pack the houseboat! It took FOREVER cause the parking lot is quite the hike away from the docks... and it was very hot outside haha. After that we put on our swimsuits and swam around outside behind the house boat! They had this floaty that was basically a mat but it would hold a lot of weight without sinking so it was super fun to play on! Soon we went out on the boat and went surfing! It was really fun and I did pretty decently okayish. We had pasta factory for dinner and it was super good too lol, also I think we ate and then went boating after I don't really remember the order lol. But then we just hung out and played games and then went to bed! we slept on top of the houseboat and it was fun! The stars were Soo pretty! 

The next day we had French toast for breakfast and it was super yummy! Then we went to hike horseshoe bend and it was SOOO pretty!! It was like a little red mountain surrounded by water lol. After that we got soda and then ate lunch and then went back out on the boat! We went surfing again and I didn't do as well as the night before, but it was still super fun! I think we might be gone tubing this day too but I don't really remember not gonna lie. Then we did bracelets and put beads in our hair! After that we ate dinner and then did a camp talent show! Most of the talents were just funny and it was awesome haha! Jenna and I played the ukulele with a spatula and sang I'm yours it was fun! we won prizes and they were tubes we could swim with! We also had a little birthday party for one of the girls in the ward so that was fun too. We swam some more and played some games and then I was SOOO tired so I fell asleep pretty quick haha. 

The next morning we had another hike! This one was in a canyon and part of it was kinda like a slot canyon. It was super pretty!!! very tiring tho lol. When we got back we ate and then went out on the boat to go tubing!! Dude, I am SO good at tubing haha I do NOT let go!! It's so much fun then we came home and tie dyed shirts which was a blast! I was kinda nervous cause mine usually never look good but I was SO PROUD IT LITERALLY LOOKS STORE BOUGHT!!!! We did some more crafts and then went out on the boat again!! We went surfing and I actually figured it out!! The bishop's son gave me advice and then once I threw the rope in I stayed up for a super super long time!! I'm genuinely so proud of myself hahah! 

We came back home and did some minute to win it games and I did seriously so good I was on a roll! I won like every game I did!!! Then the bishop answered questions in a little question box we had out over the week and then we had testimony meeting after that. It was really good and there were lots of tears lol. After that we had a dance party and it was super fun then we played a ton of games like bang and mafia! I did an amazing job as the narrator and also my alibis were amazing too. We stayed up super late haha and then we went to bed. The next morning me and like 3 other girls woke up at 5 AM TO GO BOATING ONE LAST TIME! The water is soooo nice in the morning and it isn't choppy or windy at all! S the bishop's son and his friend went wake boarding and then the rest of us went surfing! And dude I'm for real a pro now I'm seriously so proud!!! Then after we ate and cleaned up and headed home! it was a super fun camp!! and I LIVED outside on the lake haha it was sooo fun!