♪♫ It's raining, it's pouring... ♪♫

I don't think anybody enjoys a good rainstorm like an Arizonan.

Plus it makes for a good excuse to wear a stupid and pointless umbrella hat. But shhhh, don't tell her I said that about her hat.  She loves it for reasons I don't understand.

Utah

I took a couple days off work and drove to Utah to pick up the kids.   Zach and Maddie had a lot of fun at EFY.  They went to Logan this year.  To us, EFY is just one of those things that I think is worthwhile to make happen.  They gain so much from it in so many ways, and they are dealing with so much junk in their lives, I feel they NEED this. 

That said, they loved it.  Despite the lack of pictures :/

Other than that, some of the other highlights were-

teaching grandpa how to take a selfie on his new iphone,

visiting with their grandparents and aunts and uncles, (Grandma and aunt Amy somehow escaped being photographed)

spending the day with Will,

Maddie entertaining grandpa (and the rest of us) with her musical talents,

meeting one of Nick's former companions, the former Elder Josh Hatch,

visiting the One Man Band Diner, the place where Zach FINALLY tried fry sauce and has been obsessed ever since.  We go back there every once in awhile as a pilgrimage of sorts...

and last but not least, the kids FINALLY got to meet their brand new little cousin Ben. 

There hasn't been a new baby in the family since Christopher, and they've been dying to meet this little cutie.   I mean, look at these baby pictures.  It was killing us to not hold him and kiss him and squish him.

And then it was time to go.  I miss those lazy days of summer when I would spend a month or so in Utah, but I will take what I can get.

Drama Camp

Because Maddie is a State Thespian Officer, that meant sticking around Arizona for an extra week while her brothers went to Utah with their grandma.    She had to stick around because she was running drama leadership camp. 

She had been freaking out about it for weeks.  They had meetings after meetings, other officers were dropping like flies, which meant more responsibilities for her.   She had classes to teach, and campers that she was their official counselor.  The theme was 80's, so she had to come up with outfits for each day, a theme for their group, etc, etc, etc.

The day of camp arrived and I sent her off with her decorated spatula (don't ask... I don't get it...and I don't think she does either...), her gold fanny pack full of camp counselor essentials, and all the other things she would need to survive several days of drama leadership camp.

She had a lot of fun, made lots of new friends, and was once again chosen to be an STO for the upcoming year.

After that, I shipped her off to Utah to be with her brothers and go to EFY.

- Side note- yes, I was home ALONE, all by my little lonesome for a few days. Just long enough for it to be glorious, but not lonely.  Although at one point I had washed ALL the dishes, every single one, and put them away, but then realized that I was hungry but didn't want to eat, because I couldn't think of the last time that ALL the dishes were clean and put away.  As in, there was not so much as a dirty knife in the dishwasher.    I ended up eating a granola bar. No dishes required.