I stepped down out of the truck – and was greeted by a group of screaming girls running towards me. (Man, was it good to be home!) So I dropped all my stuff, shrieked, and then proceeded to hug them all!!!
I had been low key stressing (okay, maybe not so low key) about how my friends would react to me coming home… Would they all have made different friends? Would they not like me? Would they all have changed, and matured, without me? But that greeting put most of my fears to rest!? Now to the reason I saw my friends… Young People’s!!!!! We have a great group of teens at our Gospel Hall – over twenty! So we get together almost every Friday, although in the summer, we get together after meeting on Sunday’s and Wednesday’s too!!! We usually have a bonfire and play sardines, or capture the flag, along with some other games! Young People’s is always a highlight of my week and I cannot describe how much I missed it, and all the teens!!
Wow!? 60 757.8km (37 753.15mi) is a lot of driving – my bum is numb just thinking about it!!!?
When we left for a year we shut off our pump with no problem – getting it started, though, is another story. It wouldn’t pressure up so we didn’t have water for the first day. But after Dad cleaned the pump out, we had water!!!!
Me – being a dork – wearing my boots and farm coat. It was so good to get home – and put on my farm clothes – but the reason for my style wasn’t so exciting…
This is what we call our garden… It was infested with weeds… We had to pick them all…
We tried a couple different ways; loosen the dirt with the pitchfork and pull the weeds out, weed whack them, or chop the weeds off at the base. They all worked – somewhat – but the best part was driving the tractor. I am the only one of us three girls allowed to drive it – so I probably had the most fun weeding…? We dumped all our weeds in a pile on the driveway – with the intent of burning them – but given the burn ban on in our area they just sat on our driveway for a couple of weeks. At least, until this past Saturday, when I pitchforked them onto our trailer, hauled them down the driveway and pitchforked them into the dumpster. Let’s just say I’ve got some pretty nice pipes now…?
I missed this view, and I missed watching the wall of rain approach our house on the hill. It is SO cool to look out the window and watch the rain, the clouds, and the lightning.
Sleepovers – another thing I missed!!!! Fact: you sometimes don’t realize how much you miss something until you get it back. Like the stars – I looked up one night after we got home and gasped – the huge expanse of stars was breathtaking. I had forgotten how wide open the prairie really is. Anyway… sleepovers. Cassia had Brittney over – and when they got somewhat restless I took them out for a photo shoot. Some turned out better than others…?
I love the prairie flowers! In fact when we were picking this bouquet we even found some wild oregano (that’s the purple flower).? Oh yes, and I built that chair in shop class last year. (Humble blush. Well…brag blush)
A bunch of families went swimming one afternoon – we went of the diving board, took over the kiddie pool?, and tried our hand at synchronized diving. Maybe we’ll try out for the Olympics…?
We saw Diesel!!! After swimming we went to see him again! He’s a wolfhound/greyhound, and the greyhound in him is definitely more pronounce than the last time I saw him. His “beard” also has way more gray in it…?
We live on top of a hill with a valley on either side of us, and out on a knoll is our fire pit – where we sometimes put out our hammock.
One weekend our friend, Shawna, came down to visit!!! Her baby is so cute, and when he was tired you could make him laugh so easily. He is SO stinking cute!!!!?
Then swimming lessons – Lanaya in level seven, and Cassia in level 10.
Cassia’s perfect dive off the life guard stand!? They both passed and had a blast! (Which, if you say out loud, rhymes…?)
Most of the older kids – with their younger siblings in swimming lessons – came and played basketball!!!! Every morning, around seven we would wake up – crazy, right? What kind of teenagers wake up at seven, during the summer, and go exercise??? Anyway, it was SO much fun – and by the end of the week we were all exhausted…?
We got some new neighbours while we were away… They’re pretty cool.?
Just this last Saturday we finally finished unpacking the camper. It was quite overwhelming to bring things into the house and not know where to put them, but we persevered and got ‘er done. We are now fully moved back into our house!!! Does that ever feel good!
I so missed these girls – and their awesomeness!!!! We decided Sunday afternoon that we felt like doughnuts, so we all went to Co-op with the intention of buying two packages… We left with 10. You see, they were on a really good sale: 10 for $10 – so what do you do, but buy 10…?? We were thoroughly embarrassed when we walked up to pay and set down 10 packages of doughnuts at the till. But it was worth it! PS. The doughnuts were amazing!
There are so many other things that I did and didn’t mention, but you would be reading for a couple of hours so I’ll just leave it at what I’ve got down already! Although I am going to mention fireworks – a couple parents took some vans up to Moosomin for a night to see the firework competition. The fireworks were amazing – as was the drive up and then back – maybe we are all a little bit crazy…?
My mom is getting exhausted trying to keep up with my social life. Perhaps things will slow down when I go back to school. But I kinda like these wild teenager years!?
So thankful you’re all safe and sound at house . What an awesome adventure you had and I had going with you! You are so talented and need to be a writer . Keep up with documenting life’s experiences. Sending you love to all from Las Vegas, NV
Love , Ronda
I absolutely enjoyed each and every one of your posts. I am kind of missing them! Thank you so much. So many memories for you! I am also glad you are all back safe and sound.