Lately

I've been neglecting this blog a lot lately, haven't I? But I have been justified in this neglect. I wrote scene six of my book, which may seem to be an insignificant accomplishment, but when you've been working on a book since you were nine and you're finally on a draft that will actually stay and the whole world keeps getting in the way of writing it... then you can complain about my complaining.

I will make up my neglect now by posting a long update of everything I have been doing in the last long time.

1) Sarah's jaw surgery - True, I didn't actually do this. But I was helping her in the week or two after that when she was a total wreck. You can read about all this here. (And I really hope that link actually works because I have never tried to do something like that before.)

2) Lizzie's Birthday - (I didn't do this either so let's just pretend it said, 'everything that has been happening' instead of 'everything I have been doing'.) My Lizzie turned 12, an age of increased privileges. Not nearly as many as she would wish, she fervently wants to be allowed to wear makeup at twelve like the other girls in our ward are, but it is not to be. Some pictures (and, yeah, I know the cake dominates, but I really liked that cake):

The delicious lemon angel food cake. Unfortunately, I can't claim ownership of its exquisite delights, Mom made it.

Our family has a 'special' way of blowing out the candles. It involves snuffing the flame with our fingers. Some - Sam - find this a very exciting practice.

The last candle...

And the cake is pounced on by children eager to lick the candles.

And the present opening begins! I gave Lizzie a beautiful outfit and stayed up until midnight wrapping all her other presents the night before.

However it may appear, Lizzie is not trying to smash the Anne of Green Gables movies Mom bought her. She is, in fact, shrieking with joy. (And don't tell her I posted this, she probably wouldn't approve.)

Devoured.

3) Josh's Birthday - Josh turned 10 this Thursday. I did make this cake. Unfortunately, I didn't make it very well. We were out of icing sugar so we had to do whipped cream frosting, which is not my preferred medium. And I didn't have the tools I wanted. They mysteriously disappeared. And I was in a hurry. Anyway, here are pictures:

I made him freeze while I took pictures.


Taken just as the candles went out. Personally, I think this shot it so cool because I can still see the little dots of light. But that is just me. You are not obligated to look at this picture.

Josh is very glad that he has no girlfriends and can eat his cake now.

My hastily made cake. (And Erik's arms, removing the candles.)

So those are all the events that have been keeping me busy. Besides those, I have been doing schoolwork, cleaning, writing, talking and daydreaming. (And taking totally awesome pictures of peaches that I will post someday because they are important.)

Vacationing (Part 2)

After the family reunion, Grandma and Grandpa took three kids with them back to Langley because there wasn't enough room in our car for everyone to go back in that. Those three people were: Lizzie, Sam, and (you guessed it) Me!

The ride was about sixteen hours. I listened to music almost the whole time so it didn't seem too long. We arrived at about midnight on Saturday or Sunday, depending on which side of midnight we arrived on.

The next day (or same day if you decided we arrived on Sunday) we went to church and settled in and came up with some things we wanted to do that week.

Monday, we continued to settle in and make plans. Lizzie and I went to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 2) which was great. Some things were a little jarring or surprising but the overall movie was great. I loved that they skimmed over some stuff I didn't like in the book, they came up with some stuff I did like. Unfortunately, they had some characters say things out of character for comic relief.

Tuesday we went on a 'hike'. It could more easily be called a walk. I think Grandpa was amused by our slow pace, (we were taking pictures!) but we had a good time.

Wednesday was the beach! We had a wonderful time there. Sammy and Lizzie went around with other kids, hunting for crabs. (Blugh.) I took a bunch of pictures. Here they are:

I always imagined the ocean as being rather wild but it was beautifully serene

Sammy, wishing his crabs would fight

Lizzie, looking for seashells

This is how our family looks when we're thinking. We're commonly asked, "What's wrong?"

I had a really cheesy description for this one character a while ago that went something like, "His eyes sparkled like diamonds in the golden sands of his face." I saw this shell half buried in the sand and thought of that line, so I just had to take a picture.

Thursday, we went to Vancouver Island to visit the Petersons who we haven't seen for years. It was great to see them.

Friday we traveled to Vernon, where we stayed with the Kilistoffs. We went swimming a lot, which was a real novelty because we don't have many good swimming lakes here. Aunt Boo introduced us to cliff jumping, which is both awesome and scary. Unfortunately, I got swimmers' itch. It's fading now, but it really puts a damper on the whole experience.

The rest of the family arrived in the middle of church on Sunday. We went camping in our boat - which was less than great because I hate camping - on Wednesday and came back to the Kilistoffs' on Friday. We left for home on Saturday morning.

So there is the summary of our trip. After three weeks away, my own home seemed strange. Which just shows how much of a homebody I am.