It was the end of school. It was the beginning of summer.

249. Soccer. This is what happens when you are goalie and your team is good. You have to occupy yourself somehow! I love the picture of him talking with the fans.


and this is my favorite picture from the last day of soccer for the season. They let them play in the rain! This is Lou's half time.



250. Opera camp for a shelter. The local opera company did a camp for kids at a local shelter. They asked any kids that had gone to camp last summer to come and help sing. So - Sue and Lou showed up with three other kids. They had a great time. My favorite was the actor who played both the stepmother and the prince. With a beard.

251. Very last end of school stuff! Class picnics - check! Awards assembly - Check! Final final of everything at school - check! Report cards home - check! (Watch out Krispy Kreme!) Movies with friends to celebrate the beginning of summer - check! Some of the back packs cleaned out and resulting tonnage taken out with the recycling - check! Whew! And SCHOOL'S OUT FOR THE SUMMER!

Now the process of scanning in everything begins! Digital is awesome for the stuff you aren't going to want - but can't bring yourself to get rid of quite yet.

252. Memorial Day weekend. We took Friday and Saturday and went camping. Took a couple of friends. Great fun. Caught catfish. Swam in the lake. Went canoeing. Drank more soda pop than Mom will let us have in a year! (Thanks Dad!) Came back tired and happy.

After we got home we unloaded, cleaned fish, and the girls and Dad went to mow a lawn. Then we all went to the pool for an hour to cool off. When we got back and everyone had showered, Mr. C sat down. He said, "It feels early to go to bed, but I'm tired! So he went up and fell asleep just as soon as his head hit the pillow. Lou just laid on the couch with her eyes open. I'm not sure if she was awake or asleep.

253. Happy extended family news! Just as we were getting ready to leave on our campout - the final worms were being dug, the bug spray was being found - the phone rang. It was Mr. C's parents. Their mission call had come! They are off to see my aunt and uncle at the Family History Center in SLC! They will be there later this year! It seems the perfect mission for them. They know so much about everything you'd ever want to know about geneology. We know they will help lots of people with their family stories. Serving people as they find their stories will touch hearts. And those hearts will soften toward the church through their service. Congratulations, Grandma and Grandpa!

254. Look Mom, no training wheels! Mr. C threw in the younger kids bikes when we went camping. He took the S-Train's training wheels off. A very patient friend walked him around on it while we were setting up the tent. And - Voila! Second try and he is up and riding! I'm so in awe of my children's ability to learn to ride bikes. Almost always it's their first day out and they are doing great.

Once the S-Train knew he could ride he spent the rest of the camp out ignoring the fish in favor of the bike. His legs showed the effort he was making to learn this new skill. Lots of falls. Lots of frustrated growling. Lots of picking ourselves up and starting all over again. Lots of big glowing smiles and asking, "Mom, do you think I'm good at bike riding?" Darling, you're fabulous.

255. Protection from fish. I don't fish. I don't like to clean fish. So - When Mr. C was cleaning the 4 or 5 fish we caught, the kids came in and told me. "Mom, you don't want to go down there. It's gross." They are tough. I am apparently a delicate flower they need to protect. If I get out of fish cleaning, I'm all right with that.

256. Chance encounters at the jail. As a last hurrah to the fabulous weekend we took the kids up to Liberty Jail on Monday. Sad but true, we haven't taken them since we've been here. We decided to remedy that situation. Some people came in on the tail end of our group looking at the jail. They were all in yellow and green (even the cute baby!). It turns out that grandma and grandpa were up here from Brazil visiting a new grand baby! They live in what was Mr. C's mission. They didn't know each other, but they new some of the same people. Mr. C did an impressive job of pulling out the 20yr old Portuguese and communicating. Portuguese was spoken, and a good time was had by all. It was very cool. It's fun to watch our Heavenly Father bring people together to give them spiritual experiences.

How was your Memorial Day? Are you ready for summer?