Homemade Rootbeer!!

Man, I always seem to have some kind of project going on!  This one was due to Young Women's.  We had a big tri-ward youth bbq and somehow I ended up having to make homemade root beer for everyone.  The weird part is that I had never made root beer before.  So you know, if you're doing something for the first time, you might as well try it out on 175 people, sheesh!

I won't lie, I fretted a bit about this, called lots of people to get advice and searched the internet and recipes diligently.  In the end I made about 15 gallons and it turned out great!!!  I know people kept saying it was easy but I was still nervous.  Now I got it!

Here's a picture of my friend Rachel stirring one of the
batches for me.

Here are some pics from the big tailgating bbq:

We got the YM to work the grills

Summer Bowling League

Both the girls have joined a summer bowling league.  Paige and some kids from the neighborhood got together and formed their own team.  There are 4 girls, none of them have ever really bowled before so they have a lot to learn.  For them, it will be more about fun than competition in the "Preps" division

Ashley will be bowling in the "Majors" division which is basically high-school aged kids.  She is on a team with one other girl from her high school bowling team and a random boy.  (When you join the league you can bring your own team, make a request, or just let them place you randomly.)  This will be great practice for Ashley.  The key to bowling is doing it a lot.  It's not always easy to just go to the bowling alley on your own regularly but if you are part of league and have a team its a more motivating and less expensive.

The best part, that we didn't even know about when we signed up is that your weekly league fee includes the 3 competition games each week in addition to 6 additional games during the week for practice.  This means that the girls can bowl 9 games a week each.  For them 3 games is about the most they can do before they start to get tired.  This means that we can go bowling 3 days a week.  It's definitely a good opportunity to practice and a nice place to spend rainy summer days.

Paige and Riley

Ashley

Ashley's Team

 The league lasts for 12 weeks so it goes all summer.  So far it has helped me a lot to learn terms and how to score games, etc.  Paige's group is really improving.  The good part about beginners is that their first games indicate what their handicaps will be.  Let's just say that some girls on her team of 4 have very generous handicaps.  In the end, they may very likely have a chance to do pretty well in the rankings because their handicaps are so high.  Especially if they start bowling better.

Let the good times ROLL!

Father's Day

Ashley and I got home late on Saturday from Youth Conference and the next day was Father's Day.  I had two responsibilities on this front.  One was at church and the other at home.

Since we have 9am church, we were up and at it early.  Its a tradition for the Young Women to make a video and host a cookies and milk event for all the adult men in the ward.  This year, I made the video using iMovie on my Mac and video taken on our new camera.  It is a big project and took a bunch of time but the with iMovie it turned out pretty good.  All the youth of the ward make cookies and we put a spread out for the dads.  Here is this year's handiwork---it turned out cute:

After church, we came home and celebrated our dad!  The girls love their dad so much.  He's a great father!  We weren't going to really do gifts but the girls picked out some items that he really needed.  One was a new black umbrella.  It rained earlier in the week and he couldn't find his umbrella so he had to use a flowery girl one which was a little embarrassing for him commuting to work.  The second was some new combs.  The true sign of being a dad is never being able to find a comb in the morning.

In the end, he actually got a third gift because of an impulse buy of mine.  I was at Costco and they had a rolling Notre Dame cooler with a handle.  Now I've always wanted to get a rolling cooler.  Of course, I never think about doing it until I'm lifting and carrying a heavy one on a way to a picnic.  When I saw it at Costco, I knew it was meant to be.  I mean when would I have a chance to by a ND cooler again?!

The one thing the girls spent the most time thoughtfully picking out for Dave was a Father's Day Card. They almost went with a Bacon Car Freshner card but in the end chose the one they felt most fitting.  And true enough, they nailed it with the "pull my finger" card.

For dinner, we had homemade grilled chicken burrito bowls and Dad's root beer.  Happy Father's Day.

Youth Conference

Right after Ashley got home from EFY, she and I left for Stake Youth Conference.  It was a two day event and I was a chaperone.  The theme was "Unity through Faith, Love and Service."  The first day we spent locally visiting different churches to learn about faiths different than our own.  We even had a local Baha'i youth group with their leaders join us.  They were part of the planning process and spent the whole weekend with us.  I learned so much.  It was fascinating to learn and see firsthand how others in our community worship God.  We visited a Jewish synagogue (that housed an authentic Holocaust Torah scroll saved from Nazi destruction), went to a Muslim prayer service, and listened to a special presentation about the Baha'i faith.  The biggest takeaway was that we have more in common than we realize.

In keeping with the diversity theme, our lunch meal was prepared by Filipino members of our Stake and was delicious.  Dinner was prepared by the Spanish Branch and was authentic tacos.  The bishopric of their ward was so cute, they even set up a drink bar to serve blended coconut pineapple drinks.

This also happened to be the first day of the World Cup.
Love the Mexico jerseys! 

The kids then spent the night housed in members homes (I got to go home and sleep in my own bed---YES!)  First thing in the morning, we loaded up our vans and carpooled to Southern Illinois University to volunteer at the State Special Olympics.  Our group was assigned to the swimming events.  They did everything from escorting the athletes to their events and timing events.  We even got to cheer for and support an athlete from our ward who was competing.  She won two gold medals!  This too had a big impact on the kids.  It was a great conference, so grateful for those who volunteer their time and talents to organize events like this for our kids!

Naperville 2nd ward - Young Women and Young Men

Ashley and her Mia Maid friends aka twinners

Happily Ever After Dance Recital

Paige has been taking a Jazz dance class since January and it culminated with a spring dance recital in June.  The studio theme for the recital was "Happily Ever After."  Paige's dance was set to the song, "Paparazzi" by Lady Gaga.

I loved her cute costume and she did a good job.  She is a great little dancer.  Funny enough, I think she is going to take a break from dance classes and try tumbling in the Fall.  Sometimes you just have to switch things up!

full make-up, ready for costume

full costume, including a crazy big neck feather!

Ashley - EFY

Two days after she took her last final at school, Ashley left for EFY.  She went to BYU Provo again this year, but this time she went with her good friend Kirstyn who moved from Chicago a little over a year ago.  It was a great opportunity for the girls to see each other again.

Ashley flew to Utah a few days early and spent the weekend with my parents.  It was fun for her to get to spend some one-on-one time with my side of the family including my sister Becky's family.  They took great care of her.  They even went to a rodeo!  Ashley had never been to a rodeo so she loved that.  They also took her to Big Z's for breakfast.  Best of all she got to hangout with three handsome guys all weekend, her little cousins - Wyatt, Ben and Andrew.

Hooper Days rodeo

Staring contest with Wyatt

Ashley and the Charlesworth boys

After the weekend, Kirstyn's mom picked up Ashley bright and early on Monday morning to take them to BYU for EFY.  This year because she went the first week of June and many kids aren't quite out of school yet her session was a little smaller.  She really liked that.  The program lasts about a week and Ashley had a great time.  She calls intermittently to let me know how she is doing.  Often the "reports" are a little more about boys than spiritual insights but what can you do?  Teenage girls think about boys!  Here are some the pictures Ashley took:

This is her EFY company

Ashley and Kirstyn.  Two silly girls!  I'm so glad they are friends

After a week at EFY, Ashley was picked up by Dave's parents and stayed a few days with them before heading home.  Again, she was well taken care of and enjoyed the time with her grandparents.  She got  to be at Grandpa Smith's and Uncle Brian's birthday party.

She also went to the Lagoon with everyone.  She loves amusement parks and had a great time riding roller coasters with her cousin Megan and Uncle Scott!  Unfortunately, there is not one single picture of her time with the Smiths.  Too bad!!

Finally, after 11 days this girl came home.  We sure missed her.  She had an epically bad experience, full of delays on her flight home, but she finally made it and we were glad to have her back!