Keeping Busy with the Youth

A huge part of my life the past few years has been my calling in the Young Women at church. Oh, how I love serving with the youth! Not only do I love sharing spiritual experiences with them but I love having fun together and this past summer was filled with tons of it. In early June the Young Men were in charge of a water night. Out came the water balloons, water guns, and buckets and coolers full of icy fun!

Even my boys got to join in on this action which, despite Xander's expression, they were thrilled to be a part of!

Enjoying the soaking!

Noah getting down to business.

Rich Paul giving Noah some helpful tips.

Savannah and Carolyn were able to avoid the Hardy boys drenching!

Nothing better than good 'ole popsicles to finish off the night.

One of the girls' favorite activities this summer was throwing a surprise baby shower for the 2nd counselor, Sister Collins. Baby showers aren't a typical scene for teenagers so I think the novelty of it all was exciting for them. Plus they simply adore Sister Collins so doing something for her was special to them.
She was definitely surprised!!!

We played several games, including Baby Jeopardy...

obviously Team Klein Plus One was excited they got an answer correct.

And they molded little babies out of clay.

Some of the babies were a little scary.

A little pictionary...

and then we finished the night off with refreshments and gifts. What was really cool was the girls made their own gifts for Sister Collins - Savannah made coupons for free babysitting and a meal.

Unfortunately during the summer a lot of girls are off on vacation ordoing other activities so our numbers can get a little sparse. But that doesn't keep us from enjoying whatever activity we have planned, including Spa Night. It was only me, Sister Collins, and three of the girls but we had a blast! Chocolate pudding facials...

making sugar scrub...

and doing manicures. Don't their nails look so lovely?

We also started a 90 Day Book of Mormon Reading Challenge to help the girls complete their Virtue project. As part of the activity each of the girls made their own Title of Liberty.

And then there was the beaded bracelet making activity. Savannah even brought Celine for this one.

Well, they're a little too small to see but the girls did a great job!

And hey, they got to hang out with Sister McEwan who joined us because she was dying to learn how to do this AND there was a huge bag of M&M's. It doesn't get any better than that!

Under the Sea for an Evening

The production for our third visit to the dinner theater up in Dayton was The Little Mermaid and I must admit that I had my misgivings going in about how they were going to be able to pull this one off. Half of it was supposed to be under the sea...with mermaids...and fish...and a crab; how do you even do that? What I WAS excited about was our seats. Normally there are 12 of us going and we just get two tables that seat 6 people each; these tables are usually midway up the room, always with a great view of the stage.  But this year Bryan would be going with us and the only way to have enough seating was to get two tables that seated 8 people and those tables just happened to be on the floor, up close and personal. With great excitement I told the kids that we would be sitting on the floor this year. Xander gave me a quizzical look and said, "Mom, I might have a really hard time eating my food sitting on the floor." I quickly explained to him that our TABLES would be on the floor, not that we would actually be sitting our bums on the floor, and he felt much better. Kids are so literal!
We always have so much fun when we go, even before the play starts! Gotta have those pre-play pictures! The seating arrangements have stayed the same the past three years - Kellan, Noah, Heidi, Ryan, and me and David, plus Bryan this year...

and Grandma and Grandpa taking charge of Savannah, Xander, McKenna, and Ash.

Such a crazy group! (Just seeing that salad sitting there makes me want some; it's my absolute favorite part of the dinner.)

Noah with his favorite Uncle Bryan, enjoying his chocolate pudding and dirt with worms.  I was bummed because there was no key lime cheesecake again this year...boo!

And then things got a little crazy...

Those two!!!

What can I say about the play? It was absolutely fantastic, easily the best production we've seen there so far! Every single actor did an amazing job in their part, the dances were fabulous, the music made me want to join in and sing, and the characters interacted with the audience which made it even more fun. The two eels narrowed in on Kellan and would talk to him or wave at him throughout the play. After it was done we headed to where we could meet the actors and get their autographs. Several of them remarked that they remembered us as sitting in the front row.
The kids with one of the mermaids (she was hilarious and would keep flipping her mermaid tail over her head with this spacey look on her face), a merman, and Chef Louie whose performance in the kitchen chasing Sebastian was spot on!

King Triton - when he first came on the stage Heidi whispered to Ryan, "Is he for real?" The man didn't have an inch of fat on him; his muscles were quite the sight!

Ursula and her eels - they remembered Kellan as the little boy they had been interacting with during the performance and were so cute to him in the autograph session.

Sebastian and Scuttle were hilarious! Scuttle also commented on remembering us and was really great talking to the kids afterwards.

The talented Eric and Ariel - they were wonderful and so gracious while talking to us.

As Dad and I walked outside together he put his arm around me and said, "Well, one thing's for sure...we can never sit anywhere else when we come here again!" That's for sure! I loved being on the floor and having such a personal experience with the cast. What a great night and a wonderful way to end our trip to Cinci.

Indianapolis Temple Open House

I love going to the temple and I want my kids to know how much I love the temple and how important it is in our lives. When I found out that the new Indianapolis temple would be having its Open House in August I just knew that we had to get out there to walk through another of God's beautiful temples. And hey, it's just a 2 hour drive from Cincinnati!
How precious is this picture of Noah helping Kellan get ready to go to the temple Open House.

It was a perfect day for our visit.

The kids were so patient as we waited to get inside.

Ciara looked so cute in her little shoe covers.

Yes, that tiny little group in front of the temple is us!!

Temples make it possible for us to be an eternal family. (Poor Noah, the sun was a little bright.)

Love these cute kids of mine.

Cousin shots!

It was such a wonderful afternoon! I hope the kids remember how they felt walking through this beautiful temple.

Ciara is 3!

When we headed back to Cinci for a second time we made sure that we timed it so we would be there to celebrate this little cutie's 3rd birthday!

Watching her open her gifts was one of the highlights of the trip.

Her facial expressions were priceless!

She loves anything Frozen so I knew this t-shirt would be perfect for her. She seemed to like it - she wore it for the majority of the days we were there.

Not only was it super cute when her little mouth formed an 'O' when she opened each gift but the "Oh, my gosh" that followed was hilarious!

Check out all those Disney princesses!

One happy girl!!!

All the cousins.

Ciara with her awesome princess cake.

The rest of her birthday celebration was spent in the pool doing chicken fights!

These kids just can't seem to get enough of 'em!