New Freshman, Harry Potter Party, and Grandma's Birthday

Eliza is starting her freshman year at Wylie High School! She will be involved in choir, orchestra, and theatre, so she'll be super busy. I can't believe my fourth child will be in high school! Every year the Smith library hosts a Harry Potter party around the time of Harry Potter's birthday (July 31). They give prizes for the best costume. Jonah dressed up as Ron, Annmarie was an owl, and Nathan was Dobby the House Elf. Nathan's costume was the best, but you have to be at least eight years old to win the costume contest. Annmarie got second place and won a copy of "The Prisoner of Azkaban" and a Harry Potter tumbler and a wand, which happens to be Ginny's wand. Grandma, like Nana, also turned 70. We celebrated her birthday by going to Fogo de Chao, a Brazilian steakhouse. John and Allison even came up for it. Austin was on the road, so he wasn't there.

 

Equine Therapy Volunteer

A woman in my neighborhood who used to sub at Groves posted on Facebook about this equine therapy place called Texas Therapeutic Riding Center that needed volunteers.  I love horses so I thought I'd check it out.  They need people to prep the horses for their riding lessons and also lead the horse during the lesson if the rider isn't competent enough to do it on their own.  I am so excited to be able to work with horses and learn more about equine therapy.  These two horses pictured are Cameron (first two pictures) and Cactus. 

 

Annmarie Goes to Sea World

When the kids turn eight, they get to take a trip with Dad to either Sea World or Legoland in San Diego. Annmarie did not get her trip when she turned eight because California was still under martial law over covid, so we waited until there were no restrictions for her to take her trip. She chose Sea World. Corey and Annmarie left on a Sunday morning with the intent to go to church with Nana once they got in, but their flight was delayed over and over so they didn't make it by then. But they went to Sea World on Monday and flew home on Tuesday. It was a great time and they got to spend some time with Nana and Jamie also.

Remembering Ms. Gorman

During the pandemic, in November of 2020, my 7th grade English teacher, Ms. D. Ann Gorman, passed away. She was my favorite teacher, and really taught us all the grammar very well. We even have a Facebook page dedicated to her where we reminisce about her class and remind each other of the grammar rules. She used to stand on her desk and throw long chalkboard erasers at us to get our attention. Well, in 2020, I wasn't able to go to her graveside service and since then, hadn't had a chance to go seek out her grave. She was buried in Bonham, TX, which is about an hour from where we live. Since we had some time, I decided to take a day trip up to Bonham. I dragged Travis and Eliza with me and we spent a good hour or so searching the cemetery for her grave. We successfully found it, so I was able to pay my respects to my favorite teacher.

 

Caleb Senior Yearbook Photos

Caleb had his senior pictures taken.  It's amazing how much he looks like Corey, I think.  Westley looked like my dad in his.  It's also amazing that he is a senior already.  Once they hit high school, it goes by so fast.

Beach Day

Since we don't get out to California very often, we decided to have a beach day while in the San Diego area. Nana and Jamie live a full hour's drive from the beach though, so it was a full day affair. We packed lunch and went to the beach after visiting the temple grounds. It was enjoyable and fun and I'm so glad we were able to squeeze it in. And this time, no lost wedding rings!  (see 2012 book)

San Diego Temple

Ever since we lived in Utah and we made it a goal in 2013-2014 to visit every Utah temple (we still never made it to Vernal, and now there are a lot more!), we try to stop at every temple we can whenever we travel and take some pictures. The kids have never seen the San Diego temple, so we took the opportunity while there to go to the beach and stop at the temple for some pictures. This temple really is quite the sight as you're driving down the freeway. It's grounds aren't as extensive as one would imagine though, with it being such an eye-catching building.

 

4th of July in California

On July 4th, we started with our annual "Jordan's walk" to commemorate Jordan's life and death. Then we went swimming at Kim's house. Kim is Jamie's friend who works for In-N-Out that Corey and Nana are also friends with. The weather was nice but the water was a little cold for us Texans. I thought it silly how the teenagers spent so much time on their phones rather than interacting with each other in person. What a waste of an opportunity to get to know cousins that you hardly ever see.

 

The "Marti Party" and Traci's Wedding

Marti (Nana) turned 70 years old while we were there for the reunion, which was part of the reason for the reunion, and Jamie threw her a party. Lots of family came and there was good food. It was nice to see a lot of people we haven't seen in a long time. People from both the King and Smith sides came out for the party. The kids got to meet some of Corey's cousins and some of their second cousins too. It's been such a long time since we've been to something with the Smith side, probably since Eliza was a baby. 

And another reason so much family was around was for Traci's wedding to Ian Saxton.   She had gotten divorced from Brendan since the last King Reunion we had in Arizona in 2019.  The wedding was on Sunday, July 3rd.  I didn't take any pictures at the wedding apparently because I can't find them in any folder or in Google photos.  I pulled the one of the whole group off Traci's Facebook page.