Emily

Dear Family,

Hello from the Andersons. We’re so glad it’s the summer, but it’s going by way too fast! Our kids were out on June 5th, and Casey got his hair “cut” for E.F.Y the following Saturday. I put the “cut” in quotes because I would only call it a trim. It was the bare minimum to get him on campus, with the promise that Lucy would take him to the BYU barber if necessary. Casey got a ride down to Provo the next Monday with our neighbor who was also signed up to be down there that week. There actually ended up being four others in our ward going at the same time and I didn’t even realize it until that week. Rachel got to know a few of them as they were in her group. Lucy brought Rachel down from Boise and met up with Casey making sure he got to where he needed to be. Casey stayed in Heritage halls, and Rachel at the Riviera. Both places I lived in when I went to BYU. For both Lucy and I, being on campus again was like a walk down memory lane. Anyway, Casey and Rachel had a great time down there that week. They went to classes and dances together. They made a lot of new friends who Casey keeps in contact with via e-mail now. Lucy and I picked them up and took them to breakfast the following Saturday and got to hear all about it. While they were gone, Lucy stayed at Mom’s with Nathan and Kristen.

It was fun for Mitch, Alyssa, Travis and I to hang out with them, and just play. Lucy even put a swing in one of Mom’s trees. That was a big hit, and has been all summer.

On the following week, I took Mitch up to Camp Tracy (Millcreek Canyon) for Cub Scout camp. He was able to earn several things towards his WEBLO badge. I also learned they were short on help, and brought Casey and his friend with me the next day to check things out. They were immediately put to work teaching ping- pong and marbles for the day. He filled out an application, got in on a carpool, and the rest is history. I can’t say that he is loving his new job. His mother got him into something that he wasn’t expecting to do and now he feels like it has ruined his summer. The pay isn’t great by any means, but I think the experience is, and it’s only through August 2nd. So, I am making him stick with it a few more weeks. Casey hasn’t been deprived this summer by any means. He’ll be going to his Super Activity this weekend to Moab for a river trip, and the he’ll be headed to the Tetons in Idaho with his friends for O.Y.A for more white water rafting, rock climbing, horseback riding, and camping in August.

We enjoyed watching Alyssa dance at Kingsbury Hall in the production Aladdin with her dance company. She tapped to “Mr. Sandman” It was soooo cute! For our 19th wedding anniversary, we went up to Midway with all of our kids ( I know what were we thinking?). We went swimming and fishing and just played. It was a lot of fun. Mitch caught a pretty good sized trout.

Mitch turned 10 y/o and celebrated by going to see Sea Monsters in 3-D at the IMAX in the Clark Planetarium. Later that week, he went with a friend to see Wall-E. They decided that Kung-Fu Panda was “way better.”

We celebrated the 4th of July swimming at John’s sisters, and then watched the fireworks from our back yard -always a good show- especially when you have a three year old who loves to “ooo” and “ahh” when he sees them. The next day we went to the Oakley rodeo and took Mom with us. We all had a good time up there, and watched a good fireworks show afterwards. The weather was a little cooler up there and the scenery was beautiful.

Jennifer and Steve were here this week at the tail end of their trip, we played a good game of “Hand and Foot”. Mom and Steve won.

Travis peed in the potty for the first time last night, so another major milestone is taking place at the Anderson household. Alyssa turned 5 y/o on May 30th , but we are actually celebrating it tomorrow night at Bouncin Off the Walls. We are getting together with five other families in our neighborhood who have all had a child turn 5 this last month. We will have the place to ourselves for an hour and a half followed by pizza and cake in the party room. It’s going to be a blast.

Hope you all are doing well. Love, Emily and family