France Date!

 Jeff and I went on a week-long date trip to southern France! It was our first international trip in four years, and it was everything we hoped for. After the Brown family gathering, we left our kids in Denver with my kind parents and flew to Paris via Chicago and Dublin (not an ideal two-connection journey, but we survived). We left July 10th and got back July 18th. Jeff and I took a total of 760 pictures on our trip (about 30 pictures were Jeff's, haha). The bulk of my pictures from this trip will have to be divided between several posts over time, but here's an overview of the trip with a few photo highlights:

Brown Family Gathering 2023

The annual Brown Family gathering (also known as the Browncation) was held in Denver at my parents' roomy house during the first week of July. All of my siblings and their families converged on "the chateau" as we lovingly call the house for a week of fun chaotic family bonding. We spent the week hanging out together at my parents' house. We aren't an excursion family. The kids played all kinds of games, swam in the pool, rode scooters, watched shows, and played Nintendo. The adults played games, talked, watched the kids swim, and ate. We all admired the newest member of the family, one-week-old baby Andrew who was adorable. The big kids, parents, and grandparents went to the temple. It was a classic low-key Brown family gathering. 

Trek

Our Yakima Stake youth handcart trek was Wednesday, June 28 to Saturday, July 1st. Jeff and I went as a Ma and Pa leaders over a "family" group of 9 teenagers; Jay and Rose went as youth participants. Amber had an adventure of her own the day before the trek, when she flew out to Denver all by herself to stay with my parents while the rest of us trekked. Jeff took Amber to the airport on Tuesday (June 27th) and got her all checked in as an unaccompanied minor. Amber's direct flight was about 2 hours and 20 minutes long, and my mom picked Amber up at the Denver airport--she got a pass and went through security so she could be waiting at the gate when Amber arrived. Amber is a confident kid. She said she chatted to the guy next to her in the plane and played Nintendo on the flight. Then she had a fun 4 days in Denver with Grama, living her best life with fun activities while the rest of her family trekked into the dusty wilderness.

Jeff sent me this picture of Amber at the gate, about to walk out to her plane.

Jay's Talk

Jay gave a wonderful talk in church on Sunday! (June 25th) It was a treat to hear his perspective and thoughts on the gospel. His topic was "what has the Savior done for me?" Jay asked Jeff to look over the first draft of his talk, and Jeff's only feedback was "make it 600 words longer." So Jay did. On Sunday morning, Jay was nervous. He did a great job giving his talk in front of a much larger congregation than usual. (Two massive family reunions increased our ward attendance drastically enough for folding chairs to be set up all the way back in the gym!) On Sunday evening, Jay generously emailed his talk to me so I could save it and savor it here in the family archive. It is a joy to watch my son learn bit by bit and grow his faith stronger and stronger. I love my Jay.

Lemont to Sunnyside

The journey home from Pennsylvania came far too soon, and felt far too long. Before we left Lemont, however, we squeezed in a few more activities. Even though I would rather have gotten more much needed sleep, I awoke far too early (courtesy of my husband's snoring), so I read the entire Come Follow Me lesson and corresponding chapters and then went on a glorious run through the countryside. While I was gone, Jeff got Dunkin Donuts for the kids to try for the first time, since they are an east coast delicacy. He got me a jelly filled donut and I was transported back in time with the first bite. How do they taste exactly the same as they did 20 years ago? Jay and I decided that we like Krispy Kreme best.

Mt. Nittany

After the backyard memorial on Saturday, June 16th at 11am we did the White family hike up Mt. Nittany! We all started at different times and places, so it wasn't a large group hiking up the trail together, but we did meet at the top to watch Dan (Grampa Dan/Jeff's dad/the youngest son of Hal & Stevie White) scatter his parents' ashes. The trail up the mountain was steep and rocky, and about a mile long. Plenty of time to work up a sweat. I hiked with Amber and after I helped her find a walking stick, we admired the beautiful white flowers growing all over a grove of trees as we climbed. 

Maggotfest 2023

The White Family Reunion, also known as Maggotfest (in honor of maggot-like childhood sleeping bag races among Jeff's cousins), was held in Lemont, Pennsylvania from June 16-19th. It was a backyard gathering of 60 relatives who hadn't been together in one place in over a decade. The White family is an eclectic group of people, and I loved talking with all of the fascinating family members over the three day reunion. The reunion was organized to fulfil Grandpa and Grandma (Hal and Stevie) White's last wish of having their ashes scattered atop Mt. Nittany. Family members gathered from all corners of the country (WA, CA, FL, UT, NH, etc.), and it felt good to be together, even though I don't know these cousins very well. Every single one of Hal and Stevie White's living children and grandchildren attended the event, with a large number of their great grandchildren present as well. 

Running in Central PA

After a brutal night of travel, running in Central PA aired out my very SOUL. Our Airbnb was on the corner of Branch Road and Boalsburg Road. I studied Google Maps in detail before selecting Boalsburg Road for my out and back run on Saturday morning (June 17th). It was cool and humid when I set out around 7am. My legs were cranky thanks to all of the travel, but soon they loosened up and I was able to bask in the bucolic scenery. Rustic stone cottages and barns and creeks and hills and even a baby Clydesdale horse! I ended up running five miles because I didn't want to stop! It reminded me of running in southern Virginia, and my heart was happy.

Red Eye

Traveling from the countryside of central Washington state to the remote countryside of central Pennsylvania is a long process. The White family was having its first full-blown reunion (lovingly known as Maggotfest) in 10 years, so we made the journey via a red eye flight from Seattle. The journey began on Thursday, June 15th (the second-to-last day of school). Jeff, Jay, and Rose had a scant hour to shower, pack, and eat dinner between school/cross country practice and the time we had to leave for the airport. The many legs of our journey included:

1. Drive 3 hours from Sunnyside to the Seattle Airport.
2. Fly from Seattle to Chicago
3. Fly from Chicago to Pittsburgh
4. Rent a car in Pittsburgh and drive 3 hours to Lemont, PA

8th, 6th, and 2nd: Finished

Today (Thursday, June 15th) was the last day of school for Jay, Rose, and Amber! It seems like the entire country gets out of school before Washington State schools, haha. This year I didn't mind the late release day. Instead I savored the last few days in my quiet clean house while I could. Of course I was busy busy busy during each school day too, but the house stayed clean and quiet while I bustled around making phone calls, sending emails, doing housework, etc.

The last day of school always calls for pictures:

Second to Last Week

The second to last week of the school year was just as busy as ever, with concerts and awards ceremonies and cross country pre-season practice and irrigation and yardwork. Here are some journal excerpts:

Monday, June 5th: Busy busy busy. I'm too tired to relive it all. The irrigation almost watered without a pipe problem today, but Jeff and I think we forgot to glue one side of the connector to the pipe when we fixed a riser on Saturday, soooo that popped off and I need to cement it back together tomorrow. Rose had her orchestra concert tonight. Her 6th grade orchestra played 2 songs. Jeff took all 3 kids out for ice cream afterwards. I went home because my eyes were having an allergy itch attack.

Birthday, Band, and PVC

Jeff's high school track season is over! It ended on Saturday, May 27th at the state meet, 10 days after the middle school season ended. Jeff was in survival mode all week as he began the process of coming down from the three month intensity of being head track coach for over 100 high schoolers. It's not like Jeff got a week off of work to stay home and recover; he was still teaching high school French every day all week.  Each day this week, Jeff became more like his normal self, and by the end of the week he was cracking jokes and playing his trumpet after school again. Yay! Of course, on Tuesday Jeff was already in cross country coach mode and organizing pre-season conditioning runs after school every day. I went to run with the team on Wednesday and was immediately reminded of HOW MUCH MORE I love cross country than track. I love the kids, and I love the sport--how everyone is training for the same race. Cross country just feels more unified and family-like than track.