Today is Zach's 1st day of delivering the Covington Reporter (weekly newspaper) to our neighborhood.  He had to roll and rubber band 130 papers and deliver them!  Doesn't he look so excited?  He'll be happy when his sister comes back from camp so she can help him. 

6.26.11  Kylie was so excited to head off to camp!  We packed most of Saturday, labeling EVERYTHING with her name on it.  She was ready!  So, here we are dropping her off and seeing a few of her friends that were there too.  Oh how will I survive this week without her?   Have fun Kylie!

6.20.11  Zach and his friend Jordan were given awards at an end of the year ceremony.  Zach was recognized for Outstanding Student of the Year in his Honors English and Honors Social Studies classes.  He also received an award for having a 4.0 GPA!  Great job Zach!  Jordan was  recognized earlier in the year for Student of the Month and received an award in his English class as well.  Good job boys!  Congratulations on your achievements!

Kylie participated in this year's school talent show with her routine of jumping on the pogo stick to the song Jump, by Van Halen.  She did such a great job!  Way to go girl! 

Father's Day is always hard for me as we celebrate all the dads in the family.  I miss my Dad so much.  Thinking of you Dad and wishing you a Happy Father's Day too!  I hold you in my heart everyday and miss you so much.  Love you!

Thank you Jeff for being such a great father and husband!  We love you!  Happy Father's Day!  Enjoy your new lounge chair!

We spent the weekend with Jeff's Dad and Andrea and the rest of the family too at Gary's house in Kingston.  We all came on Saturday, had a wonderful day of playing at the beach and visiting and enjoying the good food too!  The cousins all had fun  playing and hanging out together.  Darren, Shannon and Ryan couldn't stay the night but we all enjoyed some good zzzz's and then a nummy pancake breakfast by Andrea.  The big hit again this year was the rope swing that is down on the beach and swings out over the water depending on the tide.  Papa Gary pushed the girls for what seemed like hours and even Jeff had a turn at pushing the kids, and me included!  Pretty fun!  Thanks for hosting Gary and Andrea!  Happy Father's Day to all the Carlsen adult men!

At the end of the year is when girl scouts have an award ceremony for the girls bridging to the next level.  Some girls in Kylie's troop bridged from Brownies to Juniors and some went from Juniors to Cadettes.  Almost all of Kylie's friends in her troop earned the prestigious Bronze Award (this is the highest honor you can earn as a Junior and they did it in their first year!)  They had events and activities all year long to accomplish this goal with the big project being collecting books and donating them to a library in Montana that was ruined in a fire.  They also recognized the top 10 cookie sellers this year and Kylie was 7th in our whole service unit!  Very impressive!  Congratulations to all the girls on their accomplishments! 

Gary was able to come down Wednesday of this week to help us finish our shed.   The men did such a good job.  It took another 14 hours and a solid days work to get it done but they did it.  Now, there are just some finishing touches for Jeff to do and then we paint it and move in!  Yay!  We are so excited to clean out our garage a bit and keep all the gardening stuff in one area.

While Kylie and I were at the horse farm in Mt. Vernon, Zach and Jeff took advantage of the quiet day and headed up to Crystal Mountain.  They rode a gondola to the top of the ski area, about 8000 feet, and were greeted with lots of snow.  There were some bare chested skiiers too!  They had lunch and sat around and enjoyed the incredible views.