The House of the Seven Nobbs

wearing boots

2011-08-16T12:03:00.000-04:00

For the last two days, Aidan and Eliza have been parading around the house and the street in my mom's boots and have been refusing to take them off. They were even riding their bikes in them. The boots are way to big on them. an I'm tired of hearing 'Clunk Clunk Clunk' on the hard wood floor.

Making Movies

2011-08-15T14:23:00.001-04:00

While McKenna was home for the Summer, she and the kids decided to make a couple of movies. We all had fun making them. Aidan came up with the name of our first movie: The Murder of the Love. It is about a French general (John) who falls in love with a waitress (Eliza). The general also has some evil nephews (Liam and Aidan) who seek revenge on the waitress. The other movie that we made: Mobsters and Shakers, features a booze selling mobster (Liam) who treats his girlfriend Rose (Eliza) very badly. Then a dancer comes into town: Gus Johnson (Aidan), and then Gus and Rose go on to Broadway.

The Murder of the Love:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Dwzvt_9r-4

Mobsters and shakers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=_dvoeLHAITU

McKenna in Germany

2011-08-14T20:12:00.000-04:00

As you may know, my sister McKenna has been in Germany for the past few weeks with some friends of ours. When she left for the plane, my mom packed her some advil for the ride because she was having a headache. On the plane McKenna looked for the advil but it was not in her carry-on pack, it was in her luggage. As a result of this she could not sleep at all during the flight.

When McKenna booked her ticket she chose to have a 12 hour layover so she could spend the day in Paris. But all McKenna wanted to do when she got to Paris was sleep. Instead of spending the day in Paris she went to her boarding station and tried to sleep. Pretty soon a French female police officer began yelling at her in French. Sleep deprived and delusional, McKenna could not understand what she was saying (she took french in High School, but you know...). A nice lady beside her tried translating for her, but Mckenna began to cry in front of everybody.

The nice lady found her a bench to sleep on and stayed there until her flight. In Germany McKenna did not know where to sleep, so she went to a hostel. The hostel didn't have much room, so McKenna had to share a room with four "hairy German men". The next day, since her friends still weren't there yet, McKenna went to a Bed and Breakfast but this time had to stay in the owner's daughter's room. When her friends (The Sckrohowskys) got there she finally got things settled. But she's been there for a couple weeks and we've only heard from her once. Evidently they aren't having as much fun as they thought they would.

Catch up Time (Halloween 2009 & 2010)

2010-11-21T15:12:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I've been a little neglectful with this blog lately. Like the 2 years or so. What can I say? You know I do have A.D.D. and it's a bit hard for me stick to things. Oh, well. So here are pictures from Halloween 2009 and 2010. 2009 the family dressed as a side show act from a 1930's circus. John's costume was a big hit. Everyone loved him as half woman, half man. (I do have to say, he did make an attractive woman). And what's the deal with me having a beard for the second year in a row?! It seems like there's a little gender confusion going on around here.

Halloween this year John and I opted out of dressing up. (We just couldn't top his costume from last year). And we let the kids make their own costumes. Liam was Napolean Dynamite. Aidan was a zombie and Liza was Pipi Longstocking, and a princess, and a dog at one point. She couldn't quite make up her mind.

Nobbs Family Halloween

2009-02-06T11:00:00.000-05:00

This year John's firm had their annual Halloween party the day after Halloween. I was relieved to have the extra day to figure out what to dress everyone in. I've given up on "family themes", since each year I am usually ready to self-admit to the mental hospital after getting seven co-ordinating costumes sewn and put together. This year Liza worn an "Aristocats" costume. Aidan was Captain Hook. Liam was Davey Jones. Little John wore his colonial costume I made him earlier this year. McKenna half dressed up like a Gypsy. And John and I were King Arthur and Patsy from Monty Python's "Spamalot".

John helped Liam carve this Barack-o-lantern. He said Obama becoming president was the scariest thing he could think of.

Christmas Morning Conversations

2009-02-06T10:52:00.000-05:00

Pittsburgh, PA 7:09 AM Christmas Morning. The Nobbs children wake up from slumber to enjoy the quiet majesty of a winter morn and share the holiday spirit

John, Liam, Aidan and Eliza come into the master bedroom and wake up Mom and Dad. McKenna follows in after.

John: Guess What! I got up at 12:30 am because I had to go to the bathroom. I slept downstairs on the couch all night.

Dad: John! Why didn't you go to bathroom in the basement where you were sleeping?

John: Because I couldn't see in the basement. You know I can't see good.

Dad: That doesn't make sense. How did you get up to the next floor if you can't see? Did you look at all the presents?

John: No Way. But I took the camera in to the bathroom while I was going and there were some pictures of the Christmas Tree and the presents. That's real weird.

Mom: John! That's gross! You don't take the camera into the bathroom.

John: Why? A man's always got to keep himself occupied in the bathroom.

Liam: Yeah. He could take some pictures of interesting things in there, like him mooning people. He went upstairs on purpose.

Mom: Let me get up so I can get dressed.

Aidan: Remember when Uncle Ethan mooned us?

Liam: Yes, it was sick. He has white buns and zits on his right cheek.

Dad: Yuck, that's gross! John, you're supposed to be asleep with visions of sugar plums.

Liam: I don't want to dream about Ethan with sugar plums.

Aidan: I remember when Uncle Ethan mooned me with his armpit. He had alot of hair.

Liam: Yeah, just like a man. Remember when I wanted to rub my face in Dad's armpit hair when we were at the lake?

McKenna: You boys are gross.

Eliza: Yeah, we're gross and I'm going to moon everyone like Uncle Ethan.

McKenna: Ok, I don't want to hear anything else about Uncle Ethan.

John: Let's go down and get presents!

McKenna: Who's letting tooters?

Eliza: Me and Aidan.

Then everyone went downstairs and watched John open his guitar and amp and play at volume 10 for a while before anyone else got to open a present. Somehow, even while blind in the dark at night he had found his presents.

The opening proceded and then ended. Every once in a while if someone bent over, they got a credit card from Eliza who had been taught how to do it by Aidan. The present opening ended with Mom getting upset at Liam and Aidan for smoking candy cigarettes.

Anyone else have a better conversation than that?

2 Thing I'd Rather Not Wake Up To

2008-12-05T14:53:00.000-05:00

During my life I've been awoken by varies unpleasant situations. In High School I was often awakened to see my Vice Principal standing in my room, asking, "Melissa, are you planing to come to school today? It's nearly 10 o'clock!". As a mother I've been awakened by children on many occasions screaming in my ear, "Wake up, I need breakfast!". I've been awakened by complete silence but a sense of someone standing very near to me. When my eyes open I generally hear a quiet whisper something along the lines of, "Mom, could I please eat all my Halloween candy if I promise not to disturb your Sunday nap again?" Another fun one is, "Mom, I just threw up all over my bed." Or, "Aah......" followed by the sound of someone not quite making it to the bathroom, but instead my bedroom floor. I've even been awakened by many unpleasent smells, thou I won't go into further detail. There are countless other examples I could share with you. But the following are currently at the top of my list:
1. The first occurred Saturday, Nov. 16th, about 4:00 am. As I slumbered peacefully, my dreams were awakened by a loving husband shaking me awake, asking if I'd heard the deafening alarm that had been going off for several minutes. Annoyed that he had wakened me to ask me, when it was obvious the answer was "no", he then proceeded to explain that it was the carbon monoxide alarm and that we all needed fresh air immediately. Hmm..... I thought. That's nice........ as I rolled back over to recapture my dreams. "This is serious! It says here we should call 911 and get to fresh air!" he repeated. "Sounds like you've got it under controlled" I replied as I drifted back to sleep. At this point he apparently opened all the windows in the house, turned on all the ceiling fans, and put more fans in the windows, after he had checked to be sure we were all still breathing. The alarm stopped and my sleep was not disturbed again until I heard cries for breakfast.
*I guess carbon monoxide wouldn't be too bad of a way to go. Nice and peaceful, in your sleep.

2. The second occurred 28 hours later at 8:oo am Sunday morning. The car was warm and the engine purred. The kids were quiet, and most of them were sleeping. It was a perfect time to drift off. The next thing I heard was again from John, "Woah....Woah......Woah! Watch Out!" As I opened my sleepy eyes the world was turning all about me. The first thing I thought was, "This is it. I guess this is the way it will all end." I turned around and instructed the kids to "hold on tight". Just then Little John screamed, "We're all going to die"! I had to agree with him, though I did not voice it. John had hit a patch of ice on our way home from the lake, and we were spinning out of control. It seemed like it lasted forever and I kept waiting for the inevitable roll down the embankment. "When and what will we hit?" I thought. We were all over the place and going fast. Then we hit. We hit the guard rail hard, then slid along it. We hit it again, then continued spinning. At last John gained control of the car and we glided on to the shoulder of the freeway in the same position we had started. Miraculously, everyone was fine. Just a bit shaken up, and as we discovered later a little stiff and sore.
*I'm thankful to have paid taxes that put up the guard rail that saved our lives!

So, basically, it was a great weekend! We are all alive! In the future I would prefer to wake up to the smell of freshly made french toast, lightly dusted with cinnamon, warm melting butter, and rich maple syrup. Also clean, well groomed, polite and healthy children quitely playing would be great.

Too Much Food, Not Enough Time

2008-12-05T13:44:00.000-05:00

Five days. No kids. New York City. Five Star restaurants. Shopping. The best Gelato in the entire world. Broadway shows. The W. Who could ask for a better vacation? The end of October, John had a legal conference in New York. This was the first year we went to a conference without any kids. It was awesome! I had a great time bargain shopping all over Manhattan, while John attended his conference. I told him he was welcome to tag along after he was done, if he promised not to slow me down. He let me navigate the whole trip and found himself on his own little shopping spree at Gant. John tried to jump on the wrong subway trains a few times, but I managed to pull him back just in time.

As far as food went, which is always the most important part of any vacation, the best place we ate was Daniel. It was amazing. If I were Obama, I would hire Daniel's pastry chef to work at the White House, so I could order up all the petifores I could eat at three o'clock in the morning. Also I would petition to have GROM open a private store just for me. Without a doubt, my favorite part of the whole trip was the gelato, at GROM. A New York getaway will never be comple again without a visit, or two, or three, to GROM!

NASH Homecoming

2008-11-08T12:21:00.001-05:00

I can't believe I forgot to post pictures from McKenna's first dance (with a date). She went to North Allegheny Senior High's Homecoming with Jake Merrill from our ward, on October 4th. They had a group of eight that went together. She looked so beautiful!

Hero of the Month

2008-11-08T11:55:00.000-05:00

Poor Jefferson (the Jamaican repairman) came out about five times before he threw in the towel and gave the job to someone else. He made a very noble effort.

After having no washer and dryer for over 2 months (10 days of it with 6 additional house guests) lets just say I was ready to explode. So my hero for the month of October is Matt Colaizzi. Matt had a vision for a new laundry area in our basement and offered his talents to make it happen. After many long nights of hard work I now have a brand new laundry area. I still don't have an entire room just for laundry, but what I do have is awesome! And to top it off our original washer and dryer in the upstairs bathroom is finally in good working order again. So now I have two working washers and dryers. Lucky me! (I really do mean that - I no longer dread laundry like I used to.) Hooray for Matt, for and awesome job in the basement. Hooray for the repair man that finally figured out how to fix an Asko washer. And hooray for John, for buying me an awesome new washer and dryer. You guys rock!

Big Fish

2008-10-30T12:14:00.000-04:00

It's Fall in Western PA. What that means to the Nobbs boys is, it is time to fish for Steelhead. Steelhead are "Ocean going trout". In our case they are landlocked, or freshwater, since they live their lives in Lake Erie, rather than the ocean. They are very similar to Salmon, and they return to the place of their original hatching to spawn. Unlike Salmon, they return several times to spawn. On their journey they run the rivers in the tributaries of Lake Erie. Along their strenuous journey, these giant, unsuspecting trout are often ripped from their habitat by the mouth (which McKenna tells me has little feeling) and pulled vigorously out of the water. These two fish, pictured below, were lucky. They were released soon after their capture and sent back on their journey. From reading this post, you may think that I am opposed to the sport of Steelhead fishing, but actually my opinion is just this; I can think of a million things I would rather spend my time doing on a cold Pennsylvania Fall (or Spring) day than waking at 4 a.m. to stand in ice cold water all day, waiting and trying, to deter the hard work of these hearty fish and interrupt them in their journey home. The best conditions for Steelhead fishing come when it has been very cold and rainy. Any sport that requires cold, rainy weather is just not for me! But my boys love it and that's great for them! Nice catch Little John!

Temple Square

2008-10-12T22:22:00.001-04:00

Liza and I attended church Sunday, Sept.28, with Uncle Ethan. After church we convinced him to take a walk with us around Temple Square.

Salt Lake Children's Museum

2008-10-12T21:57:00.000-04:00

On Thursday, September 25th, we had a day for the kids. We all rode up to Salt Lake together (Grandma Emily, Allison, Mike, Jayden, Caleb, Issac, Liza, and me). In the morning the kids met with the hospital Child Life specialist. She taught them and talked to them about Lukie's new ostomy (along with his feeding tube and other equipment). They each received their own "Buddy" doll to play with. After that we left Grandma with Lucas and went to the Children's Museum for the afternoon. The kids had a great time! Eliza could have played in the little playhouse all day! She loved it. She got so upset when other little girls came to play in "her kitchen" or "her house". She didn't even want to see anything else in the museum and cried when it was time to go home.

Liza Finally Gets Her First Haircut

2008-10-10T17:26:00.000-04:00

September 22nd, moments before leaving for the airport Liza had her long overdue first hair cut. It wasn't much. Just one swipe along the bottom to even things out!

Unexpected Trip to Utah

2008-10-10T16:38:00.000-04:00

Monday, September 15th, my little "Pseudo" baby, Lucas, was admitted to Primary Children's Medical Center in SLC. His little belly was so loopy and distended. He was a VERY sick little boy. Over the next few day things got even worse. Late Wednesday night an emergency ostomy was performed. Thursday morning, my sister, Allison called me with very upsetting news. The surgery had not gone well. He had a very severe case of NEC (necrotizing entercolitis). 30 centimeters of his jejunum had died and was removed during surgery. The next few hours and days would be extremely critical. Things were not looking good for my little angel. Right away I jumped into gear and made plans to fly out to Utah.

Liza and I arrived in Utah late Monday, the 22. Ethan picked us up from the airport and we spent the night at his place. The next morning we surprised Allison and Mike at the hospital (I hadn't told her I was coming). They were excited to see us. By the time we arrived, Lucas was doing much better. His body had responded to the IV antibiotics and the infection was clearing. Though he still has a very long, difficult road ahead of him.

We spent about 8 days in Utah. A good part of my trip (but not as much as I would have liked) was spent at the hospital but I also go to do a lot of other things while I was there. The highlight was Saturday night. I attended the General Relief Society meeting with my mom and 2 sisters. It was wonderful. After the meeting we went to the Lion House to eat. The food was fabulous (especially the rolls)! Ethan watch Liza for me and we spent the night at his apartment, then went to church with him the next day.

It was great to spend some time with family and friends, though I wish I could have seen more of everyone. The time went by much too quickly. But of course the very best part of the trip was seeing little Lukie smile and coo. I love him so much!

A Touch of Aidan All Around the House

2008-10-06T12:20:00.000-04:00

Happily bounding down the stairs is my fourth child, Aidan. Often you will find him dressed like this, or in something of a similar nature (pants are generally not included as part of his daily dress). His hands are often very busy. And as he has informed us, are controlled completely by his brain. His brain is "the king" and "the king" often leads the rest of his body into trouble. However, this particular post is not about any of the mischief Aidan's brain gets him into. But rather a glimpse of the many reminders of Aidan I see each and everyday. These are a few things I found around the house one afternoon.

This nice little sign on the front door was secured in place with very strong glue.

We love the Lake!!!

2008-10-06T12:00:00.001-04:00

A few pictures from Lake Chatauqua. I wish we could live there year round!!!

"Special" Guests at the Party

2008-09-05T10:52:00.001-04:00

Would you like either of these guests at your birthday party???

Or how about this "Luv Cub" as a gift???

Liza's 3rd Birthday

2008-09-05T10:12:00.001-04:00

Eliza turned 3 last Saturday, August 30th. However we celebrated her birthday a week early, since the Fullmer family was here with us. Our kids rarely get a chance to celebrate their birthdays with their cousins, so we decided to have two back to back celebrations (McKenna's and Eliza's). Liza had a great time and LOVED all her presents!
Liza finally got her "Bitty Baby".

First Day of School - Nobbs Style!

2008-08-29T09:03:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was an interesting first day of school. The fun actually started late the night before. As the Nobbs students hurried around the house looking for school supplies and backpacks, Aidan emerged from the basement sporting a new school haircut! Wanting to be prepared for his first day of school, he took the initiative of making sure his hair was freshly cut for the big day. Oh, well.

Yesterday morning little John arose with the sun. He showered, put on new clothes, combed his hair, brushed his teeth, and prepared a sign to hold up for a picture that read, "Sixth Grade WOW!" With all his grooming he had not taken the time to secure a backpack or school supplies for the big day.

I went to the basement to look for his backpack. It was about 7:30. Since McKenna's bus had come at 6:45, I thought I'd better take a look in her room to make sure she had gone. I glanced in and saw the bed was empty, what I relief. But then as I scanned the rest of her room, I saw a heap of blankets on the bean bag chair. After closer inspection, I realized that McKenna was peacefully slumbering under the blankets. When I called her name and told her what time it was, she thought I was joking. She looked at the clock and jumped out of bed, angry that her carefully set alarm never went off.

With all the commotion, Liam woke up and set about getting ready for his first day of 3rd grade. Everything had been set out the night before and he casually got himself ready for school, ate breakfast, brushed his teeth, then sat on the couch playing his DS while he waited, with backpack in tow, until it was time to leave.

Meanwhile, I was waiting for the repairman to come out for the fourth attempt at fixing my washer that has been out of commission (as well as the dryer) for the last month! He was suppose to arrive at 8:00. McKenna was anxious for me to get her to school. I gave Liam instruction to tell the repairman I would be right back, should he arrive while I was gone. I quickly wrote McKenna a note and drove her to her first day as a Junior at the Senior High School (over an hour late!) I got back home just in time to walk Liam to his bus. Aidan came along wearing nothing but an oversized sleeveless sweatshirt of McKenna's and his hair looking great! I snapped a few pictures then hurried back home. It was 8:30 and still no repairman. At 8:45 I called. He was on his way.

In Pennsylvania, the DMV requires all new drivers to have a physical before they will issue a learners permit. I had scheduled McKenna's exam for 10:15. The repairman arrived at 9:20. I told him I had to leave at 9:45. He said he would try to hurry. I attempted getting Liza and Aidan ready, but neither of them would let me touch there hair. Oh, well. The repairman finished at 9:50 and reported that he got the part installed, however there is something else still wrong. He told me he would return tomorrow to investigate the problem. Still no washer and dryer!!!!Aghhhhhhhhh.

We hurried out the door and got McKenna to her appointment about 15 minutes late. On the way, Liza found a pen in the back seat and drew all over her legs and white sandals. Oh, well. The appointment lasted much longer than I had anticipated, with several new issues to address, that I won't get in to here. We got our paper signed, then head back to the High School, stopping on the way for a quick lunch in the car. We got home just in time to attempt hair combing once again, then drove Aidan to his first day of kindergarten. All the new students looked so nice in their new clothes, with their hair neatly combed. I encouraged Aidan to keep the hood of his sweatshirt on (it was a cool day).

I returned home at 2:15. I ended up having about a half an hour with the four kids all at school. Aidan had asked me about 50 times in the past week to make banana bread. So I spent those few precious moments making him his bread. No sooner had I put it in the oven, than McKenna had arrive home. I wrote Little John a note, then dashed out the door again to take McKenna to the DMV. We waited about 45 minutes, then took our paper work to the counter. The friendly, and helpful DMV employee quickly pointed out the the doctor had neglected to fill in her state license #, so a permit could not be issued until the form was returned, filled out, and initialed by the doctor. He let McKenna take the test anyway. She failed. She was upset. We left and got home about 4:30.

My one saving grace of the day was Liam's baseball manager calling to let us know his 6:00 practice had been cancelled due to the rainy weather. Hallelujah!

A New Allergy for Aidan

2008-08-29T08:44:00.001-04:00

A few weeks ago Aidan was stung on the neck by either a bee or a wasp in the backyard one night. He came inside and John took care of him. It looked fine, no swelling just a little redness. But then the next morning when he woke up his neck was so swollen, he looked like he had no neck at all, just a few chubby chins! When he walked you could see his neck jiggle with all the fluid inside. I tried to take a few pictures but they don't show how swollen it really was. He loved it! He said, "I hope I stay like this forever. I like being a little fat boy!"

*It's purely coincidental that Aidan is eating in all the pictures*

Pseudo-Mom

2008-08-25T14:29:00.000-04:00

The definition of pseudo:

pseu·do
adjective
1. not actually but having the appearance of; pretended; false or spurious; sham.
2. almost, approaching, or trying to be

My little nephew Lucas, now 3 months old, has been diagnosed with Chronic Intestinal Pseudo-obstruction. While they can not find an actual physical blockage, his digestive system is affected in the same way as an actual blockage. He recently spent 10 days with us here in Pittsburgh so he could be admitted to Children's Hospital for an evaluation.

During his visit I became quite attached to him. Although I am not his real Mom, during the two nights I stayed with him at the hospital, I couldn't help but take on the role of mother. I love this little baby just as I love the rest of my children and it broke my heart to see him go through so much. I asked my sister, Allison, "Since I'm not his mom, could I at least be his pseudo-mom?" Just like a real mom I have been affected by him in a very real way. I would do anything for him! I think she will humor me with my request (since pseudo-mom just means "fake Mom") Oh, well I'll take what I can get.

McKenna is 16!!!!

2008-08-25T14:18:00.000-04:00

Last Thursday, August 21st, McKenna turned 16. I can't believe it! It seems like just yesterday she was running around talking to and about all her imaginary friends. She went on her first date Saturday night. She went out with Jake Merrell, from our ward. They went to dinner at an Indian restaurant, the Taj Mahal, near our house. Then they played in a park and went to a movie (the Rocker). Now we just need to tackle the driving thing!

Long Overdue, Very Long, First Post

2008-08-23T12:55:00.000-04:00

My Brother-in-law, Mike, has been giving me a hard time. I Created this blog a couple of months ago but have yet to post anything to it. I started this blog because I feel it is important to record my family history. Journal writing is something I have always struggled with in spite of the fact that I know I should do it. Hopefully this blog will keep me on track! So finally, here is my first post.

It has been a very busy summer for our family. In April, John and I drove to NY to look for a house on Lake Chatauqua. We had been talking about buying vacation property for a couple of years and so we decided to go for it. We found one that we fell in love with. We negotiated with the owners for a week or so, then finally settled our purchase terms. We closed on the house on Friday, May 23rd. The last half of April and the entire month of May were dedicated to furnishing the lake house. I spent countless hours on Craigslist looking for furniture and necessities. I dedicated every Friday and Saturday morning to visiting many, many garage sales. And drove all over the Pittsburgh area picking up Craigslist purchases. It was amazing how quickly we filled the garage (our holding place for the new house). The few items we still lacked I either redistributed from our house in Pittsburgh or purchased at discount stores. We rented a Penske truck and stayed up until midnight loading it with all we had accumulated. It was hard work! The next morning we got up at about 6:00 to finish loading the truck. John, the kids, and I (minus McKenna, who attended the youth temple trip to Washington D.C.) drove the 2 hour and 15 minute drive to NY. We spent Memorial Day weekend there, unloading and unpacking the house. When we finished there was a great sense of accomplishment. We figured we had only spent about $1500 dollars on the entire contents of the house. Not too bad! The house is now fully furnished with everything we could possibly need (including clothing for everyone). Now I know what it is like to have a "second home". It is exactly that. When you leave "home" to drive "home" it is kind of a weird feeling but a great one! I love knowing that we could jump in the car at any time and in a couple of hours we will arrive at our home again, where we have everything that we need. It's awesome!

On the last day of school, June 6th, McKenna flew to Europe with Uncle Ethan. They were gone 16 days and visited the Czech Republic, Croatia, Italy, and the Vatican. They had a great time together. While they were away, Amanda and her four kids stayed with us for two weeks. We spent most of the time at the lake. Brian took a new position at Kraft in Richmond, VA. So they were in the middle of their move from Wausa, Wi and Amanda needed a place to stay during the transition. It worked out perfectly to have them stay with us. All the kids had a great time with their cousins.

A couple of days after Amanda left and McKenna returned, Liam attended his first Cub Scout Day Camp, from June 23rd to the 27th. I was a chaperon for camp on the last day. Little John also came with me as a Den Chief. It was fun to see Liam having so much fun with the other boys in his troop.
A few days after camp, we headed back up to the lake for our first big Nobbs family reunion. We were there for a week and had a total of 19 people (Our family, Josh and Alicia and their 3 kids, Brian and Amanda and their 4 kids, and Ethan). It was a lot of work but so much fun! The kids loved being with their cousins. We played games in the yard, ate lots of great food, watched fireworks, went to the beach, played in the water and the kids spent countless hours out on the dock catching fish. Every night the older cousins slept in the back yard in a tent and stayed up half the night giggling and sneaking out of the tent. We even got to have a little birthday party for Ethan followed by cake on everyone's faces and an outdoor "Hose Shower" for all the boys. Everyone had a great time and we can't wait to do it again next year!

McKenna left the reunion early so she could attend Girls Camp. She was a fifth year this year and a Camp Youth Leader. She was able to participate in the High Adventure, which consisted of mountain biking and canoing. She had a lot of fun.

McKenna's busy summer continued on. After she had been home from camp for just one day she left again. This time to Ohio to attend EFY (especially for youth). She really loved it and was so glad that she got to go. Her favorite teacher was Brother McLay, who she later found out attended High School with me. Allana was her roommate and they had a ton of fun together!

The week after that, McKenna went to Stake Youth Conference. It was held at Robert Morris University. They spent 3 days there. They had great speakers and activities. McKenna had a lot of fun with the youth in the Stake.

The day after McKenna returned from Youth Conference the kids and I (plus Allana) headed back to the lake. We spent a week there. We went bowling, rafting, went to the library, watched movies, and did some much needed yard work. The boys also spent a lot of time fishing and playing by the dock. My friend Amy and her kids came up Thursday and spent the afternoon with us. It was fun to see her, Elijah, and Emma.

A week later John and I spent the weekend at the lake alone to celebrate our anniversary. It was awesome! It was so relaxing to be there alone, in spite of the fact that we also had quite a bit of work to do. Our washer had broken a week and a half earlier so we spent most of our vacation doing laundry and yard work. But it was still peaceful and nice to be together without so many distractions. We found time to take a walk down the the village center to have lunch and a smoothie. That night we had a nice dinner a Hultman's, where John had his favorite thing, prime rib. And we watched a lot of movies together while we folded laundry. It was nice.

A few days after we returned from the lake Mike and Allison and their family came for 10 days (August 13-23). The first half of their trip was great. The kids played, we went to the Children's Museum, Soergel's Orchard, and swimming together. The adults and Lucas even had an evening out alone. It was a lot of fun. But Monday, the 18th, the fun ended and the real purpose for the trip came. Lucas, now 3 months, was admitted to Children's Hospital for a small intestine transplant evaluation. It was a VERY rough week!