Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - July 31, 2022

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

Happy 1^st Anniversary, Elliott and Nora!

Our best wishes for Cassie’s and Michael’s friends were delivered while at church; and that was the only involvement we had in their special day.

We’ve had another awesome day; so let’s get right to the top news of the past couple of days.

Before we got around to the anniversary fun yesterday, we started our day with the usual workout by the river and another major camping breakfast; and then we headed out to watch Sebastian, Caleb, and the Marshals win their ball game against the Rangers.  The eleven-to-six final score was the result of a consistently-steady growth of the lead for the Marshals instead of any big-play moments; so we enjoyed the baseball entertainment and then moved on to the rest of our day.

Due to the dinner-party, we didn’t have any major play events planned for the afternoon.  The kids and tweens were generally set free to play during the late morning and afternoon, so we biked, canoed, swam, and played at the park and home through until it was time to get ready and to work ahead of the barbeque dinner at the Ayres’ home.  The anniversary fun was really great, but we don’t really need to cover the details; since the food, campfire, and the rest of the family play time was similar to all of the other similar events we’ve been enjoying all summer-so-far.  We stayed up too-late; and our personal highlights included our musical contributions to the campfire and the extended cuddle and chat time we shared with a small gang of teens and tweens that continued well-past midnight.

Tai Chi by the river this morning came a bit too-early; we loved that quiet time before the crazy-busy began again and we needed to get everyone fed and ready for church.  The Sunday service and Sunday school experiences were heartwarming; and then we put in some work time before lunch – another barbeque that Mom and Dad hosted.  Ehlana and I opted for the teen-tween bike ride to Quarry Lake after lunch, and while the riding was hot and a bit tiring by the time we got home again a little while ago; we loved the quieter time with just a handful of our cousins and friends; and the hour or so that we spent playing at Quarry Lake was really great too.  A visit to the ranch was an entertainment option for some of the cousins too, and then anyone that opted to stay home still kept busy with canoeing, swimming, and play time at the park.

We’re back home now and getting ready for another buffet dinner at the Inn.  Wrapping up July with a great meal is only part of our plans for the rest of the night; and we’ll also be doing an outdoor movie and more camping.  We also need to mention that we’re losing some of our guests – including the Malloys, but all of our outgoing relatives and friends are also staying for that buffet before heading to their homes.  Terry and Angela got here while we were on the bike ride; and they’ll be taking Valerie and Marcus with them – though Valerie wants to stay while Marcus is ready to go home.

We’re currently taking turns grabbing showers and getting ready for that dinner, and that’s all we have for this report; so we’re out of here and back to the ‘real’ world!

Until next time, this little blast from your near or distant past is written for you with love from Ethan and Ehlana Proctor – twin junior Magi Masters of the Light!

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - July 30, 2022

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

Happy 17^th Anniversary to Naomi’s Mom and Dad!

Ehlana wanted me to write that as congratulations to my future parents-in-law, so while I didn’t agree; consider that option semi-done!

We don’t actually have a lot of news so far today.  That doesn’t mean that we haven’t been busy and we are having fun – it is just that we’d rather take the minutes we have available for this report to write about some of our favorite people instead of the ‘what’ we’ve been doing.  Catching up on those details can wait for tomorrow night.

First up, we really want to mention how much we love Naomi’s parents.  That isn’t something that we mention enough and while that is partly because we spend less time with them – or with Aiden’s parents – than we do with our parents, aunts, and uncles; and we focus too much on our own activities.  Sure, that isn’t a surprise for our personal journals, but we should do better when it comes to writing about our favorite people.

The anniversary dinner and party that we’ll be moving on to help with soon will definitely put Naomi’s parents and family at the center of our adventures for the rest of the day; and we are going to love sharing those moments with them – even if that time will be limited because it’ll be the adults taking care of roasting their friends and enjoying the night with them.  We’ll have more on that with our next update; so let’s wrap up this part of our update by again mentioning that we love Naomi’s parents and wish all the best for them today.  We’ll also not write anything about the kid-free nights they will continue to get through the weekend! ;^)

Moving along while also running out of time; let’s do a quick update on news for teen and tween drama with our cousins and friends.  Jayden is getting a lot of attention, but isn’t actually spending extra time with one specific girl so far this summer.  That’s partly because Jennifer doesn’t seem to know whether she wants to hang out with him or one of our hometown guys, and since that is unclear; some of the other girls are showing their interest in our cousin.  For his part, Jayden’s lack of interest in a closer summer relationship strongly suggests that he might be more-focused on a girl back at his own home.  No, I don’t know that for sure, but I’m a guy; and we don’t talk about things like that with each other; so don’t expect anything better from me for that kind of gossip.

Nobody in our family is surprised that Kara is very popular this summer, but other than hanging out with Jaimie, Kaitlyn, and their gang of friends; Kara isn’t getting serious with any of the local guys – not even Ryan Bassett.  Eddie is interested in one of the girls that have been hanging around with him, Nicole, and the rest of the youngest teens; and Nicole has a guy she likes but is being careful with because he’s both shy and temporarily height-challenged.  We may have more on those stories before the end of next weekend, but that’s all for now.

Finally for now, we should mention that Rob and Trish are here to pick up Tristan; and they’ll stay the night to get in on the party too.

Okay, that’s enough for now.  We really need to get going and to work on the pre-dinner set-up and cooking; so we’re out of here!

Until next time, this little blast from your near or distant past is written for you with love from Ethan and Ehlana Proctor – twin junior Magi Masters of the Light!

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - July 29, 2022

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

Happy 18^th Birthday, Benjamin Norton!

We didn’t have any involvement in Ben’s special day, but he gets mentioned because of his Mom – because we love her a lot! ;^)

Since our last update, we had fun last night; didn’t get a lot of sleep; and then we’ve been busy so far today too.  As we did yesterday, we spent the morning doing chores between breakfast and lunchtime; and then we’ve spent the afternoon having fun with our friends.  That meant biking, swimming, and back yard games today; and now we’re transitioning from the play time to the family barbeque dinner that we need to go help out with soon.  We’ll also have a campfire tonight to go along with another camping night; and that’s pretty much all we have for today.

The ‘what’ we’re doing really doesn’t seem important compared to how much we love the people we’re spending that time with; so we’re just going to leave this report there; and return to the fun and sharing with our families and friends.  We’re coming up on the half-way point of this visit from our cousins; so stay tuned for all of the adventures still to come!

Until next time, this little blast from your near or distant past is written for you with love from Ethan and Ehlana Proctor – twin junior Magi Masters of the Light!

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - July 28, 2022

Ethan and Ehlana:

Our news of the day is going to be short, but we’ve also had a lot of fun too.  After Tai Chi by the river and a busy breakfast, we spent the rest of the morning doing chores – including getting ahead on the weekend lawn and garden care.  We had that work done in time for the lunch that Mom hosted for the gang of kids and teens; and then we had about half of the cousins and friends head out to the ranch for a trail ride.  That was a fun highlight of the day, and while we got sprinkled on for part of the ride; rain didn’t really dampen our adventure; and the showers that came down a little while ago didn’t really affect us because we were swimming in the river anyway.

We’re now getting ready for dinner, and need to help out with the work once we’re cleaned up and changed; so that’s pretty much all we have for this update.  Our plans for the rest of the day include a family bike ride on the trail around town, another outdoor movie after dark, and more camping with the cousins and friends.  The details for all of that can wait for our next report, and we really do need to get going again; so we’re out of here!

Until next time, this little blast from your near or distant past is written for you with love from Ethan and Ehlana Proctor – twin junior Magi Masters of the Light!

 

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - July 27, 2022

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

We need to do another short update due to time constraints; so let’s get at it.

The sleepovers last night were fun and not really newsworthy.  Starting today with better weather was nice.  Tai Chi was by the river; breakfast was a busy blast of work and fun; and then we decided to do a canoe trip to the whirlpool.  That required more work that included getting canoes and gear ready as well as a picnic lunch prepared; so it was going on ten by the time we headed upriver.  We had a big gang for that adventure; had a lot of fun with the canoeing and play time at the whirlpool; and then we blasted home again in time to set up tents at our house for our major camping plans tonight.  Mom and Dad are hosting another major family barbeque too, and we need to help out with the work for that meal; so we really need to get going.  The rest of our day is going to include that meal; the co-ed ball practice after that; and an outdoor movie for the teen/tween/kid entertainment after dark.

Okay, that’s really all we have time for; so we’re out of here!

Until next time, this little blast from your near or distant past is written for you with love from Ethan and Ehlana Proctor – twin junior Magi Masters of the Light!