The 4th of July and the Following Week

     Wow.  It is amazing just how much stuff can fit in one week.  As we all know, this last week started off with a national holiday:  The 4th of July.  Dad and Levi went down to spend some time with Grandma, Aunt Michelle, Aunt Mary families in Sanger, while Mom, Marta, and Tess went to Girls' Camp, and Eliza and Luke stayed home for work.
     Eliza and Luke's week was pretty self-explanatory, but they also had some extra responsibilities when it came to animals and plants.  While everybody else was gone, one of the chicks went missing, much to Tess and Levi's disappointment, and it appears deer attacked some of our tomatoes.  Everything else survived though.
     Dad and Levi left on Sunday afternoon and spent the 4th in Sanger.  Levi was worried about how he would deal without Mom and Dad for a week, but had a great time at the beach, in the valley, and in many pampering eating areas.  Dad, on the other hand headed to Sacramento after the 4th for a day of work, then  went to Girls' Camp to help with the overnight hike for the fifth year girls, and arrived home on Thursday just before Grandma, Aunt Mary, Noah, Isaac, and Levi arrived in Soulsbyville to spend a couple of days with us!
     Now.  Down to business.  Girls' Camp.  This amazing experience can only be explained in a large paragraph, so here we go.  The theme this year was "Home for the Holidays," which is seriously ironic considering that it started on the 4th of July.  Each day was a different holiday; Monday was the 4th of July, Tuesday was Easter, Wednesday was Christmas, Thursday was Thanksgiving, and Friday was Valentine's Day.  Mom was a Counselor for the group of second-years called the Little Bunny Foo-Foos.  It took us several days to make this mascot for her group, but as you can see, it turned out pretty funny...note the field mouse, American flag, garland for Easter, pants and ribbon for Christmas, dangly pumpkin/gourd earrings, and valentine belt.  Tess did the bunny artwork.

Meanwhile, Marta was a fifth year and the Junior Counselor (JC) for the Hunny Bunnies (a very sweet first year group) and Tess was in a third year group called the Thankful Hearts.  Every day we did things like BB guns, archery, throwing tomahawks and knives, building shelters, making campfires, singing songs, and zip line.  On Wednesday, each of us left on a hike and experienced wonderful weather.  Marta went on the overnight hike with the other JC's and it started raining soon after they set up camp.  Mom left with her second year group at about eleven and had several eventful things happen on their five-mile round trip.  They had to wade across a river that came up to mid-thigh, was really cold, and had a very strong current because of all of this year's snow.  Then, one of the girls had a strong allergic reaction to some dried kiwi, and it rained for half of the hike.  Tess's group left about two hours after everybody else, but got poured on with rain, and rather large-for-California hail.  (Thankfully, they didn't have to walk very far to get back, but they were still soaked through).  It rained until about 5 o'clock that evening and dried up just in time for skit night, which, sadly, we do not have any pictures of, but was very funny.  On Friday, the last awards were given out, and Tess's group did very well while Tess herself tied with two other girls for the best score in camp at a Defense Against the Dark Wolves course in which she threw knives and tomahawks, and shot arrows, with style.  Everybody had a great time.  It was simply amazing.
     At home on Saturday, we went to the lake where Eliza and Luke work and swam/played for several hours before things calmed down and we finally got some time to really relax and rest up--not for long though.  This upcoming week will be filled with all sorts of activities, including a Harry Potter Gala Evening prior to the family dressing as the seven Horcruxes for the premiere of the final Harry Potter movie at 12:01 a.m. on Friday.  Reports to follow.

The Houghtons, by Tess

We Finally Made It!

Well, as you see, we finally made it.  Two weeks ago, we had a family reunion and several people suggested making a blog for better communication.  Here it is!

First, introductions. First, the parents. Mom is a registered nurse but doesn't work right now (she reminds us that she works for love instead). She fills her time by driving kids around, taking care of our wonderful home, and swimming.  Then comes Dad.  He is an engineer who currently works in the city of Manteca as the Director of Public Works.  We live an hour and a half away from Manteca, so he spends a lot of time commuting each day (instead of building retaining walls, which is one of his favorite things to do). These two wonderful parents got married in 1990 in the Washington D.C. Temple, and have since had five children.  Number one was Eliza who is going to BYU and will be a Junior this fall.  Luke came next.  He goes to our local high school and will be a Senior next year. Both Luke and Eliza are lifeguards at a private lake in the area right now, and also have lots of academic work to do this summer, so they will be pretty busy.  Third is Marta, who is just a year behind Luke in school.  She has lots of plans for the summer, but they are only dreams right now because of a might-be (but we don't think it is) broken wrist. Tess is the fourth child, and will be a Freshman at the same high school as my older siblings.  So far my summer has been spent in the water, with my family, or sick.  Last, but not least, is Levi who will be in 6th grade this year. Levi has also been spending his summer in essentially the same way I have so far.  We all love reading (thus the background design), and we will gladly take any book suggestions (especially if it's fiction...).

Our family has 17 pets.  One cat, whose name is Stomach (originally she was Bell then Bella then Belly then Stomach), and 16 chickens who live in the "Chicken Palace" that we built in the backyard. We built our house with the help of many friends and family members about 5 1/2 years ago.

This is our back yard and the building on the right is the woodshed that we built.

We will put a picture of the Chicken Palace in a later post because the only ones we have were taken by a cell phone...

Thanks for waiting and reading!

Tess with help from Luke