On Monday, August 1st Bubba left for EFY. (Especially for Youth is a week-long youth-oriented seminar focused on fellowship and teaching the principles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It is run by BYU and is the largest Church-oriented summer camp attracting over 50,000 attendees (ages 14-18) every year at locations around the world)
We tried to get into a session at BYU, but they filled up so quick, so they went to the session at the University of Redlands. When I was 14, I went to EFY with my friend Jenny Kent at UC Riverside. I still remember so many special experiences from that week and had a great experience. I was hoping Bubba would too.
Bubba was was picked up by his buddy Ethan, who was going to be his roommate for the week. Grandpa Baer came down the night before to spend the week with us, so he made sure Bubba had all of his things for the week and got out the door since Luke and I were at work.
Grandpa took some pictures before they pulled away from the house.
Their dorm room for the week. Most dorms have two beds but their room had three, so they had an additional roommate.
Throughout the week we would get random pictures from Ethan's mom, who was getting them from Ethan.
I was texting Bubba during the week and he would occasionally text me back. Luke and I both missed him so much....especially because he was gone for two weeks before he left for EFY. I had to keep the text above because it's not often Bubba expresses too much affection for his mama. :) I knew he was tired and he kept telling me he needed to go to bed, but he kept texting me back.
Friday evening we drove down to Ontario to stay the night because the pick up time was 6:30 - 7:30am. We went back to the hotel room to finish getting ready and then we headed over to Ontario Mills Outlets for a little shopping.
The boys were a little tired. I am pretty sure they slept very little all week. In fact, when I was texting Bubba Friday afternoon he was taking a nap during his free time.
The annual "glamping" trip with Grandma and Grandpa hogue was the last week of July. The boys got back from Scout camp on Saturday and early Sunday morning, we were up in Tehachapi to drop off the kids.
Lots of adventures during the week....
We picked them up in Tehachapi on Saturday afternoon!
This year is Bubba's second year of Scout camp, up at Lake Huntington, and Tubbs' first year. It's a four hour drive to camp, so they leave at 4am on Monday morning, so this year they elected to stay Sunday night with their buddies, at the Den Leader's house. I snapped one last photo of them, all nice and clean, before we dropped them off at 9pm. All other photos below I received from FB posts. Thank goodness for FB! :)
We picked up the boys on Saturday afternoon. My oldest child didn't shower at all while they were gone. He smelled really nice! Luke told them to go directly to the backyard and jump into the pool before coming into the house.
Bubba used Luke's hiking boots and they fell apart this week. He used duct tape to keep the soles on. Haha.
I missed the boys very much and couldn't wait to pick them up. I was beside myself! When Bubba gave me a hug he started to cry. His face was so dirty, the tears left mud on his face. Oh Bubba....
The boys had a great time at camp. Bubba got a little homesick mid-week, but apparently Tubbs was great. He didn't miss home at all! Shocking. :)
At camp the boys worked on a variety of Metrit Badges: shotguns, sailing, orienteering, environmental science, pioneering and canoeing.
That Stop Wasn't On My Itinerary....
So the Hogue's made it to Florida for our first official family vacation. It was Sawyer's first plane ride....and Simon's first plane ride that he can remember. We were excited....the boys were stoked. We had everything we needed! But it seems that Sawyer packed something with him that wasn't on our checklist: a big case of pneumonia. Yes, the little fella made it almost one whole day in Florida before he started heading downhill fast. Our 2nd day in Orlando we were in the Urgent Care south of Cocoa Beach. (By the way, to see a doctor more quickly, it helps if you vomit all over the waiting room in front of the receptionist. Little tip for ya) After chest x-rays they advised us to head to the ER in Melbourne, where they eventually admitted him to the hospital. So, we had 3 night deluxe accommadations at the Holmes Regional Medical Center. The little whipper snapper was a trooper though! The nurses loved him, thankfully, and made us all feel right at home. We were going to send postcards out with pictures of the hospital since we spent 40% of our trip there...but they didn't have any. Imagine that!Hmmm.....maybe its something they should consider.
