It's all good . . .

First Day of School

I blinked, summer was gone, and school was starting.  The start of a new school year always shows me how the time has passed, between the first day of school pictures that show how much the kids have grown, and just knowing what grade they are in.  I mean, Derek is a Junior this year!! How did that happen that me little Derek is now a tall lanky sixteen year old with only two years of school left.

And then my baby boy, Arthur is nine and starting fourth grade. Wow! (That was the grade Lily was in when he was born.) Not sure where the time has gone, but they both looked so grown up and handsome.

Arthur had a "Back to School Night" on Monday, where he got to meet his teacher, Ms. Branch. (Who just happens to be a friend of mine - after teaching on their team last year, I got to know all the 4th grade teachers really well, and he is going to love her!)

On Tuesday, I got a few frantic texts from the fifth grade team and the secretary to see if I could substitute on the first day of school. Mrs. Parker, one of the fifth grade teachers, got her dream job as an assistant principal in the district, and only found out the day before. Truly, subbing on the first day of school sounds like a nightmare, but the circumstances were such that I said yes.  First of all, I love the fifth grade teachers, and would always want to help them out. Also, most of the fifth graders were my fourth graders from the year before, and I love those kids - and so not only had I taught many of them before, all of the grade knows me.

And so, on Wednesday morning, I was not only making sure the boys were ready to start school and sneaking in first day pictures all while trying to get ready myself.  It was a bit stressful, but being back in the school and teaching sure felt like coming home. And I loved being with my old students, and I did get to see them all, because they rotate between the three classes and I was teaching all of the science, I got to teach all of them. It was awesome, exhausting, and crazy, but it was a wonderful day.

After school was out, I crashed on my chair for a while.  Lily was amazing and made dinner - hallelujah! And luckily I had frozen chocolate chip cookie dough last week for first day of school cookies, and so all I had to do was pull it out and put it in the oven, and we had our after school snack.  It was the perfect way to end what was a great first day of school for all of us - especially for our boys.

The Last Days of Summer

I truly don't have a clue where the summer went, but it has come to a close in spite of me. We did manage to squeeze in some last fun adventures, including the last bits of random free time where the kids could just do whatever - like when Arthur pulled out a game and just made fun designs on it.

One of our last adventures was when I took the kids to the Witte museum here in San Antonio. They had some really fabulous dinosaur bones, and we especially loved the crazy giant pterodactyl creature. Wow!  There was also an area where you could pretend to be an archaeologist and dig for dinosaur bones. And speaking of bones, just look at the leg bone Lily is standing by - so big!

They had all sorts of fabulous other exhibits, including a fabulous Texas animal exhibit that I completely forgot to get pictures of.  Lily especially loved the amazing display of dresses throughout the decade, including some amazing Fiesta dresses.  We also really loved the building that had all the science things about the human body, which had this cool treehouse attached to it.  It was such a fun and eclectic museum.

Another fun adventure was when Arthur's boys' primary activity was at the San Antonio Temple.  They learned about the temple and loved getting to be there on the temple grounds.

But our biggest adventure to finish off the summer, was to go to Schlitterbahn with the family.  Kevin and I have been there more than once, but it was the first time that the kids got to go, and we had the best day!

We started in the newer park, got there early and all was good, but we had a couple hiccups in the beginning, like getting lost and not knowing how to get to get to the big rides. And then when we were in line, the Master Blaster, broke down twice, and so instead of making it through quickly and moving on, it took over an hour and a half before we went on our first waterslide.  Luckily, it was a pretty awesome one, and worth the wait.
After our initial wait for the first ride, we had pretty great luck getting on the slides we wanted.  There is really so much to do at each park, and not enough time to do it all, but we did our best.  My very favorite ride of the day was The Falls, a long river ride that took you over little waterfalls and you just slipped along happily. At the end, it even took us up a giant conveyor belt to get us back to the starting point.  It was awesome, and even though it was a tad extra crowded when we went on it, since it had just opened up, it really was the best.  And we managed to not lose Arthur in all of it - hallelujah!
Another of my favorites was Dragon's Revenge.  It was another of the water fosters, but not as much water spraying directly into my face, like on Master Blaster - and it had lots of cool dark turns and tunnels.
On Saturday morning, Derek and I went on an adventure up to the Fredericksburg area to buy peaches. I love having bottled peaches and jam, and was really missing having a fabulous orchard five minutes down the road, and so I heard that the peaches were ready, I thought it was the perfect chance for Derek to get some driving time and for me to get my peaches. And on our way through one of the tiny towns, we found a chocolate shop that had free samples, and so after sampling, we had to get some.

The peaches being actually in our home always starts a clock inside my head, because you have to start planning and plotting when you are going to get them processed before they start going bad. And so on Monday afternoon, after a morning spent at the dentist's office, Lily and I got to work bottling peaches.  Because of the drought, they were especially tiny, but since we were doing 1.25 bushels no matter what, it just made for a lot of extra work. And when a lot of them did not want to peal well, it made it even harder.  Luckily I had Lily as my helper, and we watched both "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" and "Thoroughly Modern Milly" to keep us entertained and occupied during the exhausting drudgery of it all ;).  And then on Tuesday, I made peach jam, but since we had already pealed and slice the peaches the day before, it was much easier.

Also on Tuesday, Arthur got one last hurrah before school started, as he went to a trampoline park for his friend Jack's belated birthday party.  They had so much fun, and I am so glad he has such good friends!  It was the perfect way to finish of summer vacation.

Lily, the Missionary

We have a missionary!! Our sweet Lily was set apart Thursday night as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and will be serving as a Service Missionary right here in San Antonio. 

Although they have service missionaries in the church for many, many years, Service Missions are a newer thing, and Lily was told by the coordinators that she is a pioneer. I loved learning more about them as Lily has begun this process, and here is a little bit about it.  Here are a few things about them:

The Service Missionary Purpose: Our purpose is to help others come unto Christ by serving them as the Savior would. We serve voluntarily in charitable organizations, Church functions, and within the community. We will minister in His name to the one, just as He did, expressing His loving kindness.

Key Objectives of a Service Mission

• Provide an opportunity for all willing young women and young men to serve the Lord and increase in testimony of Him.
• Help each service missionary prepare for a lifetime of service.
• Provide needed and valuable service to Church and community organizations.

Last week, Lily got to meet a bunch of the other service missionaries from the area, including her companion, her district leader and the amazing service missionary coordinators.

On Wednesday, Lily and I got to tour a few of the places she may end up serving. (Wish I had gotten a picture of the San Antonio Food Bank - it is massive - the largest in the country 😳). It is so exciting, and pretty amazing, to have a missionary in our house ❤️.

Finishing Up July with Fun

Getting home from our trip out west, we only had two weeks left of summer, and even less time before Lily was going to be set apart as a missionary. Because the school year is looming, we tried to make sure and squeeze in some fun. Lily was especially impressed with our new swim spa and loved getting to play with the boys in it.

On Tuesday, Lily and I were able to attend the San Antonio Temple, which was wonderful.  It really is amazing going to the temple with my sweet girl.

Tuesday night, I was able to sneak out with my friends Erica and Jana (Rice) to go see the movie "Where the Crawdads Sing," which was so good!! I loved the book, and the movie was super well done.  It was also just really nice to take a moment to recline in the fancy movie theater chairs and relax.

Wednesday was our activity that we had in July for our primary girls.(Summer is crazy with people out of town, and so we only had one activity in each June and July.) We had a movie night and watched the remake of "The Parent Trap" - you know, the remake that was made 24 years ago - ha ha! I borrowed a screen and Kevin hooked up our projector, and then I made tons of popcorn and the girls brought treats to share.  they had a blast, loved the movie, and ate their weight in popcorn. The only snafu was that the movie was over two hours longs, so even starting early, we went way late.  Oh well.  That's why we did it in the summer ;).

Thursday morning found me back at the temple, but this time I was there to take portraits of a little girl who is going to be baptized.  She was adorable, and the lighting was fantastic, and so I stayed longer so I could get some great shots of the temple.

When I got home, the kids and I loaded into the car to head to the church parking lot. I had Lily help Derek practice parking, while Arthur and I worked on his bike riding skills.  Between some pretty hefty fears he is trying to overcome, as well as moving and such, he had forgotten most of what he knew about riding a bike.  He was getting pretty good, he just needs to stop panicking, and he will be fine.

Friday had some special plans that included Derek getting in some "night" driving hours, so the kids and I were in the car and on the dark road by 6am.  We drove the back way to Bourne, giving Derek a good chunk of time in the car, and stopped for breakfast tacos at Mary's - so good!!  (And since they were bigger than I remembered and I bought two for each of us, including Kevin, we had leftovers for dinner. Nice!)
From Bourne, we drove back down to San Antonio, and went to Eisenhower Park to go on a hike.  We were starting early to try and beat the hottest part of the day, and we succeeded. It was still hot, it is Texas in the summer for goodness sakes, but it was comfortable and we had a fabulous time.

Arthur was especially happy once we got off of the paved trail and were on the dirt trails.  And his favorite thing of all were the "natural stairways" made of rocks, and not made by men.  He went on and on about it, and really did love them.  It was so great to be out in nature and playing with my kids again.  We have really missed our weekly Go York hikes back in Pennsylvania.

What really made Arthur's day, however, was the fact that there was a playground and climbing wall right next tot the parking lot.  Lily and I happily took it easy on a bench while they played before we headed home.

Saturday was a busy day, but the biggest thing we got accomplished was emptying out our storage unit.  We had rented a storage unit back in October when the movers brought all our stuff.  We couldn't even move because of all the boxes and things, and so we just threw a bunch of it in storage just to get it out of the way while we finished renovating.  Then a lot of it was still there, and although we have been making progress on moving it back to the house and organizing it (and finding things we were missing), Kevin and I took three last trips with the van to get it all out.  It was so freeing to have that gone, and not have to worry about it anymore.

For our Saturday night date, we went to BBQ at Smoke Shack BBQ, which was very yummy.  But then we followed it up with the best part - gelato at Paciugo. I had the Stracciatella (divine chocolate chip) and Fondente (a fudgy chocolate) and they were so very good!!  The only problem was when we walked back to the car in the 105 degree heat, and it immediately started melting.  I ended up a chocolatey mess of melted ice cream as I tried to eat it faster than it melted, all while still trying savor the deliciousness.  It was pretty darn hilarious.  But still delicious ;).

We finished off July with a super fun family game night, that actually stretched into a second night, as we had to go to bed before we finished it on Sunday night. We were playing Wonder Woman, this really awesome cooperative game where everyone works together to defeat the enemy.  It was pretty fabulous, and it was so great to have a super fun, thinking game, where we all had each others' back, and were trying to win together. So glad my friend, Becky, gave it to us :).  It was the perfect way to end our July.

Western Adventure Part Three: The Rest of the Fun

One of my all time favorite things to do when we are in Twin Falls, is to walk on the canyon rim trail.  And from Kevin's parent's house, it is a three minute walk, and so my workouts on Thursday and Friday were watching the sun rise over the Snake River Canyon - so beautiful, and it makes four miles just fly by to be in all that beauty.

On Friday morning, Grandpa Dennis took us out to ride the horses. He and two of his friends have three horses, and they are such good horses, that it has become a tradition the past few years to ride them whenever we visit. We always start by feeding them apples, as we need to butter them up.
Then it is time to ride. Arthur started on Doc, Lily on Honcho, and Derek on Ringo. 
The older kids are getting really good at riding the horses. Arthur is still a little small and a bit nervous, and so he asked if I would ride with him to start, but then he decided it made the saddle too crowded, and so he rode by himself.
Kevin also got a chance to ride, which he really enjoyed.
The kids really loved being on those horses, and I am grateful for cool experiences like this, that expand their skills and knowledge of the world.  What a special thing it is to ride a horse.  I even got to hop up and ride again, this time on my own, but I ended up with the horse Derek was riding, who does whatever he wants, no matter what you do, and he was done with walking around, and just wanted to eat the fresh cut grass - ha ha!

One of the other favorite traditions the kids have when they come to Grandma and Grandpa's house, is to play with the pipeworks. Arthur even knew exactly which thing he wanted to build - the slide.  He poured over the plans and carefully laid out all of the pieces, and then he got his older brother to join him on the building.  They did a great job of working together, which is not always the case, and the slide turned out perfectly.  Good times!

To finish off our last day in Idaho, Arthur had to read a book with Grandma Valerie, which is another wonderful tradition. I am so grateful that my kids have such wonderful and loving grandparents.

Saturday morning came all too early, and before we knew it, we were back on the road and heading home to Texas. For our way home, we decided to go by way of Colorado.  It only added about 40 minutes to our total drive, and it meant that we got to stop in Pueblo for the night to see our dear friends, the Gowens. Natalie was my best friend when we lived in Colorado, and although we have kept in touch, it had been six years since we had seen each other last.  We had the most wonderful time talking, catching up, going on a fun walk through their neighborhood, and staying up late to play games. (We played a cool new game called Splendor, and I won!  Wahoo!)

And while the adults played, our kids had a fabulous time together. Arthur, Max, and James were a bit too small when we moved to really remember each other at all, but Derek and Sam and Lily and Ian were such good friends as kids, that they picked up where they left off. It is crazy to see Ian and Lily all grown up. Time flies too fast!

We left early the next morning and made it to our home in San Antonio right around bedtime.  It was a wonderful, albeit quick trip, but it was packed full of amazing experiences and moments and memories we will not soon forget.

 

Western Adventure Part Two: Our Lily

Yes, yes, I know that Lily had technically only been gone since April, but to say that we missed our girl is a huge understatement. She is a very special piece of our family, that is for sure.  She had her last final on Wednesday morning, and so we left Twin Falls and headed to Rexburg so that we would be there in time for her to be finished.  The test an a little long, and so we sat outside her apartment building and tracked her on "Find my Friends" watching to see when she moved. Once she was headed our way, the boys stood on the sidewalk and scanned in the direction she was coming from, until they finally saw her.  Once she had crossed the street, they were running for each other and had the biggest group hug.  It made my heart so happy, and I love that they love each other so very much!

Once we had Lily, it was a mad dash to get all of her belongings out of her apartment and into the back of the van. Kevin and I quickly discovered that she doesn't have our experience with packing, and so we sent her off to show the boys around while we repacked everything, finishing just in time for them to come back and help us get it all to the van.  After we were loaded up, we went on campus for lunch at one of Lily's favorite places, the Teton Grill, where we got burgers and talked.

We did have to run some errands in Rexburg before we could leave, like stopping at the distribution center to get Lily temple clothes and some other things. Oh, and we got frozen yogurt too, but mostly as a reward for how patient the boys were with all the craziness. Before we knew it, we were in the van and headed back to Twin, but this time, with our Lily in tow.  Just the way it should be :).

Thursday was a busy and exciting day, and Lily and I started it off bright and early, getting her stuff organized and most of it stored at Grandma Lynn's house. We had to drive it over and get it stored, since we stayed the second half of our time in Twin at Kevin's parent's house. Not a big deal at all, and actually easier that way to separate it all out.  After getting that taken care of, it was time for a much desired haircut for Lily.  She wasn't sure where to go in Rexburg, and so ended up waiting.  Now it is back to the cute shorter style she adores.

The biggest and most exciting thing about our whole trip happened in the early afternoon.  Lily was able to receive her endowment in the Twin Falls Idaho Temple, which was the culmination of years of preparation on her part and the beginning of a lifetime of service. She and I went an hour early to the temple session to prepare, since it was her first time. (If you would like to know more about what happens in our temples or what they are like inside, just click on this link: TEMPLES)

There is nothing quite like having your child in the Temple with you and to watch her make sacred covenants. Kevin and I were both full to bursting with love for our sweet girl.
We were also very blessed to have my mom and Kevin's parents there with us, as well as our dear friends (and adoptive extra pair of grandparents for our kids) Brent and Marilyn there. My sister, Heather, and my nephew, Paul, were also able to come, as well as Stuart's new wife, Sherianne.  We loved getting to share this wonderful day with other people we love, and I truly felt the presence of my daddy while we were in the temple.  I know he was there, just watching over us all and sharing the experience with us.

After the session, we went across the street to my in-law's house for a dinner and celebration.  We got food from Cafe Rio and had a taco bar, and then had cheesecake for dessert - two of Lily's favorite things. We had a wonderful time visiting together and were all just so happy after being at the temple with Lily.

That evening, Lily and I went back over to the Twin Falls Temple so that I could take some portraits of her. We sure do love our Lily and are truly grateful for the amazing, kind, and strong woman she has grown up to be. We can't wait to see what the next chapter of her life holds as she begins her mission in a couple weeks.

Western Adventure Part One: To Idaho, By Way of Utah

Our yearly trek out to Idaho was different this year, because instead of coming from Pennsylvania, we were coming from Texas, which shaved ten hours off the drive - ten hours is lot of hours in the car. We also decided to take our old, but reliable van, which led to us stopping overnight so that she could have a rest. She is 15 years old with 230,000 miles on her, so driving her non-stop doesn't seem wise anymore.  

We also took advantage of the drive to get Derek some experience driving and knock off some driving hours. You can see how serious he takes his driving, but what you don't see is me gripping my arm rest and doing everything I can to remain completely calm while my son is driving 70mph on the New Mexico highways. He did great, but teaching a kid to drive is not for the faint of heart. My goodness. (Kevin moved to the back seat and "took a nap" during this time, as he can't handle it.)  I just wish we had had him drive on the straighter stretch of road, instead of in the mountains. At least the scenery was beautiful.

That night, we stayed at a small motel in Farmington, New Mexico. I was reminded, yet again, why I cannot sleep in the same room as Derek.  He is a very noisy sleeper, and at one point he yelled out in his sleep, "Korean! I speak Korean!"  What a dream he must have been having, and he does not, for the record, speak Korean. Ha ha ha!  The next morning, the boys were beyond excited to get to eat the continental breakfast - mini waffles and orange juice for the win! And I loved that I could fill up all the water bottles with cold water for the next stretch of our drive.

If you have never driven through or been to northern New Mexico and southern Utah, you really need to go there, if only to experience the indescribable beauty and uniqueness of the landscape. And my cell phone pictures going 80mph through bug and rain splattered windows do not at all do it justice - you will just have to take my word for it. Come and see the mountains and the desert - it is spectacular.
Friday was actually a pretty short day in the car, only about six hours, and then we were in Orem at the Draper's home! I was just there last month, which was awesome, but there is nothing quite like a Kevin and Rob reunion. We had less than 24 hours with them, but we made the most of it, with a dinner date, late night pinochle, and a lunch date on Saturday.  We always have the best time with Rob and Angela! And our boys had a blast getting to swim in their pool, but their favorite part was talking about and playing games with Elijah. Good times!

Before we knew it, we were crossing the Idaho border on our way to Twin Falls.  We had meant to have Derek drive again, but by then, we were just anxious to be home, so Kevin drove . . . and fast. Ha ha!

We got to my mom's house and immediately made ourselves at home.  Arthur even found a book for her to read to him, which is one of their favorite things to do together.

On Sunday, we went to church with my mom, and I witnessed the cutest experience of Kevin teaching Arthur to tie his tie. I have a very similar picture of Kevin with Derek doing the very same thing.

After church, my sister, Holly, came over to visit. It was so wonderful to get to see her and catch up, especially because she will be out of town half of our time here.  After her visit, I made dinner and we had Dennis and Valerie over to eat.  It was so much fun.

Monday morning I started the day in one of my very favorite ways - I walked down my mom's road to the wheat field just in time for sunrise.  When I am her house, I often get my workout in with a few miles along her road, and it never disappoints.

After my walk, it was time to get to work on projects at my mom's house, and that meant enlisting my boys in the "fun" of weeding and clearing some things out of her front yard. And we may have had to be strategic about fitting everything in the trash can. Ha ha!

Arthur even got to say hi to the goats my sister, Heather, is keeping in my mom's back pasture. They seemed like they were ready to do anything to get over the fence to that bucket of food, but luckily Heather fed them right after I got the picture.

All of the chores and work of the morning, were followed up by movies and games with Grandma Lynn in the afternoon.  Something that was repeated on Tuesday, except without the work ;).

On Tuesday morning, I had the rare privilege of getting to play golf with Kevin and his dad. We played at Highway 93, a course I had heard about a lot, but had never actually played, and we had the best time! And I actually played really well and got my personal best of a 113 for 18 holes (I think the lack of water on the course helped me out) and even getting two pars (and on holes Kevin bogeyed - what!?!). Such a great time!
We filled the rest of Tuesday with hanging out with my mom, watching movies, talking, and doing things around the house (like installing her new camera doorbell). It was a great few days before we were off on our next adventure - getting our Lily.

Beginning July

To begin the month of July, Kevin took advantage of getting off of work early for the holiday weekend, and took Arthur golfing with him. Arthur loved getting to be out on the golf course and act as Kevin's caddy. He even got to play a little bit. It is so fun for them to get to do these fun things together! I have high hopes for years of golfing adventures together.

We also got to break in our new pool. This swim spa is awesome, and we are just loving it. Kevin has even been trying to figure out how to swim against the current - it is a little tricky, but I think he will get it soon.  It is definitely a different kind of swimming.  The boys sure are loving it!

One side effect of having the spa, is that we had to take down a large section of fence for them to get it in the yard, which meant that Kevin had to build a whole new gate, since our old one was trashed, as you can see from the picture.  Ha ha! He did a great job building the new gate though.

As the summer goes on and continues to be in the triple digits, I am so grateful that the mornings are always in the 70's, and so I can go out for 3-4 miles without melting.  And I get to enjoy the sunrise as a bonus :).

One super exciting thing for me, was that I finally have the giant empty corner in my room all put together - complete with furniture (chair from Costco,  table from Hobby Lobby, and lamp from Target).  I love how it turned out!  And I think I will move my gray basket with my cozy blanket in it over next to it, since it will be perfect to just reach out and be comfy in my chair.  Also, our TV rotates, so I can sit in my chair, work and watch TV.  It's awesome.  And so pretty.

This summer has been interesting, because I have been trying to get in lots of hours designing and bidding cabinets for Premier Woodworking.  Like I have mentioned before, I work remotely, and usually not with customers, but the other day, I had a two hour phone conversation with a client as we were trying to fine-tune her designs.  Unfortunately, just as she called, I was making hardboiled eggs in my Instant Pot, and so instead of sitting for four minutes before I put them in the ice-bath, they sat for one hour and 57 minutes.  Oops. Luckily, it didn't seem to ruin them.

One of the best parts of this week, however, was when Kevin surprised Derek with tickets to go and see "Jesus Christ Superstar" at the Majestic Theater. They even bought matching t-shirts, and on the back of it, it showed that it was the same 50th anniversary tour that Kevin and I saw back in December of 2019. I guess that is what happens when there is a Covid shutdown in the middle of the tour.  Derek absolutely loved it, and said it was like he was at an awesome rock concert.

We have trying to take time to play as a family this summer, in spite of still being pretty busy, and so playing games and watching fun shows/movies is always a good time. The other night, we played "Play Nine" and I WON!!! I never win - ha ha!

We had another exciting event this week when Derek's friend Michael got his mission call to Honduras, which is awesome.  When he read his call, they invited the whole ward and other friends, and the place was packed and a little crazy, but Derek loved getting to be there to support his friend.

Arthur also got to have some time with one of his good friends.  He had Jack come over, and they played Legos and then had a blast swimming in the spa. They really had so much fun, and I am so grateful that he has good friends here.  It was the perfect way to usher in July.

Celebrating Independence Day

Our Fourth of July celebrations began the night before, when a group of us got together on Sunday evening to watch a fireworks show from the top of the hospital parking garage.  We got there early to get good spots, and then sat around and talked and ate.  It was good times!

Eventually, we brought out some games for the kids to play, and Erica even brought poppers for everyone (which helped Arthur deal with his crushing disappointment that there were no fireworks of our own to light off - he got too used to Pennsylvania where everything was legal). Of course, as soon as we sent them out to throw poppers, the parking lot started filling up and there was a constant stream of cars.  Oops.
The sunset from the top of the parking garage was gorgeous, and made even better because I had good friends to hang out with (Erica, Janilee, and Karen)
As soon as the sun was down, we started seeing fireworks, but they were all far away. Unfortunately for us, the church that had the nearby show we were waiting for, took FOREVER to start lighting theirs off, which also didn't bode well with Arthur. Oh well.  He was fine once it finally started, and he loved the show

On actual Independence Day, our ward had a pancake breakfast at a nearby park.  It was so much fun, the food was tasty, Derek and his friend Paul did the flag ceremony, and Kevin led the music.  And there were fun games for the kids, including a "cake walk" where you earned prizes instead of cake, and Arthur won like five times - ha ha! It was awesome, and getting to sit and talk with friends was the best.

While we were celebrating in Texas, Lily was off having fun in Idaho Falls with my sister, Cheryl.  (I am so grateful for all the amazing things she has done for my girl while she has been at school!!) They went and saw a parade, had yummy food and played games. She had so much fun, and I was so grateful that she wasn't spending the holiday alone.

Our celebration continued with two types of homemade ice-cream - Dole Whip Pineapple and chocolate peanut butter cup.I made it earlier in the day, and so it was ready for the fun with our friends.

We had Megan and Ben Quigley come over with their two boys, Charles and James, and we had so much fun.  We had burgers, the boys played in our new pool (which was finally ready late the night before), and we played Cover Your Assets.  It was seriously a blast, and I am so grateful for good friends - especially those we have kept in touch with for 14+ years.

They headed out around 8:30pm to watch fireworks closer to their house, and we had to try out the lights on our new spa, which are pretty fantastic.  After staying up late for fireworks the night before, we were content to call it a night early, but wow, it was a wonderful weekend of celebrating our nation's birthday.

Saying Goodbye to June

Finishing off June came with some fun times, my favorite being when Kevin taught our Primary kids the I Will Be Valiant song, and then put on his Army boots and red beret, and proceeded to have them march around the church while they sang it.  It was the best!  I am so glad my friend snapped a picture, because I was too busy marching and singing along with my class.

On Monday night, a group of us girls got together for a little goodbye for our good friend, Brandi. (We sure are going to miss her when she heads to Las Vegas! I am not sure whose idea it was for us to do it, but for our celebration, we went and did aerial yoga.  Yep.  Up in silks and everything.  It was quite the adventure.

There were a few things that were tricky, but for the most part, I loved it! It stretched you more and the silks were really fun to use. Not to mention the awesome ladies in our group.  I love these friends of mine!
For a few of the moves, you cocooned yourself in the silks, and it was so relaxing, it made me wish I had one at home to hang out in :).
The hardest move was this crazy one where you rolled yourself up and used your arm strength to get to the top of the rope.  The competitive part of me had to do it - and hold it for a picture - but man it hurt!  The silks were cutting into my legs because of how tight they wrapped.  Oh well, it was worth the pain to be one of five of us who did it.  And it was just one big laugh-fest.  Good times.  After we finished, we all went to dinner to end our goodbye party, and we had so much fun, and we even had an Italian place in the tiny town stay open just for us.

One thing we have not been getting enough of this summer (or this past spring), was rain.  We are in a drought here in Texas, and so when we got rain the other day, and it cooled things off a bit, we were pretty excited! Hallelujah! Now we just need some more, as the rivers are getting really low.

On Wednesday night, we had our one Primary Activity Girls activity for June, and we had a swim party in the backyard of our primary president's house.  They have a fantastic yard, and the girls had so much fun swimming, eating pizza, and just getting to be together. I love these cute girls I get to work with at church.
Another fun thing, was that I think the dove that I am always spying on outside our downstairs bathroom window, finally decided to build a next on the window sill.  Although, there have been other false starts and nests that were there and then gone, so it may not last.  I just love looking out the window to see the dove staring at me - ha ha!.
One of the most exciting things to happen recently, was that after months and months, our swim spa finally arrived.  When we first started trying to figure things out in our yard, we realized that a very expensive (having to dig/blast through solid limestone) and very small pool in our backyard may not be in the cards, and so when we found this 15'x8' swim spa at the home show, it seemed perfect. And it has special current jets to swim against.  So cool!
And one last thing, and because I never get pictures from Lily, let alone hear from her, I had to add this picture she sent me of her with some new friends at an ice cream social.  They have even hung out a few times since then to play video games.  Good times!