It's all good . . .

September Ups and Downs

The past couple weeks have been filled with ups and downs, which is the stuff of life, right? Life is never all good, and it is never all bad, but sometimes things happen that make the ups and downs more evident than others - like when your car breaks down . . . again, but I'll get to that.

Sometimes the downs are just annoying, like the other day when Arthur and I were locked out of the house.  I was teaching school every day last week, which meant that on Wednesday, Lily needed the car to get to Catholic Charities. Usually she drops us off and picks us up, but it was an early release day, and so I got a ride for us to get home since she wouldn't be back for hours.  What I forgot, however, was to bring a house key. Oops. So yes, Arthur and I were locked out in the 90+ degree heat with no way in. Because of course, I never did put out an emergency house key anywhere . . . or remember to give one to my neighbors, and we still don't have the keypad hooked up to open the garage.  So, our next best thing was to break into the backyard gate (which now only opens from the inside), which I painfully managed to do, and so then we could sit in the shade at least. With no water and in the heat. Thank goodness that I was able to get ahold of Kevin to come home and let us in, even though the work number I have for him doesn't work anymore - ha ha! Yes, it really was a comedy of errors. But hey, instead of hours out in the heat, it was only one hour.  Thank goodness for Kevin saving us!

Some of the ups are super amazing, like getting to attend the baptism of one of my sweet primary kids, Harper.  And at the baptism, four of the girls sang a musical number, which was seriously the cutest! I sure love that I get to work with these amazing girls.
Another "up" for me is that we live so close to the San Antonio Temple, that when I take walks around the neighborhood to work out, I see the temple.  In fact, the other day, I was walking up our street, and there, peeking out from behind a house, was the angel Moroni from the top of the temple.  So awesome!

And then there was Monday.  On Monday morning, Derek and I went out to the car at 5:40am to take him to seminary, only to have the van not start.  (And Kevin was out of town with his car sitting at the airport, completely inaccessible.). I could not figure out what was wrong with the van, as it would start for a second, and then it would immediately shut off. So bizarre! And thus began the insanity of not having a car all week - a week filled with appointments, work, school for the boys, seminary for Derek, service assignments for Lily, and figuring out how to get us all everywhere.  At least I had roadside assistance that was able to tow my van to the shop to get checked out.

Somehow we were incredibly blessed all week without our van, between Gabby, an awesome teenage girl gave Derek rides to seminary, including taking him at the last second on Monday morning.  Then there was my amazing neighbor/friend Whitney not only took Arthur to school everyday (and me too on days when I was subbing), but also picked him (and sometimes me)up after school.  My friend, Erica, also helped with picking up and dropping off  - even taking me to my chiropractor appointment. There were other friends who helped as well, picking me up from things and dropping me off, and then there were unexpected blessings was when my awesome dental hygienist, who happens to live a few doors down from us, who drove me home from my dentist appointment so I didn’t have to walk uphill in the heat. Oh, and Kevin got back from his trip in time to be able to get Lily to and from her Catholic Charities assignment across town, and the daughter of a friend was able to take Lily to Institute on Wednesday night so she didn't have to miss it.  Seriously, it was amazing all the "ups" there were in the middle of a very hard situation.

There were still plenty of good moments among the stressfulness of the week, like when Arthur held an auction where he was the auctioneer and I was the only person bidding on the random things he had gathered from around the house.  And he even gave me the "money" to spend, which was a pile of fake gems and gold coins. It was awesome!

There were some other wonderful moments with Arthur, including getting to read with him before bed. Right now we are reading a really great book, The Ickabog, and sometimes he will read to me while I wash my face and take out my contacts, which is the best.  And it was even more fun because he even put on a crown to get into character the last time he read to me.  I sure do love that kid!

One of the best "Ups" of the week was my monthly lunch with my friend, Megan.  We have been having these monthly lunches for a year now, and they are always one of the highlights of each month. It is almost like a therapy session as we catch up on our lives and laugh - a lot. This time we went to Bakery Lorraine at the Pearl, and it was very yummy, but the conversation was even better.
In spite of not having a car to drive, I still had to get to work at the school on Thursday and Friday, and thank goodness for friends that helped me out.  And it was hilarious after school, because I had to pay attention to car rider numbers and go out and wait at the cone with Arthur - ha ha! This week at school was also the Penny Wars, and Arthur was bent on thwarting the fifth grade, and so he took a year's worth of loose change from Kevin's car - pennies for his for points, and tickles, dimes and quarters for the fifth grade for negative point for them.  Good times!

On Friday night, about thirty minutes before they closed, they were finally done with my van. Hallelujah! It turned out that we needed to get the ignition rekeyed, because the key was slipping out of place and shutting off the car.  Good times :/. It was not cheap, but man, was it a huge blessing to have it fixed and back in our driveway.

One of the things that helps me survive the downs, is getting in a daily workout.  When I opened my health app the other day, I noticed that I had gotten in some sort of exercise every day - whether it was an actual workout, a yoga routine, or a Sunday evening walk around the neighborhood.  These workouts not only help my mental health, but mean that I am somewhat free to eat what I want . . . in moderation ;).

We finished the week with a high - an early morning drive with Derek for him to catch up on the missed driving time from the van being broken. We got out before the sunrise, so he got in some night driving, and then stopped at Krispy Kreme on the way home. We had a free dozen of glazed, but we had to grab another dozen of mixed varieties - including their fall flavors - yum!  I may have eaten four donuts throughout the day.  Thank goodness for all the exercise I get - ha ha!

Kevin's Adventures

For the past two weekends in a row, Kevin had to leave us to go out of town.  Once for fun, and once for work.  Two weeks ago, he left on Saturday and flew to Las Vegas so that he could be there for our nephew Conner's homecoming from his mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

We were so happy that it worked out for him to be there!  His parents picked him up at the airport, and he got to Scott and Shannon's in time to watch the BYU game with everybody.  Good times!  And hey, BYU beat Baylor.  Go Cougars!

The next day was church and Conner's homecoming address. Kevin said that it was a wonderful meeting, and that Conner's talk was fantastic. Afterward, there was a little get-together, and Kevin spent the whole time talking and laughing with his parents and his brother.  It was such a special weekend, and I am so grateful that he got to be there for it!

This past weekend, Kevin left long before the sun was up to catch a plane to Maryland for a work trip.  Since he arrived pretty early on Sunday, it meant that he got to spend most of the day with our friends, Kevin and Amy. We sure have missed them, and Kevin has especially missed getting to play golf with Kevin.  Luckily the two Kevins were able to squeeze in two rounds of golf  when he wasn't in meetings, which made his work trip so much better. 

He left to come home on Tuesday night, but because of some weather delays, he didn't get home at 2am on Wednesday morning. Poor Kevin! He did come home bearing gifts from when he had a meeting with the FBI.  Cool spy mirrored sunglasses for the kids, and a beautiful Christmas ornament and cool magnet for me.  We sure are glad that he is back in town now, and hopefully won't have to go anywhere for a while.

Starting Off September

September is going strong, and before I know it, it will be over.  That just seems to be how quickly life is going by these days.  Last week, I decided that it was too nice outside to stay in the house any longer, and so I convinced Arthur to take a walk with me to the playground around the corner.  He was super excited and started playing right away, but within 30 seconds, it started raining.  And then it was a full on cloudburst.  Luckily for him, the main play area had a large sun canopy over it which protected him from the rain, and luckily for me, there was a picnic pavilion I was able to sit in and read my book while I listened to the rain on the tin roof.  Eventually, Arthur decided he would rather just play in the rain, and so I had to get some pictures of him at it.  And soon enough, the cloud moved on, the skies cleared, and we walked home.  Good times!

Speaking of Arthur, he has the most active imagination.  His older brother and sister were just like that at his age, and it is fun to see how similar he is to them.  The other day I walked upstairs to see him in his bathrobe, a purple winter hat, and gauntlet type gloves that Kevin had crocheted for Derek years ago - and if that wasn't odd enough, he had made himself a pillow fort and closed himself up inside it. Why? The world may never know. Ha ha!

One of the reasons that time is just flying, is that I have been so crazy busy working - between teaching and working remotely designing cabinets, I feel like I am always busy.  I have spent most of my time up in the fifth grade, which has actually been really fun, albeit exhausting.  I love the 5th grade team and we have such a great time together, and I not only have strong bonds with many of the kids from when I taught them in fourth grade, but I have loved getting to know the rest of the kids. My friend, Jamie, has been subbing up in fifth a lot as well, and we have a great time together. Good thing I like it, because next week I am teaching Monday through Friday while one of the teachers goes out of town ;). (And Jamie totally stole my phone and took a picture of herself - good times!)

My favorite day of work this week, however, was on Wednesday when I subbed for the librarian.  Library is my very favorite thing to teach - you get to read and discuss books with kids all day, and then shelve and check out books.  It is my dream job! And while I was there, I kept finding books I wanted to read, and ended up with a whole stack I checked out.  It also happened to be Substitute Appreciation Day, and the PTA gave me an awesome drink tumbler and a cookie.  So fun!

Yesterday found Derek and I at the high school early for his tux fitting.  It is a long and tedious process, especially when your son is growing so much that he can't reuse the tux from the year before - ha ha!  Actually, it would have been a lot faster, but the seamstress doing the alterations, and the photographer doing the headshots, were both super late.  Oh well. We got it done in an hour.
And while Derek and I were busy, so was Kevin.  He built a little fence/wall so that we could put our trash cans along the side of our house, instead of them taking up precious space on our back patio.  It is perfect! And I planted a Texas Sage in front of it, which will also be nice :).  It has been a good couple weeks so far!

A Very Happy Birthday Weekend

This past weekend, Kevin had his 44th birthday, finally making him as old as me ;).  We celebrated him as a family on his birthday, but on the night before, we just happened to be on a big group date with some friends, and so I used that as an extra way to celebrate.

We met up at The Sugar Factory down on the River Walk, and had the best time. (Sharon & Shane, Debbie & Tyler, Erica & Steve, Janilee & Jon, as well as Shenai and Jana, whose husbands ended up not being able to join us)  

For some reason, when we made our reservation, they wouldn't put us all together, and so we ended up at two separate tables of six.  It's all good, we still had a blast, even if it ruined our plans of getting the King Kong Sundae to share.

Our table decided to just get our own things, and I got the amazing Sugar Daddy Shake with cheesecake on top and everything, and Kevin got an ice cream sandwich where there were Oreos baked into the chocolate chip cookies.  Wow!  Talk about a sugar coma.
The other table decided to go with the original plan, but to get the half, and so they shared a massive, crazy sundae.  Good times!

The desserts were amazing and fun, but the highlight of the night, other than all the great laughter and conversation, was when they made Kevin dance for his birthday. And then they all sang to him.  It was fantastic, and we have three or four videos as evidence of the adventure.

Saturday morning, Kevin's actual birthday, I drug myself out of bed after getting very little sleep the night before, to drive across town to get his birthday breakfast.  (Derek was out late with his Priest's Quorum playing Dungeons and Dragons, and then I just couldn't sleep.)  Luckily, the kolaches from the Kolache Factory were totally worth the sacrifice, especially the steak and egg ones ;).  So yummy!

The best part of Kevin's birthday was that his older brother, Scott, came to town.  He flew in from Vegas that morning, and we all had the best day together.  I loved watching the two of them watch golf and baseball and listen to their conversations.  They rarely get to spend time together, but you can always tell how close they were growing up when the two of them get together.

In the afternoon, we took Scott for a late lunch/early dinner at Blanco Barbecue, which is so yummy!  And hey, you can't come to Texas without getting BBQ. Arthur thought the bell at the place was pretty cool and loved getting to ring it.

After eating, we came home and had presents for Kevin.  I got him two giant golf nets for a project he is working on out in the back yard.  Good times. Then he also got some fancy chocolates, as well as Villianous Star Wars Edition that the kids went in on to buy him.  (They even went to Target all together to buy it - so fun!)
For his cake, I had him pick out a cake from my Cake by Courtney recipe book, and he chose the chocolate malt cake, which turned out very yummy.  And yes, I did write 44 on it with malt balls - ha ha!
After cake, the kids insisted on breaking out the game and playing, and miracle of miracle, Kevin won! Now, those of you who know Kevin, know that he often wins every game he plays, but for some reason neither of us adults had ever won a game of Villianous. The kids always win, and so it was a birthday miracle - or perhaps a Star Wars miracle - that he won this time :).

After the cake and games were done, Kevin took Scott outside to try out the "white trash golf oasis" with him. They talked and laughed and had a blast. And of course, I snuck outside to get a picture.

Although Kevin's birthday was a great reason for a visit, the real reason Scott came to visit, was to be there for Lily's Mission "Farewell" talk. It was so awesome of him to want to be there and share this special time with us, and we are so glad that he came!  Lily gave a fabulous talk and our boys sang a duet of "If the Savior Stood Beside Me," which was beautiful and sweet.

And as a bonus gift for Kevin's birthday weekend, we finally got a good rainstorm.  We are praying that it is a sign of the end of the drought. 

After church,  we had a special birthday dinner for Kevin, and then Kevin and Scott got in a few more hours and talking and watching golf, before he had to head to the airport to get back to Vegas.  It was the perfect end to a wonderful weekend of celebrating our Kevin.  

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 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!