We enjoyed visits from the Rustands and from Cathy this month and had the best time catching up with these sweet friends. Though it was short, I loved every minute and always come away feeling so grateful for such wonderful friends. Kate just graduated from her nursing program and started her first job in the real world this week and Ella is doing amazingly at BYU working hard at soccer camps all summer. Loved seeing them!
Let's see.... celebrated Father's Day. It was a special day. Pies for the dads at church. I spoke and told a few fun stories about my Dad and a few of the lessons he had taught me throughout my life. I sent him the talk and he felt very touched and honored. It was ideal timing because not but one day later I had to ask him for a HUGE favor!!! hahaha! I didn't realize, but we found out that we needed him to accompany Grant on his Humanitarian trip to Outerbanks North Carolina for 11 days!!!!!! No small feat, but he agreed to it and that's where the two of them are at this very moment. I hope my Dad is hanging in there. Yikes... a big ask! But back to Father's Day... we took on a patriotic theme-- mostly so I could decorate for two holidays in one.. heeeheee. Had the very best day celebrating Blake and the incredible father that he is. Really and truly he is one in a million and this month really showcased his selflessness and goodness as he attended both high adventure with Dane and Grant in Lake Tahoe and then Girls camp with Anna and I near Sequoia National Park. Blake is steady and kind and clever and good to us in every way. I'm so grateful for him.
back rub for Father's Day!
Coco is not a fan of our George Washington cardboard figure-- haha!
We gained a new member of the family this month: Tammy the kitten. Long story short.... one of dane's friends begged us to take her because she was the last kitten of the litter and he was going to have to take her to the pound if we didn't adopt her. Evelyn vowed to keep her safe and sound and take care of her entirely because I cannot handle another lost kitty. She is THE CUTEST and most adorable little addition on earth and we all love her to pieces.
babysat Ruby this month for a week!
Along with a new pet, we also added new flooring to all of the bedrooms in our home this month. SO NECESSARY with all the animals around here. Goodness! The floors look amazing and it has made such a big difference. Our fridge in the garage broke too- so we bought a new one and it works a million times better than the old used one we've had for the last 13 years. Two huge upgrades and I'm so grateful.
With all this extra time on our hands for summer break, we've enjoyed boating days, beach days, night swims, hikes, friends in town, weekend getaways with friends (Anna to Lake Arrowhead), birthday parties, lots of friends spending the night, High Adventure, Girls Camp, FSY, HXP, and of course, OF COURSE... soccer tournaments. It's been a fun kick off and it's already flying by way too quickly.
It's been so fun to have Evelyn home this month. She works, she does her schooling on line, she helps with all the pets, she drives so many places, she takes Anna and her friends shopping and out to eat, she country dances three nights a week and hangs out with Amaya a lot. I'm really getting used to having her around and I love our chats and hikes together.
Dane spends most of his time with Kenzie.... she graduated this month and he loved being there to support her. The two celebrated their two month anniversary with quite a bang. Grant commented that it appeared it might be an engagement party with all the decor and delicious menu. Dane (with the help of his mom) made the backyard look like a scene from Tangled because that is Kenzie's favorite movie. He made breadsticks that looked like braided hair and a frying pan of cookies with pasta. They star gazed and enjoyed the night together. Super cute. Kenzie is pretty much a permanent figure around here. She even made all the name tags for girls camp and often drives for me-ha! Putting her to work when I can. Dane loved High adventure at Lake Tahoe. I have not a picture to show for the week but he had only good things to say. Not as excited about FSY but he had a good attitude and then came home to report on it in a talk the very next day which he wrote all on his own and which I'm happy to say he did an incredible job on. This was under the verbal threat that he was NOT TO EMBARRASS his mom and dad. Ha! Last year he gave a talk that was 30 seconds long. He would accept no help last year from Blake and I and he learned his lesson that it doesn't feel awesome to be a slacker. He's grown a lot. When he's not with Kenzie, Dane enjoys inviting the entire soccer team over to spend the night at 1am in the morning. He had asked if a friend or two could spend the night but at 1am I heard the door opening and looked on the ring camera to find 14 other boys coming in to spend the night....haha. They are all such good kids that I just went back to sleep and allowed it but I took a snapshot of the ring screen because it was funny. Lots of soccer and tournaments to kick off the summer. This past weekend the temps were 95 and above and that was a struggle for the team but proud of Dane for working hard regardless.
Dane took ceramics this trimester and I love all of his creations!
Ryan's 18th birthday lobster boil!
Dane and Kenzie saw that Anna had a picture of Blake on her desk and they thought that was so funny. They photocopied the picture 10 times and placed it all over the room for Anna to find!
FSY
Grant also attended FSY this month and had much more positive things to say as it was his first time. He loved it actually left a day early so he could head out to HXP! Only a few days in and I've loved all the adventures they've experienced so far. I can't actually talk to Grant because he has no phone, but I'm following him on Instagram and I'm so excited for all he's been up to out there in North Carolina! Grant switched teams this month and he is absolutely loving his new team. Last month they practiced at the beach for hours. His coach is incredible and they all work really hard. It's a little more of a sacrifice because it is 30 min away but we have a carpool and it's all going to be ok- I hope. At least, that's what Blake tells me. For now, I'm thrilled he's thrilled because his last team was a bit of a downer. Love how disciplined Grant is almost always. He wakes up, runs, lifts weights, trains for soccer, cooks and experiments with new recipes, he makes plans with friends and surfs or goes to the movies or swims all the time. We re-did Grant's room this month with the new floors and pushed both twin beds together. He is loving it so much. Cannot believe this kid is a high schooler!
Anna enjoys hanging with friends EVERY MOMENT she can grab. She had a BLAST at girls camp and I'm not kidding when I say she hung out with the sophomores and seniors the entire time. They love her and she loves them and we really have a special group of girls who are all just the very best and most inclusive girls you could ever imagine. She had fun river rafting, exploring Yosemite, Sequoia National Park and Shavers Lake. I think she thought it was pretty fun to have her mom and dad there. She bore her testimony and it was super sweet and well thought out. She listened intently in the classes and helped with cooking and cleaning. She took notes on what she had learned and they were pretty cute notes. So proud of my sweet little girl. Anna had the best time in Lake Arrowhead with Scarlett and Afton. She actually learned how to get up wake boarding! She fell in love with lake life and wants to move out to the woods immediately. Anna hates summer tutoring but she's done a good job attending two to three times a week so that she doesn't fall behind in reading for next year. She had a great time at volleyball camp at Poway High last week although she felt sad she wasn't better at volleyball! We had a good discussion about practice and working hard to get better instead of feeling bad and upset about our current skillset. I do miss her dancing and hope she wants to try again because that is truly where her physical talents show forth. Of course there's no doubt that her true talents are being an awesome human and friend to everyone around her... she is the life of every party and such a sweet girl.
Kate and Anna planted a garden
Keeping me busy this month: creating cute photo books for the girls to showcase our Grand hiking adventure! Four nights of pillow treats for girls camp, creating a class on stress management, putting together staff appreciation gifts for Blake's office, a cute lil' baby shower for our YW secretary, hiking with friends, beach walks with friends, and hosting the youth for Sunday Bishop's chats. Evelyn and I are working with our friend Cindy in the schools this summer to teach theatre and music and both of us love it so much! Other than that, I'm basically washing towels and driving children to all the places. I love it all. Until next month!
Bishop's Chat: object lesson about choices
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