Before we say good-bye to June, I wanted to say how thankful I am and how much I appreciate the men in our family.  We were in Iowa for Father's Day, and I missed the blog post that day and the opportunity to acknowledge how important you are to me and how much I love you all. Thanks for all that you do for me, and for each other! 💖
 

AND while we are celebrating . . .

Angella and Chris both had birthdays this week ~    

Angella celebrated starting with lunch with Emma, and then she had a plan in place to stop at all the places on her way home that offered free birthday gifts - Ulta, Cold Stone ( I would have just stopped there, because that would make a great birthday day 😊).  Ben made brownies for her and Angella said it was a really good birthday.  

Chris got to celebrate this year not only with Kim, Blythe, Grant, and Spencer, but his sister, Julia, came to town, and he also got a surprise visit from Max.

Apparently, there is a coconut cake that Chris has become addicted to, so that was his birthday treat this year.  

Please send us the recipe, Chris!  Kim confirms it really is delicious 🍰

ON THE GO . . . 

It has been a busy summer already for Angella.  She has been traveling to Denver quite often for work, and last week she was in Panama City Beach.  Angella, are you really working????

Paul was at Fiddler's Green for a Noah Kahan concert -

Adam, Cory, Jake, and Lily have been enjoying Jellystone RV park this past week while their hardwood floors are being sanded and refinished, and new carpet is installed.  

Samantha is in Chicago for several days catching up with aunts, uncles, and cousins.  Have fun Sammi! 

Please note in the background, Grant is checking out his muscles 😂

We have had Milo this week, while Adam and Cory are temporarily displaced. Friday, he came into the office while I was working and he kept knocking his bowl around.  It was a few minutes after 5PM and I finally got the hint that he was ready for dinner.  My morning routine this week has been to feed Sendai and while she is eating I take Milo for a walk. When we get home I feed Milo and then take Sendai out.  For the last couple of days, Sendai has only walked half-way down our street and then she wants to come home.  This morning when she did that, I came home and got Milo, took them both out together, and then Sendai was happy.  I'm glad they are such good friends!

TWO THINGS I LEARNED THIS WEEK . . .

For my speech class this week we had to select five TED talks to review, analyze, and then critique.  One of the talks I chose was called How to Gain Control of Your Free Time.  I thought it would be a talk about how to manage a daily schedule, minutes, hours, etc. Instead, it was a talk about deciding what your priorities are and then creating a schedule around that.  My big takeaway from this talk was that when we say we don't have time to do something, it just means it isn't a priority.  That has given me a lot to think about this week, when I am looking at my calendar, and deciding what is the most important thing I want to accomplish. This is the link if you are interested -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3kNlFMXslo

Yesterday, I was the guide for a sister who was receiving her endowment for the first time.  I had an opportunity to talk with her escort for a few minutes before the sister arrived.  The escort told me that this sister was a graduate student studying about mid-wives in the 1800s.  She found the most comprehensive material in journals from the Mormon pioneers.  Reading these journals led her to study the Doctrine and Covenants.  When she finished the D&C, she decided to read the Book of Mormon.  When she completed that, she called the missionaries, and eventually, she, her husband, and two of their three children were baptized.  It was such a treat to spend the day with her yesterday, and what a great reminder that Heavenly Father is mindful of us - of what we need, and is always ready to open doors that will lead us to happiness and fulfillment if we ask, and walk by faith.  

SUNDAY SELFIES 💗

Thanks, everyone! I love these so much!

 

 HAPPY SUNDAY AND  WELCOME BACK TO THE  BLOG!

 Sorry, I didn't mean to take such an extended vacation from the blog, but it was difficult to fit in between schoolwork, and having fun with Sayre, and posting photos was also a little complicated.  I am making up for it today though with lots of photos and stories to share 😊

It was a busy week, leading up to our flight on Thursday.  Saturday, Lily, Jake and Milo came to stay while Adam and Cory headed off to New York on their vacation.  Saturday night as I was getting clothes ready for Church on Sunday I had an Ahhhhh moment when I saw the tie Jake brought - it was one Grant used to wear 

We did some shoe shopping, made a trip to Barnes and Noble, and found Jake has a soft spot in his heart for the elderly.  He wanted to visit Helma one day so we made her cookies and stopped by to see her for a few minutes.  She hasn't been well and is very frail right now. 

Jake was also happy to go with me to see Shannon.  We picked her up and took her to lunch at a little cafe just a couple of blocks from where she lives.  They both ordered French Toast and got huge servings with butter and syrup, and powdered sugar.  Jake said it was the best ever!  He is such a conversationalist that he always keeps the party going. 

A funny Jake story - We were shoe shopping and he told me he only wanted Puma or Under Armour shoes.  We went to Marshalls and they had some nice Under Armour shoes which he tried on but they didn't have them in the right size.  Then we found some Puma's he liked but when he tried them on and found out they weren't "slip-on" he wasn't interested.  So that narrowed the search down a little more - they had to be Puma's or Under Armour's, AND they had to be slip-ons.  We left Marshalls and went across the street to Ross.  I saw a really nice pair of Sketchers but he immediately said "no" to those because, of course, they didn't meet his criteria.  We did find a couple of pairs of Puma's that he tried on but they were either the wrong size or had to be tied.  I finally found another really nice pair of Sketchers(blue and orange, his favorite Bronco colors) and asked him to try them on, but didn't tell him they were Sketchers.  He loved them, said they felt really good on his feet.  When I told him they were Sketchers, he didn't miss a beat or bat an eye, he just told me that Sketchers are made by Under Armour so it would be ok for him to get them.  😂

Wednesday I took Paul to take his driving test and YAY, he passed!  We celebrated at McDonald's and now he is driving everywhere - just another sign we are all getting older. AND speaking of Paul - he and Sammi came down Sunday evening for dinner and he went with me to take Milo and Sendai for a walk - when oops - a bird used his arm for target practice 😁

Sorry, Paul - it was just a little bit funny 😊

We spent 1.5 days in Chicago with Kim and Chris.  It was just enough time to get hugs from the kids, visit Target, and complete the Global Entry process.  

I need to take a break from vacation adventures and celebrate two very special birthday people.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO SPENCER on June 15th !!!

What a dynamic and handsome young man he is! Kind, thoughtful, loves his family, his work, and is looking forward to great things ahead.  We love you so much Spencer and know you will be great at whatever you do💖 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO SAMMI on June 18th !!!

We sure love this young lady who can always make us laugh with tales of her co-workers, knives under her pillows, wanting a specific kind of taser . . .

She is always thinking of others, stopping by for a visit with an elixir in hand, or a cookie, and she is a wonderful sister to Paul, Lily, and Jake.

We are so blessed to have these wonderful people in our lives ~

So, picking up where I left off - 

Flights didn't look good going to Cedar Rapids on Friday so we hopped in the car and Chris drove us to Dixon IL. where Kate met us and off we went, across the Mississippi River and on to Iowa.  

I definitely see a baseball future for Sayre.  He is a great batter, and has an accurate and powerful pitch.  As you can see in the photo below - we were throwing a small plastic ball at each other (pretending they were bombs - it was Sayre's idea 😀) and he caught me right in the mouth!  I spent the week with a puffy lip, and bright purple mustache.

However, that did not slow us down! 

Ji-Chan and Sayre spent a morning fishing.  We went to Chick-fil-a several times (Sayre's favorite), the children's museum, the trampoline park, and took Clementine to Daines Dairy for the best ice cream ever!

Couldn't go anywhere without the hat

Clementine loved her pup cup!

When it was too hot to be outside we had some "lazy" time, and I even learned how to play Mario Cart - although I always came in at #11, and Sayre always won!

Sayre had a great time piloting our plane in the flight simulator at the Children's Museum

And I love Sayre and JiChan in bed one morning, both on their devices 😊

We got home late Friday night - thanks to Chris who got us on the plane, and Adam who picked us up!  Hollie, Eilis, Ben, and Josh kept tabs on the house and loved Sendai for us while we were gone.  Saturday Holly, Ben, and I walked to the Mall - Hollie wanted to get tape for her skateboard so I took Ben to the train store.

This is his favorite place to be - he loves trains!

We stopped and got ice cream from Baskin Robbins and then walked home.  It was a good day, but we were all tired last night.

PHOTOS THAT NEED SHARING ~

Milo missing his Dad 😢

Adam and Cory Cruising

A "churro dog" instead of a hot dog at the baseball game. I think it is filled with ice cream with chocolate on top?

Kim's Birkenstock's caught my eye as I kept seeing more and more colors in her basket - I love it!!!😁

And I loved getting hugs from these wonderful people - even if it was only for a day 💖

AND Kevin - the best partner in crime ever! 💕

LAST THOUGHTS FOR TONIGHT ~

There were a couple of things I wanted to share with you tonight -

1.  If you are behind watching The Chosen, hurry and catch up! Season 4 has been amazing - I think it might turn out to be my favorite.

2.  Our next assignment in my speech class is a TED talk so I have been doing some research and ran across one of my favorite talks on stress.  I might have posted it once before but it is really worth rewatching when you have a minute. 

https://youtu.be/RcGyVTAoXEU?si=hF_zpzJI_nTcyXnS

3.  I read an article the other day about scam "gangs" that make billions of dollars and they are not only targeting the elderly, but younger people as well - we all need to be aware!

https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/17/asia/pig-butchering-scam-southeast-asia-dst-intl-hnk/index.html

I love you all so very much and am so grateful you are in my life.  I hope you have a wonderful week, and don't forget to send me pictures!