Summer Joy

Joys of summer to me are:

1. Weekly fresh bouquets from my yard!

2.Naps on the swing

3. Seeing the kids nap on swings

4. Cousins visiting to go swimming at the aquatic center.  This time it was Ivy and her kids:

5. Daily Popsicle breaks in the heat of the day:

6. Summer jobs and the kids getting the house spic and span.  It's always fun to see their methods; here is Pace cleaning the kitchen using my jar lifters for canning🤣

7. Late bedtimes and plenty of time for taking kids to the movies!

Before Incredibles 2:

8. Family Home Evenings in the park:

9.Lots of sleep-outs on the deck:

10. Watching the kids sample Caden's ripe, but incredibly sour oranges from his outside orange tree.  

More sour than ANYTHING I have ever tasted!! They are also more fragrant than any orange ever. I guess we will use them for laughs and good scent:

Nolan before his taste buds kicked in:

Maddie before - I wasn't able to catch her cringing faces:

I have learned that if you want sweet oranges, you have to add a PH stick to the soil.  Maybe we will have to try it out!

11. My brown Mowgli boy demonstrating how to turn a t-shirt into pajamas.  Also showing off the muscles he has been working hard at all summer with a daily exercise routine of 5 pull-ups, 5 chin-ups, climbing the rope multiple times, 50 push-ups, and 50 sit-ups.  This boy loves muscles!!:

12.Realizing that July marks the half-way point of Kami's mission! Looking back it has gone by quickly, but has simultaneously seemed like SUCH a long time!! Most recent picture that I found on my phone:

And Caden is 1/4th of the way through his mission this month!  He just switched missions this week and said goodbye to these mission presidents:

He will be joining the Fort Worth Mission.

Boy do I miss these two missionaries!  BUT I am so grateful that they are serving and growing and can feel the way it is blessing our family!