We were so thankful to Grandpa and Grandma for letting us stay all of July and then some to beat our Texas heat! The kiddos had so much fun making memories with cousins, Aunt Rebekah, Uncle Samuel, Uncle Ben, Aunt Carli, and getting to see everyone in the family except Uncle Juan. We missed having him, but we made the most of being together! Some of the highlights include going to the park, climbing the HUGE spider-web-tower and having Grandpa spin them endlessly, going on nature and arboretum hikes with Grandpa and cousins, hiking down to Snowqualmie Falls with a big group of us, and picking berries in their backyard to make lots of yummy loganberry and raspberry jam!! Yumm!! We had some memorable FHE nights playing Don't Eat Pete, and doing smores and dutch oven curried rice and brownies (so delicious! Better tan from an oven!), riding bikes in their huge driveway, and building ginormous forts in the rec room trying to fit everyone in!!
I also was blessed with many helpers while I had some moderately concerning moles removed as well. I was a little nervous about how it would all go over, not really knowing what to expect, or how the recovery would go, and it meant so much to have the love and support of family through that healing and emotional time. I was so thankful Jonathan was able to come visit for a weekend, halfway through our stay to be together with him again. I just feel so much more complete, reassured, at peace and calm having him by my side. Everything is better when I have my dear husband alongside me in life! I couldn't have gone through that challenging time either without the spiritual strength I was able to find in our Savior. I know He can truly provide the greatest reassurance of all even in and especially in our most trying of times, as we stay close to Him and choose to put our faith, our hearts, and our lives in His hands. Truly, the enabling and strengthening power of the Atonement is what helps me make it through each and every day. I am so thankful for all the tender mercies the Lord sent to help strengthen me and aid in my speedy recovery so I could continue nursing sweet baby Joshua and taking care of our kiddos. Having family there made such an amazing difference at helping us stay busy with work, fun, learning together, game nights and some insightful & meaningful talks, and exploring the outdoors together. It was so sweet seeing Grandpa carry Joshy in the backpack carrier around the kitchen to help me not have to carry so much wight on my arms. I was brought to tears at the kindness and loving helpfulness of our sweet family members. We were so blessed and thankful for the help and wonderful memories together.
Here are some memorable moments from our summertime adventures with family:
Katelyn (7.5 yrs), Nathan (5 yrs), Gracie (3 yrs), and Joshua (9 months)
Here we are participating in a fun Read Your Child The World Summer Reading Program Challenge. It was a blast exploring all of the continents and so many countries together, reading wholesome and character building books to enrich our lives together! What a JOY it was to learn about so many cultures and good values that build us and lift us up, inspiring us to be a little better each day! Here are also some Ensign quotes that really stood out and inspired me too!
Katelyn pioneered the discovery that our fabric jump rope could help them secure themselves to climb up the basketball post,,,,,,haha..who would have thought!??! Clever kids and such brilliant imaginations! This Katelyn girl has always been such an active, talented, energetic climber!! She is always taking herself to new heights!!!! Literally...haha! Now, just trying to make sure everyone was safe!
Nathan doing monkey bars by himself! Woo hoo!
OH YEAHHHHHH!!!! AND DID I MENTION, THERE WERE AMAAAAAAAZINNGGGGG trees to climb! AND they provided the dream land for our talented Miss Climber Girl to go!!!
Finally, near the end of July, we got some sunnier days to break out the old tarp slip n slide!!! Kids loved it as you can see with those darling smiles!!!
Someone still loves putting everything into his mouth!!!
This little guy tring to stand up all by himself using the garbage can!!! Go Joshua!
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