- Birthday Boy! SweetBoy made it to double digits! I see more and more fingerprints of God on you, and I am so thankful He put you in our family!
- We had a family outing to Palo Duro Canyon. It is one of my favorite places on earth. Yes, I've been to the Grand Canyon, and the similarities end with the fact that they are both canyons. The Grand Canyon is huge and majestic, but Palo Duro is more colorful and tangible. We enjoyed hiking and a picnic.
- We went to see Toy Story 3. You would think being a mother of three that I would have been crying at my children's childhood going way too fast. But no, I cried often and it was triggered by memories of my CareBear Funshine and how lonely she must be up in my closet! (When we played, she was a girl! Now I think the cartoons have him a boy.) My brother had Grumpy, and Mom made them both for us. We played and played with those dolls! At my grandparents' home where we spent a lot of time in the summer we built a whole world for them--beds, flying cars, a slide, a swingset, a balancing beam...if we could imagine it, Papaw and Mema could help make it happen. Even as I grew older, when my feelings got hurt, Funshine was the one I wanted to cuddle with for comfort. I have let my kids see her, and play a little bit, but I was afraid they would tear her up, so she is back in the closet. But she has been a very trusted and dear friend! (I had a cute little picture to share, but I can't find it at the moment--maybe later.)
- Continuing the stroll down memory lane...SweetDoll and I went to a day camp at a campground I went to (another favorite place on earth). I loved camp--everything about it! Even the green eggs and ham...the cafeteria had green fiberglass skylights, so everything had a green tint to it. I lived for it every summer! I went to day camp 1-3rd grade, then all week camp 4-6th grade, sponsor's assistant in 7th grade, then a staffer 8-11th grade. It is where I fell in love with sign language and met a friend who set me on a path to deaf education. I've been down that camp road in a church van. I drove down in my first car, a '79 Toyota Celica, the first weekend I had it and could not get it to go in reverse (it was a stick shift and I didn't have the hang of it yet)! And now I have driven down that road in a minivan with my daughter. Talk about coming full circle! A lot of things have changed, as they should, and we had a great time! A lady who was my leader at my church and then the camp director when I was a staffer happened to be there. It made my day! And it just wouldn't have been camp without her!
- The main event of the summer so far has been my grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary. It was a lot of preperation but so totally worth it. I don't think we could have done anything to please or honor them more. It was a treat to have all of that side of my family together.
- Mom and I did a scrapbook that is one of the coolest books I've worked on! As we worked on it, one of the things that stood out to me was their church friends. Life-long friendships made stronger in the bond of Christ, they have served together, laughed together, raised their kids together, cried together, grown older together... There was a picture of several of them (6-8 couples) who went on a mission trip together as young married people with young kids. All but one couple came to the party and they took another picture together. More than family, it was their friends who came to the party. We have been a part of some neat groups in the churches we have been in and I have some life-long friends, but I don't think I will ever experience anything quite like that.
- In preparing for the party, we made cookies (instead of a cake). I was making a batch of cookies ahead and the plan was to freeze them and then bake them closer to party time. As I put the cookies on the cookie sheet into the freezer, SweetTate asked me, "Momma, is our oven broken?" I laughed and reassured him that it was working fine. We would bake them another day!
- The party landed on the 4th of July weekend, so we got to celebrate with family. It has been years since we bought fireworks. We are usually camping or it is too dry to even consider it, but this year we are enjoying lush green yards. (Ok, lush may be pushing it, but for this part of the country it is lush!) My brother, my cousins' husband, and SweetHeart went together and got fireworks. They did a great job! We had a blast! I got to play with my camera a little and got some fun pictures of the kids with sparklers. My brother got one of him writing out his name with a big circle around it. It was cool!
- Cousins. Enough said!
- Our favorite baseball team has been doing great! Then we make plans to go to 2 games and they lose! Both of them! But we had a fun time at the hotel swimming pool and watched the fireworks after the game.
I think that catches you up! Hope you are enjoying your summer too!
