Farewell...Evan!

This past weekend we had the privilege of going to Ohio to see Aaron's nephew Evan for the last time for two years. He is leaving on Wednesday to serve a two year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Riverside, California . He will spend two months in Provo, Utah before he leaves learning Spanish as he will primarily be working with Spanish speaking families. Evan has had some recent health challenges that have delayed him a bit, but he has been determined to go and is so excited and ready! We know he will be a great missionary!

Our time in Ohio with Evan reminded me of my nephew, Kolton who came to visit us last May (with his sister Bailey) before he left for his mission to West Virginia. My kids are so lucky to have some great role models!

Girl's camp

Elizabeth is spending the week at Girl's camp.  It's very different from what I experienced at her age.  There are no mountains; however, she does get to sleep in an air conditioned cabin and doesn't have to wash her hair in the creek.  We are missing her, but know that she is having a great time making new friends!

Neighborhood bikers

Tuesday night when we got home from the church, some of the neighbor kids were out riding bikes. Our kids jumped on theirs (except Bruce - he doesn't have a bike with a pink basket) and went out to join them. They made quite a fearsome looking bunch. Good thing we have patient drivers and very little traffic down our street.

7-11 Birthday!

Will has the coolest day for a birthday: 7-11! We celebrated with free slurpies at 7-11 after going to the splash pad at the park.

Just like Dad: can't ever have too many Buckeye shirts!

Will sold his DSi a few weeks ago. We told him we would pay half for a new iPod touch. He couldn't be happier to have this new device!

Watch out!

To the boy with the best smile in the world, Happy Birthday, Will! We love our super sweet nine year old!

Holy fireworks, Batman!

The kids and I went on a walk last night. Someone had their trash all neatly piled up for pick-up this morning. This is why we don't have to leave our neighborhood for a firework show.

We love u-pick!

One of my favorite things about summer is all of the fresh produce!  I don't have much of a garden, but thanks to all of the u-pick farms around, we can pretend we have one.  We have already picked strawberries and blueberries this year.  We're looking forward to going for peaches, apples, and hopefully grapes later on this summer.  The kids love going and helping.  Justin was at scout camp when we went for blueberries and I really missed him because he's usually my best picker.  Our freezer is beginning to fill up...love it!

Grandma's 90th!

Saturday many of Aaron's family gathered together to celebrate his grandmother's 90th Birthday. She has the tiniest body, but the biggest heart. Sunday we all went to church together and she was just beaming with pride to have the chapel filled with her posterity. If we could all be as sweet as her, the world would be a better place. (We're looking forward to celebrating Grandpa's 90th later this year and also their 70th wedding anniversary...big year)!