A Summery Summary of Our Summer :)

Checking back in after a whirlwind of a summer! Here's how it went:

J U N E

Grace and I helped with VBS at our church this year, which is such a cool outreach! It's always fun to see neighbor kids learning about God and giving their lives to Christ! During VBS, Matt, my 22-year-old brother, came from Vermont to stay with us for a while. That was soo fun!

After VBS, our younger brother, Reed, stayed at Hannah's house so he could go to children's camp. Meanwhile, 4 of us left for the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting. On the way, we stopped at my brother Josh's apartment, where we saw Josh, his wife, Sabrina, and their twins! We also stopped at Huntington Beach for a couple of hours. The SBC Annual Meeting was really fun! We saw Tim Hawkins live, got lots of free stuff in the Exhibit Hall, and got to hang out with our brother, Matt, at the booth for the college he goes to (he's the one in the Vermont t-shirt)!

When I got back, I found that I had been majorly pranked by my coworkers. Someone had very cleverly added some extra guests in the photos in my office. I actually left it up for a while because it was so well done!

In between trips, Grace, Reed, and I finished a challenge where you run/walk 100 miles in the 90 days of Spring. I wish I could say that we ran all one hundred miles, but it felt good to finish!

One of the highlights of my summer was our family reunion! First, we flew up to Oregon and stayed with some great friends in McMinnville. After a couple of days, we headed out to the Christian Renewal Center in Silverton, Oregon, where the rest of my siblings and their families joined us. We all shared a lodge and enjoyed such hilarious times together! We got a picture of just the original 8 siblings, and in age order to boot! One special memory was singing a song in church with some of the siblings, another was when Micah and Amanda announced that they were expecting their 5th child! Hannah's also expecting and is due in September, so that's coming soon!

J U L Y

Soon after leaving Oregon, we realized that we had left Grace behind! Just kidding, it was on purpose. Grace stayed with our very hospitable friends, the Morrisseys, and had a lot of fun. She got to go to Camano Island in Washington State, ate steak, rode in a boat, kayaked, played games, etc.

4 days after coming home, Grace left us again to go to a student music camp. 3 days after she left, Reed and I went to Oregon again for a family camp in Bend! We used to go to this camp pretty often when we were younger, so it was fun to finally be back. While at camp, I officially started a relationship with a really awesome guy named PJ! :) He's a sheriff's deputy, so later we got a tour of his snazzy cop car. In addition to hanging out with the Morrisseys, we also made fun memories with Matt, Micah, and Micah's family. Reed and I ended up missing our flight home due to unforeseen traffic, which meant a bonus day in Oregon! Yay!

The evening after we got back, our church went to an Isotopes baseball game together, which was pretty fun! We lost, but we didn't care. :)

Pretty soon after that, our sweet Grandma Ruth had a birthday party near Houston, so we drove out to celebrate with her. This was practically another family reunion, and we had a blast!

While on this trip, we kept coming across the most deliciously odd signs, so we tried to take pictures. Enjoy. (The first one says "CHERRY LANE CHIROPRACTIC CRAWL INS WELCOME")

Since that trip, we had our Bible Bee Proclaim! Day, where we celebrated all the scripture that Reed and Grace memorized/studied, plus the hard work of all the other kids in our group. I loved our weekly meetings and was so encouraged by these families; I'm kind of sad that it's over! I also bobbed Grace's hair, which was an adventure. I don't think Grace would have let me if she knew how little was going on in my head while cutting her hair, haha.

Interspersed between all of these fun events, there were so many sweet times with wonderful friends and family that I didn't get to mention. Thank you to every single person who made my summer one of the best ones I've ever had!

In closing, here’s a new quote we added to our family quotes inventory this summer:

“I’m sorry, but you weren’t talking about anything I was thinking about!”