Flight 93 Memorial

We've loved having the kids in and out this summer, and Haley with us all summer.  I'm excited because the kids will all be home two more times this summer with Shanna and Haley's endowment and Shanna's reception! 

Loved attending the temple with Cal!

Clark ran in to Joey Wright in Draper!  So fun!

It was Elden's last official day of Junior year, though he skipped school that day. We got out early from the temple and stopped at the BBQ Exchange in Gordonsville on our way home. Really yummy! We've never been before. We always love working at the temple!  And God Bless America!

Elden's second day of summer break...well...technically his first, he had his wisdom teeth removed. The surgery went well and he reacted well to the anesthesia. His siblings had worse reactions haha. He had a hard time taking medicine when we got home, so he waited a couple more hours. He doesn't do well with swallowing pills so I had liquid ibuprophen on hand. 

Workout time!  I am helping my parents this week as my mom had breast cancer removal surgery on Tuesday and then I was back home Wednesday for the temple and then to help Elden with wisdom teeth surgery Thursday. I went back up to PA Thursday late afternoon. 

This came in the mail!  So cute!  We're really excited to go to Shanna's bridal shower. And so sweet of Nate's mom to throw her one. I wasn't going to throw one for Shanna because I feel like it's something the friends should do. But maybe not? Either way I'm glad Traci is doing on! 

One of the proposal photos!

Haley made some fancey kebobs. 

And also while I was away Elden buzzed his hair. Lots of fun without Mom, haha. 

Macaron making too!  Haley is a master!

We decided to put minisplits in the basement rental. Thanks to Lee for all the hard work he did with these!!!

While I was up with my parents I decided to take my dad to the temple. My mom decided to come with. Hopefully I can bring them again in July with Cal. 

I finished weeding at my parents house and then put mulch down on a Saturday evening. I didn't have enough so went back Monday for more. Still didn't get enough, but that will have to do. 

Looks alot better!  And this tall bush should be removed haha. Looks weird. 

Chloes twin Autumn is home from her mission!  And her sister Ella started home MTC. What a terrific summer for them! 

The town changing out the pipes on our road. 

My last Sunday up in PA with my parents. I asked Lee to come up that day just so I could see him. Haley brought mint brownies!  Darrell's family came over before seminary graduation. After Lee took off I went to the last part of it. Lisa graduated!!! I also made apple crisp. 

They had such a fun dessert and dirty soda bar.

Totally fell for it....I basically never buy stuff off Facebook or Instagram. But loved this shirt for Lee for Father's Day!

I texted the RS president and EQ president about helping my dad and getting him a good chair to sit in for Sunday School and EQ. And thankfully the ward is helping out!

I got this room ready for Reed. He's spending the summer with us to work before heading out to Georgia Southern University in the fall.

So beautiful. Grateful to live in this great land. 

More macarons!!! 

So good Haley!

New kicks. They are getting dirty fast though..ugh...

Lee bought some great plants for our yard including this Japanese tree! Our second tree!

Nate's family is coming in August for the reception and I've been thinking about this room... I want to give it a facelift, but don't want to replace the windows. So I did some AI changes.  I'll start working on this once we get home from the reunion and Nevada trip! 

More workouts!

New pillows. We should get a new couch too. It's good to sit on, but the leather is tearing. 

The Japenese tree!  I think it's a Japenese Blood tree. 

This popped up on my Facebook feed. Cal was gone for his birthday, so it was fun celebrating before he left. They aren't allowed to sing happy birthday in the cafeteria for FSY, but they sang to him that night at the dance. Happy Birthday my sweet boy, now young man and adult! 

And I saw this one. I just love this photo. Cal was always such a happy kid, and always was great to smile for the camera. He just looks so happy and loving life. Such a cutie and sweet kid. 

Happy Birthday Cal!!!

I went on a hike to prep for young women's camp. Sofi Webb came with her friend Bella, Caralee Sanders and Emily Evans. It was a fun hike at Saint Mary's Wilderness. 

I saw this at Emma Hartman's farwell and got one for Shanna and Nate for the reception if anyone wants to put in last minute cash, haha. 

Their wedding announcements and thank yous came!!!  

We went camping one weekend at Ohio Pyle State Park in Pennsylvania one weekend. Mainly to go to the 9-11 Flight 93 Memorial.  So fun camping!  Reed worked on job applications so decided not to come with us. Paw Paw!

It was so fun camping. Though....sleeping was another story. Usually I sleep pretty well camping, but we had noisy people driving through at 1 or 2 am, a car alarm around that time, and spiders scratching on the tent. 

Haley made cobbler too!

Haley got a sweet hand with Flip 7!!!

I visited Jennifer and Linda, my neighbors and told them about Shanna. I sent to them a picture of the temple they are getting married in. Taylorsville Utah. So beautiful!

In the morning we went to Cucumber Falls to explore a little bit and then also saw the Natural Slides in Ohio Pyle. 

Then on to Flight 93 Memorial. About an hour away. Wow. You MUST go there.  Lee and I cried a lot. So touching to learning about the courage of these brave men and women. So sad to hear their actual voice messages telling those they loved about the terrorist on the plane and how they didn't know what was going to happen and share their very last words. So touching. So sad. 

This is the path the plane took before it crashed. 

This is a bell tower with a chime for each American person that died on the flight.

Trip food! We stopped at Dollar General on the way home. 

We swung by the Winchester Temple to see the progress. So fun!  It will be about 15 minutes closer to us than Richmond. It will be interesting to see what happens with the temple and our stake boundaries. 

The night of camping we started talking about renting an RV to go to Nevada or buying a vehicle.  We stopped in Harrisonburg and test drove 3 Subaru Ascents. They seat 7 or 8 and for the price you can get a nice one with decent miles. 

Ella had her farewell, Autumn had her homecoming!  Clark and Chloe did a special musical number which I listened to. So beautiful. 

The Cyber truck down from our house all decked out. Love it!

Haley has been babysitting Clayton a little this summer. That day I took this picture I was at the Weilers for a birthday lunch for Banita that Brittany hosted. So fun!

Shanna and Cal are doing FSY camps this summer as counselors. So fun seeing the pictures!

Tried on this dress for the wedding....too gold color for Shanna. The other one I didn't like. I have one coming from Shein that I hope will work!

More pics!

We finally decided to replace our dishwasher. It's not drying properly. We should have looked more at the dishwasher that Lee installed because it has a plastic interior. Ugh. Stainless steel would have been so much better. But totally didn't look in to that. 

Lee and I went to the temple to join in with new converts going for the first time. We left late though and then there was an accident on I-64 so we were very late. By the time we got there we had to leave. We decided to buy a vehicle in Maryland!  Oh and our temple now has the self-serve machines to print off temple name cards. So cool!  Anyway, I bought the vehicle online on Thursday. 2022 Subaru Ascent with 66,000 miles.

We made it to Maryland 12 minutes ish before the dealership closed. We had the option to not get the vehicle and get all our money back, processing fee included. When we arrived Lee drove it for a test drive. Looking back, we shouldn't have bought it online. We would have had leverage for getting a better deal. The owners had a dog or something and have scratches on the vehicle hood and inside on the control panel and back side door handles. And it smelled like dog and I keep finding dog hair. Ugh. We went decided to keep it anyway because overall we did like it. But should have looked at it in person first. We were just in a huge time crunch and didn't. 

I brought soup with us to warm up at the temple, but we couldn't stay at the temple. Lee did go inside and said hello. But then we left. So I asked the guy if we could use the microwave. He had never gotten that request before haha. Hey that's how you pay for a vehicle in cash...bring your own leftovers and use the microwave!  They had a cooler with drinks in it so we each grabbed one haha. They were free and might as well get their "free" stuff.   The staff breakroom at the Lexus dealership. 

Our drive home with the new Subaru in front of me!  Oh, during this time I lost my wallet. Ugh. I had gone back up again to PA to take my mom to her follow-up appointment with Dr. Kaplan after her lumpectomy. I could not find my wallet anywhere. I looked in places multiple times, even went through the garbage. I prayed for ideas to help me find it. I texted my mom and Michael who helps with my dad. He found it in their back seat of the car. Whew. SO GRATEFUL!  God will bless and help us. If I couldn't find it I was going to get new cards before I headed out to Nevada. Grateful my wallet wasn't stolen or permanently lost. 

I picked up Elden from FSY at Buena Vista--Southern Virginia Univeristy. Elden saw this car on the way back. Very sweet. He said it's worth $150,000 to $200,000.  

After I picked him up we went home quick, then off to Busch Gardens just for fun!

There were a ton of people so we thought it would be crazy busy everywhere and later it was. But we got to the Griffon and there were maybe 10 people in line? We went on it 4 times total. I went twice. This is my favorite ride ever. So fun!!!  Also, I bought tickets half off, which I thought was great. Then I started searching for deals for parking for Veterans and I saw that veterans could get 4 free tickets! Rats. I called and couldn't get a refund over the phone and the guy's English was really weird. But I talked to the people at customer service at the park and they gave me a refund for 4 tickets. YAY!!!

Lee saw this guy walking around with this tank on haha. 

The four white cars!  And Clark has a white car haha. We are now selling the Crosstrek to Shanna. YAY!  We will drive it out to her when we leave next week. 

Father's Day!  It was fun celebrating Lee. I sent this to the kids to fill out. Shanna sent me one from a Google Doc that I printed off for her. 

Great tshirt! Happy Father's Day Lee!  We are so grateful for you and your love, hard work, kindness, involvement in the family and honoring the holy Priesthood. 

Elden treated himself to a discus haha. 

We drove up to see my dad.  We had lasagna and then Darrells family came over for dessert. 

Shanna wanted the photo of Lee painting her fingernails when she was a little girl. I started looking for it...couldn't find it, but found these fun ones. 

Family is the best! The best treasure! 

Haha, the renters left grilled pork, cream and two UNOPENED shredded parmesan cheese. We actually took a risk and ate the pork--normally I don't do that. And gave on of the cheese's to Joe. 

Elder Peterson's plaque came!

Deb and her family are in China!  They stopped in Taiwain and Japan too. So fun. Maybe we'll join them next year in China?