www.elktoneyecare.com

Our time here is coming to a close.  Sometimes I feel like I have all the time in the world to enjoy being here, and then other times I feel that time is slipping away too fast and I am not getting anything accomplished!

I said a quick goodbye to a friend today at church.  She is going out of town and I won't see her again before I move.  I teared-up thinking about leaving and saying goodbye to her. (Okay, I was crying.) It was funny because when she handed off her baby to me so she could lead the music to the primary children, her baby started crying.  I said "We'll go and cry together."  Her baby is AMAZING and stopped crying very soon.  Such an angel! But, it will be great staying in touch via blogs and facebook.

Sadly time is not stopping and each second we are slowly getting closer to going to Virginia. I am excited to go to Virginia, but sad to leave here. It will be exciting though to see how our life will unfold there. (It will be great being closer to Lois and Amy--you too Daniel and Jeff.) With all of the business preparations we are doing now, there are still quite a few "preparations" awaiting our arrival. I am looking forward to the official opening-day of the business!

We have knocked out some significant things the past couple of months.  One being Lee's website!  Check it out!  Our brother-in-law Mike did a great job on it:  www.elktoneyecare.com.  
Well, off to bed.  Lots to do this week!!!

4th of July, plus some

We had a quiet 4th of July, well, I did.  Lee took the boys to Six Flags that day to use their free Six Flag passes from school.  Active Duty military also got in free that holiday weekend.  I took Elden and the girls to the splash park and we hung out at home the rest of the day.  We met Lee and the other boys at a parking lot to watch the fireworks that evening.   I love fireworks!!!








A tired Dad after Six Flags!


The next day we met some friends at a splash park before they left.  They have since moved to Hawaii and I hope they are having a wonderful time!  Clark instigated a party, so we brought cupcakes.


Clark and his friend


Shanna and Cal bonked heads somehow (there was a LOUD sound) and he cut up his lip pretty bad.  At least it wasn't emergency room worthy!






Lee has been enjoying seeing his garden grow.  We will miss the most productive garden time I think, but we are going to tell our friends to come pick tomatoes or zucchini whenever they want...before new people move in.

Lee got this cucumber plant to climb up to create (obviously) a hanging cucumber plant. Nature is amazing!


Our hanging cucumbers...these particular ones have since been eaten.



We enjoyed going to another park/splash park/river area last week.  I have been heading up some playgroups as of late, and it's been fun getting together with other friends.


















Right when we were leaving, and of course I told the kids no and they didn't listen, they went to the splash park and got all wet.  So I stayed longer and let them play (like the wonderful parenting of rewarding them for not listening?).  They loved it.  I did cut out shopping.  One of my children wanted to stop at a couple of stores after the park.  That did not happen.  I was not going to take 5 sopping wet kids to the store.


Last Saturday Lee and I went on a date to the Roubidoux River. We got some yummy snacks and then took a walk along the river.  It was very pretty and there were barely any gnats!




There's a brief update!  We are busy getting ready to move!

Library, Tent, Slip-n-Slide

Our outings for the week....

One night we went to the library. Afterwards we went behind the library, had family scripture reading, and ate Italian ice.  (Can't beat $0.75 at the commissary!  Well, my friend Nadine got some for $0.50-even better!)






A crooked picture, but it's really pretty behind the library. And on our way to the library there were some trainees lined up outside, waiting to go into a building.  As we rode past on our bikes, I called out: "Happy Fourth of July.  Thanks!"  Hopefully they caught the meaning of my choppy message--thanking them for their service and, partly because of them, the freedoms I enjoy. (I say only partly because it's mainly God whom I have to thank.)  Immediately after, I felt a surge of gratefulness to live in this amazing country.  Our amazing military members do so much; I am deeply grateful.  


We did pick up our garbage before we left.....


I love how Elden will just lie on the ground. (Did I use the right lie/lay word Mom?)


The boys and Lee didn't go on the Father's and Son's camp out in May because we were having a great time visiting family that weekend.  Lee set up the tent so he and the boys could have somewhat of a camping experience.  At one point Clark asked Lee if Lee could bring the air conditioning out to the tent! 






The next night I slept in the tent with the girls--they wanted to do it too!


After the tent sleeping, we had our friends over for dinner and a fire.  They are moving soon, sadly.  The only good thing about people moving away is that we are moving soon too.  But I am trying not to think about moving, too much anyway.  I get sad thinking about leaving all my good friends.




Lee, being the awesome dad he is because I would never do this, pulled out the slip-n-slide on Saturday.  Lee has a four-day weekend due to the 4th of July and has been doing lots of fun things with the kids.  Thanks Lee!  Of course ice pops were needed after the fun...






Happy 4th Everyone!