July 19

Thanks for the wishes, I did have a great day. The girls were upset that they didn’t buy cards or gifts, so I told them their gift to me for the day could be their good behavior. And they bought it! :) They really tried hard to be good and helpful, and I really had a great day.

Kevin was called as YM Teacher’s Advisor. He’s never been in YM before and I am SOOOOO super duper excited for this for him. The other leaders in YM are great and Kevin knows them well, and the boys are pretty good, too. He will trade off with the 1st Counselor teaching on Sundays, and he’s required to go to the Quorum Wednesday Activities x2 monthly, but Kevin says he doesn’t want to miss the Joint YM or Joint Youth activities, either. I had my turn in YW for years and years, so I’m happy to hold down the fort for him. Besides great associations with the other men, the boys do very physical activities so this will get Kevin moving! So I’m happy on many levels.

I included a few pics of my birthday and also one for each girl from our mini-staycation. We traveled to Burlington, IA to a new water park (I think we’ve hit every one in eastern IA now) and spent the night at the hotel. They also had an indoor Go-Kart track and arcade that we spent a lot of time in.

Other than that I’m working on preparing for Alaina’s birthday. We didn’t have a friend party for her last year, so we’re planning on a few girls (5ish) coming over to the house and doing some fun things. I’ve been going round & round about what to have them make to take home, and I’ve decided on a jeans purse, made from old pants. Like this. But I will use denim strips from the leg and braid them for the purse handle. Hopefully it will turn out ok.