Catching up

It has been a busy month!!  Holy Cow!!  I'm behind in many things, and this blog is one of the victims.

So, here is a quick photo recap of the past two weeks.  

Sister Rietz is thriving on the edge of the Mojave Desert!  It looks like she has finally embraced (Ha!) the Joshua Tree that she initially hated so much!  She and Sister Moon survived her first transfer and are still companions.

Sister Osborne left for Chile, via the Mexico MTC!!  We are so excited for her.  We had to hop from our ward to hers to hear her talk.  Trev and Kristin both agreed they could get into ward-hopping.  (Trev even said he's pretty sure he could be a High Counselor!  :)

We got to go boating with our good friends, the Burrups!  It is incredibly difficult to get together with them.  It probably won't happen again this summer, but it was a great evening.  The water was a little rough for some water activities, but as you can see, it was perfect for tubing.

Trevor turned 14 last week so that means several things...

It means we got to have the yummiest pasta dish for his birthday dinner!  (I strongly encourage you to try this tasty dish.  I'll even give you a link to click on.  You may be tempted to skip the zucchini, but we are here to tell you, this recipe benefits from every chunk of that grilled veggie!)

It means Trev got to head off for his first High Adventure activity yesterday!  They are hiking the Seven Devils loop, and this mama was nervous, but sent him off anyway.

It means there was a good excuse to get his friends together for a "Surprise" party to play frisbee golf, goofy golf, eat pizza and throw the golf balls up into the trees!  (Boys!!!)  (Side note - see the smokey hills in the background?  That day the valley was socked in with smoke from some of the 55 fires burning in Eastern Washington and south of us in Idaho. It was crazy smokey!!!)

It means Trev got to try his hand at homemade beef jerky.  Apparently, this is quite the art, there are many spices to choose from, and it works easiest with a jerky gun.  Who knew such a thing existed??  Although, I have lived in Idaho for 24 years, I should have known that!

 The kids and I got a chance to attend a fireside by Noelle Pikus-Pace.  See her Olympic medal in the picture?  She was the silver medalist at the Sochi olympics in the Skeleton.  She was a great speaker, who had some good advice for the kids.
1- Where are your sights set?  She talked about setting goals, and how you will end up where you set your sights.
2 - You can look back or you can move forward.  After a devasting accident involving a 4 man bobsled and her leg (guess which was the loser?) she had to decide which way to go.  She chose to move forward.
3 - Hold on to your sled - which she likened to the iron rod.  She knew if she held on to her sled she would make it through the course, although not always riding on the sled.

She was very gracious afterward and took a lot of time to take pictures with anyone who wanted to after she was done speaking.  I think my favorite part was the replay of her final run, then realizing she had won the medal and celebrating with her family!  The Olympics always make me cry, and this was no exception!  It was a really great evening.

Along with the above pictures, other things that have happened this month are
-another really sad funeral for a 14-year old boy
-continued nurturing of 90+ pheasants
-Girls' Camp for Kristin (so hot and dry but so fun!)
-so many people moving in and out of our ward it's hard to keep track, meaning many opportunities to help people get ready to move and getting to know the new ones!
-the continuing yard project in which I unknowingly drove a stake right through the pvc pipe, and thus created yet another phase to the project in which we (ok, John and Kristin) had to repair the pipe.  You should know that just looking at the piece of pvc pipe speared by the stake they took out made them smile the rest of the night!!! (I'm just here to help!)
-the launch of our Etsy store, Clabeau, which deserves a post of its own, so be looking for that soon.

And lastly, do you feel the breeze?  The winds of change are a-blowin'.  (more about that soon as well!)