June

Ed spent the first week of June getting our house in Arkansas ready to sell. He mulched flower beds, powerwashed the house, restained the front door, had carpets cleaned, repainted nearly every wall inside (and trim), fixed the air conditioner, fixed some bathroom light fixtures, etc. etc. etc. He worked so hard he had to retire his Bob Ross shirt when he was done:

In the end it looked pretty dang good. We really loved this house. Ed's final walk-through video made me cry.

The girls began June with the last day of school! My elementary girls had the best teachers this year.

The end-of-year picnic was hot and full of good friends. I'm grateful for good schools.

Obviously my older girls finished school too, but their last day included finals and then hanging out with friends. I guess middle school and high school are too mature for a last-day-of-school family picnic. Everyone finished strong with good grades. What good girls I have. Goodbye 9th, 7th, 4th, and 1st grades!

We got to be with Grandma and Bonka as they opened their 2nd mission call. Idaho Boise Mission! They are the office couple over finance, housing and referrals.

We opened up our boating season with a lovely ride and picnic at Spring Shores (Lucky Peak). Ed showed us where he wanted to go camping. Spoiler alert - it never happened. Stinkin busy summer.

The girls got bored and went swimming in my bathtub.

Against all odds (including a father who is allergic and hates cats) our oldest somehow became the owner of one male kitten.

His name is Oliver and his sole purpose is to kill the voles that have destroyed our yard. But first he had to survive the summer with the 2 little girls. He certainly held his own - Krista and Kassie's arms were completely covered in scratches. They love him anyway.

Ed had another sim in Miami. He must like me because he keeps inviting me to go with him. Those are "for real" beachy waves in my hair!

While Ed worked I ran on the boardwalk, walked the beach, read my book and watched a lot of HGTV. One afternoon I got to hang out with Ed's cousin Kortney and her sweet boy. When Ed would get back we'd eat and hang out on the beach some more. I got sunburned. We had dinner in the Art Deco district one night - so loud and all sorts of interesting smells, really nice cars, and hardly any clothes on anyone. Not my scene. Just put me back on the beach. With more sunscreen.

Getting to Miami on standby was super easy and uneventful. Getting home was a different story. I lucked out with first class from Miami to Salt Lake - so nice. There were 6 flights from Salt Lake to Boise. So many chances...so little luck. I wasn't even close to getting on the first 3. Standby lists were ridiculously long, which didn't even matter because those 3 flights were completely oversold. The 4th flight was on Alaska Airlines. All standbys before me got on...I was next in line when they closed the doors. The 5th flight was also oversold. At this point I had been in the Salt Lake airport for nearly 12 hours, and to top it off I was sick with a stomach bug. I just wanted to get home to my babies. I was so grateful to get on the final flight of the day. I don't need to go back to SLC for a while.

Kassie took swim lessons from Natalie again. She is a speedy little fish.

My littlest baby had a birthday. Karoline turned 3!

I came home from Miami the day before her birthday, so I didn't really have anything ready for her. She was more than happy to go shopping with me and pick out all her own presents. And then she acted surprised when she opened them. Good girl. Sorry your mom is so lame.

3 is not a favorite age in this house. My kids like to kick their terrible 2s up a notch when they hit 3. KK is no exception. But I think I've finally figured out "this too shall pass" and we're going to enjoy the last year of toddlerhood. Look at that spunky smile. It shouldn't be too hard.

The night of KK's birthday something super special happened. My Stokeses came to visit! They were moving from Alaska to Texas, with family stops in Washington and Utah. Guess who is conveniently located between Washington and Utah - me! 6 years was way too long  - let's not go that long again Angie!

We ended June with an offer on our AR house, which we took. It was a good month.