with a very special love.
They watch us and protect us.
They guide us and direct us.
Back to our home above.
We had a great weekend and were able to spend some time with my parents who came down to help with my niece Siena's surgery and to buy a fishing boat. They parked the boat on our RV pad so Friday morning Steve told Andrew we had bought a boat and to go check it out. Andrew said, "I know you're joking Dad." Then he saw it.
Steve quickly explained it was Grandpa's new fishing boat and we were just storing it for a few days. A little while later Andrew came in because he said he had found the queen hornet's nest on the trampoline. Steve went to check it out and sure enough there was a pretty large nest on the basketball hoop thing. He didn't want to spray it because it was on the kids play structure so he knocked it down and then went out there with our little dustbuster vacuum and was trying to suck up the hornets--it was quite hilarious to see him dodging and weaving while on the trampoline (I am very glad he didn't get stung and that he "protected" us from the hornets and the spray).
That afternoon we had our second summer movie club and watched Sherlock Gnomes. The kids thought it was great.
Then we hung out on the patio visiting with Mimi and Panca, it was a lovely night. The weather was great and I let the kids stay up way too late, but it's summer! After my parents left we called Carole to wish her a Happy 75th Birthday. We had a lovely chat with her and we discussed our niece Lexie coming to attend BYU and how excited we are to have her close and she said she wanted to come up for Sunday dinners so then we began brainstorming ways to get her here and Steve suggested the frontrunner because the stop here is like a mile a way from our house and then I got online and found out starting this August BYU will be giving all students a UTA pass so she could ride for free which made us all excited that we could get to see her a bit this upcoming school year.
Saturday we decided to go use our free bowling coupons we got from the school. We got a little later start than we wanted because we waited for Mimi and Panca to come get the boat and help them get hooked up. We still managed to beat the crowds at Boondocks and everyone had a great time. Marcus even bowled this time and loved it--the worst part was getting him to wait his turn, he kept saying my turn, my turn after everyone.
We used the girls report cards to get a few dollars for the arcades. Everyone enjoyed playing this game together.
When we got home Steve helped Ellie with her Engineering homework. Can I say it makes me so happy when they talk about school stuff. He is a good teacher, he patiently explains things and the reasoning behind stuff and how important it is to show your work and note the proper units. Seriously, I'm surrounded by a bunch of geniuses!
Then we decided to watch the 4th Harry Potter movie with the girls. It seems to be our tradition to watch 1 a year around Ellie's birthday and it seemed fitting to do it downstairs on our big screen. It was a nice relaxing afternoon with Dad. Then we had pizza and butterbeer for dinner and let the kids run around in the sprinklers before bath time.
Sunday morning I made ham and cheddar waffles (one of Steve's favorite breakfasts). Then the kids help me give him his presents. I'm sure he loves always getting clothes for Father's Day, but it's the only time I can really get him to upgrade his wardrobe. ;)
The kids all made him cards. Lila's said, "I want to tie you up with love" with a picture of a tie. Andrew several weeks ago found what he made for Steve during preschool as he was packing his adventure bag for our Idaho trip and gave it to him early. If you notice his adventure bag has all of the important things like: Pez, water bottle, one shirt, CDs etc.
After presents we all got ready for church. I had to speak and Steve was responsible for the Deacon's lesson so we had some last minute stuff to finish up. Boy was I glad when the talk was done. I knew I was the concluding speaker with 4 youth speakers so I didn't quite know how long to prepare my talk so I went through that morning and timed it several different ways to give me 5 minute variables. Steve suggested that as time starts ticking off I should wad up the papers I don't need and throw them out into the congregation. I told him he's been hanging out with the 12 year-old Deacons too long. And as it turns out I needed everything each of the youth speakers only took about 5 minutes. I'm sure everyone was tired of hearing my voice at the end of 20 minutes, but I was just glad to have it DONE!!
Here's a quote from President Russell M Nelson I used in my talk, "We must take our questions directly to our Heavenly Father in prayer. Ask Him, in the name of Jesus Christ, to guide us. You can learn right now, no matter your age--how to receive personal revelation. And nothing will make a bigger difference in your life than that."
When we came home we were all kind of exhausted so I didn't make a special dinner, but we had some delicious leftovers and then I did manage to make a yummy chocolate cake for dessert. We also managed to squeeze in a great Family Home Evening lesson about the holding to the iron rod by following the promptings of the Holy Ghost and Steve setup a rope and a little activity to simulate holding to the rod that the kids all enjoyed so I say what a great day! I'm so grateful for Steve for my Dad and for Russ and for the wonderful influence they have on our family. Happy Father's Day!