Sum-sum-summertime!

I can't believe June is over! It just flew by. Granted, we have been very busy with summer activities. Mostly the weather has been nice, quite a bit of rain, but enough dry days that we've been able to enjoy parks and swimming.

Ethan kicked off the summer with Especially For Youth in Minnesota. Meredith and I drove him up (8 hours) and then I drove by myself to pick him up. The drive to get him was easier without Meredith (it's a bit long for her!) and I listened to an Agatha Christie to keep from getting bored. I missed Ethan while he was gone, but he had a great time and made some good friends. I hope he's able to do EFY again next year.

Ethan spent last week at scout camp. He and three other boys from our troop were the only ones there to do the "iron-man," a 20 mile hike with 30-40 lb. backpacks, a mile swim, and a survival night outside without a tent! What a tough kid! Scott and Meredith drove up to camp Friday night and slept in the car, then they and Ethan drove home yesterday. Ethan had time to take a long shower and rest for a little while, and then he and Scott left for a trip to Italy. Scott and I would have liked to go together, but it's just too hard to find someone to watch both Meredith and Noah for a whole week. So instead Ethan is going. I'm a little jealous, but I know my two men will have a great time.

Poor little Meredith came back from her "camping trip" completely covered with mosquito bites. They slept with the car windows open, the the skeeters apparently loved her soft baby skin. I feel so bad for her! She has about 40 bites on her arms, legs and face. Other than that she is doing great! We're so excited for her birthday in a week. Actually we gave her a big present yesterday - - a giant teddy bear about 5 times bigger than she is! (Gotta love Costco!) She was so excited she was screaming with happiness.

We're going to church in a few minutes, and she is so excited for nursery. She has never shown the least bit of reluctance to go in, in fact she's usually pretty anxious for sacrament meeting to be over so she can go in and play. She loves the songs, and at night she likes to sing "Twinkle Twinkle," "Eensie Spider," and "Wheels on the Bus." Speaking of nighttime, she and Noah both have slept in their beds every night for the past couple of weeks. This is a huge accomplishment!!!! Also, she counted to 10 the other day with no prompting. I wish I could take credit for that, but I think it's mostly because of Sesame Street . . .

Noah had a week off of school and then started summer camp. He loves it and has settled into the routine nicely. This is his 3rd or 4th year. It's 4 days a week from 9:15 to 3:15. They swim twice a week, walk to the library on Mondays, and walk to McDonalds and order their own lunches on Wednesdays. I am so grateful for the wonderful staff that work with him. I was feeling a little down recently because of all the frankly horrible things that are happening in the world, and then I thought about the dedicated angels that work with kids with special needs and it made me feel a lot better.

We have a fun guest in our home right now: Beanie! She flew out all by herself a week ago and it is so nice having her here! She is quite the helper, and I don't know what I'd do without her, especially with Scott and Ethan gone. She is doing a wonderful job of watering the plants, and is a great babysitter. She loves to swim and we've gone a couple of times and are planning many more. We've gone shopping and had movie night and are hoping for a day at a museum next week. It's so good for Meredith to have an older girl role model around! Thanks, Barkers, for lending me your little Bean!

I have been picking up some extra hours at work, filling in for vacationing co-workers. Also busy with my church calling, stuff for the Down syndrome group, and trying to keep the house and yard presentable. Sometimes it feels like one step forward and two steps back, but that's life!

Scott had a scary experience driving to scout camp with Meredith - - there was a head-on collision right in front of him. This is the third accident he's been on the scene for (I was with him for the first 2). It was a pretty bad accident involving 4 people with multiple injuries, but fortunately none of them fatal. Pretty scary for Scott, but he's a great person in an emergency. I'm just so grateful that he and Meredith weren't hurt!

I'm thankful that the Lord watches over us and helps us every day. Blessings and love to you all!