July started off with a bang!
Evidence of an awesome vacation!
We came home, unloaded, washed clothes and slept for the night and then repacked for Lake Anna with the Soderholms. In no particular order, here are some of the pictures!
I think it is safe to say that Christian was happy to see Mia again when we got back! How cute are these dancing in the parking lot pictures? I had to screenshot these!
Another environmentalist in the family! Kate sometimes likes to pick up trash on our walks. (We need to remember to bring a bag next time!)
Thanks for cleaning up the yard after the storm, kids!
Christian turned 17!!! He is amazing and makes his Mama proud. Triangle dinner for the win!
Dance party and cards and presents. Here he is with one of his favorite shirts in a larger size- he has been working out! After our small family celebration, Christian had a party with friends! I know I got a video of him blowing out the candles on his cookie cake, but didn't get any pictures. (Christian, would you like me to add any?)
Sis. Robinson, Sis. Copeland, Elder Bingham, Elder Parada.
Elder Dixon and Elder Buckley too.
I didn't get any pictures, so grabbed this off of Instagram, but Danny and I went to a farewell party for the Shifflers. They left our ward a couple years ago, but we remained friends when they were in Charlottesville. Now, they are moving again to FL. We will miss them, but will remain friends while they are there too!
A very real nighttime picture- C, admiring his gains.
Wisdom teeth removal for C! Helpful sister walks him downstairs while he is still slightly loopy.
I loved receiving this in the mail! Thanks, Culpeper!
We felt kind of bad leaving Christian after his wisdom teeth removal, but Danny, Grant, and Kate and I headed to Coeburn, VA for the Little League State Tournament. First up, a cookout and opening cermonies.
Probably the best part of that night was trading pins and meeting girls from the other teams. I think 16 teams go to states.
New place for lunch!
Danny introduced team members to 20 second showdown that Craig and Lorel introduced us to at the beach.
Beautiful view from the hotel. We stayed just a little outside of Coeburn in Big Stone Gap.
We had a lot of fun and made a little family vacation out of it. We went to the Big Stone Gap Ward for church. It is fun for us to visit other wards when we are out of town. We love meeting people and finding connections.
scenic overlook
team nails!
They found the "Woodbooger!"
We found some cool caves too!
We went to Stone Mountain. You could see 5 states from the High Knob Observation Tower! Pretty neat, right?! VA,WV, NC, TN, and KY!
Grant's infamous tag.
I am thankful when other parents send me pics or videos! I love this one. I can see how anxious and eager she is to steal 2nd. Go Kate!!!!
On the 22, Katherine and I had a super fun visit to the science museum with grandma and cousins!
On the 23, we had a fun day at the Lake. Danny and Katherine and Grant and I went first. I took the waverunner out with the kids. We went to a cove to swim and play while Danny cleaned/set up the sailboat. (By the way, Danny joined some friends in a "sailboat club." Basically, these guys have acquired a couple really inexpensive sailboats that need a bit of TLC and they chip in to pay the marina fees and can take turns using the boats. I think that they hope to work on them together, but the frank truth is most of these guys do not have the time needed to do this. We will see. It should be fun though. I hope we can make time to make it worth it. If not, it was not a big expense, especially for how cool the opportunity could be.) Anyway, long story short, we went out on the sailboat and it was fun, but we didn't stay out long because we were expecting our friends, the Genhos, to join us. V came after work too. Well, Lynnie and John went for a spin on the waverunner and a huge storm came out of nowhere! The sails were going crazy. I can't even describe what happened, but Danny was scrambling to take care of the sails, I was making sure that G, V, Danny, and I had lifejackets, and that the little girls who were in the cabin were ok! The boat was rocking side to side like in a movie and it was just chaos. Somehow, John and Lynnie reapproached the boat on the waverunner. John got on and helped Danny with the crazy ropes and sails and V jumped into the waving water/storm to get onto the waverunner with Lynnie to get her back to the marina. They made it much quicker than we did. I think that they truly felt terrified wondering if any of us were thrown overboard or if we capsized or what. It was quite the adventure! The girls were traumatized. I think Grant was too. John and Danny and I found it thrilling and considered going back out. Haha, the rest of the group won. After we got back, we went to the nearest grocery store for snacks. We got some ice cream and ate it in the parking lot. Fun times. Never dull!
FSY was a highlight of the summer for our boys! I took them and a few friends to William and Mary for the week. They have pictures on their instagrams, but I will share the few that I had from dropoff.
I know that I am not saying too much about it, but they both loved it and felt their testimonies grow! (Guys, let me know if you want to add some commentary or pictures! I know you kept good journals there, so you probably don't need mine.)
Danny works 4 10s and has Fridays off for 6 weeks in the summer. We like to do fun things on his Fridays off. This time we went to some of the museums in DC. Super fun day!
Another great month!
