Please excuse the long monthly posts- our months were busy! When I get behind, this is the easiest way for me to catch up.
Funny picture that Grant took at the Locust Grove McDonalds to send to his baseball buddies. This is where they often stopped to eat on the way home from away games and he missed them. Haha!
Fun land!
G working hard mowing
V, my mom, and I went to the Greek Fest in Richmond. I remember going years ago and thought it would be fun to grab some good food and watch the dancing. I didn't take any pictures except this one because I knew V was taking some fun ones to make a reel. The reason for this- the man behind her, the nearly naked one, was super into her and followed her around. She does prefer older guys, but not this old! Haha, long story, but it was both creepy and hilarious.
In the summer, we go to the river!
Christian and his friends, Will, Tyler, Devin, Bishesh, and Carson went to Will's Grandpa's lake house in Drums, PN for their "beach week". They had a great time together and we appreciate Will's Grandpa's hospitality!
Katherine continued to take care of recycling at Yowell in the summer. It matters that people, kids included, have goals and responsibilities, for confidence and growth.
Track had an end-of-the-year picnic and awards. Our family was divided that night, but I got to go with Christian. It was a good time with good people.
I was really glad to be there when Christian got the Coaches' Award! What a cool honor!
Coach Keick
and Coach Dennis are awesome and have been great influences and mentors for Christian. He loves them and "they have been real".
Christian and Danny went to Western Carolina for Freshman Orientation. Christian had a great time and met a lot of cool people. They were very impressed with the school, but the cost of tuition and room and board were a little more than Christian anticipated. One of the primary reasons that he picked WCU was its affordability. Compared to the VA schools that have his preferred major, it is a great deal. Even still, the price of college is getting out of control. He took a couple weeks to decide to save a couple of semester's worth of housing costs by finishing his associate's degree at Germana Community College while continuing to live at home and work to save for school. He hopes to graduate from college debt-free or have as minimal debt as possible. That was a hard decision. We are proud of him though and think it was a very responsible choice. We are sure that he isn't thrilled to stay in our home when his friends all go off to school, but it definitely helps that Mia will still be here too.
I packed the trunk for a busy weekend- river house to Williamsburg to Girls Camp!
We had a graduation party for Christian and Hailey for the Marshall side at the river! It was pretty chill, but fun. We hope that they know we are proud of them!
I can't post too many pictures from Young Women's Camp because I don't have permission from all of the girls or their parents. V came one night to speak as a member of a panel of YSA speakers. She enjoyed it and did a great job! She enjoyed this sweet baby, Amelia, too!
I got to teach a fun class/lead a fun activity for a couple of days- boating!
The spiritual thoughts that I shared came from this talk.
Keep Paddling!
We took out canoes, kayaks, rowboats, and pedal boats. We did fun relay races and obstacle courses. There was an award for the winning level too. I loved it because I love being on the water and because the girls loved it too! Seeing some of them trying and learning new things and stepping out of their comfort zones was fun. I got a really good workout too when a girl flipped her kayak and filled it and I had to swim it to shore to dump it.
The Piedmont ward sang at our music night!
We took an exhausted (see my hair falling out of the ponytail) last day of camp photo! We will need to try a fresh-face one at the start of camp next time! I love Amber, our stake camp director, and Julie and Gabriela!
Katherine and friends at a late-over.
Danny and Coach Jason enjoyed the late-over too.
Next up, tons of all-star softball and baseball!
Intermingled, Grant went to FSY at SVU! He has some pics, so hopefully I can add a few.
Another one of our great missionary friends, Alex Newbold, and his family came to visit VA. It was really fun to see him and to meet his sister and parents! They came with us to a Culpeper Cavaliers game and also came by Grant's game the next day! I am sure that they probably hadn't planned on quite so much baseball, but it was sure nice of them to roll with it. Hopefully, they will stop by again sometime on their way between CT and Hilton Head.
Another favorite sister, Megan Benson, and her mom and stepdad came to visit VA and came through Culpeper! It was such a fun surprise and great to catch up with sweet Megan and to meet her family. Her parents play a lot of pickleball and that made Danny and I think that might be a fun hobby to try.
V had fun spending time with some of her friends, like Ava and Ashton and others, who were home from college.
Ok, I am going to need to find the actual pictures, but... Grant was on one of his best friends, Juliana Hernandez's quincenera court! This was a picture from their photo shoot a couple weeks prior. They practiced a lot for several months and had so much fun in the process. I was super sad to miss the actual party, but I was able to see pictures and videos of their dances. So fun!
The reason I missed it was a good one! Girls weekend with Ashley!
We had so much fun catching up, eating good food, and shopping all day long! She's just one of my favorites and I love that we can go ages without talking, texting, anything and just pick right back up.
Back to softball, Coach Danny, Katherine, and the whole team were pretty pumped to win districts again!!!
We love it when V is home for a couple days each week!
Ok, ignore the high-sticking, Kather took an opportunity to learn more about field hockey when the CCHS girls put on a summer camp!
She learned a lot and had fun with friends! It is so fun that a lot of her friends from softball pop up at events like this, volleyball, sports camp etc. It is going to be fun to see which sports they pick and excel in once they are in high school!
Haha, I didn't order, but look at how funny this pic is!
Grant's team progressed through districts too! They had several rain delays and cancelations.
They won districts too!!!! This was especially cool for Grant because he played up this year ( he could have played on the Junior team). Proud of them and loved watching their exciting last game. We didn't enjoy the crazy tantrum/near fight from a parent on the opposing team. Eek. We look forward to another month of All-stars. The only issue is that the state tournaments overlap, but they aren't too far away- Newport News and VA Beach. Danny and I can divide and conquer and try to see as many games as possible.
Also, V went to a Josh Turner concert with her friend, Ryan. They had fun and she loves Josh Turner’s voice.
Christian, V, Danny, any other big events from the month? (When I am so behind on blogging, I rely on the pictures over my memory and I may forget the main details.)
