July

This summer has passed in the blink of an eye.   I can hardly believe we are nearing the end of July of our last summer in St John.

For the 4th of July we hosted a street taco fest with Drippys, Jrippys, Mom and Dad and Dale and Nancy.  We swam and ate and all went to Endicott for fireworks.  I regretted the political discussion I got into with Uncle Dale over President Trump.  Tony and I have a hard time seeing a balanced side of current president and would best describe him as an idiot.  Other than that, it was another movie-perfect holiday. Jeff and Stacey stayed the night so we got to enjoy them all to ourselves.

Tony and I spent an evening at Rock Lake, just the two of us.  We skied and then spent a half and hour floating in the water and crying.  We will miss our private lake.  We have had so many happy memories there.

Last week we spent 5 days at Diamond Lake with the Blughesworths.  Our first day was beautiful and sunny, and it was fun to have Mom and Dad join us.  From then on, it was cold and rainy.  We skied and surfed in the rain, ate well, watched movies and played games.  The kids discovered the George board, a big circle behind the boat that several kids can fit on.  One evening Max and Jack went on the boat in their clothes to watch the skiers.  It looked so fun that they stripped to their underwear and socks and double skied on two skies up and down the lake three times.  It was hilarious.  The biggest news of the week was that Hainsworths are buying a lake place.  We couldn't wait to tour it and plan future reunions there.  We are happy (and conveniently)  donate or furniture and big table to the lake place we have dubbed, "Carpe Skiem"  (skieze the day).  Since Hainsworths are remodeling house, Barrows are building a house and we are buying a house, we spent a lot of time being very materialistic and browsing houses online.  I'm really thankful for friends who will help make the big decisions in life and are at the hard junctions.

This weekend we had the pleasure of hosting Jackie and Fahd, Cooper's birth mom and her husband.  They joined us Friday night for street tacos and a quick run to the lake. Cooper got to show off his skiing and surfing skills and we got to show off our beautiful lake.  On Saturday we enjoyed breakfast together and then took the 15 minute St John tour:  the school, the garden, the store and ice cream.  That afternoon Cooper took them to Pullman for a tour of his home and then up to Steptoe Butte.
Meanwhile, I met all the Rippy at the temple where Evan received his endowment in preparation to serve a mission in Lisbon Portugal.  I'm so thankful that instead of mourning that my boys didn't serve missions, I can just enjoy the miracle of Evan choosing to serve.  It was a really lovely evening and I needed that infusion of priesthood power.

That evening we played games and ate snacks