Another wonderful time visiting with family. Uncle Matthew and his family came out to visit too.
Kind of a silly new tradition that Hannah & Claire started, roasting carrots

Hannah, Mom, Claire, Stephanie, and Derek at the pier in Olympia

Down at the pier in Olympia with Uncle Matthew, Landon and Derek.

We love this tradition of roasting marshmallows for s'mores at both sets of Grandparents. I hope the kids remember this fun tradition.

Derek's Scout Camp

Great summer days

Today haas been a great summer day. I was able to take the day off to spend it with my kids. I am SO grateful my job is do flexible like that.

I was able to take Hannah to the library where she volunteers. I was just about ready to leave when she texted me to tell me to come in & she wanted it to be a surprise. I came back & they were doing a Harry Potter project. She knows how much I love Harry Potter. (the kids love Harry almost as much as I do.) They were helping kids to make Harry Potter pins & bookmarks which of course we made. There was also a drawing thay she helped met get registered for, & we won! We won a Harry Potter t-shirt. It was fun to experience it with her!

Hannah also went with me to get some tassels for the beautiful curtains she helped me pick out for my room. It looks great. We are going to take a picture to send to my Mom. She is great like that. She is always so interested in what we are doing.

I have always wished I had more kids. Sometimes it is hard for me. I miss what (no who)I wish that i could had had/known. We have neighbor kids that come over & I sure am glad thay they come over. Like right now, I have 2 in the pool outside, 2 on the computer & two playing in the living room. I love a house full of happy kids.

Baseball with Derek

Wow, what a great day! Derek & I played baseball for almost an hour and Koda was a great fielder for us. She is getting much better at bringing the ball to us. Derek LOVES playing baseball. Fortunately I can pitch decent but Derek can hit really well. I am so proud of him. He stays with it even when it's hard. It rained on us the whole time but Derek stayed with it. Fortunately I was able to stay under a tree so I didn't get as soaked as he did.

Hannah has a goal to finish the Book of Mormon together as a family by the time she turns 15. We looked to see how many pages we have and then we checked to see how many days we have before Hannah turns 15 and we figured we only have to read a little over 2 pages a day to reach our goal. I am so glad that my kids have such great desires in their goals.

I am so grateful both the kids love and understand at their young age the importance of going to church and reading the scriptures. They really help to bring the spirit in our home.

Hannah has been reading a ton this summer. She just finished her 5th book. She is also volunteering at the library every Wednesday and Thursday. She loves it. She gets to help set up for summer activities for kids.

Derek can't wait until he can start volunteering too. He would also love to babysit. We miss the family that we used to babysit for.

I really believe that my kids are a product of my Mom & Dad. They were and are such great examples and great parents for me to learn from. The older I get and the longer I am a Mother the more truly amazing my Mom and Dad become.