Daddy's girl

Holly loves to mow the lawn with Don.  She thinks that it is fun.  They looked so cute out there together.  I was so proud of Don, it was hot outside and letting Holly help takes twice the  time, but he was bonding with his girl.

Holly loves her daddy, and her little smile melts his heart.  I can see many daddy daughter dates in the future.

Take me out to the ball game

We went to Mormon day at our local baseball field to watch a baseball game.  It was dollar hot dog day.  The concession stand person said they have never sold so many hot dogs.  I thought she has never had so many Mormon's there before, we are a frugal people!

Holly loved hang out with the other girls from our stake.  Some older girls (actually young adults)  took the kids to the kids place area to play.  Can you dig Holly's side pony tail?  She did it herself.

Josh trying to get the game.

And us, should never go with someone taking a picture going up, but going down. I love when we get to go together as family.  One of the best parts was we got in free because of a reading thing the kids did.  They each got two free tickets.  I think this may have to be a family tradition as long as we can cash in on that.  We didn't stay for the whole game or we would have been there to midnight it was slow going but Don and I enjoyed it.

Bowl BABY

One of the things we like to do every now and then as a family is bowl.

Holly does pretty good with bumpers.

Josh is trying to not granny it.  You know, he is getting older.  I just have  a hard time explaining to him how to hold it because he is left handed an I'm right handed.

Fourth of July fun

We went to Mississippi for the fourth of July.  We decided to take a road trip to Shiloh and see the historical site.

This is inside the museum.

Here we are at the cemetery, did I mention it was quite HOT!

Checking out the headstone.

We also went to some cemeteries in Mississippi to see some family headstones.  Every year before school is out we make a list of fun things to do, going to a cementary was one of Holly's ideas.

Holly in grandma's curlers.  Just had to add it because it is cute.

Berry Pickin'

We went berry pickin' with our friends the Pehrson's and

Susan.  My kids love Susan.  Every Monday we go to her house so I can quilt and they watched Netflix and had a cookie or two that Susan always had ready for them.  I think going to her house was one of the things the kids would miss when school started again.

We picked blueberries and Susan picked blackberries. Yum, but man it was hot!

Cub Scouts here we come

 Josh has been counting down until the time he could go to Cub Scouts.  He goes to a troop that meets at our church building.  His den leader is awesome, she has a ton of boys since the beginning of summer.  Oma and Opa gave him part of his uniform and we got the rest. 

One of their activities they went to the firehouse and took a tour.  The firemen got a call while we were there, but they came back shortly after leaving.  The firemen were very patient and answered all our questions.

 I think this was the best part of the tour.  They turned on the hose and the boys played in the spray that dropped from the main stream.  He has gone swimming, picked up trash at the park, worked on Faith in God and other goals, and he is still excited.

Josh's baptism

I can't believe he is already this old.  My little bug already baptized.  From the moment I entered the room I started to cry.  The Elders had set up the font and room.  They put out the nice chairs had a table with the podium on it; another table with tablecloth on it and pictures of children and Christ and a small round table with flowers and a place for programs and to sign-in at the door.  They even pushed in the piano.  It was beautiful!  That started the cry fest right there.

Don was the one to baptize Josh.  As he said the prayer he choked up, it was sweet.  Josh was beaming when he came out of the water.

We tried to make it a family affair, unfortunately Don's parents couldn't make it at the end so we rearrange somethings.  I wanted all the grandparents to be involved for sure.  I had Holly give the opening prayer, Aunt Arwen gave a talk on Baptism, Don baptized and Uncle Mike and Opa witnessed, the cousins sang a song, Oma gave a talk on the Holy Ghost and I said the closing prayer.  It was a spiritual experience that I will always cherish, I think Josh liked it too.