Trampolines, Birthdays and an Anniversary

So, since it's been a while I thought I would give a quick update on our family. But first, Ryan and I want to give a BIG THANKS to everyone at Bear Lake who helped our kids have a very fun and memorable time. Especially thank you to Mom and Dad for offering to take our kids under their wing. They had a wonderful time and they talk about it often!! If in any of your picture takings you come across photos of our children, we would love to have a copy!

June was a very busy month for our family, as I'm sure it has been with others. We celebrated Sarah's birthday at the beginning of the month. She got clothes for her doll, a sleeping beauty princess and some pet shops. She is quite the amazing girl. We love her zest for life even if it means getting up at the early morning hours to start the day. She has the most consistent body clock. Always up no later than 6:00 am.

June was also the month of the Trampoline. We decided as a family that instead of doing lots of little presents for Christmas we would do one big present, which was a trampoline. And instead of waiting till Christmas to get it we got it now. After the three hour setup we have been loving every minute of trampoline fun. This Christmas we will be enjoying less stress of Christmas shopping and more focus on the Savior and doing something different--we have plans to spend Christmas up in Washington State with my family. My sister Paula, who lives in SLC right now, is moving up to Washington the end of the summer! Sad! So I will officially have zero immediate family in the near proximity. I guess we'll just make sure we visit WA a bit more than we used to!

Ryan and I celebrated our 12th anniversary on the 21st this past month. We celebrated a couple of days before, by going to do sealings in the Salt Lake Temple and out to dinner at the Roof restaurant. We had a unique experience doing sealings in that we had a chance to help in sealing a family of parents to their 8 children all at the same time! It was a sweet moment and we are thankful for the privilege to have been a part of that event. Of course dinner was great and delicious! We sure enjoyed the evening out and the time together alone. Some year we would love to be able to get away for a couple days just the two of us! But, I guess that just isn't in the plan right now. We are so grateful for our marriage and all the joy and strength it brings us.

I think Joshua had about three birthday parties. The one up at Bear Lake, one at home the Sunday after with family and then just this week he had a friend party. He had a lot of fun being a "mad scientist" with his friends. We bought all kinds of ingredients that are fun to mix, especially vinegar and baking soda, and they got to mix and combine whatever and how much they wanted. It was a fun party and perfect for a group of 9 year old boys.

Girl's Camp was an amazing and challenging experience in one! I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to go, and that I could go with the help of my awesome husband who took the week off so that I could! It truly was a unique opportunity to be with the young women in a setting out of the craziness of the world and be able to focus on the things of the spirit without distraction!

In general we are doing great! We are grateful for the good harvest of our garden. It's been so fun to eat fresh vegetables and they taste so much better than store bought stuff! We've also been working on redoing the girls (Lydia and Sarah's) bedroom, so that there is more room to play in. Which translates to finding bunkbeds. Our neighbor down the street was getting rid of some for 75$. The perfect price for us! So this next week we will be painting and creating a fun new space for them.

Lastly, we've been very grateful as of late for all the help our Heavenly Father has given our family as we have incorporated a new budget system. We have truly been blessed as we have been able to live more fully in our means and to feel that we have a better handle and understanding of how our money is being spent and saved. We have found that it has been a blessing to our children, as they have had an opportunity to become increasingly aware of how to get the most for the money. When we were planning Joshua's party, we told him how much we had to spend for the party and then he came to the store to help get the supplies. It was a lot of fun and a good learning experience! This new budget has been a testimony to me that the Lord is truly mindful of each of us and our individual needs, and that as we call upon Him for help and guidance He will truly help us turn our weakness into strengths!

We hope everyone has a marvellous summer! We love you all and are so grateful for the examples you are to us! Thank you for being so wonderful!

Love Ryan and Jenn and family