A Little of This and That in June

A few weeks ago, Mike and I were at the grocery store. An older gentleman was in front of us in the checkout line. He had his groceries divided up into four or five different groups. He paid for each group of items separately and sorted the bags in his cart to keep track of which was which. Turns out, he was shopping for several of his neighbors who no longer have the health to go to the store for themselves. They have been his neighbors for many years. He himself looked like he was in his 80's, but he makes this grocery run every week. It warmed my heart to see it, and so I just wanted to begin this month's update with a feel good moment. And now for June's happenings, including . . . 

Kicking . . . off the month with an epic roadtrip to the midwest with half of Mike's family (his parents, two sisters, and one brother--32 of us, all together). We went to Missouri where we went to Silver Dollar City (an amusement park), Independence/Liberty/Haun's Mill/Farr West for some church history, and Hannibal for a boat ride and a cave tour (we listened to Tom Sawyer on the drive in preparation). Then we drove to Nauvoo, Illinois. We rented a big house for all of us and spent several days going on tours, watching performances, attending the temple, chasing fireflies, and hunkering down during a tornado warning. It was such a fun, memorable time, and I hope to write a more extensive post about it soon, but here's a little peek. 

Volunteering . . . at Primary's. I have been nagging Aaron for over a year to find a volunteer or service opportunity. He finally filled out an application to provide music at Primary Children's Hospital. He went to the training, got a TB test, and had his first day playing the piano the week after we got back from Nauvoo. 

Playing . . . at the pool. We didn't spend a ton of time at the pool in June due to all our traveling. However, my mom and brother came over one day, and we even convinced Bradley to come with the younger crew and me. I usually try to get to the pool right when it opens to beat the afternoon crowds, but we weren't able to go until about noon, and we still had the pool mostly to ourselves for the first hour. Days like these are the reason why I keep our pool membership year after year. It is just so nice to be able to play at a quiet pool and to usually find a friend or two there as well. Sonja also took the younger boys one day while Mike and I were gone later in the month. 

Holding . . . a tiny new niece. Mike's brother and his wife had a baby, and they were kind enough to let us drop by at the last minute (and on the day they got home from the hospital, no less). But it was amazing to see and hold this sweet baby fresh from heaven.  

Taking . . . the lead on Father's Day. I brainstormed a few ideas with the boys for Mike for Father's Day and helped them fill out and laminate their traditional questionnaires, but then they did everything else. Aaron took Max and Bradley to Trader Joe's where the three of them loaded up on snacks and treats for Mike. They each claimed a part of breakfast and made it: biscuits and gravy and bacon and muffins and juice. For the teenagers, this was harder than you might imagine since it required them to get up before 8:00am. Mike made himself dinner, which is the way he likes it, and it was a nice day overall. I saw my own dad a couple of days before when we went out for dinner with him and my mom. And Mike's dad stopped by briefly on Father's Day. 

Growing . . . rapidly. As evidenced by the stretch marks on his back, Bradley has been shooting up in height. He grew more than an inch in just three months. He's just about neck and neck with Max, and if he keeps up this pace, he'll probably also catch Aaron in the next year. 

Fulfilling . . . a long-time dream of mine. I have wanted to go to Prince Edward Island ever since I was a teenager. I always answered the question, "What is your dream vacation?" without hesitation: Prince Edward Island. So with my 40th birthday and 20th wedding anniversary this year, it seemed liked if ever there was a perfect time to take a dream vacation, this was it. Our dear friends, James and Kathy, came too, and having their company made the trip even better. I had anticipated this trip for so long and built it up in my mind so much that I was worried it wouldn't/couldn't deliver. But it did, and then some. Every expectation was met and exceeded. It so strange to be on the other side of it now and to be done with the anticipating and dreaming and instead be remembering fondly (and longing to go back!). Blog post with more details and photos to come. 

Finishing . . . the Anne series by L.M. Montgomery. I reread (or relistened) to all eight books in the series in preparation for our PEI trip. I was still listening to the last one when we left, and I finished it on the flight home. It was so much fun to return to this series: the characters, misadventures, scenery, heart. I think I liked it even more this time than before, probably because Mike and the Gardners were reading it alongside me and also because I was filled with so much anticipation over seeing the things described in the books. My favorites ended up being: Anne of Green Gables (#1), Anne's House of Dreams (#5), and Rilla of Ingleside (#8). After finishing the series, I decided to read the companion novels (Chronicles and Further Chronicles of Avonlea), and it doesn't look like my interest in reading L.M. Montgomery's work is going to diminish anytime soon. The trip to PEI just fueled my love of her writing. 

Seeing . . . an idea come to life. Speaking of Anne and PEI, I had a spark of an idea late last year before we even had definite dates set or plane tickets purchased: what if I recreated one of the knitwear items worn in the 1985 adaptation of Anne of Green Gables? I finally put the plan into motion as I rewatched the series, taking screen shots of any knitwear items I spotted. One immediately stood out to me: a blue cardigan that Anne wears in many scenes in the second half of the first movie. I took as many screenshots of it as I could to try to capture it at all angles. I took note of the construction and details: large gauge, raglan, crewneck, buttonband, textured panel. I selected the yarn I wanted to use and swatched on a couple of needle sizes. I then tackled the textured panel and swatched eight different patterns before finally landing on the one I wanted to use. I made some calculations and played around with numbers. I used a basic cardigan pattern as a jumping off point for cast on numbers but then took the wheel from there. I finally jumped into the actual cardigan . . . and then ripped it out and started over. But the second time was better, and before too long, the cardigan started taking shape. I had to make frequent decisions at various points along the way, and I studied the screenshots I had originally taken over and over again. At some point, I also had the thought, "Why stop with the cardigan? Why not make a whole outfit?" So I sewed a blouse and a skirt as well. It came together with only days left to spare, and I wore it on the day we visited a lot of the Anne sites. As I stood it front of Green Gables, it was a pinch me moment for sure. 

Trying . . . to finish another item for PEI. I'm sorry this update has been so full of PEI projects, but these were in the works for months, and this was when they finally came to fruition, or not, as in the case of this knitted top. I really wanted to make this very nautical/coastal (or patriotic, depending on the situation) top to wear on the red cliffs of PEI. It was probably two-thirds of the way done when we left on our trip, and I hoped I would be able to finish it while we were still there. I knitted on it a lot (as the Gardners can attest), but I made a mistake in the pattern and had to rip it back, which added time, plus it just wasn't a fast project at all due to it being made with small needles and thin yarn. But I got enough of it done that it was wearable, so on our very last morning, I got the photos I wanted. It was missing the ribbing on one of the sleeves and the buttonband down the back, but no one would ever know. . . (The skirt was also handmade. I sewed it before we left, and I love it so much. I've worn it so many times.) (Oh, and I'm including a photo of the back of the completed top because I finished it just a couple of days after we got back home.)

Making . . . music at band camp. Clark played the saxophone in a band camp for the whole month of June. It was every day for two hours. He missed the first week due to our Nauvoo trip, but luckily, he already knew the basics of the saxophone and was able to catch up quickly when he started. He did it with a couple of his friends, so he always had someone to ride the bus with. The final concert was the same night that Mike and I flew home from PEI, so we missed it, which made me sad since it was Clark's very first time playing with a band. Aaron and Max went to support him instead. Junior high band: here Clark comes!

Getting . . . a visit from the Langstraats. Our friends from Arizona stopped by for the afternoon and evening on their last day in Utah. They have so many friends and family in Utah, and we were honored we made the cut and got to spend some time with them. We all picked up right where we left off in January and talked and ate and played games. We were just missing Curtis who had already flown back to Arizona to work. I've mentioned before how much I love that our kids have become such good friends when this friendship originally started with just two newly married couples. Nathan will be leaving on a mission soon, and so it somehow feels like all these lovely times we've had together over the years will never be quite the same now that someone will probably always be missing from this point on. 

Taking . . . on a big organizational project. Bradley will sometimes get on a little cleaning/organizing kick. This time, with no prompting from me, he decided to sort through all the Lego bins. We have them divided by color, but they get played with a lot, so invariably, the colors get a little mixed over time. It took him many hours to go through all of them, and once he was done with that, he decided the toy room itself also needed a revamp. He organized and moved things around, and it was so much better by the time he was done! Clark decided it looked like fun and started helping partway through the process. If I had asked them to do this big job, they would have whined and complained the whole time, but because it was their idea, they went about it with enthusiasm, not minding at all that it took several days to complete. 

Adding . . . another family member to the braces group. There are now three of us in braces (but not for long . . . wait for July). Maxwell was finally, finally given the green light for braces. Every six months for the last two years, we've had consultations with our orthodontist, and each time, they said, "Here's a referral to your dentist. Go get more baby teeth pulled, and we'll take another look in six months." Max's teeth are just so slow: his baby teeth didn't want to come out, and his adult teeth didn't want to come in. But he eventually got there, which he was both happy and sad about because, really, who wants the actual process of braces? He said, "Ever since I started junior high, I have added one nerdy thing each year: in 6th grade, I fell in love with epic fantasy; in 7th grade, I got acne; in eighth grade, I got glasses; and now I have braces." 

This feels like a bit of a shorter recap than usual, probably because two weeks of this month were taken up by vacations, and I'm planning to write separate blog posts for both of those. I love June more than almost any month, and I'm always so sad when it's over.