July

July was a fun month for us!  Rebecah started it off by attending Young Women camp.  She was on the fence about attending camp because she doesn't have many friends at church and none of them were attending camp.  She also didn't want to miss the annual 4th of July party that we attend at the Dolson's house.  We made a compromise and she went for two days and I picked her up the morning of the 4th so she could still attend the party with us.  She had a good time at camp even though she was hesitant to go.

4th of July party at the Dolson's house.

Rebecah and Melanie

Eden, Annika, Lincoln and Brooke

We signed the younger kids up for camps this year through our town.  Eden did a tennis camp,  Annika art camp, and Lincoln golf camp.  All three kids had fun at their respective camps and they hope to be able to do camps next year, too.

We took our annual trip to St. Louis.  Joseph's parents moved back to St. Louis so we split our time evenly between my family and Joseph's family.  We had some Johnson cousin time on Saturday.  

We attended church and visited Grandpa Johnson's headstone at the cemetery, and had a little more cousin time on Sunday.  

Rebecah and Rosie

Christian and Lincoln are such good friends every year when we visit!  They would be besties if we lived in the same area!  They have such fun together.

The girl cousins have a great time together, too.  I think there are always tears when we have to leave each other!  This year was especially hard since we had to shorten our Johnson visit to spend time with our Coffey family.  

Annika, Ruby, Eden, Rosie, Rebecah

Annika, Ruby, Eden

At the cemetery.  It was very hot when we visited so it was a short visit!

On Monday Joseph took the three younger kids to Johnson's Shut-Ins.  Lincoln cut his hand on a rock after an hour so they ended up leaving the water early and making a quick trip to Elephant Rocks, too.  

Lincoln drew this picture for Christian our last morning at Grammy's house.  It was a picture of Lincoln and Christian.  It was so sweet! 

Monday evening we drove up to O'Fallon where Joseph's parents now live.  Tuesday morning we met up with Spencer's family for some Top Golf.  Top Golf seems to be a regular activity when we travel.  Just about everyone enjoys it.  

None of these next pictures are very good since we are shooting into the light, but the kids love taking pictures of the golfers.

Lincoln

Joseph

Rebecah

Eden

Annika

With Spencer's family

Tuesday afternoon all of our outside plans were canceled because a big storm rolled through the area.  Thankfully, Grandma had some crafts up her sleeve to keep the kids busy.

On Wednesday we took a day trip to Nauvoo.  The kids hadn't been there and it was fun to see a few of the sites, including the new sites that were recently purchased from the Community of Christ church.  There is a lot to see and do in Nauvoo, so we really needed longer than one day to see everything, but I enjoyed the trip.  We started our day at Carthage, IL to tour the jail. The tour was probably the highlight for everyone.

Nauvoo Visitor's Center and Temple

Other Sites in Nauvoo

Blacksmith shop

Red Brick Store

Second Floor of the Red Brick Store

Mansion House

Thursday we went to a water park and had a family dinner in the evening.  I'm so frustrated that I didn't think to take any pictures when the family was all together!  

We got up early to drive back home Friday morning.  It was a long day and I found Lincoln like this after we got home:

Kimball stayed home to work instead of joining us on our trip to St. Louis.  He was able to get a second job this month at Denny's so he can earn extra money for his trip to the Netherlands.  Most weeks he works between 30-35 hours.  Fridays and Saturdays are his long days working a shift at both restaurants.  

He leaves in less than three months and everything is starting to become real.  We bought luggage this month, a computer, and other things he'll need for his trip.

It was a big month for Rebecah.  She received her patriarchal blessing on July 21.  It was a wonderful, spiritual experience for her and me!  We have such a wonderful patriarch and he asked if he could take pictures with us so we happily agreed.

Rebecah with Brother Tom Kerr

The day after Rebecah's patriarchal blessing she left for a week at FSY.  She had a blast!!  She roomed with a friend from church so she had a friend in her company.  She loved all of the activities and classes.  She didn't enjoy the food and lost a few pounds while she was gone.  The highlight of her week was having Brother Brad Wilcox from the Young Men General Presidency show up for the last two days.  She said he brought a special spirit to the meetings where he spoke.

Rebecah's company won the skit competition!

Brad Wilcox and Rebecah

Every year we grow a small garden. Some years and some plants are more successful than others.  This year our green beans were a bust!  The tomatoes have done pretty well.  We tried cucumbers and zucchini for the first time this year.  It has been fun to go searching through the leaves looking for zucchini and cucumbers before they get too huge.  We had two large zucchini when we got back from St. Louis that were only good for bread, but we have had quite a few smaller ones that we have enjoyed eating.  The cucumber plants are huge and we have had 5-8 cucumbers.  Lincoln pretty much eats them as fast as I pick them.  I discovered two that were bigger than I would have liked, but surprisingly, they weren't too seedy and still had a good flavor.  

One month until school starts!

June

We had a great June! 

The soccer season finally kicked off after a few weeks of cancelled games because the fields were too wet.  

Eden and Maddy played on the same team again this year.  Both girls have grown in confidence and Eden touched the ball more during her first game than she did all last year.  She really enjoyed the season and her coach.

Kimball refed again this year.  He's a really good ref and the coaches 

love having him officiate their games.

Annika is with the same team she has been playing with the last four years.  Her team really missed Lincoln this year and Lincoln really missed playing.  He had a lot regret that he chose to play baseball instead of soccer.  Next year he's back to soccer.

Back to Annika.  She had a great season.  She scored one goal this season.  She assisted in a lot of other goals as she passed to an open player and that girl scored.  It was fun watching the teamwork of Annika and two others as they scored goals for their team.

Rebecah had a band field trip to Sea Breeze amusement park.  The weather was rainy all morning so the poor kids had to go around the park soaking wet.  Rebecah still had fun though.

Rebecah with Melanie on the second to last day of school.  I wasn't home on her last day of school so this picture has to count as her "last day" picture.

I went to St. Louis for three days to celebrate Heather's 40th birthday.  We just hung out the entire time, but I had a great time.  We ate yummy food and I made yummy chocolate dipped heath bit cookies for her birthday treat. I was glad Joseph could manage the home front so I could get away for a few days.

The elementary school always has a Flag Day presentation where they honor servicemen with children at the school.  Annika's class lead the school in the pledge of allegiance with sign language.

Kimball attended the closing Rotary Youth Exchange picnic for all of the inbound and outbound students.  He had a good time and took a lot of pictures with the inbound students that he won't see again.

Annika's class had a parent appreciation time so I went in to her class.  Annika read a letter she wrote to Joseph and me.  Her classmates took turns sharing one thing they like about Annika.  Annika's teacher was really sweat and she bought specialized treats for all of the parents when they came to the class.  Joseph had a jelly filled donut and I had a brownie.

Annika on the golf course.  We had a heat wave the last full week of school.  Two days of school were shortened to half days.  The elementary school doesn't have air conditioning so with temps in the mid 90s it was too hot for the children to be in the school in the afternoons.  The kids were also off school for Juneteenth.  On one of those hot days, Joseph, Lincoln and Annika braved the heat and went golfing.

It's a tradition that the outgoing 4th grade students do one last lap around the school before leaving.  Well, this year the 3rd grade classes did the farewell lap, too.  Next year our school will undergo renovation and the 3rd and 4th graders will move up to the middle school as 4th and 5th graders.  Grades 1-3 will go to an empty school 15 minutes away and the Kindergarten will join another elementary in our district for the year. 

Baseball finally ended!!  I forgot just how long the baseball season last....3 months.  I've said it before and I'll say it again...I don't like baseball, and sitting through these games was purely done out of my love for Lincoln.  Lincoln's team, the Colorado Rockies, did very well this year.  In the playoffs they made it to the "world series" game.  Unfortunately, they lost that game.  Lincoln took it really hard since it was his out that ended the game.  His team would have lost even if he hadn't gotten out.  Lincoln enjoyed the season, though, and while I don't love baseball, I was proud of him for trying something new, even if it helped him see that he is happier playing soccer.  The second to last game was a good game and it was the only game where I wasn't bored.  Lincoln's team was the underdog team the entire game.  Each inning they would slowly narrow the gap only to have the other team widen the game at the top of each inning.  In the last inning the other team was up by 5 runs.  It was amazing to watch Lincoln's team find their momentum and score 6 runs to win the game 21-20.  I'm sure it was a hard pill for the other team to swallow. I usually leave the games early to get the girls to bed, but we stayed until the bitter end of this game and everyone just got to bed late.

Rebecah and I helped with the freeze pop station at Eden's fun day. I was glad we could stay in the shade because it was hot in the sun.

Charlotte, Eden and Ella

Eden and Mrs. Fenton

The last day of school was a half day.  Lincoln went to the local beach with his friend Lucas.  The girls and I joined them later.  Lucas's family and my kids had a great time playing together.

Last Day of school pictures.  The last picture is with Caleb, the little boy that lives across the street.  Lincoln has become a good friend to Caleb even though Lincoln is 3 years old than Caleb.  Caleb will come play basketball or catch with Lincoln and Lincoln is so patient with him.

The Tour de France started!  This is always the highlight of Kimball's summer and possibly year.  If you've never watched the Tour de France there is an awards podium after every stage of the Tour.  Colored jerseys are given for the winner of the stage, the best young ride, the best climber, and the fastest rider during the sprints.  Each winner is given their colored jersey and a stuffed animal that coincides with their color.  Lincoln and Kimball decided to dress in the green (sprint) and yellow (winner of the stage) jerseys respectively in honor of the first day.

Our summer break is just beginning.  We have a lot of plans and camps for the next 10 weeks.  Kimball's flight plans have been finalized and that was the last thing needed before his trip to the Netherlands.  He will leave on his 17th birthday!