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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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!
