July 2022

 Richie turns 37!

Early morning harvests with the Missionary volunteers, then shelling peas while watching "Cowboys". He requested steak and potatoes for dinner with pecan pie for dessert. :) 

4th of July

We spend the morning and afternoon with the Fogles. They rented a bouncy house!! Then that night, we did our basic "fireworks" at home (sparklers and pop its) and then watched bigger ones across the valley on top of our roof. 

Lots of Park and Library Days! This was the first summer we really tried out Lake Lowell and Eagle Island.  Grateful for adventurous friends who push me out of my bubble. 

We cashed in our Roaring Readers passes! Miles invited his friend Bou and she treated us to ice cream.

Miles had a blast at YM camp. I'm so grateful for leaders who put time in to planning things like this. 

We had to say goodbye to the Fogles. It was a hard one and many tears were shed. They were our homeschool co-op and best friends to our kids. Lauren is one of my dearest friends, and it was really hard to see them go, even though I'm happy for her that she gets to go live near family.

The girls worked hard for weeks and involved quite a few friends to put on a lemonade/slime stand.  I think after I paid for all of the supplies, hauled their adorable but heavy sign and other supplies out there, and bought 2 cups of lemonade... they each made a couple of dollars. 

I love it when the kids complete a bingo chart, and their prize is something else learning based that they love. It's such a win-win! 

July Homestead happenings etc.  Watering turn, gym wall painting, beet harvest, pesto making, Lady had babies! (Ida and Midge), Rich and Rach collect and  hay bales, new calendula soap, new egg layers, cute piggies

Garner Family Trip 2022- California

 The Garner side doesn't always do a family reunion every year. All of the siblings are spread across the country and schedules can be hard to work around. We felt so lucky that we had almost everyone on this trip to CA.  

One of my favorite memories was us singing along to Miles playing the ukulele while we drove down.  Having older kids is such a fun adventure!  We got to Ross and Amandas to spend the night in preparation for our drive to our camping site. The next morning, our van wouldn't start. We sent Lindy on along with an extra seat in Ross and Amanda's car, but the rest of us had to spend the majority of the behind at Ross and Amandas while our car was in the shop, which was kind of a bummer, but it could have been a lot worse!

We made it to our campsite that night. The next day, we hit up the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Outings like this are worth it, but always stress me out a bit.  crowded spaces, kids...etc. We also managed to hit up 2 different beaches on this trip and the Redwood Forest! The kids thought it was cool that they could all walk inside a tree! We really know how to maximize our time! It was so magical and I'm so grateful we get to help create these memories for our kids!