another week of summer gone

Glen went to Young Women's camp this past week. Sounds like he had a good time.

Not much happened here.

I made another wind chime and then hung up all the ones I have outside.

My newest creation

And I did some more de-cluttering. And reading. And I took a walk each morning and thoroughly enjoyed the peace and calm that early mornings are blessed with.

I also had another visit with the chiropractor to try and fix my neck which has been bothering me for a few months now. I'm trying to improve my posture so I'm not straining my neck. I think I'm making progress.

The boys lent me their muscles so we could move the old fridge out of the kitchen to make room for the new one that should be here this week.

And that sums up things from here. A quiet week on the home front even if it wasn't a quiet week in the news.

summer happenings

In the 2 weeks since we've been home, we've been working on a lot of projects.

I recovered the dining room chairs, made a wind chime, and continued to find things to donate to the local thrift stores. Glen fixed a leak under the house, went on a hike with Alex and the other scouts Alex's age, and went fridge shopping with me when our fridge started misbehaving (new fridge to arrive on July 1st). Glen's been working on family history, putting in the garden, and getting things ready for camp. That's Young Women's camp, by the way, and not scout camp.

Yes, Glen is currently at Young Women's camp for the week, leaving Alex, Ryan, Eric, and me to our own devices. I am still deciding what I want to surprise him with--painting a wall? Fixing the hammock? Or just continue de-cluttering?

Yesterday was Father's Day. Andrew's first as a father. How grateful we are for all the wonderful men in our lives.

And now, for the photos:

I think this one is my favorite with his little tongue sticking out and his adorable smile.

having a picnic on Father's Day

Andrew's friend held a Dominion tournament. Andrew (and Henry) came in first.

My wind chime

Oregon and Henry, too!

Some of the latest photos from Andrew of Henry (and Heather) at 7 weeks:

We started summer off with a trip to visit my parents on the Oregon coast. When we arrived it was raining and foggy. But we managed to get 7 days in a row of sunshine, which is really not typical. One year we only had 1 afternoon of sunshine and all the rest of our stay was foggy. That's a bit more typical of our visits--less sunshine than cloud/fog.

Our first morning there started out foggy. Glen and I took a walk down the beach and by the time we got back 3 hours later, the sun was out to stay.

foggy Brookings Harbor

Glen going through the "elephant drinking water" rock formation

Can you see the elephant drinking water?

So, we stayed so long on the other side of the elephant rock, that on the way back, the tide was coming in and there was no way to not get a little wet. Glen managed to just get his lower legs wet. I tripped and went for a little swim. You may not be able to tell in this photo, but I'm wet from the neck down--and we still had at least an hour of walking before we reached home. A side note on my Dude Be Nice shirt (which was printed up for the high school when a special speaker came this past year)--Glen and I went to the farmer's market there and I had 4 different people tell me they loved my shirt, one of whom asked me if I had bought the shirt there because he really wanted one. It was kind of funny.

after my first time swimming in the Pacific ocean since maybe 1981 when I was in Hawaii

Ryan, Glen, and Alex having a little fun at sunset

Many people don't know that during WWII the Japanese dropped 4 bombs on the mainland of the United States. In September of 1942 a Japanese sub came to the west coast and they had a plane that dropped 2 incendiary bombs into the forest near Brookings on 2 different days. Glen's been wanting to see the bomb site for years. We tried to find it, but couldn't. This is what the road was looking like when we finally turned around. I'm so glad we didn't get stranded after having watched several tv shows the night  before of people getting stranded out in the wilderness.

So our summer started off with our 10 week no-treat challenge coming to an end. We each earned $5 for every week we went without sugar (Ryan only joined us after his mission). Besides the money, we also earned a 24 hour "treats allowed" day, which some of us have already used up (I thoroughly enjoyed my brownies and Reese's cups). We are now 1 week into our 2nd no-treat challenge. I know some people think we are crazy...and maybe we are...but the family agreed to go a second round, so it can't be too bad.