A lovely afternoon and an early evening

 Ted and I were able to celebrate a graduation this afternoon.  We enjoyed a lovely afternoon of food and fellowship! 

I'm just thankful for the beautiful summer evenings this past week.  I am always reminded that time spent with people is encouraging to them...and in turn...is encouraging to us!  I get tired of people "whining" about how busy they are.  You are as busy as you want to be.  Sometimes...you need to say "No!"...but other times, it is important to say "Yes!"  I don't want to always be focused on me, me, me.  It is a miserable way to live.  There are times...you have to look out from yourself and your desires and your time and your rest and your schedule...and remember "It is not all about me!"  The blessings in the busy-ness have been many this week.  I am thankful for the busy-ness of the week!
And there has been plenty of time to rest this evening...in order to be ready for tomorrow...
and the next week!

Our Crafty 12 Year Old

 An art themed birthday extravaganza for three friends...

 Trying not to grimace or spazz out with the sour war heads in their mouths.

 I gave them the ideas and tools...and they created pretty pieces.

 Laughing and talking and snacking...

 Late night cake and ice cream...

 Happy Birthday to our sweet girl!

 Colorful fun for just girls!

 "I found these ideas on pinterest and I hope they work!  I'll try first...oh yah!  They work!"

 So cool!  And fun too!

 "These will look so neat with a picture or verse clipped on it."

 "I'm sensing a theme with your colors!"

"I'm going to put a word on the bottom...probably with the sticker letters."  We had a lovely time doing the "artsy fartsy things".  Thank you to the guys in our family for vacating to do guy things at the campground!  And thank you, Lord, for beautiful weather and no rain overnight!

More Messy Monday Fun

 Shaving cream and used coffee grounds (dirt) and plastic animals!

 Thanks, Mr. Ted, for saving the grounds for us!

 Homemade "moon sand" made with a five pound bag of flour and 1 1/2 cups of vegetable oil.

Made for great snow to sprinkle all over the yard as they got tired of playing with it in the table...and I didn't feel bad as they "wasted" it.  Cheap and biodegradable!  Win win!

Church Camping 2014

 We checked in first and got set up before others started rolling in...kind of nice...since this was our second time setting up our new tents!  Teddy was our "go to guy"!

 Waiting for friends and family to show up...and set up.

 Uncle Pastor's truck was over-flowing with bikes!  Thank you for bringing our three!

 Many hands make light work!

 Sitting around the fire on Friday afternoon...in the rain.

Annual Prison Ball Game...in the drizzly rain.

 70 plus people gathered around the fire for singing and testimonies...

 Our fire keeper...

 The cookie passer...um, keeper...

Just a neat time!  And then the rain came down stronger and we gathered under the big tent and some of us went to bed earlier than later.

Sights of summer

 The lupine came up again this year!  The rest of the flower boxes and planters are weedy and in need of flowers.

 Interesting sunsets and storm clouds.

 Fresh strawberries from my sis.

 City fireworks from the church parking lot.

 Swimming at the lake.

 Well, watching the kiddos swim at the lake...still a little chilly.

So thankful for our Dad!

 Happy Father's Day to our wonderful Dad and Husband!  So thankful for his leadership in our home!