Day #135

We cleaned and had an at home morning. We met Darrow’s and Aina’s at the Schoeny pool after lunch and swam until 5:30. It was a much better day than last time. There was minimal fighting and I didn’t want to run away from home after an hour, always a plus. 

When we got home we found Alli making gnocchi for dinner. Have I mentioned how amazing it is to share cooking duties? I browned some butter, and then just as dinner was ready it was time for our weekly call with the missionaries. They don’t have many people to teach, and we are always happy to zoom with sweet missionaries. They talked about their missions and everyone participated and it was really nice. And then, the gnocchi. 😋 I remembered I hadn’t taken any pictures, so grabbed one of the tail end of my bowl. 

Also this morning Alli and I, mostly Alli, put together this cute bench we bought at IKEA probably a year ago. We decided to wait to put it together after we got our new carpet, and here we are. I love it!

Tonight was Alli’s turn to pick a movie and she picked 2019’s Cats. It is truly one of the weirdest things I’ve ever seen, and I watched Tiger King. 

Sunday’s have been so busy that we haven’t been having Home Evening on Monday’s because I haven’t been able to get it together. And we can have it any night, though I do like to make sure it gets done, and Monday is nice for that. And my no picture day routine. Old memes. 

We can do hard things!

Our bigs have come to us with some difficult situations, and I think they know this is true. Working to make sure it’s true for the next round too. 

I mean, this is true. Except that I do try to make my eyes especially friendly and inviting. 🤷‍♀️



These are some old Covid ones. Jackie and autumn and I shared them everyday for weeks. Also, corona isn’t funny, but We try to laugh when we can. 

💕

I know this is cheesy, but I love it so much and it made me teary back in March. All the planets...  😢 

😂

Summer 2018 Day #40

We said goodbye to family (again) and hit adventure after adventure! New Orleans kinda night!

Wish we lived closer to all the cousins! They love each other! (even Zachary who just doesn’t know it yet!)

Just a couple of cousins. 

Almost exactly 11 years between my baby brother and me. 
Nothing says family like bad pictures on a park bench. 😂

Our mom doesn’t always like her picture taken, but she was good about it this trip.  And i love this one. 💕

Back on the road. Pretty sure we listened to Percy Jackson. 2018 was the summer of Percy. 

We love gas station photo ops. And Lady Liberty. 
There was a big wreck on I-10, so we detoured to 90 and, lemonade out of lemons, got to see this cute little lighthouse. Never mind that it took us an extra 2 hours, it’s the little things.

This is such a cute little light. It was a nice pit stop to stretch and walk all around her. 

Still a mess. 

I got my fill of this little red beauty and we were off to New Orleans. 

I had read a Readers Digest article about places to eat in different cities throughout the country and surprisingly - or maybe not because I do remember food - remembered it. 
We rolled into the Big Easy with just enough time to grab world famous Hansen’s Sno-Bliz.
And look who met us there?! Auntie Alli!

From there our food tour of New Orleans continued with Morning Call Cafe’s delightful beignets.

We played at City Park until Delaney, who’s been complaining off and on of not feeling well, decided she really didn’t feel well. And then Addie threw up. Twice. Always, always an adventure!

Addie felt better after her second sick, so we played for awhile. 

New Orleans is such a cool city. Loads of problems, but so beautiful. I mean, look at this tree!
Yumma!

Feeling better, thankfully. 

We ate snacks and beignets for dinner, maybe that’s why we had sad tummies? 

Now I’ve had beignets from Cafe Du Monde and Morning Call. I also had a YW leader from Louisiana who taught me to make them, and 2020 Alli and Michelle are going to air fry some soon. 😋

Summer 2018 Day #39

We said goodbye to the adult kids in San Antonio and headed for more family fun in Houston. Then momma got a lighthouse break. 🤗

Bye for now, Lexi-Lu and Cade too! It’s been so fun spending time with these big grown up kids. I’m thinking adult kids that are also friends is where it’s at.

Laney requested a good old fashioned totem pole. 😂

We heard from all the Texans that Buc-ee’s was a must stop shop, so we had to.

And they were right! Buc-ee’s exceeded all of our expectations! Wawa and Allsup’s got nothing on Buc-ee’s.

We got to Houston, I dropped the gang off, and set out for some solo lighthousing. Ahhhh! The lantern room of the destroyed Galveston Jetty Lighthouse.

I walked all around and tried to figure out the best way to see the lights down there.  
I made it out to the point where I could see the Sabine Point Lighhouse in the distance. Someday I’ll ferry out there, and hopefully they’ll let us climb it then.

Super zoomed in. 
The fresnel lens for the Galveston Jetty LH is on display at the courthouse but it had already closed. 

I decided to peek in the window for a pic anyway, and the nice security guard let me in for a better pic! Adventures in lighthousing, I tell ya! 😂

Back at home we enjoyed tacos and an early birthday cake for Tom. And when you don’t have candles, you improvise. 🎂

And tonight these cute cousins are enjoying a movie night. 🍿

I call this the 10 lion. Years ago I asked Matt to grab me the lion keychain. He was adamant there was no lion keychain. He was like, you mean the 10? I would never have thought that was a 10, ever. But when he said it I could see it. This side is the 10. 

And the lion. It’s all about perspective. 

This is an old one, but I still feel this way. It’s exciting!

My sweet Frankie definitely feels like a fish trying to climb a tree a lot of days. It’s hard. But we can do hard things, so it’s good.