Boooring

Life has been pretty tame the last few weeks, so nothing fun to write about. 

Delaney and I made a deal about having a good attitude at church, and then I saw this picture shared. 😂😂😂 She’s lucky I love her so much. 

Speaking of Lanes, she started ballet and looks so cute in her leotard and bun. I wish she’d let me do her hair everyday still. And that she still wore pink cowgirl boots too, but 11 year-old bug is pretty great too. 

Tom sent Amy and I this picture and even though my eyes are closed, I love it. We adored that baby brother of ours!

Lexi had a fun birthday idea for papa that we sent, late obvi. 

It’s the front page of The NY Times from his birthday for every year. ❤️ It’s what you get the guy who has everything. 

One slow Saturday we went to Kneaded and finally met our LG neighbor who owns it. 

Delaney had to do a presentation about something that affects the community, so she wrote about the declining bee population and subsequently has been obsessed with bees. I know soooo many bee facts, y’all. She practiced her speech with us and it’s actually really cute. She’s a funny and engaging writer. 

We had a Trek reunion dance where we got to do some square dancey kind of dances. I grabbed this shot of adi dancing away. She spent a lot of time in the game room, which I think is so cool that they have game rooms and quiet rooms for kids to hang out. 

We had 5 kids from our family there and it was so fun to see them! It was a great night. 

Piano started the week after Labor Day and Frankie is a goof. 

Matt was out of town for 2 weeks so I got to do all his stuff, including, but not limited to extra watering of the front grass. This was my “look how much I love you I’m watering the grass” shot from 10pm. It’s been so dry all summer. We need some rainy nights!

Playing all summer = Matt and I both have had huge to do lists. We’ve been happily chipping away at them. One of the things I did was finally put handles on my hutch. I bought 2 sets of hinges for the doors and finally decided to paint the original ones because I couldn’t find the right style/size. It’s almost done, I just need to figure out why my screws don’t go in all the way. I’m seeing the electric screwdriver in my future but I’m nervous. 

The girls and I overhauled the basement toys and they got rid of so much and also decided they were ready to part with their tsum tsums. They are so cute that I sent Lu this pic and asked if the boys would like them and she said yes! She is very tidy and minimalist, so I never know. 🤗 We also sent a Moana set and we got to FaceTime last night and watch them play with all their new toys. 

I also cleaned out my nightstand and decided to put Christian’s amazing sticker on my water bottle - why not? 🤷‍♀️ Delaney saw it and was all like - where’s mine I need one now. So bubba is sending her one. 😂 His something or other boss made them. 

We took new passport pictures and fingers crossed they accept them! Our appt is tomorrow. 

I bought magnetic lashes monthes ago and promised the girls we’d try them out, so finally on Sunday we did. Long long lashes are all the rage and these were kind of ridiculous, but it was fun to play with them. 

I’m unpacking one Halloween bin a day and one of my favorite things is looking at all our old Halloween pictures. Emmett and Carter are being Buzz and Woody this year, so they got a kick out of seeing mama and uncle as Toy Story people too. 

I’m neck deep in JustServe coordinating. I’m in charge of distribution, so I’m figuring out drivers and warehouse helpers and pickups and deliveries. Since distribution is the last bit, we’ve had to do things as they come, and now is crunch time since we finally have everyone’s orders and are starting to coordinate pickup times. The project is this Saturday and I can’t wait for the day and also for it to be over. And then for all the deliveries to be done. We’re doing things totally different this year and I was only involved in the tail end last year, so all the prayers that it works out because 🤷‍♀️. Also, there’s an 80% chance of rain for Saturday and 4/10 delivery trucks are open topped so we’re praying and we’ll see how that goes. Or what our plan b will be. 

Life is just rolling along. I love seasons of accomplishing long put off tasks, even though it’s a lot of work and not always super fun, it is super satisfying and I love crossing off those items that have been there forever. 

Dam Neck

We had the best beach weekend. Saturday was a smidge on the chilly side, but we still played in the waves and enjoyed the beach. I took one picture.

Until dinner and then I had to grab a shot of chickfilas new pimento chicken sandwich that is chefs kiss delicious. 

We showered, watched some tv, then went to Food Lion for Sunday food. We let everyone choose 2 tv dinner type meals and snacks and it was so different that it was fun. 

On Sunday we found a small ward and went to church. After we spent some time walking around and then went to the Chrysler Museum of Art. 

It’s a free museum that I thought would be boring but was actually really cool. 

Delaney loved this glass making play area and we spent a lot of time there. 



At 5:00 I had a 2 hour meeting for Bag Hunger. We’re so close and we’re all so ready, it’s a lot of work but will be awesome!

We headed to the beach early Monday and it was the best day! It was warmer so it made the coolish water feel so much better and the waves came in nice steady and calm but not too calm sets. 

We love Dam Neck beach! We can park right close, there are lifeguards and it’s busy, but not too busy. We had a lot of fun. 

Matt gave the girls a little surf lesson, and though none of them actually surfed, Delaney stood up on the boogie board several times. She even managed to stand up and ride a wave. It was pretty impressive. 

We played all day. We got out for snacks and we went for a walk to see if we could walk down to Virginia Beach, but after 1/2 a mile there was a restricted area because of explosive practice. The girls and Matt  played with the wake boards and I happily bobbed along with them. That is one of my very favorite things to do and I could stay on the water all day! We had to drag ourselves away at 4:00. We went back to the hotel and showered and loaded up. We’d watched traffic throughout the day, and I never saw it very busy. We left just after 6:00 and made it home by 9:30, super easy drive. 

I’m so thankful we got a free weekend at the beach. It was lovely lovely and the cherry on top is that I hit my move goal by over 200% just from playing at the beach. Could there be anything better?

This week

Delaney has been into swimming laps, so even though it was chilly and she was the only one in the pool, we went every evening this week. 

I listened to my book at the table and then came over and sat on the edge and timed her and cheered. She’s so fun. The major bummer is that next week, when the pool is closed, it will be in the 90°’s. This always happens, it’s so dumb. 

On Wednesday we went back to the dentist and ran some errands. There was a beautiful sunset that night! Matt headed down to Norfolk for work that morning, so we sent him this. 

On Thursday morning Nola and I went walking. We went from 7-8 because I had and appt in Waldorf to train Susanne. She is German and made me a German style brekkie and we went through the handbook and got to know each other for 3 hours. We both received further confirmation that this is the right calling for her right now and I can already tell I’m going to love serving with her. 

I went shopping at Sam’s after and decided we were gonna have a girls night for Adi. She tried out for the high school play and didn’t get a part, so she was pretty bummed. These are the little disappointments that train and prepare us for the big disappointments and they are a part of life, albeit a crummy one. But girls night with treats are also part of life, so we went all in. When Delaney and Frankie got home they told me this was a good idea and Adi would love it. Bubba and sissy commiserated as well. We come together to love on each other. 

Today I headed to Calvert to train my new secretary. We’re trying something new where she’s going to minister especially to the Spanish branch, so she’ll be with them at least once a month and really get to know and be a support to them. We counseled together about what the rest of her calling would look like, and I think some of it we will just figure out as we go as we follow the spirit. It was wonderful getting to know her and I know I’ll love serving with her too. Our first presidency meeting is Wednesday and it’s all I can do to wait till then! It’s been a long time and we’ve got work to do. All good things. 

Today we finished laundry and got beach fun packed up. We went to the pool but they were closing down, and I had sent the girls before me so I could quickly vacuum and none of them wanted to ask why they were closing or when they’d be open, so we scrapped that last swim of the season. After dinner we left for our beach weekend with Matt in Norfolk. We hit traffic so we stopped to kill time and when we left the Dollar General (gross I know) 30 minutes later the maps showed us arriving at the same time as if we’d waited out the traffic. And I’d much rather peruse a gross DG than sit in traffic any day. We sent Matt our traffic whomp whomp shot. 

It will be a chilly beach weekend, but I’ll take a chilly day at the beach any day.