Why....hello.

 My minivan days are over. 

Girls Camp...a retrospective.

 I don't think I have the energy to describe camp in any kind of detail. Anna had her own experiences. I was a leader and both enjoyed my time there, as well as felt 4 days of brutal heat and overscheduling. It's the girls camp way!

Here are the few photos I took and it will probably give a pretty accurate picture of how it went -->

Any woman anywhere that has attended girls camp as a leader knows deep deep in her bones the simultaneous love/hate relationship we have with this experience. I want everything for my girls. I want them to sing and do crafts and stay up late talking and go to classes and have the faith walk and all of it. And, by dang, if that means I go too, then so be it!

A bit of gardening

 It might not seem like it, but I am gardening. 

I'm doing some different tomatoes. My personal favorite is the "Mortgage Lifter" variety.

HUGE!

I'm geeking out over these cascading cherry tomatoes. I love their adorable organized ripening. Taking turns...what lovely manners!

Besides that, I'm really trying to get some perennials started. I'd love to have a good portion of the garden come up on it's own every year. Then I can just fill in with the veggies I want. 

I've got some dahlias. In fact I order lots of different bulbs from Tulip World and not a single one turned out to be what I ordered. But these orange dahlias are gorgeous. A happy accident!

I planted these campanulas 2 years ago...they finally came up! "Oh, Campanula!" (Were-Rabbit reference)

Bachelor buttons! 

Two varieties of cosmos. (I wish their bushiness wouldn't take over the whole bed and surrounding walkways.)

Zinnias! I'm hatching a plan to go FULL ON ZINNIA next year. It's gonna be cool!

This is my favorite part, starting to bring in a few goodies and giving away some cabbages. Because who can it this many cabbages??

Lipstick

 I truly never know what to expect around here. 

I've got a feeling

Ethan met someone. 

Her name is Kassie and I've got a feeling she's someone special. 

Megan and her Mini

 If you can believe it, Megan has purchased her first car (she recieved top notch financing and unbeatable interest rates through the Bank of Mom and Dad). 

A Fourth of a different flavor

 Starting off the day with a hero WOD at On Track! It was a huge turnout. 

Home to do some patriotic nails and find our America t-shirts!

We never really have solid plans for where we will watch fireworks. We tend to wander over to Gardner Lake and pull over in an unidentified grassy patch that I promise you I would not be able to find in the daytime.  It's got an okay view of some fireworks and we have a fair amount of mosquito biting going on. It's fun...it's a semi-tradition...and it's always in danger of getting ditched for a better idea.

We heard that the view at the Lenexa Stake Center was pretty great, so we figured we would try it out. 

Some good friends, glow sticks and a quick exit out the back lot and I'd say it's a future contender!

Happy Birthday, America!