july 19.2008
Our Primary activity on Saturday was great! My favorite part was the homemade wheat bread, and the kids shook whip cream in little jars with marbles to make butter. There were four little classes in which men who had served missions and the missionaries talked about pioneers from their missions, and correlated it with pioneers of our days. It was fun to hear and see little bits from each class. I won’t post anything but from Jarom’s class and our girls, since I don’t have permission of all the other people, so you’ll see of course, our family! Jarom served his mission for two years in St. Petersburg, Russia. The climate there can get 40 below, and the grossest dish I don’t think I could eat, is holidietz. It’s grease drippings that the Russians save for six months, and they add to it everytime they cook meat and put it in the freezer. Then after six months, they serve the gelatenaous fat as a dessert. Mmmmm! Nothin‘ like good ‘ol home cookin‘ grease drippings. That’ll take the pounds off! Anyhow, Jarom did a great job talking about the first Russian pioneer for the church over there, and similarities between him and Brigham Young. I think the kids were most interested in the matroshka dolls however. That’s how it goes! After the kids earned a well-deserved ice cream social in this disgusting heat, we headed home, and had so much fun with the Hintze Family. We just took it easy, enjoying food, and laughing and playing, and getting to know more about each other. What a great Saturday. We need more days like these!

july 121-17.2008
Alex has had her dearest friend with us this week, and it has been so great. This family is the first family we met when we moved to d.c., and Alex and Kayleigh were not even two. It’s so neat to see their diversity in interest, all the likes they share, and at the same time totally enjoy every second talking and playing off of each other. I hope these two will always help each other out in life, and continually be that best friend through life I always wished I had. If nothing else, I’ve learned that true friendship is hard to come by, and sometimes hard to be that good friend too. With the demanding things in life, I see myself falling short a lot of being a good friend. I have learned a lot from these sweet girls, and it’s been fun being along for the ride.

This week we got to see Kit, the American Girl movie together, swim, cook, play games, and since Kayleigh is older than Alex, she even quizzed Alex in a Math game for me. Good times! Then of course, a few pictures of the rest of us this week, since we do also live in the same house too!

July 12.2008
We were very grateful to have our friends from Virginia drive up to hang out and have hot dogs and play. Between our three families, there are fourteen kids. That’s amazing, how very blessed we all are. It was fun catching up, and we love the times we are able to reunite and enjoy these times together. Kathi, with the green shirt, just had her fifth baby, just about Nadia’s age, teaches her kids piano and teaches piano lessons, and basically can do just about everything. Heather, the blonde in the middle, is an amazing athlete. She had just biked 50 miles that morning, with a fracture in her foot. If I had biked 50 miles, I would have to be put in the hospital. Both of these amazing moms have done marathons, on top of being moms and wifes. Wow! It was great to hang out, thanks for coming up!