Heaven Sent!

Don't know why but I was feeling sorta low. Nothing came to mind as to why. I just couldn't shake it. It was not that time of the month even. Then I looked out my kitchen window and I saw him in my bird bath. A gift from heaven! Wow! I AM loved.

Blue Birds are my Favorite!!!

He appeared to be doing some serious house hunting...

Does his wife approve?

"But, I like this one!!"

Next year they will stay because I am getting them a real blue bird house!

The Last of June

We left for Orlando June 27th. I thought I would never get packed! All the girl's camp junk was left in my garage and on my living room floor as we bolted out the door. We stopped in Tuscaloosa to pick up Kimberly and Austin. We rented a van in Birmingham and Kendall got a back seat all to herself. Kendall's dance team won a scholarship to the dance competition and Hollywood Vibe hosted a special gala, including a nice dinner, for all of us.

We stayed in a 5 star hotel and got the park hopper tickets to Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. We were in Magic Kingdom for 4th of July fireworks by the castle and all around us!! So fantastic!!! The weather was great for us Alabamians! No complaints. Many happy coincidences blessed our trip with so much fun! I loved every minute of it.
Austin and I love Animal Kingdom. Clark and Kimberly's favorite park is Epcot. Kendall's favorite park is Hollywood Studios.
We missed Brendan.

Some More June

Off to YW's camp June 23-27. It was so fun being with my ward. I love our young women ! They are the best! We have the biggest ward in the stake. We brought 3 non-member girls with us to camp as well. They were all such good helpers and good to each other. The girls in my cabin read their scriptures every night with each other and taught Kendall's good friend Stephanie about the scriptures. I look forward to camp because I get to spend time with all the girls in a relaxed way. The girls who went as YCL's worked their booties off. They loved the younger girls they were mentoring and I was so proud of them. I can't believe how much I laughed!! Such sweet times!!

Our Cute Banner!

The girl's decorated our cabin.

The Goofy Gang!

gotta love 'em.

More June

We left for Trek 2008 on Thursday June 5th. It's so hard to describe it. I was anxious about how I would handle it. The weather was hot and humid and we had to camp out among the stars and bugs. (mostly ticks and spiders) We were given a family when we got there. We had no idea who our kids were going to be. We had 10 kids. 5 girls and 5 boys. One of our boys had some health troubles the first day and had to go to the hospital. We were all so sad and worried for him.
The trek was longer than the kids thought it would be and kind of intense. So hot! Clark and I fell in love with our family immediately. They were such troopers and so hard working. The big brother and big sister we felt impressed to call on were amazing leaders. They all made us laugh so many times. Two of our girls fell to heat exhaustion the seconed day but they stayed on when the medics helped them get better.
While Trek helped me to think about and be more grateful for what our pioneer forebearers suffered through it also showed me clearly what our youth suffer through today. The assault that Satan places on them daily is not so much physical as it is spiritual. While we were on Trek there were no Ipods, cell phones, T.V. or computers which allowed us to see more easily the amazing quality and strength of the youth in our stake.
I loved Trek 2008 !

JUNE

Brendan went into the MTC June 4th. It was so much more emotional than I had expected. I know that Brendan is prepared to go on his mission. We have prepared for this since we knew we were having a son. The day came to put him on the plane to send him to Uncle Brians in Utah and I was doing fine. We all were. When we got up to security I was taking pictures of everyone and then Kendall took pictures of me and Brendan saying good bye. When I kissed him I could feel him melt a little and Kendall saw it through the lense. She looked up from the camera and began sobbing then we all started to cry. (Brendan just a tiny hint) He went through security and kept looking back until he came to the stairs leading to the terminals. He started up the stairs and never looked back. We cried all kinds of emotions: sad, anxious, relief, and happy all the way home. I just wanted to crawl in my bed but trek was around the corner and I had to throw myself into it. It was probably a good thing. We miss him a lot but love his letters and emails every tuesday morning.