Summer: Week 1

 A week in and I already feel like Summer is slipping by all too quickly.  We've had a blast though.  Sorry, this is a long one.

First off, my roses are extra happy this year.  This is the biggest I've ever seen them.  Bigger than my hand:

We spent Memorial Day demoing the tile vanity top and then repairing sheetrock in our master.  Can we be done yet?

 We are currently down to sheetrock and subfloor in there.  It will start looking like a bathroom again soon, I hope.

I'd like my bedroom back, too:

Ok, that's enough complaining for now. Poor me, getting a new bathroom. I don't have much patience when it comes to stuff like this. Or at all, really.

We spent an afternoon at the pond:

My kids have been doing "art" with Grandpa for years.  Some of the projects they do turn out, uh, interesting?  He's so good to let the kids do their own work (despite him being the one doing it in this photo).  I'm so glad they have that time together.  The kids look forward to it, and I'm pretty sure Grandpa does too.

The kids and I took a hike to Battle Creek Falls.  They were little troopers!

 Daisy did it all on her own, and only had to be bribed once.

 Happy, DIRTY kids!

Also, we had a fire up the canyon:

 Green, green, G-reen!  So pretty!

 We can't keep it straight.

Maren was telling us all stories.  It was hilarious (to some, anyway), if you can't tell:

 Yep, she's just a bit dramatic.  She keeps our family entertained.

My favorite photo of the evening:

 This kid was in heaven.

And then, what's more Summer than a parade?

 Other highlights:  FHE picnic dinner at the park,  picnic lunch in the park with a friend from my childhood, slush, and fireworks (the sprinklers didn't go off on us this year!  Hurray!).  That is a good start to Summer!

And, June marks one year down for Nick's Master's program.  Hurray!  Halfway there!  I think we can make it!  If we had to go back and make the choice again, we would make the same choice, because I know this is the right thing for our family right now, but that certainly doesn't make the day-to-day stuff any easier!  We can do it.  We can do it.  We can do it.  Thankfully, Nick has a break coming up in a few weeks.  I'm very much looking forward to having a husband around again, if only for a short while.