Summer begins

May ended with graduations, potluck, hanging out with Bob and Jenny, and Memorial Day.

Nathan's brother Jason, his cousin Ethan, and my cousin Kayla, all graduated from High School.  Nathan's brother Josh graduated from 8th grade. So, we spent a few evenings going to graduation parties and graduations.

Josh and Nathan. 

Nathan and Jason

 We had potluck at Trent and Heather's a couple of weeks ago.   We played  the "newlywed game," or a variation of it, which was quite fun.  We had a good evening. :)  

our garden is growing.

I really like the raised beds. They do take a lot more watering, but weeding is so much easier. I just pull up a 5-gallon bucket and sit while I weed. 

The flowers on my front porch are looking so pretty.

Somewhere in there, we celebrated my Dad's birthday by spending the evening at the farm.

The girlies had fun running around. As usual :)

Nathan and I finally hung up one of our purchases from IKEA.  Every time I go to IKEA, I've drooled over their kitchen ideas, particularly, this cool decorative bar.

I think it adds something to our decoration free and rather boring kitchen.

Peonies! Last year, our peony bush had a grand total of 2 buds, I believe. This year, it exploded :)  They are beautiful, big, light pink blossoms. And, the smell awesome.  It is a close race between lilacs and peonies for my favorite flower. 

:)

yay!

Nathan and Bob wanted to get together, for what Jenny and I joked was a play date.  They played games and worked on one of Bob's board game designs. 

Cecily was helping

We stayed home and relaxed and worked on projects on Memoria Day.  In the evening, we went over to Wendi and Daniel's for supper.   It was a good time as usual. :) I think I won Henry and William over when I pulled out my phone and showed them pictures of trains, puppies, and sharks on pinterest.

The first weekend of June,  we had a garage sale. Yes, we have enough stuff to sell. I think it's ridiculous how much stuff we store and hold on to just because it might someday be useful.   Lena and my mom also brought stuff too.

A full (but clean!!)  garage.

Jack came for a while :)

We let him swim in a bucket during a slow time.

I sold our old kitchen chairs and got rid of a lot of clothes and other junk. So, it was a success. 

Saturday,  Lena and I went strawberry picking. I didn't want much. I don't eat jelly very often or use strawberries for much else than just eating them. :) 

my pickings

That afternoon, I cleaned and cut them up.

drying off.

 Some went straight into the freezer for smoothies and pies.  Some, in the refrigerator for eating fresh.  And, some went to ice cream sauce. :)

all covered in sugar and waiting to boil

Oh. yah. 

Fresh strawberry sauce on ice cream.

After lunch, Lena and I went to the pool with Jack. It was a super hot day, and I haven't been swimming yet this year.  Jack seemed to enjoy it for the most part. :)

cool dude just relaxing at the pool.

Baby B seems to be doing well.  I have a doctors appointment coming up soon, but I think from all the kicking that's been going on, I don't have much to worry about. 

And so, summer had begun.  I have lots of plans, goals, and dreams for the summer, but we'll see when we will ever find time to get that done. June had started out without much going on, and we've found ways to stay busy. :)

In Christ

~Michelle