i hope i feel more like this more often

i have struggled with this new service calling i have been given. i do not always want to be who they want me to be. i do not always want the great responsibility that has been given to me. i do not always want to serve others. and i do not always want to have my days full of everyone else's problems.

but yesterday was wonderful. i wanted to be the person i should be. i wanted to have the responsibility that i have been given. i wanted to serve others. and i didn't care that i was listening to someone else’s problems. i wanted to. i wanted to help. i wanted to be a friend. i wanted to learn more about them to help them.

i hope i have more days like yesterday. and that i remember days like that so when i have the attitude that "i hate this", "this isn't for me" and "i'm quitting" i can remember the way i felt yesterday and know what i am doing is right. and that i like it.

dinner at the flint's

we played games. had a talent show. and just enjoyed family time together.


oh i'm kidding.


my in-laws were out of town so what was normally their turn in the rotation of sunday dinners, jodi and trevor offered to host it at their house. we did the normal stuff: eat, talk, and have the little man and baby k entertain us.


in the words of the little man "i never knew this could be so fun!" (he's two and three fourths and adorable. he said this while he was jumping on jodi's neighbor's trampoline and climbing all over their playground. later he cooled off in the sprinklers and did fireworks aka sparklers).
 

i had a birthday.

it was lovely.  i received so many kind text messages, phone calls, and birthday cards that i feel overwhelmed with gratitude for my amazing family and friends.  i was surprised with fun gifts from my husband, who always out does everything and knows exactly how to make this girl feel special.  i love birthdays.

our fourth of july

we hung out with family the week previous and then had bbq's and family dinners over the weekend, so our fourth was free!  we hung out, just us two.  did some yard work, went grocery shopping, ate homemade personal pizzas for dinner, watch a new tv series on netflix that were addicted to (shamefully), and ate some of mel's delicious caramelized banana ice cream for dessert.  right before bed we stepped outside on our front porch to watch all of our neighbors’ fireworks.  it was one of my favorite fourth of july's to date.

first you take the raspberries and you smash them...

then you take jalapenos and mix them in too.  add some sugar and what do you get?

the best jam you ever tasted!

gordon picked up a couple of bottles of bear lake's raspberry jalapeno jam while at youth conference last week.  he felt silly spending $13 on jam, but once he had his first bite all the delicious memories came flooding back and it was all worth it.

my father's day weekend

kicked off with dinner with my mom and step-dad on friday night.  when gordon is gone i usually crash their dates nights.  hope they don't mind me being the third wheel a lot this summer.

then on saturday it was off to the swap meet, where my sister and i scored our first 'the doors' albums!  we have a few people looking out for us now at the swap meet.  i have a feeling we're going to continue to receive gold from our 'ins' at the swap meet.

then my friends from work, teresa and megan, ventured up to ogden to have tea at high noon with my sister and me.  it was all in the name of my birthday (which is this saturday).

after that gordon was home (hur-ray!) and we went to my mom's to celebrate father's day with my step-dad and his kids.  i'm pretty sure our gift was probably his favorite (like usual).  we found some beatles records on our first swap meet trip that we knew he would love to have for his collection.  he was over the moon about them and couldn't wait to listen to them.

on sunday we celebrated father's day with our dads.  my dad had us over for a bbq.  he's the grill master so dinner was fantastic, like it always is when he's grilling.  we then headed over to visit with gordon's dad and family.  while we were there we also celebrated my birthday.  so kind of kim to share his day with me.

i have been thinking a lot about the father figures in my life.  all of them are so different, but are so special to me.  i am very blessed to have 3 outstanding men i call dad.  i love each of them very much.

lately i've been getting notes that say things like...

i can't wait for all these scouting trips and youth conferences to be over with!  i don't remember what a weekend hanging out with my husband is like.