To tie a tie

I decided it was time for Jake to learn to tie a tie, and bought him some. But the first Sunday with the new ties, Jason had morning meetings, so I wondered who would help him. Usually, people are getting ready right up to (and past) the time we need to leave, and I hadn't thought to ask either of his brothers to plan some extra time to help. But this morning, in a sweet tender mercy, Logan was ready early and was happy to teach Jake! I'm so thankful for these small reminders that God is in the details of our lives.

A bit of Me and Jason

Jason and I have had a busy summer too! We have the missionaries and a new member over about once a week. We love our sister missionaries. The one on the right is headed back to BYU in the Winter, and she is a Chemistry major like Ali will be. We hope they'll get to hang out once they're there together!

Jason got to fly out to Utah to see his nephew Jeremy get married. Of course, there are restaurants which must be patronized when one is in Utah.

He had fun spending time with grown nieces and nephews (and their spouses) while he was there. We're excited for Ali and Logan to be out in Utah with these fun, successful, faithful cousins they don't really know well. Ethan has been put in charge of a Utah cousins group chat, and we hope they get together every once in a while.

I got a paddleboard, and on the few not-too-hot days we've had, I've loved going out on a little lake near us.

This is Issac, the new member we meet with often. I got to tag along on a different day than this one, and was honored to be baptized and confirmed on behalf of his mom and Grandma.

Grace

We've all gotten to know Grace better this summer and are always happy to have her around. On this night, we'd planned to all see Toy Story 5 together, but it was sold out, so we ended up eating ice cream instead- and then the kids went and saw the movie without Jason and me the next day!

Eli's Summer

Eli has had a good summer too! He works at 3 Chefs (an Iranian restaurant) 2-4 times a week, goes to the gym 4-5 times a week (usually with friends, sometimes with Ali), had friends over for a burn-your-school-stuff fire, plays volleyball at the church, watches movies at friends' houses and at the theater, goes fishing with friends, and went to the mall with his siblings. He is very independent and hardly ever asks me for rides, even when it means biking through the pouring rain and coming home soaked, as pictured below!

Logan's Summer

Logan's summer has been spent with Grace! Unfortunately and annoyingly, Crumbl cut his hours this summer, contrary to expectations, from 3-4 days during the school year to at most one, and often no shifts at all each week! This has left him plenty of time to spend with his girlfriend (and really best friend) Grace. They eat out, get pedicures, watch movies, went to Six Flags (pictured below), go downtown Chicago, visit Ali and Eli at work, take Jake on outings, do crafts, go shopping, cook meals together, go to movies, and hang out at her house. He also picks her up for church each Sunday, takes her to her weekly meetings with the missionaries, and they read the Book of Mormon together each day. 

Ali's Summer

Ali has had a great, well-balanced summer. She works 2-4 shifts at Bruster's Ice Cream each week, goes to the gym 5-6 times a week (often with friends, sometimes with Eli, sometimes alone), and spends a lot of time with several different friend groups. With friends, she has celebrated birthdays and graduations (including one overnight at a hotel), gotten lots of ice cream, gone places to watch the sunset, gone shopping at the mall or other places, seen movies, gone hiking (pictured below), played pickleball, gone swimming, hung out and watched movies or done crafts, played at Top Golf, gone bowling, eaten out, and probably more!

Happy Forth of July!

We had a happy 4th of July! It might not be a perfect country, but I am so thankful for all the freedoms my family and I take for granted. 

Cute sparkles on an even cuter girl for her holiday work shift.

Logan and Grace joined us for fireworks! It poured all afternoon, but the town of Oswego did their show anyway. We just had to walk through a lake-I mean field- to see them!

Happy 7th Max!

Our puppy is 7! It's true I'm not really a dog lover, but Max honestly is the best dog ever. We dog-sat this summer, and this other perfectly fine dog reminded me of this fact! He is so chill, so patient, so obedient, and so trusting. I am so thankful for him. He got to go get a pup-cup to celebrate his birthday,