At the beginning of July, I made a huge change in my day to day activities by deleting many apps off of my phone and “hanging up” my phone on our fridge.
The apps I deleted were a way of life – things like Instagram, You Tube, Discovery Plus, Pinterest, Amazon and other shopping apps…..
I was needing a break from the pull of my phone!
I took an eight week break from it all and enjoyed it VERY much!
All that to say – I have fewer photos from July and August!!
Which may not be a bad thing, even though I love looking back on our everyday photos here.
Besides the break from my phone and screens, everything else was pretty much the same!
My mornings are very predictable – coffee, Bible time, some extra reading, and a long walk outside to watch the sunrise!
We celebrated the fourth of July with the fam bam – having dinner together, and then heading to the fireworks!
After all that fun was over, some of us had some more fun out in front of our home with their own fireworks!
I found lots of evidence of their fun on my walk the next morning.
The next day we had the privilege of celebrating a very good friend at a surprise birthday party her kiddos had for her!
It was so fun to travel north to surprise my dear friend!
I asked Addie to get some photos for me, and you can see what they also added to my camera roll – CUTIES!
We kept getting ready for Chad and Kailey’s wedding throughout the summer.
I ordered six dresses before I finally found the one I ended up wearing!
We also made a trip to town to get Eliza and Tate some boots for their wedding attire.
They did a great job choosing their new boots!
Chad and Kailey closed on their new home at the beginning of July, and we helped them work on it whenever we could!
IT WAS SO FUN!!
They did so much work to it before their wedding day, and it turned out so cute!
Chad’s dog, Sadie, lives with them now.
Chad would take her over to get used to her new place when we would work there on the weekends.
She settled in easily!!
Eliza had the extreme privilege of playing the violin at a small, intimate wedding in July.
She did an AMAZING job – even learning new pieces that the bride requested!!
The venue was beautiful.
The weather was PERFECT!
This is a core memory not only for her but for me too!!
As always, there was food.
Food made everyday!
Food made ahead.
Food made and eaten instantly.
Shopping for food, chopping food, cooking and baking food.
It’s a weird word, am I right?
Food.
We need it to survive, and spend so much time and effort on it!
But I enjoy it ALL.
They love to eat, and I love to fill their bellies!!
We celebrated Eliza and Tate’s forever family days in July.
Can you believe they have been home twelve and eleven years???
Goodness, it just seems like they have always been here, and yet it seems like yesterday we were swimming in paperwork to get them home.
They chose a dinner and dessert to celebrate their gotcha days and we had a gift for each of them too.
Eliza chose Chap Jae and an angel food cake with berries and cream for dessert!
We had time with family and friends, time swimming, working on projects, and keeping up with life.
Summer is such a wonderful time of the year!!!
July was a good month.
Every month is a good month – it is all a matter of perspective!!
We always have hard things making a pile here too – just like so many others – but how you let that pile “feel” is a choice to make, isn’t it?
Keeping your memories is a quick way to see all of the things to be thankful for!
Our summer held so much!!
Can’t wait to show you what we did with all that came out of Tate’s gardens!
He just brought in a bowl of raspberries this evening, so that garden is still going strong!
Until then, signing off….
Steph xoxoxoxox
