Happy 4th of July!

We had such an enjoyable day celebrating the freedom we enjoy and the blessing it is to live here in the USA! Megan, Todd and the boys came over for a yummy steak dinner with corn on the cob, watermelon and yummy honeydew from Dad's garden and Megan brought one of her yummy green salads! Afterward, we went swimming and it was nice with a little breeze blowing-- it was under 100 degrees today! Then we came in and had homemade strawberry/banana sorbet and chocolate ice cream! The boys were super tired so they didn't stay to watch the fireworks outside courtesy of all our neighbors!! (And the city fireworks here in Peoria and Surprise! We can see them both from the pool jump wall!) I watched for a bit from inside and then Bill and I went downstairs and watched a show. It was a fun day and it was nice to just relax this afternoon and evening!

Grateful for Other Mothers!

Ben's mom Megan helped Brooke move to her new apartment condo all day today! Apparently Brooke had been super stressed about the move and getting it all done before the deadline at her old place and Megan just came and helped for the entire day! They almost got everything done, and by herself it would've taken Brooke days to do it-- even with Ben's help at night after work. She even brought Brooke Kneaders for lunch! (She knows Brooke so well!) This was such a tender mercy for Brooke as she's working 6 in a row this weekend and would not have been able to do it on her own with so much work and needing to sleep during the day. She sent these pictures in our family group text and mentioned how grateful she's been to me over the years for doing just this and with all of us so far away and on such short notice, she was feeling pretty stressed all on her own. Looks like she's going to have really sweet in-laws and already seems to have a great relationship with them-- I'm looking so forward to meeting them!! Luckily, Brooke only moved a couple of doors down, so at least it wasn't far where they had to load a car and go far away back and forth! She'll only be here for 4 months and then it's Mrs. Israelsen for her on November 1st! Exciting times and things are falling into place with all the things Brooke was concerned about with her lease-- she now gets to go month to month which means she doesn't have to sign any contracts for a year and then have to sell her contract to someone else! Heavenly Father is really looking out for this girl!