ENTRY UPGRADE

I have been thinking about and planning how I wanted to upgrade our entryway.  We've had the same old cheap bench for a decade and it was time to get rid of it.  I put hooks up in the closet for Alex and Shane to put their coats and backpacks but Maggie didn't have a place.  We had a coat tree but she couldn't reach it to get coats and jackets.  I found a diy bench that I liked online that included plans.  We had some extra oak boards so I tweaked the plans and used the oak for the seat instead of pine boards.  I also found instructions for a coat rack.  Again I tweaked it to be two instead of one and stained and painted it the same colors as the bench to match.  I put one of the coat racks low so that Maggie and other children could reach it.  I am quite happy (and surprised) at how well it all turned out!

THE OLD

THE NEW

UTAH

My generous mother rented a huge lodge at Bear Lake for a week this year.  Since we were going to Utah we flew in a few days early to spend time with Mike's brother and grandmother who live there.  Nanna and Babba and Tyler and his family also drove up to see us.  We had fun spending a few days with them all.

While in the Salt Lake area we also took a trip down to Provo.  We stopped in to visit my mission president and his wife for a couple hours.  I love them so much and enjoyed visiting.  My kids enjoyed playing in their backyard and looking at his amazing garden.  After visiting with them we went with Mike's parents and sister-in-law Audrey to a artisan chocolate shop Audrey's brother owns.  We got a tour of the production area and had a taste testing of several different types of chocolate.  It was so interesting how many flavors they could put in chocolate and how you could truly make it an artisan chocolate.  After the chocolate we went to BYU and explored the store there before meeting up with Mike's parents and brother for dinner.

The next day was Saturday and we went to a dinosaur park to celebrate Perrin's birthday.  Then we met up with Mike's grandma, aunt, and uncle for dinner and ice cream.  Sunday we went to church and had a yummy Father's Day dinner.  That evening a mission companion, Angie Ramirez, stopped by and we visited for a couple hours.  It was so good to see her and catch up.  The next day we picked up Mike's grandma and went to Temple Square.  Nanna, Babba, Tyler and his family came as well.  It was fun to walk around and spend time with family.  Mike's grandma's health isn't so good and we don't know how much more time we will have with her.  After dropping off his grandma we headed to Bear Lake.

The lodge had a pool, games, a billiards table, a ping-pong table, and a loft play area with a slide.  On Wednesday my mom rented a boat and some jet skis and we took turns going out on the lake.  Thursday we took pictures.  Friday we went to the beach with my aunt Janet and her family.  I hadn't seen them in years and it was fun to catch up with them.  Alex was always out playing in the water or on a kayak so I didn't get a picture of her at the beach.

On Saturday we flew home.  Unfortunately, my sister came to the reunion with a "cold" that ended up being covid so we all got covid.  I had a scratchy throat and runny nose for a couple of days and Mike had a scratchy throat, runny nose, and a day or two of some fatigue.  None of the kids had symptoms.  We quarantined for a little more than a week to make sure we weren't contagious and then resumed playing with friends.  It was hard to quarantine when we weren't that sick but the kids were good sports about it.

The Stewards

Chocolate factory tour

Angie Ramirez, my mission companion

THE HUNT REUNION

HEAT WAVE POWER OUTAGE

This week we had a really bad storm blow through Ohio.  It damaged several power lines.  The next day we had a heat wave.  With the combined decrease in power supply and the increase in power usage due to the heat, the electric company decided to do a brown out where they select a few areas to cut off power to save what power supply they had.  We didn't know when the power would be turned back on.  Fortunately, we have a gas stove so we were still able to cook.  In the evening we went to a store in another area where they had power and walked around in the air conditioning.  We slept in the basement where it was cool.  Around 4:30 in the morning the next day the electricity came back on, which was a huge blessing.  No food spoiled and we didn't have to worry about leaving on vacation with the power out.  We are very fortunate it was only a day because some people had the power out for several days.

FATHER'S DAY

Next week is technically Father's Day, but we will be out of town.  We decided to celebrate Father's Day a week early so that Mike could have a special day at home.  We are so grateful for Mike and all he does for us.

ZOO

Now that school is out it is time to put our zoo membership to use.  We took a neighbor friend and headed to the zoo for several hours.  The weather was great and we all had a fun time.

MAGGIE TURNS 4

Maggie is such a joy and we love her so much.  She was so happy on her birthday and loved all the attention.  Mike took her out for the traditional father's birthday lunch.  The older kids were still in school but I had fun spending the day with her.