Farmer's Market!

One great thing about summer, here in Illinois, is the Saturday morning Farmer's Market! Every Saturday local farmers, bakers, and crafty people of all kinds gather to sell what they've grown or created. The result is a really fun Saturday morning where you can buy fresh fruits and vegetables and all manner of trinkets while listening to live blue grass music.

It's fun to support the local community and the veggies are always really good.

It's just one more thing that makes summer time Saturday mornings great!

Table for Two

Luke and I got a kitchen table last week and, as silly as it sounds, we are really excited about it.

Here's your picture Mom...

We celebrated finally having a kitchen table by gathering friends around it for pizza and games. It's funny how such a little table can help a house feel like a home.

~Moving Sales are awesome!~

Girl's Camp!

I LOVED Girl's Camp, back when I was a girl. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints sends its Young Women (girls between the ages of 12 and 18) out into the wilderness for a week to help them: bond, admire God's beautiful creations, and giggle all night for an entire week. Well, the level of wilderness camp seems to vary a little from place to place (back when I was a girl we camped the "hard" way... uphill both ways, in the snow. But honestly, we didn't have a fancy dining hall or showers.).

The week presented its own interesting challenges, like extreme heat, but we kept going and had a great time!

Who wouldn't have a great time with these girls...

Danalou....

Katelynn...

Jessica...

and Kalina...

We got to do some pretty neat things while we were there, too.

We went on some gorgeous hikes.



We got to try archery. This is me... doing my best impression of Katniss Everdeen.

There were fire starting competitions, skits, and canoeing. We made pizzas and s'mores in the fire. We studied the scriptures and strengthened our testimonies.

Luke came up for the last two days to help out. He stayed up with the Stake Leaders so I didn't see him much, but it was really fun to have him up there.

I am so glad I was able to go to Girl's Camp! The girls in our ward are amazing! It was great to spend a week with them!

Death of a Sock Monkey

A little while ago, my sweet sister sent Palin a present. A sock monkey toy with a squeaker in it. It looked a lot like this...

Immediately, it became her favorite toy. She played with it.

And played with it.

And played with it. Until it didn't look much like a sock monkey.

Then, one day (about a week after she got it) it was just a pile of fluff.

Thanks sister! Palin loved it!

Moving, Family, Puppy, and a Demolition Derby!

A lot has happened this summer! First, we MOVED! We moved to a place just down the street from where we used to live, but it was a lot of work.

Then, my awesome cousin got married! I got to go back to Utah to be there for her big day.

I got to spend some time with family I rarely see these days.

Palin developed a taste for dirt. Specifically the dirt in my plant pot on our balcony. She usually looks like this when she comes in from the balcony now.




Luke's brother, Si, stopped by on his way to Ohio. He helped us unpack and read the Hunger Games with us. Si gave us a Wii (thank you, thank you! Luke plays it almost everyday!) and he and Luke got in a few good games of Super Mario Smash Brothers Brawl.

We even went to a Demolition Derby at the Champaign County Fair with some good friends. Let me just say... in the midwest, demolition derbies are even more awesome than they normally are.

Sorry for the massive summer update blog post. I got a new camera cord and am ready to blog again!