Summer....Coming Soon!

It's been fun to have LaVerne around and we look forward to having him join us each Sunday for dinner.  My boys haven't made time to go golfing with him yet (weather permitting, LaVerne golfs several times a week with friends) but we did throw a little birthday party for him on May 29th.  He especially loved the cake we had decorated for him.  He told me he always wanted a golf cart of his own.  Now he has one proudly displayed on his TV stand at the Homestead:).

LaVerne - born May 29, 1922

Remnants of hail & leaves from the storm below wiper blades

Mother Nature played tricks on us during our first week of summer break.  Quinn and I were driving home from a postponed baseball game watching storm cloud acrobatics in the sky when we came upon a terrible hail storm.  I was concerned about denting the Camry (Tanner's car) and tried to find a place to pull over/under.  It was seriously so intense!

storm clouds in our neighborhood

greenish light in center - tornado funnel forming

Another evening Aaron snapped this while working in the front yard where we have spent a lot of time lately (yard work!).  After having our property surveyed (last fall) with plans to install a fence on the east side, we learned our original landscaper didn't actually find the southeast corner lot pin before we put in our yard over 7 years ago.   Nor did the neighbor's builder pay to have a survey done prior to building their home.  In any event, we are working on getting a lot re-alignment and have a few summer yard projects underway.

Aaron and I coordinated to meet at a nursery in IF (he was headed to Poky for Jantzen's weekend basketball tournament) to select some trees for the yard.  We tried to hurry.  But making expensive tree decisions are hard for me to rush - haha!  Quinn nearly died from boredom but at least the girls kept themselves occupied for the 90 minute stop....  Redemption came when Quinn jumped in Aaron's truck for the tournament and I took the girls to the mall for the $5 t-shirt sale they'd been anticipating.

Coach Matt - left, Quinn - front row right end

This coming week will wrap up the baseball season for Quinn.  The boys have moved beyond coach-pitch so Quinn found himself vacillating between waiting for the walks or striking out.  He did get a few good hits in but kid pitcher skills varied greatly from game to game.  It was fun(ny) to make a connection as we neared the end of the season.  One of the coaches is building a home and moving into our neighborhood soon.  His wife introduced herself to me recently and we began chatting during a game only to discover that I went to high school with her husband's older sister.  And we have a serious history with their family!  When I walked up to Coach Matt after the game and told him my name (maiden) - we both started laughing!  We couldn't believe we hadn't put it all together sooner.  Of course, there are a lot of Matt Nelson's in the world - but not all of them have an older sister named Becky.  In high school, Becky and I ran track, rang handbells, sang alto in Madrigals, served missions and ran track together again (in college), completed the same internship with LDS Social Services working together while engaged to be married (a few weeks apart).  Not only that, but Becky's husband, Andy (also went to MHS with) was our family dentist for about 7 years.  Andy would always ask if we had met his brother-in-law that lived in our 'neck of the woods'.  Somehow, we have lived in this community for 11 years and have never crossed paths until Quinn's baseball season.  And just one more fun(ny) connection for the record....

Long-lost twinners!

When Aaron and I got married, we had a reception at his parent's home (on Linden).  Coming from the big city (SL), I was slightly amused by some of the wedding gifts we received in a small town.  Ironically, we have come to adore our fire-roasting stick bag holder with our names color glued to the side.  Saturday night Anna hosted a B-I-G end-of-the-school-year party at our house.  Her friend, Aubree, brought some addtional roasting sticks for making s'mores.  Though our bag shows more signs of wear from the past nearly 22 years, we laughed so hard at finding its TWIN!  We started doing some calculating and sure enough, Aubree's parents were married the same year we were and received the same gift from the same people - crazy.  And yes, summer is coming soon!