June

June came and went in a blaze of glory! We were working nights and weekends trying to finish our rental remodel, all the while celebrating Father's Day, Josh's 41st birthday, my 40th, and making time for family time, walks, bike rides, dishes, laundry, and sleep - the thing I'm pretty sure we craved the most. ;)

Josh hit it out the park and surprised me with an epic 40th birthday party! I thought we were going over to our friends Matt and Jana's house to play spades, eat dinner on the back patio and watch the kids swim. But when we walked to the back I was SO SHOCKED to hear my nearest and dearest friends and siblings yell, "surprise!"

There was music and drinks and dinner and desserts and warm maple cream drinks. It was so much fun to see friendly faces and get to talk and laugh, and let kids swim. Josh had even emailed my dear friends that were states away to have them email in a short video message, and my brother Matt compiled them into a slideshow with some old photos, and of course a Huey Lewis song, oh yeah! :) I felt SO very loved!! xo

Josh was so sweet to get me a non-cake cake, since he knows I like pastries or ice cream instead. :)

I think the last time I blew out a birthday candle was at my 30th birthday! It's been a while.

I cherished the slideshow/video messages, and standing there with the best of friends! I felt soooo very loved. What a magical evening. 💓

What's crazy is that just 45 mins before the party started I had been finishing up staging our rental house for sale. And Gina had just been there with me helping me to get every last piece of furniture moved and in place, and she had zipped home to shower and make it back in time for the surprise party! She's amazing! (The sweet little rental...so cozy and in such a pretty setting.)

That same weekend Dad and Janet came and spent a day helping us install mirrors, light covers, towel racks, they fed us and helped us clean out the garage. We were so grateful! Mom & Gina helped with cleaning too, working on the windows and this shower for hours. Josh's parents came and helped us removed a trailer full of stuff that needed to go. The love and power of family is a gift!

(Especially when you feel like you're running out of energy near the finish line.) :) 

Eight days earlier on my actual birthday we had worked a long day on the rental. I had wanted to go for a bike ride that evening, and we did, and it was lovely, but I was SO tired that I ended up just going straight to bed when we got home. Ha! So that surprise party was definitely unexpected and wonderful!!

We ran into friends on the trail who offered to take a family photo. So thoughtful!

God is so good, and has blessed me richly.

I'll keep this blog post going in reverse order of the month since my pics are lined up that way...

The day before my birthday, Mom and Wayne came by to see the progress on the rental and to give us birthday presents. Mom gave me a beautiful bird bath for our new house. It will look great in our backyard and was so thoughtful! I can already imagine enjoying it from my back porch and kitchen window. Love you, Mom.

That same day my friend Mauria had mailed me this necklace of the moon as a birthday gift. I may have cried when I opened it. ;) She knows me well. There's a story behind my love of the full moon. It has to do with a hard time our family went through when I was 16 years old and how I was crying in my car and asking God to help me and in that moment there was a harvest moon slowly rising over our town, and I felt like God was letting me know that his unconditional love was as faithful as the moon that faithfully rises. I'd never be alone. He would always be with me.

Gifts really are a powerful love language that I think I often forget can carry so much meaning. I felt so loved by all of my dear friends who lavished me in love and thoughtfulness with words and gifts.

Less than a week earlier we got to celebrate Josh's 41st birthday! What an amazing and handsome man, father, husband he is! He loves us so well, leads with humble strength, is such a hard worker and smart worker, and has the best sense of humor! We adore him.

Selah made him a funny card. 

We gave him truffles and a game. He chose his favorite dinner. We loved having Caleb be a part of so much life when he stayed with us. It was a sweet season.

Around that same time we celebrated Father's Day over at Dad and Janet's. We had a delicious ham dinner complete with homemade jams and biscuits! And loved getting to pray over these great men.

I love you, Dad! I'm so thankful for you! xo

We brought along homemade ice cream that the kids helped to make: mint oreo and vanilla with raspberries. We decided more homemade ice cream should be in our future. :)

Cute cousins...

Earlier that day we lavished Josh with love in the form of chocolate, an omelet & roasted potatoes breakfast, and hugs and kisses for being such a fantastic father!!

These kids have been great helpers as we've been working a lot. They've helped mow, and clean, and do all sorts of odds and ends things, and they've earned money along the way.

Josh taught them how to tile one day. (He did the tiling, and they just watched.)

One night we played a couple fun rounds of sequence. I love that game and these cutthroat players!

I've had some card tricks that I've known since I was Ben's age and I finally revealed my secrets and taught them to the kids. They loved it!

The kids made some minecraft heads (out of clay) for their lego characters one day when they were looking for something to do.

Selah's kiwi-crate craft was a screen print bag this month. She chose to put Westley on her bag. I thought it turned our really cute.

We call this "Westley's derpy face". :)

And we call this his regal face. :) Here he was watching the baby turkeys through the blinds.

We had a fun and spontaneous day of horse riding at mom's when Nora was visiting, too. The kids had a blast running wild out there and we found out that our friends are going to be building a house next door to mom's property. That will make future visits all the more fun!

My mom is great at teaching kids to ride.

Selah was shocked to see how much smaller Ruby the pony seemed to her since she's grown more. She confidently rode mom's horse Pia and really liked it.

Jude challenged Wayne to an arm wrestle. (Mom and Wayne's house is still in process of being rebuilt after the fire, but it should be finished this fall.)

Josh and I spontaneously went for a walk one afternoon to decompress and enjoy the wide open spaces. It filled my tank.

We sat on a bench and just took in the scenery, and I had to snap a pic of the wildflowers.

Speaking of flowers, I always like to capture what surrounds us here.

The kids had fun picking some pie cherries from our tall trees and feeding them to our chickens.

There are lots of baby birds around here these days. I found this little one in the grass. It finally flew off after a little while of watching it.

Well, the next time I blog it will most likely be from our new home. We've begun to box up items around here and begin the process of getting this house ready to sell. It's been a wonderful two years here, full of great memories. Time has flown, our kids have grown, and sweet seasons have passed. I especially loved our times spent in the back creek and fire pit, stargazing, the hammocks in the oak grove, the garden bounty and orchard, and all of the reading we did by the warm fireplace! So many great books and stories read with the kids will remind me of this home. I'm so very grateful for it all! 

Thank you Lord for your goodness toward us. You are faithful to lead us, love us, and grow us. We love you!