somebody dropped the ball

Somebody, somebody is responsible, you see?
So I found that somebody, and....oops! It was me!

Yep, I have not kept the blog up for the last several months. And how on earth do I catch you up? Well, I'm afraid I will just have to "sum up."

• Our kind, playful, imaginative daughter turned 5! And did she want a princess theme for her special day? No, it was Star Wars, and Darth Vader more specifically, she wanted. She still loves her princesses, but I have to admit I'm glad she's interested in other things, too. We sure love her!
• Nathan had LASIK on both of his eyes. He's still in the healing process, but is past the most uncomfortable stage. He has at least 20/15 vision in both eyes and is happy with the results. We've talked about having him get LASIK for a long time, so I'm glad we finally did it!
• I was called as Relief Society president in my ward. Talk about a shocker! Nathan warned me it could be coming, but I really didn't think it would. It was VERY overwhelming for the first while, but it's gradually getting less so. I'm grateful to get to serve the wonderful women in our ward and I'm thankful the Lord can use me.
• We finished our application process with Premier Adoption!! We're very hopeful that this will give us the opportunity we've yearned and prayed for for years to bring another child into our family. Of course, shortly after getting everything finished our home study needed to be updated again, but we now have that taken care of as well! Now we're ready for our miracle.
• I was in charge of my family's annual reunion and we had it the weekend of the 24th of July. We did a session at the temple Friday night and then spent a lot of the day Saturday working on projects in Mom's backyard. We got a lot done! Then in the evening we had some family history activities and a BBQ up the canyon. Things turned out pretty well. Now I have some years before my turns rolls around again -- whew!
• I had a nephew return home from a mission in the Dominican Republic and another nephew leave for a mission in Chile, and yet another nephew receive his mission call to Guatemala! Nathan had a nephew return from a mission in Sweden and another nephew left to serve in Mexico.
• We took a short trip to San Francisco and San Jose with some friends in our ward. We had such a great time! It was really fun to spend time there with our friends and Nathan got to visit with some of his friends there as well. Fun times!
• A trip to Lagoon, a picnic in the Uintahs, pool time, playing in the sprinklers and at splash pads and parks, a couple hikes, an overnight camping trip, birthdays and family gatherings, a trip to my sister, Lynda's, to surprise her for her birthday, and a recent trip to the zoo with my sister, Lori.
• Another big event was S starting preschool. I was nervous about this because she was really needing her parents around a lot at that time, so I sought out some advice and prayed a lot and the transition actually went pretty smoothly. Now she loves it. She's also doing an online preschool and is doing really well there, also. Thank heaven!

Provo River Falls in the Uintahs with Nathan's
sister and her family on Memorial Day

We hiked to Lisa Falls on the 4th of July (Yes, I had
to go there ;) but it wasn't much of a hike)

S and her daddy horsing around

S and I on our camping trip

Lynda blowing out the candles on her birthday cake
(either that or...she's trying to fly, lol!)

Our friends with us at Pier 39 in San Francisco

S and her friend drinking water from the sprinkler

S and her cousin at Lagoon examining the map

Nathan and I volunteered to help at the rodeo this summer

Cousins playing in the creek

S with cousins on Grandma's porch swing

The family at the reunion in July

She's become very good at drawing

Being silly on our hike (Mommy was trying to get S to smile)

Her first day of preschool (trying hard to be brave)

S and her friend from preschool on their first field trip
to the apple barn