This year Beckham, Benson, and Anderson decided they wanted to play soccer again, so we've been pretty busy with practices and games since the beginning of June! They've been doing great and Anderson is actually playing this year (instead of laying on the field, etc), so that's good, haha. Their games finish in the next couple of weeks.
Also, Grandma and Grandpa Brown came to visit a couple weeks ago and stayed for ten days! We had a blast with them! The kids played games with them, Grandma helped me clean (haha), we watched movies, and played games. Grandma and I also got to walk together at the gym track a few times, which I love. Grandpa played a lot of Call of Duty with Bridger and Beckham, and flight simulator, and the kids all loved that. They even got to see a few soccer games! :)
One of our favorite things was renting a pontoon boat on Holter Lake with them last year, so we did that again this year and we absolutely LOVED it. We got to the lake around 10 AM and stayed on the boat until 6 PM, then they fished some more off the dock. We spent the entire day on the paddle board, cruising around the lake, eating, and swimming. It was beautiful and I cherish these memories we're making.
My mom also noticed that there was ONE night available with a three bedroom condo in West Yellowstone and asked if we wanted to make a quick trip while they were here with us. Of course we said yes! I went to Yellowstone with my family growing up, but Jeremy and our kids have never been and we've only lived 4 hours away this entire time, so it's one of the places we've wanted to visit and just haven't gotten to it. We finally did it!! It was crazy busy getting everything prepped (even for just overnight, haha), we packed all our own food and snacks (no eating out). We headed out early Saturday morning and headed home Sunday night.
On our way there we stopped for a bathroom break in this tiny town (Neihart, just past Showdown) at this little place called "The Inconvenience Store." The owner was super chatty and told us all about this amazing hike just a few minutes away called Memorial Falls. We decided to continue our spontaneity and stopped to hike it. It was GORGEOUS and one of our favorite places here in Montana now. It was only about 1/3 mile in and 1/3 mile out, but there was a waterfall, cool rock steps, and a beautiful river. It was just so pretty. The kids played in the river a bit, we got some pictures, they found some tiny pinecones they thought were adorable, and then we got back on the road!
The next day we packed and loaded the cars and headed off into the park again! We went to the main visitors center near Old Faithful and let the kids look around at the activities, then we watched a movie on Yellowstone, then headed outside to watch Old Faithful. There were a lot of people and Roz was in the stroller and getting a little ornery. She finally shouted, "I can't see!" and this sweet lady turned around with a smile and stepped aside and asked, "can you see now?" Hahaha, I was soooo embarrassed! But we thanked her for her kindness, she was so sweet. By that time everyone was getting pretty tired. We ate lunch at a picnic area nearby, then packed up again and headed out of the park. We stopped at the "Mud Volcano" on our way out and it turned out to be our favorite stop in Yellowstone. But by that time, Roz and Ander were getting cranky. Jeremy and I were both taking turns carrying them because it was hot and with all the traveling and cramming so much into just a couple days, they were tired, but it was worth it! We had to bribe them with snacks, and that helped, but we got the entire main part of the park in. We stopped at one more small just-off-the-road mud pot on our way out, then headed home. The views were gorgeous the entire way, but we saw like fifteen deer near the interstate, which was nerve-wracking. We ended up getting home around 10 PM, and then Grandma and Grandpa had to head home on a 12.5 hour drive the next morning!
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We also took the kids to a movie at the theatre with a homeschool group in town that is so kind to invite us on their field trips this week. We don't often go to the theatre, so it was fun to do this with them and Jeremy even joined us and got off work early! We went to see Despicable Me 4. Of course, we brought our own popcorn and the kids felt like they were breaking laws sneaking all our popcorn and waters in, it was funny, haha. :) I had to carry the huge, suspicious bag in, but no one said anything.
Then later this week we took the kids to military night at the Great Falls Voyagers (their baseball team), we had amazing seats near the dugout and right in front so we could see home plate, it was awesome and we loved it! The kids got free popsicles and we got a picture with "Orbit" their mascot, which Roz was really freaked out by, haha. She was keeping her distance with a suspicious look on her face at him, so I had to kinda pull her in to join us, it was funny. :)
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And I can't forget to mention the Montana State Fair!! Our family LOVES the fair here! It's a tradition we've made for the last three years. We love seeing the old cars, the reptile exhibits, the TRAINS (everyone's favorite!), the chickens, bunnies, and mini horses. Then we always stop for ice cream in this huge dusty barn (don't think about it too hard), and buy it from the 4-H kids. This year, Jeremy and a few of our kids even got to hold a snake and they thought that was awesome!!
I also decided it's time to publish my first book and I've been extra busy between my healing regimen and that! I'm hoping to publish this fall, I'll probably post a more in-depth update about that. Jeremy has also been learning day trading, so yeah, things have been extra crazy busy, but it's good, and I'm grateful. I also just found out today I'm being released as 2nd counselor in the Primary Presidency and being called as 2nd Counselor in the YW Presidency. Super bittersweet! I've genuinely LOVED serving with Bridgette Long, Jamie Pfile, and Chelsey Boud. This presidency has been awesome and great to work with, and it's been extra special to serve in that position with four of our kids still in primary. I've been learning the songs along with them, seeing them during singing time, having them wave at me and give me hugs, and...I don't know, it just has been really special and I feel an enormous amount of gratitude for the opportunity. Chelsey and I had only been in the presidency for a year, but the other two ladies had been in for longer and we knew it was about time that we would be released...still, it's hard. I'm focusing on having gratitude for the opportunity instead of feeling sad, though. And I can genuinely say that I am looking forward to being in YW's! Cherie Fonnesbeck is the President, and Lynelle Stoddard and Brandi Boatman will be in the presidency as well and they are all incredible ladies that I love! I'm grateful for this opportunity to learn more about the changes in YW and how it works. My goal was to learn from Bridgette how a presidency works (that was the first one I've been in), and I did! I learned so much! I'm treating this one the same and my goal is to now learn from Cherie, who is an incredible leader, and the other ladies as well and hopefully be able to contribute as well. I want to learn everything I can from these good people so that if I'm ever called to a presidency, or as president, in the future, I'll have a good foundation to rely on.
Jeremy is still on the High Council and really enjoys it! Between that and preaching on base he's hardly been at our ward! But we just got a new wing chaplain who has decided to change things up and Jeremy won't be preaching on base anymore. We aren't sure if he doesn't like our religion or what the case is...but we've known that we were a bit spoiled with our last leadership as they loved us and our religion based on experiences with past LDS members. We knew we should expect to meet people who don't want LDS preaching at their pulpit, in fact, Jeremy was the only active duty Air Force chaplain who was preaching the last three years. In better news, though, a young man named Carson Peters was meeting with Jeremy and was super interested in our church. If you could describe a golden investigator, it would be him. It was incredible and he was baptized about six weeks later by Jeremy a few weeks ago. He actually just had Jeremy ordain him to the Aaronic priesthood today at church. :) It was really special.
So, there's the summer update!! :)
