Five for Friday- The Monday Edition

It's only Monday for another hour so I have to hurry with this post. Last week was a busy one. A quick recap.

1. Not to brag or anything (family joke) but I have been picking the best watermelons ever, even this early in the year. Last year a farmer that sold his watermelons roadside told us to always pick a melon with bee stings on the outside (assuming like the one above, are they really bee stings?). He said that meant that it was a sweeter melon. Anyone heard of this? Someone else try this out, let me know how it goes because so far, it's worked around here. We love watermelon.

2. I attended 2 funerals last week. One on Monday for the candy-passing out grandpa of our ward (oh how we will miss him and not just for the candy!) and another on Friday for my sister's mom. I don't mind attending funerals because even though it's hard and I know I'll cry, I like supporting and loving those that are grieving. I laughed and cried at both funerals. I felt the spirit and my testimony grew at both funerals. Both passings were a blessing but that doesn't stop the hurt. I'm so grateful to know our families can be eternal. Eternal. What a push to go on.

3. I went out of town for 3 days with only Dane. Oh man life was easier. The amount of driving we did this weekend was insane but so worth it. Dane played and played and played with Kate. I think I only heard him whine when he had a taste of his own medicine when she did things just to bug him (by far his favorite activity around Nathan and Kathryn). The funniest one was on Saturday (we'd been there since Thursday night) he was laying around pretty tired and she got up to get a drink. After every sip she would exaggerate the 'Aaaaaahhhhhhh' and it drove him nuts. He asked, he begged, he cried but still she 'Aaaaaaahhhhhh'-ed after every swallow. It was so funny that she knew how much it bugged him. How do they learn these things at 4? They had such a good time and with only the two of them, I must say there was a lot less fighting than we normall have with all 6 grandkids together. Thanks for taking us in guys!

4. On our way home from the funeral Kyle indulged me and we made a stop at IKEA. We walked the whole store and he even posed for this last photo (pretty willingly too). I love going there. Heidi's tour guide skills would have kicked the visit up a knotch but I'm glad Kyle took me too. At the end when I said I wasn't ready to leave he couldn't believe I was serious. He offered to go back through but we headed home instead to avoid the crazy traffic over there. And it was crazy. He only almost killed us twice this time. Ha, I'm kidding I have to say that because I know he lurks!

5. Nathan was invited on his first out of town, over night stay with a friend. They are a good family and I was surprised at how comfortable I felt letting him go. They are not of our faith and that is not a big deal at all except for the fact that the sleep over would go until Sunday sometime and Nathan would miss church. At first I did have the thought that what is one Sunday, he's only 7 1/2 and it isn't very often and, and, and. You get my drift. But I was reminded by a couple people (thank you!) that if we bend the standard now how much easier it will be to bend it down the road. I talked to the mom about coming to get him on Saturday night so he was home for Sunday and said they could invite someone else if they wanted them to stay the whole time. She was so kind about it and complimented us for not missing church and it reminded me that people really do respect your standards when you stick by them. One of the other kids there was a member and her parents picked her up on Saturday too. The mom made a comment to me that made all those extra miles on a long day worth it. She said, 'I told Nathan and Megan that their mom's were coming to get them so they would be home on Sunday and neither one of them complained or whined about being picked up. They just went on playing like it was no big deal and they weren't going to miss out' I'm so glad we made the choice to go get him and that he has friends that understand and even support our standards. It was a good experience for both of us. (Except for the part when he said he didn't even miss me!!!)

~We're down to 2 1/4 days of school left and we're out for summer. I love the first couple weeks deciding what to do, where to go. Every summer I say I'm going to work to not have this excitement burn off. I hope it lasts until mid July! This summer is different with Milo around so who knows where we'll end up and how we'll stay busy. If you've got ideas..... share them!