Summer activities 2025- VBS, library, flag, softball, nature camp.

We are having lots of summer fun! Thankful for warm weather and days together! All three went to a lego themed VBS and had a great time! They tied the building theme into building your life on God, our rock.

Norah was old enough this summer to volunteer at the library for the summer reading program! She had to go to a training meeting and everything. She's old enough to have her own meeting and to start to do a few things on her own! Go Norah- what a great use of your time and abilities to help serve!

Norah had her end of summer rec flag performance and did great! They dance to a song from Hamilton.

Lucy and Ellory wrapped up softball and both loved it! 

Go Cubs! It was fun to watch them enjoy it and try hard.

All three got to go to a fun nature camp for two days and do lots of fun activities learning about rocks!

So thankful for a fun summer together!

Summer activities 2025- softball, flag, soccer camp, summer celebration, and special friends time.

Summer activities are in full swing and we are enjoying them! Lucy and Ellory are doing softball (Norah opted not to this summer). They are on the Cubs this year and looking good! Go Lucy and Ellory!

Some grounding and throwing practice.

This is Kley's last hoorah with coaching! All the activities for Lucy and Ellory next year are either coached by high school students, college students, or the city rec staff. Go Kley- what a great dad for coaching all these years in a row!

Norah is doing flag this summer- go Norah! She's pretty good and fun to watch! Both softball and flag will be for the six week summer rec session.

All three got to do a soccer camp at our local college (for four days for one week). Fun to be able to do lots of special and different things this summer!

Our neighboring town did their annual summer celebration. We always used to go as a family and it was a fun summer kickoff event, but as they girls are getting older it's not as fun as it used to be for them. That's selfishly sad for me, but so thankful they are growing up! Last year, Ellory and Lucy wanted to go with me, and this year just Lucy. So Lucy and I had a little daughter date and it was so fun! I'm glad we got to go together!

A fun park play date! Our good friends, the Geleynse family, are home for the summer from overseas, and it has been so great to see them again! We had a park playdate for them to see some friends, and it was special because our close friends, the Ragsdale family, that now live 2.5 hours away from us, were in town for a family event and got to join too!

We got to have the Geleynses over for supper and it was so fun to be together in person again after over 2.5 years apart! It was so special to watch our kids play together again too!

The girls! Their two oldest (they have two younger not in the photo as well) are so close in age to ours. 

Recent reads.

Sheet Music: Uncovering the Secrets to Sexual Intimacy in Marriage by Kevin Leman- Kley and I originally read this book back when we first got married, and just finished rereading it for a sex night talk with some church friends. It is a good resource! It was great for exploring different scenarios and aspects of sex in Christian marriage, and brought up many good discussion points. While we didn't agree with every single point he said, there was a lot of good and beneficial to be talking about these topics!

Family Family by Laurie Frankel- I got this because it was on my book list (a running note I keep on my phone of books I hear others recommend) and my library actually had it available, and it was a decent read. Not my favorite, but I finished it and it was neat to see many facets of adoption portrayed in this story. The main character is India, who placed two children for adoption, and later adopted twins, and weaves different perspectives together through different people in her life and how they all weave together as family. (There was some language in this story, just as a warning- I am not a fan of language and don't think it's necessary to tell the story.)

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid- This book was so interesting, and I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing. I had heard several people say they really liked Taylor Jenkins Reid, so I was excited to start this book, but I did think about quitting twice while reading it, though there were a few dropped clues that left me curious about the ending to hang on and see what happened. There was language and LGBTQ aspects that I wasn't expecting and I didn't love. It's about how Evelyn Hugo chooses entry level writer Monique Grant to tell all the details of her life (and her seven husbands) to write a biography about her and no one understands why she chose Monique, which all comes together in the end. While I don't personally agree with many of the choices that Evelyn made in her life, it was intriguing to learn her story and about why she did what she did. Two words that Monique used at the end to describe Evelyn were complex and captivating, and those are two good words.

4th of July 2025- Schut celebration.

We went to Des Moines for the 4th and had a great time! We went a few days before because Kley was singing in a wedding in Pella, so the girls and I spent time with family while he was at the rehearsal dinner and wedding. We enjoyed playing at my parent's house, and also visiting Living History Farms (first time for the girls!) and going to the 4th of July parade!

I wondered what the girls would think of Living History Farms, but they were pretty interested! We were there for a few hours, and probably could have gone even longer had it not been so hot/humid. They enjoyed walking through the different houses modeled after certain time periods, which was my favorite part when I was younger too! I have fond memories of going to day camps there for years growing up, so it was special for them to be able to see it!

Grandpa, Grandma, and Aunt Kayla got to join too! I also got to meet up with two different friends from high school while we were in town, so that was nice to catch up with them!

Parade fun. Happy 4th! 

Over the weekend, my parents kindly watched the girls so Kley and I could have two nights kid free! We stayed around Des Moines and did some fun things and loved our time together! So thankful to be married to you, Kley! 

4th of July 2025- De Jong celebration and friend party.

Happy 4th of July! Thankful for our country and to live in the USA. We had our annual neighborhood/friend party and we had a great time! We got lots of rain that week, but glad it wasn't raining that night so we could have the party. We did s'mores, sparklers for the kids, and Kley set off a bunch of smaller fireworks for a show. My parents ended up coming last minute too to visit my grandma, so it was great we got to see them for a night too and they could join the party! 

This house is a gift to our family in many ways, one of the top being able to use it for hospitality. Love seeing the driveway and yard filled!

Three beauties doing sparklers!

We celebrated with De Jongs with a delicious meal, bubbles/parachute outside, ice cream cake, and a few fireworks too! It was a special night. Kley's sister and her family are living here now, so it's so fun to have them close! They just moved, as Brett finished residency and is going to be an anesthesiologist here- way to go Brett! They are currently living in my in law's basement until their house is finished being renovated.

The kids love the parachute firework best, that shoots off a little army man attached to a parachute and you have to chase it and try to catch it.

Parachute and bubbles.

Happy 4th of July! Hope you had a wonderful time celebrating as well!