Summer dates, camps, surgery, and county youth fair 2026.

We did some one on one dates and it was super fun! The girls and I took turns doing school supply shopping, so we looked at Target, Shoe Carnival, and Old Navy for supplies, clothes, and shoes. Talking one on one is so special! We were able to work it out to go back to back to back and I let the girls pick where they wanted to eat, and they all picked Olive Garden, so I got to eat there three days in a row! Yay for breadsticks! (I do love Olive Garden, but three days in a row was pushing it, ha!) They each enjoyed some one on one time with Kley too!

We went to the Sioux Country Youth Fair and enjoyed pony rides (sadly Norah was too big), duck races, corn pit, jumping pad, ice cream cones, and animal barns. Lucy was on her special grandparent trip so she wasn't there, but Norah and Ellory each took a friend along. It was very hot, but wasn't too terrible thankfully and we had a good time!

Lucy was so excited to do golf camp and play in the parent/child tournament with Papa! Kley had a weekend golf trip with college friends, and originally the girls and I were supposed to be in Rapid City visiting my grandma, but I had a terrible run in with a kidney stone and ended up having surgery to remove a few and then had a very uncomfortable stent afterwards for a week, so we weren't able to go. We were supposed to be on the trip during golf camp, but Lucy was glad she could sign up last minute and thanks to Papa for golfing in the tournament with her. They had a special time together! Also, I am SO thankful the stent is out now and I am feeling back to normal! Very thankful for amazing help from my mom and MIL during the kidney stone ordeal (and Kley too!). 

 

All three girls got to do a volleyball camp for three days at our local college- so fun! I love that they are enjoying volleyball!

Garner/Des Moines/Lucy's grandparent trip.

Lucy had her special grandparent trip and had a great time! My grandparents did special trips for us when we were younger, so my parents wanted to carry it on and it's so sweet! Thanks Dad and Mom for doing this and making amazing memories together- how wonderful to have grandpa and grandma all to yourself! They went to Branson and enjoyed lots of fun things. Lucy did get homesick at the end of her trip, but overall did great and loved it!

We had some cousin fun in Des Moines when we went to pick Lucy up!

On the way to Des Moines to get Lucy after her trip, it worked out great to stop and stay the night in Garner with our good friends, the Ragsdales. We enjoyed their city pool, fun ice cream, and good fellowship and it was great to see them!

Ellory stepped in front right when I took this, but I thought Kley coming out of the waterslide was funny!

Recent reads 2026.

Girl, Wash Your Face: Stop Believing the Lies About Who You Are So You Can Become Who You Were Meant to Be by Rachel Hollis- This was an interesting pick up for me because I was waiting for some books I had on hold to become available but needed something in the meantime and I was looking at what was available now and this popped up. I do not follow Rachel Hollis, know anything about her, and have never read any of her work until now, but I heard so many people talking about this book back when it came out in 2018. It has definitely received it's share of controversial reviews, which made me intrigued to hear what she actually said. It was an interesting read, and I appreciated her honesty in talking about many personal topics, but I felt there were only snippets of talking about God and a lot of references to working harder to succeed, dream big and you can do it, you determine your own happiness, etc. I would not recommend this book as a solid Biblical resource.

My Husband's Wife by Alice Feeney- Wow, how does Alice come up with her ideas? The plot twists are mind blowing to me and I would be the worst thriller writer. This was the second book I have read by her and I don't know if I can read more? I ended both of my reads by her astonished and confused. Like not confused as in I didn't actually understand it, but confused as in what on earth just happened and that was so many things and that was really the ending? This story was about Eden Fox, who goes for a run and comes home and it locked out and there is another woman in her house who looks similar to her and claims to be her. Then Eden disappears, but which Eden and who is who? Birdy, a detective, comes to investigate the case along with the local police officer, and the discoveries they made and connections revealed are deep and crazy.

A Million Tiny Moments: Reflections to Refresh A Mom's Spirit by Emily A. Jensen and Laura Wifler-I have several books written by these authors and I love them all! They had a podcast called Risen Motherhood for about a decade that I loved, but that ministry recently sunset and is no longer, but both are still active in other types of authorship and ministry now. This book was kind of a compilation of different blog posts, articles, etc. from the Risen Motherhood ministry archives before it ended to have many of those things published in one place, and it's a good read! This is a different type of book because it's definitely Christian, but not set up for a Bible study, and it's written in brief segments that aren't linear, so you could pick it up when you have a couple minutes and read any short portion of the book as a quick devotional and encouraging read. 

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins- I read this when I was younger (it came out in 2008), and just listened to it again. I remembered big points from it, but it was wild to read it again! The premise of this story is so mind boggling! It's set in the nation of Panem, which is the ruins of what used to be North America. The Capital runs all of the 12 outlying districts, and annually they hold the Hunger Games, where one girl and one boy aged 12-18 from each district is chosen to compete in a televised fight to the death and the last one living wins. Katniss Everdeen volunteers to take the place of her younger sister who was chosen, and she competes in the Hunger Games. I feel like you can't help but be drawn to Katniss, her story, and who she is as a main character.

Homeschooled by Stefan Merrill Block- I found this as one of the new books at our local library. He talks about his entire life, but spends the majority of time on his childhood, where his mom pulled him out of school at age 9 and was homeschooled until high school. His mom taught him in math, but other than that he was basically left alone to pursue his passions, educate himself, and grow to the genius he was and would be, as his mother said. She said school was stifling him and he was a brilliant genius who would do amazing things. Their relationship was very dysfunctional and his mother was sad he was growing up and wanted him to stay young and be with him forever (like he went through a period where his mother forced him to crawl around the house like a baby). When he returned to school in high school, the bullying he endured was so difficult and sad. He overcame a lot and is a father himself now, and his resilience was powerful to read and he talks about how there should be more regulations in homeschooling to make sure kids are learning and not falling through the cracks.

Summer activities 2026- sports and classes.

What a fun summer! Grateful for the many summer opportunities our girls have to be involved in many different things and for the many people that work hard to make it happen! Our community is so special to me and I'm thankful our girls get to grow up in such a great place!

Lucy and Ellory had their last softball game and had a great season! They both grew as players and had some great plays and hits during games- yay!

Norah and Ellory had their flag performance and it was fun to watch!

Norah and her friend Brooke got to do a few craft classes together!

Enjoying some gelato on a hot day!

The girls got to do a nature camp for a few days and enjoyed it! Norah loved making homemade ice cream and Lucy and Ellory loved catching bugs!

Summer coloring fun!

Lucy and Ellory both did the kids triathlon and was so impressive to watch! Way to go girls!

They both said swimming was the hardest, then running, and biking was the easiest. They had to swim a full lap (across and back) in the pool, bike a mile, and run half a mile. What a workout!

Go Lucy!

Go Ellory!

4th of July 2026.

Happy 4th of July! Thankful for the USA and for this wonderful place to live. From everything to the entire country, state of Iowa, our town, to our very house and yard, we have much to be grateful for! We moved almost exactly three years ago (basically across the street from our prior house of 8+ years) and this house has been a sweet blessing in many ways, and a huge way of that is filling it with people we love. Love our annual neighbors and friend party with smores, sparkers, and fireworks!

Kley loves lighting all the fireworks! We gave him this flag shirt for Father's Day and knew he would love it for all the 4th of July festivities. :)

De Jong/Guthmiller celebration with smores and sparklers too- such fun! Love my favorite four!

Kley's grandma lives right down the street from us and it's great! Glad she could join in too.

Sparklers with Will and Gerrit!

Love cousin time! Kley has one sister and they moved to town a year ago and it's been so fun to have cousins close by! 

The actual 4th of July weekend was a bummer because we were supposed to head to Des Moines, but I had been having some strange symptoms for a couple weeks which culminated in an ER visit the night we were supposed to leave with a kidney stone. It didn't pass right away, so we ended up having to stay home. While we were sad to miss out on our original plans, we got a few house projects done and got some fun time with Papa, Amma, and Great Grandma too and special activities like pool (3 days in a row- it's been warm!), minions movie, and going out for supper. Thankful for the USA!