Here are some of my favorite summer moments and products.

.

.

My Morning Routine

Ted put two new Adirondack chairs together, and they were my favorite summertime morning spot. I sat out there almost every morning to read, pray, soak in the morning sun, drink coffee, and play with the dog. Slowly, one-by-one, the kids would join me out here to read, talk or cuddle.

.

.

Re-reading Romans

Maybe because I was on the porch and the sunshine was in my face, maybe because this book applies 100% to what’s happening in our world right now – but re-reading the book of Romans THRILLED me this summer. This book is filled with hope, inspiration, and clarity. I snapped the picture above of Romans 15:13 from The Passion Translation.

.

.

Ryan Trahan’s Youtube adventure

.

This summer, my boys were jumping on YouTube everyday to watch a YouTuber named Ryan Trahan travel across America with just ONE penny. I sat to watch with them one day and saw why they were so entertained by this (twenty-something) “kid.” Ryan’s adventure was so fun and we were all impressed with how he made enough money each day to keep moving forward. While crossing America, he also raised over a million dollars for Feeding America. If you are a parent looking for an entertaining YouTube video to watch with your kids, I recommend this one.

.

.

.

Feelin’ Fourteen!

.

Who knew roller skating could make you feel like a kid again?

A friend invited us to go roller skating with her and her son. I went for my kids, but didn’t know I’d have more fun than anyone else in the building.

Well, Luke says that he and I BOTH had the BEST time, and I’m glad we got to experience that together. There are not many things that a 40+ year old WOMAN, and an 8-Year-old BOY find the same level of enjoyment in – but we found something this summer on the roller rink. Luke and I skated until they turned the music off and asked us to leave.

.

.

.

Birk Dupes

Target’s Birkenstock ‘dupes’ have been on my feet all summer. I bought some for my sister and son – and we all love them. They look and feel just like the real thing, but are only $10. Click here to order yourself a pair.

.

.

Wordle/Quordle/Nerdle

.

These three games are my little brain-break each day. Have you tried them yet?

.

.

This Book

.

.

I’m absolutely loving this 40-day devotional by Levi Lusko. The author shares so many fascinating historical and science-based stories, and connects those to powerful truths from the Bible. I think you’ll love this book too! Great for ages 15 and up.

.

.

Bike Rides with my Boys

George, Luke and I all got new (to us) bikes and we’ve been on lots of bike rides this summer. Once again, this has me feeling like a kid again. Like roller skating, it is a GREAT workout! If you don’t have a bike, I recommend you look for one on Facebook marketplace and get riding.

.

Though those are just a few stand outs from summer, I also loved spending time with my family, my in-laws, reading good books, and taking “field trips” around Minnesota. After our LOOONNNG Minnesota winter, we enjoyed every warm day of summer!

I’d love to hear what you loved about summer. Would you leave a comment and tell me a highlight or two? (Click on the little ‘text’ box by the title to leave a comment.)

Thanks for reading!

Here’s a peek into what we’ve been up to in June.

.

Watch out world, there’s a new REF in town.

We are so proud of George and how hard he worked to become a soccer referee.

• He watched about 8 hours of ref instruction online,
• went to a four-hour class,
• a two-hour training, and
• took an intense referee test, and …

Earned his official “Ref” status!

He was super nervous about reffing his first game – but Ted went to observe and said he did awesome. He’s reffed a bunch a games in June, and becoming better and more confident with each one.

George even got to ref one of Paul’s soccer games, which was super fun for all of us.

.

Paul finished his spring soccer season in June. He played with a great group of boys and their team was UNDEFEATED all season.

.

Luke and Clark are in baseball. It’s been fun spending summer nights at the baseball field watching them play. Clark made the All-Star baseball team and crushed it! He hit the ball every time he was up to bat, had several RBI’s, pitched, and started the game playing third base (which was his dad’s position).

.

.

Field Trips Fridays

Field Trip 1: The Minnesota History Center

I joined the Minnesota Historical Society so that our family could visit a few unique places in our state. Our first stop was the Minnesota History center in St. Paul. It was a fantastic museum with hands-on exhibits to teach kids (and adults) about Minnesota’s History. George loved the WW2 airplane experience. Clark liked making sundaes at the soda shop. Paul and Luke loved the tornado experience. I enjoyed exploring this new place with my boys.

Here’s a peek into our visit:

.

Field Trip #2 – Fort Snelling

Our next field trip (with our Minnesota History passes) was to Fort Snelling. This place had been on my list for awhile, and I’m so glad we finally made it happen. It was beautiful and so interesting to get to experience what an army base would have looked and felt like 200 years ago.

.

.

.

Field trip #3 – Tactical Urban Combat

The family that battles together, stays together.

Our family was gifted passes to Tactical Urban Combat in exchange for a blog post. We had a so much fun choosing a nerf gun and battling it out with another group. Clark helped us win ‘capture the flag.’

.

.

We celebrated Father’s Day for one FINE dad!

I’m thankful that our boys are following in the footsteps of someone so kind, wise, strong, faithful and full of integrity.

.

.

An Egly Boy Sleeps away

In June we sent the first #eglyboy to Lake Geneva Campground with a bunch of other kids from our church. He loved it!

.

.

Wrigley Love

.

.

A Walk Down Memory Lane

.

.

It’s GREAT to be EIGHT

How is our baby EIGHT years old??

We had a little backyard birthday for him and some of his friends.

He asked for a “Hibachi” birthday dinner. Here’s a peek into our first family hibachi experience:

.

.

Signs of Spring

Minnesota had the LONGEST winter, but warmer days are finally here. Spring is BURSTING all around us. It THRILLS me and smells OH.SO.GOOD!

.

Listen to this cardinal sing:

.

.

Field Trips are BACK!

After more than two years, field trips are back!

I was thrilled when Paul asked if I would chaperone his fourth grade trip to the Minnesota State Capital. This place had been on our bucket list for four years.

The capitol was designed by an architect named Cass Gilbert, and built in 1905 for $4.5 million. 

We had a great time exploring this beautiful building and learning about our state’s government. Paul didn’t want the day to end.

.

.

.

Encountering a new season of parenthood

After all these years, we finally have a child old enough to babysit so we can sneak off and have dinner by ourselves.

.

.

We Escaped to Florida

My amazing in-laws came to town so that I could tag-a-long on Ted’s work trip to Orlando in April. The sunshine, palm trees, and warm weather were good for my soul.

.

.

.

Easter at our house

.

.

Our Youngest Two Boys were Baptized

About four years ago, George and Clark were baptized. This year, Paul and Luke asked to be baptized! We were thrilled to celebrate this big step in their faith walk with Jesus.

.

.

Wrigley’s World

Wrigley’s been getting lots of exercise running with the neighborhood dogs:

.

His two favorite things are cuddling with his family and playing catch with his favorite ball.

.

.

.

.

.

A Quick and Easy Salsa Recipe

.

.

Taking a Walk Down Memory Lane

6 year old George holding baby Luke (Luke is now TWO YEARS older than George was when we took this picture)!

.

.

.

This picture is our first outing with all four boys. We went to Chick-fil-A (shocking, right?). I love how Clark grabbed the centerpiece from the table because he thought the flower would be ‘pretty in the picture.’

Thanks for reading! What have you been up to? Leave me a comment!