And now it is June

We bid goodbye to Julina and Alex Monday morning, the last day of May and had none of the traffic issues we encountered three days earlier.  When we arrived home, Steve changed out our front door flag to honor Stratton (and all the grads- including our next door neighbor, Edwin Alarcon who also graduated from high school)

That evening, Beckie, Steve and I drove to Ballwin to enjoy a Memorial Day cookout with Emily and family.  Joe cooked marinated chicken breasts on the grill and Beckie brought beef and veggie kabobs as well.  I made cheesy grits and marinated carrots and we brought a watermelon and s'more fixings.  The weather was just perfect and it was a lovely finish to a really nice holiday weekend.  

Larkin came for preschool on Tuesday and she practiced riding her bike again.  Her legs are getting stronger and she did quite well going up and down our driveway.

Beckie came for dinner that evening and we ate yummy leftovers from the night before! Afterwards, we played a couple of rounds of dominoes before she left for home.  Then, Elise arrived since she had an early flight to Utah the next morning.  She and I left for the airport at 6:00 and after I dropped her off, I  went to check civic orchestra mail at the P.O. box in Creve Coeur. That was when I saw a text from Elise....she couldn't find her driver's license!!!  Happily, she had her passport to allow her through TSA but renting a car in Utah would not be possible without that license.  I called Steve and he checked all around the house.  I drove back to the airport drop-off site to see if it had fallen out of her cell phone card pocket and no, it hadn't.  Steve called lost and found at the airport.  Nothing.  It wasn't until two days later when I had the thought to check the bedding down in our guest room and sure enough, there it was lying amid the bed sheets.   I texted Elise to ask if we should overnight it to her but, by then, she had figured out work-arounds for getting her from place to place.  

Thursday was on-line cello lessons and the piano tuner came in the afternoon.  Friday was a trip to Menards in the morning to buy a ceiling fan. Hopefully, our handyman will be here first thing next week to start work:  install the fan in our bedroom, put up a door knocker on the front door, make my toilet not wobble, fix the leak in the downstairs shower (by installing a whole new shower stall), and build two walls to finish off the guest area.  Steve and I had teeth cleanings at the dentist mid-day on Friday and it was so nice to just walk the three blocks to the office.  

Saturday was a "do something" day:  Steve mowed and I pulled weeds and planted marigold seeds in the front yard.  We supported the ward art show mid-day.  I brought some stuff to share including some of my most recent pottery creations; the mug and matching bowl that I made for Steve, the little rainbow striped bowl and the white one with the holes.  I didn't bring the tiny blue hole-y pieces which are our electric toothbrush holders nor the tiny bowl next to them.  THAT one was supposed to be pink on the outside but the color is quite washed out.  

 

I went to the pottery studio later that afternoon and threw some more things; primarily more little bowls that will become small boxes with lids for Noah, Quinn, Lucy, and Larkin.  I also threw a vase in a shape I had never attempted before.  

Then, I went home and cleaned myself up and Steve and I drove to Ballwin to pick up Emily and we three attended a wedding reception in Frontinac for Rebecca Reid and Justin Goodson.  The evening was just perfect, the outdoor setting was gorgeous, the food had many gluten-free options, and it was just nice to sit and relax and chat with Emily since neither Steve nor I knew many of the guests.  We did chat a little with some of Rebecca's siblings (LaDawn, Sarah, and David) although parents John and Shanna had already left for home.  

We watched more of season 3 of the pottery throwdown and we watched "That Thing You Do" and I have had that song in my head ever since.  With summer weather and temperatures, we are shuffling up our daily routine to do bike riding and dog walking in the evening when the sun in lower.  We are also getting up fifteen minutes earlier each morning to give us that much more time to do yard work in cooler temperatures.  All that means that movie watching might be in the afternoon and also not as frequent.  Sigh.

Today will have all the regular activities:  church at 10, missionary coordination meeting at 2, choir practice at 3, dinner at 5, phone calls with kids at 9.  The only change today is a string quartet rehearsal at 6:30.  We have a performance in two weeks so some of us are starting to worry that we are not ready (not me).