Caricatures

Leonard found a fun filter on his phone and turned a photo of me into some silly art.

Me as a caricature,

a cartoon (my childhood self would have loved this!),

a 3D cartoon,

and a painting.

This one is my favorite.  Can I airbrush my face everyday?  Get rid of the wrinkles, and chubby cheeks, make my nose smaller.  Yes, please!

My handsome hubby also as a painting.

And our darling Macy too.

It's only a phone app, so I need to actually use my phone, because I want to create portraits of our whole family with this app!

Okay, I did some playing around and created this.  I love it!

His Kiddos

Leonard sure loves his kiddos and me!  And we sure love him!!

Father's Day was the day after our whirlwind Toronto trip, so I asked if we could have a do-over to the following week.  Leonard is always a good sport and enjoyed the cinnamon rolls I baked up for breakfast.

My Dad

Happy Father's Day to my Dad! He is the King of Dad jokes. He was my personal jungle gym as a kid. He plays the guitar, electric guitar, and banjo by ear. He curled my hair when I was a little girl and didn't have much of it. He taught me to memorize my first scripture before I could read. He taught me how to ride a bike, took me on motorcycle rides through the Boise foothills, and gave me underdogs on swings. He also gave me my bonus mom, who gave me four bonus siblings. I'm grateful to come from two families and have so many people to love. I love you Dad!

Me and Dad, 2nd grade.

Me and Dad, third grade.

Me and Dad, fourth grade.

Dad and me (and my bangs!), eighth grade.

I love my bonus family! 1999.

And Leonard's tribute to his father:

24th Father's Day without him.
Every year I'm more grateful for the 22 Father's Days I had with him in life.
I could not have asked for a better father than this wonderful, generous, wise and thoughtful person.

"In speaking of God our father, President Boyd K. Packer said, "Of all the other titles that He could have used He chose to be called "Father".  How grateful I am to a father in heaven who knows me, loves me, teaches me, understands me, and supports me." 

~Stephanie Nielson

Kaleb receives his Endowment

We took a quick trip down to Toronto so Kaleb could receive his temple endowment.

Leonard and I were so grateful we could be there with him.

Kaleb was allowed to invite five other women and four other men to join us.  Unfortunately, three of his guests weren't able to make the trip after all, but we're so grateful to those that could.  Kaleb invited other "parent" figures in his life.

The Potters were his parents when he went on pioneer trek two years ago.  The Wrights are the parents of our ward.  He's known the Martins since before his first birthday and they are like his second parents.  

The last time we were at the Toronto temple was with the Martin family!

We were able to have lunch at Nando's with the Wrights and Potters.  We also visited with the Martins at Mary's sister's house.  It was so great to see her parents, Brian and Easter Woolsey, and her three sisters, niece, and grand-niece and nephew while we were in town.  They are our adopted family and we love them all so much!

Elder Reil with our Chapel Hill Sisters and Elders.

Mint Car

My favorite song, Mint Car, by The Cure celebrated its 25th birthday.

I wanted to share it here.  Unfortunately, Canada has become communist and will only let Canadian content be published.  So to those in Canada, sorry.  To those every where else that is free, enjoy!

Here are the lyrics at least:

Ow!

The sun is up
I'm so happy I could scream!
And there's nowhere else in the world I'd rather be
Than here with you
It's perfect
It's all I ever wanted
Oh, I almost can't believe that it's for real
So pinch me quick, ow!

I really don't think it gets any better than this
Vanilla smile
And a gorgeous strawberry kiss!
Birds sing we swing
Clouds drift by and everything is like a dream
It's everything I wished

Never guessed it got this good
Wondered if it ever would
Really didn't think it could
Do it again?
I know we should!!!

Slinky as raccoons in the roof!

The sun is up
I'm so fizzy I could burst!

Yeah you wet through and me headfirst
Into this is perfect
It's all I ever wanted
Ow! It feels so big it almost hurts!

Never guessed it got this good
Wondered if it ever would
Really didn't think it could
Do it some more
I know we should

Say it will always be like this
The two of us together
It will always be like this
Forever and ever and ever
(And ever and ever)
(And ever and ever and ever ever ever)

Never guessed it got this good
Wondered if it ever would
Really didn't think it could
Do it all the time?
I know that we should!!!

The mint car I'd like to drive someday.

The mint car I'll probably own, ha ha!

The Arboretum

One Sunday afternoon we took a stroll at the arboretum.  There were a few of these trees (western catalpa) and they were just amazing!  I wish I had a photo with someone standing under it to show how huge it is!

And its blossoms truly looked like popcorn popping on the apricot tree.

Up close though, they looked like orchids.

We also took the little bridge over to the island.

We had to visit the flower gardens too.  All the pink roses are so pretty!

Twins.

Little petite cutie.

This looks like a bouquet.

This looks like a heart.

A corsage.

A boutonniere. 

The peonies were my favorite though!  I love these flowers!

Now I'm on the hunt for another favorite- hydrangeas.

We had hundreds of caterpillars with us on our journey, and one stowed away on Gavin.  He shrieked when he found it on his leg in the van coming home.  We took him to our nearby park.  Good luck hungry caterpillar!

Macy was asleep before we got home.  I love the heat, but it wears me out too.  Long live summer!

Donuts and Ring Pops

Teague's teacher had already stopped by twice to drop off popcorn and jelly beans.

She stopped by a third time to drop off donuts.

When he went to school to collect his locker belongings, she gave him another treat.

A ring pop!  What a sweet teacher!