June Books

In June, I embraced the easy summer beach reading style (even more than usual, haha). I barely made it through one non-fiction book, and only two of my fiction books had much substance. (Thank you, Wendelin, for keeping some sense in my literature!) I don't have much else to say about my June reading--no epiphanies or deep thoughts. Not even any shallow thoughts. These books gave me what I needed at the time!

Junend

June has ended. Junend. We have Juned sufficiently. It was a scorcher, so pardon my clumsy wordplay. June journal clips:

Monday, June 14th: Swim team begins! This morning at 6:30 we got everyone up and at 'em for the first day of swim team. At the pool, Amber stood shivering in line waiting to take her swim test, while Jeff and I watched from the other side of the fence. Sweet Amber doggy paddled, mostly with her hands, about 2/3 of the way across the pool (short way) before touching her feet down. She stood up two other times before she made it to the other side, and she didn't make it onto the swim team. She tried again about 15 minutes later, and still couldn't quite make it across. She was pretty sad and discouraged, but we reminded her how young she is (Jay didn't join the team till he was 9, and Rose joined when she was 8). We also reminded her how far she did manage to swim, and we told her we would help her practice a lot this summer so she could make it next year.

During swim team, Jeff and I coached our first cross country summer conditioning session. Six runners showed up! 3 boys, 3 girls. It was awesome having three girls show up to run--a team record for summer training!

Escape to Paradise

Sometimes escape is the only answer. Some of our favorite adventures have been sparked by the need to escape. After college/before kids when Jeff and I were backpacking around Europe, unexpectedly crummy/unsavory hostels or extra-fragrant urine-drenched big city gutters inspired us to escape to last minute hidden gems like Perpignan in southwestern France and Vikos Gorge near the Greece/Albania border. Those unplanned escapes became some of our favorite memories of the entire three month trip. The escape phenomenon has been a recurring theme in our life ever since. We escaped dead-end jobs in Missouri and moved to Washington in 2009. We escaped the Grandview High School construction on the other side of our back fence and moved to Sunnyside in 2017. Each summer we escape the heat of the Yakima Valley in search of cool mountain air. The end of June brought the most extreme temperatures ever recorded to our valley. Escape was imminent.  

Girls' Night

A decade or two ago (I can't remember exactly when), my Mom got a "foot treatment" kit which had three bottles of different scrubs, rubs, and lotions for feet. She shared it with her daughters, and the Foot Treatment tradition began. I don't think she has ever let me give her a foot rub, but I have lots of memories of my mom giving me "foot treatments" aka amazing foot rubs with lotion. The most recent was for my birthday two years ago. Some girls go get pedicures together, but my Mom gives foot treatments at home. 

When Jeff and Jay both had things to do at the church last Wednesday night, it seemed like a good time to have a girls' spa night with my own daughters. My salon skills may be limited, but we felt like being extra fancy. So I dug out my only lotion (plain unscented), the girls tracked down their collection of nail polish, and we had some fun. We've painted each other's toenails and done each other's hair plenty before, but we had never done foot treatments. So we combined the best of both worlds: foot rubs plus nail polish. Personally, I could've done without the nail polish, but that was the most exciting part for Rose and Amber, so I let them scribble away on my toenails with their heavily laden pink paintbrushes.

The Olympic Trials!

Last week, our coach friend (and Jay's middle school running coach), Dan Winger, sent us a text: "I have three tickets to the Olympic Trials next Thursday. Do you want to come?" Our answer was an immediate "We're in!" It would be a five hour drive to Eugene, Oregon from our house--right on the edge of doable round trip in one day. We figured with three drivers, it would work great. So we cashed in all kinds of familial and neighborly goodwill to find places for our kids to stay while we were gone, and the big day quickly came!

A birthday to remember

My mom turned 60 last week! My siblings and I concocted an epic surprise visit that involved more dishonesty and stressful half-truths than I've ever told in my life. It was worth the effort. She loved our surprise! The celebrations lasted for days, beginning with a family dinner on Wednesday night and culminating with a major ten-cake-fest on Saturday. My mom is a genius at creating fun food traditions. For her birthday, she likes to make as many cakes as possible and then share them liberally with anyone and everyone. Her cake fest was extra sweet this year, with extra family visiting. It was a birthday to remember!

A few journal clips to tell more of the story:

May Books!

Some books are such a joyful escape. Other books are excellent brain exercise, like lifting weights with my mind. Even though I read far more relaxing escapes than muscle-building non-fiction, I appreciate both. The non-fiction books ground me and take work to read; the fluffy fiction provide rest, recovery, and fun. It feels good to alternate between the two. The way I do that is I read a little non-fiction every day, always before any fiction, usually while I eat lunch. Feed the body, feed the mind! 

The End of the School Year of Beginnings

The strangest school year of all time is OVER at last! Yay!

The strangest school year of all time is over ALREADY! Boo!

With all of the pandemic stops, starts, restrictions, and guidelines, this school year was full of beginnings. The kids had something like five "first days" of school, from online to hybrid to full-time in person, and a couple in between around their Covid quarantines. It was a year of beginnings, and now it has ended!

The 100 Day Dress Challenge

Back in March, I ordered a Rowena Swing Dress from the Portland-based company, Wool&, and started their 100 day challenge. Challenge requirements were simple: wear the dress for 8 hours per day, for 100 consecutive days, and take a picture every day. The prize was a $100 gift card for another dress. I figured if I loved the dress enough to wear it for 100 days in a row, I would probably want another one in a different color, so the gift card would be welcome. If I didn't manage to complete the challenge, I had nothing to lose. It was a low stakes, high reward situation. Count me in!

Shaina Day!

I haven't had a day to call my own in twenty years. One of my best friends in high school had the same birthday as me. When we went our separate ways for college, I ended up sharing a birthday with my beloved college roommate. Since we're still best friends, that birthday sharing didn't end with college graduation. And now on top of that, I also share a birthday with Amber. I love and value all of these people greatly, but November 4th does tend to feel a bit...crowded.

Since I share a birthday with a daughter (and my BFF), and I share Mother's Day with track season (and all women), my family gave me a randomly selected day that was all my own. Sunday, June 6th was Shaina Day, and even though it wasn't perfect, it was ALL MINE, complete with gifts and singing and thoughtfulness that helped me feel loved. I didn't have to tell anyone else happy birthday or make anyone else's birthday dinner or make sure to send cards to anyone else. It was a day where I let everyone else take care of home, food, dishes, cleaning, argument-diffusing, etc. I don't know why women need an official titled "day off" to take a day off from all of these everyday responsibilities, but I seized my day and enjoyed the mental break from the normal litany of life. I also enjoyed the novelty of my family putting actual effort into actually putting away food, dishes, toys, etc. that they got out. It was most welcome and had me plotting ways to get them to care and be aware like that all of the time. (Hah!)

Thirty-nine

Jeff turned a venerable zesty 39 years young on Tuesday, June 1st. We love him. Whenever I think I'm low maintenance, I look over at Jeff. The man is so easygoing, it's hard to make a day special for him! When I asked him what he wanted to get, do, and eat for his birthday, he didn't have much to say beyond "brownies and ice cream, please." Jeff finally admitted to wanting a new Garmin heart rate monitor, some headphones, and a sampler of chicken sandwiches for dinner. I had actually already ordered the heart rate monitor and ended up giving it to him two weeks early so he could enjoy accurate data from his athletic activities. He ordered himself new headphones and I wrapped the box (ahem, shoved it into a gift bag) so he could open it on his birthday. 

Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day weekend was a taste of summer. It was hot and sunny. It was a four day weekend. We barbecued with local family and watched the kids swim. Our dishwasher died and we did a lot of handwashing. Thankfully our landlord had the dishwasher replaced after only 4 days, so it wasn't too tough. I am so thankful for labor saving devices that liberate me to do more meaningful activities!

On Sunday, Jay gave his first ever official talk in sacrament meeting on May 30th. His topic was prayer, and he did a wonderful job writing his own talk. Jeff checked it once to make sure Jay was on the right track, and he was, so we left it to him. It was a thoughtful personal talk. We love our Jay.