July 2020

 We were able to get Leah's violin back from Utah by asking someone in our ward that was traveling from Utah to Georgia to bring it with her. It was wonderful to hear Leah and Kaitlyn playing together again.

Kaitlyn quickly learned to decorate cookie cakes at work. We ordered a 4th of July cake which she decorated.

Here are some of her other cakes:

We worked some more on our yard. It was super hot and made for extra hard work.

Amy wanted to have a baking competition for Family Home Evening. Jared picked up a bunch of random ingredients including cauliflower cheddar crackers, oreos, feta cheese, ricotta cheese, and oranges. Amy and Leah were on a team, and Hyrum and Kaitlyn were on a team. They came up with some impressive creations.

We decided to try out Bill Nye the Science Guy's experiment to see if masks do anything. We thought it was pretty enlightening to try to blow out a candle with any type of mask.

We decided we desperately wanted to have some type of vacation experience, so we took a mini-trip in Georgia a little over an hour away to go to Truett's Luau (a Hawaiian-themed Chick-fil-A).

Leah also started working at The Great American Cookie Company in the mall, but at a different store than Kaitlyn. She also quickly learned to decorate cookie cakes.

This was a cake we ordered. I told Leah she could do whatever she wanted. Jared had been teasing her that he wanted a cake with a patriotic donkey on it, so she delivered.

Jared and Hyrum had the opportunity to go to a ward service project held outside. It was wonderful for them to have that opportunity again.

Hyrum and Amy were excited when they were given the all-clear to try out our new lawn (we had told everyone to stay off of it for several weeks until it took root).

I took the kids to Five Below as a reward for their summer reading program. It was a sign of the times that we found this for sale:

Jared had to submit a picture of himself to Church leaders in preparation for interviews being held to select a new Stake President. Off came the beard and mustache. Little did he know that he would actually be called to be the new Stake President.