Summer Days

August 10, 2018

I felt like I accomplished quite a bit today.  In addition to working out and running errands, I made several Relief Society visits.  Tanner took a day off work and Gavin and Londyn Brown came over for the day.  The girls were engaged with I'm not sure what all in Aubrey's room.  They also made lunch and then had a lemonade stand.  The boys played Fortnite and had Airsoft gun wars.  As soon as the Brown's left (3:30) we loaded up both cars and headed to the church for a Young Men's activity at the soup kitchen in Midland.  Several of the young men and leaders were out of town so Brian asked me and Aubrey to help as well.  I'm glad we all were able to serve together as a family....we just need our Brinley Kate back to feel complete.

Aub was very kind and made me a grilled cheese sandwich even though she was having something else.

Tanner bought a new airsoft pistol and says it is amazing.  I got him to pose for this picture and not make a funny face because he was in the middle of a war and wanted me to open the other garage door.  Deal!

It was a SLOW afternoon for selling Lemonade.  The girls were standing on chairs, waiving, and doing dances trying to attract customers.  It took about 25 minutes before the first one stopped.  (The mail lady--bless her!)  They ended up making $8.50 each and were pleased.

The boys stopped by and asked me for a dollar for lemonade...then they spilled lemonade on the table and told their sisters they were going home to get napkins.  Both girls know their brothers well and had no faith that they would come back to clean up their mess.  They were right!   Usually I pull up a chair at the stand which is a few houses down from ours but today I was stationed a house away in my air conditioned van.  It was brilliant...should have thought of that years ago! 

Tanner and Gavin found a lost dog named Fred.  Luckily the owners stopped by the lemonade stand earlier and asked the girls if they had seen it.  Once we had the dog we had no owners though.  We were able to track down their red car at a house and let them know we had found Fred.  The two older men were grateful and offered a reward.  Tanner was not happy when I declined it!

Then we were off to the Soup Kitchen in Midland.  I was really impressed with the kids for how hard they worked.  Parker served up the plates.  Aubrey and Tanner helped on the floor with visiting the people, refilling drinks, cleaning trays, picking up trash and wiping tables.  Three other young men came and they had positive attitudes and worked hard as well.  It made me think about how very blessed I've been all my life and also made me grateful for the volunteers who are willing to serve everyday to provide a sheltered space, a smile and a meal.