June 2020

I might get tired of mountain sunsets and stop taking pictures, but it's been more than 13 years and I'm still blown away every single time.

June meant a chance to return to the studio, only three kids per class and masks, but she got to dance again!

We knelt for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. 

Honestly, I don't have it in me now to write all that I want to write about this, and I'm still sorting it out in my head. The shortest possible version of my thoughts: This world is broken. I am a part of the brokenness. I need to also be part of the healing. I need to listen and learn and be introspective. I need to be part of the change to make things better.  It's going to be a lifelong journey. But that's where I'm starting.

June 8, at the spot were I said yes in 2006. We had no idea what the next fourteen years would look like. The days are long and the years are short. God's grace abounds.

Dinner during our Malaysia week.

We had a week off of work in June. Tired of our house, but no where to go. Nothing was open. Didn't really want to fly anywhere. Or be around people. Or touch things. So our dear friends let us stay in  their empty home in Scottsdale. Apparently most people don't prefer Arizona in June, but we are not most people. 100 degrees at 8am isn't that hot if you can drink your morning coffee with this view. 

I spent most of my week under this little shaded gazebo reading and watching the kids swim.

Except for when they took over my gazebo to read. And read. And read.

We pretty much rotated between pool and reading all week. It was amazing.

Tossed in a game of jenga here and there.

One day we decided to go for a hike at Saguaro NP.

It was four miles up, four and a half miles down (because I made us go a different way down, which may have proved a bad idea).

I'm not going to lie. It was a tough hike. We went on the "coolest" day of the week, which wasn't just cool.

But we got to see these amazing cacti.

Including this one that the girls named Shrek and insisted make the blog.

And there were amazing views along the way.

We had a picnic lunch at the top, which is when we also realized that we were 3/4 the way through our 4L of water, but going downhill is easy, right? I mean, who needs water going down?

Turns out we do. I mean, everything was still fine here because Clifton had temporarily lifted the Hamilton soundtrack ban, so the kids were rapping to their hearts' content. It didn't last though. There were tears, which I told them to make sure they licked back up to rehydrate themselves. We made it. I may have been reviewing symptoms of heat stroke in my head... When we got back down we saw the sign that said to bring a gallon of water per person. Next time (if we can ever talk our kids into a desert hike again...)

Turns out Arizona sunsets aren't half bad either.

And June ended with an amazing trip for me to Dallas where I got to spend time with my sister-in-law Lori and her two kids and my cousin-in-law Chelsea and her kids and the Farmers... I have no idea why I didn't take more photos, so this will have to serve as my mental bookmark. 💓