Weekly Recap: The one with Independence Day

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What a fun week! My son was called to be a counselor in the Deacon's quorum presidency. That means that he'll help plan activities and coordinate service projects for the boys his age at our church. They focus on coming closer to Christ and serving him by serving others around us.

We attended a family barbecue for my husband's family. It sure was nice to see his brother and their families, especially since a couple of them live out of state. My kids really enjoy spending time with their cousins, and I must say my nieces and nephews are adorable.



More family fun on Independence Day, as we celebrated with my family and my brother's extended family. We love getting together with them, they are from Brazil and we just love having them join our family here! A whole other bunch of adorable nieces and nephews, and second cousins. After our afternoon lunch, some of my brother's family came to my house so I could teach two of my nieces about using stretchy wraps with their newborns (due in a couple of months!!). I was amazed, I used to help lead a babywearing group in the area and NEVER has anyone caught on to putting a wrap on correctly after being shown only once. They are babywearing naturals! We had pizza and watched fireworks and lots more play time with cousins that night. We also talked about how school is different in the U.S.A. compared to Brazil. It's pretty neat to talk to nieces who grew up in both places and can see the differences now that their younger siblings attend school here.

In other news, E had an orthodontist checkup and her mouth is looking great. Her headgear is working so well, and there is talk of possibly starting brackets soon.

I received a new lens to replace the one that will go with my camera I am selling, and I sewed a new lens bag for it and some strap covers.

We started the approval process for an auto loan, and now we just have to find the right one for our family. And my son has finally saved enough money to purchase my camera. He paid us, since I'll be getting my new one next month, and we deposited it into his savings account. You see, he's loved using a dSLR since he was a toddler, but about a year ago he decided he wanted to buy mine when I upgrade. He's worked so hard (and overcome the money-burns-a-hole-in-my-pocket issue) and saved what we asked him to, which is a reasonable amount but a good portion less than I was going to list it online for. We talked about how hard he worked and what he learned about saving, then put his money in the bank for him to use towards his mission. (A mission is when a young adult chooses to serve Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ by serving others and sharing the gospel with them, away from their home.) I'm so proud of him!

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