First Nebraska Camping Trip

We finally got a some relief from the triple digits and decided to take advantage and go camping. Mario and the boys spent two nights and Erin and I one night. Eric is in Nauvoo for youth conference. He hates campimg anyway. Our good friends, the Hettinger Family joined us too.

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Prank Wars

Eric had a mess to clean up today. Fortunately his brothers volunteered to help. As you can tell, this ward is full of fun youth.

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New Callings

Mario and I were sustained today.  I am the new nursery leader while Mario is the Cub Committee Chair.  I am relieved that neither of us have very demanding callings.  That will leave a lot of time to spend as a family.  But I sure wish Mario was a nursery leader with me.  How fun would that be!  Nursery is a calling that I have dreaded my whole adult life.  But after subbing as Relief Society teacher today, nursery started sounding pretty good.  Teaching adults is very intimidating.  But I will miss sitting in Relief Society and associating with the wonderful women in my ward.  I love my new ward.  How come Midwest has such great wards?  Must come down to the people in the Midwest.

Charlie's Truck

Mario has regretted selling his truck since the day he sold it.  Even though he has a really nice SUV now, it is just not the same as having a truck.  Plus, he feels like he has to park far away from every other car so it doesn't get dinged.  So he has been looking for a truck to replace his Ranger. One day it occurred to me that my brother, Charlie, would be selling his truck soon.  So Mario called him up and begged him to sell the truck to us.  I say begged because Charlie had no intention of selling the truck to anyone he knew because it had over 200K miles on it and he was afraid it would break down.  But Toyota Tacoma trucks are hard to find used because everyone seems to love them and keep them forever.

Charlie finally gave in after test driving it.  Unfortunately, it did need some repairs before he could drive it up to Missouri,  so poor Charlie, a couple days after surgery, was outside repairing the truck.

Mario is very happy to be the proud owner of another truck.  I'm not sure how long he will have to drive it because Eric will turn 16 in one year.  So Eric has every intention of making it his truck and I don't think Mario will let Eric drive his SUV.  So unless Eric drives the minivan, he will have to drive the truck, unless we make Eric get a job and buy his own car, which isn't a bad idea either.  Eric got to drive the truck around the lake several times and Mario even let him drive on the highway by Jeannie's lake because it is out in the middle of nowhere.

So for now, Mario drives the truck everyday into work, while his SUV stays parked in the garage.  It has become the date night vehicle.  Maybe it will get more use in the winter when we need 4 wheel drive.  Or maybe we should sell it and put the money back into our retirement house fund.

Fourth of July

We are lucky to be in Omaha which is only a 6-7 hour drive to Missouri where my Grandma lives and also my sister's mother-in-law lives.  Melissa tends to visit her mother-in-law, Jeannie, every summer for a month or two.  So when we found out we were moving to Omaha, Melissa and I planned a long weekend for us to get together at Jeannie's lake house.  Jeannie was so nice to go along with the plan and allow not only my family of 6 to come stay with her but also my brother, Charlie, who is stationed just 300 miles away at Fort Campbell.  So we left at 5 am on the 4th of July so we could make it in time for a fish fry at noon at Jeannie's friend, Marvin's house.  Wow, what an amazing guy.  Pretty much his whole diet consists of what he hunts, fishes, or traps.  I'd sure like it if my grocery budget was as little as his each month.  We had fried fish and fried frog legs.  I had frog legs as a kid so I knew they were good but this was Mario's first time and he loved them.

After the fish fry, we went to visit my Grandma in St. James.  We were able to get a picture of the four of us together for my mom''

After that, we headed out to Jeannie's house.  It was almost a half hour from town.  I normally don't like being so far from a grocery store, but it was very relaxing.  In fact, Melissa and I only went to town once the next couple days because she had something very important to mail.  So I really enjoyed the distance from town and being able to relax while swimming and watching the kids.  It was so nice for the cousins to play and for me to have time to spend with my brother and sister.  We just wish Billy and his family could have been there and also Mom and Dad.  I know that if they weren't on their mission, my parents would have definitely been there too.

We are grateful for Jeannie, Marvin and Melissa's hospitality while we visited. It was so much fun. It was so nice that Mario almost threw away his whole plan to retire in Venice, Florida.  He really wanted to buy one of the empty lots at the lake and build a home. That's how much he enjoyed it.  But in the end, it is so far from church and town.  We could never really live that far out.  But if we were rich, it would make a perfect vacation home.

18th Anniversary and Michael Phelps

Mario and I celebrated our anniversary by attending the Olympic Swim Trials held here in Omaha. We had nose bleed seats but it was still really cool watching Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps swim. Wish we could attend the Olympics in London. I told Eric to get a full ride scholarship to college and then maybe we can take him to the Olympics in Brazil right before his mission.

Then Mario and the kids enjoyed shooting off some fireworks. Mario and I topped our celebration off with a trip to do Sealings at the Temple. What a great day! I'm loving Omaha and all the things to do.

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Happy 41st Birthday

Mario had a big week last week. He found out that he made Lt. Colonel, celebrated Father's Day, and turned 41. He got lots of ugly cake and then an ice cream cake made by Erin.

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