Summer Through June

We have lots of family events in June. First we celebrated my dear husband Ben's birthday! I experimented with making an open layered cake with four layers. It turned out really pretty but next time I might try making my own icing so that it won't be too sweet. My peonies and catmint were in bloom and they made a wonderful centerpiece. June is also the month of birthdays in Ben's side of the family. We got together for a "pan-birthday" party at his grandmother's house. Later in the month we also had a good-bye party for his sister and husband who are moving to the other side of the country.

I also started painting another icon, this time outside of class. Luckily for me, my iconography instructor also goes to our church and she has been a blessing when it comes to asking for advice and help on painting this new icon. I'm slowly gathering the supplies I need to be able to make icons on my own.

In the midst of busy schedules it's nice to have nice quiet mornings in the early light with pretty flowers and delicious waffles!

June is also our anniversary; this year it was our 17th wedding anniversary. When we were chrismated years ago we hadn't been crowned. Ben very sweetly arranged for us to be crowned at St. John Chrysostom by Bishop Anthony on the weekend of our anniversary. Bishop David of the OCA Alaskan diocese also happened to be there that weekend so we had two bishops reading the crowning prayers! Father Michael and his wife were also celebrating an anniversary and were crowned with their original wedding crowns.

We finally crossed off one of last Summer's bucket list items this Summer. We made (more like adapted) wooden boats to sail Honey Creek from long strings over the side of the bridge. It was quite adventurous to see who could get their boat the farthest down the stream without getting caught up on branches and the like.

We enjoyed gigantic ice cream cones from the local bakery. Yum!

We visited an art museum in downtown AA. It's nice that we've visited often enough that we know right where to go to find our favorite sections of the museum.

We rummaged around the shops downtown, including the most charming used book store where I found Life Everlasting.

The kids and I stayed a week with my parents since my Dad is going through chemo again. We found time to do some fun things while we were with them, including going to the Children's Zoo in FW. The zoo had done some remodeling and adding new exhibits so it was fun to see all the changes. Our favorite new exhibit was Stingray Bay. The kids loved being able to pet the sting rays and the sting rays seemed to enjoy it too!

Next time I try to catch up all the way through August. Maybe once school starts up I'll be able to write a little more often. It's only a few weeks away!