Update

What a week! I normally love to come home and blog in my downtime before bed, but there has been zero downtime since last Wednesday, hence zero blogging. But (almost) all the business has been really fun. I am terrified now that I won't remember any of it, so now's the test.

• Mini golf with the middle school youth group last Wednesday at Peter Pan downtown. I don't think I've ever played mini golf in 107 degree heat before, though it did remind me a bit of Sun Lakes growing up (especially since one of the holes was a little mountain with a hole in top. I could never get that one growing up, and I got it in two strokes! Triumph of the night). I was excited to see one of my dance students there with her friend, who goes to our church. I really miss my students and can't wait to get back in the studio with them! (Though if I weren't in the middle of 6 weeks off, I probably wouldn't feel that way).
• We were invited to a dinner to welcome William, the new Youth Director at Covenant, and his wife Amy. I was really excited to go to our first church potluck dinner, and a little nervous because it was about 15 senior staff members and their spouses, and us. We were assigned to bring an appetizer, so I made my favorite food in the world, my mom's chicken wings. We got there, and everyone was mingling, and there were little appetizer plates out just for my appetizer. Scary. But they were a really big hit! It was really fun to talk with everyone there- I feel like we're getting plugged in and known in the church in a way that I haven't been since I was a little kid in Indianola- and the food everyone made was amazing! I made sure to ask how to make the bbq chicken.
• Trey was in town for a couple days on break from camp (he is the camp nurse!), so we got to play Rummikub with Joe and Trey :) Aside from my getting really frustrated with Trey and Travis' long turns, it was a really nice evening. Joe and I developed a new strategy for avoiding boredom when Trey and Travis take too long. We played another game on the side! This time was the dot game, but next time we will bring cards. Also, Griz (Trey's puppy) was there, and he looks so different! When he was a baby, Griz looked like a little teddy bear, hence the name. Now he looks like a german shepherd (I think he is half). Same old Griz, though: he was so excited to see us, he drooled all over my silk shirt, and then fell asleep on top of Travis' foot.
  
• On Saturday night, we went to an awesome concert! Shane Barnard (of Shane and Shane) and Bethany Dillon recently got married, and this was their first concert together. It was in a middle school cafeteria, and they were really relaxed and casual, telling funny stories and joking about how they hadn't been able to rehearse together, so they were just going to wing it. And then they started playing, and I felt like we were in the greatest concert hall in the world. They have two of the most pure and lovely voices I've ever heard. I loved hearing their stories about being newly married, and about the inspiration for their songs. Love for God, and for each other, radiated from them. Bethany's music can be heard here, and Shane's here. Check it out! Travis and I have both seen Shane Barnard before, he and his musical partner, Shane Everett, came to Whitworth our freshman year. I will never forget that concert, especially since my roommate Chelsea and I made the band pirate cookies and took them to their bus after the show! Chelsea is always coming up with ideas like that, like "lets go find really terrible sweaters at Goodwill and get our pictures taken at Sears!" I miss her a lot.

Oops, no time to finish the update now. I'm off to a middle school pool party, then to see Harry Potter for the second time in less than 24 hours!