Steve's Memorial

 We got home just in time for a fun fourth of July party!  I love the fourth and I love that Christian is kind enough to not mind my parties :)

 Christian taught Tyson how to ride his bike and was sweating by the end from running to keep up with him!  This kid just surprised us all by taking off!!

 He was so proud of himself!

 Austin was bumped up from his trike to this bike from our neighbors with training wheels!  He was a lottle nervous at first but has improved drastically throughout the summer!

 My munchkins!  Now I can run with Neal in the jogger and these dudes ahead of me on their bikes!

 We were fortunate enough to attend Uncle Steve's Memorial.  I loved my uncle Steve.  He was so kind, thoughtful, and funny.  He left a giant hole when he left us.

 The only good part about funerals are the wonderful people you get to meet and see.  It was so fun to meet people who I was now connected to because of Steve. Also, the family part is fun.  Here is my great aunt and uncle!

 Grandma Adrienne Kaye and Christian!

 Austin and Grandma!

 We were planning on driving to Asheville and back on the same day but Dad was so generous to get us a hotel so we wouldn't have to drive through the night.  It was so fun to meet Dad and Kelley for breakfast the next morning and attend church.  It was beautiful there!

Neal and Kelley

The memorial was at a property just down the road from the house Steve built himself which was one of my earlier memories of him.  We came there for his wedding and I got to see fireflies for the first time.  We also got guitar shaped nail-clippers :)

One of my very earliest memories of Steve is when he helped me catch frogs in Florida.  We caught a huge one and it peed all over us!  He always was willing to play with me and even was interested in my Barbie coloring book when I was so proud of my picture!  He came to our house a few years later and helped make this delicious Norwegian bread.  He always said he liked me best because I was the middle kid--and he was a middle kid.

 We dropped sawdust from his shop into the river by the house he built and everyone shared memories of him.  I was so surprised how the vast majority of people at the memorial were people he worked for.  They all spoke of his beautiful work and his good humor and kindness.  Helen directed the memorial and shared her experience of coming to his home, eating chicken with their hands, and throwing the bones out the window.  They had wine and went outside to look at the stars--lying right in the middle of the road (I think the wine may have had something to do with that!)  Anyway, the stars were so bright and beautiful.  I loved this story of my uncle.

 We love and miss you Steve.

Along with summer came produce from our garden!  Thank you Dad for helping me get it going this year!

 Our friends and neighbors invited us to do a lemon-aid stand with them.  All of the proceeds went to the Salvation Army.  We earned $80.00 that we got to dump in a huge pot and eat free hot dogs.  It was so fun!

 We also got to go camping with our other Thompson friends!

I am always so happily surprised at how well our boys do camping.  Here is Neal munching on some watermelon!

 The boys loved ladderball--in remembrance of our good friends the Blairs!!

Austin roasting Marshmallows.  He is always saying he wants SMORE of something with a big grin~! :)

Tyson and his giant roasting stick!

 It was hats off day at the horsepark (where we were camping) so we got to tour the Smithsonian Horse museum for free!

 Here they are in their jockey silks!

They were pretty tired by the end (the locusts were pretty loud the night before) but it was gorgeous and fun!  I just love spending time together as a family!