the weather is hot. Like, so hot that things are blurry and ice doesn’t even count in drinks and the pool is warm and really not that refreshing at all. The good news is that we are already two days into the five-day hot spell. woohoo. Plus my mood is low anyways since Mom and Madison left California yesterday morning. And Morgan has been gone working in San Diego and LA all week but he’s supposed to be home today maybe. And Father’s Day is almost here again so since I was in a blue mood anyways I went and looked through Father’s Day cards at Target and wept my eyes out. bleh.

But of course there is so much good to outweigh the heat and loneliness. Like last weekend us and Madison and Levi took our traditional summer camping trip over the Sierras to Bishop and Mammoth Lakes. We left Saturday and spent our first night camping at Bishop in our favorite spot out by the hot springs. It was quite hot when we got there so we set up our tent and organized stuff. We used our cast-iron to bake chicken and garlic bread and saute squash for supper and ate while we watched the sun set and the colors change into purples across the sky. We spent a long time watching the stars and looking at the sky through binoculars while we had deep conversations about God and the Flood and why we’re so human. In the morning we were up at 430 to head to the hot springs. I had the pleasant experience of freezing on the walk to the springs, and slipping and falling into three feet of 112* water all at once. I don’t know if it’s worse to fall into cold or hot water, honestly. We were the only ones there and we watched the sun come up while we toasted in the pools. I love that place. Fresh air, sitting in random hot pools in the grasses, surrounded by mountains and peace. Unfortunately, we had to cook breakfast when we got back to camp so the peace was short-lived. Madison made hash for breakfast and we all sat around a very tiny fire. We left around 9 and drove to Sabrina Lake where we spent the morning fishing with no luck and Madison and I reminisced about all the fishing trips with Dad. We drove into Bishop and had lunch at our BBQ place we like, and got some groceries for supper since the fish hadn’t made an appearance yet for our supper. We found a little secluded beach area and spent all afternoon fishing at Convict Lake. We swam there quite a bit too, although the water was cold. I caught the only fish of the trip, a nice little rainbow trout that we tied to the camp chair so it could swim by my legs while we sat in the lake. It’s a very dry year here in California, and we didn’t see much snow at all up on the mountains. Sabrina Lake was very low, with lots of rock islands taking over the lake. For night Sunday night we stayed closer to Mammoth Lakes and stayed in a campground, I think for the first time since we usually camp on public land. We had a secluded spot with nobody around us and we enjoyed being able to have a fire without restricitons so we grilled tri-tip for supper over the fire. We were all pretty tired from being in the water and sun all day, so we were all in our sleeping bags in decent time, watching the stars and falling asleep to the sound of the pine trees whispering their secrets to us.

Dillon and Renae and Max were here for a few days at the end of May over Mom’s school program. We spent the days having some tough discussions since we hadn’t talked like that since they’d left for the mission. It was so good to be together and play with Max, who is positively the cutest baby I’ve ever seen. He looks like us, I think, so he fits right in and we just know him. We spent a day in Yosemite admiring granite, and the rest of the days we stayed local. I am so excited to go see them this summer because of course their time here was way too short. Mom’s things were sent in U-Haul cubes out to Michigan a couple weeks ago, and her and Madison and dog Shasta left with the rest of their things yesterday morning, planning to make a stop in Center and a stop in Copeland. We are planning to meet them with the bus in Copeland in a couple weeks and then drive to Michigan together so I’m looking forward to that!

The bus is painted a beautiful blue grey color. I know, I can hardly believe it myself. The back deck is done and the top deck frame is on and I’ve stained the boards and Morgan is going to work on it this weekend. I’m working on trying to get things to stay on shelves when we drive so I don’t have to put everything away every night when we stop. I’m using Velcro squares but if you have a better idea, let me know! I’m also looking for ideas on how to keep our drawers and cabinet doors closed while we drive. Most of them stay closed on their own since they’re soft close, but a couple of the heaviest roll open so I need a solution to that soon. I drove the bus the other night for the first time. Morgan was nervous, understandably, but it went fine and I loved it. It will be fun to drive on the interstate.

This weekend we are having a supper with friends, I guess thinking of goodbyes and last times we’ll be with some of them. Tonight Morgan should be home and we are going to try this pizza guy we’ve heard about. Next week is babysitting a couple mornings, coffee with a friend, and the girls are coming over for Bible Study Tuesday morning. We are doing the “Daughters of Grace” devotional book if any of you need an idea on a good book to use.