Summer

How can the summer be going by so fast?  I thought the summer sped by when I was in school but I think this is the fastest summer yet!
I am a check list kind of person so I have my list of "to do"and once I have my check list complete I can put the task behind me.  One of my top priorities this summer was scout merit badges for my boys.  I want to take advantage of both boys being young and excited about scouts, both boys being able to work on the same things, and both boys having lots of friends involved in scouting.
We have an amazing ward/ scout leaders and I feel so blessed to have this strength around us.  Some of the leaders have been in the program for several years so I want to make sure my boys benefit as much as possible with such great leaders around them.  So I want to make sure I do my part.  Briggs has been 11 for almost 3 months (at the age of 11the boys can start working on scout merit badges).  I have worked on several badges with Avram in the past year but I haven't wanted to push too hard because I wanted to be able to work with both boys together.  Anyway, in just under 3 months Briggs has completed 19 merit badges.  Briggs has 4 more required merit badges left before he has all he needs for his eagle (besides a few requirements including leadership positions in his pack, etc.)  Avram has 2 more required badges (which are half way done) and he will have all the badges needed for his eagle.  Avram is a star scout and hopefully in 6 months Briggs will be a star scout.  If everything goes well we will be working on 2 eagle projects next summer so if anyone knows of a couple of great projects let me know.
I personally taught swimming and lifesaving classes to 17 boys this summer.  I have one more lifesaving group to teach before summer is over because there was a group of boys that weren't able to come to the other classes and they really want to get their badge.  Its funny that my lifeguard training is still paying off, something I never suspected would happen.
Adam was a huge help with the scout progress this past week.  He went with the 12 year old scouts to scout camp and he took Briggs along.  The boys had a blast! Adam did not get a vacation.  He spent the entire week trying to keep the boys focused on their tasks.  I couldn't help but chuckle when Adam called and vented his frustrations with motivating our boys (they are very laid back boys)
Ila and I had a fun girls week, once the "boring work got done."  The first couple of days Ilas wasn't too happy about our girls week because I took advantage of having the boys out of the house and I cleaned!  In between work we went to the new movie "Finding Dory", we went swimming, and of course painted nails.  Ila loves painting finger nails and makeup.

Besides teaching merit badge classes I have had the opportunity to work with several people and teach family history/indexing.  The best part about sharing this knowledge is that it is so fun to see the blessings of this work pass on to so many people.  I just wish I could figure out how to pass on my love for family history to my immediate family.  Sigh, they are a tough group.

We have worked very hard on trying to complete the work on our house.  It is difficult when so much depends on Adam and he is so busy with work.  We have been very blessed that he is busy so Im not complaining but hasn't able to do a lot at home so things are moving slowly.  While I wait for some of the projects to get finished up I can always find plenty to keep me busy.  I think I have picked up thousands of rocks out of our yard.