June brought the end of the school year and thank goodness because ALL of us were limping to the finish line. Realllllly limping. That first Friday in June couldn’t come fast enough. Jen Hatmaker has a dead on accurate post about the end of the school year that I re-read every year and rediscover it’s honestly time and time again. Read it. Weep with laughter. Acknowledge it’s truth. I just read it again and wept afresh. Bless it all.

Sophie and I went to Girls Camp with our church and it was so incredibly uplifting and motivating and stretching once again. I adore our week in the redwoods with the young women of our congregation. It is an opportunity to set the world aside and focus on the Savior and on being a daughter of God. It is food for the soul and so very needed each year. I wish we could do Girls Camp each month! This year I was in charge of the music for the week and while it made me nervous at the beginning by the end I realized it was the best thing ever for me.

In between were kids watching too much TV as they binged their brains out, Simon started his job at Napa Deli, we prepped for our annual summer trip to Utah, spent time with the puppy and lots of time outside. Here is our Small Squares June recap!

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Simon and I enjoyed a short day trip to Long Beach to meet with our team at Miller Children’s Hospital Food Allergy Center for his next peanut updosing. At this appointment he ate the equivilent of 30 peanuts in varios forms (Reece’s peanut butter cups, peanut M&M’s, peanut butter and roasted peanuts). The challenge went perfectly and we celebrated at our favorite Long Beach haunt Nicks on 2nd.

I had the blessing and opportunity of a lifetime to sing in the Celestial Room of the Oakland Temple Dedication. Honestly, I still get teary when I think about how lucky I was to be able to do this. We do not typically sing in the temple much less in the Celestial Room but for the dedication our special choir performed four songs ending with the Hosanna Anthem. It was a life changing experience for me and really special for my family to witness; Sam was actually in the room while I sang and the session was broadcast across the Bay Area to stakes and congregations of our faith. Top ten moment of the whole year for me.

I got a pizza oven for Fathers Day for Sam and we really perfected our pizza making skills. Oven is by Ooni.

This next batch of photos is from Girls Camp. Sophie went on the fourth level hike (she had been looking forward to doing this since she was 11 and this was finally her year) so here are a bunch of photos of that plus her camp naming ceremony. Meet “Trailblazer”! I love her camp name. Mine is Wanderlust and with hers being Trailblazer I think we make a great duo :). Thanks to photographers on the hike for taking the following photos! And yes, they hiked for four days in the snow. It was rough.

It was pretty emotional when Sophie and her fellow hikers came into camp that Thursday. It is always emotional but this year it was especially so because I was watching my daughter!

How stunning is this beautiful place? We have been coming to Camp Liahona Redwoods both with our church congregation and as a family now for five years and this is truly a special, hallowed place. Time spent among the redwoods is always time well spent.

When I reflect back on the month of June, I’m overwhelmed with what a spiritual month it was for me personally. Preparing to sing in the temple, singing in the temple, preparing for Girls Camp and then handling all of the music and working with these beautiful girls in an effort to develop testimonies of the Savior – it was a feast for me. I will always remember June 2019 with such a happy and grateful heart.

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