For most of John's deployment he has complained of being bored.

We have been VERY thankful he has been bored and have tried to convince him that bored is good.

Last week, John lost two friends from his company. Our hearts go out to their families and friends. We are thankful for their willingness to serve and for their sacrifice. We know they made an impact on John's life and he will always remember them.

While we were not able to have a real discussion, we have spoken to John by phone. We look forward to seeing him in person soon.

Summer officially started one week ago and the temperature has been 90 or above every day since. This is our weather.com forecast for the next five days.

John said it is miserable in the warehouse and I have been nagging him about drinking more water. I am staying in my nice air conditioned office. The temps are expected to be in the mid 90s next week but it looks like we are headed for a long, hot summer!

Finally got some pictures from Scout Camp. Here are some photos from the Troop Stump-Tug-o-War Championship that was held in their tent area.

They evidently played this game a lot from their blisters and rope burns.

But it reduced the amount wresting with the two biggest boys in the bunch, John and J.T., and probably saved them from more serious injury.

I had some problems with my other blog account and deleted our old blog by accident. I thought maybe I was through with blogging but found that I have missed it so I am starting up a new one.

While John was at camp, I visited these two cuties.

and their parents.

We played games, went to a movie and just visited as we say in the South. It was great to spend some time with them!

John's second adventure of the summer was Boy Scout camp. The difference between the boys and the girls is that I can't find any photos from Scout Camp. They spent a week at Camp Skymont in Altamont, Tennessee. The first two days were rainy so they got a little wet but the rest of the week was beautiful.


The younger scouts spent most of the week working on merit badges. The older scouts got to try out the COPE course. COPE is an acronym for Challenging Outdoor Personal Experience. It consists of individual and group challenges on a low-course and high-course. (These pictures are not our boys, just some from the brochure.)

John is already planning the adventure for next summer!

The first weekend in June, John accompanied the Young Women to the Nantahala Outdoor Center on the Tennessee/North Carolina border. They went white water rafting and did the ropes course. (John is in the blue shirt)

The ropes course was too tall to get a good picture but maybe you can tell how big it is in this picture.

Here is a photo of the group.

Before they left they formed a line and wrapped John up in big hug for helping coordinate the trip.