KENTUCKY BOUND

This is Tyler's second-to-youngest brother Kevin. Isn't he a doting young lad? He gave a wonderful talk today and Tyler performed a beautiful musical number on the flute. One of the sisters in the ward gave the closing prayer in the meeting and blessed Kevin that he would be able to go to his area and be let into homes where others would not be due to his beaming personality. I believe that will be true with all my heart; in all the time that I have known Kevin, even before I was officially a Lynch, he has been a positive beacon of hope in all situations. There was an amazing turnout at Lynchland, all in honor of this suspender-sporting, very-soon-to-be missionary.

TASTE TESTING

We had plans to help out at Lynchland all we could today in preparation for Kevin's farewell tomorrow. We got there early in the morning and turned right around to run some errands at Sam's Club—just in time for morning samples. One of my very favorite samples was this table; from afar I told Tyler that those looked like apricots; he retorted saying that they were too dark to be apricots and were definitely plums. As we rounded the table we saw the sign reading 'Pluots;' that's right, a hybrid of the two. We could not stop laughing and I had to take a picture of what caused this hilarity. The rest of the day was spent in the Lynchland kitchen cooking up a storm with Suzanne and Nicole with the occasional help from Matt, Peter, and Kevin (Tyler had to go to work). Jeff was outside all day trimming, snipping, and clipping the yard, front and back, for the festivities tomorrow. After a long day of cooking everything under the sun in that little hot kitchen, we got out of the house for some well-deserved In-N-Out burger.

THANK GOODNESS INDEED

All I have to say is thank goodness this week is over. It was a great one, having family here in the beginning, but it's been a game of catch-up at work. Another exciting thing we've launched at work this summer is a weekender tote. It's brown, tan, and white, large, and woven. It is the perfect size for my laptop and a lovely carry on for all of my upcoming trips. The best part is the interior—a flood of electric blue. I bought it at the end of the workday, along with Tiffany's birthday present, as we will be celebrating her birthday when they come back from Las Vegas.

JEWELED

Check this out. So the company I work for is going to launch an interchangeable and a non-interchangeable jewelry line next month and the product came in today. I was especially excited because the packaging was a collaborative effort between Sydney and me. She did most of the grunt work that comes with getting the files ready to be sent off, but I came up with the initial design. A black sleeve goes over the box with the company logo and a varnish with our tagline 'Endless Possibilities' printed on it. The box itself is white with silver printing and slides out to show the jewelry. I designed the pattern on the box and what a feat that was. It ended up being one of our clover symbols we use throughout the jewelry, duplicated and rotated on top of itself (it that makes any sense whatsoever). All in all I am very excited for this jewelry launch to be received by the public next month, and I came away with a terrific portfolio piece, no?

BIRTHDAY'S A-COMIN'

A couple of weeks before Sara and Bob drove out here Sara went to a book barn sale (something I desperately wish we had here) where paperback and hardback books are dirt cheap, like coin cheap. She called me up and asked me if I wanted some books here and there. Well, last night she gave me a whole stack of books that have the most wonderful illustrations on the endpapers and throughout the pages. In addition to the stacks and stacks of books, she gave me this: my very first birthday present. It's probably one of the greatest phone covers I've ever seen. It's my favorite color and the perfect concept; I think it fits me perfectly, don't you?

BOYS MOVIE NIGHT

Have you ever seen this movie? I was introduced to it quite a bit ago by my brother-in-law Steve. It is hilarious and has become one of my very favorites. Tyler has been waiting to watch this with both Steve and Bob, but chances of all three of them being in the same room has been next to impossible since we've met. We meant to do it back when Tyler and I were wed, but we were busy non-stop until they were out of town and back to their homes. In fact, the last time I saw this myself was the summer before I got married and my whole family was together for a short week in Maryland. Tonight, finally, it happened! The boys all sat on the couch and together they watched this comedy of all comedies, which did not disappoint. While they sat on the couch, the girls sat at the counter planning out fun crafts and ideas that we want to and hope to achieve (since we've made a whole book, we hope to do more). Tonight was our last night with the Riches and Cramers, for the Riches are driving back to California in the morning and the Cramers are driving to Las Vegas for a mini-trip before they come back for the 4th of July.

FLYIN' HIGH

This morning everyone but Tyler and I went on a hike—we of course slept in now that the book and the wedding are over. It was long overdue. In the afternoon we all traveled to Scheels so the grandkids could ride with the grandparents on the ferris wheel. My mom sat with the girls and my dad sat with the boys while we all watched from below. We wandered around for a bit afterwards and spent the evening at Duncanville, visiting late into the night once again.