​Madeline’s favorite place to eat for lunch is Panera Bread. You would think that she would love the macaroni and cheese like Abby when she was younger. Wrong. She loves the chicken broccoli soup. | Abby was so excited to get her learner’s permit. Luckily the DMV trip to get her permit didn’t take very long thanks to the appointment system they have now. | The older girls were really excited to give Mike a delayed birthday gift of a unicorn shirt and fanny pack just like the Rock wore in the movie Central Intelligence. | Madeline has loved two things of late – sitting with the hot pad and playing the Nintendo Switch. | Mike and I headed up to Buckley Air Force Base to sit in on the change of command ceremony for our neighbor Amanda. | It seems like every day this month is a good day to head to the pool. | Madeline loved snuggling up to all my pillows while I was in the process of washing all of my bedding. | Mike works hard and on one particular day in the OR they had him scheduled so tight it was ridiculous. | Madeline loves to play at any park, but it was a real treat to play at the MVP park after a little run there to watch Emma run with Kokopelli. | Summer evenings sometimes call for a stop at Baskin Robbins for a little ice-cream. | We finally got rid of our broken trampoline and had some guys come over and replace the pea gravel with new sod. It looks so good already. | With the destruction of Emma’s RAV4, we headed to the dealership in hopes to find Emma another car to drive. We walked away with a brand-new electric truck for Mike. The Ford F150 Lightening is probably one of the coolest cars we have driven. It was miles ahead of the Rivian we test drove in functionality and comfort. | Abby had her first few drives this month. We headed to the church parking lot for our first two sessions. | We love talking to Peter on Sundays. You know it’s a chill Sunday when we can actually sit on the couch and talk to him via the computer.

​In preparation for cross-country in the fall, Madeline and I headed out on several runs this month to get her body ready for running with the Kokopelli run club. Her goal was to be able to run 1-1.5 miles without stopping. We spent a few different times working up to that. She amazed me with her incredible endurance at such a young age. I could see that she had fight in her just like Emma. At the end of our training sessions this month we decided that we would wait one more year before starting with Kokopelli. One more year would give her more time to grow and mature before handling the rigors of more intense running. The goal, after all, is for running to be fun.

This summer marked Emma’s third and final high altitude cross-country camp with Kokopelli. She was a little nervous about her fitness after taking 3 weeks off in June and then another 4 days after her car accident. However, she later told me that although this camp was the hardest in terms of mileage, it was also the most chill of all the times she had been at Kokopelli. Her weekly mileage reached 50 miles which was the most she had run in one week ever. She recounted one of the hardest runs where they warmed up the first few miles all uphill. She learned the importance of hard work, comradery, and fueling properly. The food was delicious, and the other athletes were fun to be around. One of her favorite night activities was when they choose to watch a horror film. For some reason it had become tradition after last year’s camp. What makes these camps spectacular is her coach, Lisa, and the other counselors that Lisa recruited to be at camp. We will forever be grateful to Lisa for the amazing things she has taught Emma about running and life.

This was a really great training month for both running and biking. There were many runs up Barr Trail, one in the Pineries, Red and Iron Mountains, Ute Trail, MVP, and High Drive. One of my favorite runs was the first day of the month running up Barr trail and seeing all the purple wild flowers along the trail. It was also this day that I made it to Barr Camp for the first time this season. Mike and I spent a few long biking days up in Denver riding the trails up there as well as taking advantage of Garden of the Gods and Gold Camp Road in preparation for our Triple Bypass ride. We really do live in such a beautiful place for training in the summer. It’s never too hot or too cold. Most days it is absolutely perfect weather!

​Hello Everyone!
 
Sorry it’s been so long again! I'm always falling asleep on p-days, but I will try to do better in the future. Thank you so much for all those who reached out since last email, your kind words are truly a blessing. The past few weeks have been fairly fun and challenging.
 
One day we were walking to a more remote neighborhood to visit a family. It was a pretty long walk and sadly, her whole family had pink eyes and so we decided to let them rest and come back some other time. When we turned to walk away, however, we were swarmed by children. Now being swarmed is not unusual for a young foreigner so far in the mountains, so I started giving out fist bumps and talking with the children. Slowly, however, I realized that every single kid had pink eyes. After passing through the children in an attempt to avoid contamination, every single person we saw had very bad pink eyes. I don't know how we didn't notice walking in, but we had just walked straight into a pandemic of pink eyes. Our usual slow walk turned into a slight jog as we cleared the area before any more gangs of children could surround us. It was like a zombie apocalypse, but for a slightly irritating infection. What made it worse is that the sweat from my forehead was making its way into my eyes. My blonde, poor excuse for eyebrows were of no help, and I could not rub them, for fear of pink eyes.
 
I luckily didn't get pink eyes, but I did get pretty sick, so you win some, you lose some. I have slowly been recovering the past week and today I tried doing something I have wanted to try for a long time. Making tortillas. Tortillas are so expensive here, and I miss burritos a lot, so I had to at least attempt it. I got a recipe from my Mom who in turn acquired it from a sister in my home ward. (Thank you so much Sister Black, you are the best!) I had all the necessary ingredients, and I successfully made the dough. Alas, I did not have a rolling pin. I ended up using a cylindrical ketchup bottle instead, but it did not work very well, and the tortillas were very misshapen. The taste, however, was sublime. I made shredded chicken and cheese quesadillas, and it was so wonderful. Thank you again Sister Black, that recipe is amazing. 
 
Making those tortillas taught me two important lessons. Number one, making tortillas is harder than I thought, and Number two, simple things are often more profound than trying to do something complex. The tortilla is such a simple combination of flour and water and yet it is so delicious. It lays the ground work to many complex dishes and yet it is so simple. This is an important principle to remember in our lives. Sometimes we are caught up in trying to have that perfect service project, perfect personal study, the best advice for our friend, or the best dish. I found that this anxiety of not being the best causes many to give up trying. One would think, "How could I make a difference, my effort is so small? I am so unskilled and unimportant."  The Lord, however, has shown us the reality of the world.
 
Remember what is written in Alma 37:
 
6 "...but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise."
 
 7 "And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls."
 
The fact that by insignificant acts, great things shall come to pass is a wonderful token of truth. We all feel a little small sometimes. This, however, should not keep us from trying. In my mission I have seen the effect on someone from a small instance of kindness. A well taught gospel principle can never measure up to it. Actions really do speak louder than words and the best speech cannot mimic a kind deed. I used to be obsessed with the lexicon in which I spoke to people. What words should I use? What will touch their hearts? I had forgotten the teachings of Paul. In his letter to the Corinthians he wrote, 
 
8 "Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away."
 
(1 Corinthians 13: 8)
 
Do not forget that small acts of charity will confound the wise. I implore you to be kind, it truly is the power of the meek. Do not be scared if you feel that your small action will not measure up, it will. I could not put it better than one of my favorite authors,
 
"Some believe it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I have found that it is the small everyday deed of ordinary folks that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love." (Gandalf, The Lord of the Rings)
 
Don't forget to be kind. It doesn't have to be grand; it can be as simple as a tortilla. The importance lies in its power. That it is charity, the pure love of Christ. He is the example of ministering to the one. May we follow Him, in the name of Jesus Christ amen.
 
Elder Wilhelm

We are so lucky to have such an amazing pool only 7 min away from our house. Since Flying Horse is a club and smaller than Lifetime or Villa, there seem to be less people even during the summer months. We always find lounge chairs available which is awesome. During most of this month we tried to go as often as we could, inviting friends as our guests to come and play and seeing other friends who are already members of the club. This was a time when Madeline really learned how to swim, and she became proficient at holding her breath under water while doing handstands and other tricks. She also spent a great deal of time going down the big slide. She loved playing with daddy, but she was not fearful of making other friends her own age at the pool. The older girls occasionally accompanied our many trips to the pool. Our 4th of July at the club was probably our favorite swim excursion in July! We all loved being together and frequently enjoyed eating by the poolside. Some of our best memories were taking off when Mike would get home from work and heading to the pool in the early evenings to swim and eat a casual dinner by the pool. 

It’s every mom’s worst nightmare when she picks up the phone and on the other end is a distressed child who has just been in an accident. The last time I experienced this was when Peter called because he fell off his bike while riding in the snow on campus. It was horrible. I thought I would have more time before getting another one of those calls but this morning I got a call from Emma who had just been in a car accident coming home from run practice. She was only a few blocks away when a lady pulled into the intersection at Lexington and Old Ranch Road. Although this accident wasn’t Emma’s fault at all, it was still extremely traumatic for her. Luckily, nothing was broken and the only injury that she ended up having was a burned wrist and shin from the airbag deploying. She was so lucky that was the extent of her injuries. Unfortunately, the RAV4 was totaled. It’s times like these that you thank your lucky stars that the situation wasn’t worse. 

After a big day of riding to the top of Pike's Peak, we came home and rested and then let Mike open up his birthday gifts. This year we got him a Rumpl down blanket for camping, a new silicone wedding band, a nice button down from Kuhl, new Hey Dude shoes, and a cozy soft shirt from Vuori. He basically got something from each one of his favorite brands. Madeline also made him a really cool rainbow card. I think he was happy with his gifts and happy that we all got to celebrate him turning 47! 

Abby has spent the last year falling in love with a relatively new band called, "Ritchie Mitch and the Coal Miners." Coincidentally 3 of the 4 band members graduated from Pine Creek High School the year before Andrew. She even got me listening to them and when she found out that they would be playing at the Dusty Boots concert in Denver, we quickly bought tickets as part of her birthday gift. We had so much fun bouncing from the different concerts that were playing at the Civic Center Park, eating snacks from the park vendors and drink water from a gigantic can. The best concert, however, was definitely Ritchie Mitch and the Coal Miners. They were even better in person and since we got to the stage before they started we had front row views of them. I loved watching Abby's excitement as this was her very first concert!