If you need us

 We'll be here:

We've talked about making an outdoor space since we moved in, but you know, summers and deployment made that impossible...until now!  Literally the first day that was under 100, we were outside all.day.long working together to built this.  Ben gets a large majority of the credit for moving cinder blocks 8,000 times.  We lucked out that everything was on clearance for "end of summer" which makes no sense to me as this is the time when Yumans can actually be outside.  No matter the price or sweat, it was worth it.  We've spent every evening out there, looking at stars and eating marshmallows and just enjoying the fresh air together.

I did get some very strange looks when I tried to buy firewood...evenings are still in the 80's but it feels wonderful to us!  The first night we were out there, Alison made up a little game for us to play.  You had to roll dice and answer a question to go with the number.  Eli got "What is your best day ever?" and he said, "Right now!"

We've been so preoccupied that I haven't even posted about starting school and soccer.  Here's a short glimpse of the reading work we did this week.