What the rest of July looked like

July always seems to be full of good things.

The Hunters had friends over to watch the fireworks

over the lake. It was a beautiful evening and I loved

sharing it with these friends.

Me, Mendy, Angie, Glenda, Wyatt, and Kristen.

Toni, Carol, and April

The fireworks were awesome, too.

Mexican dinner date night

Water lilies in full bloom at the neighborhood lake

Birding

Roasting smores in the backyard

Sparkler writing: my favorite 4th of July tradition

I signed up several months ago to volunteer with World Relief Triad. They recently paired me with a Cambodian family. I meet with them once a week to tutor them in English. They are the best! The family is made up of seven adult siblings and their parents. Their father is very ill and bed-ridden. Their mom is super cute, but isn't learning English right now. They are very gracious hosts and always have some food waiting for me when I come over.

On this day, I ate some sort of sweet rice soup and jello.

The next step in my journey to get licensed as a hygienist here in NC was to take the ADEX board exam. It's the one where you actually have to clean teeth. They do it on mannequins now, which was fabulous, because I didn't have to find a patient and deal with all the stress that comes along with finding the right one and making sure they show up for the exam on time.

My exam was in Asheville.

I got there in time to do a little birding. Surprise!

And went out to dinner by myself at 

West Asheville Lounge and Kitchen.

(WALK)

Yum

I stayed the night at Ryan and Destinee's house,

even though they were out of town.

And the next morning I headed in to take the test!

I wasn't sure how to feel about it.

I hoped I did ok.

I didn't get very nervous about it.

How can you stress out when THIS is the view out of your operatory???

Also stopped for celebratory gelato afterward.

And when I got the results, I PASSED!!!

Thrilling!

Such a relief!

Phew!

Woo hoo!

When I got home, we headed to Winston to watch

a play that our friend, Kristen, was directing.

It was the Bremen Town Players and was super cute.

Walking around downtown Winston at golden hour.

Stopped at Chill Nitro.

They make your ice cream with liquid nitrogen.

It's pretty fun to watch.

One of the other projects available through World Relief

is to help set-up apartments for newly arriving refugees.

This was my first time setting up a home with WR.

Natalie and David have been friends for YEARS.

Natalie used to teach Brandon when he was in primary.

They have moved across town (and out of our stake),

but we get together once in a while for doubles.

We are such a good pairing and almost always go to tiebreak.

It's so fun.

Also, Andrew and I are GIANTS compared to them!

Out for ice cream afterward.

Maxie B's cupcakes to celebrate me passing my boards!

With all the travel I've been doing to TX,

we've hardly had time for any girls weekends

with Caroline and Whit.

Luckily, we squeezed a quick day trip in.

Went on a hike to Toms Creek Falls.

Dubs always loves to dip her toes in the water.

It was the perfect hike.

Not long, with a beautiful payoff at the end.

Then we stopped at Lake Tomahawk in Black Mountain.

Isn't it picturesque?

Carly would've loved the ducks. :)

Ate at Veranda Cafe and Gift.

We DON'T recommend the Elderberry lemonade.

Tastes like medicine...

But the food was great!

Shopped in their cute little downtown shops.

And found a little guinea pig dressed like

a bumble bee! Too perfect!

Yummy veggies

Egret at the neighborhood lake

While B was in town, we decided to take him to

a Carolina Cobras game, our local arena football team.

Look at their crazy mascot.

B hadn't been before and we had a great time.

Go Cobras!

They kicked butt, 60-35.

Cute ducklings at the neighborhood lake.

Caroline got a new tennis skirt, so we had to 

go play together so she could wear it. Ha!

I think it was the first and last time she wore it.

After tennis, we went to the farmer's market

and filled all our pots on the deck.

Aren't they SO fun?

She's a great little gardener.

Temple night!

It's rare for me to get 6 in quordle.

Woo hoo!

Andrew and Caroline decided to grow mushrooms.

They found a kit on amazon.

It's amazing how fast they grow!

Andrew cooked them up with a steak and LOVED them.

Singstar ABBA with the girls is always a good idea.

Yes!

My African violets bloomed again!

Love them.