Block Party

On Saturday we had our block party. My mom is the emergency preparedness coordinator for the ward, and the theme for the month of July was “get to know your neighbors.” So she planned a block party. It was a great success.

My mom helped watch Clarissa while Abe blew up the balloons and I was helping a friend:

It started off with a water fight. Abe blew up 600 water balloons. It was his wildest dream come true.

Then we had a craft in the backyard. The kids decorated chef’s hats and made washi tape bracelets.

Then we had a picnic. It rained, but people stuck around and had fun anyway.

The girls LOVED Pauline’s LDS jokes.

By that point, I was wilting in the heat and ready to put Clarissa down.

Before the block party, the only thing of note that happened was a neighbor posted on Facebook that her husband was an alcoholic and was leaving her. She wrote that she was crying. I grabbed a box of tissues and headed to her house. Carolyn Blosil, the RS president, was already there. We stayed for an hour visiting. I felt so bad for my friend. I couldn’t imagine the pain she was in.

When I came home, I felt more grateful for Abe than ever. Marriage is such a crap shoot, and even though I did absolutely nothing to deserve it, I just won the lottery.

After the kids were all down for the night, Abe and I watched, Me Before You. It was a sweet chick flick. We don’t do the chick flick genre often, but after that I wondered why. It was so delightful.