I have another new hobby...collecting sand.  Bill and I traveled to some beautiful beaches on our last cruise.  I couldn't resist bringing home a small amount.  

 The bottles are fun to find as well.

 Most of the sand was fairly typical...coarse, however; the sand in Barbados was so soft.  It resembled flour.  And strangely there were almost zero shells on the beach in Barbados...also zero sea glass.

Happy Father's Day to the best Dad ever...seriously!

We love you!

 The kids always choose the best cards!

 And although these are private messages to Bill from the kids, I had to have record of them...our kids are awesome!

 Grant (aka Tito)

 Sweet Christine

Garrett's reference to "the lion" made Bill's' day.

 High Adventure with the Allen 5th Ward in Arkansas. Dad was there as a leader and Grant went because he loves to camp and canoe...not.  He'd rather be inside in the air conditioning:) But he was a trooper and went anyway.

 Most of the group.

 Another group shot.

 Grant caught the biggest fish...not bad considering he had the cheapest pole and is fairly inexperienced.

 Brother Fett teaching Grant how to fly fish.

 After canoeing in Arkansas, the group traveled to Oklahoma to help with some tornado cleanup from a recent devastating tornado. The guys camped in a field, actually the ranch they cleaned up. 

 This is the "tool" they used to pick up metal. Although visible debris had been removed, nails and small pieces of metal was all over the place. This "metal picker-upper" retrieved the metal bits.  It was hot dirty work, which was greatly appreciated by the ranch owner.

 A view of some of the clean up from the tornado. Those black bags are full of metal and nails.

 The guys standing on ruble that once was the ranch house.

The parking lot of an elementary school in Moore, OK that was leveled by the tornado.

 Bill and I have a new hobby...collecting sea glass.  And we love it! I had heard of sea glass, but really didn't understand what it was...nor was I even interested.  On our last cruise, we became acquainted with a couple of ladies who told us about their hunt for sea glass on all of the beaches we were visiting.  We became intrigued, found some, and now we are hooked.  Truthfully, sea glass is trash. Pieces of broken glass from a variety of origins, bottles, windows, etc. The sea and sand take off the rough, sharp edges and leave the once shiny surfaces opaque. Although many different colors exist, we have only found brown, white, dark green and light green.  Serious sea glass enthusiasts make jewelry out of their pieces, or mosaics. I doubt I will be doing that.  We found the most sea glass on Antigua (our first search) and in San Juan on Isla Verde Beach.  Other pieces were found on St. Croix and St. Lucia.  We found none on Barbados and only became aware of it on St. Maarten.  So, when you are at the beach and see people with their heads bent down, combing the sand with their feet, chances are they aren't looking for shells.  They are doing their part in keeping the beaches clear of glass---sea glass that is.  Happy searching.

It doesn't really look like much, but trust me, it is addicting.

And he is DONE! Garrett graduated from Allen High School on Friday night.  He was one of 1305 graduates. It only took 1 hour and 56 minutes to read all of the names:) This class was the first to hold graduation ceremonies on the field of Eagle Stadium.  Although we were all dreading being outside in the potential heat, Mother Nature cooperated and the weather was perfect...there was even a breeze.  That is almost unheard of this time of year in Texas.  It was a great night!

 Doesn't really look like 1305 kids, but trust me, it is. And there were a ton of people in the stands...looked kind of like a football game crowd:)

 The happy graduate...Garrett is SO done with high school.

 Caulin Tanner and the siblings...well, minus William and NaKya.

 Proud parents...our third Allen HS graduate.

 Aunt Jeni...all the way from Arizona:)

 ...Best Buddies...

 Our great friends, the Tanners

 ...The look of relief...

A sampling of some of Garrett's graduation cards.  He feels loved.

 Nathan Cottrell, Bill's nephew, graduated yesterday from Lovejoy High School about 5 minutes from our house. It was great being there for the event. Aunt Jeni from Phoenix even flew in:) A happy day of celebration.

 

Just some fun news that I want to have record of many years down the road...the Lord couldn't have chosen a better guy for the "job". (James Jenkins Lexington North Stake)