Birthdays, Family Video, Google+, Budgets, Helping Others

Dear family,

This past month has been lots of fun. Rachelle and I have had a few opportunities to enjoy the summer. We both celebrated our birthdays as we were both born in July. We also have gotten to enjoy nature by hiking up to Bridal Falls and up to and through the Timpanogos caves.

We enjoyed going to the last evening of the family reunion. As many of you saw, a video has been posted on the Barrus Youtube page with a summary of everyone’s favorite parts. If you haven’t seen it, here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=U4Y3k9yHSzs#at=20. Everyone was such a good sport as they were willing to talk to the camera. Aunt Carol was especially silly.

I’m grateful for everyone’s support of the Youtube page and new Barrus Google+ page. Please let me know if you have any other ideas or concerns concerning these social sharing sites. As I’ve said before, all our sites (blog, Facebook, Youtube, Google+) should be completely private.

These last few months have been a great first summer for Rachelle and me. We made a big list of all our summer goals soon after we got married, and we’ve been working hard to get as much of it done as possible. It has really made this summer very productive. We’ve focused on making and keeping a budget, and we’re getting better and better at using money wisely. We’ve chosen a few projects for ourselves that would be fun. We’ve been able to do a little traveling and hiking. Somehow we have still have time to be helpful to others in their times of need. It has been a packed and awesome summer. It is too bad that school starts next month.

This past week I was able to help Alex and Ashley Curtis move. I borrowed a truck and trailer from my boss to get their big furniture to their new apartment. Rachelle helped April Curtis apply for a job at the BYU library where Rachelle works. It was funny because Rachelle’s supervisor thought that hiring April would be nepotism, so after some confusion Rachelle clarified that April was only my cousin even though Rachelle’s maiden name was the same as April’s last name.

Rachelle and I have also been helping her parents paint the duplex they bought to rent to BYU students. We will be moving there in a week, but in the meantime, we’ve helped to make the place look a little better.

Lastly, I got to help Stewart find more employment at a place I work at on the weekends. He just needed a few extra hours, so I was very glad that I was able to help.

Hope everyone else is having as good of summer as we are.

Love,
Reid and Rachelle Gardner