August

 August is always a bittersweet time for me. The summer is winding down and school just gets closer and closer. But we tried to do some exciting things to finish the summer with a bang. 

We started the month celebrating our Ace boy and my birthday. I got to go have dinner with Tanner a few nights before my birthday and it was so nice to have some fairly uninterrupted conversations (I say fairly because while our children weren't at the restaurant, some of his patients were. Please come and talk to us, we love it!)

Eliza was proud of her hair do one day. 

The kids were able to get Aunt Heather to ride the neighbor's four wheelers. 

We had a pool day while dad and Chet were at Young Men's Camp. 

And if Dad is gone, Mom doesn't like to make dinner, so we went to the Snack Shack.

Chet had a blast fishing, swimming, playing volleyball, hiking, and mountain biking with his friends. 

And Tanner had so much fun keeping them alive. He sent me this picture while they were at camp and it made me smile. So grateful for his willing service. 

Chet volunteered to watch Asa while I made dinner and I looked out the window to see this...not every day you see a unicyclist pushing a stroller. 

We went down to Kirksville for the mud run again. Asa wasn't so sure about the cotton candy. 

Everyone all nice and clean before...

Tanner and Vivi did the course together and she did it all with a smile on her face. 

This was after Eliza had cleaned herself off. 

Vivi loved the bubbles.

We had Amelia over one day and she was so fun with Eliza and Vivi. 

The overweight bunnies/monkey are now a favorite.

Vivi and Eliza won prizes with the summer reading program at the library. They loved storytime too. 

We did a long anticipated lake trip and had an interesting experience of fish nibbling on our toes...people pay for that sometimes and we got it free of cost. 

Vivs loves her Skippy cat and Skippy sometimes loves Vivi.

I was so impressed with how Asa was holding his pencil. What two year old does that? 

We got some caterpillars from a friend and hatched two butterflies. 

Eliza got Vivi all fancy and Asa didn't want to be left out so we put a vest on him. 

We had a fun primary Olympics. 

And Tanner had his first wedding! We're so happy for Betsy and John. We also had baptisms almost every Sunday of the month of August. 

Asa conked the back of his head on the bunk bed when dad was visiting Mike in Des Moines. Thankfully it didn't need stitches, but he looked like Nephi (Eliza's words) so we didn't get blood everywhere. 

I'm learning that I don't really love change. Even if I've been complaining about how hot it is, when fall comes around I get sad that summer is ending. I guess that just means that we've had a pretty good summer! Here's hoping for a fall just as good.