The biggest hits of the summer were certainly our trip to Hawaii with Grandma, Grandpa and Stacy, our trip to Seattle to visit Grammy and Papa and all the cousins! Our beach camping experience at Carlsbad State Beach and then our visit with Jamie, Adam and Kate at Pismo beach the week before school started. With so many fun adventures, no wonder the summer flew by! We were hardly around at all to have a "boring" day! Of course that's not entirely true... the kids did have days where they were a little bored. We certainly enjoyed our pool and many fun swim parties with friends! We enjoyed going out for ice cream at least once or twice, gymnastics camp for Anna, Girl's Camp for Evelyn! Soccer camp for the boys! We spent a day serving with the youth from our church by ripping up carpet and cleaning walls and closets for a family moving into our ward. We invited Caylie and Emma and headed to Aquatica for the day! Celebrated Jocey's 15th birthday, took the kids to their first concert of sorts--- Dude Perfect!!! It was the VERY first Dude Perfect tour date! And it was so much fun for all of us. Anna enjoyed celebrating Nora's birthday by visiting the Moonlight Ampitheatre and watching Matilda with the Douds! I even tagged along- ha! I couldn't help myself-- I've always wanted to see Matilda! It was so good.
Anna and Grant started piano lessons this summer with Jessica Blattman. They are doing SO well and working SO hard. I am committed to helping them every day because I want so much for them to enjoy playing the piano and to really learn it well. I pray it takes! As a mom, you just never know what your kids will enjoy and take to. I think Grant has a natural talent so far and I'm excited for him. Speaking of natural talents-- so proud of Grant for so many reasons. He has matured so much over the summer and it's been a joy to watch him be a leader, help around the house, teach Come Follow Me and take good care of his siblings. Though he still enjoys teasing Anna here and there, as evidenced by the fact that he stole her little ear muff wearing baby doll the other day, only to terrorize her by re-naming the baby "Albert Einstein" and then strolling the baby far away from Anna's grasp... ha! He generally has been an amazing kid this summer and I'm excited for all that this year has in store for him.
Dane has had a fun month inviting the Deacons' Quorum over and getting to know new friends. He is branching out a little in the friend department and that has made me happy. Dane had such a good attitude about starting school this year. He continues to work very hard at soccer and never complains about practice or his busy schedule. Dane has been seeing a biofeedback therapist to help with his sore throat pains. The situation is a little better and we have a humidifier, air filter and biofeedback therapist all working to aid the problem. I wish he never had to experience any pain at all, but he is learning that he can have some control over his body when he feels pain. I think the hardest part of my job as a mom is watching my kids struggle. There's nothing worse than that!
And speaking of struggle.... Evelyn has one up ahead as she learns to acclimate to Poway High. Its a tough school-- academically speaking. It's huge! And she doesn't have friends yet. She is being so brave....and I'm proud of her. Thankfully, her summer was full of SO much fun with friends and travel and exciting plans. I hope she can fall back on these fun memories when she's feeling the discomfort of starting something new. I loved how Evelyn created her own plans this summer. The girls went to the mall, the movies, Sea World, Aquatica, out to eat! On a big group date with a boy she has a crush on! I certainly didn't mind retiring as social event coordinator even just for one child. Ha!
As for Blake and I... Blake had a very busy summer at work. Which is always great news, as exhausting as it is. He loves his team and they love him. I always screen shot the social media that the team posts so one day he'll have a memory of all that the team did to make work fun. So grateful for how hard he works and what an awesome orthodontist he is!
I enjoyed a few girls night outs celebrating Sara's birthday and Michelle's birthday- both with sushi-- which I don't care for very much. But I suppose it's growing on me a little bit. Love when my family sends me pictures of all that they are up to! Dad and Mike went on a fishing trip and apparently caught an entire boat full of salmon. Geraldine-- is looking healthy and good! Herb gave a talk at church last month and looked very dapper! A picture of my mom as a teenager that I remember very clearly because it was hanging on the wall in my grandma's home for as long as I can remember!
In sad news, our good friend and amazing piano teacher- Laura Miles- moved to Utah last month. It is a tremendous loss for our community and especially for me! I will miss her so much!
A busy month come to a close. So many things to be grateful for. Summer is definitely 100 percent my favorite time of the year. I would take summer over any other season because it's warm, it's cozy, kids are home, we sleep in, we swim, we beach, we travel. It's just awesome and I hate to see it come to an end, but such is life!
Teaching Come Follow Me; below- reading a scripture with Anna
Evelyn nominated for best actress in a feature role! Spoiler alert: She WON!
