Summer in full swing over here. We had a month full of sunshine, visitors, boating, beaching, vacations, sports camps and even a 3 week humanitarian trip to India for Dane. The month went by in a true blink of an eye. Highlights below:
Marston family trip to Mexico:
We had so much fun at the beginning of the month traveling to Puerto Vallarta with Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Stacy. The hacienda/resort where we stayed was beyond luxurious with a beautiful backyard/pool, gorgeous bedrooms and even our own cook who created the most amazing Mexican meals every day of our stay. We spent beautiful afternoons at the beach- swimming in the ocean; Grant and Blake surfed, the boys tried e-foiling and loved it! The boys also enjoyed a fishing expedition and we all took a boating tour of the island across the way. We shopped and ate delicious dinners out on the beachfront. We played games, had massages, went on walks and had the best time ever riding around in our own golf cart. Every day was so relaxing and peaceful. We are so grateful to Nancy and Herb for taking us on this incredible vacation. Best family time we could've ever imagined.
BYU Soccer Camp/Utah and Vegas trip:
After Mexico, we got ourselves organized for a day or two and then packed back up to head to Provo, Utah for BYU soccer camp. We brought along Christoph and Jarron with us and took a quick detour in Vegas before driving the remaining 5 hours to Provo. In Vegas we had an awesome time staying at Planet Hollywood and watching the Charlie Puth concert! Grant's first concert ever. LOVED it so much. Dane and friends opted against the excursion and swore they would obey the rules to be back in the hotel by 11pm. Alas, they disobeyed that rule to go fetch Dane's newly purchased jacket that he had left behind and of course didn't let me know. So.... that was a stressful evening.... trying to figure out where they were at 12:30am. But the boys had an awesome time at camp and learned so much. I was very proud of Grant for making new friends and having a good time despite not knowing any of the kids beforehand. Dane had a blast with his buddies. And while they were busy sweating in the heat, the girls and I had the best time making rings at Valore, hiking Stewart Falls with the Rustands, going to Yoga class every day, watching Mission Impossible 6, eating at Cubbys and Caines, meeting up with Noah and trying out the Orem Community Aquatics Center. We also checked out UVU for Ev! Such a fun week for sure.
It's been so great to have a little time on the weekends to enjoy boating with the kids and their friends. Fun to teach the crew how to wake surf and especially fun to have Grant as the master teacher for everyone involved. He was even able to get Anna and her bestie Kate up! SOOOO proud of Anna for being willing to try it this year and for persevering though it was tricky. We've had the boat for 4 summers now and it's been so much fun. We don't go out as often as we'd like, but when we do- it's always the best day.
Dane did an amazingly brave thing this month and traveled to India to build a school for the children there in the mountains. It was A LOT of traveling and a lot of hard work. It was a lot of trying new foods and meeting new people and sleeping in strange places and taking risks and serving others. Dane grew closer to God and came home with some incredible habits- like journaling, scripture study, exercise, meditation and on top of all this, a very positive attitude and outlook. He made lots of friends and felt so good about his service and all he accomplished. He enjoyed yoga, riding yaks, dancing in Bollywood, temple trips, a visit to the Taj Mahal, zip lining, henna tattoos and art lessons. I'm so grateful Dane chose to do this and had such an amazing and growth producing trip. So proud of him.
Blake asked Grant to write a talk this month and he put a LOT of time into it. I told him we could just as easily use Chat GPT, but Grant wanted nothing to do with that or with the talk I tried to write for him. He wanted two jokes, a personal story, a few Scriptures and maybe a quote. SO proud of this kid for giving it his all and delivering such an awesome talk. He's a pretty special kid and he's had a great summer showing discipline and being helpful and able to orchestrate his entire social schedule which is pretty full.
And as always, Anna has filled her social calendar with all sorts of parties, movies, and playdates. She lives every day to the social limit and rarely is she NOT at a slumber party or having one here. Poor thing had to say goodbye to one of her very best friends - Ruby this month. The gang went to the Barbie movie to send her off and there were plenty of tears and sadness. Earlier in the month we hosted a birthday party for Ruby at our house and it was so fun to have everyone gathered round on one of our last days to spend with the Werys. We also hosted Nora's PIG themed birthday party at our house and had a blast seeing the Douds after a long summer away! They'd been in PA for dance school. Anna is still incredible skilled at playing make-believe. She loves to pretend she's a yoga instructor- she set up a yoga space for she and I this month in my bedroom. She pretends she's an esthetician and gives Blake incredible facials. She pretends she's an organizing you-tuber and she'll organize my makeup or clean out the freezer/fridge with Kate. Love so much to watch Anna play and hope with all my heart that doesn't change too soon though she is going into middle school next year. BOO
Annas notes to take care of Evelyn when she broke up with Eli! Such a sweet sister
Elizabeth brought over soft foods. Meanwhile Blake made new memojies for my new look.
