August Happenings

I've often wondered how much longer I'll continue documenting the Marston family's month to month happenings.  Often it feels difficult to find the time and I wonder if it's even a good use of my energy ! But each month as I complete the task, it never fails to bring me quite a bit of joy.  I remember all of the little things that happened, all of the sweet moments, hard moments, funny moments.  And I feel focused on the important things in life.  I don't journal aside from this, so I figure... this is our life story and I'm happy to continue doing it for now.  On top of everything else, it's a good reminder of how quickly life moves by and how important it is to pay attention to all of it!  And speaking of life moving by quickly.... this summer felt as though it was over before it even started!  Kids are now back to school, vacations have wrapped up, homework is in full swing and life is busy busy busy! 

Hard to imagine that Grant is a big high schooler! Dane.... a senior!!!!!! Anna in 7th and Evelyn finishing up her first year of nursing school--clinicals will start in January.  Took a few pictures of the kids heading out the door on their first day.  We enjoyed a very sweet family dinner, father's blessings, reminder of our theme:  Have I Done Any Good in the World Today? And lots of overthinking about school lunches, first day outfits, notebooks, backpacks and all the things.  I guess you could say our family runs high on the anxiety scale- ha! But it was a successful start to school and though a little on the cranky side, the kids handled the change well.  Grant and Dane are working out the kinks for getting to seminary at an appropriate time; Dane is used to arriving at 7:10 because that's how seniors roll.  Grant wants to arrive at 7:00 on the dot.  I set my alarm for 6:40 each morning just to be there to help cajole Dane and Grant into being patient with one another.  Talk about starting your morning off with high cortisol levels... haha! I just want everyone to get along and have a peaceful send off.  I might have to do an intervention in the near future, but for now we'll see how it all plays out.  

With the transition of back to school, the kids have enjoyed all sorts of social events:  MORP at the Highschool ( a neon themed dance), Poway football games,  back to school lunch dates with friends, soccer team parties, swim parties and after school sports.  Anna started tennis lessons and is doing such a nice job! I'm so proud of her eagerness to learn something new.  Evelyn tried fishing with her big group of friends;  she continues to country dance three times a week and attend fun country concerts whenever she can.  Dane got a new job! He'll be working at ESS (extended school services) as a counselor to elementary kids four days a week.  Grant spends every afternoon outside of soccer practice trying to convince someone, anyone with a license to drive him to the beach to surf.  He even goes on Wednesday mornings (no seminary/late start) at 6 am with friends to the beach to surf.  

I have such a HUGE amount of gratitude for how smoothly the kids have taken to school this year.  It's not always like this and don't I know it!  Last year we had tears and tears and tears each and every day from Anna who was petrified of the academics she faced as a middle schooler.  Obviously Grant also has struggled certain years; and struggled is putting it lightly!  Dane has battled very difficult things and experienced social isolation- even just last year.  But this year he's been as happy as can be with so much going on and a light and breezy attitude.  I know part of this is his girlfriend Kenzie... but also, he is just growing up and he knows how to manage some of his mental health issues better. Love that he has a good balance between dates with Kenzie, nights out with friends, soccer and now work.  Looking forward to having Evelyn home for the the next 4 months.  She and I drove up to Provo in a whirlwind this past week to move her out of her apartment and bring her stuff home.  She will continue her program on-line and work here at home for these next few months before finding a new apartment in provo.  We both think it's a good change and will be nice for her to meet new people come January and have a fresh start.  We almost didn't make it on the way home though! The front part of my car halfway fell off on the freeway at 85 miles per hour!  It was so scary!!! We were truly in the middle of NOWHERE, however,  the next exit just so happened to have a car maintenance shop-- and literally nothing else!  The exit was exactly what we needed and the guys in the shop used their tools to take off the front piece of my car and then sent us on our merry way! I'm sure our prayers on the side of the road were answered! It was not the most fun trip of our lives -- lots of driving, packing and cleaning... but it went well, all things considered.

Bringing us SO much joy every moment is Coco, Tammy and Louie.  They really are the entertainment around here and make life more enjoyable.  My friend Sara groomed Coco this month and needed to shave her entirely because of her mats.  We all vowed to take better care of Coco's fur (which Dane started immediately) and to bring her in every 6 weeks! We've said goodbye to so many wonderful friends heading off for missions and college!  It's been exciting and sad all at the same time!  Rhett off on his mission to Idaho, Tanner off to Ol' Miss, the Judds and Buswell twins off to BYU!  We lost 8 senior girls in YW and it won't be easy to fill that hole.  But with all the kids off to school and college, the moms have had more time to hike, go on beach walks and dips in the ocean, lunches out and lots of cleaning and organizing; oh, and back to cooking dinner too.  I kind of stopped cooking a little this summer.  Haha!

Before I wrap up, I have to mention the last few weeks of summer and how incredibly amazing they were! We spent a few days beach camping with our good friends at San Elijo Beach and we also traveled up to Pismo Beach to be with the Paces for a few days.  Seriously, the best time ever on both accounts.  So much surfing, and boogie boarding, and s'mores, and card games and campfires, and late nights! We've obviously gone beach camping many times before, but never with our more intimate group of friends.  It was just the absolute best time and I hope we get to do it every year! And Pismo was also the very best week.  We enjoyed all of our yearly traditions:  Cool Cat Cafe, Avila Beach, SLO, biking the Bob Jones trail, acai bowls, movie nights, and the Avila Farmer's market for fresh baked pies and pumpkin bread! And peaches and corn! We loved spending time with Jamie and Katie-- who knows what next year will bring as Katie and Dane will be graduating. We always treasure that time we get to spend with them.

So that's the month.  Here are a few fun pictures from the cruise that Jenny sent after I posted.  And a really cute few pictures of Blake in primary as Captain Moroni!