What a month! Really! I'm writing this at the end of August... summer is over.... and so I can say wit 100 percent confidence that this summer was AMAZING in every. I look back with a little bit of sadness in my heart that it's over. I don't think was ready for it to end. The kids are at the best stage ever and every day we lived life to the fullest. Even when we had days where we didn't go anywhere-- we lived life to the fullest! We love our backyard and it was such a thrill to be able to swim or run around outside whenever we wanted. There wasn't as much need to be on the go! It was awesome.
Some of the highlights of the summer were certainly the Del Mar Fair--- our kids love to go to the fair and I know they inherited this from me. I grew up going to the Puyallup Fair religiously.... every September. And so I assume somewhere in their genes they also feel a pull towards 4H animal contests, amusement rides, elephant ears and outdoor concerts.
We enjoyed our trip to Pismo Beach with the Paces. We MORE than enjoyed it! It was the best! We enjoyed our family reunion to Cel Elum with the Stevens crew and then staying on to enjoy two weeks of vacationing with Grammy and Papa and all of the Aunts, Uncles and cousins. So much fun.
The boys enjoyed playing ALMOST weekly in various tournaments across the county. They started off slowly, but ended up winning quite a few tournaments and learning more and more each weekend how to connect and play well with their new teams. They even had the chance to play in a tournament up in Mt. Hood, Oregon! The boys also enjoyed tending to and taking care of their garden out back. They have done an amazing job overseeing it's growth and Papa will be so proud when he comes back next.
We spent more time at the beach this summer than we ever have before. Evelyn and Grant are very into surfing and of course, all of us-- EVEN ME-- are into boogie boarding. I boogie boarded SO much this summer and loved every minute. The water was warm and it was just so much fun to have the kids out there with me as we played in the waves.
Evelyn spent time hanging out with friends from our ward and friends from her school. She invited her girlfriends over plenty of times this summer- to swim, to spend the night, to bake, to hang out. I was really fun to see her be so social and interested in her friends. This is a new thing for her and it's been really fun to see. Evelyn mostly enjoys going to youth night. She really enjoyed one event in particular this summer in which the girls learned beach photography and lighting skills. I thought her pictures turned out wonderfully. She and Grant and Dane have been taking guitar lessons. It's been so fun to see her help her brother out with his practicing. Though I wish she'd put a little more personal practice time in! She did practice plenty of piano and voice training throughout the summer... voice lessons in preparation for auditions for "The Little Mermaid" in August. Spoiler alert! She got the part of Ariel! YAY!
The boys bought new skateboards with the their money-- this entertained them to a degree. The boys conned Grandma into buying them soccer cards! Haha.. they have been playing this a lot and it is more than just a degree of entertainment for them. Poor Grandma!
Blake spent a good portion of his summer organizing endless youth activities for the young men in our ward.... the biggest being the High Adventure. We bought out almost the entire store with all of the food for the trip. Blake and the boys spent quite a bit of time watching the World Cup. We loved when the Jones would come over and we'd swim, kick around the soccer ball, and then watch the World Cup for an hour or two. Fun memories.
Anna enjoyed attending gymnastics camp all by herself! And Evelyn enjoyed taking private gymnastics lessons to help her with her arial. She has worked on these skills and grown so much! I'm proud of her! Anna had the great pleasure of celebrating Nora's birthday with her!!!! The girls went to Get Air and then out to get treats. Anna bought Nora a matching outfit. They had a blast.
Let's see.... oh! Swim parties! Man oh man! Did we ever invite a lot of people over to swim this summer! It was a revolving door and I can say I now have the food aspect of a pool party down to a science causing me zero percentage of stress to feed at least 20 teens and/or adults/kids. We LOVED having friends over to swim. It was a win win in every way. One special party in particular was our good friend, Denise's birthday party. We invited only moms, ordered Thai, ate chocolate cake and swam in the warm pool until 10-11pm? So much fun.
We also celebrated our other good friend, Sara's 40th birthday with a trip to Big Bear (just moms) and had a blast. Of course we couldn't skip dinner at LIPS as part of the celebration- haha. It's really a weird place but it's become one of our crazy traditions.
As far as my own projects and goals.... I enjoyed reading a TON this summer. I don't think I've watched a TV show or movie all summer. Its been so great to spend that time reading instead. I read two books that stand out as my very favorites over the summer: "Joy on Demand" which detailed how to bring meditation into your daily life and the joy and happiness that can create, and then "These is my words" a historical fiction about a young lady who settled land near Tucson. SO GOOD.
Of course, I worked on music with the kids who will be singing in a month. Feeling pretty good about that. I loved exchanging memes with friends and Jamie, of course. Funny story.... my friend Sameen came over one night this summer and saw the huge vinyl I had on the wall of our kitchen nook. It says: Be awesome today! She said, "Woah--- no pressure there! GEEZ!" We were laughing so much about my kids having a complex one day from the pressure of that vinyl every morning. Haha! Oooh.... and official wedding pictures for Troy and Catie came in! They look so amazing! Can't wait to download!
