new roommate!
hiking the Y
In other monthly news... the kids started back to school! Although absolutely all of them were dreading their return to the classroom, they have each settled in nicely and are enjoying their year. Dane is bummed that he doesn't have many friends in his classes and that he somehow ended up in racquet sports for PE. But he loves his Spanish teacher and English teacher and he is definitely enjoying Chemistry thus far. Grant, who likes school the least, is actually having a great year and loves his group of friends and teachers and Anna was ecstatic to find out she was in Mrs. Dutcher's class- one of the best teachers at Tierra Bonita! She loves her sense of humor!
Of course, before school began, we enjoyed an incredible camping trip to Yosemite National Park. It was truly so beautiful and so fun to ride bikes, hike, camp and swim with our good friends! Loved every moment of our time there... except maybe the moment where we couldn't figure out how to get so many bikes on the back of the van. That was not a good moment. But other than that, it was a wonderful getaway and the kids had a blast with their buddies and so did Blake and I.
A quick jaunt from Yosemite led us to Pismo Beach to be with the Paces for our annual beach trip. The kids love this trip so much because we just really relax and enjoy being lazy for a few days before school starts up. This year was no different, we shopped around, bought crocs for all the kids! We laid out at the beach, ate at Cool Cats Cafe, visited San Luis Obispo. Watched movies and comedians, and played card games for hours. For me the best part is 100 percent, hanging out with Jamie and chatting all afternoon. And I'm sure the kids feel the same-- they adore their cousins and it's just a good time!
Right before school started, Grandma invited us to an amazing Back to School celebration at Wild Rivers which had just barely opened in Orange County. It was such a cool water park and the kids had an amazing time riding all of the new slides and floating around in the lazy river. We were so grateful to Grandma for planning such a wonderful back to school celebration! The night before school started, we introduced our theme for the school year: It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see! We took that idea from a Hank Smith talk that we had listened to on our way home from Utah end of July. We discussed the fact that we can "see" the good around us and in our lives or we can "see" the bad. Everyone is looking at the same things, but we all see something different depending on our attitude. Blake gave beautiful father's blessings and we ate a yummy dinner before getting a decent night's sleep.
The kids knew they didn't have to work too long or too hard before they would have the opportunity to party again with the Stevens coming into town the second week of school! And we really DID live it up! We skipped a day of school to swim and go to the beach all day! We ate at our favorite- The Taco Stand and Handel's for dessert. We had to go back a second time to the beach because it was just so much fun. Boogie boarding and burying cousins in the sand, building sand castles and laying in the sun. The perfect weather and perfect company made it an awesome beach weekend. The Stevens came to church with us- for Stake Conference where I was speaking. It was a nerve racking experience but alas, it's over and I am thrilled to have survived it! Then we barbecued and had the missionaries over for a message and banana splits. Super fun weekend and we are missing them already.
Let's see.... oh! Can't forget to mention Evelyn's sweet little graduation party before she left. Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Stacy came all the way down to celebrate with her and shower her with gifts and love and support. Then the Metten family (emma's parents and siblings) came and Amaya and Jen as well. And Eli of course. Loved having them all over for dinner- Chipotle bowls- her favorite. We took plenty of pictures, she opened darling gifts and cards and had a crumble taste testing (a favorite pastime in highschool) and then we each gave her a bit of advice before the teens broke off to do the tortilla tik Tok challenge and play soccer at the highschool field. It was a sweet evening and the best part was after all the adults left, Evelyn and her friends allowed Anna, Dane and Grant to all hang out with them and play games until the wee hours of the morning. It was Evelyn's last night at home and it was so sweet to see how much her siblings wanted to be with her. Saying good bye was pretty sad for all of the kids and Blake but mostly for little Anna! She wept for an entire day and created a shrine in memory of her big sis- right next to her bed. Good thing she's coming back for a Morgan Wallen concert next month- ha!
Dane has matured so much over the summer. He is a thinker and is super sensitive and wise. He isn't as interested in his old friend group this year for various reasons but is on the look out for a few buddies he can be his true authentic self with! He is still practicing soccer all time, three times a week, getting great grades, the best older cousin ever. Playing in long tournament weekends- we loved having Grandma there last time to cheer Dane on! Dane loves to learn about how to process life better and be a better person. He writes in his journal and makes goals for himself, he is listening to "The Untethered Soul" a book that allows you to take a step back from that voice in your head and reframe your life a little. At his last soccer tournament with some downtime, he and I discussed the concept of thinking less of your self at highschool and more of others who might need a friend- and how this is a key to happiness as well. He actually listened whole heartedly to a beautiful talk on "reaching out" and had so many insights to share afterwards. I'm so proud of Dane. Though things are presently a little hard for him and I miss the old big fun group of kids that used to hang here non-stop, I know everything good is in store for this kid and now that he has his learner's permit- nothing is going to stop him from living his best life!
Grant started a new gig last month babysitting for Rachel-- he loves taking care of Teddy and earning money whilst doing so. It's been fun because at times she will take him to Get Air and he entertains Teddy at the trampoline park. A win for both Grant and Teddy- haha! Grant has also done a little dog sitting this month and loves that as well. He is a kid with so much energy and drive. He works hard in every area of his life and really wants to be the best in all that he does- be it soccer, school work or even trying hard to be a kind big brother which he definitely struggles with! He finds Anna to be particularly annoying! But he is off with friends every weekend and training with Conner throughout the week when he doesn't have a scheduled practice. He works hard and goes 100 miles per hour at all times. Love this boy so much.
Anna continues to be happy and funny and full of cheer. She is a talker! She is a dancer! She is a good friend! She is an animal lover! She is my helper and best little friend and I adore her. This month whenever we were home we enjoyed having friends over and learned a fun new game called the quiet game. One person is blind folded holding a nerf gun and everyone else quietly moves around a small space and tried not to get pegged! Loved playing this game with both Anna and Grant's friends together. It was so fun. Anna learned how to make eggs and quesadillas this month and she's great at it! She met Helen's new puppy Meatloaf and had a wonderful time playing with him! The day we returned from Pismo, Anna remembered that she was promised a weekend getaway with Grandma! Anna quickly reminded both Grandma and I and Grandma dropped everything to set that up for Anna. She had a BLAST: school shopping, eating out, smoothies, nails, hot tubbing, eating spaghetti, watching shows and relaxing with Grandma! It was so fun for her and Grandma is a saint for making it so special in every way. Not to mention coming and staying with all the kids while I took Evelyn to Utah last week! The notes she had to go over for just three days were four pages long- haha! SO GRATEFUL. Anna started dance with Maya and safety patrol on Thursdays. She is my only kid that absolutely insisted on wanting to do it-- everyone else was bothered by the idea of getting to school at 7:15am. She is loving it and loving her 5th grade year so far... band starts on Friday and it's super exciting! She's chosen the violin.
Love this girl more than words can say.
So that was August! It was intense but wonderful. And there were so many other things too-- celebrating Sara's birthday, finishing up work with an awesome young lady who did so well throughout our coaching, re-decorating a few areas of the house, new Zen posters for the clip board wall. Meeting new friends and reconnecting with old ones. Life is good.
