Extension of Summer

Even though the kids went back to school, the weather permitted
water activities well into the Fall months!

After preschool we would go to swim lessons with Ms. Kim.

August is my favorite month of lessons.

They have been in the water all Summer and are super confident
and strong in their abilities .

Casey smoked pizzas for the neighborhood!

Lake day with cousins and Grandma and Grandpa!

My favorite scene after a long day at the lake.
Freshly bathed kiddos with sun kissed faces all tuckered out.

Lane started to the golf team so our backyard turned into a practice putting green!

Grandma Ann had a rough bought with getting old.
I don't know how else to put it, lol!

She went to an assisted living facility for a month.
I went to visit a couple of times and cut her hair for her!

I love the stuffed animal tucked in tightly and deep concentration. 

Saturdays are my long run days.

I wake up early to beat the heat and try to get 10 miles in.

The morning sunrises are on point.

We love having Ruby over to play!
These 2 are twins a couple of years apart.

Nothing like going back to your old high school
 for parent night for your own child who is in the same  high school!

We had an adult only day at the lake.

Let me just say, it was AWESOME!!

No whining and fighting... can't beat it.

Sunsets on the water are sure beautiful.

Lane has a ton of friends in my parents neck of the woods.
Kind of fun to see your grandparents at their ward party!

 

It's that time again!

Casey and I were at Girls Camp for meet the teacher night.

Luckily, Grandma who was babysitting, is all about that kind of stuff!

She was more than willing to take them in our place.

This was Rusty's last meet the teacher, as he is growing up all to quickly

and moving onto Jr. High next year!
His teacher is Mrs. LeSueur. 

Lindi got Mrs. Gershkowitz!
Such a mouthful for third graders, haha. 

I have met both teachers, and they are absolutely lovely.
It's funny how each child always receives teachers that they need
personally to help them accomplish their best.

Meanwhile, Lane was at Mesa High being all grown up at his Freshman
 open house, without his mother!

HOW did this happen?!

I have an adult sized child. 

It's wild. 

Quite a bit of his friends have older siblings who take the "freshies" under their wings.
Because of this, and older neighbor friends,  Lane is just as close to Sophomores and Juniors
as he is kids his own age! 

It's a wonderful thing, and the perk to ride connections isn't so terrible:)

They showed them around campus and helped them scout out their classrooms.

Then drove them to Chick-fil- A for lunch afterwards. 

 He is SO ready for High School!

I try to spruce up the kitchen the night before school.
You know, to try to make it seem more appealing.

And it's my only morning with a legit breakfast.
Because lets face it, early mornings are rough. 

Lane was the first to leave with  A hour seminary.
He is a busy boy this year.
He leaves at 6:30, and because of golf, doesn't come home until 5-5:30. 

I was lucky to sneak this picture of him before he slipped out the door. 
He rides with Collin and Emily Rudd to school. 
Bless the teenage drivers in our neighborhood willing to take him!!

He said he wasn't nervous for his first day of high school.
Weirdly, I wasn't, either.

Next wave was the elementary kids!
Now the nerves were coming.
I had a pit in my stomach and praying everything would go smoothly for them
after their previous year off from public school.

6th and 3rd grade, here they come!

Driving them a short distance to the bus stop was not so terrible:)

This little munchkin is enjoying having the house and tv all to herself again!
One last year of preschool with Ms. Suzy before her world gets rocked at Kindergarten. 

 

End of Summer

Happy to be heading to the lake!

I love the groups of people we can rummage up last minute to join us.
This trip we had parts of the Whitmers and Yamamotos!

We have had a very rainy Summer this year.
The last hour of the afternoon, we could see a big storm rolling in.
It looked like it was going to completely miss us, but last then decided to switch
directions and come right at us!

Luckily we were pretty close to the dock.

Everyone was rushing in and it was pure chaos.

The rain was pounding, wind blowing, LIGHTENING striking.
Everything and everyone were completely DRENCHED! 
At one point it was raining so hard I couldn't see the trucks and trailers lined up trying to back in
and fetch their anxiously waiting boats. 

I surprisingly was pretty calm during the whole ordeal.
You kind of have to be when you are the one in charge of driving and making sure
everyone stays safe. 

We made it out unscathed.
The perk to such a situation, you don't have to wipe down the boat before you leave:)

By the time we made it back home, the sky cleared and it was actually pretty peaceful
and beautiful.

We door dashed some Raising Canes and had a boat detailing party. 

Another day it had rained all morning long.

When if finally let up, we decided to go swim at Stapley pool!

We had the place to ourselves!

Rain sure helps keep the crowds away!

We stayed a good 4 hours.

I love a good swim sesh!

Lindi gathered enough courage to jump off the high dive for the first time!

Uncle Craig came home from his Mission!

It is too hard to buy clothes for the boys now that they are in bigger sizes.

Plus, they have gotten pretty picky.

I hate returning things, so I forced Lane to go back to school shopping with me.

Della eyed these high heels and just HAD to have them!

Maybe for your birthday.

How about a picture for now?

You must have pretzels and cheese while at the mall!

On the last weekend of July, Casey and I headed up to the mountains to be

cooks at our stake Girls Camp!

To be honest, Girls Camp in not my favorite thing.

However, when you get to go with your husband it makes it a lot more appealing!

I was told how much work it is to be a cook, so we had mentally prepared ourselves a head of time.

We started right off with a bang, actually before even arriving, by smoking 12 pork butts the night

before we left!

And by we, I mean Casey.

It was a process, but the first night we had delicious pork sandwich thanks to his hard labor. 

We spent 3 days chopping, boiling, grilling, and mixing. 
We sure got to know the kitchen crew well!
 Which is always nice branching out

to people you normally wouldn't have an opportunity to be friends with. 

Our kitchen corner.

The main ramada where we served and ate.

The stake also asked me to teach the craft station.

Ugh, I am not that crafty!

We decided on Pura Vida bracelets.

They were a hit!

I left all the supplies out and girls were at these tables every day

busting out bracelet after bracelet.

I like me some arm candy:)

Back to the unusually wet Summer... we got DUMPED on one afternoon.

It was so bad, the wind and rain swamped out our wards campsite!

These poor girls!

A couple of tents completely flooded. 

Everything got soaked. 

Luckily our bishop was headed up that day.

He was able to rummage up 12 sleeping bags to bring up with him.

They had to share sock, shirts, even underwear, they were walking around

barefoot because everything was sopping wet.

Casey digging some trenches to help clear out some of the water damage. 

Our new friends!

Leanne Crandall, Mycayla and Sutton Eaves (which Sutton is my best friends sisters son. I remember when he was born! And his grandparents lived in my ward growing up. Small world.)
And Craig and Camille Seymore were the head cooks.

We knew them before hand because their grandson is on Rusty's baseball team.

GOOD people right there.