Sunday 10 - 8.26.18: Summer Wrap-Up!

1. Alli and Holly went to Girls Camp! It was a little tricky for Alli because she had Skyridge tennis throughout the week, as well. But she was able to go back and forth every day and still go to a lot of camp. Alex went up for a night and had a blast.

2. Lots of gatherings in the last few weeks! Fun times at a wedding reception with Lori and Haley.

The Oviatts came to town and had dinner at our house.

And a roommate breakfast with Ashley and Chelsea! I love when my old roommates come to town!

3. Cindy and I snuck away to Santa Rosa for a long weekend before school started. We had the best time staying up late, sleeping in, hiking, riding Cami's double bike, and hanging out with the family. Alex held down the fort at home and had fun with the kids. And I came home to a clean house with all the laundry done! 

 We saw Jim Gaffigan! Such a fun night!

 Lunch with Cindy and Jessica in Petaluma.

4. It took over a month, but Tyson finally finished the Salt Lake Temple LEGO set that the Jensens gave him for his baptism! He was so proud, and Cooper was thrilled that Tyson let him help a little.

5. Shana, Jessica and I put on a Jump Into Junior High party for our 7th grade girls and some of their friends. We ended up with 14 girls and their moms there and the whole night was such a blast. We had homemade Cafe Rio for dinner, a locker craft, classes on easy hairstyles, study skills, and being a good friend, and dessert at the end. This age group is so cute and we had such a fun night celebrating them.

6. First Day of School for Holly! I dropped her off with Kara and Taylor and she was ready to go! So looking forward to how much she'll learn and grow in the coming years.

7. First day of school for the rest of the kids was on Monday. Tyson is in 3rd grade, Brynne in 5th grade and Alli in 9th grade.

8. In an effort to keep Cooper entertained this week before Kindergarten starts on Monday, we crammed our week full of activities. Monday we ran a couple errands, including buying him a new backpack, before coming home and making our traditional first day of school chocolate chip cookies. Tuesday Cooper went to a birthday party so we went to the store to pick out a present for his friend. On Wednesday we went to the zoo with Aunt Carla. We picked the perfect time to go! Since all the big kids are back in school there were no crowds. And the weather was a little overcast and not hot. We went to the bird show, rode the train and carousel and saw all the cool animals. Savannah hasn't stopped talking about it. And then we pulled in the garage just in time for the rain to start. Over the next couple hours there was a huge downpour. We couldn't have timed our trip any better!

On Thursday we met up with Cindy and her two youngest at IKEA. Cooper and Luke played in the kid area while Cindy and I shopped. On Friday we went to Farm Country with Jenae, Jessica, Marissa, and Lori and their little kids and rode the horses, did the tractor ride, and saw the animals before I dropped the kids off at Cindy's and went to a birthday lunch for Shana.

We had a super fun week, and now Cooper is ready for kindergarten, and I'm ready to be home a little to catch up on some things!

9. Just a couple shots of our favorite baby sister.

A new dress I bought her in California. 

 Her love of Minnie Mouse runs deep. Here she is shushing Minnie before putting her down for a nap, complete with a blanket and white noise.

10. And a few last house projects to finish up the summer. We found an awesome huge table at Costco but the timing just so happened to mean that I was in California while Alex had to take care of getting the truck and driving to Salt Lake to pick up the table. I sold our old table about 15 minutes before I left for California, so Alex helped get that out of the house, and got the new table all set up. I love that we can fit more people around one table! Hosting and gathering is a big part of our family culture and this just helps make it a little easier. 

I needed to make bigger feeders for the chickens, so I did that and also added a door to the side of the coop to make it easier to refill the buckets. So far so good!

Our coat closet is really wide, so I added some shelves to one side to give us a little more organized storage for all the random sports stuff that usually ends up on the floor in there.

I added a picture of my happy place, Armstrong Grove, above my piano. I've loved going there as long as I can remember and it's been a place I've loved taking my own family to over the years.

Sunday 10: 8-5-18

I have a few weeks to catch up on. Summer is flying by and we are trying to cram as much in as possible!

1. I took the 4 younger kids to the dinosaur museum one morning. And then every day after that Savannah asked to go back.

2. Our old neighbors, the Pattersons, came to town! We hosted a bbq and had the best time. It was so fun to see them and get all the kids back together.

3. I was able to sneak away for lunch a couple times. Once with Melissa, Jamie, and Joy, and once with Debbie who was visiting from California.

4. Alli got to go on trek! Alex and I went up for the first day and helped set up, and we also had to dress like Book of Mormon characters and talk to the kids. It was really cool to see the kids all dressed in pioneer clothes.

5. Alli had a tennis tournament for the Youth Tennis League and she came in 1st for her division! She's put a ton of hours into tennis this summer and it shows!

6. The kids have spent countless hours in the pool this summer! I made fun of Alex for buying it at first, but I'm really glad he did. It's been a great way to cool off and keep them happy.

7. We spent the Pioneer Day with Mark and Liz at Salem Ponds. It's so peaceful there and it was a great, relaxing night playing in the water and eating a delicious dinner Liz prepared. 

8. We sold our old entertainment center, so I lost the bookshelves in the piano room. We got these bookshelves instead, and I added trim to make them a little nicer. I love a project!

9. On Friday Alex and I went out with 2 other couples in our neighborhood. We had dinner and then went to an axe-throwing place. I wasn't sure how I'd like it but it turned out to be so much fun!

10. Lagoon day with the Gardners! We haven't hung out with the Gardners much this summer because of both of our busy schedules, so it was extra nice to get a whole day with them. Lagoon was so sweaty hot most of the day, but we had such a fun time hitting up the rides and hanging out with our friends. The biggest accomplishment of the day was seeing Brynne face her fears and go on a ride that terrified her. She conquered Cannibal!

Too much to write, I can't stop at 10!!

11. Tyson traded his splint in for a nice blue cast. The pediatrician looked at the x-ray and declared that they were significant buckle fractures, so we would have to keep the cast up over the elbow. Tyson and I went straight to Target after for some metallic sharpies so his friends could sign it.

12. Alli went to EFY with Abbey and just got back yesterday. They had an awesome time together. They did the stay-at-home program and slept at the Bates every night before going back to Utah State for the whole day. I'm so grateful for experiences like this!