We really had a fun summer soaking up the sun at parks and at friend’s houses. We had several playdates in the kiddie pool in the Dunaway’s backyard (with Provosts and Stones). By the end of the summer, Charlie finally started showing some interest in playing in the water. One evening, we all got together at the Provosts, husbands too, and we had dinner and a movie night. I think we watched Rio 2 to keep the kids entertained. It was really fun to spend time together with the husbands, since they miss out on all of the playdates.
At Timpanogos Park
Jason had his ten year high school reunion. That is so unreal! I can’t believe we are getting that old. High school seems like yesterday! We kept going back and forth trying to decide if we should go. It is sad how nowadays not many people attend those things. It seems like people pretty well keep in touch with who they want to on Facebook, so a reunion just isn’t necessary to reconnect. I think there were only like 30 people who said they were going to attend, and none of Jason’s close friends were going. Plus it was rather expensive for the kind of food they were serving. Regardless, we ended up having a reception to go to for Keri Madsen (a close family friend of the Grubers), so that settled that. That was after we dropped by Trevor Cook’s house...they were having a get together/BBQ with the rest of the gang. We also picked up our first box of Burgess peaches for the season. They are the best!
We made yet another trip to Idaho! My cousin, Kaden, was giving his farewell address for his LDS Mission to England. Since my grandparents house is being lived in by one of my cousins, my family stayed at the Hampton Inn in Idaho Falls. Camry drove up with our car Saturday afternoon and we checked into the hotel then headed to Bri and Brad’s apartment to meet their new baby, Bexley! She is just the cutest thing! We chatted it up then headed to Chilis for dinner. The rest of my family arrived at the hotel after midnight. Kaden’s farewell started at nine the next morning. I was so impressed with his talk. He is going to be a wonderful missionary. It is so fun to see cousins who you grew up with and who are younger speak for these kinds of things. It always shocks me how mature they are/can be...because that is not usually the side you see of them when you are just goofing around as cousins. After sacrament meeting, we headed to the Hillams for a tasty luncheon. While we were eating outside, the sweet smell of the food brought a ton of bees around. Poor Charlie got stung on his pinky! It swelled up pretty good, but nothing to cause alarm. You could tell it hurt and that it was bothering him, but he toughed it out and it eventually came down. Since then, he has been scared of bees (even any buzzing sounds). Later that afternoon, some of the cousins played croquet. And then it was time for the drive home. The visit came and went so quickly!
Breakfast in bed at the Hampton Inn
Through the month, we continued looking for houses online. We also decided to enlist the help of a realtor in our ward, Melissa Downs. She proved to be essential! She was awesome! We really wouldn’t have known what to do without her. I don’t know how people do it on their own...there is just so much stuff that is involved that we would have no idea about. We really appreciated having her help. If anyone is looking for a realtor, I would definitely recommend her. We spent a good amount of time driving around to different houses and checking out the neighborhoods. Charlie was a good sport and did a lot of driving around with me. Jason came when he could and after I had eliminated the definite “no’s”.
Jason went on his long awaited Canada Fishing Trip with his friend Parker (more on that next post). While he was gone, Charlie and I got some more quality time and filled our days with fun things. Wednesday morning we went with our realtor to a couple of house showings, and then we met up in Alpine for a playdate and lunch with Nancy. For dinner, we met up with Jaleah at Kneaders. Jaleah then came back home with us, and after putting Charlie to bed, we watched Endless Love. Thursday we invited Kylie, Stacee, Kara, and their kids to a playdate at South Fork Park. It was a lot of fun! We showed them where we like to play in the water and went on a small hike on one of the trails. It was a little crazy because the grass was wet when we first got there and it was hard for Kara to push her stroller around on the trails. We were also surprised when several school buses showed up with tons of elementary kids. They came for lunch and games. The park went from deserted to filled just like that. But our kids had fun watching the other kids play their games. Before too long, they were gone and the next thing of interest was the man and the big lawn mower. Overall, we had a great time watching the kids explore. It was a nice change.
Kenzlie, Ryder, William, London, Hayden, Charlie
When we got back from the park, a package had arrived for us from Daddy. Charlie was given some stackable cups and a fun drawing pad. I was given a huge body pillow! I had seen my cousin, Bri’s, body pillow and really wanted one to help with my pregnant sleeping. I was shocked to see it arrive for me and I was so thrilled! It was such a thoughtful gift. I knew he would regret it though because when I tried it out the first night I could tell that it took up more than half of the bed. Jason was going to have a couple months of small sleeping quarters thanks to this amazing pillow! When he got back he was shocked to see how big it was, but he was a good sport and dealt with it.
Thursday night, Amy came over and we watched Divergent, painted nails, and ate ice cream. On Friday, we headed to Swiss Days in Midway with my Mom. That was a fun outing. That night, after I put Charlie to bed, it was just me...so I rented Noah and watched that alone. I figured Jason wasn’t interested in seeing that movie anyway. On Saturday, we went to the zoo with Kerstin, Alisha, and their kids. It was an overcast day and we thought it might rain, but we got super lucky. It didn’t rain and it was nice and cool! Perfect! That night I stayed home and watched Gilbert Grape. Thanks to Netflix, I never have to have a boring or lonely night.
On Sunday, after church, I headed to Draper for dinner and to stay the night. The next day was Labor Day, and we had an Arbon Picnic at my grandparent’s house so we could all visit my cousin Melina while she was in town. That afternoon, Jason returned home...and we were so excited to see him! As you can see, we kept busy and had lots of fun, but things are always better when Daddy is home!
Other August pictures:
Charlie sorting his Smarties
Dinner at the American Fork Farmers Market
Tyson's birthday dinner
Zion's baptism
(Julien is so great at being Charlie's buddy/helper...even if he doesn't appreciate it)
At South Fork park with Daddy:
