One of the kids snapped this while I was working at the computer. Nice.
Elisabeth was not home for a lot of the summer, mostly the second half as she had a week long piano camp at USU, then girls camp, then we were off to Washington for our family reunion, and once we were back she had another girls camp called Oakcrest which is a week long for only the girls going into the 8th grade. After it was all said and done she said that next year she doesn't want to do so many camps. I don't blame her, we sure missed her!
We have a sign up in our kitchen that says, "If you feed them, they will come." True statement. I try to always have food out for their friends when they come over because I want them to feel welcome and loved and comfortable in our home, and I know how much food means to the youth as I was once one myself...I always liked being at my friends houses where parents were loving and fridges/pantries were open! :) In this picture below I think we had 5 friends/neighbors over and so we made up multiple batches of popcorn, and peanut butter popcorn, and they visited and watched a movie.
Charles is loving football, and he continues to love his 2 hour, 3 times a week football practices! Nice! Glad he's getting in some good strength training and conditioning so regularly.
My girls begged Stacey to let them come over and wash her dogs and they had a blast! They asked her to please call them next time the dogs need a wash. Glad we have friends with dogs so my kids can play with them. Thanks Stac!
They expanded the Provo MTC and we took the family on a tour of the facilities. It was gorgeous. The kids were interested in the cafeteria...I was too :).
I loved all the large and beautiful paintings that were everywhere! They bring in such a sweet spirit.
Here are my girls outside the new, expansion.
The lighting in this painting was magnificent! I don't know how they did it.
The elementary kids started back to school on Monday August 21 at their new school, American Preparatory Academy. And yes, they are in uniforms which we are actually loving! We really haven't had any complaints thus far and we're over a month in now. It's nice not to have to make a decision about what to wear each day as it's already decided :). Elisabeth went back to school Wednesday the 23.
And since we had a couple of days to ourselves we went hiking at Rocky Mouth trailhead in Sandy, had lunch at Cafe Rio,
and when we picked up Nora from kindergarten, she let us use her special glasses she got in school so that Elisabeth and I could see the solar eclipse!
That week was also BYU education week and I was able to go out there for a couple of evenings and get several classes in. I love BYU education week because it motivates and lifts me to become a better version of myself. So even though it was a challenge trying to fit in a few classes into our already busy schedule, especially with it being the kids first week back in school, I made it a priority. All the classes I attended were great! Mostly I took classes on marriage, parenting and the scriptures/Jesus since that's my main focus in life these days, and I learned and 'remembered' a lot, and in the end I decided on one goal for me right now and that would be in my family relationships. As the mother, I know I have a huge influence on the feelings and atmosphere in our home and though it's mostly positive and good, I know it could be better so I'm going to work on being more present, more patient and more positive at home with the poeple I love most. I liked these quotes: "Compliance shouldn't be our main goal. It needs to be much broader than that. Build trust and self esteem. Your attitude (as mother/father) is so important. Always make positive assumptions (about your children."
I always enjoy hearing Hank Smith speak. We have several of his cd's and we all enjoy listening to him because he's funny and at the same time, he can get a powerful message across.
This was a picture of the 'principle journal' Hank Smith's family keeps with their scriptures that the family reads from each night. I had heard him mention this before so last year I put a journal in our basket that we keep in the living room with a copy of the Book of Mormon for each individual, and we made a couple of entries last year, writing down messages and principles we pulled from the scriptures, but then we stopped (though I keep doing it on my own each day during my individual study time). So this was a good reminder for us to start up again. Hopefully we can make this a daily habit this time around.
I love President Gordon B. Hinckley, former Prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He was always so positive, optimistic and courageous.
This girl Nora loves to practice her head stands and she has them down really well; so well that she can hold all sorts of fun poses now while in her head stand. Here she is with our neighbor Cortnie.
I love
raw key lime pie, it is my favorite dessert and it's nutritious which, in my eyes, makes it even better! So I decided this last time I made it, to make it in a square pan instead of a circle, and then cut it up into bite sized little squares so that I can easily enjoy just a bite or two each day. Turns out this was perfect for me because most days after lunch, I just want a little something, and this is the perfect serving size. And because it's a frozen treat, I can just keep this in my freezer for however long it takes me to finish it, and I get to have this delicious treat each day :).
We had a ward campout in little cotton wood canyon and I wasn't sure when I would get my long run in that Saturday morning and Scott suggested I run home. I decided that was a good idea so I packed my running clothes, and my water back pack with snacks, and I woke up around 530 and was on the road running down the canyon by around 6am. I didn't sleep well while camping so that made running a little more challenging, and I couldn't see my watch for the first several miles as it was dark, so I wasn't pacing myself well and went way too fast on those first several miles coming down the canyon.
I paid for my poor pacing later in the run when I slowed down dramatically ('hit the wall') and had a hard time finishing. Luckily the last couple of miles, when I wasn't sure if I was going to finish or not, the Lord sent me an angel, a friend who lives about 3/4 mile away from my house, and she helped me finish the mileage I needed. I am continually amazed at the Lord's goodness and His love for each individual. He cares about us and things that are important to us, are important to him.
This is a picture I snapped of Jane and Nora's bedroom after they'd left for school. They like to make their beds their own way. As long as it's done!
