Aug-N braces off, USU, back to work/school. God is good.

We love our Missionary Mondays! When Annabelle went to HXP in Ghana in the beginning of July, she brought out 2 small packages for Charles and his companion and they received them in mid August! So glad they made it! 

Mid August, the girls were back to school and I was back to work. Jane is a Junior, and Nora is a Freshman! Annabelle started school at USU the following week! I can't believe we're down to 2 kids at home....for the time being that is. Charles should be back the beginning of November!

I snapped this picture of the Jordan River Temple as I was heading home after my Tuesday evening shift. I love how it lights up the area. It's definitely a refuge from the storm and a place of peace and strength. 

Jane was asked by Brock to homecoming. He's good friends with Halle's boyfriend. Jane's happy to be going with such a nice guy and with her group of girlfriends. I personally think we have way too many dances in a year...6 is far too many, but if they like it, and if they're paying for most of them, then I suppose it shouldn't matter to me too much. And it gives them the opportunity to date, since that's not something most of the high schoolers are really doing these days. 

So cute! Jane and Penny are napping together on the couch. 

We had some pretty awesome rain shower and thunder storms in August. We got some hail with some of them too. 

We've been busy packing up and cleaning up Annabelle's room. 

Monday August 24th we dropped Annabelle off at USU. She had received a priesthood blessing from her dad the night before and afterwards she was a little teary eyed and I asked her how she was feeling. She was feeling nervous about moving away, about not knowing any of her roommates, and about starting college classes. We'd been praying for her. Within a half hour of us arriving, her cousin Reese (from Oregon) got back from a run and came and hung out! Having Reese where she was, living a floor below Annabelle, was for sure, a divine orchestration. I'm pretty sure my mom and dad had something to do with it, pulling strings up there. Reese, who is the same age as Annabelle, had been planning to go to BYU. But then in June, she decided to take up the offer/scholarship she got from USU to run on their cross country team. She had to find last minute housing. Her team was in the San Juan Hall, which is Annabelle's hall. Reese got in! But then a few weeks later, they moved her team to the building next door. But because Reese hadn't signed up at the same time as the team, she couldn't move buildings with them, but stayed in San Juan Hall. And is just one floor down from Annabelle. It was so nice, so comforting for Annabelle to have Reese there, who is familiar family. They hang out a lot. They have a class together. I'm not so worried about Annabelle anymore. God is good. 

Oh and by the way, her roommate, Sophie is great! As are her other roommates. Sophie has a car and is from Alpine which is only 25 minutes from our house, so when Sophie comes home, Annabelle is always welcome to catch a ride (which she has a couple of times already and I'm writing this in September). I meet them off of 1-15 and it works great! Blessings and tender mercies. And answered prayers. 

Nora got her braces off!!! for the second time. And just in time for picture day! Literally, she got them off the morning of picture day! Lucky girl! 

Stef's dog had puppies! (Stef is one of the assistant coaches on Nora and Scott's team). The labs are SO adorable! And they fit in the palm of your hand! It kinda made me want one, but at the same time I remember how much work penny was and still is, and then I change my mind and feel quite content with having just Penny. 

Scott and I love trying new food places. We ate dinner at Tuk Tuks, a new Thai food place in mountain village and it was delicious! The stir fry in the pineapple was so yummy, as was my curry and the mango sticky rice. We will definitely be going there again. 

For about 6 weeks I'd been trying to recreate these muffins that I bought from Little Miss Muffin in Utah, and it has been a struggle! I think I've made about 6 different batches, adjusting the recipe. Why is it so hard? Because they're macro friendly. They've got so much protein, and fiber and little calories and sugar. Coming up with the right quantities has been hard. Some were really bad. And looked really bad. 

Then they got better. It's still not quite the same as hers, but I do feel like they're getting much closer. They're all bran based, and I've been trying out an almond poppyseed muffin and a lemon white chocolate muffin. The lemon white chocolate I like a little more. 

This is our intervention team at work! I love all these ladies! And we're missing Angie from this picture, she helps kids with math. Most of them do walk to read, and then Charilyn and I work with the multilingual kids. I love what I do. It's seriously such a great job, so rewarding to see them progress so quickly (many of them) and learn the English language. And you can't beat the hours. M-Th 9-2pm, and I get off all holidays and school breaks (Fall break, winter break, spring break, Summer). 

The schedule allows me to still cook and clean (if I want :)) and to run errands, and to write, and work at the temple and go to my scripture study/brunch on Fridays and just do the things I love to do. I'm grateful for my work.