August

We began August camping. That was the day we left Camp Chadwick, had a nail and a screw in our tires, got home around 5, and then did a wild unpacking drive. Well, somewhere after baths and before bed, the kids decided to do eye patches:

August brought with it a huge desire to get back to a routine. First thing was to get the house in order. I cleaned toilets and got all the laundry done and put away in actual drawers for the first time in a month. It was awesome!

 Our peach tree gave us it's first two peaches:

 And they were AMAZING! Hopefully next year, we get more than two, but not bad for only having planted it two years ago!

 My goal was to organize our office. So, in an effort to get organized, we went to DI to see if they had any good stuff. They didn't (office wise), but we found this car cart and couldn't resist bringing it home. We almost paid for a new one for Rachel's birthday last year. The kids loved pushing it in the parking lot to the car:

 We had a lot of nights like this--just the normal routine things. Michael is reading so well! He blows us away all the time.

And a little of this:

 Rachel liked my hat that I got in Venice:

 After trying to find a kids desk for the office that I liked, I finally convinced Brian to make one for me. I wanted one that you could store stuff inside so all there little papers could be contained when I had students over. I came up with a plan and he built it for me:

 We had some Sunday afternoon airplane rides:

 We fed the missionaries for the first time in our married life. We felt so cool and grown up:

 Taryn and Aaron came for a visit, and Aaron got to play in our playroom:

 I moved the little table into the castle. Now, we often find this little scene in there:

 Melts my heart.

We ran lots of errands (what months do we not?). I try not to run errands around lunch time, but sometimes, it just can't be helped. We decided on this particular day to hit up Sonic. When I was telling Michael what his options were, Rachel overheard me say "hot dog" and insisted that that is what she wanted. I didn't think she would really eat it, but I ordered it anyway. I was surprised that she did in fact eat the hot dog, but she refused the bun. Strange child:

 I got our new little desk stained and in the office. I love how it turned out:

And I made Brian make a chair to go with it. I still have to finish staining it. 

 We went to our ward Luau. We drove the sisters. Again, we felt so cool:

 Alisa and Jared came into town, so we all went to the Children's museum.

 And then we had a Saville girls' night out. All the girls went, except for Rachel. We went to see "Once I Was a Beehive". And since it was opening night, one of the actors was there to thank us for coming and to spread the word about the movie. So, Ella and Maiya got a picture with this "famous" person.

 Rachel's hair is getting so long. She can finally do a ponytail without all her hair falling out--well, almost anyway.  

 Once a month, Brian has a release night at work where he has to stay late to finish the release. Adobe gives him dinner, and sometimes, I think it's really just a party over there (even though I know they're working hard to get it done, and some nights, he doesn't get home until after midnight). So, I decided that we're going to start going out for ice cream on release night. So, in August, we had our first Release Night ice cream date.

 Our neighborhood threw a party on the 21st of August. They had food trucks and lots of blow-up toys. It was a lot of fun, which kind of surprised me. Usually, I hate things like this because it's too crowded, but since it was just for our HOA, it was the perfect amount of people. Rachel LOVED climbing up this big slide and sliding down. She loved the obstacle course one too. She had a blast!

 Soccer started again on August 22. I'm not coaching this time, so it was fun to actually sit and watch the game.

 On August 23, I found this sweet scene in the backyard.

 I couldn't even make them come in, even though I worried they'd get their church clothes all dirty before church:

Michael had trouble getting back into a routine and back to not having a constant playmate around. He had gone the whole month of July without a schedule, without having to do chores, and for a good chunk of it, without Mom and Dad telling him what to do. It was a bit of an adjustment, and there was some grounding going on. Rachel also struggled, especially when we were camping. Anytime she'd see me walk away to go somewhere (whether it was up to the tent or out to the jet ski, I'd hear her little panicked voice crying, "Mom! Mom!" I think she was worried that I would leave her for so long again. I had to keep telling her that I would be right back for her and that it was okay. I think she's mostly used to having me back now. 

 Not surprisingly, we also took a trip to Joann's in August. They already have Halloween stuff up. The kids got a kick out of these little hats:

 We also did some back to school shopping for Michael. I had to buy this jean jacket for Rachel. She was just too cute in it.

 And on the August 28, Ethan joined us at Texas Roadhouse for an impromptu farewell dinner. We went to dinner, forgetting he was moving out that day after work, and it worked out that he could join us.

 We didn't get to see him as much this summer, since he was only here during the week, but the kids sure do love their Uncle Ethan.

And, we ended August the only way we know how: with an underwear dance party.

Actually, this never happens. I'm not even sure how it happened this time, but it made us laugh, so even though we'll get in trouble for posting this several years from now, I'm sharing anyway. I love these kids and it was so nice not going anywhere during August.

I also started teaching piano lessons in August, which has been both frightening and fulfilling endeavor. I missed having music be a part of my life, and I'm glad to be reunited with my old friend, even though I do feel a little bit like an impostor when I'm around my in-laws or anyone who studied music at the university level. So far, things have been going well. I also offered $5 back to school photos to my neighborhood, and the response was a little overwhelming. That kept me busy during the last week in August, and I enjoyed it. I still can't believe that it is already September. We had one exciting, unforgettable summer, but I'm ready for Fall!