Rushing Fall

 I want fall so bad.  This morning Gator, Kin, and I went to the sunflower festival.  It was so hot, but I kept wishing it was fall.  The flowers were beautiful.  We bought a bucket and could cut as many flowers as we could fit in the bucket.  I wanted to look at the flowers while we went to Starbucks to get a pumpkin chai drink so we put them on our table at Starbucks, drank our fall drink, and wished it was fall.  

The first first day of school

 This year is a little messed up.  Gator will be going to the new school, West Field.  That school isn't done yet, so she has an extra 2 weeks of summer.  Her schedule finally did get finalized though, and it turns out she has one class at Fremont, so she actually missed her first day of school Wednesday, but had one class today.  She is excited to be going to Fremont for 1st period though because then she can pop in to see Brady.  And she found out today that Zoie is actually going to be going back to Fremont as well, so she will be able to see both of them first semester.  

Owen had his first day of grad school on Monday.  He is in for a tough 3 years, but he will do amazing, I know it.  He is excited, especially for his cadaver lab.  I don't think I could do that.  

My new junior high is the only new school that is mostly ready.  At least enough for students to begin school.  So I had my first day on Wednesday.  Gator was in Kaysville spending the night there before Dallin left for the MTC, so I was home alone and had to do my first day of school photo at her bedroom mirror.  Here is to another school year!

August Days

Owen & Kylee were in town last weekend for a concert and Dallin's farewell.  I still have to have Oreos in the house when Owen comes to visit.  

Gator bought Willow some sunglasses for their drives.  She will actually keep them on.  I don't know how well she can see out of them, but Willow loves attention and she gets a lot with her sunglasses on.  

We went to Idaho Saturday evening to have dinner for Owen's birthday.  The girls went to Costco to get pizza and the boys stayed home to watch rodeo.  After that we just hung out at the apartment, a perfect evening if you ask me.  

For his birthday, I bought Owen & Kylee rodeo tickets.  This rodeo was Kylee's hometown county fair rodeo.  

My kids and their concerts.  Davis & Kin went to this concert at the Delta Center, they had this whole area to themselves.  And from the videos I've seen of Kin jumping around, singing, having a concert of her own, it is a good thing they had the room.  

Storms

We've had some awesome storms the last few nights.  These first ones are taken from my bedroom window on Saturday night.  I was in bed and suddenly my whole room lit up, so I got up and stood by the window for a while watching the lightning and listening to the pouring rain.  

Yesterday we were at Krissy's for dinner and another storm came in.  Of course I was out in an instant to play in it.  This one had some really loud thunder along with the lightning.  Gator and I left to go take Afton home, but a beautiful rainbow finally came out when we were in Layton. 

And these ones are from this evening.  We had Brady & Zoie over before school starts and when we took them home we stayed out driving around watching this storm.  I have never seen lightning like this before.  For a solid hour it was a light show.  The whole sky was illuminated.  It was amazing.  

Thrift Store Day

 Today was National Thrift Store Day.  It was fun that it was the same weekend that Gator is over at Mat & Andrea's while they are out of town with the boys for a concert.  Krissy and her girls are pros at thrift store shopping.  It causes me anxiety, but today we had fun.  We had plans for 3 stores, but after 2 we were done.  Since last year when Mat asked if Gator could watch Afton this weekend, Afton has wanted to go to Starbucks with Gator.  Some of us went to Smith's to get chips, guacamole, and salsa for lunch and got a Starbucks drink.  I dropped Gator and the girls off back at Mat's and it was raining.  I wasn't going to pass up a good rain storm and puddles.  We had a fun day hanging out with cousins.  Gator is spending the night again tonight, Millie is also, and Ivy was over for a late night.  They got some dinner at Cane's, treats at Winco, and went home for a movie and slumber party.  

Bethany said no way was she putting on heels.  These cousins have some long legs though.  

No one else wanted to put on an ugly outfit for a picture, but Gator and Millie killed it.  Millie was right when she laughed and said she looked like Dora the Explorer.  

Cousin Camp

You see  grandmas that have all their grandkids over for a day full of activities and food, then spend the night together.  I even know some that have a tshirt made advertising that it is "Cousin Camp 2024".  Well, I didn't make tshirts, but here is my version of cousin camp with all my "grandkids".  I don't even know how I got to this point in my life, but here I am as the designated dog sitter.  

Owen & Kylee were in town to go to a concert with Davis & Kin.  Then today Davis & Kin went on a weekend trip with her mom, and Owen & Kylee had a family reunion all day and a rodeo up north tonight.  They were so good and I got pictures of the concert, but nothing else the rest of the weekend. Tomorrow is Dallin's farewell, so I better go to bed.  I hope I wore the dogs out enough today that they all sleep for the whole night.  

50

 Josh is turning 50 on Sunday, but that it is also Dallin's farewell that day, so she planned a surprise dinner to celebrate his birthday tonight.  I can't believe that we are getting this old.  It doesn't even seem possible.  I will be 50 in a few short years.  

A rain storm blew through, and I went outside because I figured there would be a rainbow, and I love a good rainbow.  It was beautiful!

Lagoon Day

 For so many years we bought Lagoon season passes, but I haven't for the last couple.  The rest home has a Lagoon Day every summer, so we went for free and got Brady in for a huge discount and Zoie has a season pass.  I didn't think I would, but I missed Lagoon.  Walking around brought back years of memories, spending summers at Lagoon with my kids.  Rachelle & Andrea both have passes so they joined us for a few hours.  I told Gator we may be getting season passes again next year, just so I can go and be nostalgic in my old age.  

Service (work)

 Colin had a list of chores that he needed help with up at his property.  Andrea arranged a day for us to go up and help him out.  We didn't get home last night (this morning) until 1:30 am from the rodeo, but we were up by 7:00 am to beat the heat.  We were digging fence posts in ground that was basically rock and dirt that was so hard it was cement, cleaning out a shed, painting some stuff, and getting some dirt smoothed for a tent.  I am grateful we weren't alone, working is always better with family.  Mat & Andrea's boys brought up their little dirt bikes and taught Gator how to ride.  They had fun doing that so they didn't mind taking a few breaks to help with some of the work.  

Our reward was some mint ice cream.  It tasted so yummy!  And Gators mouth is still pretty sore, so she hasn't been able to eat much.  She needed some ice cream.