Awesome August

One of the best things about August this year was the extended Monsoon season we enjoyed. I can't remember when the rains lasted so long. It has been wonderful, in spite of power outages and water collecting on our pool cover that Dad had to pump out several times before we could open the pool. August is the back-to-school month, so most of what we did this month was centered on that theme, except temple service and some pretty special birthdays, of course. Tyson had a birthday on the 14th, Brynlie, Camille and Brody all had birthdays on the 17th, though they celebrated on other days (sometimes 3 other days!) Bethany's birthday was the 18th, and Carson's was the 22nd.















Allison got home from Maine just in time to start school at EAC.



Back-to-school was a pretty big event this year. We had 4 brand new schoolers, Brianna, Ellie, Brynlie and Camille, and two back-to-schoolers that we are especially proud of. Erika and Shauna have gone back to school, determined to finish their education and earn a degree. I know, from experience, how hard that is to do when you also have family and church responsibilities, so our thoughts and best wishes go back to school with them. Some back-to-school pictures...Obviously, I don't have all of them, so if you still need to send them, do it, and I can put them in. I would like to do that, because this blog is my journal and I don't want to leave out the rest of Joel's kids, Daniel's kids and Nathan's kids.














































We have been using Dad's canner this month and have canned 18 pints of beans and the same amount of London Broil. Next we are going to do boneless skinless chicken breasts.

Daniel sent us a picture of what he did to prepare for back-to-school. He refinished his long driveway. When the snows come and the kids will be driving up and down that driveway, he'll be glad he took the time and tremendous effort to get it done.

Daniel also sent some pictures of Jonathan's birthday at the end of July. They had all the kids from his special needs class come to his party at their house where they had balloon cupcakes and his brothers were targets for water balloons. Those kids in Jonathan's class probably never had so much fun!





We kicked off our back-to-school month with a back-to-school party at Rebecca's, with swimming and pizza. In spite of clouds and intermittent sprinkles, we had a good time.




When we were leaving, we all decided to walk over to Rebecca's (really, Polly's) petting zoo to see how much their cute little pink piglet had grown...Wow!




We have been enjoying a wonderful monsoon season that has lasted much longer than usual. We have been without power several times, but once it was long enough that we had to light the oil lamp and candles. I even read my book in the bathtub by candlelight. You will be glad to know that I don't have a picture of that event.


We went to Mesa to see the kids and deliver the personalized pencils. We had already given the Safford kids theirs, mailed the Colorado and Nebraska kids theirs, and the Mexico kids will get theirs when we go next week. I have wondered if the kids even like the pencils well enough to keep doing it, but if Crew was an example of the way they feel about the pencils, I'll keep getting them. See the last picture in this section...






































We wanted to have a meal with each of the Mesa families so we ate at Mi Amigos with Jeremy & Erika to start with. Their kids were all so busy that we couldn't find a time to eat with them, except Hayden, who went with us when we ate with Steph and her boys.
We ate with Esther and Shad's family at the Kids-eat-free Greek restaurant.











We went with Steph and Docker and Crew and Hayden, to Joe's Barbeque in Gilbert, where we saw Melissa and Brad and their family!














Tyson had a birthday on the 14th, and invited us to share his birthday dinner of chile rellenos (sp?) topped with beans, and cherry cha cha.


The twins turned 5 on August 17th, the same day Brody turned one. They had a swimming party at our house, to which all the Safford/Thatcher families came. This was just one of their 3 parties. What a neat way to turn 5!



Then they had a fancy tea party in our living room, followed by another party with the Alder family!



Rylie made a Gila Valley Temple cake for her ward's youth Temple activity.



Just before EAC started its semester, Stetson moved to Thatcher, living at Howard's, following in Esther's footsteps. In fact, his trailer is the exact same plan as hers and I thought it was the same one, but Esther assured me it wasn't. Anyway, he seemed happy there. He has two roommates and sees Dallin and Allison and his cousin Shelby pretty often.

Allison, Dallin & Stetson playing a dance game...pretty cute, huh?






Carson turned 4 and had a "Pirate" birthday party, complete with a pirate ship, treasure, swimming and Mexican hotdogs.














Here is the latest photo of the Mexican Biggs kids. Maya sure looks like one of us, doesn't she?


The weather was so beautiful at the end of August, before it got hot again, that when some of the families came over to visit on Sunday evening, the kids were able to play in the back yard and we were able to just sit around on the back porch and still be comfortable.





We went to Pine last week, to see Grandma and Grandpa. They are determined to stay there until it is cool in Mesa. They seem to be doing well and were so glad to see us. They love having company and mentioned that they had even had visits from Joel and Jeremy. Jan and Kent came the morning after we got there, on their way to Mesa, and brought ingredients to make yummy blueberry whole wheat pancakes. I'm glad we happened to be there when they came.

On our way home, we stopped at Roosevelt Lake to check out options for our day trip on Labor Day. We found one cozy little spot that might work: Cottonwood Cove. We're looking forward to seeing all of you who can come. It will be a good start to September.