~AUGUST Alabama and Alaska~

Alabama is the beautiful state where Shad served his mission.  I tried to find representative pictures on Google and I fell in love with Alabama.  I threw in a little Crimson Tide for Shad.

Alaska is also a beautiful place, although very different from warm, humid Alabama, of course.  We visited there, with Joel, Stephanie and their family in July and look at all the snow.  Of course the Northern Lights picture is from Google.  I still have never seen them live.

August truly has been a little bit slower and a little more peaceful than July or June.  The kids have all gone back to school, including our college kids and married kids, slowing things down a lot.  But even still, we've had a great month.  We've had dramatic skies along with the accompanying rains, some really hot days, but not as many as August has been known to have in the past.  Mostly it's been really quite pleasant.  We've been enjoying our temple service, especially the wonderful friends we have made as we visit each shift...people we would never otherwise have met or known.  They have become wonderful friends.  What a blessing the temple is to our valley, bringing unity and love in place of competition and mistrust.
As I have reviewed the blog, I realize I have used and over used the word amazing.  That's because there have really been some amazing things going on this month.  Amazing August, for sure.

This double rainbow was over our house after a storm.  This picture is from Jenn.

We've had  our usual amazing August sunsets.

This incredible shot is from my cousin Milo LeBaron, in Mesa.  It, too, is a double rainbow, but I have never seen such an amazing phenomenon.

Each of our August birthdays are amazing, as well.  

Lindsay's birthday was August 1st, and Tyson's was August 14th.

Brynlie and Camille turned 11 on the 17th.

Brody turned 7 on the 17th, and Bethany's birthday was the 18th.

Carson turned 10 on the 22nd.

~BACK-TO-SCHOOL ~

Palmer, all set to start Dental school at Midwestern in Glendale.

Stetson, beginning law school at the University of San Diego, Warren Hall School of Law.

Crew and Docker are both going to Highland High.

Brock starting his PHD program at St. Louis.

The Colorado Biggs kids beginning their school year.  L-top-bottom: Emma, Syrina, Raymond, R: Analynn.  These kids are going to the charter school in Glenwood and Jonathan and Alonzo are going to the public school, also in Glenwood.  Albert and Shannyn are going to the high school in Glenwood.  So Connie has a lot of driving to do!

Jonathan and Alonzo.  Shannyn says Porter and Alta's dog keeps him calm.

Dallin in the Architecture library at Syracuse University, and DeWitt on his first day as a pre med student at Arizona State University, ready for one of his labs.  He says they won't let him in unless he has a lab coat and goggles.  Then, Polly signing up for her senior year at Safford High School. 

Reygan, starting her year at Mesa Community College; Tayte and Hayden gassing up for school transportation;  Tayte is going to Heritage Academy and Hayden is going to Desert Ridge.  Ellie is going to their local (right across the street) elementary school.

Luke is going to Safford Middle School this year; Isabel to Safford High School as a Junior, and also to EAC as a pre nursing student; Rylie is at EAC in her health and fitness major.  She's working as a trainer for the football team.

Brynlie and Camille are at Dorothy Stinson School in 5th grade.

Marlie and Harrison are at Highland High School and Bridger started jr. High this year.

And  Soren and Brody are in their community elementary school.

Kirtlyn is starting at Safford Middle School and the other Biggs kids are at Ruth Powell school, except Henry, who is going to Pre school in Central with Sherry Shumway.  Notice the family sign.  Henry turned four at the end of July and is very proud of it.  Remember doing that whenever we took a family picture after  Thomas turned 4?

Brianna, Carson and Lindsay are all going to the Thatcher elementary school this year.

Early in August, we went to a piano/violin recital for Thomas and Maya.  They are taking lessons from Katrina Long.  We were so proud of them.

The twins came by our house several times this month and one of those times wanted to go pick up Brianna and Lindsay and ask Kirtlyn over to swim.  It was during the summer Olympics in Brazil, so they held a mini olympics.  We had relays, synchronized swimming and diving.

Dad also took the opportunity to get them started on some online piano instruction, and I had them do a craft.

Mary held Carson's 10th birthday party at our house, complete with swimming, pizza and a movie.  She even found air mattresses for 50cents!

Then Mary and Rebecca threw a birthday party for Brynlie and Camille at our house.  It was a birthday-breakfast-dance party.  They danced in the basement with a Wiii and a disco ball, and had donuts and chocolate milk.

Dad was in Mesa that day, getting his car serviced, and was invited to dinner with Joel and Stephanie's family.

Here we are at El Charro with the sister missionaries who serve in our ward.  One is from Georgia and one from Idaho.

Mary had a doctor's appointment in Mesa and heard some disturbing news.  The baby measures very small, smaller even than Lindsay did at 32 weeks.  She is worried, of course, but has faith that everything will be okay.  She's done this before and Lindsay and Jared have turned out great!  After the kids got home from Jenn's, who had been taking care of Jared and Alex while Mary and Tyson visited the doctor, we took them dilly bars for a family home evening treat.  Dilly Bars fix a lot of things.

NEWS FROM AROUND THE FAMILY

~NATHAN AND SHAUNA~

I had decided not to copy all Josh the Preservationist's buildings any more since I have more than 40,000 pictures in my file...but I just couldn't pass these up.  They are so gorgeous.  I had no idea Omaha had such a rich Victorian heritage.

Bethany and Palmer have been enjoying being Westerners.  They took a trip to California and have visited family in Mesa.

Yes.  That's a snake.  They were visiting Jeremy and Erika and face timing Nathan and Shauna and had to show them the baby rattle snake they killed...or Jeremy killed...on their front porch.  That's  the kind of adventures that desert dwellers get to have:-}

Nathan with his new bike.  He is such an exercise enthusiast, just like Rebecca and Rylie; Shauna and Palmer's parents at an FHE for their singles' ward, making rootbeer floats.

Josh with one of his good friends who just got married.

He went to a dance and then to church in Lawrence, Kansas.  He said he had a great time.

~JOEL AND STEPHANIE~

They made a family trip out of taking Stetson and Lindsay to San Diego to start school.  They really had a good time.  I think Stetson and Lindsay are going to love it.

A dinosaur for our pretty Lindsay's birthday?  Ok.  Here are Stetson and Lindsay at Mission Beach, where Lindsay used to live, I think.

~DANIEL AND CONNIE~

The Biggs family menagerie; Including a wasp nest!

When Parker and Emma let the chickens out they scamper, scurry, run like crazy to the creek to get a drink.  Most of the rocks you see in the water are ducks :-)

After school, the kids rest on the bridge then go swimming.  I wonder how soon it will be too cold.

Parker at a Young Single Adult activity.

I get the impression that life in the Colorado Biggs household revolves around one little tiny girl.

They have so many people wanting to hold their baby that they can take a minute now and then for something fun.

They took Aila to see her other grandma in Nebraska and visited the Omaha Temple where they were married.

Devynne and Brock are really enjoying St. Louis. Here they are at the Onandaga Caves.

They visited the free art museum, and St. Charles where Lewis and Clark started their expedition, went to a Cardinals' game, and saw Aida at an outdoor theater 5 minutes from their house.  What a fun time to be young and have so many resources at your fingertips.

Devynne says she loves being married to a scientist.  While he's away, doing scientific things, she stays home and cans peaches...yum!

Her pregnancy is obviously moving right along.  Baby boy Bennion is due in November.

~REBECCA AND SCOTT~

DeWitt and Deanna hung out at Disneyland, waiting for their cruise ship to depart.  The last picture is of DeWitt enjoying the great food onboard the ship.

They had a reception in Snowflake, and some of our Hiatt families attended.  Wendy and Carl live in St. Johns, Anna, John's wife was visiting up north that weekend, and, of course, Phil and Roma Lee.

Home in Tempe, all dressed for their new jobs: Deanna as a dental assistant and DeWitt as a phlebotomist (drawing blood).

Enjoying Tempe.  I don't know which lake he caught that humongous fish in, or even if it's real!  Their apartment in Tempe.

Dallin and Sara stopped by Virginia on their way to New York and attended a family reunion.

Then unloaded their rental truck at their apartment in Syracuse.

Baby stuff...

Parley sampling his first taste of baby food.  He must have liked it well enough to feed himself!

Harvey likes baby food too.

Parley's first tooth is peeking through.  Harvey entertains himself with balloons.  Cheap, clever baby toys.

Dallin and Sara are enjoying NY.  They live close to these amazing gardens and an outdoor theater in their back yard.  I'm not sure how impressed Parley is with the whole theater situation, though.

Dallin enjoying New York, sketching the view; and Taylor enjoying fishing in Washington.

Allison and Taylor at Wallowa Lake and on top of the mountain there.  They took a tram to the top.

Mary trimmed Polly's hair for school.

Polly with girl friends who are also sports trainers, and boy friends at the Seminary opening social.  Actually, I'm not even sure they are boys.

Now that school has started, Rebecca and Rachel are back to attending Institute classes with Sara Konopnicki.  She's going to miss DeWitt, though.

From Lillian in the Philippines...washing dishes.  Lillian is actually pumping water in the top picture.

~JEREMY AND ERIKA~

Reygan, saying "goodbye" to missionary friends while it's still legal to hug.

Hayden...Oh poor Hayden.  He's gone so long without a broken something that I thought maybe he had grown out of his recurring accidents.  He crashed on his longboard while trying to do a Back to the Future on the back of Tayte's car!  I guess as long as he's still so adventurous, he'll still have recurring accidents! :-(

The family went to see A Silent Film.  Ok.  I thought they really went to see a silent film and was very interested to know which old film they saw, or if it was a new silent film.  I had no idea that it was the name of a band.  That makes no sense.  Even The Beatles had a certain sense to their name, or The Rolling Stones.  But A Silent Film?  Anyway, I guess they are good because the Mesa Biggs family loves them.

Absolutely amazing!!!

Landscaping.  Cooling off, courtesy of Erika.  

Someone stuck the sign in their yard, and they're not even campaigning!

Erika and Jeremy found this whole load of scraps at Ikea that they could take if they took the whole thing.  Erika used the pieces to fix up her laundry room.  Good job.  She and Mary both like projects.

Eating out with friends.

A rattlesnake in their driveway.  Scared our Nebraska family a little bit, I think.

From Daynen in Brazil.

~RACHEL AND TONY~
Happy birthday to our newest 11-year-olds!

A birthday dance party at our house.  Thanks to Mary and Rebecca.

After Rachel picks up the twins at 2:00, they sometimes wait at our house until time to get Luke at 3:00.  If we're home, it's fun for me to help them with homework.  Makes me feel like a mom again.

They, too, had a rattlesnake issue.  Only a bigger one.  Their dog saw it and sounded the alarm, and their neighbors, who happen to be border patrol officers (one is Luke's Scoutmaster) came over to help.  Tony got home in time to shovel its head off.

Rachel and her friend, Diana Hoelscher, who was speaking at the Thatcher Women's Conference; Isabel with her home remedy for zits.  Dad even tried it on one on his back.  The tomatoes brought it right to a head!  The twins, no longer indistinguishable to those who have heretofore had problems telling them apart; and Luke with a faux broken leg at a Scout activity.  See the bone sticking out?

Luke, on his way to a court of honor, admiring the amazing sunset; he received merit badges from camp.

Rachel and Sara Konopnicki.  Back to school.  She loves Rachel and Rebecca who take her to school and to the temple to do baptisms.

~ESTHER AND SHAD~

Ok.  Beautiful, gracious, popular Marlie with 24 grapes in her mouth!  Evidently she won the family grape-stuffing contest.

Brody turned 7!!  

They had a family party for him, for which Harrison made one of his famous cakes, but that was not enough for Brody.  That afternoon, a little boy came to the door, before Brody even got home from school, and told Esther that he was there for Brody's party.  He said that Brody told everyone that the first one there got a donut!  Other kids came, as you can see in the bottom photo, trusting that there really was a party going on.  Esther put one together like magic.  I almost saved this story for the Smile section, but I decided it needed to go with Brody's birthday.

After school snacks for the first day of school.

Miss Esther's All Stars Preschool is also starting again.

Harrison's pick up.  It's a good thing because he's already had to "pick up" some important things...like his mom and his brother.

Bridger is playing tackle football in spite of his mother's fears and worries about brain injuries.  He had his first game in South Phoenix.  After the game, which started an hour late, Esther and Bridger were left waiting for Shad to pick them up.  He had to leave the game early to return a rental car and they waited, a little nervous in South Phoenix.  Thankfully, Harrison and his trusty pickup were available and he picked them up.

Esther and Shad also went to a concert.  This band's name is Coldplay.

After the concert? Before? Anyway, some sinfully delicious-looking french fries.

~THOMAS AND JENN~

Henry is a great winker boy.  I winked at him and asked him if he could do it, and he did! Like a pro.

One of Arizona's Travel Magazines came to El Charro on their way from Tucson and had a lot of really great things to say about their food.  Read the review below.  The right side is cut off, but you can get the idea by reading what you can see.  He liked it!

Thomas, playing the piano at his first recital; and Maya playing her violin with Katrina, her teacher.

They rescued a baby quail that was in their yard.

They, along with all the Safford/Thatcher school kids, enjoyed Rebecca's back-to-school-sugar cookies.  Jenn is holding the plate of cookies on the left of the picture.

Kirtlyn got braces this month.

~MARY AND TYSON~
Tyson celebrated his birthday on the 14th with his traditional Cherry Cha Cha.

More from  Carson's party.  Each boy got a popcorn cup and a bucket of goodies.  Thomas helped me blow up an air mattress.  He has powerful breath! The boys, watching Carson open his presents before it got dark enough for the movie.

Carson wanted the kind of cake Grandpa had for his birthday in July.  We went by to take him his card after our dinner party at Arden Palmer's with his fiancee Sandy, the rest of the Temple presidency and President and Sister Kartchner.

He got his room decorated for his birthday.  Mary and Tyson both worked incredibly hard to make it so cool!  It is a room a 10-year-old can grow up in and not feel childish in when he is 18.

Mary insists that  Brianna do her regular practicing before she does what she really wants to do...write her own music.

Mary claims that she is through with projects until after the baby is born, but she got her foyer and bathroom all decorated for Elizabeth's shower.  They had a flat tire and and flat-out exhausted little boy.

~MISSIONARIES~

From Hannah in Hawaii.

From Daynen in Brazil.

From Lillian in the Philippines.

From Shadrach in California.

~SOMETHING TO MAKE YOU SMILE~

Every time Henry winks at me, I not only smile, but laugh out loud!

Deanna posted this picture of House, remarking that it looked like DeWitt.  I went searching in my pictures and couldn't find one of DeWitt not grinning from ear to ear, until I saw this one taken after he wiped out when snowboarding.  Look close.  It really could be House.

Daynen's desk...so neat and tidy.  But where some missionaries might have a picture of President Monson, even one of the Savior, or maybe a family picture, what does Daynen have?  right!  Barney Fife!!!  I'm sure he has learned a lot of life's important lessons from good old Barney Fife.  I know I have.

I don't know when I have read anything that I identified with so completely.  Rebecca posted this.

This story from Mary made me smile.

She was cooking dinner and Jared came up to her and said, "Mom if I'm really quiet can I hear the Holy Ghost talk to me?"  So she explained to him how the Holy Ghost talks to us in different ways, in different circumstances.  It could be a feeling in your heart or a thought in your head...before she could continue, he said "Ok" and ran off.  A few minutes later he came back and said, "Mom I'm trying to think where my This (his special blanket) is, but I can't think."  So Mary said, "Have you said a prayer to ask Heavenly Father to help you?"  Excitedly, he said "Oh! Ok." and ran off again.  Then he came back in the kitchen and said, "ok, Mom, I prayed."  Then Mary said, "Now go and think about it and see if the Holy Ghost helps you think of where it could be, like downstairs, in the car..."  He immediately stopped her and said "be quiet."  Almost as if to say, "this is between me and the Holy Ghost.  You stay out of it."  Then he went and thought about it and the next thing Mary knew, Jared was walking in the room with a smile from ear to ear and his This in his hand.

Isn't this so Dad and me???  I think Rachel posted this one.

~LAST WORDS~

Dad and I have to speak 3 times next month, so I have been working on talks for Pima Stake Conference, Thatcher Stake Conference and the Temple Workers' Devotional that we are having in October instead of December.  One of the topics that has been tickling my brain and my spirit is Joy.  In this life we are to have joy.  Does that mean that God is obligated to give us joy?  Then, if so, we can just sit back and wait for it to come.  Right?  Doesn't work that way, thankfully.  We wouldn't appreciate it if it did.  It is our responsibility to find joy.  To live joyfully, in spite of our problems and challenges.  Jesus gave us the formula for happiness when He said "Love the Lord with all thy heart, with all thy might, mind and strength, and love thy neighbor as thyself."  So the answer is love.  We show our love for God and for others...and for ourselves...by serving.  We also develop love for God and others...and ourselves...by serving.  We love those whom we serve and we serve those whom we love.  So if we want to love God more, serve Him more.  If we want to love others more, serve them more.  That service to God and others will automatically help us to love ourselves more as well.

Love.  That's the answer to finding joy.

August has been a joyful month, and I know September will be too.  Share your joy with us...your troubles too.  We love seeing what you do.