~AUGUST~ALEXANDRITE~

August is represented by the Alexandrite as the birthstone.  It is very versatile as well as pretty.  Of course, it is one of my favorite colors, to start with, but that's only in natural light.  In incandescent light it turns purple, another favorite color.  

Our August birthdays are also pretty and versatile.  Thankfully, though, they don't turn purple indoors.

Lindsay's birthday was August 1st.

Tyson's birthday was the 14th.

Brynlie turned 12...a young woman...on the 17th.

Camille also turned 12 on the 17th and started Young Women's.

Brody turned 8 on the 17th, ready to be baptized next month.

Bethany's birthday was the 18th.

Carson turned 11 on the 22nd.

~OUR AUGUST~

August has been an exciting month.  We've had everything from a special eternal wedding to a solar eclipse.  In between, we had school starting, a new roof, and a temple dedication.  Along with temple service, there has been a plethora (used to be Esther's favorite word) of things to be delighted about, all of which you will read about in the following sections.

We had one good rain in August, and some sprinkles.  I think the lovely monsoon we've had this year just didn't want to quit.  Our rains have contributed to wonderfully green grass and colorful flowers...and runaway, aggressive weeds.😁

Luke has been our lawn man this summer, even coming by on Mondays after school.

Erika took these beautiful rainbow pictures. 

Matthew Hiatt took this one.  Isn't that amazing?

We have finally got the roofers and the insurance company together to repair the damage last October's hail storm did to our roof.  Now if we could just get our pool deck repaired as well.  It is so pock-marked from the hail.

This beautiful sunset caught my eye as we were driving home after attending a session in the Tucson Temple.  I know I maybe do too much weather reporting on the blogs, but I am such a weather person.  I can afford to be because I live in Arizona where weather is just interesting, not dangerous...unless you go hiking in June.😁

I put this picture of Lincoln and his new wife,  Ginger, because I figure you're all interested.  They were married August 5th. She's a nurse and has 4 children.

Starting school was exciting for Jared and Henry, our kindergartners this year.  And they loved their kindergarten boxes.

Alex was sad when his brother and sisters went to school without him.  So we had a preschool morning at Thriftee. He waited for me at the bus stop, with his backpack and everything.

On the 6th, we had the Alders over for Sunday dinner.

And then had visits from Mary and Thomas that evening.

August was another month of wedding festivities.  But this time, since they were here, we were able to participate in more of the fun.

Lillian's shower was at our house on the 12th.  Her aunts put it all together and so many of her family and friends came, even Allison and Sara, who were in town for the wedding, with their families.

Pictures with the grandma's.

She liked her afghan from me.  Of course, this is the one she picked out, so she should.

I'm trying to remember why Mary and Jenn were missing in this picture.  I think they had to go home earlier than this.

On the 13th, the Tucson Temple was dedicated by President Uchtdorf.  We were able to witness it in our own stake center.  I got these pictures from Facebook.  The temple picture on top was taken by Elder Gary E. Stevens, who was at the dedication. The bottom one is of a child helping with the cornerstone ceremony.

When we left the building, look who we ran into!

Rebecca invited us to have dinner with them that afternoon.  Here is Parley, all ready for the blessing, and Harvey, just waking up from his nap.

We had a surprise visit from Joel and Stephanie on the 14th.   They had come for Lillian's wedding and came a little early to visit the parents...hers and his.

That day, Lillian and Kelin had a photo shoot with Daynen, who took video, and with their photographer.  Daynen got these shots from his car when Lillian was just getting there.

August 15, 2017, is the day Lillian Ruth Evans and Kelin Scott Bleazard were sealed for time and eternity in the Gila Valley Temple by her Grandpa Tom.  It was a beautiful ceremony and they are a beautiful couple.  They look very happy.

Proud grandparents.  It was a beautiful, though windy day.

Lots of people were taking pictures all day.  Most of the Temple photos you will see in Rebecca's section were taken by Sara who is the one standing on the flower curb.  Daynen took some very professional video.

After the ceremony, there was a luncheon, hosted by the Bleazards at the Temple chapel.

Then that night their reception was held at the Evans resort back yard.  It was so beautifully decorated by Rachel, with the help of Mary and Thomas, and Scott who made the gorgeous backdrop.

We could only stay a little while because this was a Tuesday night and we had to get up at 3:00 the next morning to open the temple.  But we saw the Smiths, Jeremy, Tony, Parker and Thomas' family.  The young man you don't recognize is Rylie's boyfriend Brandon.

Dad and I attended a session at the Tucson Temple on the following Friday.  We were not able to go to the open house, so we really enjoyed seeing this beautiful edifice.  They do things a little differently than we do, but you know, it was the same.

On the 20th, we had Thomas and Jenn's family and Parker to dinner.

There was a solar eclipse on the 21st.  It was supposed to be so fantastic because it went from coast to coast.  But it went from the northwest to the southeast, largely missing Arizona.  We did get a partial eclipse which we tried to capture, but it was fun to watch it on the NASA channel across the country.

Rebecca posted this awesome NASA picture of the eclipse over the ocean in Oregon.

That evening, we went to a dinner, hosted by the Herringtons at their house in Central.  The guests were the Safford Stake Presidency.

On the last Sunday of August, Thomas' and Mary's families came over for a visit and we got the treasure box out because Alex is on the potty train and earned a prize while he was here.

We ironed all the curtains and veils in the temple on Monday, even though we did it last month, because the Allreds asked us to trade with them.  Parker, Tyson, Thomas, Rachel, Jenn, Mary, and one of Mary's friends went early in the morning, and in shifts, to help.  Mary went in my place and I stayed with her babies.  They were so good...with the exception of a major crash of the potty train 😜

Our microwave expired, perished, succumbed, died this month, so Dad just went to Home Depot and got a cheap one.  Our old microwave, that we've had since we built the house, never quit working.  I kept hoping it would because it didn't have a turntable, but we finally had to just get a new one anyway.  That was just a couple of years ago.  Planned obsolescence...manufacturers plan for things not to last too long so you have to keep buying new.  Anyway, he asked me if I wanted to read the instructions or did I want him to read them and just tell me how to work it.  Guess what I said.

We had a very special visit at the Temple from Brynlie and Camille, who had just turned 12 and were eligible to do baptisms.  Isabel and Luke came along for support and also to join them in doing some family names.  It was a thrill for us to have them there.

NEWS FROM AROUND THE FAMILY

~NATHAN AND SHAUNA~

Josh is just as busy taking pictures of some beautiful Salt Lake buildings as he was in Omaha.

He took this picture of the University of Utah where he is attending graduate school.

He fell in love with this dog...it looks just like Stetson and Lindsay's dog.

Hannah and Seth with his parents at a game.  

Jovie

All cozy and safe

Bethany's birthday dinner, the 18th, at what looks like a gourmet restaurant.

Palmer got a motor cycle, so he and Jeremy rode up to Sedona, with their families following behind in a car...being safe and smart. Bethany and Erika look like genuine motorcycle mamas, don't they?

~JOEL AND STEPHANIE~

Lindsay's birthday was on August 1st.  They are in Gilbert now and Stetson is going to law school in Phoenix.

A  birthday picture at their house in Gilbert.

Starting school.  Docker is a senior and Crew is a sophomore.

Stetson, starting school in Phoenix at the Sandra Day O'Connor Law School

Joel, enjoying a German restaurant?  In Arizona?

He and Stephanie came to participate in Lillian and Kelin's wedding festivities.

~DANIEL AND CONNIE~

Daniel and Connie don't have to go very far to give their kids a fantastic vacation.  Glenwood is full of exciting adventures.

Emma's solution to tears while cutting onions. And beautiful Shannyn in the parade, handing out goodies for Sonic.

Albert at work, making burgers, and Albert, Shannyn and Analynn at a ward youth activity.

Aila LOV

Theo

Parker at Lillian's wedding festivities.

Devynne, Brock and Theo enjoying the eclipse.  I think Missouri was very enthusiastic about it because they saw the complete eclipse there.  They did in Nebraska too.  In fact, I think NASA said the epicenter was in Nebraska.  But we didn't get any pictures from the NE Biggses.

~REBECCA AND SCOTT~

Getting together one last time before Lillian moves on...

DeWitt and Deanna celebrating their dog's 1st birthday.

One Sunday in August, we were met at the door of the church by these two beauties.

Rylie and Lillian rehearsing the makeup for the wedding, with Isabel and Polly looking on.

Harvey

Parley

Lillian's shower.  Some of the guests.

The Evans boys took the babies to play golf during the shower.

After the shower, Lillian showed Kelin the gifts she (they) received.

Playing on Grandma Rebecca's slide.

At the temple doors

Gathering the families.  The Bleazard family

The Evans family

At the luncheon at the temple chapel after the wedding.

The head table; the bottom photo is of Brother Bleazard welcoming everyone.

Twirling 😃

The reception at the Evans' house.  The decorations were spectacular.  In the back in the first picture, you can see the signs made by Mary and Thomas and Rachel.  Mary and Thomas made the wooden frames and Rachel arranged the flowers and painted the words. It says "And suddenly you were my everything."  So appropriate for Lillian and Kelin.  

The wedding party and the Bleazard family

The entire Evans family...even including the baby Allison is expecting 😉

The beautiful wedding cake and a centerpiece.

Cutting the cake

Everybody dance!

A tunnel of love lights

The beautiful princess bride.

After all the wedding festivities, while Dallin and Sara were still here, they all went on a field trip to Bisbee and Tombstone.

Polly's first day of school at EAC.

DeWitt has done so well in his ASU chemistry classes that he was asked to be a student assistant professor!

Taylor and Allison are enjoying their wonderful Washington peach harvest.  Those look so yummy.

Rebecca and Scott drove to Cedar City to be with Lillian and Kelin for their reception in Kelin's home town.  This big red barn is where Lillian and Kelin will live while they are going to school.   In the old days, if someone wanted to criticize a person for not being refined enough, they might say, "Were you born in a barn??"  If Lillian and Kelin have any children while they are living there, their kids could reply, "Yes. I was."

Kelin's parents' house is beautiful and huge.  They held the reception in the front yard because they back yard is full of pool and steps.  I love this picture of Lillian standing on a rock and still being way shorter than her sweetie.

It's easy to see where she gets her beauty.

Lillan and Kelin's mission president and wife, President and Sister Clark, came to the reception, as did two missionary couples and two other sister missionaries.  What a fun reunion.

After the reception.  Lots of leftovers and what a relief to take off those high heels.

~JEREMY AND ERIKA~

Getting their backyard ready to be a showplace...a funplace.

Reygan and her friend went to the Mesa Temple to do baptisms and then got wetter outside when they stepped into the one August rain storm.

At the wedding luncheon.

Catching the eclipse...actually, I think this one was 2012.

Here is Jeremy and Erika's family with Bethany and Palmer and Jovie at the cabin they rented in Sedona for their motorcycle road trip.

Erika had heard about this incredible sight on the reservation a couple of hours from Sedona, so she arranged with the tribe for a guide and she and Jeremy and their 3 oldest kids went to see it.  It is called Antelope Canyon.  I have to say that I am totally amazed!  I had no idea such a place existed in our state.  I know we have some marvelous scenery in Arizona, but this one is new to me.  I'm so glad they posted these pictures so I could share in their experience.

As you drive up to it, you can't even see it.  And you have to have an Indian guide to go down into it.

Then coming back up, out of the canyon.

Then they visited Horseshoe Canyon, somewhat close by.

While Jeremy and the kids perched on the edge of the canyon, Erika enjoyed being on the ground in a beautiful field of daisies.

~RACHEL AND TONY~

Back to school...Isabel is a Senior, Luke an 8th grader and Brynlie and Camille are both in 6th grade.

Working on Lillian's decorations.

Rehearsing the wedding day makeup.

Isabel is making a quilt to give her boyfriend when he goes on his mission.

Rylie and Brandon had a "Bob Ross" date.  I'm very impressed.  Brandon's is on top and Rylie's on the bottom.

Lillian's aunts gave her a lovely shower.

Cathy Konopnicki and Sara came.

At the Temple...Luke was given the responsibility for holding the bowl that held the bridesmaid's flowers.  He took it seriously.

At the luncheon.

And the reception.

Happy birthday to the twins!

A birthday candle blowout trick.  They had to relight it so Brynlie could blow out some candles.

Rylie's first day of her 2nd year at EAC.  Always better when there are cousins around.

Isabel's first day as a senior.  They got to paint their own parking spots.

Eclipse viewing.

A milestone visit to the temple for Brynlie and Camille's first time to do baptisms.  They came while we were there so they got to have Dad talk to them as he does for each new baptism patron.

~ESTHER AND SHAD~

First day of school.  Harrison is a senior, Marlie a sophomore, Bridger is in 8th grade, Soren in 4th and Brody in 2nd.

Their day may have been smooth, but it was obviously also exhausting!

Harrison volunteers at the elementary school.  So this is his 1st grade picture.

At the wedding luncheon.

Brody's 8th birthday on the 17th.

He threw himself a party again...I mean it worked last year, so why not?

Eclipse treats.

Marlie got her learner's permit. 😬

Harrison with some Brown cousins at a "OneRepublic" concert.  At least that name makes a little sense.

Brody will be baptized next month, September 9th.

~THOMAS AND JENN~

When you have a birthday on the 31st, you sometimes get to be featured on two blogs 😀 Maya and Henry had birthday parties in August for their July 31st birthdays.

What darling cakes!

Just before school started, they went on a mini vacation to Mesa.  I remember doing that very thing many years...vacation to Mesa.  But there weren't so many fun things to do there when we were going.  We just went to movies, swam in Grandma's pool and ate at fast food places once in a while.

One day this month, when Dad was out walking, he saw a bunch of neighbor kids selling popcorn and lemonade.  Of course he bought some and even brought home a bag of popcorn for me. These are some of the Biggs, Lines, Huish and Van Houten kids.

Back to school...Kirtlyn is in 8th grade.

Thomas is in 6th grade.

Hyrum is in 4th grade

Maya is in 2nd grade.

And Henry is in kindergarten.

Thomas and Mary and Jenn built frames for these boxes.  They were used in Lillian's wedding as decorations.  Check Rebecca's section to see how beautifully they turned out.

At the wedding festivities.  Thomas also was the audio-visual guy at the reception, for the wedding video Mary made.

~MARY AND TYSON~

Back to school...Brianna is in 7th grade, Carson in 5th.

Lindsay is in 4th grade and Jared is in Kindergarten.

And Ethan is sad that he's not in any grade.

So I went by and took him to Thriftee to ride on the merry-go-around and get an ice cream cone.  Some pre-school, huh?

Here are Thomas and Jenn and Mary making Lillian's signs.

Lillian's aunts threw her a lovely shower.

Brianna's shower duty.

At the wedding festivities.

Celebrating the eclipse

Carson and Lindsay were recovering from a bout of sickness, so they were home on eclipse day.

Screen shots from Brianna's science video.  She got an excellent grade.

Carson had his birthday party at the "Escape Room" in Safford.  I had no idea it was even there, but it is a puzzle, a mystery that has to be solved, or something like that. Sounds very interesting to me.

Carson's family party (of fake Roman Holiday...and the real stuff for Grandpa) for his birthday.

We enjoyed the virtual reality viewers he got. We were riding on a roller coaster.  I actually got dizzy!

Blowing out his candles.

"Mommy, Adex want a big tree."

~OUR MISSIONARY~

Shadrach and his companion with a girl he baptized.

Shadrach is in charge of the mission's whole fleet of cars...and it is the biggest fleet of cars of any mission.  I couldn't help but smile at the irony of these two pictures.  The bottom photo is of him on the bike he uses for proselyting.

This is his former mission president, before President Clark, President and Sister Larry Gelwix.  He was the coach of the Highland Rugby team about which the movie Forever Strong was made.  I was so excited to see this. Actually, I've always really liked that movie, showing how firmness, discipline and love, and accomplishing something really hard can turn a person's life around.

~SOMETHING TO MAKE YOU SMILE~

Dallin and Parley: "I want to be just like Daddy."

When we went to Thriftee, I told Alex to smile.  He didn't, until I told him to show me his teeth! I bought a couple of things so I could get some quarters, but they couldn't give me change on my credit card.  I was telling the cashier why I wanted quarters and she just reached into her pocket and gave me a quarter.  What a nice lady! He only got to ride once, but that was enough.  He was happy.

Alex absolutely did not want Ethan to get any of his train tracks.

Sweet little Aila feels so comfortable and secure that she can fall asleep anywhere.  You know that made Daniel and Connie happy.

I thought this was funny that these macho guys were bouquet holders...and happy to do it.

As I always say, "It's legal tender for all debts public and private."

There has to be a talk in this picture somewhere.  A metaphor for a safe place when all the world is dark.

I found this picture of Grandpa Hiatt and all his 10 brothers and sisters and his dad, taken after his mother's funeral.  I'm so afraid that's what's going to happen to us.   We'll never get a whole family picture until either Dad or I die, and then we won't be in it 😔  But it made me smile to see all my Hiatt aunts and uncles.  L-R: William Seth (Bill), Anne, Ephraim (Ephie), Paul (Peep), David Hyrum (DH), Ethel (Ep), Talmadge (Tam), Grandpa David Lafayette, Wilbur (Wib), Portia, Rudger Puckett (Rudge), Junior Lafayette (June).  

~LAST WORDS~

My last words are from the prophets.  

We are going to have the great privilege of hearing the prophet of the Lord and the other prophets, seers and revelators speak to us in October.  I have a firm testimony that they will be inspired to speak to our individual, personal needs, if we ask.  I challenge everyone to begin praying for an answer.  Ask the Lord to inspire our leaders to  direct their thoughts to the things you need to hear.  He will.  He has for me, many times.