Where did August Go?

Hello from Elk Grove. Summer goes by so fast, we can hardly keep up. Luckily it has been a very temperate summer and we have been outside playing as much as possible. Here is what life has been like.

The end of July shaped up to be fun at home. We started some home improvement projects and prepared for a crazy month of August. At home we started on the office. We planned and prepared the room to make it double as a guest room. We got estimates on costs then found a supplier for cabinets. It is a fun project that we now have underway. We took some "before" photos to do a comparison at the end. I think anything will be an improvement from what we had in there.

August was full of travel for all. Darryl had 2 weeks of annual training for the National Guard. As the new commander he found his work to be very busy. They trained at Camp Roberts on the central coast. It's a military establishment that was created in the 1940's for World War II and hasn't been updated since. Many of the buildings are worn out, but it works for a supply company like Darryl's because they are training to move and handle supplies as well as be trained soldiers for combat. Darryl reports that the training went well overall.

While Darryl was playing GI Joe, the boys and I went to Utah to visit the family. Tanner started preschool at the beginning of August, so we stayed around long enough for him to meet the teachers and have 3 days of school. Then we hit the road. We broke up the drive by staying in Elko, NV. The Holiday Inn that I picked just happened to not have a pool, so we went down the street to the best western and swam in their cold pool for a few minutes because Tanner insisted. We then found a funny pizza place and the the boys were mesmerized by the arcade games. We sort of slept that night and got back on the road the next morning. We drove straight to Midway, Utah to see the Seely cousins. All 10 of the kids were together for the weekend and the boys loved it. The condo complex had a pool and we all got in. Parker was happy to hang out by the hot tub, and so was I. We also went down to Granny's in Heber to have their wonderful milk shakes. Tanner and Nikki struck up a deal and shared a root beer flavored shake, while Ashley and I got strawberry and cheesecake and traded a scoop for a scoop. On Sunday we went to church with the Savage family and then went to a pic nic in the park with their extended family. We did some ice block sliding at rock canyon park and the kids had a sponge fight with the left over water from the cooler. It was a beautiful evening and made me miss the mountains. It also reminded me of all the memories of Rock Canyon and that park.

The fun continued when we went to Nathan Savage's 6th birthday party. Cousin Nathan and all of his neighborhood friends as well as the other Seely(Gebs) cousins got together and played water baseball, had a water fight and ate pizza.

The rest of the week in Utah was filled with swimming at my parents house, visiting old friends, holding darling new babies and generally hanging out. We got to see the Stringam's new little girl Sadie and I didn't want to let go. I'm hoping that some of the baby GIRL karma rubbed off on me. The last time I was in Utah was Christmas time, and since then I know of 5 baby girls that have been born. I love it!


I got to meet my new little nieces, Alexia (Marshall's daughter) and Blakely (Brad's daughter). They are so cute and fun. We also celebrated Isabelle's 8th birthday and baptism (Clark's oldest daughter). Isabelle picked out her new white dress and she looked like a little princess. The baptismal service was held in Farmington at the church near Brad's home. The kids were so excited and enjoyed being part of the service. We stayed at the church for lunch afterward and had a nice relaxing time catching up with everyone. The festivities continued all afternoon with a water fight out on the driveway, and lots of popsicles for the kids. I liked having a few minutes to just sit and chat.

Of course our vacation flew by way too fast. We had to pack up our stuff too soon and head back to California. On the return trip we brought my mom. I booked 3 weeks of swimming lessons for her to teach about 10 other kids along with Tanner and Parker to make it worth her time to come. Swimming was great. Tanner is such a fish. He loved every minute of his time at the pool. By the end of the lessons he was sliding down the slide and jumping off the diving board as well as swimming across the deep end. Parker took some time to warm up to the idea of really swimming, but it's amazing what he is now able to do. He can hold his breath and swim short distances. He can float and dive for swim toys on the steps. I'm happy for both of them and so glad Nana was willing to come and teach. All the other parents were so excited for the lessons and their kids had such a good time.

In addition to teaching, we enjoyed playing with Nana. One Friday, we went to Fairytale Town and played all morning. The weather was perfect, too cold for the original beach plan, but great for the play land. The boys tried out everything and ran until they could hardly keep their eyes open. That being the case we loaded them up and headed to the Bay Area for a visit with the Darringtons. We stayed overnight and unfortunately Tanner got sick with croup so he laid low the next day while I did a bit of garage sale-ing (my favorite activity) with Wendy. I found some treasures for our house and liked the little break. We were sad to miss Grandma Cuff's 91st birthday party, but becuase of Tanner's illness we decided not to stay. I brought him home and tucked him into bed for the weekend. Since then we have been battling coughs and colds. I think Labor Day weekend helped us get past the worst of it. We are on the mend.
It has been a whirlwind of fun and craziness for us in August. We had so much fun and we are looking forward to the fall weather and a little monotony :).