August in a nutshell

Ok, no laughing. You're right! I could never fit anything written into a nutshell. I go on and on way too much. You should see a journal entry on a "nothing happened" day. It's like 2 or 3 pages long. Here I go again. On to August . . . .

I started the month off w/ a bladder infection. I think most doctors call them UTI's now-a-days. I've had one before but it was when I was pregnant w/ Aubrey and I didn't notice it because I had the flu anyway. This time there was no denying it. I felt the full effects of the symptoms. And let's just say OUCH!!!!! Drugs are awesome by the way. With UTI's you only have to take antibiotics for 3 days. Bonus!!

On Friday, August 8th, Dan and I accompanied the youth from our ward to the Los Angeles Temple for a stake baptisms for the dead temple trip. This was my first time doing these with the youth since I was a youth myself. I've been in the young women's presidency for over a year and a half, but this is my first time going with them. I loved it. However, there were over 60 youth and 30 adults from our stake there. It was more than the temple was planning on. We overflowed the bigger room by the baptismal font. There were so many youth that they could only do 5 names each and so many adults that we weren't all needed. Dan sat in the gallery and watched with our youth and I floated around hanging out with our girls. It was very nice. That was my very first time in the baptistry at the LA Temple. It's very pretty down there.

The 5 young women, Dan and I rode w/ Ryan. They enjoyed making fun of his driving and just being all around loud. On the way home we ate at a yummy chinese restaurant where Caitlin inadvertently ate one of the WAY hot red peppers in her meat sauce. She was wanting to try new things, but didn't ask any of us first. It was not a pleasant experience for her and her mouth was on fire and her lips went numb. We had left early from the temple because the girls were all done. We left the young men there. Later down the road we met up with them and lots of other kids from our stake at In and Out burgers. We wanted a milk shake. Our sweet and typical young women wanted Dan and Ryan to get all the guys names that worked there. They would yell "hi!" from the back of the suburban. Every time we came up to a new guy at the drive thru Dan and Ryan would say in unison "Hi _____" (adding) their name. It was hillarious. For a while they kept singing songs from Camp Rock and then Ryan put in the soundtrack from Enchanted and they broke out in song singing along with it. Ryan and Dan were busting up laughing in the front seats. I'm sure they loved their ride w/ all females. Heehee!!!

On Thursday, August 14th, we went to Buena Vista lake (or Lake Webb) to celebrate Justin's birthday. It was the first time I've been there since May. That's strange for us. Usually during the summer we're there more. Dan's been w/ the guys a lot. It sure is a good thing we paid $90 for a season pass. NOT!!! We haven't been enough to justify the expense. I blame Janna and Justing for buying a house that was gutted and has to be totally redone. How are we supposed to have any fun when work has to be done. LOL!! Just kidding Janna. At least they redid the swimming pool first so we could swim this summer. You gotta have priorities!!! Anyway, the lake was fun. We had a delicious tri-tip dinner and visited with friends. Some we hadn't seen in a long time. No children were invited on this trip. Adults only. I found it very strange to not have kids to watch while there.

August 15th brought my 34th birthday. We had cake and ice cream that night with Dan's family. The following Monday we had another party with the Peterson's and Phillips' to celebrate mine as well as Justin's and Connor's, who turned 2. Janna usually makes me a chocolate cake with butter cream frosting, but was way too busy because school had started that day, which meant she was back to work. She then decided to just buy a store bought cake. YUCK!!! I'll tolerate them, but they are not my favorite. Unless it's a Chocolate Lover's Delight bundt cake. Now those are good. I told her that I'd make brownies. YUMMY!!!!!!!! I bought Connor a toy drill for his present. You should have seen that at the store. Jacob loves drills. I mean LOVES them!! He screamed when I gave it to the cashier. We were quite the sight to see. He screamed all the way out the store because I wouldn't give it back. That night when Connor opened it Jacob decided that it was his and just didn't understand. More screaming when he had to give it back. Poor kid.

Zachary and Aubrey started school on Monday, August 18th. I switched schools this year. There were no kids from our ward at church that went to school with them. The school they go to now is where the majority of the kids we go to church with are. They love seeing all their friends every single day. Zach didn't even complain about starting school this year. That's a first. The bummer this year is that Aubrey gets out at 2 pm and Zach not until 2:30. I have to wait around at the school. There's no point in driving home. Luckily this school allows us to wait on the grounds and let the kids play on the playground. The whole school things messes up Jacob's nap. He gets up early now and can't make it until after 2:30 so I have to put him down around noon w/ an earlier lunch. Sometimes he's not awake when we have to leave and, therefore, is grumpy when I have to wake him up.


On Saturday, August 23rd, I spent the day at church w/ the youth from our stake. It was the performance day for the stake youth cultural event. Each ward had to pick a country and study it. They had to perform a dance from the country with costume as well as give an introduction, have a display table w/ a very large banner, and give out food typical of that country. They also had to do a service project for that country. It was a long and time consuming process that we've been working on all year. And, even though a lot of complaing was done, it turned out fun that day. I was amazed at some of the dances. The wards that did Tonga and Japan had awesome dances. I didn't touch some of the food that was served. Indonesia has some interesting stuff and I'm not a sushi fan, which is watch Frazier Park ward served. They did Japan. Many of us frequented the Mexican table, however. You can never have too much chips and salsa, refried beans and taquitos.

The afternoon performance was a dress rehearsal to make sure it ran fairly smoothly. That evening was the performance for the stake. The gym was full w/ many standing in the back while the youth were prisoners in a classroom until it was their turn to perform. I went out periodically to check and found the kids from our ward and the fairview ward playing games and just being good. I was proud of them. The grand finale brought all the youth up on stage w/ the country banners. They were still in the traditional dress of their country. They sang I AM A CHILD OF GOD all together. The first verse was sung in the language of their country and the chorus was in English. It was beautiful!!



Frazier Park ward doing the drums portion of their performance. I really liked the drums.





Here's all the youth singing I Am a Child of God. We did Australia by the way.



The only draw back to school starting was that I couldn't sleep in anymore. During the summer break the kids and I slept in until 9 or so. It was heavenly. School brings early hours because our kids get up at 6:30 am. Well, we start rousing them at that time. Usually it takes 15 minutes for them to get up. That's not true! Aubrey gets up bright eyed and bushy tailed with a big smile on her face and a "Good morning, mommy!" Zachary moans and groans with his eyes half shut mad that he has to get up. It's amazing how different they are. Dan and I are up at 5:45 so he can get ready for work and I can exercise and shower before Janna brings Davin and Connor over so she can go to work. I like being ready for the day so early even if I have to sacrifice sleeping in. I just love to sleep and I'm sooooo not a morning person.

Dan has always taken care of our lawn by himself. He's so good about it even though it's exhausting work. He even weeds the flower beds and trims the ivy along the wall the runs the entire west side of our property. He trims trees and gets rid of all the lawn clippings keeping the lawn looking nice and tidy. Perfectionism really pays off. We've never hired a gardener for 2 reasons. First, it's too expensive and we didn't want the expense. Second, and most important, we wanted our kids to see us working to take care of our home and lawn. I grew up mowing the lawn with my dad and we want Zach, Aubrey and Jacob to take pride in taking care of what they've been given all by themselves. Finally, after 6 1/2 years in our house, Zachary is able to help Dan with the yard work. They've helped in the past with pulling weeds and raking, but now Zach is big enough to mow. Before Dan would mow the front lawn every week and the back lawn every other week or so. It's time consuming for him because he mows, edges, sweeps, blows, pulls weeds, etc. He's been having Zach stand in front of him while they mow. Now, Dan mows the front lawn and then Zach mows the side and the back yard. He's not ready to turn the front yard over to Zach because he likes the straight lines. Zach isn't that good yet. Dan is able to do both the front and back yards in half the time. And Zach actually enjoys it. Probably because he earns money doing it. However, he doesn't like the the 40% he has to pay to savings. He understands tithing, but the savings cut is steep in his opinion. We also make sure that Jacob is well out of the way when Zach mows. We wouldn't want poor Jake to lose a foot or anything.

I ended the month like it began: with an infection. Early last Wednesday morning I woke up with a terrible stomach ache. It got worse throughout the early hours and by the time everyone had to get up I was exhausted and had liquid coming out both ends. I have to be careful because I dehydrate very easily and usually end up at the ER. I couldn't watch Janna's kids and Dan was a gem and arranged for my mother-in-law to take Jacob for the day. He took the kids to school and Karen picked them up that afternoon and kept them until Dan got home. I slept the entire day only surfacing to try and get something to eat and drink. It was awful!!!! That night Dan's dad came over and helped Dan give me a blessing. I felt a little better the next day, but Karen took the kids anyway for me again so I could rest. She's a great mother-in-law. I didn't see them all day because Dan had to work late and they kept the kids until just before bed time. By then I had slept so much that my back hurt and I didn't think I'd ever fall asleep again. By Friday morning I was tired, but feeling tons better. We think it was food poisoning and Dan thinks it was from the cultural event. I haven't heard of anyone else getting sick though. Who knows where it came from.

And there you have it - August!! I'm sure I left out some stuff that I'll remember about after I post this. But, it's already too long as it is. :)