August

While the kids and I were coming back from Utah, Ryan was experiencing this burger at Grill Em All.  It's sandwiched between two grilled cheeses...
  

The next day, we celebrated Corinne's third birthday.  As usual, she was VERY enthusiastic.  I love her crazy personality, she cracks us all up every day.  She got a fancy cake, some dresses, and a bunch of toys.  Elise made a great illustration a day or two later.
  

  

The next Monday was the first day of class in our school district.  Facebook was filled with kids in their first-day outfits, so I felt inspired to take pictures of my kids.  They were sitting in their pajamas all day, goofing off.  We didn't start schoolwork until the last week of August, thank goodness!
  

Painting

Reading Comics (Before we cancelled them.)

That week we took a day to go visit our friends in Thousand Oaks.  They were babysitting their neighbors' chickens, so everybody got to hold them and gather eggs.
  

I don't know who put the "Skechers" tattoo on her forehead.

Elise continued all summer to go to speech therapy with Ruth Horowitz.  Ruth specializes in tongue-thrust therapy, which is the specific problem Elise is working on.  She has made so much progress, and can now say all her sounds perfectly (when she's paying attention.)
  

I discovered two things.  The first was a pillowcase I thought had been lost years ago.  My best friend in first grade lived two houses down from me, and her mother loved to sew.  She also sewed me play blankets, a cabbage-patch doll, tons of doll clothes, and a teddy bear.  Beth and I played stuffed-animals every chance we got, along with My Little Ponies and climbing her weeping birch tree.  I was her (very inconsistent) pen pal for years after my parents divorced and I moved away.  Beth currently lives in Seattle and works in environmental regulation.

    

The second thing I discovered was that you can make a sugar-free root beer float from low-carb ice cream and Zevia.  It was about as good as you'd expect, but at least I tried.

  

We caught a praying mantis on our pool fence!  The kids fattened her up with houseflies and crickets for a few months, until she was so fat she could barely move.  Then we let her go back to the wild.  Not sure whether that was a favor to the mantis or not.
    

    
Ryan ordered this fabulous pool slide on Amazon for only a hundred bucks.  It lasted about a month, but was still totally worth it.  It had a built-in sprinkler that kept the slide wet, and a cave underneath so kids could scare their parents by hiding.  
   

     

I got this idea that I wanted to make a photographic family tree, and put it on our wall for the kids to see.  I used whatever pictures I had available, but there are still lots of holes.  So, if you're not in here don't be offended - it just means you need to send me a good picture!  Alas, it still hasn't made it onto the wall.  I'm good at doing two-thirds of hard projects.
     

Janet Guymon Walter and Charles Neal Walter

Cloteel Otte Guymon and Dean Guymon

Lois and Neal Walter

Brian M. Murray

  

John James Murray and Maiellen Welsh Murray (Holding Brian)

Myrtle Fundis Welsh

  

Harry Welsh (Holding Mariellen)

Kevin Murray

Kyle Murray and Kelli Anderson Murray (With cousins Felix, Lincoln, and Arya)

  

J. Quinn Murray

Joyce Guymon Smith

Donna Smith Brown

Alger Wade and Virgie Brown Wade

Merrill J. Brown

  

Frances Vicks Brown

James H. Brown (far right)

Helena R. Brown

        

Fred and Ted Brown

Ruth Jewel Brown

Hubert Zemke (Uncle Hub)

One Saturday we drove to the "Wings Over Camarillo" air show.  We met some friends and had a great time climbing into planes and watching things fly recklessly.
  

Cargo Plane Pictures...

Corinne wouldn't leave the cockpit of the cargo plane for about half an hour.

The Red Bull Helicopter Pilot

   
Our exciting adventure in keeping jellyfish finally came to an end, at least for now.  The two smaller jellies dwindled and died, but Yellow Cheese, as if in protest at the flushing of his companions, suddenly disintegrated over the space of two days - first developing huge holes, then turning into this blob of jellyfish goo.  The weird thing was that two pieces broke off and seemed to be turning into their own tiny jellies for a week or two.  Sadly, they never developed proper stomachs, so I guess they starved to death.  What weird creatures.  I'm sure Ryan will order some more in a month or two.
  

Yellow Cheese

Grandma Camp

I had promised Connor, at the end of our last Utah trip, that we'd come back for a do-over.  We felt like we hadn't spent enough time with family in June, so this trip was much better planned.  I came up with tons of activities we could do without leaving Levan, and we named it "Grandma Camp."  There were board games, outdoor activities, crafts, walks, cooking, and field trips.  It was totally relaxed, meaningful, and fun.
   

Scrabble

We watched these baby birds learn to fly.

One day, we set up a Slip N Slide.  The kids had never seen one before, mostly because we've never had enough grass where we live.  After they had gotten the hang of it, Grandma joined them!
  

Irrigation Water

We spent a lot of time just hanging out in the shade.

On Wednesday, Kelli brought her kids down to spend the afternoon while they went to a play.  They came back late, and ended up spending the night with us.
  

Connor organized "Little Kid Kickball"

  

We went to the Juab County Fair to watch my mom's neighbor kids show their 4-H lambs.  I was so in love with this activity.  I worry that my kids are missing out on character-forming projects like this by living in the city.  After an hour or so, we all got kind of antsy, so we went for a walk and got some pictures.
  

   
I felt very blessed to get to be in Utah during the week that Grandma Cloe moved into assisted living, a few minutes from my parents' house.  Although she's still healthy, her mind is starting to fade, and she isn't safe to leave alone, even for an afternoon.  This home is the answer to prayers.  In such a small town, everyone knows everything, and there has never been a negative thing said about this facility.  I was actually surprised that, although recently built and designed for this purpose, it really just looks and feels like a large home with lots of bedrooms.  There are about sixteen residents, and everyone has a private room with their own furniture and other belongings in it.    My mom, Chuck, and I helped get Grandma Cloe's things moved in, while the kids visited with the other residents.  It was a bittersweet situation, and I know it was hard on both my grandma and my mom, but Grandma Cloe agreed that it was a nice place and the best choice that could be made given the situation.  I hope she has been able to settle in, and that her room and house are starting to feel like home.
      

      

In the process of moving Grandma Cloe out of her house several months ago, my mom realized that she had very few pairs of pants left.  Attempts to take her shopping hadn't gone well, so we spent one night on the internet, where my mom was able to track down the company that made Grandma Cloe's original favorites.  It was neat to get to buy her new things that looked just like her :-)
   

  
Our last day was Corinne's third birthday!  I was busy getting things packed and ready to leave, but my mom treated her to a birthday sign, with a few small gifts underneath.  Then they watched Corinne's birthday e-card about a thousand times.  It featured some colorful little-girl penguins dancing to hip-hop birthday music.
  

Our friends' daughter, Jill, needed a ride home in time for school to start, so we took her with us on our drive back.  I was worried it would be a bother, but Jill was actually super helpful.  It was like having a babysitter and entertainer on board the whole way!  We got home a little after dark.  This was truly one of the best Utah visits we've had since moving to California.
    

Pioneer Park, Mesquite