July

July was a roller coaster of crazy. And I keep telling people that "Yeah, Kasen will start preschool in the fall." Today I realized that he starts preschool in 19 DAYS. Umm what?! Fall is supposed to still be months away. It's pretty much my birthday. The holidays are upon us. I need to start Christmas shopping!

 It's been a wonderful week this week though because I got to go to the temple 3 times! So lucky.

Kyle and I went on our extra needed monthly temple date the morning after getting home from Flaming Gorge. Then on Sunday we went to my cousins mission farewell and on the way home Kyle pulled up to the temple and we all got out and hung out on the grass together for a little while.

We talked a little bit about the temple and what we can do to prepare to go inside someday and when we were leaving Tai turned around to wave and said, "Bye angel Moroni!"

Tuesday I went with Becca and we helped clean the temple for a couple hours.

 I loved 2 things about my cousin's talk on Sunday.

He summed up the gospel perfectly when he said "God is going to give us ALL that He has, if only we do those things that will bring us happiness anyway."

The other thing I love and notice more lately is when people sharing their testimony are more specific than just saying "I know the Church is true." Too often true is misinterpreted to mean perfect when the Church isn't perfect. So when he instead said that he knows the gospel and the Book of Mormon improve lives, that I can say AMEN to. 

The gospel, when lived and applied the way Christ meant for it to be, definitely improves lives.

 Every summer calls for a good ol' Jr. High reunion. We couldn't get both Megan's there on the same day, but I'm so glad I got to visit with both of them. You can't make new old friends and I'm so glad that we've started getting together more these past few years.

 We got to go to Knox's cute little birthday party this month and all the kids got to watch a movie in the backyard. They had treats and drinks and popcorn and loved every second.

 Then on the 24th we made it home from Flaming Gorge in time to play with them again and do some fireworks together. We all love that Quinn still says "Baby Tai" when referring to her and how Tai says Quinnie. Adorable.

 Ben is still loves going on ride alongs with Kyle (the only person who will), even though he's a big time SkyWest pilot now! I stopped on my way home from Brigham City and had dinner with them at CupBop the night they were out.

 Kasen has found Power rangers. So now he is obsessed with Spiderman, Power rangers, making videos on his tablet and making books by tearing out pages of his coloring books and then stapling them all back together. He asked for a stapler for Christmas cause my stapler ran out of staples...

 That is Tai's Forky in his "sleeping bag" haha With her elephant pillow.

She cracks me up!

If you ask what her favorite animal is she will tell you it's a PINK giraffe.

When we hug her she tells us we are squeezing her guts out.

She has also started to tell me, "you are bugin me!" Gets that from me.

She is also very protective of Kasen! When we tell Kasen he's about to get flicked she'll stand in front of him and yell, "Don't hurt my brother!"

 We love hanging out poolside with Popsicles and last night we went for a walk in the rain. It was nice to get out cause the last few days I have had the worst cold over! Feeling awful.

Luckily it was right over Kyle's days off so he was home to take care of me with apple juice and ice cream. He also made dinner a couple nights AND took the kids out to see Lion King. Love him!

I also started a Book Club with some ward members and friends since the one I first joined when we moved here fizzled out. Book Buzz Utah makes it so easy because you can get on and request books that get sent right to you. All you have to do is pay for return shipping. I've read 19 books so far this year and have been loving it! Better though is the girls nights when we get together to discuss the books.

Friends. Mom tribes, girl time and friends are where it is at!