The Highlight of my Day: August 2013

Something good happens every day. Here's what happened in August 2013:

Thu 8/1/13: Brad and I got called back to see a member of the Stake Presidency again tonight. Looks like Brad is being called to be the first counselor in the Elders Quorum presidency with Brad Moon as president. It's a big calling, but I know my husband is qualified to do it. He'll do great.

Fri 8/2/13: We had a great drive to St. George this afternoon. The kids had a blast playing in the splash pad at Town Square Park and swimming at the hotel pool. We had Papa John's pizza for dinner and watched Gravity Falls in our hotel room.  David loved all the water play and learned a new trick: jumping in the pool. He's fearless in the water, which I both love and hate. He's just like me when I was little-- a little water fish.

Sat 8/3/13: We made it to Long Beach by 4:00 pm! I loved seeing my family, especially my new little niece, Claire. It was sweet holding her for the first time. The kids loved playing in the backyard together and getting presents from Aunt Rachel. It was cute seeing Lizzy and David playing with Eric. I loved seeing Susie & Chris, too. Chris showed us his boomerangs and Scott became very good at throwing them.

Sun 8/4/13: Today was little Claire's baby blessing. It was nice seeing all of the Montgomery family and getting our pictures taken. I love being with my family in California.

Mon 8/5/13: Today was Disney Day! Shauna got us into the park for a great price, and we had a blast going on rides, watching the Rapunzel show, meeting princesses, and walking around the park. Lizzy's favorite ride was Star Tours: The Adventure Continues. I was very impressed with the new improvements to the ride. It was awesome riding it twice and seeing a new story the second time. FUN!

Tue 8/6/13: We went to Bolivar Park with Rachel, Eric, and Claire this morning. The kids had fun playing together. We had lunch at Costco and went to a new bookstore called Bookoff, where we bought some new DVDS and Blu-Rays.

Wed 8/7/13: Walking round the El Dorado Nature center today was both fun and nostalgic. Being in Long Beach in general reminds me so much of my childhood and young adulthood. I loved going to the nature center and taking photos of my family there. It was cute seeing Lizzy and David drink out the same drinking fountain that my sisters and I used to fight over as children. Some things really haven't changed much at all.

Thu 8/8/13: Miniature golfing with Rachel & Craig was so much fun! We went to Camelot Golfland, in Anaheim. Brad and Rachel tied for 1st with Craig coming in 2nd and me in 3rd. I managed to get a hole in one, too!

Fri 8/9/13: My mom rented a water bouncer today and Lizzy LOVED it. David was feeling a little too sick and overwhelmed to play in the bouncer, but he liked splashing in the water on the side. I played five rounds of chess with Brad this afternoon, because I couldn't stop until I won a game. I'm glad I was more careful on the last round and beat him good. YAY!

Sat 8/10/13: Today was beach day! We headed over to Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro and went to the museum first before playing in the water. The museum let us hatch some baby grunions while we were there, which was fun to do. All we had to do was shake little jars with sand, water, and eggs for the grunions to hatch and swim around. They were cute. In the evening we joined the Montgomerys again and had fun playing at Heritage Park. I love seeing Lizzy and David have so much fun with Eric.

Sun 8/11/13: We went to Long Beach First Ward for Sacrament today, which was nice. Kristen and Kathy Ward were there with their families, too. We picked up Anissa after church and visited with her for a while. The Montgomerys joined us for dinner and afterward we all went up to Signal Hill and went for a nice long walk.

Mon 8/12/13: It was sad leaving Long Beach this morning, but I had fun driving from Baker, CA to Mesquite, NV while Brad rested his head. It was my first time driving on the I-15 for so long. Cruise control is awesome.

Tue 8/13/13: We made it home today. Gosh, it's so nice to be back! Sushi was so happy to see me that she wouldn't leave me alone all night. She kept rubbing me and meowing. It was as if she was saying, "Don't ever leave me again!" Cute kitty.

Wed 8/14/13: The sunset tonight made the sun appear bright red due to fires in the Tooele area. When Lizzy saw the bright red sun through the octagonal window in the living room, she ran up to me yelling, "Mommy, Mommy, the sun is sick! Come see!" Made me laugh.

Thu 8/15/13: Lizzy decided that her Rapunzel doll needed a hair cut this morning, since her hair was all tangled and didn't look so pretty. I wasn't too happy when I found out, but thought it was funny later when I observed it. Lizzy sliced it the same way it looked in the movie when Flynn Rider cut off Rapunzel's hair. Oh well! Guess that could still work. Maybe we should dye it brown.

Fri 8/16/13: I spent the whole day uploading, organizing, editing, and posting photos from our vacation last week. Wow, I sure did take a lot of photos on our trip!

Sat 8/17/13: Today was Brad's 20-year high school reunion. We walked three miles along the Jordan River Parkway with other alumni. We had lunch at the park where Lizzy and David had fun eating popcorn and snow cones. In the evening, Brad and I went to the Hilton Hotel for dinner. My favorite part was getting our photos taken in the photo booth. That was fun!

Sun 8/18/13: It was fun visiting with Brad's family tonight for dinner at Brad's dad house. I loved Loralee's clam chowder and Amanda's delicious bread salad. I like all the good chefs in Brad's family.

Mon 8/19/13: Brad and I watched a little big of Shogun tonight. Brad loves the story. I'm not very familiar with it, but I'm enjoying the TV mini-series so far. The Japanese culture is interesting.

Tue 8/20/13: I took Scott to his High School orientation this morning. We toured the building together, mapping out his classes on his map as we went along. A lot of girls were observing him. Can't believe how fast he's growing!

Wed 8/21/13: First day of school! I took photos of Scott and Emma before they left this morning. They looked pretty neat wearing their lab coats together. Emma was so happy to begin another year of school.

Thu 8/22/13: I was reading "The Three Little Pigs" to Lizzy and David tonight. When we got to the part when I used my Big Bad Wolf voice the most enormous lightning bolt lit up the whole sky and shook the house. I cried out in alarm when the lights when out. Scared the crap out of me! The electrical storm was amazing, though. It gave us quite a show.

Fri 8/23/13: Scott went to a tailgating party at his school tonight for the first time. It's nice that he lives so close to the school that he just walk on over whenever a special even occurs.

Sat 8/24/13: We celebrated Grandma North's birthday by having a family get-together at Marian's house. We were afraid it would be too cold since it was so overcast, but it ended up not being too bad. About a half hour after we got out of the pool for dinner a huge storm came in and began dumping buckets of water and hail into the pool. Took us by surprise.

Sun 8/25/13: I liked seeing my Sunbeam class today! I went three weeks without seeing them. Our lesson was on forgiveness.

Mon 8/26/13: Family Home Evening to the library was fun! We did sweets and sours on the way back. I like that Scott and Emma are happy to be back in school again.

Tue 8/27/13: It was nice having a late night outing to Dee's Restaurant with Bruce and Loralee tonight. Brad and I ordered cheese fries and a giant hot fudge sundae. It was yum.

Wed 8/28/13: I harvested a bunch of garden-grown tomatoes this evening and made a yummy homemade salsa with them. It was a nice day for chili, chips, and salsa.

Thu 8/29/13: My little ones are so cute. Today they made up a game where Lizzy was the "mommy" and David was the "daddy." Lizzy would run around the house saying, "Daddy... Daddy!" David would then reply, "Yes?" It was so cute. Kept them busy for awhile.

Fri 8/30/13: I had a bountiful harvest from my garden tonight! I picked some orange squash and some tomatoes and sweet peas. Lizzy and David helped me. I love having my own garden!

Sat 8/31/13: Brad and I took the little ones to Liberty Park in the afternoon. They had so much fun playing in the Canyon Lands water-feature. They loved all of the granite rocks and the little waterfalls and streams they could play in. I wish I had something like that to play in as a kid! I would have been in heaven.