Living Large: The End of Summer...

The days seem to be going faster and faster.

And my littles seem to be getting bigger and bigger.

I can't believe that summer is already over.

It went by way too fast for me.

And although, I was ready for the kids to go back to school, I miss them.

I miss our rare lazy mornings with cartoons blaring, crazy giggles,

and watching them play outside until 9:30 at night.

I miss the warm nights sitting out on the deck with that handsome man I live with.

But we stayed busy our last month of summer.

Brody wanted to sleep with "sissy" one night.

Bry was busy doing some home projects, so I met my friend Jordan at the Roy City parade.

My friend Mandee and her girls were in the parade for the hairstylist Mandee works for and she spray painted the kids hair. They thought that was pretty rad.

After, Mandee and Clint met me and the kids over at the carnival for some snowcones, face painting and a little lunch. Three of the girls got puppy dog faces. It was hilarious watching them eat their snowcones.

This is what Bry was doing while we were gone. He and our friend Ryan were putting can lights in our great room! Love all of the light we have in that room now. Next up, kitchen!

We took a day to go swimming at the Bountiful Rec Center with Mizuho and the kids. I wish we lived closer to it! It was so nice - with an outdoor splash area for the kids and an indoor pool, slide and lazy river. That came in handy when a storm moved in! It took Brody almost all afternoon to get used to the water. But then he loved it. They even have rock climbing walls that the kids played on after we were done swimming. Such a fun day!

This picture makes me laugh. Brody kept pulling the funniest faces all day.

Bryn, Garrett and a bunch of neighbor kids had bike races around the block one night. Brody and I sat out on the driveway and cheered them on.

Family game night.

Brody kept pretending to tell secrets. He had us all laughing pretty hard.

I get lazy sometimes...

He's gotta earn his keep somehow.

This is one brave girl.

For the past 3 years, she has been having to put drops in her eye to try and help the disease that decided to take hold. We went for her checkup and unfortunately, her eye wasn't getting better. At all. So, the doctor wanted to try and put a shot in her eye to see if that would help strengthen it.

I, honestly, was freaked out. Close to tears, I text Bry. Bryn on the other hand was a Champ!! She was so incredibly brave and just held the nurses hand while he did it. She cried just a little when it was done - just from being a little scared. She truly inspires me.

I love it when he'll just sit down and start singing to me.

All of this is from our garden!! And we've been eating all of it.

Love the summer sunsets I get to see on my way to the gym at night.

While Bry and I went hunting, Heidi and Danny watched the kids.

They took them to a Raptors game and Rett caught the ball!

He talked about that ball for days.

Dinner date with these two handsome men the night before Bry left for Canada. These are my favorite moments.

I was so excited to get this picture from Rod letting me know they had landed safely....somewhere in Canada. What an adventure!!

Our first night without daddy.

Two kids out. One to go.

While Bry was gone, I kept myself very, very busy.

Mandee came over one night and helped me make salsa.

It turned out delicious!!

And I have to say, I was super proud of myself.

If you know me, this was a HUGE accomplishment.

Things kinda seemed to fall apart a little...

Major Sunday meltdown.

From both of us.

So, I just sat on his floor and started singing (while crying).

He drifted.

Reading time. On the counter.

I took a break from everything and headed

to the temple with my friend Jordan.

10 days was a long time to be without his buddy.

Rett missed his dad.

A lot.

Giggles!

If only you could hear the sound through the picture.

Best sound. Ever.

A few days before Bry got home, chaos hit.

A photoshoot mishap, babysitting chaos, and a sweet lady in our ward that was to teach Relief Society in 2 days was in a horrible accident. They called asking me to teach. And to go ahead and pick what I wanted to teach on.

I was struggling. Jordan told me to meet her for dinner with the kids.

We met at Tony Burgers, sat outside and brainstormed ideas for my lesson.

Then she played with the kids in a gully while I sat at the top.

So thankful for sweet friends that come to my rescue.