AUGUST 2016

When I see African violets, I think of my Mom.  She always had several and they were so beautiful.  I imagine most of her kids have them in their homes as well.
This particular one, Breanna gave me.  It had gotten so large, I split it into 3 plants this summer and gave one back to Breanna, and took one on the plane to Jenna.
The mother plant, looked pretty bad after the split...wilted and unstable.  But after some time, it perked right back up and now it produced this plethora of blooms!
I imagine there is a lesson we can take from nature...its hard when you have change, and we may react and need time to adjust, but we can recover beautifully with some TLC!

Jenny brought over a watermelon plant on her birthday...tiny leaves and all...and it has thrived SLOWLY.  It finally produced two small watermelons, which we shall see if they have time to mature to adulthood!  Cute though!

August brought an exciting trip to SEATTLE area to visit Austin, Laura, Brooklyn, Evan and new baby Mackenzie.


She was even cuter in person and we loved that first meeting!

Brooklyn on the other hand, just wanted Grandpa there to be super SILLY!  She wanted to laugh all the way home from the airport and any chance she got after that.

Lets just say that Grandpa gave her plenty of chances!

Evan is at that fun age where he is really coming into his own as such an individual with strong likes and dislikes.

He LIKES the beach area at a lake near their home.
He does not like to tell you where he is going at any given time...he just takes off so you have to have eagle eyes with him!

The big boys enjoyed going to a SEATTLE MARINERS game in town!

And Evan was particularly excited about the Museum of Flight, which has greatly improved since we went many years ago.  We really had a great visit there!  Tons of airplanes you could see and even walk up through!

We made a day trip into Seattle to meet up with a former missionary, Kynsey Solaita and her baby and husband.  So sweet to get to spend some time with them!

Ane we made a visit to the famous Pikes Place Market just for old times sake.  If we only could have brought home the beautiful fresh flowers you can get so cheap there!

Had to snap this shot of our cute little family during scripture time of Family Home Evening.  They are so good each night to read a scripture story and say prayers together.  I know it is making a difference in their family!
Good Job!!

Mackenzie does not lack for attention or love.
(We could not resist getting a couple of matching outfits for the girls either.)

We had a park morning where we took soccer balls and tee-ball equipment to play with.

Austin is such a good daddy...and good brother to Braden too.  They all had a lot of fun!

We went on lots of walks in the area while we were there, and Brooklyn was not afraid to go with us.  This morning she was doing dips with Braden at a little park area on our walk.  SO CUTE!

We spent the most fulfilling day with Breanna at her BURN CAMP for preschoolers.

It was the most amazing experience for all of us.
She was super organized and the whole camp is a pretty spiritual experience.  They really build up all these youth to help them become who they really can...unlimited potential!!

Here I am with Michael, Braden's camper, and my two campers Landon and Kipton!
Our other camper was Griffin was assigned to Elliot, which we were grateful for...he was out of control!  But all were so cute!!















Breanna read them the book "Giraffes Can't Dance" which was the perfect message for them that they can do ANYTHING they put their mind to!

Here is our group at our campsite.  It was one busy place for the day...projects on every table!!

We had the Janulis here for Education Week and loved getting to see them a few times.  They were great to tag along to all our family activities that week!

 We flew over to Fort Collins Colorado to be with Scott's family for the Open House of the new temple there.

It was just beautiful!  We loved it inside and out, and loved being there with people we love!

It is not a big temple, but it is a great design!

(Scott, Lori, Mitch, Carole, Alan, Aaron)

We went up into the Poudre Valley to a family camping site they used a lot...spent a long time just playing by the river.
Here I am with Jessica.  It was fun to have Mitch, Jen, Jessica, Megan and her girls Olive and Rosie...Aaron, Michelle, Ella, Matthew, Collin and Lily, Alan, Carole and Lori.