august.

I love august.  I love the long stretched out summer feel of it.  The lazy days.  The heat.  I hold tight to August as it slips by, knowing the the September clock is looming just around the corner, just a few clicks away.  August this year was full and hot and beautiful.  Here are some highlights (mostly in pictures since it’s October now and I really need to move on!)Ok, this first picture is technically July, but oh well.  Since I was still around I got to spend my dear sister’s birthday with her.  We went on a gorgeous hike, to a great art gallery in Ogden and then my parents took us to Sushi to celebrate their anniversary as well.  We also spent a great day in Salt Lake together at a museum called the Leonardo that my kids have been raving about ever since.  Their favorite part was the tinkering room where they could have built stuff and taken stuff apart for hours.   I know I said I was done with Bear Lake, but at the beginning of August I had a different kind of Bear Lake.  The big house was all packed up, all the family had gone back to their regular lives and me and my best friend since I was 3 got to spend a few days with our kids at our old A Frame cabin.   Ames comes up nearly every year and it’s always great, but this year seemed magical.  Not only were we staying in the same old cabin that Amy and I spent so much time in as kids, but our kids are now close friends (Amy and her family live in London and we got to spend a lot of time together during our little stint there).  Watching Hazel and Marta hand in hand on the beach for hours was really like watching Me and Amy years ago.  I love generational friendships so much.

   We were missing Esther (Amy’s oldest who was at Girls Camp and Charlie who was at Grandma and Grandpa Shumway camp).  But this lot had a great time together. I loved getting to know Amy’s newest addition little Elsa.  She was born just as we were leaving London a year ago.  Peter was bent on impressing Elsa.  He’s pretty cool stuff with that superman shirt.  Grandfather showed up on day to check on the horses and took us all for a sunset sailboat cruise.  The kids were all delighted.  Boy do I love the Schwartz girls.  After our final hoorah at Bear Lake we spent about a week in Salt Lake where I helped with the final preparations for my 20 year high school reunion.  All of my siblings had gone back into their own lives, so it was great to have some time with my parents and see some old friends.  It feels like all of my Utah time is sucked up into Bear Lake (I’m not complaining) and it was nice to have some time to catch up, to feel tied again to my roots in Utah, to old friends, to my upbringing.  I really loved growing up in Salt Lake.   Grandfather had built a new swing in the barn by his house.  We spent a lot of time taking turns on that thing.  The light in there was beautiful. 

 

  Grammie took excellent care of these kids while I was running around seeing friends and prepping for my reunion.  I wish I lived close to her.  My kids do to.      We went on a great hiking adventure with Grandfather up Toll Canyon.  That path is a part of who I am after all those childhood hikes and tube runs and horseback rides.  Emmeline was mostly a trooper, though she doesn’t look to thrilled here.  She brightened up as we both collected as many different growing things as we could for our bouquet.We spent some time swimming at Amy’s pool.  She and I spent a lot of time there as kids.  Charlie seems thrilled to be with all those girls, right?Ok, this was technically July too.  My cousin got married and we all got to be there since it was so close to Bear Lake.  It was so great to be with my cousins who I hardly ever get to see. I went to lunch with my dear graduate school room mate Holly.  It had been years, but Holly and I can always pick things right back up from where we left off.  I love that girl. Grammie took us on the Alpine slide.  Everyone went down.  Poor Hazel had to miss out, but she was having her own crazy fun with Grandma and Grandpa Shumway and her cousin Maddie in CA.  I’ll post pictures from that adventure soon.  Charlie got to go to G and G Shumway camp too, so most of my time in Utah was with only three kids.  I was quite surprised at how much simpler things seemed with only three kids.  Saren and I met up with my dear friend Catherine for a hike up Albion Basin.  That right there made me want to drop everything and move to Utah.  All that beauty and those two dear friends and all those kids.  It was a crazy and perfect day.  Check out Catherine’s blog for a beautiful write up of our day.  You’re going to love Cahterine’s blog.  It is pure soul and beauty, deep and thoughtful, funny and refreshing and real.  We got to go down to Provo to see some dear good old friends.  Above is Peter with our neighbor and babysitter from England who is now going to school at BYU.  Cori and her family saved us in every pinch we got ourselves into while in England.  I love that girl. And here ^ I am with Rebecca Snow (my dear dear friend who moved away to Provo….blast her) and Allison my savoir of a friend from London who now live just down the street from each other.  Small world!  Here my kids are with Allison’s kids.  Hazel and Christine were best of friends while we were in London.  Oh, it’s good to have a bosom friend.   And here, here is the much anticipated 20 year reunion ^^.  I wish I’d have taken more photos.  This is the only one I have.  I was in charge of a Friday night Tailgate at the school and a Saturday family picnic, both of which turned out great.  I loved that crazy busy weekend, driving around in our beater Land cruiser, listening to all my old high school classic rock songs, staying up late with old friends and being ridiculously busy.  It felt like high school all over again.  Boy was high school exhausting.  It was great, but I’m happy to be past it :). My mom, after really being the mother of my children for days while I was busy with other things, requested that I go through the boxes and boxes of left over childhood stuff that she was storing for me in her garage.   I got rid of a lot of stuff, but took pictures first.   Tidbits and treasures from my past life.  A poster from a play I was in, a costume from when I got to sing with the Broadway touring company of Evita.  Oh, those were my days of fame! I found this ^ great little book that I had made from my big brother Josh.  We were such buddies as kids.  Makes me think of Hazel and Charlie, or Charlie and Emmeline.  I love seeing strings of my sibling relationships bud up through my kids’ relationships.  Lunch with High School friends.  We just couldn’t get enough after the reunion.  These are good people.  I was blessed with amazing friends as I tried to figure out who I was.  I finally took my kids to Temple Square.  They were too little last time they went.  They loved it.  That place is amazing.  It was sad to leave Utah.  It always is.  But we’re always also really excited to see Jeff/dad after being apart for so long.   Once home we did normal summer things.  A pond dip in the Cemetery (above).  A cake float for my birthday (below).    Hazel, my collector of all things beautiful, found lots of August treasures.  She made Emmeline up to look like Goldilicious.  Love that Hazel (don’t love that book). ^Here Em is with some friends doing a backyard cooking show, with locally grown (in our backyard) produce.  We watched a lot of the food network while folding laundry this summer, which gave her lots of ideas. We celebrated our dear friend Donna’s birthday. And Jeff and I celebrated our 11th anniversary by going to Kanes Donuts with the kids and then heading off to the ward campout.  Oooh, romantic.  The camp out was beautiful.  We need to camp more often.  But boy, is it a lot of work! We came home to newly refinished floors.  Yay!  They needed it. Charlie and Peter really like taking pictures of themselves on my phone.  Neither of our boys lack any self confidence. Hazel anticipated the start of school.  A lot.  She was so excited for a new teacher and a fresh new year. Em and Peter are really best of buddies.  Here she is putting her baby down for a nap under our table on the deck.  These two spent lots of long hot summer afternoons playing all kinds of things.  

We finally made it to the duck boats, after talking with Peter about them all summer.  He was certainly impressed. We got to go up to the Krucks lake house with a bunch of friends.  We love that place.  We love those friends.  

We ended off August with the first day of school.  Hazel to 3rd grade.  Charlie to 2nd.  They were both so excited that butterflies were churning up their stomachs.  Both have fantastic teachers this year.  Boy, am I grateful for good teachers! They also are wearing uniforms this year.  Which, so far, we love. Here Hazel and Charlie are with their best buddies from school.  They really both have so many great kids in their classes.  Tons of diverse, smart, kind and interesting kids. 

Whew!  You made it.  That may have been my longest post ever.  But it’s done.  August?  Documented.