My August Birthday Girls!

As I have mentioned, Lucy's Sweet 16 AND Golden birthday was spent driving in the car home from Idaho/Utah. But . . . I did make it a little special for our welcome-home. I have some great friends (Molly Shockly and her husband Alex and their cute kids) and asked Molly to decorate our dining room (I had Amazon deliver the decor to her house) and Alex to make a cake because he is an amazing hobby-chef. And they both delivered beautifully! 

So cute!

Lots of similar pictures because we don't have much else from that day, ha.

Whoop, whoop!

The cake was amazing - I just requested a lemon raspberry something or other and it was perfect.

Golden for Lucy's Golden Birthday. :)

I prepared one of her favorite meals (and one super-quick to put together): chicken salad sandwiches in croissants. After dinner, we opened her gifts. She had picked out a couple of shoes and tops. But then I did surprise her with AirPods (a great Facebook marketplace find), a lovely Christ necklace the girls had wanted, and a Cotopaxi fleece (a great Poshmark find) so she'll stop wearing mine, ha! Fun!!

We celebrated Emmy's birthday a week early - August 20th. We had tilapia and rice for dinner and it was so yummy. Then Miles had made Emmy's requested cake: cookie dough cake. It was deliciouss!

It turned out perfect.

19, wow!

One more with Emmy's camera. :)

Emmy opened her gifts, which mainly was stuff for college - bedding, etc. I did get her some cute notebooks, pens, and organizers for class. Plus some fun surprises - a necklace like Lucy and surprise Birkenstocks. She was thrilled with everything, yay. 

The girls also got their hair done and paid for (helped at least) from their siblings - all pitching in some. Lucy went blonder and Emmy went brown-er. :)

Love these August beauties and just can't believe how much they are growing up!

August is Over!

Whelp August was busy! We didn't make it once to our ward as we were gone every single weekend . . . First up was Grace's wedding in Littleton. The girls had work and so they had to stay home, but Miles joined us.

Miles helping Grandma Diana, with Jay walking with them.

Getting older . . .

Ben with his sister Laura.

Jim and Diana with three of their children. Debbie had to go back home and get ready for school.

This isn't the best picture, but Grace the bride was absolutely stunning! Her cute groom wasn't too bad either. :) What a sweet couple they are!

Miles spent the week after the wedding going on all sorts of adventures in the St. George area. He stayed at my parents' place (for the last time as it is now up for sale!) and hiked the Narrows in Zions, Red Cliffs, and other crazy off-the-beaten-path areas. He loved it and probably clocked in close to 50 miles of hiking that week.

After Idaho, we had a day (plus and minus some half-days) at my parents' house. I had Lucy try on mine and my mother's wedding dress. Fun!

My wedding dress. :)

My mother's - I love it! My mom's has turned quite yellow - you can't tell in the photo, but it's like bright yellow now. But still so pretty yellow ha!

Cuties!

No comment.

Haha . . . Emmy got her wisdom teeth out the day we got back from our Idaho trip. She was a trooper and did really well. She really didn't have much pain until like days 3 and 4, but even then did fairly well. I don't know if I'll post the video because I can't just do it here - I have to link it to YouTube and I don't know if I want to do that to Emmy, haha.

Two days after we arrived home, Lucy got her drivers' license! She passed with flying colors. :) Go Lucy! So exciting!

And she also had her first day of school, Junior Year. I can't believe it.

What a beauty.

Emmy started packing . . . so sad, but also so exciting!

Then we took Emmy to USU - Ben and I drove one car and Lucy and Emmy went together in her car. We headed out Saturday morning and got to Logan around 2 and then just started the moving-in process . . . 

The football stadium and field were open and so we took a little break and checked it out. Lucy and Ben had fun throwing the ball. Ben even took a couple field-goal kicks and made them, ha! I stayed in the shade with Emmy. :)

Emmy the Aggie!

Her room! This is her little desk space.

Her bed/side of the room. So cute. :)

Awwww she's all grown-up and living on her own. Sniff, sniff.

This is the main living room area. I had found this rug in Montrose at Habitat for Humanity. There were actually two and so we have the same one now in our living room, ha! (Lucy felt as we all did - exhausted.)

Kitchen. One fridge with six girls might be tight . . .

The other half of the kitchen. There are three bedrooms, so a total of six girls. None were there the day we moved Emmy in.

Ben and I had originally planned to drive to my parents' home after moving Emmy in, but after we had taken the kids to dinner (Jonas even drove up for the occassion!), it was like 9:30. So Ben and I found a crappy and sketchy Super 8 and stayed there instead. Lucy stayed with Emmy and they went to church together the next morning. Ben and I found a random and interesting ward in a very interesting building and drove around a little bit as well. Then we met the girls, shared a few tears, and left Emmy in Logan. Sniff, sniff.

Byebye Emmy-girl! Until Parents' Weekend . . . :)

Emmy started a three-day "orientation" course, called Connections. She gets credit for it and she survived it and maybe even liked it. The final night, Friday night, they all met and did some big lighting thing. The video of it was really cool!

Emmy likes all of her roommates, so that is good. They are all nice - at least at this point, haha. On her birthday (Thursday morning), they had decorated the dorm - streamers on her door, balloons all over, etc. They even made her a waffle with a bday candle. So cute! I think they made her a cake that night as well. So fun and sweet for her first bday away from home.

August 31st - her first day of class! She liked it! She also had her first day of work at the ASSERT preschool (school on campus for children [ages 3-5] with autism) and LOVED it. Gooooo Emmy! You got this!

P.S. I miss you!

August - so much driving! But a good month. :)