Summer Finale

My Mom made the girls matching summer dresses. I love them. I'm grateful for a Mom who can sew! I call her my Vera Wang.

My Parent's were coming over to Gig Harbor to see my cousin who got home from his mission on Thursday night. We had friends going through the temple for the first time on Friday night and getting sealed as a family on Saturday so my Mom offered to take our kids so we could go to both. I was so excited! This was our 2nd time being without our kids overnight. I met them in North Bend on Friday morning and they took my car with my kids and I took their car. It was weird being kidless and free. I didn't know what to do first! It was exciting! My front room was so clean for so long. I actually had to go visiting teaching, buy Kate ballet stuff and make Relief Society handouts. So nothing too exciting. Then, I met up with Kyle down by his work. We went out to dinner to Cheesecake Factory then to the Temple. Kayla and Ethan Giles were going to the Temple. We were glad we got to go with them. After the Temple we came home and changed before heading out to an Improv Show in Seattle. It started at 10:30pm so it was a late night for us. Kyle was hesitant to go. He said we were too old for this stuff. I wanted to live it up! We went and had fun until one of the actresses fell during a skit and broke her ankle. She played along at first, but then they realized she was hurt really bad. She couldn't even stand up with help. They called 911 and sent us home. We got free passes for another show so maybe we'll live it up again sometime soon. The next day we did random things around the house and chilled. Then, we went out to lunch for Thai and went back to the Temple for the Giles' sealing. It was beautiful. Their kids were so well behaved. It was neat to be there. They had good family and friend support. We headed to Mattawa after that.

In the meantime...my Parents were brave and took our kids to the Ellensburg Parade and Fair on Saturday morning. They had fun and it was hilarious to hear their stories with the kids. Preston poured water on a stranger's foot, Kate cried when they couldn't ride the rides, Chelsea was squealing over something and I'm sure Lindsey did something too. haha! It was so nice of them to take our kids! They had a fun time seeing animals and doing different activities in the Frontier Village.

On Sunday, we went into Tri-Cities to go to Church with Dee Ann. It was kind of nice going to a ward with lots of youth and families. She made us a ham dinner with a fresh peach pie, yum. She gave the kids some new coats for school, which was so nice. We let Chelsea take a nap and visited with her. Then we went to visit Arlene. We strapped Chelsea in a stroller so she couldn't roam around and break everything. ha! We headed back to Mattawa and my Mom made spudnuts and caramel apples. Jeni & Kevin and Sara & Derek were there. 

We had our last summer hoorah on Labor Day at my parent's house. The kids swam and tested out the new twisty slide my Dad put up. My Dad, Kyle, Kevin and Derek went motorcycle riding on Monday up above Ellensburg. The rest of us hung out at home and Sara cut almost everyone's hair. She was nice to do that. We keep her busy with all the girls in our family. It was good timing for my kids because school starts this week for them. Sara ended up giving A-line bobs to me (I always have one), Kate, Lindsey and Paige. We were joking that the guys were going to get one too!