August 2021

One of our new favorite past times is doing dot art! They have some really cool designs at the craft store. Even dad and I have one that we have been working on. It’s so relaxing listening to music working on art. 

I have been really struggling at church these last couple months even years. The women are all very rude, negative and competitive and not people that you want to be around. Lots of mean comments, bulling and judgment going around which is horrible in a church setting when we should al be loving and compassionate to others. I have really struggled watching the young women treat Aubrey this way also. We decided as a family to start going to another ward in town. Because we were in this transition. During the summer I did not feel comfortable with Aubrey going to girls camp with some of these girls from our previous ward. Also the timing of girls camp didn’t work with other things that we had planned. It was so nice of Shellece to offer to let Aubrey go to camp with Daphne. Having Aubrey go to a church camp for the first time was very scary but I was so happy that she got to be with her cousin. Shellece is amazing at thinking of everything and she gave me the idea to make small gifts that Aubrey could give the leaders at the end of the week so this is what we came up with….

Girls camp was August 4 through August 7. It was up in the mountains about an hour away from Nana and Papa‘s house. Because the girls were all leaving from the bay area and Aubrey was coming from Merced I got to take her up to camp. Since camp is so close to Nana and Papas we drove up to Nana and Papas house dropped off Carter and picked up Papa. Well actually papa drove us in his really cool jeep up to camp. We had a lot of fun hearing Papa‘s camp stories and getting Aubrey excited for camp. I could tell that Aubrey was a bit nervous about this experience and that made me nervous also. I was getting really anxious towards the end of the trip because we just kept getting higher and higher into the mountains. Then out of nowhere we turn and see this gigantic sign and the cutest young woman running to the jeep to welcome Aubrey. My nerves started to feel better and I think Aubrey was also starting to feel better about this experience.

Once their papa was sweet to stay at the jeep so that Aubrey and I could go and explore and see what was next.Shellece was so sweet to get everybody excited about having Aubrey at camp. We almost felt like royalty everybody wanting to meet Aubrey. The camps theme this year was Harry Potter and they did an amazing job with the decorations. I was trying to take as many pictures as possible but I could tell that Aubrey was getting annoyed with me. So I only got a few.

Once she got her Supplies we headed over to where they eat and met up with Daphne. They were excited to see each other but you could tell that everybody was nervous and it was a bit awkward. I felt so strange leaving her but I knew that I had to in order for her to have a fun experience. I gave her a huge hug and say goodbye. It was really hard!

Thank goodness I had my dad with me for the drive back to Sonora. If I was driving by myself I probably would’ve been a mess. This is the longest time I’ve gone away from Aubrey and with no cell service I was very nervous leaving her up there with people I didn’t know. But Shellece assured me that everybody would treat her really nicely and I got a wonderful feeling when I was there at the camp so I knew should be taken care of. Dad and I stopped at a really fun place for lunch in Strawberry. The weather was beautiful and it was nice catching up and spending time with just my dad.

Ones back at Nana and Papa’s we all got to hang out and Carter got to be the special only child which was a fun treat for him.

Carter and I stayed up in Sonora for a night and then we headed back to Merced on Thursday, August 5th. That night we went to a fun hot August nights downtown. It was fun seeing all the cool cars.

Friday, August 6th we went on a date day with Carter to Turlock to do some shopping. We took the truck because we knew we were looking for a new TV stand.

We found this really neat piece of furniture. It’s going to need some modifications….

Aubrey being at camp was very hard for me I wanted so bad to call her and check in but I couldn’t. One Saturday, August 7 finally came I was so excited that We to get to see our girl that day!! Since I got to drive Aubrey up to camp dad got to pick Aubrey up from camp. Since it was two hours up and two hours back it made for a long day for him but he was excited to get to hear all of Aubrey‘s camp stories. Since they were both gone Carter and I had a mother son date day. When I was growing up my aunt would always do a fun surprise day where I had no idea where we were going or what we were doing so I thought that would be fun for Carter. That morning I laid out his outfit so that we could be twins and gave him a bandanna to cover his eyes so he didn’t know where we were going.

First stop his favorite breakfast place Rollen donuts. He loved being blindfolded in the car he had no idea where we were going.

Next stop the flea market….

Carter had never been to the flea market before so I thought this would be a fun adventure. It was kind of stinky and dirty and we may not go back but it was fun to surprise him with something he had no idea existed. Surprisingly it was also pretty expensive I thought we would find good deals on toys but things were more expensive than they are at target and Walmart.

Next stop the nickel arcade. When he took off his bandanna here he was so excited he gave me the biggest hug. Do you know the other place was pretty dirty when you think the nickel arcade his clean haha!! 

We had a blast playing all his favorite games and our favorite dance game together.

We sure worked up an appetite or next spot McDonald’s

After lunch we went home and got ready for the arrival of Aubrey. Carter and I had a wonderful date that day! It was really fun having him as an only child for a few nights I think he felt very special and it was great quality time. Daddy had texted that they were almost home and I could  not wait to hear all of Aubreys fun stories!

Yay she made it home safe and sound and was one happy camper. She had the most amazing stories to tell and she loved every minute of camp. I am so happy it was a wonderful experience for her. She made lots of new friends and was already asking when camp was next year. She said it felt so nice to finally take a shower and be clean. After a few stories she knocked out on the couch for a few hours!!

While she was napping dad and I got to work on our project turning this piece of furniture….

Into a custom TV cabinet….

It’s kind of amazing that that worked out so well. We originally bought it just for the bottom piece and we are going to put the TV on top of it. But then we measured our new TV and it fit just perfect in the middle where the shelves were so Spencer and I pulled out all the shelves and then re-touched parts of the cabinet and mounted the TV inside. It truly came out amazing and we are so happy with it! It was definitely meant to be.

Since Aubrey didn’t have her phone and there really wasn’t an opportunity to take pictures this is the only picture she had.

But other leaders took pictures and at the end of this post I was able to put some of them on here.

Crazy that Summer was already coming to an end. While Aubrey was at camp Cruickshank middle school had their orientation so dad went and picked up Aubrey schedule and her PE clothes. She looks so cute in her outfit!

Sunday, August 8th the kids to the fashion show with all their new back to school clothes.

They look so darn cute!

Also that day we celebrated Macy’s second birthday.Her birthday is August 5th but since Aubrey was at camp we saved it to celebrate when she got home. This picture is actually a picture of Milly with the candle but the second one is Macy getting her birthday gift.

We were excited that Carter got Mrs. Klick as his six grade teacher this year. We made her a little care box for the first day of school.

We went down to the school on Tuesday, August 10 to deliver it and to see his name on the class list. I truly cannot believe Carter is a six grader!!!!

Wednesday, August 11th was the first day of school!

This year I am the PTC president and I came up with the idea of doing an apple balloon arch for the first day of school. We have a teacher at the school that can do amazing things with balloons so I hired her to make this amazing apple. It was a huge success and everyone loved it it was even on the news that night.

We have two kings of the school this year Carter in six grade and Aubrey is an eighth grader. I can’t believe next year will be high school!

I am so happy that Aubrey has met such a fun friend Gigi!! They are two peas in a pod. Gigi’s mom and dad bring her to our house in the morning so that they can walk together to school.

It felt so weird after everybody was off. I haven’t had an entire day home alone for about two years now because of Covid. I took advantage of my first day off and had a wonderful work out in our gym!!

When Aubrey got home from school that day she had received a package from one of her camp friends, Chloe. The note said hope you had a frogtastic first day of school and she gave her an adorable frog stuffed animal. How sweet that she met such a fun friend to think of her on her first day of school! 

Here’s the balloon arch on the news that night!

The first week of school was a huge success. Both kids love their teachers and being back with their friends. I miss having them at home but I am happy that they get to be social once again! I Was excited to take my guy out for a fro yo on Friday!

To celebrate a great first week of school we went as a family to the movies Friday night to see free guy which was really funny!

The kids made a fun treat that weekend for us. It was a s’more brownie that they came up with and it was really good.

Now that I have more time I’m able to do fun little projects. I painted a little entry table with this cool turquoise chalk paint.

When schools first started up the Covid cases we’re going crazy and I felt like Peterson was such a mess so I ended up taking Carter out and doing independent study for a few days the second week of school. It was crazy to be back in the situation of having to make decisions and I just felt that he was not safe at that school. So back to virtual school/homeschool. For PE he did his scooter and we even took rango with us.

It was a nice treat to have Titi come and visit us for a weekend. She came out August 19th-22nd. I love our walks and then Starbucks.

We did some yoga.

And shopping and out to lunch.

And of course some swimming…

It was really great to have her here!!! 

Enjoying our last few hot days in the pool.

I was so excited to finally put up some fairy lights in our backyard.

I love that our kiddos still like to play together.

Family dinner at Strings.

Fun church selfie!

We are loving our new ward. They have been very welcoming and the young women are so wonderful with Aubrey. It was a very good change for us.

Aubrey’s group of friends are the cutest and I love that they all meet here in the morning before school. I love hearing their stories and being part of their lives. They’re so cute when they all leave together and I get to wave at them as they walk to school.

Saturday, August 28th we had the opportunity to serve in the Lords vineyard in Madera. Every year the church helps harvest grapes to make into raisins for the needy. We have not been able to go as a family because the kids were too young or for other circumstances so we made it a priority this year to make sure that we were here and able to serve. We woke up at 4:45 AM to be at the Vineyard by 5:30 AM and worked until about one in the afternoon. You leave this early so that you can beat the heat! It was very hot, very dirty, and a lot of hard work but we all felt amazing doing a service and being together as a family.

The rest of the weekend we watched movies and rested.

Aubrey’s new young women’s group has welcomed her with open arms. They do lots of fun things on Tuesday the 31st they made fruit pizzas!

And that was our August! I can’t believe we’re into September already this year has gone by so fast. Here are the camp pictures that we got from Aubrey’s camp….