August 2026 Happenings

August seriously flew by.  With Taya in the MTC, Trek working, & the kids starting school, it's been a crazy busy month.  But we got some fun things done too.

The Sunday before Taya went to the Provo MTC to learn how to be a missionary & learn Tagalog, we got the whole family together (including my brother's family) one last time before kids started leaving on missions.  It was wonderful.

Trek made it a project to take apart our antique French chairs from 1820.  These things have been DYING on us & need to be redone professionally.  It costs a small fortune, so we decided to DIY the taking apart part of it & we'll have someone re-upholster it once we've got them all cleaned out so it is cheaper.  We now fully know why they charge that much to take these things apart.  Trek was at it for 6+ hours & he only got one done.

But what was amazing was seeing what was in these things.  They were upholstered in the 1820's which means the materials are OLD, but fantastic. . . & they are literally stuffed with STRAW.   It was CRAZY.

We dropped Taya off at the Provo Missionary Training Center on August 5th, & now I'm a boy mom.  I have my 3 boys (4 if you count Trek) & boy has the dynamic of the house changed overnight.  Now there's a lot more wrestling, random screaming & noises, & science converstaions.

Video: Boys Wrestling

The day we dropped Taya off, I desperately needed something to occupy my mind.  (I was a mess.)  I finished packing up all her things in boxes & took them downstairs for storage for the next 18 months.  Then I helped Canyon move his entire bedroom upstairs into her room.  Canyon now has a nice big bedroom all to himself.  He's SO happy.

The next day, we moved Trek's office down into Canyon's old bedroom.  He's been working from our bedroom for the last 3 months & we are all ready for him to have his own office.  The boys helped with this one because I wasn't strong enough to move that huge desk furniture.

Video: Boys moving furniture

As Canyon was reorganizing his room, he got rid of a lot of old lego & toys he no longer plays with.  That included some Lego sets Taya gave him before she left.  Lorien heard about it & asked if any of the Harry Potter lego sets were in there (& those are the ones Canyon threw away).  She immediately begged Canyon to save them for her since they were once hers (although Cadence claims they were hers before they were Lorien's & Taya's).  Canyon dumpster dived to find them all.  The things we do for our sisters.

With Taya gone, we were able to re-home her white dresser & her desk to Cadence's house since Cadence had neither & desperately needed them.  They look great in her house.

Canyon celebrated his friend's birthday at Provo Beach & got to boogie board & got pretty good at it.  He can even do flips now.

Videos: Canyon Boogie Boarding

We had a really fun slip & slide activity with our youth group this month.  It's always a favorite.

And boy has it rained here this month.  It has rained nearly every day of August & we are getting all the moisture we've so desperately needed all year.  In fact, we've had several flooding issues because of all the rain.  Look at this park near our house.  It completely filled up with water.  Craiger & his friends went swimming in it & some people even got kayaks out there.  It was insane.

Craiger spent the summer in a cabaret class at a local ballroom dance studio so it was fun seeing him perform in a new type of ballroom dance.  I was very proud of him.

Video: Craiger's Cabaret Performance

Now that all the kids are in school, the dog is so sad.  Now she stays in Trek's office while he works so that she isn't alone.  What a spoiled baby.  (Boy is she happy when the boys get home from school every day.)

After 3 months of work over the summer, Canyon finally finished his Colosseum Mini Lego set. 

Bladen & Trek spent a couple of weeks building a potato launcher.  Bladen picked that as a youth activity he wanted to lead, but he had to learn how to do it first.  There were a lot of "learning" moments & lots of breaking/rebuilding going on, but they finally got it in the end & did an awesome activity for the young men.  He taught them the mechanics of how to build one, how it works, then spent 30 minutes shooting potatoes off 150 feet in the air.  The boys loved it.

Videos: Potato Launchers

I got to do a High School friend reunion in August as well which was totally fun.  I haven't seen my friends in a while (some in years).  We all became friends in 5th grade & we still keep in contact.  I love them all so much.

We had our cast party for Broadway Kidz & Canyon was so excited to watch the play performance at the park.  It was fun seeing everyone again.

I got crafty & tried doing chocolate dipping.  I made some chocolate dipped pretzels & oreos.  They turned out pretty good.

Craiger started Drivers Ed & we went to the mandatory student/parent night where we learned about all the dangers of driving.  It's such a sad video they show you, but it's really great for the teen drivers to see how important it is to pay attention.

Canyon also finished his London skyline mini lego set (in 1 week).

And I made cake pops for the family.  I made strawberry cheesecake flavored cake, dipped them in chocolate, & topped them with graham cracker crumbs.  They were so good.

We accomplished SO MUCH in August so it flew by.  But it was fabulous.