August Book Recap

What I read in August. I didn't read as many this month as I have the previous months, but I read some good stuff.

Probably my favorite thing I read this month was Educated-it might be one of my favorites of the year. It is a true story-unbelievable and amazing. 

 A Long Way Down and Catcher in the Rye. Were both pretty good.. They definitely both make you think as they aren't written in the normal novel fashion. 

 The Darkest Minds is one of those Dystopian Novels I tend to like. I liked it. Not the best one I have ever read, but pretty good. 

August Goal Review

August Goal Review

Red Means Not Doing Well
Blue Needs Improvement
Green Accomplished or on Target to Reach Goal


Spiritual

-Read Scriptures 5 Days A Week
-Read Lesson Material for Relief Society each week
-Attend 2nd Hour (family history or Sunday School more regularly)
-No Social Media on Sunday morning Before Church
-More Personal Prayers
-Don't work on Sunday (I do some work from home for my Mom and I want to limit this to Monday-Saturday and not work on Sundays)

Health and Fitness

-Run, Walk, Bike, or Swim 1 mile once a week
I missed a week this month again where I didn't do a mile. 

-Only drink Coke once a week except for my period/headache week
This one has been hard for me this month.
-Make a conscious effort to drink more water
I'm going to drop this goal for now and focus on the other two as I think they are more important and I do pretty good about taking my water bottle to work with me everyday and drinking it. 

Financial

-Do better at staying on budget and not spending my weekly petty cash before I have it
Um I suck at this!
-Save any dimes we get for the year (we read something about it and want to test it out)

Educational

-Read at least 3 books per month (I want to focus on reading more and being on social media less)

Personal

-Continue Blogging

Still not caught up...but I'm working on it.

-Do Better at Keeping the House Clean

I have been thinking about my goals as I am trying to catch up on everything from housework and projects to my Blog. I still want to do this next year-but next year I am going to choose one goal in each category and work on it for a quarter of the year and then choose a new goal to focus on for the next quarter. I think it will be more efficient and it will be easier to be accountable and keep track. 

Newest Nephew-Braden Brett

My newest nephew was born on August 30. Braden Brett born to my sister Sandi and her husband Brett. My guess is that he is the last cousin to be born on my side of the family.

He sure is a cutie, but after babysitting him one night I am definitely glad that I don't have a baby right now-so much work-LOL.

 Chloe likes to hold him, as long as he isn't crying, haha!

These are some pictures from his blessing day.

Welcome to the crazy family little guy.

Bryce's Room

Bryce has never had his own room before now. So that meant we needed to buy a few things. We found him a bed and dresser on Craigslist and were able to get the matching nightstand at Ikea. We bought a mattress and bedding. We let him pick out the lamp-he chose a disco ball-LOL. It didn't really work out so well, so we bought a second lamp and the disco ball is not part of the decor. We found some cute signs and the room was complete. As you can tell from the pictures we chose the Avengers Theme to Decorate with. Now the trick is getting him to sleep in there. He is so used to sleeping with Tanner or Chloe that he still prefers that over his own bed. However, he is finally getting used to it and most nights will sleep in his own bed. Although if given the option he's always up for a sleepover in one of the other rooms-HA!

Sewing/Craft Room

We have this little room in the house, just off the game room/family room. We weren't exactly sure what we were going to use it for. We came up with several ideas-office/work area for the kids, play room for Bryce, etc. Then the perfect idea formulated-Sewing/Craft Room. It's perfect. It's not huge, but it is a great space for sewing and crafting. 

Happy Birthday Tanner

Tanner turned 18 this year. It's hard to believe!!! Over the last year he has really grown up and matured. He has goals and is serious about achieving them. He works super hard and just started a new job at Plus One (after working at Artic Circle for a little over 2 years). He is a great big brother and is always willing to help out around the house or help out with something Chloe or Bryce needs. He eats super healthy and will rarely eat junk food but he did enjoy a piece of cheesecake on his birthday. As you can tell from the picture Bryce adores his big brother. 

Happy Birthday Tanner! We hope you achieve everything you want to in life. 

A Little Bit of Bryce

A few random pictures and a little bit of insight into Bryce.

Sometimes I let him eat ice cream cones for breakfast. Usually anytime he asks for any food I let him eat it regardless, because he is asking for food. Plus ice cream has milk in it and that's good for him right?!

He loves to play board games and will play for hours if someone is willing to sit down and play with him. Usually Tanner is the best sport about it, but the rest of us will sometimes take a turn and for family night we play board games a lot as well.

Apples from McDonald's are one of his favorites so sometimes I stock up on them. The people I am placing my order with always double check that they heard right when I say I want 8 packages of apple slices. HA!

He loves his cats!

He is obsessed with Dwight off of the Office and wants to do his hair like him. Don't ask me why or how. Tanner watches The Office all of the time though so I think that's where it came from.

He loves to be in his pajamas. And will wear them everywhere if permitted. 

How does he Sleep There?

For the most part he has outgrown naps, but sometimes he still falls asleep in some interesting places.

On the floor of my friend's office...

In the cart at Target...

                                                               Under the Pew at Church

On the bench at the Restaurant

#BryceEE #hecansleepanywhere

First Day of School (K and 9th)

On Monday August 13 Chloe started 9th Grade. She is officially a Freshman, although in St. George the 9th grade is part of the Middle School not the High School it's kind of weird, but yeah she has begun her High School Journey. Was she excited to go back-Absolutely Not. She doesn't really care for school much, she never really has, but she tolerates it, and isn't doing to bad grade wise so far this year, so that's a plus. I think the one thing she likes is that it isn't so structured and rigid as the school she came from and she has a little bit more freedom. Plus there are activities after school and sports. I'm so late writing this post that basketball tryouts are now only 4 weeks away.

Here's to a great Freshman Year...

Chloe first day of 9th Grade

A few days after Chloe on Wednesday Aug 15 Bryce started Kindergarten. Because of hearing his big sister if you asked him he would tell you that he hated school and wasn't excited to start. In reality school is good for him. He thrives there. He is quite, but he has made lots of friends. The structure is also good for him. At his first SEP (parent teacher conference) yes I'm that far behind that we have already had one, he was getting all 4's which is equivalent to all A's. On his SRI test for reading he needed a score of 15 to be proficient and he scored a 30. 

On the first day of school he insisted on having a picture with his cat.

Bryce first day of Kindergarten

New Hair Colors

Not surprisingly Chloe went with a new hairstyle to start out the school year. 

Cute Cute

Last Day of Summer Vacation

I let the kids chose something fun to do around town for the last day of summer vacation before school started back up. They chose Fiesta Fun. They had fun riding the go carts, and playing the arcade games. I won't disclose how much money we spent trying to get enough tokens to get Bryce a Pokemon stuffed animal that he really wanted-but he was super happy about it and it has become one of his favorite toys so I guess at least it wasn't for naught. I'm sad to see the summer end, but happy about getting back into a routine. 

Summer 2018 = Snow Cones and Movies

Last Summer we made a Summer Bucket List and had so much fun marking stuff off on it. This Summer we thought about it, but we knew with our move to the new house, trip to New York, and Chloe's many sports camps and tournaments it probably wouldn't happen. So we decided to make it a summer of Sweet Treats (snow cones and ice cream) and Movies. Things that all of the kids like despite their age differences. Our goal was to visit as many different snow cone and ice cream places as possible and also to see as many movies on Tuesdays ($5 day) as we could during summer break.

Sweet Treat Stops
Cabana Ice

Coldstone

Fizz
Hokulia Ice

Honolulu Grill

Judds

Palette Bakery

Yeti Ice

Yogurtland
Zeppe's

Movies We Saw
Hotel Transylvania 3
Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom

Ant Man and the Wasp
Avengers-Infinity War
Teen Titans Go to the Movies

We had a lot of fun with this. I think we will for sure do it again next summer. The movies on Tuesday gave us something to look forward to, and the snow cones and sweet treats are always good when its 100 plus outside.