Don't worry if you can't keep up...

We have had one crazy August so far. I'm not going to try and give a blow by blow here. But I will give you an idea.

To begin with, we had a close call with Mike's grandmother over the past couple of weeks. We thought we might lose her at any time. Mike's brothers were all flying into town for the family reunion we had planned, & at the same time, thinking that they would be saying goodbye to grandma. Amazingly, she turned it around. We're so thankful to still have her with us, and we're grateful for the tender moments we were able to share with her in recent weeks. Sweet grandma.
Some of the other goings on over the last few weeks: Our nephew, Benjamin, was baptized while he was here. (We were so happy to be a part of that.) Jessie went to girls camp for the first time. We hiked to Timpanogos Cave and to our old stand-by, Cecret Lake (you wouldn't believe the wild flowers!), with family. We had lots of family meals, a birthday bash for the July birthdays, went to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point, had a memorable day at Payson Cemetery learning about some of Mike's mom's ancestors. We went flower-girl dress shopping with Valerie (Gary's fiance) for Jessie & Grace, took lots of people to and from the airport. AND we rescued the Sullivans' dog, Cooper, from the dog pound while they were out of town.

Because of grandma's situation, lots of other family came into town - and so we had Mike's brother, Jimmy, and his family come to stay with us for a few days to make extra room at Mike's parents' house for the relatives. They were the best house guests ever - and we totally enjoyed having a little one-on-one time with them. We don't get to see them very often. They didn't even complain about being put-up in the vampire room, and THAT'S saying something. Tami went out one day with Grace into the garden, harvested a bunch of ripe produce and then came in and whipped up some AWESOME salsa from what she picked. (Thanks a million, Tami! That stuff was amazing!)

We didn't take as many pictures as we should have - but here are some from this crazy couple of weeks.

With the cousins at the Museum of Ancient Life (a favorite display for the boys)

Tim came in our car to Payson. Thanks to the magic of DVD he got some quiet nap time with Sully.

Sully, Tim & Gary

Learning about some of grandma's ancestors in Payson.

Making some grave stone rubbings in Payson

Valerie.

(We're pretty excited about her becoming part of the family!)

 Awwww. The mountains in summer. Makes you want to breath deeply, doesn't it?

You get a prize if you can spot Noble in this picture.

 As one who snowboards, this is the only way I ever get to see Alta...hiking in the summer.

Epilogue:

All our visitors have left town. We miss them all. Grandma is improving. (Yay, Grandma!) Mike is going back to work tomorrow. I'm turning my attention to getting the kids ready for school in a week and a half, and getting the baby back on a schedule. I started running again today. Routine is returning.

We could use a little breather.