the BEST friends and family

What can a gal say when she has the best-ever, most-amazing, and super-terrific friends and family?

Thank you just doesn't seem like enough.

I had so much help in pulling off Brakston's wedding reception. How could a person do this without reliable, incredible friends and family?

I just hope I can be there for each of them someday. In the meantime, I feel incredibly blessed to have these wonderful people in my life! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

the BIG day

I can't believe it! My oldest child is getting married today. Wasn't he just in diapers? Just starting kindergarten? Playing in his first soccer game? Nervous about starting middle school? Going on his first date?

How does a mother learn to let go? I cried and cried when he left on his mission. It was so hard to see him go even though I wanted him to. You'd think that would've helped prepare me for letting him go now.

As if.

I'm crying now.

I just barely got him back from his mission. I have loved every single minute of having him back home. But those minutes were far too few. I wanted him to be MINE for a while longer.

I feel guilty for not being super excited about this marriage. I mean, I love Whitney. I am really happy to have her join our family. I just can hardly stand the thought of Brakston moving out of our home again.

Crap! I should have bought waterproof mascara!

Resolution Check-Up

It's time for my monthly day of accountability regarding my New Year's Resolutions. Do these months fly by or what?

Lose Weight - I lost a couple pounds. Not as much as I would've liked.

Read Jesus the Christ - COMPLETE! Yea!

Climb Mt. Timpanogos - Will do this one near the end of this month or the first of next month.

Run Ragnar - I am up to 10.6 miles and feeling good about my running. I've worked a bit on time but I am still a slow runner. I've started more work on hills. I need to start multiple runs in 24 hours.

Write My Grandma's Life History - No progress this month.

Do family search indexing - I did do some indexing but am not sure how many names.

Attend 5 Temples that I've Never Been to Before - Still no progress. I looked at flights during the month and decided that I better put this one off until September when people quit traveling so that I can actually get on a flight.

Overall - the month was more about wedding/reception preparations than working on goals.

books I've read in the past month

Here's what I read in August:

**Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back by Todd Burpo

**Dragon Flight (Dragon Slippers, #2) by Jessica Day George

The Dark Divine (The Dark Divine, #1) by Bree Despain

The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale

First Grave on the Right (Charley Davidson, #1) by Darynda Jones

My Grandfather's Blessings : Stories of Strength, Refuge, and Belonging by Rachel Naomi Remen

I ** the ones I recommend.

Brakston's First Day

Brakston's first day was Tuesday (yesterday). He is attending Utah Valley University in Orem. All of his classes are on Tuesdays and Thursdays. He has writing, intro to public speaking, college algebra, and General Psychology.


Brakston's Stats:
6 feet 2 inches
186 pounds
Favorite Color: Blue
Favorite Candy: Milky Ways and Swedish Fish
Favorite Food: Chinese
Favorite Book: The Hunger Games
Favorite Movie: Thor or Megamind
Favorite TV Show: Lie to Me (but doesn't really ever watch TV)
Favorite Free Time Activity: soccer
Favorite Class: Intro to Public Speaking
What He Wants to Be: Physical Therapist
Prediction for the Year: It's gonna be a long year!

Alec's First Day

Alec "graduated" from Riverton High earlier this year so he now attends South Valley School - a special education program designed to increase the student's life skills (laundry, shopping, cooking, transportation, etc) and to prepare them to enter the workforce.


Alec's Stats:

5 feet 3 1/2 inches
153 pounds
Favorite Candy: Reese's
Favorite Food: hamburgers, corn dogs, chicken nuggets, pizza
Favorite Movie: Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Guardian
What He Likes to Do in His Free Time: watch sporting events or movies
Best Friends: Brakston and McKayla

McKayla's First Day

McKayla had her first day at Riverton High School yesterday. She was actually very excited to start school. She already knows lots of juniors and seniors because of her involvement on soccer, track, and cross-country teams so she feels pretty comfortable.


McKayla's Stats:
127 pounds
5 feet 7 inches
Favorite Color: aqua/blue
Favorite Candy: Twix
Favorite Food: Orange Chicken
Favorite Eatery: Panda Express
Favorite Subject: history
Favorite TV Show: iCarly
Favorite Movie: A Walk to Remember
Favorite Book: The Hunger Games
Favorite Thing to Do in Spare Time: play soccer, run, or hang with friends
Best Friends: Brooke Barnett and Dakota McDonald
When I Grow Up: want to be an OB/GYN nurse
Prediction for the Year: I will set the school record in the 1600m run