August

 We finally got started on the remodel of our upstairs bathrooms. We had the cabinets refinished, we replaced the counters with granite, and replaced all of the hardware/faucets/lighting. This pic has the new towel rings and part of the new cabinets. I'll have an "after" picture in next month's post, hopefully.

Afton wrote her birthday list.

We went swimming a lot.

Early in the month, Dan left to go hiking (Mount Adams, I think?) in Washington with his brother Matt and Matt's oldest son, Noah. He always leaves the kids notes before he leaves.

The day after he left, I found out I was pregnant! So I called him up (he was sleeping in a rental car) and told him the good news and not to die. Very exciting! We had been trying for a LONG time and I thought maybe we wouldn't be able to have any more kids, but then this happened. We feel really blessed.

Since Dan was gone, I took the kids to hang out at my parents' home for a few days. We hit the splash pad.

We helped my parents clean all the bathrooms in their church (there are SEVEN!!!),

and we celebrated with some Dairy Queen. If there is one area in which I as a parent lack, it's in not teaching my children how to properly eat ice cream before it melts all over your hands. He was a mess by the end.

Sent Dan a pic while he was gone.

The next morning, we went to hike Blackrock Summit in Shenandoah. It was very shady and the weather was actually really nice for August, until we got to the exposed rocks at the end. Then it was pretty hot.

Again, we celebrated. First we got pizza at some small joint Dad knows about from his stake presidency days. Then we got some delicious ice cream.

Dan came home.

Eli worked on writing his name, as well as other family members' names.

That's my name below.

I got a hair wand and practiced.

Oh, the toy room. How I loathe thee. It can go from spotless to destroyed so, so quickly. Then it takes the kids HOURS to clean it. I'm not exaggerating. HOURS. They are very slow and they'll lay on their stomachs and only do things in arm's reach and it takes FOREVER! Sometimes (lots of times) I want to throw all the toys away.

Had a fun park day in downtown Richmond.

Birthday prep for Afton! She got to have her first friend party. She chose to go to Laser Quest for some serious laser tag fun. The girls had a great time. I learned after inviting the girls that Afton wanted, that she hadn't even had class with some of them - they just played at recess. So that was kind of random and some of the moms were like "Who's Afton?" when they got the invite, but since then, she's been in class with some so that's good.

Red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. We got Costco pizza and watermelon, too.

Met Dan for lunch. Sam was upset about something.

But he was also sweet to Eli later. Melts your heart.

No trip to Walmart is complete without a stop to see the (mostly alive) fish.

Afton's big day! Eight years old!

She LOVES her Hermione robe.

She brings so much light and joy to our family. She loves horses and dressing up still. She has an amazing imagination and she's a great artist. She also talks a LOT when she's really into something. She's a great big sister to Eli and little sister to Sam. She's obedient and kind. We love our Afton.

Mom and Dad gave her her first set of adult-sized scriptures.

We took our annual pilgrimage to Atlantic Beach, North Carolina. This time we stayed in a house because Dan's parents were supposed to come, but they had to cancel at the last minute. The house was great and the beach was pretty quiet - just how we like it. I'll have the rest of the beach pictures in September's post because we always go over Labor Day weekend.

Poor Sam got stung big time by a jellyfish. He jumped into Dan's arms when it happened so Dan got some minor stings as well.

I think that night Afton also got super sick because she was dehydrated.