Summer Catch-Up

School started this week. Summer ends too quickly! The climax of our summer happened last week when we went to Utah for Lyndsay's college graduation, but I wanted to get in a post of how we filled our time up until that blessed event.

Puzzles. Lots of puzzles. It seems we always had one going, and I'll tell you, it was pretty nice. We kept two tables set up in the living room, one for pieces, and one for the puzzle. Having that project to work on kept the television off more often, and it allowed for some really lovely talks late into the night with my children.

When we finished that one above, we wanted a bigger challenge, so we ordered a 2000 piece puzzle. Holy cow! None of us had ever tried one that big and it took a LONG time, but what a great feeling when it was finally completed!

I  finally stuck to my goal of teaching Conor Latin. We started right at the beginning of summer and did two lessons each day on most days. He is learning so quickly! I also taught him to write in cursive, because somehow that got left out of the curriculum and it was important to me that he have that skill. So, most every day he did two lessons in Latin, two pages in cursive, and read for one hour. Mean mom, I know.

Blessed surprise! Dylan moved back home the first week in July. It was sudden and unexpected, but so wonderful to have him home. I had some anxiety about the transition, but really, it's been a delight. I want to write more about this, and about him. But I can tell you now that I am so proud of this boy, what he's come through, who he is becoming, and where he and I are in our relationship now.

Conor played in an All-Stars league. They were younger and less experienced than every other team and lost every game, but it was a great opportunity for them and they had a lot of fun. Conor got the only hit (a double) in the last game, and even got to pitch for the first time.

He was awarded the Game Ball for that last championship game. So proud of him!

Lyndsay drove home from Provo for a week and a half visit, and stopped at the hospital to see me on her way home.

A few days later, we went back to the airport to pick up Aiden, who returned from his six week visit with his dad in Arizona.

Which means. . . All my chickens were home!

Lots of board games were played.

We had a beach day.

So good to see my oldest son engaged and having such a good time with his little brother. Man, it was good to be together.

Lots of late night laughs and fun sibling rivalry. Just like the old days.

We threw together a quick birthday/graduation party for Lyndsay.

Her friend, Aisha, came home from her mission in Uruguay that same day, so we celebrated her as well. Aisha was Lyndsay's first room mate at BYU.

Happy 21st birthday! How time flies!

The next day we made a return trip out to Long Beach to go kayaking.

(We brought a friend along with us.)

And then the following day we had to say goodbye to Lyndsay and send her back up to Utah to finish up her last week or so in Provo before graduation. School was finished for her back in June, but she had to study and take the GRE (Grad school entrance exam), get some more work done in the research lab, and pack up her apartment.

Not too sad of a goodbye this time, since we knew we'd be up there shortly to celebrate all her hard work. Love this girl!