August 2018

August is always a great month!  You get to enjoy the last bit of summer break, but also get back into consistent routines.  One thing I forgot to blog about in July is that I started a push up challenge with my Cross fit group.  The challenge was to do 100 push ups each day for 30 days.  This was a challenge I wanted to take on because my upper body is weaker than my lower body.  I certainly couldn't do 10 regular push ups in a row when the challenge began.  However I started on an incline (4th stair) and broke up the 100 into doable sets.  Over time I increased my strength until I was able to do 100 push ups each day with no incline at about 15-20 in each set.  I was pretty sore at the beginning and had to take 1 or 2 rest days (I always took Sunday off), but I really loved seeing my strength grow.  This is my before picture.  If I can find the after picture, I will add it later :)

In early August I was able to take the girls to a Charlie Puth concert (a gift from their last birthdays.)  We had so much fun!  We already loved his music, but this took our appreciation to another level.  He is pretty talented in his writing and compilation of music.  He also plays the piano.  He seemed to be grateful to his fans and overall down to earth.  You can see we had pretty good seats.  The girls were a bit smitten with him. :)  It was a really cool way to spend time together.  It was a fun and electrifying evening.

One day we had the chance to go miniature golfing.  It was quite hot and we had just a small window, but we tried to fit in as much fun as possible before school started.

Oh, we also took a quick trip to the lake with the Kleins one Saturday afternoon.  We sure love them! 

Also before school began, the kids started to practice with their athletic teams.

Sterling started officially training with his middle school cross country team.  Running isn't his favorite sport, but he wanted to be involved in a school fall sport and enjoyed seeing progress throughout the season.  It was quite exhausting, especially in the beginning as his body was adapting to the long practices.  Here he is one day after he got home.  I guess he didn't realize how tired he was.

Here are some pictures from the beginning of his season.  I was really proud of how hard he worked.  He gave his best effort and his coaches recognized that.  He was one of the top 15 fastest runners on his team.

Here is Eve at a picnic before school started with her cheer team and with her friends, Ali, Abigail, and Maya.

Here she is with her team after school started.  She has really enjoyed the challenge of learning all the different routines.  It has been a new experience to work with a team.  Most of the time it is fun and uplifting, but sometimes it is a learning experience as she has had to work with different personalities and backgrounds.  I love that she gets more social time at football games and after school.

August 15th was the first day of school for everyone except Christian who started the following day.  Eve is a FRESHMAN!  I can't believe it.  Sterling is in 7th grade, Sheri in 5th, and Christian is in half day kindergarten.

The rest of the month rolled right along, busy, beautiful, and bounteous!

Here is our garden and fruit tree harvest one day (minus the watermelon).

Christian has transitioned to kindergarten like a pro!  He knows the school, and knows the routines.  Here he is on pajama day (they all earned for good behavior.)  He likes be a bit silly and crazy sometimes. :)

 Here is a snap shot that his teacher took.  I sure enjoy my cutie pie and am glad I get a bit more time with him in the mornings before he goes to school.

Here is Sterling at a Young Men's activity where they learned about landscaping/pruning.  We have stellar youth leaders and can't adequately express our love for them!

Well, that about sums up our month.  We hope you had a great August too!