August 2017. The rest of the grandparents and an odd occurrence

Our first big activity of August was the Blanding Family Practice Teddy Bear Clinic.  The kids got to tour the clinic and hospital and take a Teddy Bear for shots and stitches, etc. 
Finley is going to be a firefighter.

He did not want to get down.

Grandma and Grandpa Workman came to visit for a few days around Melissa's birthday.

The kids were pretty happy to have extra attention.

And Melissa was excited to assign them to replace the foldout bed in the camp trailer.  After she spent the beach trip sleeping on it, she knew it needed to be redone.  So we bought a memory foam mattress and recovered the whole thing. 

We all went to the Collin Raye concert in Monticello on Melissa's birthday.  We fed the Workman's good old fashioned fairground food and listened to old country music. Melissa had some of the young women in the ward watching the kids. We have quite a few good babysitters in our ward. 

Mom made the birthday cake. They were starting to talk about moving to Blanding and this trip doubled as a scouting expedition.  Looking at some of the houses on the market, visiting different areas, etc. 

My present to Melissa for her birthday was toddler swings.  Oh, and the promise of a swing set. We built it 8/12/17. Hannah was an amazing helper.  She loved turning the wrench and measuring for square.  

Ed Larson helped me lift it into the holes, I filled them with cement and Sunday afternoon (8/13) the kids were swinging!. 

Melissa received a shirt from Trisha for her birthday.  I think she looks super hot. 

Melissa demonstrating the new trailer bed.

Which we promptly went out to use the next weekend. We went up Blue Mountain to the old scout camp area with the Lyman family.

Roughing it!

We took a short hike that evening to see the sunset.

Finley had a stick friend in Laney. We are so glad to have the Lyman's as neighbors.  We don't see each other as much since we had the twins, but they are still amazing friends and really helpful when we are in need.

I decided it was time to retreat my trailer, to avoid needing to replace boards in the next year or two.  Which is just an excuse.  We don't take the toys out as often as we should, and these 2x8 boards would probably last another 5+ years in their current state, but I like to keep my things nice and need to use the shop for something. 

I went with 10x Restore deck paint. It was SO thick!  Oh, I also changed colors.  Blue is my favorite color.

The next weekend was a busy one. 8/26. A morning in the Rhino. Finley is a motoring addict now.  Any time he's in the shop he goes straight to the Rhino and says "On?! Keys?"

That afternoon we hit the pool as a family.

Melissa had an Enrichment activity the same night I had Bishopric training, so Finley got to go to the Mother/Daughter game night. Melissa has been serving on the Enrichment Committee.  She enjoys helping when they have an activity each quarter, but sometimes she says she wishes she could do more.

 

Granddad and Nana came to spend the weekend with us at the end of August. Hannah loved that Granddad had so many buttons.

Nana enjoyed reading.

8/31/17 Then Melissa left! Her little brother Mark got married 9/3. We already had a family trip to visit him planned for October, so Melissa went to the wedding and his first child's baptism alone.  This was Melissa's first night(s) away from the kids.  Nana and Granddad were already planning to come spend a few days, so it was nice to have them with me. They watched the kids for a few hours on Thursday, so Melissa could leave before I got home from work.  They had originally planned their trip to attend the Utah Symphony concert in Bluff, UT.  We sat with dad's cousin Dwayne Bayles

The concert was a lot of fun.  It was a neat experience to have a cultural experience under the stars at Camp Stickie-ta-tudy a few miles south of Bluff.