Oh brother, the blog is back!

Geez, August is a blur....But not that it wasn't an event filled month, like July- just not as picturesque. I guess.  I should hit on some of the highlights, though.
SOPHIE'S BIRTHDAY (9)- who aspires to become a chef
Baking party:

 

 TAYLOR'S ACCIDENT- (aka adding several more gray hairs to an already nearly white head).  So thankful everyone  is ok.

 BACK TO SCHOOL- goes without saying that everyone was super excited to go back (with the exception of maybe one) and looked great for their first day...Corbin 1st grade, Gabi 3rd grade, Sophie 4th grade, Elijah 7th grade and Rory and Emma are sophomores!

 B-RAD'S REAL BIRTHDAY  (officially a senior)

Meredith baked his favorite dessert, peach cobbler (do I detect a little "Germany" there? And we played his favorite game, poker.

CARRIE AND AMIE'S BIRTHDAYS

Friends surprised them with a trip to "Enigma" in Ft Collins (an escape room) while Brad & I watched the kids- had some real fun making smores on the BBQ! (well deserved after that big Yoga workout)

 

And with that, folks,August is a wrap!

oregon vacay

Tues pm. as Brad was finishing up in the kitchen, I told him I had something to talk about with him. He looked scared, but then I told him I had some time off and that I was taking him on a surprise get away and that we needed to leave the next morning by 445.  Yikes!
Wed:  He was finally upright and ready to go when he walked out of the bedroom to discover that Mer and family were there!  Surprised!~ And then Carrie, Spencer and the kids showed up at the airport!We barely made our plane as the security in Denver was insane!  A few hours later we were in Portland where we had rented a 12 passenger van, ate brunch at a wonderful restaurant called Mothers

and headed to our home destination of Depoe Bay to a lovely beach house.

Immediately the kids wanted to get into the ocean, which was REALLY cold.

  Later that afternoon (while Brad napped....to be referred to as WBN) Emma watched the kids while Spencer, Me

r, Carrie and I went grocery shopping. $385.00 later,

we were back at the beach house (to be referred to as BH) where we ended our day with " Chicken Wednesday" (the grocery store's deal of the day), mashed potatoes and gravy and summer squash, followed by a card game.  Only Elijah was exempt, having not slept since Tues night....He fell asleep in a chair and was escorted to a hide-away couch bed where he got back to a regular sleep schedule.
Thurs: Nothing planned for the day so we walked around Lincoln City, ate clam chowder at a great restaurant, The Sea Hag, shopped at the candy store (where Elijah bought candy cigarettes), Spencer and the kids later played cards on the deck of the BH, there was more ocean time, even finding a starfish, and plenty of sand (some of which ended up in places where it shouldn't!)

 

 The adults dragged chairs down there for a much needed cocktail hour! WBN..  Later, we made tacos and played more card games. and tried out the hot tub. Oh, I missed one of the highlights of the day, Brad singing "Let's go golfing now" to the tune of "Let's go surfing now"-Everyone found him highly entertaining!

A short post....

Not much news this week, but look out next week!  We leave Wednesday morning BTBC (before the butt crack-of dawn) to go to Oregon for  a surprise trip for Brad's big birthday (coming 8/8).  I still have not told him that we are going, but will wait until Tuesday evening.  It was quite challenging to pack a suitcase yesterday without his knowledge!  The other person who still is in the dark is Gramma.  I thought she should get through her pacemaker check today (she's consumed) before I spring the news on her.
We did get to a couple of ballgames this week, with a double-header coming this evening.  Fortunately, both kids play at the same ballpark with back to back games.

 

 Kudos to Carrie for her weight loss this week, meeting a 50# goal.  So proud of her!
Rory came over Friday and mowed the lawn (an enormous job) and tried out the newly fixed weed eater, which worked like a charm. I was excited to find my hydrangeas in bloom, and two colors even!

 Saturday morning, while backing out of the garage to take Gramma to her hair appointment, I hit the garage door, knocking it off the track and tearing off the bottom rail.  So after dropping Gramma off, I went to Home Depot, got a part for the door, and called Curt, who came to the rescue!  Thanks SO much!

 

 Brad woke up in time to help with the installation.

Saturday night, Amie, Carrie, Kristi and Wendy went to Cheyenne to see Miranda Lambert in concert.  They were impressed with the concert, as well as the fact that they stayed up til 1:00am,,,Now THAT is impressive!

 Yesterday, we gathered for an abbreviated version of Sunday dinner, with just Meredith and Emma, Amie, Sophie and Grayson, Gramma, and Brad and I.

 (Speaking of impressive, I managed to make it through the entire day without doing my hair or makeup....an au natural kinda day, I guess).  Congrats to Amie on her new job starting today (still at the hospital, but no more commuting to Loveland)...hope it goes well!