'Just' a Mom: Our Family Memories in August 2026!

August was a wonderful month of summer for our family! I got over morning sickness pretty early in the month, so I was able to enjoy a lot of it. It was nice to get back into some routines after having so little energy and we got to spend time with family and friends and be outside a lot. It was wonderful!

One of the big highlights for the kids was going fishing with Grandpa Danny.

The pictures are a little out of order, but one of their favorite parts was jumping out of the boat afterward and playing at the dock.

As we were leaving, we found this little toad and had to take a picture for the kids (they were all on the boat with Grandpa still).

Ben stayed home with Leah and Parker (Parker didn't want to go, so she stayed home and got some screen time and hung out with Ben). I took the other kids. Melissa and Lindi and I stayed on the beach with whatever kids weren't in the boat while Danny, Caleb, and Donovan were on the boat helping manage all the kids fishing. It was really nice that Donovan and Caleb were both there to help because that meant the women could stay on the beach.

The hook went too deep in one of the fish that Ashtyn caught and it died, so she brought it home and we cooked it for dinner. It was really yummy and she was very excited to do that.

Another highlight of August was our trip out to West Jordan for my cousin's wedding. The kids were very excited to stay with Grandma Dee for two nights (we haven't done that since Leah was born and this trip reminded us why XD). We didn't get a lot of pictures, but we had a wonderful weekend seeing family and friends. Ben and I went to the dinner on Friday night and the sealing on Saturday afternoon while Jon and Amanda watched the kids for us at my mom's house. Saturday morning, we had some friends (who moved from Vernal to Salt Lake area) over, which the kids were very excited about and on Saturday evening, we went to Makayla's reception with all the kids. They loved the ice cream and I loved catching up with family. Sunday morning, we went to my parents' ward, which I always love doing. I love the people in that ward and always love seeing them and being able to say hi. Sunday afternoon, Cassie and her kids came over, it was fun to see them and the kids had a blast together.

And Ashtyn caught the bouqet at the reception!

The hardest part of the trip (besides packing everything with so many kids and doing so many things XD) was Leah sleeping. She didn't want to sleep at my mom's house and would stand up in her crib and just cry. I ended up rocking her to sleep the first day, Jon managed to get her to sleep that night, she didn't nap the next day, Ben had to work to get her to go to sleep Saturday night, and I didn't even try a crib nap on Sunday (I just rocked her to sleep). I thought once we were home, she would just sleep but it was a week of us working her back to her normal "good sleep" for naps and night. *sigh* And now I remember why we haven't done many trips out to West Jordan since she was born, because she has always been this way with sleep and travel. I'm hopeful that she will get better as she gets older (Oliver wasn't as bad as her, but he also wasn't great at sleeping while traveling and does great now).

The kids loved the reception, especially the ice cream and the playset.

Leah loved the swings!

We love baby Neal!

Park days with cousins!

The twins are little adorable imps 🩷

Jonathan and Leah 🩷

Oliver and Jonathan make these fish out of blocks and it's one of my favorite things.

One day at Smith's, I found a praying mantis on the peaches! I had to take a picture for the kids XD

Because they love catching bugs and especially praying mantises everywhere we go.

Ben found a giant cricket in our backyard.

We started up school again in August and it felt so nice to get back into our routine after our summer break and my morning sickness phase. The kids were so excited to be done with real school so they could play school 😂

Their giant block tower. Poor Leah ended up accidentally knocking it down on herself, it scared her.

A sign Parker made for the game.

I also started up natural yeast starter (sour dough) again in August. I used to do it before we had Rylee, but I stopped after we had three kids. It felt like too much to keep up with. Why am I wanting to do it now when we're about to have two under two again while homeschooling four other kids? I have no idea. I just know I've been wanting to get into it again and I've been having a lot of fun with it. This was my first loaf of sour dough bread in my dutch oven (I didn't have a dutch oven when I did natural yeast before).

Parker 🩷

My favorite part of this picture is Oliver's cute little feet 🩷

Rylee's twelve days (for her birthday) homemade ice cream with cones and sprinkles.

Leah loved it too 😂

Leah snuggling the blankets while watching Signing Time 🩷

Leah loves Ben's balls and rackets 😂

For the first day of school, we did homemade cake donuts and goal setting. The kids think it should be a new "start of school" tradition.

Leah loved the frosting (not the donut so much) 😂

Leah's favorite thing to do right now is draw. In church, she'll loudly yell, "Draw! Draw!" in church.

It's also helpful during homeschool, since Leah tends to struggle with me doing school with the kids.

Sleepy baby.

One of my favorite things is Leah saying "no".

Ashtyn's selfies 🩷

Leah loves to slide. It's funny to look back at this video of when she was just learning to do it herself now that she is so good at it not that much later.