What the rest of August Looked Like

 In reverse order...

Because that's the way Blogger is rolling today.

Date night at San Luis,

a yummy Mexican restaurant.
You know it's a good one when there's more

Spanish being spoken inside than English.

Andrew got me this fun outdoorsy National Parks puzzle

for Mother's Day and we finally got to put it together.

It's a good one.

First day of school pics!

Whitney is starting senior year!

She hasn't been back to school in person

since March of 2000. Whoa.

She is nervous about driving to school.

But she's looking forward to actually

spending time with her friends again.

She has four classes and two of them have

FOUR students total in them.

What???

Talk about personalized learning.

She thinks that'll work well in Spanish 3,

but not so much in discussion-based Sociology.

Masks are still required in all our school buildings.

Care Bear's starting 8th grade. Yippee!

She went back to in-person school in March 2021,

so it's not as big of a change for her.

This is her last year of middle school.

She likes her teachers.

But she thinks it's lame that there's no time to socialize.

They have to eat lunch in their classroom

in assigned seats, so it's hard to make friends.

Boo.

Andrew gave both girls back-to-school blessings

on the night before school started.

Such a sweet experience.

On a less-sweet note,

I got called for jury duty.

They actually called me for the week

that we were on the Oregon Coast, so I

had a good excuse to delay it.

Unfortunately, I got rescheduled for 

THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL.

So lame.

Not only did I have to report,

but I actually got SEATED ON THE JURY.

I've actually always thought that I'd like being on a jury.

I have a flexible schedule and am a reasonable person.

But this was a murder trial.

Oh my gosh.

I am super sensitive to violence.

It was DIFFICULT.

I offered MANY prayers for strength from the jury box.

And my testimony of the strengthening power of the

Atonement of Jesus Christ increased.

It is real!

I felt supported and uplifted beyond my own means

to be able to get through that trial.

In the end, we found the defendant guilty.

It was a sad situation and I feel bad for all of the parties involved.

On a lighter note...

Date night at Odeh's, a Mediterranean restaurant 

that was new to us. It was amazing and I can't wait to go back.

After missing a year for COVID, 

The Winston-Salem Open was back and welcomed fans.

Since Caroline has started playing this year, she

decided to join us.

It was a HOT day and she didn't love it.

Next time, we'll go back to making it a date,

so we can stay as long as we want and not feel

like Care Bear is getting bored.

It's always so fun to be THIS close to professional tennis.

It's only a men's tournament, so we don't get to see any women.

And those men are awesome.

The Young Women had a Back-to-School bash at the park.

They played cards.

And spoons?

And the sky was beautiful and foreboding.

They hung out on the swings.

Some of our YW who don't come to indoor activities joined us.

It was so good to see them.

Hooray for awesome YW!

Care Bear got her ears pierced!

After YEARS of not wanting earrings,

she finally decided she did.

And she had saved up enough money to afford it.

It was easier and less painful than she thought.

As soon as it was done, she said, 

"I'm ready for my next piercing!" 

Yikes!

We didn't have a whole lot of time between the end

of the road trip and the beginning of the school year.

But we had a few things we wanted to squeeze in.

At the top of the list for the girls?

Visit the Cat Cafe in downtown Greensboro.

For yummy drinks,

But mostly for the CATS!

You pay by the hour and the girls made the most

of their one hour with those cuties.

The YW also had a service project with GUFI.

It was so fun.

We got there fairly early in the morning,

so we could beat the heat.

We had a GREAT turnout.

I was so happy that all these awesome girls

were willing to give their morning to helping others.

We prepped some raised beds.

And did LOTS of weeding.

This is the first year at this garden spot.

It is associated with St. Philip AME Zion Church.

It wasn't as productive as they hoped, but they're working

on the soil quality so that it will be more productive next year.

The produce is donated to people in need in the neighborhood

and in the congregation.

SVU campus tour!

Whit and I drove up to Buena Vista to tour SVU.

It's such a cool old campus.

And such a small student population.

It would be a lot like Penn-Griffin!

I think it would be a good fit for Whit,

but it's too darn expensive.

Even with a scholarship.

Darn.

Stopped for yummy ice cream afterward.

Speaking of ice cream...

Nicolle and Greg came into town!

So fun that I just got to see them at their home,

and then they came to ours!

We went out for crazy shakes at Small Batch.

mine has cotton candy on it.

So fun.