Saturday

 

On Saturday, Brian wanted to go to Soak City.  He hasn't been all summer, and there are only a few more days of it being open this year.  I didn't get a lot of pictures, but we had fun!

Saturday is also Robbie's p-day while he's in the MTC.  We love having video chats with him.  We were able to talk for about 1 hr and 20 minutes while he did his laundry.  He is having a great experience!  He heads out to Jacksonville on Wednesday this week.    

End of Summer

Our stake had a youth beach night on Friday.  The sunset was so beautiful coming through the clouds.

On Saturday, Brian and Thomas took some friends to the Chargers vs Rams game.

I took the girls to the Padre vs. Dodger game on Saturday too.  We all had fun!

 

Drop Off & Provo MTC

After Brian and Robbie left our home, they traveled to John Wayne airport to fly to Provo.  

After they checked in to their hotel, they met up with Gawbie and Grandpa at Thanksgiving Point to walk around the Christ statues in the gardens there.  

Afterwards, they met up with the rest of the Wheelers in Utah for dinner at Pizza Pie Cafe.

The next morning Brian and Robbie had some time before Robbie's drop off at the MTC.  They went to the BYU bookstore and walked around campus.

Then they had a final lunch together at Tucanos.

Brian dropped Robbie off at the MTC next.

We heard from him within a few hours after he got his phone set up.  Here are a few pictures of his MTC stay so far.  

He had a temple trip to Mt. Timpanogas.  He was able to perform baptisms, confirmations, and initiatories.  Here he is with his district.

Here he is in one of his classrooms with his district and teacher.

We all got to talk to him on Saturday, which was fun.  He's doing great!

Home MTC Week

Robbie started Home MTC on Aug. 4.  Robbie had some great classes and likes his new district and companion.  We joined him for a few firesides and for the safety videos.

Lydia lead the youth activity on Wedensday- Pie Face Scripture Night.  We played a trivia game with scripture questions that included the pie face game.  She also make mini pies for everyone.  It was great!

The younger two went to the Primary pool party and had a blast.

On Saturday, Lydia walked around her new high school campus to get to know her new schedule.  

Brian took Catherine out to the condo in Rancho Mirage to check on a few things.  She loves her one on one Daddy time.

Tom has been working on solving Rubic's cubes.  He getting pretty fast at it!  Robbie took some time during a break to help him get going and figure it out.

On Sunday, Robbie gave his farewell talk at church.  He did amazing!  He's going to be a great missionary!  Lydia also spoke and did an excellent job.  Afterwards we had an open house at our home for those that wanted to come say good bye to Robbie.

Monday was the first day of school for the younger 3!  We are excited for a new year!

It was also Robbie's packing day.

This morning, Robbie and Brian headed out to the airport at 6:30 am.  It was really hard to say goodbye, but we know he will do amazing things in Florida.  We can't wait to hear his adventures!

 

Missionary

Robbie was set apart as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Saturday night.  Our stake president gave him a beautiful blessing.  He's ready!

Robbie with Pres. Hatori

Before he was set apart, we all went to dinner.  Robbie requested Red Robin.

On Sunday, Brian hung up Robbie's plaque with the other missionaries serving from our ward.

 

AALRR Party

The summer party for Brian's firm, AALRR, was at Knott's this year!  Brian took Robbie, Thomas, and Catherine to the awesome lunch and then on a few fun rides afterwards.  Thomas tried out Silver Bullet for the first time with Robbie and loved it!  Catherine always loves Hang Time as her favorite.  I was picking up Lydia in Big Bear so we missed out.

Tidepools

I took Thomas and Catherine to the tidepools one morning this week.  Low tide was at 7:30 am so we headed out early at 6 am to catch it.  It was overcast, but we mostly had the beach to ourselves.

skipping rocks

whimbrel

anemone

Owl limpet

another anemone

I think the tidepools are such an interesting habitat to explore!

 

Summer Fun

Catherine and Thomas have been reading like crazy to earn their library reading program prizes.  Catherine likes to read to all her animals.

Lydia has been at Big Bear again this week with the high school cross country team.  She was one of three freshman girls to be invited to the annual altitude training.  She had so much fun!  They ran twice per day, went on hikes, jumped in the lake, and built friendships.  She calculated that she ran 50 miles this week!

Robbie enjoyed his last week before his mission.  Besides cleaning out his room and packing things up, he was able to hang out with friends from school and church.  Here he is with some church friends at our youth activity this week.