August 2026 recap

Blake hiked his 1st 14er(s)! And of course, with zero training, he scampered right to the top. Grey’s and Torry’s for the win. But maybe his favorite part was driving the truck on the dirt roads leading up to the trailhead. Or perhaps it was picking up two cute girls whose car couldn’t navigate the rough roads and becoming the hero of the day because he saved them like 3+ miles of walking.

Landon, Jhena and the boys came for a visit! We loved having them. Sawyer did not love having us. Poor kid did not want anything to do with anyone who wasn’t his mama. That meant poor Jhena too–instead of a relaxing vacation, she had a little starfish baby suctioned to her the whole time. Despite that, Sawyer is so adorable it doesn’t even matter. And Finn had a great time. He would come into my room every morning at about 6:30 am and whisper, “Tara, can I have a Welch’s fruit snack?” I loved it. We snuggled and watched Bluey one morning too. He was fascinated with my inside out pin that rotates to show all the different emotions. And, he loved Halle’s Nightmare Before Christmas snowglobe. He came out of her room one day (where he was sleeping) with the snowglobe in his hands. He ran up to Mave and me and said, “Behold! A snow globe!” We could not stop laughing.

There was lots of throwing toys for Dash, playing on the tramp for me, and reading stories for Rusty.

We hit the pool one day, went to the Peter Pan Park, went to the Bee hugger farm and picked sunflowers and fed the animals, had lunch on Pearl Street, and had dinner at Acerage one night. We absolutely loved having them here and we hope they want to come again soon.

Last first day of High School! How is this real? The seniors get a little kid backpack to use during their senior year, and Blake chose Chase from Paw Patrol. I love this tradition. It reminds me that even though they may look big, they are still just kids growing up, making mistakes, and doing the best they can.

We went to the world’s largest bouncy house with the McBrides. We did an obstacle course that was like 1 mile long! (At least that’s what it felt like) We felt every year of our age as we came out of there huffing and puffing and drenched in sweat. The giant bounce house was awesome, and we also had a great time on the slides. Rusty took Blake and friends to K1 Speed. They had to have an adult with them, and at first they were kinda bummed about that, but then not bummed at all because Rusty paid AND took them to dinner. We got to watch the Schofield kiddos for a few days while their parents were in Slovania. Mave and I loved coloring with my new alcohol markers, and Gwen and I used the Cricut to make a custom swim hoodie for the “Other Blake.”

We threw Steph a surprise bachelorette party. But the surprise was on us! She and Jason eloped at the end of May. And no one knew! So, we crossed out all the “To Be” on our decor and partied anyway. We stayed at the Stein Erekson Lodge in Park City. It was a blast. We went to dinner one night, but really what we did was chat and chat and chat and chat. Love every minute I get to spend with these beautiful ladies, and never stop thanking Heavenly Father for that freshman year on Oahu that gave me best friends for life.