What I learned in August.....

I have linked up with Emily P Freeman for a few months now posting What I learned in.......

here is my August one

1. back to school time is bitter sweet
i feel like it am so ready for them to get back to school and then i find that i miss them a ton. either way they are both doing great in school, my son has new found love for school and we could not be more pleased with the teachers that they each got this year. Thankful for it all.

2. ice cream is cheaper than therapy
i have really struggled with a few things this past month and i happen to come across this shirt. I need it in my life. I searched for something similar on my favorite tshirt site Look Human. i was surprised to find how much is cheaper than therapy. just check out this list of tshirts that have things listed that are cheaper than therapy. WHY KNEW?!?!?

3. i love supporting friends on the mission field
We have college friends that are missionaries in Papua New Guiena. I love that we can partner with them and support them while they are away from home. Here is a link to their Booster page, with one day left to help support them and celebrate with them on two years there.

4. finding beauty in my days
just sitting in carline and this beauty landed on my van. the beauty in the mundane.

5. reading books that challenge and push me.
I finished Rising Strong by Brene' Brown and really loved every second of it.

A few of my favorite things.....

my husband and i recently went on our very first all-inclusive vacation. i made a photo book from that vacation and on the back i listed some of my favorite things from that trip. here they are:

snorkeling

the rustling of the thatched roofs in the wind

the sound of the ocean waves

the sand between my toes

saltwater on my skin

beach hats

the smell of tanning lotion (not mine because I used straight up sunscreen)

a book in hand

eating lunch on the beach

water dripping

time, just us

quiet

making that list reminded me of a time on the blog that i made a list of a few of my favorite things. i went back to find the post. here it is. i thought i would add to that list here......

the smell of flowers right after it rains

kissing my kids sweet cheeks

seeing my kids right before the wake up

What I learned in July....

i  have only done this for the past few months but it has been fun. Check out more about the What i learned posts on Emily's blog and link up there.

1. how much i love all-inclusive vacations and can't believe it has taken me this long to go on one.
My hubby and I went to Cancun this month to celebrate our 14 years of being married. (yeah, we are weird like that, we celebrate strange years)

2. celebrating my sons birthday with a camping trip was fabulous and so much fun
the past few years we have been doing combined birthday parties for the kids but this year since we did a paint party for little girl we asked golden boy what he wanted to do. he said camping. he wanted us to rent a camper but we took my nephew and two nieces and we just weren't all going to fit in a pop up camper. (which was the only thing that our van could have pulled) it was a quick weekend but I think that the kids had a fantastic time.

3. i have good genes or so we have been told. I posted this picture on my dads 60th birthday and it was commented two or three time how they want whatever my parents are taking. this picture is straight off of my phone.  no editing. my parents don't look even close to 60.

here is a picture of the originals.
My little sister, mom, me and my dad
we got to spend some time together, just the four of us, the last weekend of the month. it was my dads 60th birthday

here are my other links:

June

May

March

First Day

I can't believe that it is already the first day of school.

The summer went way to quickly.

The kids were excited to go back though and see all of their friends and to meet some new ones.

Here's to 1st and 3rd grade.