August

 August had a lot going on, as always.  Kate started us off by having a birthday.  In Zimbabwe.  One she'll never forget, I'm sure.  Really I need to have her do a whole post of all the things she's been up to.  Sage had a birthday and, unlike year's past, wanted nothing to do with it.  Which made me sad.  Why do kids have to grow up?  She ended up coming camping with me and Jake.  She did drive the Jeep a lot, and she got to go fishing.  And even caught a birthday fish!  I'm sure she'd tell you it was not a good birthday, but at least we did something.  I guess...  Jake's birthday surprise was to drive a race car around a race track.  We all had fun going with him and seeing the fast cars.  Jake had a lot of fun going real fast.  And Zack and Sage and I got to ride in a drift car driven by an actual race car driver.  I've never gone so fast around turns.  Pretty cool.

School started with everyone at different locations.  Zack in Logan (I never get any pictures of him, or texts, or any kind of info at all).  Kate in St George.  We miss her.  A lot.  And I'm a horrible mom and was so consumed by the heat when we dropped her off that I didn't even get any pictures.  Kate is great at communicating with us, so that's a plus.  A big plus.  And poor Sage is stuck at home, alone with her parents.  She's in her sophomore year of high school.  I knew it would be an adjustment having just one kid at home, but man it really threw us all for a loop.  Sage hates it.  A lot.  She frequently says, "Stop asking me questions!"  Sorry Sage.  I feel like it's slowly getting better (Sage would probably disagree).  I wasn't sure we were going to make it.

On top of all of these happenings, race season started for mountain biking.  The races always make our fall season really busy.  But we love it.  Sage is having a great season and we love watching her race.

Sage getting her bike fit to her.  

I'm grateful the HXP leaders made Kate's birthday special.

Birthday fish!

She even cleaned it herself

First race of the season in Cedar.

Sage got her driving permit!  We're all counting down the days until she has her license.  We have a ways to go...

The only first day of school picture I got

Fast cars at the race track

These three deer were living at our house all summer.  Now that hunting season is in full swing we haven't seen them for a while.  Hopefully that's not a bad sign.

Jake driving

The only picture I have of Swiss Days.

Proof that Kate really is at school

Sage killing it at the Soldier Hollow race