"Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it." ~Russel Baker

WOW! Summer is officially over...as of August 28th for me. Actually, I went back to set up my classroom on the 20th...I still relished the late nights until the eve of the first day of school:) August was an incredibly full month, as were the other two, so I thought I'd quickly fill you in. I was doing so well at uploading these pictures in order until the VERY last one. So one is out of order. This will be a "lengthy" post in size, but not in words. Welcome to my summer!!!

The first week of August I had many exciting things planned. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 premiered, Randy Travis came in concert, and Misty and I went to Twin Falls.

The 2nd weekend in August, I asked Misty to ride with me to Twin Falls to see the temple open house. Being the AMAZING friend that she is, she complied. And although she was sad at first that she didn't bring a book for the roadtrip, she managed to be great company for the entire trip :) We made a stop at Starbucks for coffee/frozen hot chocolate before heading to Twin. We waited for a while to go on our tour. The temple was really pretty. It was my first time going through the entire temple and I must say, I'm very sad the Boise Temple is so small. I love it nonetheless. We enjoyed our stay, took pictures, and stopped at Chili's and what we thought was a Dell store before heading home.
Misty and I in front of the temple after the tour.

They had information and cookies waiting for us after the tour. We had a cookie. I dropped part of mine:)

Misty and I outside the theatre after the premiere our movie. Yes, our movie. We read the books. We attached to the characters. We even made our own "traveling pants" :)

Me sitting outside waiting for Randy Travis at the Botanical Gardens. It was pretty much the most awesome arrangement for a concert, ever! Ouside, on blankets, summer night, listening to music. I didn't think cameras were allowed as the security guard warned me about it when she checked my purse. So I didn't get a picture with mom or Bonnie. (Jonnie's mom, who is amazing, joined us for this concert.) I just had mom sneak this picture really quickly to document my attendance.

After the concert was over people had cameras everywhere and Bonnie told me it wouldn't hurt to sneak into the more expensive ticket area and get a picture. I asked the security guards if I could just get through to "get a closer look". They allowed me and I made it to the front of the stage just in time for encore. Two songs, front and center, plus I got to shake his hand!!!!

This summer I worked for the Idaho Foodbank serving free lunch to kids in the park. We served at Owyhee park, but the Foodbank serviced approx 14 parks in the Boise area. Every morning we would meet at the warehouse, load our food in the car, set it up at the park, serve, play games with the kids, tear our park down, and take it back to the foodbank. I worked with Jenny at my park all day. I was acquainted with all the employees, however, from our meetings and interactions at the warehouse every morning and afternoon. This summer job was so good for me. Jeff was so good for me. He opened a part of my heart this summer, which is really hard to explain, but I love him. This is me with Jeff at our end of the summer BBQ.

This is Jenny with one of our reguluars at the park. She wasn't just a regular, she was a favorite. And Jenny's great!

Jenny and I found this book in our "book box" one morning. (We get books donated and we bring them in a box to the park. The kids can take free books, exchange them, or add to them. It's a pretty awesome program.) We played with it from the second we found it. The first morning we were playing with it one of the people from a different park, Nick, walked by. He saw it and goes, "That's exciting!" I told Jenny that it was funny that Nick understands how exciting it is and she goes, "Yeah. How we're all like three!" :) It's true and that's why my summer was SO amazing.




Back in July, I went rafting with my longtime friend Todd, and some of his family--including his dad, who I love! I mentioned how I would love to go to the rodeo but didn't have anyone to join me. (Todd goes to ISU so he wouldn't be in town.) Todd said his dad would go with me. I called his dad and made arrangements to go with him and some of his friends the Saturday of the rodeo. Howard, a.k.a. dad, asked if I would like to raft that morning. I was stoked. Absolutely stoked!!! I couldn't wait. When I showed up that morning I found I wasn't rafting with Howard and his friends, but Todd and his friends! It was an awesome, planned, surprise for me. Of course, Howard was there. I didn't get any rafting pictures but I seriously had a BLAST! It was SO much fun! We went home, changed, and got ready for the rodeo.

The Caldwell Night Rodeo is awesome. I LOVE it. It's probably my favorite of all the rodeos I've been to. They have two sides..the Rowdies (drunken) side and the Civies (more family) side. They have a real rivalry and it's great. I actually prefer to be a Rowdy...no matter how much I hate alcohol. That's my side of preference. This gang wasn't going for it. We were Civies this time and it nearly broke my heart. Among other things that broke my heart: )

Todd with me after the rodeo. I was very VERY frustrated with the evening at this point.

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My classroom. Competely empty. EMPTY! Our school was remodeled over the summer and EVERYTHING was packed up. I had such a mess to work with trying to organize things that I had no idea what to do with. I had so much space to work with but so much junk, too! I threw 4 boxes of junk away. We have an awesome custodian, though. He's so helpful and with all the support my room was darn near ready in time!

When I saw this outside my room on moving day I almost cried. It was just neat. I'm so proud of my Larson name:)

After moving and unpacking the boxes.Yuck!

Corey and Cassie got married in the Bountiful Temple on August 22. They looked great, the temple is GORGEOUS (I'd never seen it before). They didn't have a bad reception either, I must say. I'm happy for them. Although, I will not be traveling with just my parents again, that was just too much!

We're cousins! He's awesome and funny and we were kids together at one point. I love him and I'm happy for him. I'm a little sad that the family dynamic will change, but that's what happens, I guess.

Boot Scootin' Boogie

As for the rest of August. My brother turned 20 in Brazil! I had my very first official school day as a 5th grade teacher. I have, what appears to be, and awesome class. I still have very little idea of what I'm doing but I am SO excited to go to work next week. I won't lie, I'm excited for a three-day weekend as well. I'll definitely keep you posted!