August Birthdays - Bean, Tavin and Torin & funerals and fires

 This was number 36 for Bean, 23 for Tavin and 10 for Torin.  With all of the things going on we got together with Torin first and took him out to buy some books he wanted for his birthday present and then went out for ice cream.  They were Big single cones and he could hardly eat it all!  It was a fun evening with him and we were glad to get to spend a little time with  him .  He's a good little guy amidst the trials that are going on in his life.  Tavin came down for his birthday and to celebrate with Torin, but we never got to see him because of conflicting church schedules.  But we got his present over to Ferf beforehand and he sent us a sweet thank you note.  Love both of these guys.

For Bean's birthday we picked him up from his place in Cedar and he spent the weekend with us.  We took a beautiful drive up to see the new Visitor's Center at Cedar Breaks.  It closed early, so we didn't get to go in unfortunately.  Then we drove over Kolob mountain and went to dinner at Tiki (his choice) and had a nice evening together.  Saturday morning we went miniature golfing and had a good time before it got too hot.  Then we took a picnic snack up to Pine Valley and took a walk up there in the cool of the afternoon.  We spent a nice evening.  I got sick in the night, so Bean and I stayed home from church and watched it together at home.  G'ma came to dinner and Bean opened his presents then and we had a nice dinner and then took him back up to Cedar.  Bean is a dear young man who has had many difficult times in his life, but has kept going.  We are proud of him for his sticking with it through the thick and thin of it.  Oh how I wish his burdens could be healed, but we wait upon the Lord.  

Other August events:  We went to the cutest play that Sarai was in up in Cedar City.  She belongs to a children's musical theater group and they put on a SpongeBob play.  She was part of the chorus/dancer group.  It was a huge cast and very well done.  We loved seeing her be a part of it, but got no pictures unfortunately.  

We also attended the funeral of Paul's Aunt Sheree Lewis and took James and Anna Lou with us to it over in Taylor Arizona.  Also that weekend we attended the funeral of a longtime friend/neighbor, Steve Lewis.  Our kids grew up together in 3rd Ward.  Both of these people had wonderful families that will miss them greatly.  Both funerals were very nice.  

Another August happening was when early one morning during a thunder/lightening storm our neighbor's tall Cyprus tree was struck by lightening.  We were just deciding whether to go on our morning walk when a there was a LOUD thunder clap very close by.  When we looked out the front door the neighbor's tree was bursting into flames!  It was very crazy!  It took the firemen a while to knock the fire down.