I'm sorry this post is so long. I have over 100 pictures, so you're going to feel like you lived August with us! But I did have Ava and Coen add in some commentary for some of it so that will be fun.
We got back from St. George on a Tuesday night and on Wednesday Natalie came to Tammy's to continue our babysitting schedule of watching the kids from 9-5. Natalie planned a lot of fun outings and activities for the kids and Tammy helped her pull it off. We are so grateful for them helping our kids have a fun summer while we worked! They took the kids to the Gale museum and I think this is the best picture I've ever received- Audrey in the dog house.
Ava says: we love the pioneer museum.
Ava: We got to see the sharks with Boston & McKenna and it was super fun. McKenna says she is the key to get in free. (She really does get them in free since Patty put her name on the pass).
Just Sophia could come this year and the kids had fun playing colored eggs and using strange colors like neon green and baby pink.
I had to work for a little bit on a Saturday so Tammy let Audrey help make cookies, which Audrey loved!
The kids also helped shuck the corn, getting ready for family dinner the next day. Ava would like to say that in St. George when they were shucking corn, Andrew said that whoever shucks the most corn will be Shucker McShucker, and she shucked the most corn, was given that title.
When I went shopping with Brittany a few weeks prior, I found so many cute dresses. I bought FOUR in one day! I couldn't decide which ones to keep and which to take back (because I couldn't keep four, that would just be piggish). I had Brent take pictures of me in the dresses so I could send them to my sisters and mom to vote :) This one was a winner. I ended up keeping three and taking one back.
We had a Sunday dinner with the Cowleys and Natalie helped decorate to make it also a little birthday gathering. Audrey chose mermaid theme from Natalie's many options!
Birthday girl even got balloons on her chair:
Coen and Ava also got to ride and we had the place to ourselves!
After panning for gold we took it to the bank where this cute old banker guy weighed their fools gold and told them how much they would have gotten for it.
Then we went to get some mini cinnamon donuts. I thought the kids looked so cute watching the machine make their donuts. 
That afternoon my mom took Cher and I to get acai bowls. They were SO yummy!
It was fun to hang out with them!
I made cupcakes and Audrey got to lick the frosting. I think she looks like a gnome here.
The next day Natalie held a tea party with the kids complete with strawberry lemonade and cupcakes.
Coen: We got to use the fake plates and cups. Ava and Boston were in the shed and we wrote a note to them that they could come.
Ava got to go to my cousin's wedding with my parents and had a great time! She loves getting attention and getting to do older kid stuff. Ava: Dad does not like me drinking Coke. I like to make him go crazy.
I tried to go into the office about once a week. I did not love losing about an hour in commute time, but I really liked having people to talk to face to face while I worked!
Emma adores Coen. He played really well with her and read her books. Coen: I like to play with Emma and it was really fun. I got to eat dinner there and play with Emma.
Ava and I had a girls day out and went shopping with Addyson and Michele. The girls tried on matching clothes, and got a few things.
On Saturday we went to the annual BBQ at Big Horn. I forgot my phone at home, but it was so nice to be totally disconnected and just enjoy being outdoors! So, I don't have a ton of pictures, but I did get a couple from Natalie and Brent- the kids loved the face painting and balloons!
Video of Ava being dunked in freezing cold water:
Ava says: we got to make butter by shaking the cream in the jar. We listened to Encanto music while we did it. We also shook Livy around also as if she was butter.
Audrey got to go to her first birthday dinner with Grandma and Grandpa! She loves hamburgers and went to Red Robin.
We made Smores on the fire pit. Ava says we got to crumple up newspapers and put them in the fire.
Ava loved her smore. Coen says: Ava is messy.
Back in South Jordan, Grandma was watching the kids (we were sleeping at the Cowleys anyway this month so the kids slept in their same beds). Ava says: We had the time of our lives. We played Apples to Apples and ate Culvers. Coen: We got to go in Grandma's car and finished Great Mouse Detective while eating Pringles in our pajamas.
Thank you Grandma!!!
On Friday Brent and I walked around Main Street and admired all of the expensive things we would never want to buy.
Grama Jo watched the kids while other Grandma was at work- thank you!! Grama took this adorable picture of Audrey in the new Minnie jammies she gave her.
Coen: I love Audrey. We like to watch movies with her. Ava: she is so adorable. Audrey: What me doing? I giving him a hug."
Brent and I decided to splurge and do the Alpine slide. There were no lines since school had started that week for most people. I remember doing the Alpine slide as a kid and it was still really fun! Although waaaay more expensive now.
That evening we got Zupas and ate it on the patio. It was so yummy!
We got some pictures of the kids having fun in South Jordan at the park.
Coen: Ava is very stretchable. Ava: flexible.
Video on the ski lift:
Ava liked this Harry Potter train.
Coen: We watched Fuller House before we went back home. Ava: I was very stressed about forgetting something important like Ted or someone. (teddy bear).
The beautiful condo. Side note- the kids slept in the loft upstairs and Audrey woke up at about 1am, completely wide awake. I couldn't get her to fall back asleep until some time between 5 and 6 am. I eventually just had her watch hours of Bluey on the phone while I went in and out of sleep by her. Talk about a hard return to having kids with us again!
On Monday my work held a celebration for three of us who marked 10 years at the firm. We had delicious rice bowls and invited a guest or two. I wish I had a picture of my guest- my biggest supporter and best friend, Brent :) Since we only have one car, he drove with me into work and used a spare office so that he could be there for me. Brent knows all of my coworkers by name, knows about all of my clients, and what I'm currently working on. Even though auditing bores him to no end, he listens to me talk about my day each day and I love him for it.
We had dinner at my parent's house with Em's family and her parents. It was so fun and great conversation. Coen: We got to play Hide & Seek tag and it was really fun. Ava: We also played girls camp.
Ta-da, a beautiful new mailbox!
The kids always like us to check on them before we go to bed. In the morning I sometimes show them how they were sleeping and it cracks them up! Ava is usually sprawled out and Coen is sleeping like a little soldier, straight legs and arms, flat on his back. We took a picture to show Ava her position this particular night and she laughed so hard!
We went to get our hair cut and Coen came along too so that Brent could work with only Audrey at home. You see- you leave two home, and they'll fight. While I was getting my hair cut, Coen looked at old pictures of newborn Audrey and was dying over how cute she was. He thought she was so cute, that he text a bunch of people the pictures and really confused them. "For a second I thought you had another baby!" Haha.
As we were leaving the temple, paramedics were rushing in with a stretcher. There were so may police cars and ambulances out front! We never heard what happened, but the temple feels like the best place to have an emergency happen. Here we are with all the flashing lights behind us.
My mom went with the kids and me to Wheeler Farm on my day off work. I really wanted to take Audrey since she loves animals so much.
This goat was looking so funny that I just had to take a selfie with it.
Coen: Oh my gosh, that is creepy. Ava : He is a photo bomber (she has recently learned that word). He knows how to do selfies!
The mothering instinct in Audrey is strong. Since she has no younger sibling, she often will take care of Coen. Here she is feeding him cereal. He just goes with it.
Audrey waving hi to a horse.
One time a few months ago when we were driving past a field of cows Audrey wanted me to stop so that she could "pet the moo's head." I told her no. She asked if she could touch the moo's shoulder? I said no. She kept going through all the parts of the cow, "I pet moo's back?" I told her no, we couldn't get across the fence to the cows. My dad thought it was so funny she kept saying she wanted to touch the cow's shoulder, so we had to let Audrey finally touch a cow's shoulder!
Coen: The outdoor movie was really fun. I fell asleep during the last short. Ava: Mark had a snake in a walnut and I was on the top of the ladder and I jumped all the way down, safely, and ran in the house and cried wee wee wee all the way home. I do not believe him that it was fake.
Ava: We got to play family and we had a super fun time having a BBQ.
Ava: we got to go to the temple grounds a lot. It was super quiet, peaceful, and sacred just like the scriptures describe it. Coen: We didn't get to go inside the temple, but we got to touch it. Ava: I can't wait to go inside it some day.
Often this month while we drove home from my parent's house to Brent's parent's house, we would do Come Follow Me in the car, as we drove through the temple parking lot. (It's about 4 minutes away from both of our parents' houses).
Cher drove down to say bye to us and hang out on Friday evening. Thanks Cher!
Ava: Cher's kids came over and later that night we got to have an outdoor movie. Coen: My cousins came over and we had a war with water balloons and bats.
The kids took slow motion videos of the water balloons breaking when hitting them with bats. They were thoroughly entertained!
After Ava was upset, I noticed Boston put her arm around her- so cute!
We went to the Yaede's for dinner on Saturday evening. Our kids line up so well and we miss them living in Eugene!
Coen: Audrey and B are so cute, especially when they're doing that.
A cute video of these two besties:
Coen: Me and Owen got to play Nintendo all day except during dinner.
We tried to take a cute picture one night, but Audrey was pouting because she was so mad she couldn't go inside the temple!
My parents took Brent, Ava, and I to see the Piano guys at Music & the Spoken Word. My dad is now in charge of the finances for the tabernacle choir and goes to their weekly meetings, so when we got to Music and the Spoken Word, a man spotted him and ushered us down right in front. 
Before it started, Ava went up with a few kids and talked with the man operating the large camera.
Ava: We got to get super super super good seats and I got to meet a guy who helped film High School Musical 2. I got to try moving the camera.
There was a blond lady sitting directly in front of me, and someone from backstage was coordinating with her when she was going to need to go up to the stage. At the end, as we were applauding the Piano Guys, they introduced their wives, and it turns out the blond lady is John Schmit's wife! My mom talked to her a bit afterward.
It was an amazing concert! One of may very favorites I've been to with the choir.
Ava: It was super fun to go to Music and the Spoken Word since I have been watching it a lot in my life.
After the concert, Brent talked my dad into letting us go up to his office and get a good view of the temple being remodeled. What you're looking at right there is going to be the baptismal fonts and annex.
Coen: We made cupcakes and smashed Oreos and put them on them and they were so good. Ava: Natalie let us make cupcakes and they were super good and we made a whole bunch of teensie weensie cupcakes. Thanks Natalie! Coen: I could eat them in one bite.
Ava: Baby Mollie was born on August 29. Everyone was going crazy if it was a girl or a boy. I'm so glad Mollie came out safely and she is still healthy. Coen: I wanted her to be a boy because I don't have too many boy cousins. Baby Mollie is so cute.
Natalie was over with the kids the day Marcie was in labor and we were all checking our phones for updates, dying to hear when the baby arrived, and yes- if it was a girl or a boy!!
Not pictured: Brent, Kay, and I went to the temple to do sealings one afternoon. Then Kay came back to the Cowleys and we all had dinner together.
Brent's parent's took us out to dinner but we had too many people to sit at one table at Texas Roadhouse, so Brent and his brothers and dad sat at one table, and the kids, Tammy and I sat at another.
Coen: We went to Texas Roadhouse. I ate so many rolls that I did not want to eat my dinner because I was too full. Ava: Chocale. ("same" in Chilean Spanish) Coen: I was so cold that I wanted to put the napkin on me. 
Bob wanted our kids to experience fishing, so we went to the appropriately named Grandpa's pond.
Coen: It was really fun to fish but except I didn't get a fish. But the most important thing is to have fun. Ava: I got to fish and I got a fish, but it escaped because I was too slow. 
I went to the aquarium with Natalie & Tammy one day. Here's a cute video of Audrey with the penguins!
Coen: I liked the aquarium and the penguins are my favorite animal there.
We sat around and enjoyed watching baby Olivia learn how to walk.
Coen: We taught the baby to learn how to walk. I was so surprised.
Ava: Audrey was very jealous of Livy getting all the attention, so she was doing summersaults.
On Friday, Brent went to BYU campus and met a lot of people in the communications department and did some great networking. He also drove around and showed up at people's houses throughout Utah County that he has been wanting to interview for his dissertation. He had such good luck with people being home and willing to let him in and talk to him!
After lots of packing and cleaning we got on the road to go back to Eugene on Saturday September 3. Brent managed to fit two lamps in the car. The kids are pretty good sports about being completely squished!
Ava: On the way back to Eugene, we stopped by Mollie's house to meet her for the first time. Her toes were very tiny. I miss baby Audrey being that tiny. I still can't believe Audrey was that small! Coen: When we were in the car we were coloring the Mickey Mouse fun house colors. Mollie's fingers were long.
We stayed with our friends in Boise and had our usual Chick Fil-a for dinner.
Coen: We got to go to the pool in Idaho and we did a choo choo train. Ava: The water was freezing cold. 
On Sunday as we drove home, we went to church in Vale, Oregon, which is about an hour west of Boise. We always pass by this LDS church on our drives and I wanted to go inside it! There were many farmers, and families with lots of kids. People were so excited to see us come in, and were disappointed we weren't moving in. It was a very unique building and the sacrament meeting was wonderful. Then, on we went back home to Eugene!
