As much as Abbey digs up our yard and causes mischief, she is very good for our kids.  There's just something about a dog that is wonderful for children.  It was so fun to watch Kyle playing with Abbey and the both of them enjoying every second.  Look at the smile on Kyle...

Mark and I have been married for 18 years!  It's crazy to me that it's been that long!  I love him even more now than I did the day we were married.  I love the children we have and the family we have together.  So glad he's mine FOREVER!  Here are the roses he gave me for our anniversary - so beautiful!

Here in the Arizona desert we got some monster dust storms!  They are actually really fun to watch roll in.  This one Colton and I were coming back from his school.  We knew we would be driving into it, because we could see it was already blowing over our house.  I had Colton snap these with my phone.  It's interesting how you can see the rays of the sun peeking through the cloud, and then the storm just blocks it all out...

First day of school again!  Man, it's hard to see the summer end.  I love the lazy days and not having to set an alarm.  At the same time, boredom starts to set in, and I think as sad as we are to say goodbye to summer, we are also ready to have a schedule again.  The kids love having new clothes to wear and getting to be around their friends all day.  It's a good thing.

Even though school has started, summer doesn't really end around here until a good ways into October, so we still have lots of swimming to do.  Today, Colton and his friend, Caiden, raided the ice cream and finished it off.  They were in 7th heaven as they dug in to that cookie dough ice cream (Colton's favorite)!