August

Continuing where we left off in July...the rest of our fun over-nighter with the Broadbent's.  We knew we wanted to get out and do something fun Saturday morning but I wasn't sure what there was to do, since we're new to Heber.  So I searched around discovered that Cascade Springs was not very far from us.  So that's what we decided on.  I didn't realize that it would be a windy dirt road the whole way there!  Oh well, we made it and had fun walking around the different pathways.

Brynn, Grant, Seth, Jeff, Gavin, Ali, Molly, Justin, Ivy, Stockton

Molly and Gavin

Grant and Stockton

We had so much fun having Jeff and Ali and their boys up for a night.  They asked us if they could come up and do that and we were so glad they did!  Now that we have the space, we love having any family or friends up to visit.

I love my kids' drawings but I don't want to keep every single one.  A picture of a picture is the best way to keep them.  Here's one of Stockton's.  He's really into baseball and sports right now.

Justin likes to comb out the girls' hair after they are bathed.  Just something I want to remember because before we know it they'll be doing it themselves.  He also cleans out ears and trims fingernails.

Sunday photos in their special alcove at the church.

Two cute girls.  Molly just really loves Ivy.  Actually, we all do.

We had a barbecue with our neighbors, the Pauley's.  We had really good food but Shay is a baker who someday wants to own her own bakery and is always baking and sharing her treats.  She worked all week on perfecting her chocolate cake for the kids.  They couldn't wait until dinner was over so they could dig it...it did not disappoint them!

Grandma Goodrich was staying for a couple weeks with Gene and April so we went down for dinner and to visit with her.  Her memory is deteriorating quickly so she is often confused about who is who but she is a sweet lady and we hope our older kids remember her a little.  This was Ivy's first time meeting her.

 

We took advantage of a special deal for Owlz tickets and took the kids to the baseball game one night.  You can't beat a baseball game in the summer, especially when your ticket includes a hot dog!

The most exciting part of the night was when one of the players tossed Molly a game ball at the end of an inning.  At the end of each inning all the kids run down and try to get the players to throw them a ball-this particular time, Molly was clear down on the end but the player picked her out specifically and walked down and gave it to her.

My kids got really good at sleeping in this summer. They had later nights, yes, but not that late.  I took this picture of Brynn so I could remember that she really did sleep that morning until after 11.  (The microwave clock reads 11:12.)  She didn't really want her picture taken-she was probably really hungry since it was closer to lunch-time!

I really loved our lazy mornings!

An afternoon spent playing Life with Molly was well spent.  The other two started out with us but quickly lost interest so it was just her and I.  I don't get much one-on-one time with her so this was nice.

We had to stop and take pictures with the Lego cut-outs at the library.  We love the library.  I have to go almost weekly to replenish books for Molly-she goes through about 10 each week.

Ivy had her first sickness in August-just a cold, thankfully.  It mostly was in her eyes but I did take her in to the doctor and she also had a slight ear infection.  She was a trooper though...smiling through the whole thing although she didn't sleep great at night because of congestion (which is why she was sleeping in the swing).

 

We went to a new doctor up here and he seemed nice but the most exciting part was the chalkboards in the waiting room.  That is a genius idea if you ask me!

Banana splits one night for FHE-with whipped cream.  Yum!

7 months old!  Cutest baby in the world right now.  Not crawling at this point yet but getting around.

Towards the end of Stockton's T-ball season, he started sliding into all the bases.  We don't know why he was doing this but it made us laugh.  Justin decided one night that if he was going to slide, he needed to learn how to do it right.  So we had an impromptu sliding lesson.  The basket of baby toys was the base.

Look at that face.  Adorable!  Like most moms, I never tire of just looking at my baby.

Muffin tin lunches is something my kids love.  Love.  I don't do them very often because I have to think of a whole bunch of different things to put in them but I did it this afternoon because the summer was coming to an end a few days later.  They were excited and so, so happy...and really it wasn't that hard and makes me wonder why I don't do fun things like that more often.

We went outside for some play time after dinner one night.  Justin was late at work and I needed to get out of the house.  We played in the garage for a little bit-I'm not sure what this was, some game the kids made up.

Ivy just watching her bigger siblings.  She's wondering when she can get out of this stroller and join them.

They got bored with that game after a while and thought of something else.

Molly is pulling Stockton and Brynn is bringing up the rear.  They went up and down the street for a while laughing the whole way.  It was funny to watch!

Molly free-handed this map of the United States.  She copied a picture from a book but it was all done by her-no tracing involved.  I wasn't sure how it would turn out but I'd say it's awesome for an 8-year-old.

She took it to school her first week and her teacher decided to hang it in the classroom for the rest of the year.

Easton and Corbin Anderson are our neighbors, pretty much the only neighbors on the whole street with kids around the same age.  Easton is in between Molly and Stockton and Corbin is Brynn's age.  (They also have a little girl, Raylie, who just turned one and will be buddies with Ivy when they are a little older.)  Anyway, they like to come over a couple times a week and usually they play hide-and-seek.  One day they spent a lot of time making up a play and showing me.

Easton, Molly, Brynn, Corbin, Stockton

Justin got an old piece of wood and some rope he had lying around and in 30 minutes we had a swing.  It swings a bit crooked but works great.  Justin checks KSL every night for a swingset but we haven't had much luck yet so until then, this will have to work.

America First had their Lagoon night again for employees.  We love this and hope they always do it!  This was our second trip to Lagoon in just a couple of weeks (the other in conjuction with a family vacation that I'll blog about later) so the kids knew what they wanted to do.  With a smaller crowd, we knew the lines would be shorter.  Justin had taken the day off so we got there right as the gates were opening and Justin and Molly made a bee-line for the newest ride, Cannibal.  When we were there on a regular day the line was 2 hours long but they walked right on this time.  To be honest, I didn't want Molly to do it.  It was super scary to me-but she was excited about it and Justin said he'd take her.  I took the littler kids to the kiddie area to do some of their favorites in that area.

When Justin called me when they were through, I asked him if Molly liked the ride.  He didn't even need to answer because I could hear her shouting in the background, "That was so awesome!"  I'm glad she liked it but glad we ran out of time that night to go back to it (I really didn't want to get on it).  Her and I did get a chance to go do a few rides though-we did Wicked, Colossus, and Wild Mouse before Justin needed help with the others.

We decided to do the water rides earlier in the evening while the sun was still out and warm.  I stayed back while Justin took the kids on Rattlesnake Rapids-Ivy and I watched them as they approached the waterfall.

We also did the log flume a couple of times.

We took a break for dinner and popsicles.

Then back for more rides.  Brynn was tons more brave than she was in Disneyland and riding a ride with her was hilarious.  She would put her arms in the air and scream and the look on her face was just the best.

At the end of the night we met up with Justin's cousin, Aaron, who also works for the credit union, and his family.  The kids paired up and rode Bombora over and over and over.  Then they ran over and did The Bat.  Then back to Bombora a few more times before we called it quits and headed home (the following morning being the first day of school).

Brynn, Molly Goodrich, our Molly, Stockton, Colby Goodrich

Brynn and I were playing with her Bitty Baby doll and we pulled this little sleeper out of the doll clothes.  I had her hold it up to her because, once upon a time, Brynn actually wore this.  When she was an itty-bitty 5 pound baby.  It's hard to believe it ever fit her!

I went back and looked...here she is as a baby wearing those jammies.

And since we're revisiting that month (March 2011), here are a couple more:

Brynn is such a ham.  She will do anything for a laugh.

We have learned a lot about sprinklers and irrigation this summer.  We have 5 irrigation shares and 5 risers that the water comes out of, one in the yard and four in the pasture.  There is no sprinkler system so we have to run hose when we want to water the lawn.  If the water comes out with too much pressure or gets turned on too fast, the pipe will burst and will need repaired before being able to water again.  I broke 2, Justin broke one, and he ran over one with the lawnmower.  Very frustrating.  Justin had to fix them all and it was a pain.

Good thing he had Brynn to tell him stories and keep him company.  She was also a great motivator and she cheered him on in his work.

Next spring one of our first big projects will begin: a automated sprinkling system in the yard.  It's a huge project for Justin but one that will make our lives a lot easier and best to get it done in the beginning so our yard can flourish.

It is fun to pull out some of the old clothes and remember the other girls wearing them.  The picture is blurry, but this is one of my favorite dresses from when Molly was little.

Since I was being a little nostalgic with Brynn, here's some of Molly.  I was trying to find a picture of her with the same dress but had no luck.  But here's a few others that I did find.  Can't believe this baby is now nine!  (Also, Ivy looks like her a lot.)

This is one of my favorite dresses.  It was Molly's Easter dress when she was 7 months old.  Ivy wore it last week to church and in her 6-month pictures that we took in August.

You can find Ivy wearing this outfit earlier in the post.

Ivy wore this cute sundress to church today.

Ivy update, 10/18:

-Ivy is 9 months old tomorrow!  She is doing lots of new, fun, exciting things that make her happy.

-She has been army crawling for weeks now but is finally making the transition to real crawling.

-She is pulling herself up on everything.  Last week she even climbed two stairs.  Today when I got her out of her crib after a nap, she was standing-a first for that.

-She can go from sitting to crawling position, and from crawling back to sitting.

-She babbles a lot...says a lot of "mamamamamama" and "dadadadadada."

-Likes to wave to people

-Still has not developed much of a stranger anxiety.  Seems to be really social.

-Still eats baby food fairly well but is transitioning to table foods as well.

-Likes most foods but has started to spit out some baby foods that she ate in the beginning.

-Still nurses mostly but will take a bottle if I need/want her to.  Mostly for convenience, she maybe takes one or two each week.

-Doesn't have any teeth yet but I think a couple will be coming up on the bottom soon.

-Loves her daddy and will follow him around with her eyes anytime he is home.