September

When Molly and Stockton started school, Brynn didn't really know what to do with herself all day.  Consequently, she would follow me around all day, no exaggeration.  She would come into Ivy's room when I rocked her to sleep and swing in the baby swing.  Sometimes she fell asleep...sleeping kids, no matter the age, melt my heart and help me forget about all the more difficult times of the day.

She is getting much better at entertaining herself throughout the day now and doesn't follow me around as much, although she still likes to be close.  Like in the same room or at least on the same level of the house.  I just know this year will fly by and my time with her will be over and that makes me sad.  She is such a fun, lovable girl with the best personality.  She is starting to grow up and has stopped throwing tantrums (she can throw THE biggest tantrum I have ever seen).  I love her so much and am so happy to be her mom.

Ivy put her binky in upside down one day and was so proud of herself.

Ivy loves the bottom part of the sofa table.  It is just the right size for her to climb up on.  The wood is smooth and slippery too, and if she has bare legs she likes to move them back and forth on the wood.  It's also close enough to the ground that when she crawls off and face plants, I don't worry about her because it's not too far.  This was the first thing that she started pushing herself to standing on.

Brynn fell asleep in the bouncer.

We met my mom and sisters at Swiss Days in Midway.  We went on Friday hoping that it would be less crowded...it wasn't.  It was crazy busy!  The booths were really fun to look at though and I think I'll go next time without a stroller.  My girls did great and Brynn loved her red velvet cupcake.

 

Justin's branch was in the Swiss Days Parade again.  The kids have really started to look forward to doing this.  They love walking in the parade and throwing the goodies to the crowd.  It was even more fun this year when Molly saw a few kids from her school

Ivy got to ride in the stroller this year and Brynn was promoted to walking.

When it started to sprinkle I got into the AFCU car with Ivy and Brynn got a turn on Dad's shoulders.  One of the spectators was seriously concerned that Brynn was going to get hurt.

The next day we had to take the AFCU car down to Orem to meet the Payson manager who was using it in a parade on Labor Day.  Since we were down that way, we took the kids and walked up to Bridal Veil Falls.  Man, I think everyone does this on a Sunday afternoon.  It was crowded!

 

 

Labor Day 2015-

We had Gene, April, Brett, and the Tanners up to our house for a barbecue.  Brett wins the best uncle award...he and Molly reading Greek mythology together.

I pulled out the box of cars and Camille's boys really loved those.

Stockton claims he doesn't like cars anymore, but here's the proof that maybe, just maybe, he does still like them...

Brynn sprained her foot somehow out in the yard and since Brett had sprained his ankle pretty bad a few days earlier, they were twins with their wraps on.

We took a quick trip to Temple Square to meet my mom so her and Molly could do some birthday shopping.  While they shopped at City Creek, I took the other three to walk around the temple.

We always go in the spring and the flowers are gorgeous but I don't remember ever going this time of year.

The flowers were amazing.

I took a lot of photos of flowers so I would know what I want to plant in all my now-empty flower beds, although I'm positive I will never have beds this stunning.

I had packed a bottle for Ivy.  Stockton was so happy and proud to be able to feed her.

We had dinner at the Lion House and picked out a treat from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.  It's always an apple pie caramel apple for me.

For a few weeks there in September, Brynn chose to play outside for her plan each day.  And by playing outside, I mean ride her bike.  I rode mine next to her and we enjoyed being outside.

Since we didn't do preschool for Brynn, we did sign her up for a tumbling class once a week.  She is really enjoying this and I think she likes having something that is just her own.

She almost always falls asleep on the short drive over to the gym.

Each month I unload all the pictures off of Justin's phone.  I always find a few goofy ones like these.

Ivy rarely falls asleep at home unless she is in her room.  She was so exhausted this night that she fell asleep while I was feeding her.  I stayed that way on the couch for a while before laying her down. This girl is getting big so, so fast and I wish I could freeze time.

Stockton is doing his big brother duty and pitching to Brynn.  You can't tell in the picture, but he was totally rolling his eyes that he had to do this because she wasn't hitting anything.

While they were playing baseball, Justin was setting up some tetherball.  When he was finished, we tried that out too.

We also found a club soccer team for Molly to join.  She really loves soccer and Justin was familiar with the coaches of this particular club and the price was right and the timing was good so we went ahead.  She has loved it!  She played with the team September and October and is playing indoor now.

She has been excited for every single practice and game so we know that this has been a great thing for her.  It has also been awesome to get consistent training (twice a week when the weather was nice) with the same coach (she never had the same coach twice in rec) and the same teammates (she is making friends with them).  We saw her improve so much from the first game to the last.

Her favorite position is center back.  I was always more comfortable playing offense but she seems to be more skilled playing defense.

I also love some of the other extras...the cheer they do at the end of each game.  How they run around the field at the end of the game and cheer for the fans on both side.  How they have to be captains and there is an official coin toss and all.  She is really learning what it's like to be part of a team.

I really love watching her games and hope she continues to pursue this sport.

Stockton thinks he has big muscles.  He doesn't really know that he is skinny and scrawny.  I had the hardest time finding jeans that fit him for school-they were either too short or too big around the waist.

Cuteness.  We love her.

Stockton loves her and is a great big brother.

Stockton used some of his money from summer chores to buy this catcher's mask.  He was super excited.

Stockton and Brynn like putting it on and having Justin throw a soft ball at their face.  They giggle and giggle.

Stockton really wanted to participate in jersey day at school.  We don't have any jerseys so he decided to wear an old, old (like older than him) BYU T-shirt of mine.  I use it for pajamas and cleaning. Also, it had to be tucked in.

I have become so relaxed about letting the kids wear whatever they want to school.  I have two rules: it has to be clean and it has to be modest.

We sure feel blessed that Heavenly Father sent Molly to us first.  She is everything we could ask for in an older sibling.  She is not perfect, of course, and sometimes is annoyed by Stockton and Brynn but overall she is kind, considerate, and sensitive of them.  She is a good example for Stockton, Brynn, and Ivy.  Stockton was struggling one night with some bad dreams and instead of coming to us, he went to Molly for comfort.  I found them curled up together in Molly's bed.

The kids had a walk-a-thon at school.  Instead of it being after school, they divided up the grades and just did it during the day.  Stockton was first so the girls and I drove over there and did a few laps with him.

with his buddy from class, Braxton

We had planned on going back for Molly's but had the time wrong and were late by two hours.  Oops. Since we were there, Brynn wanted to walk around the track a couple of times.  And roll down the hill more than a couple times.

This was the month that Ivy was trying to figure out crawling.  It took her a while to get it. She would get up on her hands and knees and rock forward and then face plant.  It was like her legs knew what to do but not her arms.

Brynn thought putting grapes in her cheeks was hilarious.

Ivy has found herself in some funny places since she started to become mobile.  I think she liked under the saucer because she found some stray Cheerios.

This is a note from Stockton that I wanted to remember.  It says "Sunday, Sep 20, 2015 My name is Stockton. I love the Jazz, Braves, and 49ers.  A skunk is living in my yard. My birthday is June 25. My family is Mom, Dad, Molly, Stockton, Brynn, and Ivy. I love Star Wars. I am 5 years old and Molly is 9. Brynn is 4. Ivy is 8 months. Molly's bday is September 15. My favorite college team is BYU and Utah State Aggies. My friend is Braxton and my favorite sport is baseball, football, and soccer, and tennis.  My favorite game is tag.  How I serve my family is setting the table.  I love it how my mom gives me hugs and kisses."  I corrected the spelling and added punctuation.  I love these notes that we find around the house.  His are the funniest right now.

Ivy Elaine, 8 months + 1 day.  I am horrible and taking pictures on the actual 19th.

Brynn being silly in the car seat.

Here is a picture of a skunk.  It is blurry because I am taking it from the safety of my house.  Long story short, we discovered we had a skunk bunking in our garage every night (Justin met it one night when he went out to get something-he did not get sprayed).  It took a few days but we were able to trap it and make sure it never came back.  The story is longer than that and really funny but I won't draw it out here.  Needless to say, I've been a bit leery to go out after dark.  Does anyone know if skunks hibernate?

We've since become smarter and started storing cat food in a food storage bucket on the back deck but judging from the claw marks all around it and the fact that it's tipped over nearly every morning, we figure we have some other creature trying to get a free meal.  But we don't know for sure what it is...another skunk, a raccoon?  Who knows.

Ivy learned how to pull herself up in her crib this month.

Ivy's first time in a swing, 9/21/15.  I think she was a fan!  Guess what she's getting for her 1st birthday?

Here's another picture of Ivy playing in one of her favorite spots.

How many different pictures can I post of Brynn sleeping?  She still gets tired in the afternoon often, although this looks to be evening since she's in her jammies.

Stockton decided that he wanted to try soccer this year.  So we put him in Wasatch County Rec's League.  He had a lot of fun.  He doesn't know a lot about the game but he tried really hard.  He is a really fast runner and sometimes he would just put his head down and sprint and he'd go right past the ball.  It was fun to watch!

I took Stockton to his parent-teacher conference and he was excited to show me some of his artwork hanging in the hallway by his classroom.  He really likes to draw and takes time on his artwork.  He is also an excellent reader, although it's not something he chooses to do for fun.  His teacher has him reading at a level M.  The average level for entering 1st grade is a C and they would like the students to at least be at level I at the end of the year.  (This is what his teacher told me.)  He is also a very well-behaved student, but that is not much of a surprise to us.  It seems like he saves all his craziness for home.

The last weekend of September is AFCU's Management Seminar in Midway.  Is it crazy that I really, really look forward to this work function?  My mom came to Heber to watch the older kids while Ivy was able to come with Justin and I.  Justin went to his classes, Ivy and I went to a relationship class, a craft class, and a yoga class (but I actually didn't do yoga but met my mom at a local craft store instead).  I also took a break and rested in the hotel room.  I met up with Justin for all meals and our fun activity on Friday afternoon was 18 holes of golf at Crater Springs.  We were paired up with Aaron and Megan Goodrich (Justin's cousin and his wife) and it was fun to catch up with them.  We had beautiful weather.

I nice little getaway.  They pamper us while we are there with gifts and food and entertainment.  You won't ever hear me complaining about going.

One of the gifts we brought home was a selfie stick.  We've tried it out a few times but mostly I forget to take it with us anywhere.  It only fits Justin's phone and he's embarrassed to use it in public.  But we experimented at home and the kids also had a fun time using it.

Molly and I went to our church to watch the Women's Broadcast.  I like being able to take her.

Don't know what this is.  Another pic off Justin's phone.  His are much more random than any picture I take.

We had another campfire toward the end of the month while the weather was still good.

I am one of three activity day leaders and for this activity we "heart-attacked" a sister in our ward.  I haven't been in very long but this was the best activity we've done.  The girls had a lot of fun, and I think they felt so good about doing this service.  To top it off, the sister bore her testimony the following Fast Sunday and talked about how much it meant to her and how it came at a time she really needed it.  It was a special experience for the girls, I know it was for Molly and me.

Stockton's teacher is from Denver and loves the Broncos.  Justin hates the Broncos.  One night Stockton drew this picture for Mrs. Lontine but refused to show it to Justin.  It was pretty funny.  He really likes his teacher...he saw a stuffed Broncos football in the toy store up here and insisted on going back and buying it for her-with his own money.

Brynn also really likes to paint fingernails for our plans.  She is at the age that she wants to do it by herself now.  She is like Molly in that she wants every nail a different color and insists on me doing the same.

Brynn being Brynn.  I don't think she is ever embarrassed.

Brynn is kind of spoiled during the day with her screen time.  I don't regulate it as much as I should.  She's never been much of a TV watcher, so I guess I don't really worry about her getting too much.  Given the chance, I don't think she's watch it all day.  I usually let her watch her shows in the morning while I get Ivy breakfast, down for her nap, and get myself ready.  She loved watching the Tinkerbell movies for a while and now she likes to watch Little Einsteins.  She knows all the words to the songs and goes around the house singing them.

Uh-oh, baby found the stairs!  No stopping her now!