June

I have not been able to be as involved with the kid's school this past year as I was at Rees.  I had a lot more friends in Spanish Fork that I would swap baby-sitting with so I could go and help in classes but that is not the case here.  But I saw my chance during the very last week of school when Molly and Stockton had back-to-back field trips and my mom was free to take Brynn and Ivy for a couple of days (my first time leaving Ivy!) so I could go.  Molly's was first and we just did a few different things here in the valley.  First up was to hike Memorial Hill in Midway.  I didn't even know this place existed so I'm glad I got the chance to discover it.  They have made a trail that circles three times to the top of a hill and at the top is a memorial for all the wars with names of those who have fought in the wars.  At the opposite end of the memorial are all the flags from the different branches of the military.  Also, it is just a very picturesque place with views of the Midway and Heber Valleys and Mount Timpanogas in the distance.

Molly spent the whole day with her friend, Faith Hendrickson

They sang all the songs for the different branches of the military that they had learned for their heroes assembly earlier this year.

After Memorial Hill, we drove to Day's Market for a tour of the grocery store.  They saw the bakery and the freezer (they got to go inside!) and then stopped at America First for a sucker.  That was probably the most exciting part for Molly since Justin was there to hand out the suckers.

The final stop was the Heber City Cemetery where they learned about an Indian buried there and then were sent on a scavenger hunt to find names and dates and landmarks in the cemetery.

Then we ate lunch at a park before heading back to the school.

The very next day I hopped on Stockton's bus with him on our way to The Museum of Natural Curiosity at Thanksgiving Point.

I was in charge of 4 first graders and they were pretty easy for the most part.  It was most difficult to keep track of them in the ropes area because they were all over and there were tons of kids congregated in that area. 

Once we got out of there it was a little easier to stay together. 
We were there for about 4 hours but I still don't think we saw everything!  

my group: Brynn Fetters, Alison Crabb, Stockton, Sam Pinter

June 3rd: Last day of school!  Here are the first and last days for both of the kids.

 Stockton had a fabulous 1st grade year.  His teacher, Mrs. Lontine, was amazing and went to a lot of extra effort to make sure the kids had fun while they were learning.  They earned lots of different parties throughout the year which kept them motivated.  She was everything a first grade teacher should be and Stockton loved her so much.

His top three favorite things about first grade were: a good teacher and good friends and harder stuff because hard is kind of fun.

His best friends this year were: Sam, David, Braxton, Ethan, Kasen

Molly's teacher, Ms. Iba, was excellent as well and Molly learned a lot of new things this year.  Mainly cursive writing and times tables!  Kind of a hallmark year with those major things.  Ms. Iba was an intern as she was finishing up her last year at BYU during the year and Molly was super excited when she was offered a full-time position at the school because Molly can go back and visit her.  Molly always becomes really attached to her teachers and we have been grateful for each and every one.

Molly's favorite things about third grade were: learning to write in cursive and getting really good at times tables.

Her best friends this year were: Faith Hendrickson

Stockton's teacher had called me the night before to let me know that Stockton was receiving an award at the closing assembly that day and that I might want to be there.  I didn't know what kind of award it was that he was going to get.  He ended up getting the Academic Achievement Award-only one boy and one girl from each class got it so it was pretty exciting for him.  I loved watching his reaction.  When the principal called his name he jumped up and did a little fist pump.  I have it on video and we laugh every time we watch it.

Molly's teacher hadn't told me anything about her getting an award but I was curious to see who would get it from her class so I stuck around for 3rd grade. When they got to Ms. Iba's class, they called Molly Goodrich for Academic Achievement in her class as well!  So I was glad that I was able to be there to hear both of my kids' names and to watch them receive their awards.  I am proud of how hard they work in class but I'm even more proud that they are good kids and good friends.  A successful year!

The kids were excited for summer to start and so was I!  It is nice to have no schedule for a few months and I was also motivated to get out and do a lot more since I'm not pregnant nor do I have a nursing baby this year.  I made a bucket list and have let the kids have control over what activities they want to do.  They pick something and I have tried to do it as soon as possible.  I have also had a goal this summer to relax more and enjoy my kids and the carefree-ness (not a word) that they have during the summer.

The kids got home early that last day and were anxious to celebrate the start of summer.  The Anderson's had borrowed a blow-up water slide/pool so they spent the majority of their afternoon over there playing on that.

Brynn and Kennedy Bethers (a neighbor)

Kennedy, Easton, Brynn, Stockton, and Maive Pauley on the red towel

 

Molly also got to go to a late night that night with her friend from the ward, Lydia Fredericks.  (Unfortunately, our ward is divided into two different elementary schools so a lot of her friends from the ward go to Heber Valley Elementary.)  She was gone, but Justin still got a fire going so we could have some s'mores to kick off the beginning of summer.

Molly found this poor bird in a window well.  It was injured.  We told her it would probably be best to leave it there but she wanted to rescue it.  It couldn't fly so she found an old flower pot and put it on our master bedroom balcony where the cat couldn't reach it.  Unfortunately, it died during the night and Molly learned a lesson about leaving birds alone.

This is a cute little book that Stockton made that I want to remember. "I'm Lucky I Have a Dad" by Stockton Goodrich, age 6.

"Because you can wrestle with your Dad and have pillow fights!"

"Your dad could dish you dinner."

"Your dad could teach home evening."

Love his spelling and his illustrations.  Stockton is lucky to have a dad that does all of those things!

I told Molly that she could start reading Harry Potter #5 as soon as school was out so she wasted no time in getting that started.  One of my favorite things to do is wake up and lay in bed with a good book for a while.  I rarely get that chance anymore so I am happy when she gets to enjoy it for me.

We made it to Sandy for Gene's birthday one Sunday evening after church.  It was such a nice night and Gene and April have made their backyard so peaceful.  We ended up staying way later than usual and enjoying the company there.

the dad's are always good at getting out and playing with the kids-this is a game of kickball

Riley, Brynn, Evie

Ivy, Micah, Brynn, Evie

I took this picture of Ivy before church one day because I thought she looked extra cute.

Activity Days-we put together bedtime kits for refugee children.  We included a washrag, soap, comb, shampoo, conditioner, toothbrush, toothpaste, a book, a stuffed animal, and a blanket in each kit.  All items were donated by the ward and we delivered them to another sister in our ward who deals directly with several refugees in Salt Lake.

Stockton started baseball the first Monday after school was out.  He had been waiting for a long time to do coach pitch and it was even more fun to have his dad be his coach.  He had a great season.  He hit the ball well and played short stop every chance he could.  It was fun to watch him and I think he is so handsome in his baseball uniform and hat.

Ivy's cute in his hat too.

A simple picnic lunch outside makes my kids happy.  Ivy cracks me up in this picture.  I'm sure she sat still for all of two seconds.

Ivy, Brynn, Molly, Corbin, Easton, Stockton

Also sleeping in their sleeping bags in the living room makes them happy.

Our friends from Spanish Fork (the Reed's) are moving to Rexburg in a few weeks so we definitely needed to meet up with them before they took off.  Their boys were great friends to Stockton and Brynn and Ashley was to me.  We met at a park in Provo that I had heard was awesome.  The park was just okay but I guess the point of getting together was to enjoy the company more than the location.  The kids mostly enjoyed climbing this great big tree.  We did think that those branches looked like a ladder so we couldn't blame them for climbing.

Molly, Brynn, Clay and Owen Reed, Stockton

They didn't play at the park too much (it was already too hot) but we did walk over to the pond to see if there were any ducks to feed.  There was one mama duck and her babies and that was cute to see but they weren't interested in our bread and the pond was pretty yucky.

Stockton kicked Clay's ball in the pond on accident and a dad that was there came to the rescue for us-his arms were much longer than ours!

We had fun visiting with them for a few hours and wish them the best of luck in Rexburg!

Ashley and me-she had allergies and her eyes were itchy so we kept sunglasses on for her sake!

Owen, Brynn, Clay, Stockton

Here is just another picture of Ivy having fun at Stockton's baseball game one night.

One good thing about summer is when it's 8:00 and you should be putting the kids to bed, you can instead decide that you feel like milkshakes and get in the car and go!  We did that one night.  We went to Granny's and took a picture for Justin's parents because it was tradition for them to stop at Granny's on their way to or from Vernal.

This is a poor-quality picture but none of my kids have ever fallen asleep in their high chair.  At least not that I can remember!  All that summer playing caught up to Ivy though and sleep she did right in the middle of eating her lunch.

Aside from the bucket list, Molly has been making up her own activities.  Her first choice was to make homemade bubbles and bubble wands.  I even used power tools to make the wands, something I have never done before!

The wands were a little tricky to use but they made big bubbles when the kids figured it out.

One night we couldn't find Ivy when we were getting everyone in bed.  We ended up finding her in Brynn's bed looking at books.

Brynn picked "go to the beach" off the bucket list so I planned on taking the kids to Deer Creek for the afternoon.  We stopped at Walmart to get a few snacks and some water toys and ran into a friend from the ward.  She was heading to Jordanelle with her kids so we decided to go there instead to play with them.  (Tricia Steiner-her daughter, Samantha, is Molly's age and Carli is just a year older than Brynn so they had fun together.)

We had a picnic lunch before we headed down to the water.  I even let the kids get Lunchables at Walmart and that was super exciting to them!

Ivy is a water baby.  She loves being in the water and seems to have no fear.  This water was cold too but it didn't bother her at all!  Molly carried her out a little bit and she really liked that.

When we got home I got busy cleaning up and getting dinner ready and all of a sudden I couldn't find Brynn.  After some looking around, we ended up finding her sound asleep under her bed...with Molly's rollerblades on.  The beach just wiped her out.

When we got home from the lake and after dinner we had another campfire with s'mores.  Ivy likes s'mores, can you tell?

It was starting to get late and probably time to head inside and get ready for bed but the night was so pleasant and peaceful.  The kids were having fun just being outside and they started running through the sprinklers and jumping on the tramp so we ended up staying outside.  I really, super duper love summer nights!!

We welcomed a new niece/cousin to our family on June 10th.  Lucy Rachel Broadbent was born to Jeff and Ali.  She has three older brothers (Gavin, Grant, and Seth) who were all excited to have a little sister!

We really wanted to go on a hike and I had read about one called Bloods Lake Trail that was accessible through Midway over Guardsmans Pass that seemed like a good fit for our family.  So we headed out one Saturday morning.  The drive was gorgeous and we saw some of the prettiest scenery we have ever seen.  And we kept climbing.  Not having known much about the area, I didn't realize how high in elevation the trailhead was.  When we finally reached our destination, the thermometer in our car said it was only 51 degrees!  Good think I threw those jackets in last minute because it was cold!

We found the trailhead and got about 3 minutes in before we ran into snow.  A lot of snow.  The trail was completely impassable.  But we took some pictures and decided that we definitely need to go back later in the summer when the snow is completely gone because of the spectacular scenery.

We still wanted to do something-we were all packed up for a hike after all-and Molly really wanted to show everyone else Memorial Hill in Midway.  So we ended up going there and hiking to the top and everyone was okay with that.

Molly found this butterfly outside of our church one Sunday so both her and Brynn had to hold it.  It had an injured wing and it's not the first one she saw this month and tried to rescue.

We got hit by a nasty hail storm one Sunday afternoon.  This is what it looked like in one bed of flowers.  Luckily, these zinnias are pretty hardy because they are doing just fine after getting hit so hard.

We went outside when it was over and it smelled like a Christmas tree because of all the pine branches that had broken off the trees.  We also had leaves and branches all over the yard.  It was a doozy of a hail storm, even though it only lasted a few minutes.

Our friends from our Logan days, Steve and Jen Allen, came up one Sunday afternoon for dinner.  It was completely spontaneous and I didn't have anything planned for dinner.  We ended up throwing some burgers and steaks on the grill.  We had had stake conference that day so I had the afternoon to make some buns.  Jen brought a salad and a cake.  We used to eat dinner together all the time before we had Molly and they only had their first two girls and it was always thrown together that way.  We had lots of good times with them and even when we only see them about once a year, it is just like we never moved away.  They are the easiest people to talk to and their kids (4 girls-Lindee, Jaiden, Taylor, and Emery) get along great with our kids.  I took one picture the whole night and this is it.

Steve had built an awesome rocket and that's what they were all busy doing.  Justin wants to make one just like it.

I took the kids to the library one morning to get some new books and to check out one of their summer programs.  It was a 50s hour...they were shown an old record player, jump-roped and hula hooped to some 50s music, and made record players out of paper plates and construction paper.  Molly and Stockton brought their crafts home and made them even better.  I only got a picture of Molly's but Stockton's was similar.

We have also been listening to the 50s station on Pandora a lot lately and that has been fun!

This is a picture Justin took.  He was in Sports Authority with the kids and put this helmet on Ivy.

Justin was invited to a dinner honoring Frank Layden at the SmartHome Arena.  (His work sponsored a table and his VP invited 3 market managers and their wives.)  Because they were honoring a former Jazz head-coach some of the old players were there, including John Stockton, Mark Eaton, Thurl Bailey, and Mike Brown, along with Jerry Sloan.  We were able to shake hands with most of these basketball legends but meeting Stockton and Sloan was probably the coolest since Justin has looked up to them and respected them for so long.  Stockton wouldn't sign our jersey but we had to ask since it was our only chance.

Phil Johnson, Justin, Jerry Sloan

meeting Stockton

Justin was not a bit surprised that Stockton wouldn't sign anything even though other players were.  Apparently he was that way his whole career and it hasn't changed since his retirement.  He wouldn't allow any Stockton merchandise to be sold until he was inducted into the Hall of Fame and only then because he had to.

Before the dinner there was a little meet-and-greet (where we were able to shake hands and take pictures) and while we were standing in the conference room listening to John Stockton talk about Coach Layden someone entered the room and stood behind us.  I peeked behind me and was surprised to see that it was President Henry B. Eyring.  My heart started racing and my hands got sweaty and I poked Justin and whispered, "Look who is standing behind you."  He looked and we quickly shook his hand and were glad that another manager who was standing across the room took this candid.  I am standing next to Justin but you can't see me.

Justin also shook hand with Presiding Bishop Gerald Causse and I said hi to Sheri Dew.  I've never been to anything with so many important people.  It was a fun night.

Here's that other butterfly that Molly found, in our yard this time.  She asked me to take a picture so she could send it to her grandmas.  She loves texting both her grandmas.

Stockton figured out how to go cross-eyed this month so every time I ask him for a picture, he crosses his eyes.  Maybe not everytime, but often.

Harper and Ivy.  Harper is 4 but loves having a little "baby" to take care of.

I told the kids that we would go swim in Grandma's pool that first week that school was out.  However, that didn't work out because I was also going down to meet Ali's new baby and she hadn't arrived that week even though we were all sure she would have by then!  No big deal, we just waited a week and then went down.  The kids swam a lot.

Molly, Brynn, Harper, Ivy, me

 

I got in for an hour with Ivy then laid her down for a nap so I could take my turn with little Lucy.  She is a doll.

That night we made the rounds with my mom and dad to all the baseball games (they try to make it to every single grandkids' game...baseball, soccer, basketball, whatever they are involved in...they are awesome that way).  Abby's game was first in North Ogden.  Then back to Plain City for Tessa and Grace's game.

Stockton, Harper, Brynn, Chloe, Abby, Molly

Ivy is starting to warm up to Grandpa more and more.  It helps that we see him a little more in the summer.

Then we split up...Molly and Abby went to Chloe's for a birthday late-night (Chloe turned 10 on the 15th-Molly actually stayed the night).  Ben still had a game that I wanted to see so I took Stockton and we went back to North Ogden with Grandpa to see Ben's game.  My mom took Brynn and Ivy home.  I think Stockton had fun watching the bigger boys play, although after a day in the sun, he was pretty wiped out.

Justin texted me this photo while I was gone.  He was trying to show me the pitching net that he bought and set up for Stockton's birthday present.  It's in the background.

The next morning while we were waiting to go home, Stockton and Ben killed some time by playing basketball.  Ben was a good sport to play with Stockton-he would pretend like he was announcing a game..."Stockton passes to Ben"...even though Stocky rarely made a basket.  It was cute to watch and I love seeing these relationships between cousins develop, even when they are not the same age.

The girls got to hold Lucy when we saw her the next day.  They were a little more cleaned up and not dripping wet from the swimming pool.  They loved holding her.

Now that I think about it, Stockton didn't hold her at all.  I don't know if he never got the chance or if he just wasn't interested.  I'll have to make that happen next time we see them so I can have a picture of it.

We left Stockton with Grandma and Grandpa and he was able to go with them and Ben, Gavin, and Grant for a boys weekend at the cabin.  They got shakes, played at the beach, rode 4-wheelers, and who knows what else!  My mom sent these pictures and it looks like a pretty great time!

Gavin, Ben, Stockton, Grant

Ben, Gavin, Stockton, Grant

Brynn loves, loves, loves to ride in the car with the window down.  I gave my phone to Molly to take a picture of her, just so I can remember this about Brynn.

Justin was given some tickets to a Real Salt Lake game from work.  This is something we have wanted to do for a long time but never wanted to pay for tickets for our whole family.  We exchanged Ivy for Brett-it was a late game, not even starting until 8, so we figured she'd do better with grandma.

The tickets included dinner before at the America First Pavilion and it was actually really good food.

The game was a blast.  The stadium and field are pretty impressive and it makes you feel like you are really close to the action.  I loved watching Molly follow the game-at one point after some fancy footwork by one of the players, she leaned over to Justin and said, "Dad, did you see that beckenbauer?  That was awesome!"  (A beckenbauer is a trick move she is learning in her practices.)  She followed the game very well and cheered just as loud as anyone when RSL made their first goal.  The game ended in a tie, 2-2.

We looked up during halftime and were able to see possibly one of the most gorgeous sunsets I have ever seen.  We tried to capture it with our phones but nothing's ever as pretty in a picture.  It was really quite incredible.  Such a beautiful setting and I was so happy I was right there at that moment with my family to see it.

And then there's Brynn who got ahold of my phone for a bit.  I ended up with some gems.  I love this girl and her complete silliness and the fact that she truly doesn't care what anyone thinks about her.

notice the photo-bomb in the back-that's Brayden, he works with Justin

Father's Day 2016.

The only thing I do to make the day special is cook Justin's favorite/requested meals.  For breakfast he wanted chili egg puff (an egg casserole I've been making for years...eggs, cottage cheese, cheese, green chiles, yum) and sausage links.  Not much of a lunch with a big breakfast and church but for dinner he requested spicy honey chicken, coconut rice, and parmesan zucchini crisps.  I also added watermelon and brazilian lemonade to our dinner menu.  Then I made homemade rocky road ice cream for dessert.  It was yummy for sure, but, man, that was a lot of dishes to clean up!  Sunday is usually Justin's dish day but he got it off on account of it being Father's Day.  It was worth it though, and we appreciate the work he does at work and at home.  I also appreciate everything he is willing to go without so that I can be home with the kids every day.  I recognize that there are things that we are not able to buy or do because of only having one income coming in but he has only ever been supportive.

More of Stockton's cross eyes. Hope no one slaps him on the back when he's doing that or his eyes will be permanently stuck that way.  (I seriously believed that when I was a kid.)

The kids did swim lessons for a week.  Molly went back and forth deciding whether or not she wanted to do it.  She decided that she wanted to do them and was glad she did because she had a fun teacher.  I think she was just worried because last year they wanted her to repeat her level so she could get better at the skills they were trying to master.  She didn't want to not pass again.  All three kids have become very comfortable in the water (I think that is thanks to Grandma and Grandpa's pool, even though we aren't there all the time) and they did great in their respective classes.  At the end of the week we had three certificates saying they had each passed on to the next level.

Playing Battleship with Stockton one summer afternoon.  This game always reminds me of my Grandma Elaine because she had it and I always played it at her house.

Another photo of Stocky playing baseball.

Man, I am sure happy to have Molly home these days.  She is a great entertainer and baby-sitter to these little girls.  And the thing is-she is at that age when helping out=feeling grown up and important so she loves it!  A total win-win!

Molly picked "go to the Kamas pool" off the bucket list so I took the kids one afternoon.  Kamas is not too far from Heber and since Heber doesn't have a decent play pool that's where everyone has to go.  I waited for a really hot day but that wasn't necessary since the whole pool is indoor.  It was a great pool-not too big so I could keep an eye on all the kids but plenty of things to keep them all busy.  Lazy river, big, windy slide, kiddie area with play structure, and diving board.  We spent a few hours just having fun and this is one of those moments that I was completely carefree and enjoyed my kids away from any other distractions.  Those moments don't happen all the time so I am grateful when they do and I can sit back and see how being a mom is a great privilege.

Ivy was the most difficult part of swimming lessons.  The pool is so old and you have to climb a ton of stairs to get to the viewing area, plus it's hot and muggy up there.  One day she stayed semi-entertained by carrying my bag all over.

We haven't really been doing any of the brag badge activities this summer but I did put a few on the bucket list that I though the kids would like to try.  Brynn picked the "animal lovers badge" off the list which was essentially to tour the animal shelter.  The kids had never even seen the animal shelter, nor did they know what it was.  The nice volunteer gave us a great tour-mostly just cats and dogs but they also learned what an animal shelter is and were able to ask some questions.

Justin and I felt bad when just a couple weeks after Christmas, a piece on Brynn's karaoke machine broke.  Justin tried to fix it but it was complicated and required a sautering iron and him to sauter the piece back on.  So it has sat in our closet since then.  When we were buying gifts for Stockton's birthday, we broke down and bought Brynn a new karaoke machine (it was her main Christmas gift after all).  She was excited to get a package in the mail.

Stockton picked "make Oreo suckers" off the bucket list so that was a super easy one that we could get done.  It was the first time I'd done this and, though it wasn't hard, I did learn a few things.  Mostly, after you dip the stick into the chocolate and put it in the middle of the cookie, you should put it in the fridge and let it harden.  We didn't do that and our cookies were a little more fragile.  We adapted and just dipped and sprinkled the top.  And they were still super yummy!

Back at another one of Stocky's baseball games.  Ivy's busy trying on my sunglasses this time.  After this, she went into a field next to where Stockton was playing and stood there while a little girl dumped handfuls and handfuls of dirt on her head.

This was a great outfit that Brynn picked for a baseball game.  Yellow shorts with pink flowers, the flowing flower shirt, brown boots that are at least two sizes too small, Stockton's old Braves hat, and the sunglasses make a nice touch.  We love our Brynn but she needs some help in the coordinating department. 

Stockton wanted to get slushies (also not on the bucket list).  After swim lessons one day I took them to Maverik and they all picked out a slushie.  They are easy to please.

Molly is practicing with her team three times a week this summer.  Seems like a lot but it's not too hard to get her to the field and she continues to love it.  I was lucky that I was able to catch the end of one of her evening practices and and watch her with no other distractions (other kids).  It was also a happy moment as I took in the beautiful surroundings and watched Molly do what she loves to do.  I caught her kicking the ball-look at that form!

Another bucket list activity that Molly made up was to eat lunch at McDonald's.  Trust me, I did not put this one on the list!  But since she suggested it, I said yes and we went after swimming lessons on the last day.  Justin even met us there!  I went cheap though and told the kids they could order their beloved cheeseburgers (off the dollar menu) but I wasn't buying Happy Meals and instead packed apples and string cheese to go with it.

I had told them we could eat wherever and of course they chose to eat there and play in the play area at McDonald's.  I think those things are so gross but I cringed and let them be for 30 minutes.

We came home and had a "pool" party with Shay and Maive.  We both set up our blow up pools and let the kids play.  Theirs is much bigger than ours but the older kids thought it was too cold so they were crowding the littler pool.  It wasn't cold, I had used the hot water spigot to fill it halfway before adding the cold.  They were just being wimps.  Ivy had no fear or hesitation in the water.

Look at all those helpers I have.  We were making pancakes for dinner.  The kids love it, Justin doesn't, but it was one of those nights that it was that or nothing else.

Those busy summer days spent in the sun and late summer nights end up getting to Brynn eventually.

Ivy is obsessed with buckles lately.  She loves to buckle her booster seat and then runs over to me and bounces up and down until I unbuckle it so she can do it again.

Molly's primary teachers took their class on a field trip one Sunday morning to the old Tabernacle to watch Music and the Spoken Word.  This is a picture of her before I took her to their house.  They had donuts and orange juice before they left and after the program they walked around Temple Square and the visitor's center.  They made it back by noon so she could have lunch before 1:00 church.

Ivy loves to be silly and wear Stockton's football helmet around.

Molly selfie.  You can't tell in this picture but she is also loving to wear Justin's T-shirts to bed.  I remember doing this as a little girl with my dad's T-shirts.

The kids and I all had dentist appointments with Uncle Jeff so we decided to spend the night at my parents.  The girls were able to go swimming after dinner.

Stockton went to the Raptors game with Grandpa and Ben.  Good job to my dad for taking this adorable picture of those two boys.  The game went way late (they didn't get home until 11:00) but Stockton had so much fun just hanging out with Grandpa and Ben.

I love this picture of Molly because she is looking just so cute.  She liked going to Stockton's games because she was able to play catcher for Justin. (It was coach pitch, Justin was pitching, and they were not allowed to put a player behind home plate.)  If she wasn't doing that, she was usually reading her book and sometimes entertaining Ivy.

After that last trip to Plain City, Brynn got to stay and go to the cabin with Grandma and the little girls.  They also had a great time!

Harper, Brynn, Grace, Tessa

Harper, Brynn, Tessa, Grace

Since Brynn was gone, Justin decided to start painting her room.  Her and Ivy's rooms are the only rooms that didn't get painted when we moved in and the paint in this room is pretty bad.  Brown walls and ceilings made it too dark and there was turquoise on one wall but it was an ugly shade of turquoise.  Here is a before picture, although it's not great since we tested other paint colors on that one wall.

He got the ceiling painted white and we patched and sanded a bazillion holes in the wall.  She will get to bunk with Stocky in the basement until it's completely finished, hopefully soon!

 And, here's a cute blog post from our Molly-moo.