July

We started the month with Ivy wearing that helmet around again.

Stockton got to ride his scooter at the skate park while Molly was at soccer practice.

Molly joined him when she was done with practice.

Group hug.  Brynn is missing because she was still at grandma's following her little girl's Bear Lake trip.

Molly and Stockton did some how-to-draws.  I'm not exactly sure the names of these characters...one is from Zootopia and one from Star Wars maybe?

Sometimes we get outside on our bikes after dinner.  Justin joined us on Stockton's electric scooter this night.

This is how far we got on painting Brynn's room.  Then summer got in the way and it still hasn't been finished.  She has been sleeping with Stockton in his room.

I got out the 4th of July bin and the kids decorated themselves.

I finally took a picture of Stockton with baby Lucy.

We tried frozen hot chocolate.  Stockton liked it.  Brynn didn't.  I prefer cold chocolate milk and regular hot chocolate.

Stockton is getting better at blowing bubbles.  He practiced a lot after his birthday party.

Brynn graduated from the Upstart preschool program.  I was glad.  That last month was rough and she fought me almost every single day to do it.  It was much easier when her siblings weren't around to distract her.

After watching Stockton and then Brynn have their time at the cabin, it was finally Molly's turn.  We left her at my mom and dad's after the 4th and she was able to spend a couple of days in Bear Lake with Abby and Chloe and Grandma and Grandpa.  They spent some time on the lake-on the jet skis and the blow up ski.  They also went to see Hairspray at the Pickleville Playhouse which was a highlight for the girls.  We have been listening to the Hairspray channel on Pandora a lot since then.

Abby, Molly, Chloe

Molly, Chloe, Abby

Molly, Abby, Chloe with a couple of cast members

Camille and her boys came up for a day and night.  They got here right around lunch so we fed them mac and cheese and let them watch storylineonline.

Cam, Stockton, Micah, Elizabeth (who Camille was baby-sitting), Riley, Brynn, Molly

Camille painted toes with my girls.

We played with water balloons.

sneaking up on Justin and Brett

Stockton and Cam

Molly decided that she was too old to play with the younger kids so she helped Camille and I fill balloons.

We cooked tin-foil dinners on the fire.

Brett, Justin, Micah, Camille, Ivy, Molly, Stockton, Cam, Riley, Brynn, Elizabeth

Followed by s'mores for dessert.

Micah and Brynn

Camille and her boys ended up staying the night and the kids all laid out on the living room to sleep.  I felt bad because it was so hot around the time were were putting them to bed so that made it a little harder to sleep.  They left right after breakfast the next morning as they had a busy day.

Molly loves snuggles from Ivy.  It has been wonderful having her home this summer because she loves to play with Ivy.

We snuck in an unplanned swim at Grandma and Grandpa's.  We were already going to be there for Lucy's blessing the next day so we decided to invite our friends, the White's, for a barbecue and swim.

the only picture I got-Justin with Ivy and Rich White

We got a good laugh from Ivy while we were at my mom and dad's.  She kept carrying this Barbie couch around and trying to sit on it.

Brett spent a few days at our house while Gene and April went to Youth Conference.  Justin took some days off and he and Brett worked hard to build a firewood shed in the yard by the firepit.

I was glad Brett was there because it meant that I didn't have to hold things in place while Justin drilled or hammered or whatever it is that he usually needs my help with.

Ivy's a much cuter helper than either me or Brett. 

We got the swingset all put together and set up.  We actually bought it last fall on KSL but we wanted the swings a little taller.  Justin has a friend who was able to weld an extra piece of metal on both sides to raise that one side by the slide up a little taller.  It just took a little bit longer that if we would have just left it as is.  It fits greats where the dog kennels used to be.

The rest of us sat and watched while Justin did all the work.

Justin pulled out all his old sports trading cards and he and the kids pored over them for a while.  He has a lot.

Our neighbors horse was pasturing in our pasture to eat down the weeds.  But then one day she got loose.  In our yard.  I had to call Justin to come home because I didn't know what to do.  He came home, got her put back into the pasture, and scooped the horse poop from the yard.

Ivy laid like this at the bottom of the stairs for a long time one afternoon.  

We had FHE outside one night.  Molly gave the lesson on service and made a service jar for the kids.  Mostly it was enjoyable to be outside at night when it cools off a bit (no AC in July=hot).

Brynn chose to eat doughnuts at the park from the bucket list.  We went one morning first thing.  We got the essentials-doughnuts, chocolate milk/orange juice, and bananas-then headed to the Main Street park and played for an hour.

These kids and their imaginations.  They made up yet another play/magic show and performed it for me.

Corbin Anderson, Brynn, Molly, Easton Anderson, Stockton

I have enjoyed watching the kids and what they decide to do on those days we are just home.  They have used their imaginations and overall, they haven't really been bored and they don't ask to watch too much TV.

Molly picked to sleep outside from the bucket list.  I was really wanting them to wait until Justin could sleep out with them but he didn't want to do it on a night that he would have to get up and go to work and at that point in the summer we really didn't have any free Friday nights.  So I set up the tent on a Tuesday afternoon and they slept out there that night with no grown-up.  I will admit that I was a little nervous.  They came in once at about 9:45 and said that they were scared but I sent them back outside and they lasted all night.

Stockton and Brynn didn't wake up until after 9:30 the next morning, even with the neighbor out mowing his lawn.

The kids watched Inspector Gadget on Netflix and then played spy games for the week following.  They were pretty creative in coming up with their spy costumes.

I was craving snow cones and so we went to get some after one of Molly's soccer practices.  On the way there, I asked Brynn what flavor she was going to get.  She thought for a minute and then said, "Hmmm, I think I like blood.  Yeah, red blood flavor!"  She meant tiger's blood but we all had a good laugh about that!

Crazy Acres Bike Patrol.  The kids like to go out and ride bikes with Easton and Corbin.

Stockton, Easton, Corbin, Brynn

Ivy has figured out how to do the roller coaster independently.  It takes her a while to push the car up the track but her smile is big when she makes it and can go down.

I took this candid shot with my phone one morning and I just thought it was so pretty and picturesque.

We hosted Justin's work party for his branch and the two Park City branches that he's in charge of.  We had lots of people come so it's nice to have the space for everyone.  And all the trees provide great shade in the evening.  We sat around outside while Justin cooked hamburgers and hot dogs.  There were a handful of kids and they played on all our outside toys and they also had fun playing ghost in the graveyard.  Even Ivy found a friend-one teller's little girl who was about the same age as her.  

Molly played in a 3v3 tournament with a handful of her new teammates.  She has been more timid and reserved with this new team but I think she had fun and hopefully she learned a lot!

Brynn used some of her money that she earned last summer to buy a bike seat for her doll.  She was so excited when it was delivered and took Bitty Baby out for a ride as soon as she could.  She even got to decorate it.  Isn't she just the cutest?

Ivy wanted to wear one of Brynn's nightgowns one night.  It fit her well, just a little bit too long.  But she loved wearing it around and I ended up leaving her in it all night.

We had a couple of extra horses in our pasture for about a week.  The owner came a couple of times to exercise them and one time he let Stockton get on the horses for a ride around the pasture.  The girls were playing at a friends house (the Steiners) but Ivy was able to get on as well.  She didn't like it but Stockton did.  I was actually quite surprised that he got on at all.  It's definitely not something he would have done last year.

I took a turn as well.  I've always really liked riding horses.

We had made homemade rootbeer for Justin's work barbecue but had a ton left over so I got some popsicle molds from the dollar store and we have had rootbeer popsicles for weeks now.  They are pretty good!

We sent Ivy to nursery for the first time just a couple of days before her 18 month birthday.  She went surprisingly well-for the first hour.  They switch rooms for the second hour and when the door opened, she flipped out and ended up back with Justin and I in our primary class.

That experience completely ruined nursery for her because now she screams as soon as we get close and she won't allow Justin or I to even set her down on the floor to play with toys.  Last week I just stayed the whole first hour but she would cry even if one of the other leaders tried to give her a toy.  She is a stinker but she'll get it eventually.

It doesn't help that church is right during naptime.  She usually falls asleep in her carseat on the way home but I don't let her sleep for too long or she won't go to bed that night.  She fell right back asleep on Justin one Sunday and they both had an extended nap.  It was too sweet so I didn't bother trying to keep her up.

Brynn walking to class with one of her friends, Addy Starks.

And here is our class.  Justin was teaching and we were making sad faces.  I can't remember why.

me, Hailey McPhie, Addy, the blonde boy was a visitor, Talmage Riddle, Brynn, Luke Bradley, Evelyn Hansen, Camden Rose...and don't you love Ivy's cute grin in the front?

Brynn was delighted one afternoon to find a little visitor on our deck helping himself to some cat food.  We watched this little guy for quite a while before he ran away.  We think he might be living under our shed out back.

When you get Ivy out of her crib after her nap or in the morning, she usually wants to bring all her blankets and sometimes her stuffed animals out with her.  She loves to cuddle them until she's all the way awake.

Brynn picked to have a read-a-thon from the Bucket List.  I'm sure she had no idea what a read-a-thon was but we went ahead with it anyway.  The kids made invitations and delivered them to Easton and Corbin and Kennedy.  We tried to break up the reading so after they got here and spread out their blankets and pillows we went outside and painted flower pots.  We planted grass seed in them.

Brynn, Molly, Kennedy Bethers, Corbin, Easton, Stockton

Unfortunately, right after I took this picture, Brynn dropped her pot and it broke.  I still need to get her a new one that she can paint.  She was so proud of her painting.

Then we did some reading.  I set the timer for 20 minutes.  Molly, Stockton, and Easton were good at staying focused.  Even Brynn did a pretty good job at looking at her stack of books.  Corbin (same age as Brynn) had no attention span for it and kept wandering and even Kennedy (who will be in 3rd grade) didn't last too long.

When the 20 minutes was up, we had a snack break.  Molly had made funfetti sugar cookie bars and we had otter pops as well.  The cookie bar base was really good but we didn't love the frosting so we will have to keep looking for a yummy recipe similar to it.

Brynn, Kennedy, Molly, Easton, Stockton, Corbin

We tried to do a little more reading after that (I think I only set the timer for 10 or 15 minutes) but it wasn't really working for the majority of them.  Only Molly kept at it and continued to read even after the rest of them were done.  They just played for the rest of the afternoon.

Kennedy and Brynn-Molly dressed them up like movie stars and did their hair

On July 19th, our Ivy turned 18 months.  It's hard to believe.  We all love her so much and are so happy to have her in our family.

Some of the things that Ivy is doing (on Aug. 21st): she has really taken off with talking just in the last week for so and has added a lot of words to her vocabulary. She is also starting to put two words together here and there.  It is really cute.  When she has more to say she babbles and babbles and will spout off full sentences in her non-sensical language.  Also very cute.  She is still a good eater and has a big appetite.  She will take your hand and pull you over to wherever she wants to go.  I am having a hard time getting her to drink milk out of anything but a bottle. She loves her blankets.  She takes a good 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon and sleeps well all through the night.  She loves a binky and I'm trying to give it to her less throughout the day.  She is still in her backward-facing carseat and still doesn't really like it but we'll probably be flipping her around here in the next month or two.  She weighed 22 pounds at her 18 month doctor appointment.
 
I came across this little snake in the grass when I was outside doing sprinkers one afternoon.  Brynn, Ivy, and our neighbor Maive were out with me and they had fun following it and watching it slither around.

A week later I had a not-so-pleasant snake experience, again outside doing sprinklers.  One of the sprinklers didn't seem to be working and I couldn't figure out where the problem was.  I figured there was a clog somewhere so I started with taking the sprinkler apart.  That wasn't the problem so I went to where the hose was connected to the irrigation pipe.  Well, that was the problem-I unscrewed the hose and some sort of dead animal came squishing out of the pipe.  I definitely didn't wait around to see what kind of animal it was but Justin determined it was a snake that had slithered into the pipes where it was nice and warm and once I turned the pipes on, well, that was the end of that.  I will spare you any photos because it wasn't pretty. (Yes, Justin did take a couple of pictures.)

I had just Ivy for a day and half while the older three were at Grandkid Camp.  We sorted through some of her too-small clothes and got out the 18 month clothes.  While she was napping I unpacked all the craft stuff that was still in bins in the basement and got them all organized.  That felt good!  We also watched some Gilmore Girls-I've been trying to get through it on Netflix going on two years now and I'm still only in Season 3-and Ivy made me pull down every single blanket in her closet.

She also got to hang out with Justin in the barn.  She likes to play in the dirt and climb up on the mower.

Molly took this at the library upon Stockton's insistence.

She also took these pictures of Ivy in the car.  All the kids thought it was the cutest thing to see Ivy put her chubby little hands up on her cheeks and Molly just had to have my phone to capture it.

Justin won four tickets to Lagoon at one of his golf tournaments for work earlier this summer so we decided that we definitely needed to use them.  We left Ivy with my parents and bought one ticket for Brynn and spent the whole day at the park.  The very first thing that we did was head to Cannibal.  Molly rode it last summer and was anxious to do it again.  I did not want to do it but I knew Justin and Molly would bug me the whole day about getting on it so I wanted to just get it over with right away.  And guess what?  It was a totally awesome ride and is probably my favorite now.  So I'm glad I did it.

We were able to hit all the areas of the park even if we didn't get to all the rides.  Justin rode a few spinny rides while Molly and I were on Cannibal but then he had to take a break because he is getting old and spinny rides leave him a little sick.  The kids and I did the Hydro Luge and the Flying Aces and had some lunch while Justin was getting his bearings. (We packed all our meals into the park.) Molly and I rode JetStar too while we were in that area.  At the very end of the night we made it back to that area.  Brynn really wanted to ride the Tilt-a-Whirl again but Justin wouldn't do it since it had made him sick so I did it with her while Justin and the other kids rode some bumper cars.  I've always been able to ride pretty much anything but even I was queasy and dizzy after that one but not bad enough to get on Cannibal one more time.

Flying Aces

JetStar

bumper cars

Tilt-a-Whirl

In the kid area Molly and Stockton rode The Bat.  Brynn is too small for that one.  They also rode the tea cups, Jumping Dragon, Bombora (Brynn's favorite), the Ladybug Bop and Dinosaur Drop, Kontiki, Dragonfly, Odysea, and some of the older classic kid rides that all seem to do the same thing, just in a different vehicle.  Also Puff and the old cars were ridden at some point as well.

tea cups

The Bat

Bombora

Kontiki

Brynn was the only one that could ride the boats-even Stockton was too big

Dinosaur Drop

Odysea

 Molly is getting a bit too big for the kid rides so we snuck away to ride the old white roller coaster.  I also took her on the Terror Ride for the first time.  All the kids did that and thought it was pretty funny.

Since it was a very hot day we decided we would try Lagoon-a-Beach for a little while.  We ended up staying for just an hour because we really just wanted to get back to the rides.  The water slides were so crowded with long lines and the pools weren't really that cool.  We will probably just stick to the rides from now on.

Together as a family we were able to ride the Tidal Wave and Stockton and Molly and I rode the swings as well.

We went to Pioneer Village for a little bit.  The Log Flume was too long of a line but we were all able to ride Rattlesnake Rapids together.

Stockton was anxious to ride Wild Mouse and it ended up being his favorite of the day (he had never done it before).  Molly and Justin rode Wicked and Colossus and Brynn rode on the Sky Ride with Justin.

The kids were able to ride many of the rides more than once.  We mostly stayed together but occasionally split up to accommodate what everyone wanted to do.  It was a highlight day for me for the summer.  The kids had each brought some of their own money from home so at the end of the night they used that to buy themselves a treat.  Molly and Brynn picked those big suckers (we still have them) and Stockton got a funnel cake for all of us to share as we were leaving the park.

 

A sweet moment caught between Stockton and Ivy.  She kept bringing him books, although she really doesn't have much of an attention span for looking at books.

Justin has been saving soda cans for a while and we finally got around to hanging them up in the pasture so Stockton could use his BB gun.

Everyone was excited when the peas started getting big enough to pick and eat.  The kids were willing participants in picking peas, probably because they could eat whatever they picked.  We picked a whole bunch and they were so delicious that they lasted maybe a day.

Playing Legos on the deck.

And giving Ivy blanket rides.

Molly picked to go to the Olympic Park from the bucket list so we went one Saturday morning.  We were lucky and got there when some ski jumpers were practicing so we watched that for a while first.

We also walked through the Olympic museum.  All the kids insisted on wearing their USA shirts that they got at Grandkid Camp.  How very fitting.

 

Stockton wanted this picture with Ivy but she wouldn't put the water bottle down.

Justin was given tickets to the Heber Demolition Derby for our whole family.  The kids had never been to one and had no idea what a derby even was.

We drove two cars just in case Ivy didn't like the noise and I needed to bring her home but she actually enjoyed it a lot and kept clapping and waving.  Everyone else liked it too except for the scary moment when the drive shaft from one of the trucks flew into the bleachers.  It really was scary there for a moment and we considered leaving but nothing like that has ever happened before so we didn't figure it would again.  Luckily everyone was okay and we enjoyed the rest of the night which was capped off with an impressive fireworks show. 

Out harvesting more peas.  Ivy loved the peas this year and would eat them as fast as she could while the rest of us picked.

I'm not entertaining any ideas of potty training Ivy but the other kids sure thought it was funny to sit Ivy on the toilet.  I thought it was funny that between her belly and her chubby thighs, all private parts were fully covered!