June

Brynn's last day of school was on June 1st.  She decided to wear the same dress she wore on the first day.  She also let me do curlers in her hair overnight.  Add in Ivy's jean jacket (yes, it is a size 18-24 month!) and she looked adorable.

They had the cutest Kindergarten program that morning.  Justin, me, Ivy, and my mom and dad were able to make it.  Brynn had the best time singing the songs and dancing.  She had a smile on her face and was definitely not shy like her older sister.

We said goodbye to her teacher (and the school) and then we went to lunch.  Ivy didn't realize what was going on but knew it was something special.  She looked so adorable too that we had to take a picture of the two of them as we were leaving.  She has enjoyed having Brynn home this summer, as well as Molly and Stockton.

Here is Brynn's first and last day of Kindergarten.  I am really going to miss having this girl around.  She has been my little side-kick for what seems like forever and I have enjoyed all our lazy afternoons and our "plans."  It is sad and exciting to see your kids grow up.

Everyone else had their last day on the 2nd.  Here is Molly's first and last day of 4th grade.

And Stockton's first and last day of 2nd grade.

 

I am glad these two will still be able to go to the same school for another year before going their separate ways for a little bit.  It's nice to know they always have a bus buddy.


When I went in for Stockton's last parent-teacher conference, his teacher mentioned that he was getting an award at the award's assembly on the last day.  I didn't know what the award would be but we went to see anyway.  He was awarded the "Owlstanding Award" for "having a positive attitude everyday."  Only 5 kids from his class got an award so he was feeling very special.  I am glad that he is a good kid at school.

I didn't stick around for the 4th grade awards because Molly's teacher hadn't said anything about it so I figured she wasn't getting anything this year.  I was wrong.  She came home with her own award-"Outstanding Citizenship" which I think just means she is a good student all around. 

It was a successful year for all the kids.  They learned a lot but I am mostly happy that all the reports that came in from teachers were that they were good kids and good friends to others.

We hosted Molly's end-of-year soccer party at our house later that night.  We had pizza and lots of treats (Coach Debbie had promised them a special treat for every shut-out in the season and they had four, I think).  They played on the zipline but then ended up playing soccer for the majority of the night.  Awards were given-Molly received the most improved player award-after her rocky start last fall, I concur with that award.  She has done great!

Back row: Caroline Turner, Molly, Jordan Gibby, Debbie Winteron, Brigitte Ferreyra, Regan Heywood; Front row: Reese Myers, Hannah Risto, Natalia Wagstaff, Kiley Bishop, Aspen Ivie

After the party at our house, they all left to go to another girl's house for a campfire.  Glad they are able to be friends on and off the field!

The following week all these girls (plus 15 others, 25 total) tried out for the U12 Celtic East team.  Tryouts were held three times, 90 minutes each and then they were going to name two teams, a premier level (higher) and a select level (lower).  They had a hard time naming the premier team so after deliberating, they named the top 9 girls to the premier team and the rest to the select.  Molly ended up being in the top 9 and put on the premier team.  It was a bit nerve-wracking for me for half a day and I'm happy it ended up how it did.  I am sad for the girls who didn't get placed on the team and hate that they have to deal with that at this age.  I know our kids are bound to face their fair share of disappointments but I was grateful that we were able to avoid it this time.

My cute kitchen helpers.  We were making "white meatballs."  Brynn rolled the meatballs in the flour and Stockton helped with the white sauce.

Ivy really wanted to help so I gave her a bowl of dried beans for her to measure and play with.

Brynn decided that she wanted to play T-ball.  When I first asked her if she wanted to play she told me no because it was too "boyish."  Then she changed her mind and so I signed her up.  She was nervous to go to that first game but lost her nervousness when she saw a friend from school was on her team (Amity).  She really had fun that first game and looked forward to every game after that.  She was fun to watch.

Ivy kept herself entertained with a roll-on tube of sunscreen.

Stockton played baseball on the same nights as Brynn played T-ball.  Justin was his coach again so I wasn't able to make it to his games if Brynn was playing at the same time.  He has so much fun playing baseball and really takes it seriously so that he is starting to get pretty good.  He loves to play short stop the most and has become great at fielding and throwing.  He is good at hitting as well, he just needs to get a little more power behind his hits so they can go out of the infield.  I love watching him play and I imagine if he ends up pursuing one sport, baseball will be it.

We had one Monday night when it was freezing!

Molly loves her baking and so I told her that she could bake a special treat every week this summer.  She couldn't believe I would let her do that!  The first few weeks weren't as busy and she did bake each week but the baking has slowed down as our summer has gotten busier.  It is fun to see her in the kitchen and she has become independent enough that I don't even have to be in the kitchen to supervise.  The first week she made a vanilla cake from scratch with homemade caramel frosting.  She served it with extra caramel sauce drizzled over the top.

I always try to schedule our dentist appointments for the first week of summer so we can go get our teeth checked and then stay at grandma's for a couple of days and swim.  We were all cavity free!  Jeff is a fun dentist and let Brynn help him out- but he seems to always take pictures of me with my mouth wide open, which is not extremely flattering.

After our dentist appointments, I came back home and my mom took the kids to her house for a couple of days.  They always look forward to swimming in grandma and grandpa's pool!

Brynn and Tessa

Chloe and Abby were doing a dance clinic that week for little girls in the neighborhood.  Brynn was able to go on the last day.

And when they are at grandma's, they usually get to sleep either with cousins at her house or at a cousin's house.  We are a no-sleepover family, except for when it's with cousins and then it is encouraged because I love seeing the relationships that they are forming!

Chloe, Abby, Brynn, Tessa, Ivy

Justin won a stay to a hotel/resort in Deer Valley last summer so we decided to finally use it.  It was just a one night stay so we stayed at home on Thursday night (after I left the kids with my mom).  We drove over the Heber Farmer's Market to get dinner at Lola's food truck.  I had been wanting try it for a long time.  My salad was okay but Justin's burger was so delicious-if we ever make it there again, I will definitely order that instead!

Justin had a work meeting early Friday morning but he was able to take the rest of the day off.  We decided to go to the temple first and even drove a little further to do a session at the Provo City Center Temple.  We had gone as a family to the open house but hadn't been back for a session.  It was so beautiful and a perfect way to start our getaway together.

After the temple, we went to lunch at Olive Garden.  We had a gift certificate to use.  (This was the weekend for us to use all of our gift cards, you will see!)

After lunch we drove up to Ikea.  I had been wanting to go for a while but definitely did not want to take my kids there.  I didn't really have much on my list but came away with new kid dishes and silverware, picture frames, and a shower curtain and plant for the downstairs bathroom which hasn't had anything in there since we moved in.

After Ikea, we went to Topgolf where we also had a gift card to use.  Justin had been there with his work before, but I never had.  This was fun!  I really enjoyed our hour there and would love to again sometime.  A really fun place for a date!

After Top Golf we went to Bombay House for dinner.  No gift card here but it is our favorite place and we try to make it there once a year.  It was delicious, as it always is.

After dinner we drove up the canyon to Deer Valley to get checked in to our resort.  I was a little anxious because we totally did not fit the mold of people who stay there.  (The value of our room was worth $500+ per night!)  But the employees there were very friendly and made us feel comfortable.  Justin even knew a few of them from helping them at the credit union.  We got a really good laugh when, after we dropped our car off at the valet, he directed us to the funicular.  We had no idea what a funicular even was...we eventually figured out that it was a gondola that took us to the top of the mountain where the actual hotel was.  Pretty fancy.

We got checked into our room but it was still a little early in the evening and I was really wanting to go down to Main Street in Park City to Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.  They have delicious raspberry caramels that I was craving.  Our car had been driven up the mountain and the valet brought it around to us but then we couldn't figure out how to get down to Park City.  There were gates everywhere we drove!  After 15 minutes, we just headed back to the hotel.  The valet (who Justin knew) figured out what was going on and told us that the gates automatically open when you drive up to them.  We were way out of our league!  Anyway, we made it down to Park City, got our chocolates, walked around Main Street for a bit, then drove back and rode the funicular back to the hotel and our room.  We stayed up way too late watching HGTV and then called it a night.

Our free stay included breakfast at the restaurant in the hotel so we did that in the morning.  I ordered French Toast and Justin ordered some steak, egg, and hashbrown dish.  Both of them were out-of-this-world delicious.  When we got the bill (that we didn't have to pay for), our breakfast came to a total of $70!!  Whew!!

After we checked out, we stopped at the Park City library because I had noticed that they were having a book sale.  I got a great stack of books for cheap and then we went to the outlet mall.  Justin was needing a new pair of shoes, which he found, and I got a new dress and a shirt, which was not needed but fun anyway.

After that, we headed up to Ogden to get our kids but we stopped at the movie theater first and saw Wonder Woman (used another gift card).  Neither of us are usually the superhero type but had heard it was good and there wasn't anything else that sounded great to watch.  We actually both really liked it!  As far as superhero movies go, it's probably my favorite that I've seen. Which isn't saying much because I haven't seen many.  To be honest, I liked it more than I like Lala Land, which was kind of a disappointment to me after all the hype.

That was the end of our getaway because we collected our kids after that.  We had so much fun in our couple of days together and I was sad to see it end.

Stockton got super excited to hear that a new Cars 3 movie was coming out in June.  He pulled out the bin of all our cars and played with them every single day that month.  I love seeing the cars getting played with because it will always take me back to my three-year-old Stockton who was obsessed with Cars.  Brynn and Ivy had fun playing with him and any time a cousin or a friend has been over this summer, the cars have come out and been played with.

Like I do every summer, I made our family bucket list and let the kids get started on checking things off.  To be honest, we have not been able to check a lot of things off.  Our first bucket list item was to tie-dye shirts but that didn't even happen until we were well into summer, at least that's what it felt like!  (We have done lots of other fun things though, so I don't feel too bad.)  Anyway, we did tie-dye on a rainy day and did it in the garage.  Molly's friend, Lydia Fredericks, was able to join us.  Ivy was sleeping so I made one for her.  I had never done tie-dyeing before but it was super easy and they turned out great!

Brynn, Lydia, Molly, Stockton

I never got a picture of all the kids wearing their shirts but I did snap this photo the following day.  The kids were doing a work-out video on YouTube.

I'm always am trying to find a good system for summer chores.  It's the only time my kids earn money and then they can use it all year for whatever they want.  I tried to keep it more simple this year and they just have their basic every day chores (make bed, clean room, get dressed, brush teeth, practice piano/violin) and they earn a little bit of money for doing that each day.  Any extra chore above that earns them extra money.  They also have to do reading and homework.  One thing I did want them to learn to do was to make a simple lunch.  So this summer I am having them rotate days to prepare, serve, and clean up a lunch. This was mostly for Molly since she is almost to baby-sitting age and she needs to learn how to do this.  It has gone over mostly well, Stockton doesn't really love doing it and will complain at first but he ends up doing it anyway.  Brynn likes using the stove so she almost always ends up making cheese quesadillas.  Molly and Brynn look forward to their day to cook but no one enjoys the cleaning up.  Molly is completely independent, Stockton and Brynn need a little more assistance and I think it has been a successful summer chore.

Ivy's too young for T-ball, but she likes to do whatever she sees her older sibling doing.

The kids spent the first weekend of summer in Plain City and Molly was able to spend the second weekend there as well.  Chloe had her birthday on the 15th and wanted Molly to be there for her party at the lake.  Then Molly got to stay two days after that at Chloe's house.  We missed her while she was gone but didn't worry about her...we knew she was having a blast with the Walker's.

Chloe, Abby, Molly

Molly made mint brownies the second week of summer.  Her friend Sloane helped her.  They used the recipe from the Our Best Bites cookbook and they were so, so, so good.  I could go for one right now!

We had a couple of colder, rainier days at the beginning of the second week of summer but it got hot towards the end of the week so I pulled out the blow up pool and slip-n-slide for some water play.  Ivy really loves water.

Stockton, Ivy, Brynn, Kennedy Bethers

I was anxious to get out and do something as a family but I didn't want to do anything too big and fun while Molly was gone.  So we did something low key and just ended up going to Midway to walk around Huber Grove, collect golf balls, and then feed the ducks at Wasatch State Park.

I kept Ivy with me while Justin, Stockton, and Brynn searched for golf balls and she had fun chasing a few bunnies around the orchard.

We went to Plain City the Saturday before Father's Day to pick up Molly and celebrate my dad.

Gavin, Spencer, Ben, Abby, Brynn, Grace, Chloe, Harper, Molly, Ivy

Happy Father's Day!  We have 9:00 church but I woke up and made french toast for breakfast.  We gave Justin a new tie which is so not creative but it matched Stockton's tie that he picked out for his baptism.  Bad news is that I think I threw it away on accident when I threw the box away-so it was never worn and they didn't match at his baptism.

We went to Gene and April's for Father's Day.  We got there early so we could enjoy Grandma's birthday present-some Knex toys that are actually for the grandkids.

This has been the summer for re-connecting with old friends and I have loved seeing and catching up with everyone.  Diana Dye drove up one afternoon for a few hours so the kids could play and we could chat.  I was assigned as her visiting teaching companion right when we moved into the Willows ward.  We were companions for 2 years and I learned so much from her.  When I got called as RS President I immediately knew who I wanted as my first counselor-I knew it was going to be Diana before I even left the bishop's office that day.  She has been a great example to me and I still love reading her blog...she is very wise and has a way of knowing exactly what is most important.  It was fun to watch our kids connect like they had never been apart and just play for a few hours with no awkwardness at all.

Molly, Stockton, Sarah, Brynn, Ivy, Erica, Henry, James

Stockton and Brynn have loved playing "hockey" in the garage with their roller blades.  They make me back out the car and they use golf clubs as their hockey sticks.  They do this a few times each week.  Sometimes Molly joins them but not usually.  I am glad they are such good friends and can play with each other so well.

Justin left us for a whole week to go to Scout Camp.  It was a long week with him gone and we were happy when he got home.  He did have lots of fun stories to tell that the kids had fun listening to.

This is the relay they had to do on the last day.  You can see that they progressively make a pb&j sandwich as they go through the different obstacles.  The last boy had to swim with the sandwich and then hand it to a leader when he got out and that leader had to eat it.  Justin was volunteered to be the one to eat it...he did, and his troop won the whole relay.  We heard it was very exciting.

While Justin was gone to scout camp, I took the kids to Deer Creek so we could get some use out of the kayak the kids got for Christmas.  We invited Jenny Webb and her younger two boys since her husband is the Scoutmaster and was also at camp with Justin.  She is the music leader in Primary so I work mostly with her too.  We packed a lunch and spent few hours on the lake and the kids had lots of fun paddling around on the kayak and playing on the beach.

Brynn, Kelton Webb, Ivy, Stockton

My very favorite time of the day is at 8:00 at night.  Our yard gets some really great shade and it is peaceful and cool and hard to make the kids come in for bed when it's so nice outside.  We have had some late bedtimes this summer because we want to be outside at night but I guess it's okay because it's summer!

We were so happy to have Justin home from camp.  He was exhausted after a week with 11-13 year old boys!

Molly really wanted to go see the Real Salt Lake women's team play.  Her coach is an assistant coach for them and had encouraged her team to go watch them.  Also, kids got in for free if they wore a jersey (Ivy was free anyway) so we put all the kids in one of Molly's old jerseys and went to watch a game at UVU.

The kids all took their own money for a treat.  Molly used some of her money to buy a RSL Women's T-shirt which paid off because at the end of the game fans could go down on the field and talk to the players. Molly was even able to get a few autographs on the back of her new T-shirt which was so exciting for her.

It was also fun for the kids to run around on the field during halftime and after the game.

Molly wanted to have a science day.  I had put a few different science-y things on the bucket list and she wanted to try them.  We weren't able to do them all in one day but managed to do a few over a few days.  We did the Diet Coke/Mentos experiment first.  We did it in the pasture and so that way it didn't make a mess.

Stockton won't go in the pasture when the horses are there.  He watched from a distance.

Justin always keeps sunflower seeds close by when he's working on a project.  Ivy will take a whole handful, chew seeds and shell together, and then spit the whole thing out.

We made slime next.  We had the Tobler girls over, Roxy and Rhagen.  They are silly and fun and we have started having them over together, rather than just Roxy by herself.

Molly, Roxy, Rhagen, Brynn, Stockton

Molly had heard from Grandpa Gene that she could soak an egg in vinegar overnight and the shell would dissolve.  So she wanted to do that...and what-do-you know, it actually worked!  The only thing I would do different here is not put food coloring in the vinegar.  I think if the egg was clear we would have been able to see the yolk but it was harder to see since it was green.

We also made marshmallow catapults but I didn't take a picture of those.

T-ball and baseball finished up at the end of the month.  Over the month, Brynn became good at getting up to the tee and smacking the ball off the tee the very first time.  She has a very good swing.  It was a little disorganized in the outfield so she wasn't able to practice that as much.  But she had a lot of fun and already knows she wants to do it again.

Stockton loves when Justin is his coach!  He was also excited to be the Athletics this year, his second favorite baseball team.

Jenny and I had so much fun with the kids at Deer Creek that we ended up there again the very next week.  This time we went at night, took our husbands, and had a little barbecue.  I am glad that callings give you the chance to meet new people and form friendships that you otherwise wouldn't.

The kids did swimming lessons at the new Wasatch pool.  It is much nicer than the old one.  None of them were super excited to do lessons but it's something I always make them do because I need them to be able to be comfortable and smart in the water.  They liked it once they got there.

Ivy liked the last day the best because I took her swimming suit and let her play in the kiddie area.

 

A successful week of swimming lessons called for snow cones!

This is a game Brynn and Stockton made up.  Not sure on the details, all I know is that those were their boats.  Of course they decided to do this and get all this out the day before Stockton's baptism when I was busy trying to get the house nice and clean! Go figure.  At least they were having fun and not fighting!

This was my favorite performance from Brynn's kindergarten program.  I was laughing so hard!  After they finished, they repeated the whole song but had the audience join in with them.  It was the cutest and most funny song I've seen at a school program!