September

Having 9:00 church means that we have all afternoon at home.  I enjoy the relaxing day but sometimes it does get long and boring for the kids.  I have encouraged Stockton and Molly to work on their Faith in God and they came across one that said to make something out of wood or fabric.  We decided to do the fabric thing and they each tied a fleece quilt for Sam and Cameron's upcoming baptisms.  They needed help cutting the fringe and we all worked on the tying.

We had wanted to go on a family bike ride all summer but schedules just never worked to make that happen so on the first Saturday in September we made it work.  We fixed tubes and did whatever else we needed to get the bikes ready, loaded them all in the back of the truck, and drove down to ride the Provo River Trail.  It was great fun and the kids loved it!  We stopped at Nunn's Park for a snack and to play frisbee and then went a little bit further.  Justin's bike started having trouble so we turned around to head back to the truck.  The seat on the back of my back also malfunctioned which meant that Ivy couldn't ride anymore.  Justin and Molly rode the rest of the way back to the truck and the rest of us waited where we were for them to come pick us up.  It didn't end quite how we would have liked (we'd have liked to ride longer) but despite that, we really did have a fun time and are excited to do it again next spring/summer.

 

We didn't have any special plans for Labor Day and April and Gene wanted to go to a lake so we met everyone at Deer Creek.  It was busy but we were able to find a nice spot to have a picnic and play for a few hours.  We had the two paddleboards (large and kid-sized) and the kayak.

At one point some of our group decided to see how many people they could fit on the paddleboard before it tipped.  There was Gene, Justin, Matt, Camille, Brett, Molly, and Brynn.  I don't think they ever were able to get everyone on without getting dumped.

 

Molly spent 6 weeks working on a board game.  She didn't tell me much about it so I didn't see the actual project until it was finished.  When I saw it, I was floored!  I couldn't believe the originality and creativity that she put into this project.  She is so proud of it and she has every right to be.  It is called "Potter Quest" and it is a board game based on the first Harry Potter book.  She sketched out the board and drawings, then colored over them with marker when they looked right.  She also drew all the cards. Once it was all done, I took it to the UPS store and had it laminated.  An $11 well-spent!

I will go through the rules of the game quickly.  The first thing you do is draw a card to see what house you end up in.  Molly uses Sorry tokens which happen to match up with the Hogwarts house colors.  You are dealt 5 cards and must keep 5 cards in your hand the entire game. You roll a die and work your way through the board.  If you land on a Filch or Mr. Norris square you get sent to detention.  You must stop at each obstacle on the board and lay down the corresponding card that goes with it.  Fluffy=music note card, Devil's snare=sunshine card, Mirror of Erised=mirror card, wand=wand card and cast a spell, pumpkin juice=pumpkin juice card.  If you don't have the needed card, you can try to trade with another player for the card you need, you can try to "buy" the card you need from them (she made Galleon, Sickle, and Knut cards as well), or you can try to roll doubles for three turns before moving on.  When you land on the key space you must draw both a key and a lock card.  If they match you can proceed, if they don't match you must continue to draw a key card until it matches your lock card if you want to move ahead.  There is a giant chess board in the middle that you have to make your way through diagonally but it if you land on the broomstick you get to fly over the chess board.  You have to roll doubles to get past the potion square and the first person to get to the end wins the house cup.

I have a hard time coming up with words to describe how incredible I think this game is.  The time it took her, the detail she put into it, just overall it's pretty neat that she did all of that.  She is a pretty amazing girl! 

Ivy was delighted one day that I let her have a picnic on a blanket for lunch.

I decided that Ivy needed a haircut.  She's had them before but they were more like trims and she needed a cut to even up the ends and make it look a little thicker.  She didn't like the idea of a haircut at first because she thought it would end up looking like Stockton's (she's watched Justin give him many) but once I explained it to her, she was on board.  Plus she got to watch Moana while I gave it to her.  She sat there like a big girl and we got the job done.  Here's a before and after.

 September was a busy month for us.  Molly was doing soccer and she had games at least once a week as well as a couple of practices each week.  Stockton had two practices during the week and a double header every Saturday.  And Brynn had soccer every Tuesday night and Saturday morning.  Throw in Scouts and Activity Days and piano lessons and homework and it was a busy month.  I thought I would dread the craziness but it was actually quite opposite.  I loved watching the kids do things they love, I loved watching them be part of a team and learn things from that, and I really truly enjoyed driving them all over and supporting them in the things that they tried.  It helped that I have mostly quiet days and I was able to make dinners and get ready for busy nights during the day.  Justin helped out a lot too and I am so glad we are close to him so he is able to help a little more.

I have continued the tradition of reading books during lunch to Ivy.  She won't have it any other way.  I usually just grab 5 or so books but one day she decided to get every last book from her bookshelf and I humored her.  We didn't manage to read all of them.

Brynn was so excited to play soccer again this year since she loved it last fall.  It was a little different for her this year since it was a bigger field, bigger goals, and bigger girls.  Last year it was preschool and Kindergarten combined so she was the older one (although the same size!) and this year it was 1st and 2nd grade combined so she was the younger one (and definitely smaller!).  She still loved it and we made a goal to just kick it as many times as she could in a game.  Brynn has the best personality and just goes with the flow so the difference in size and skill never bothered her once, she was just so happy to be out there running around and making friends.

 

 My favorite moment from her season was one game when she ran up and gave it a big hard kick and then was running after it.  She got a little distracted and looked over at me with a big grin on her face and ended up running right past the ball!

 Stockton showing off a cut lip.  I honestly don't know what he did but he had a fat lip for a couple of days.

Ivy loves to dress up these days.

 I know you're not technically supposed take pictures in the chapel but Justin was doing this to update the photos for the ward website.  He was very discrete and these kids are cute.

Another battle wound for Stockton.  This time it was a black eye.

I have never mentioned this but it happens more frequently these days.  Ivy loves to get out whatever she is playing with at the moment and line everything up.  Here's an example of some purses that she lined up on the windowsill.  I have started taking more pictures of her doing this because she does it all the time.  I have never had a kid do this...I am hoping it means that she will grow up to be neat and tidy.

We had so much candy left over from Molly's birthday party.  Justin laughed at me for dividing up my piles but I thought it made plenty of sense to do it that way.  Who wants a Reese's pieces and a Skittle in the same bite?  Not me. 

One of my favorite weekends of the entire year happens in September...Justin's management seminar at the Zermatt.  Not far from home but a much-needed vacation for both of us, even though it's still work for Justin.  My classes this year included a pressure cooker class and a craft class.  The Friday morning class was pickleball which would have been fun but I always skip that one and meet my mom for some shopping.  Seminar also means 6 meals that I don't have to prepare or clean up and a few hours each day to relax in the hotel room.  It is wonderful and I love it.  The Friday partner activity that we picked was to zipline over Deer Creek.  It was a little touch and go for a while because the weather was not great.  It was cold and windy but since it was not raining they decided that we could go.  We were fortunate that we got put in the first group because the second and third groups weren't able to finish because it got too windy.  Justin is terrified of heights and so the first climb for him was torture but he made it and enjoyed the ziplining.  The first six lines were smaller but still lots of fun.  The big finale was the zip line over Deer Creek.  It is the longest zip line in the world (so they say) and you go about 60-70 mph over the water.  I was scared but after doing the first six smaller courses, I was feeling pretty confident.  They give you a huge spiel about braking and what can happen if you don't brake fast enough and they make sure you are strong enough to brake your body weight.  Anyway, it was a blast and such a rush.  I am so glad we chose this activity and glad we got to finish the whole course!

I got my Halloween bin out at the end of September.  The kids, minus, Molly, set up a haunted house with all the leftover things I wasn't using.  Love their imaginations!