March

Ivy drew to go first with me for our Valentine's dates and I am determined to stay on schedule so I took her the first Friday of March.  I gave her several different options in town (pizza, burgers, pasta, etc.) and she chose pizza.  I wanted to try a new place on the way out to Midway so we went there.  She just wanted cheese pizza so when the waitress took our order, I ordered a cheese pizza for us to share and a caesar salad.  Ivy loved the salad.  When the pizza came she did not like it.  I apparently didn't look close enough at the menu and didn't see that the cheese pizza had bleu cheese on it (although I do think the waitress could have mentioned that since she knew it was for Ivy-but whatever).  Even I had a hard time getting through a piece since I am not a lover of bleu cheese pizza either.  I told Ivy that we could just skip to dessert (even though we never order dessert from restaurants) but the owner was making rounds and when he stopped at our table to see how we liked it, I told him that the cheese was a little too strong for her.  He was so nice and had his chefs make her a individual kid-sized regular cheese pizza.  When they brought that to her, she ate the entire thing.  They didn't even charge me for it, although I tipped well.  We skipped dessert but picked up a dollar treat at the grocery store before going home.  So, a successful date and I was pleased that we at least got the first date done in the month we had actually scheduled to go.

 

Stockton had an all-day baseball tournament the first Saturday of March.  Molly was at a film thing for school so Brynn and Ivy had to tag along with us.  It was supposed to be really warm (mid-60s) but it was windy and not warm at all.  My levi quilt that my mom and I made before I got married had bit the dust years ago and I have always wanted a new one.  I knew there was no way I was going to ever collect all the jeans let alone actually sew a quilt together so I hinted heavily to Justin that I wanted one.  He finally caught on and had a lady in our ward make me one for Christmas.  I was excited to break it in at the tournament.  The girls played on it and it was big enough for all of us when it got chilly.  They used it as a fort to cover the wagon at one point.  I have kept it in the car for soccer and baseball season and it has been wonderful!

It did feel so nice to be able to go outside more-it makes a difference on everyone's mood!  Stockton found some bungee cords and hooked them to the zip line to make a "bungee tramp" for Brynn and Ivy.  It looked way uncomfortable to me (hello, wedgie) but they thought it was the greatest thing!

 

For FHE one week, Ivy and I taught about Emma Smith's command to compile a hymn book.  We challenged everyone to sing the hymns in sacrament meeting and think about the words.  Then we played "name that tune" with Primary songs.  I would find them on my phone, play the first few notes, and they would raise their hands to guess what song it was.  Justin thought he was going to be horrible but he actually knew almost all of them.  These pictures and facial expressions make me laugh.

Molly's team played in a Draper tournament the second week of March.  She had three regular games (two wins and a tie) and made it into the finals.  It was a drizzly, cold day that Saturday and they fought hard but, once again, they lost in the finals and were awarded second place.  It was a bittersweet loss and Molly was disappointed.  She really internalizes those losses.  This one was really tough because the ref had made a couple of bad calls that had resulted in goals for the other team.  (We don't usually let Molly use poor reffing as a crutch but it really was bad in this game.)  Also, this game had gone into overtime and then a shoot-out and it's hard to lose that way.  But, it's a good chance to learn some "life lessons" and move on-a big reason why we think organized sports can be beneficial for our kids.

 

While Molly was playing on Saturday (at 11 and then again at 4), the other kids were able to have a day at Gene and April's.  We celebrated Justin's birthday with them in between the two games.  We were happy to have a place to crash between games since it was so miserable outside and the kids were super grateful not to have to sit through two games that day.

 

circa early 1970s, I'm guessing

Gene shared this picture with us.  It is him as a missionary in Ireland.  He is in the front, second from the right.  I think Justin looks like him so much in this picture!  I had to save it somewhere. 

Justin turned 39 on March 14th, 15 days after me.  It was a Sunday and, go figure, a busy Sunday at that.  Molly had an interview with the bishop and Justin had presidency meeting-both before 11.  Molly and I were also teaching that day-to all of the Young Women over Zoom so there was some last-minute prep for that.  He requested a breakfast casserole with sausage so I had made that the night before and baked it in the morning.  He also wanted bacon and creamy chocolate milk (the whole milk stuff).  He didn't get a chance to eat until after we had been to church at 11.  He had wanted 7-layer bean dip for a light lunch but we never even made that since he ate breakfast at lunchtime.  The reason he was so busy (other than his meeting and church) was that he was working on his dinner: smoking a brisket.  He had to start it in the middle of the night and then he had to baby-sit it throughout the day until it was ready.

 

He opened presents when our Sunday afternoon classes were over.  He didn't tell me what he wanted so I ended up getting him a couple of zero gravity chairs to put on the back deck.  Later he decided he wanted a new pair of shoes so he picked those out and had them delivered for himself.

 

He went back to his brisket and some mac and cheese he was smoking while I made the rest of the meal: coleslaw and parmesan zucchini.  I really had an easy job of it, considering it was his birthday dinner.  The brisket turned out amazing and he was so proud of himself.  Later that night, we sang to him and presented him with his homemade twinkie tower, an 10-year-old {delicious} tradition!

 

I couldn't choose which of these pictures to include, so all of them are included.  Birthday pictures with Justin are so different than birthday pictures with me.

 

Our school district changed up the dates for Spring Break and we had it in the middle of March.  I didn't love it but a week off is always nice.  We had dentist appointments with Jeff on Tuesday and we always make a trip of it and stay at my parent's house for a night or two.  All my nieces and nephews were in school but the kids were able to play with cousins a little bit that night.

Brynn showing Grandma some of her cheers

The next day, those who didn't have school (and a few who got checked out by their mom) went to visit the Aquarium in the Layton mall.  Our family still has our Get Out Passes which got us in for free.  It is a small aquarium and we saw everything within an hour but the kids had a good time anyway.  It smelled funny and they had two pigs-which I thought was weird and a little sad since they literally had no room to move around.  I don't think we'll go back there, to be honest.

back to front: Gavin, Molly, Grant, Stockton, Brynn, Josie, Lucy, Ivy, Seth, Harper

Brynn, Ivy, Lucy, Harper, Josie, Grant, Stockton

Grant and Stockton

Harper and Ivy

Brynn, Lucy, Stockton, Ivy, Grant

Stockton, Seth, Brynn, Grant

Josie, Molly, Brynn

Brynn, Harper, Ivy, Molly

We did a little bit of shopping before heading home.  Molly was looking for a pair of shorts that she had found online and wanted to try on.  While she was doing that, Stockton got to go to Dick's with Grandpa and Grant and the girls got to ride on one of the cars at the mall, thanks to Grandma.

Stockton's contribution for St. Patrick's Day

 

**We spent the rest of that week as a family in Bryce Canyon so I will post on that in a separate post.

We did a paint night for Young Women's one week.  We followed a YouTube tutorial and had Kim Andersen come and help us through it.  I chose not to do one and was just a helper for the girls.  There were moments of frustration but I think all the girls were happy with their end result!

Emma Stinebaugh, Sloane Ellingford, Molly

Emma, Molly, Sloane, Sam Steiner, Kelsey Larsen, Rendi Holm, Pallas Andersen

Tea party in a fort made in the kitchen with Ivy.  I'm realizing at this point that these mom activities that I have done for years with all my kids are super close to being over.  That is something that I can't think about too much.  I have occasionally wanted to "forget" about them because I thought my day was too busy but am so glad I never did-or that none of the kids ever let me forget!

 

This is the photo Ivy submitted for an art contest.  It is a picture of our family.

 

Brynn and Ivy created a rappel on the staircase going down to the basement.  It provided entertainment for an entire Saturday (good) but made it so none of their chores actually got done (not good).  Later in the afternoon it got moved to the loft railing.

 

I signed Brynn up for a cheer clinic put on by the high school cheer team.  She went to the clinic Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and had a performance Wednesday night that Justin and I were able to go watch.  She looked so cute and she was so excited.  She got to do a cheer, a dance, and then another cheer with the big group.  She did so good!  The video I got of her is adorable and I can't stop smiling when I watch it.  You could see the excitement written all over her face and that was the moment I knew that Brynn had found her "thing."  It's soccer for Molly and baseball for Stockton and I think I can confidently say it's cheer for Brynn.  I don't know where any of these things will take the kids but for now it's enough that they get to have fun with them and I love cheering them on.

with her cheer coach, Kenzie