Anyway, the ceremony was a big deal with all the AFCU big-wigs...the CEO, EVP's, SVP's, VP's, and lots of Justin's friends/co-workers he has made over the years. Also a lot of people from the city since Justin has been on the Board of Directors for the Chamber of Commerce for several years. The head of AFCU's board of director's spoke, the CEO spoke, Justin spoke, the head of Heber Valley tourism spoke, then they went outside to cut the ribbon. Justin got to do it with a representative from the city that he has gotten to know well over the years. Can't remember her name. All of his employees were there as well. It was a big morning and super exciting for Justin and our family. He's waited so long for this branch.
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| Justin with AFCU CEO, Thayne Shaffer |
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| our family with Gene on the left and April poking her head up in the back |
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| such a beautiful, new building! |
Molly played soccer on a beautiful Saturday in October. It was so warm. The team did awesome and pulled off a win. Molly was so happy and we had a pleasant drive home from Layton that night.
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| Molly, Jackie Bingham, Leah Hendry |
Justin hired a man from our ward to come and level out some spots in our pasture. After the sprinkler project of last fall, it was needing to be smoothed over. It was just a guy from our ward and he left his tractor at our house for a couple of days. Justin did some of the work and even taught Stockton and Brynn how to drive the tractor!
Stockton's hair got longer and longer...and longer. Molly pulled out her waver while we were watching Conference and tried to wave Stockton's hair. I had to help her a little. Stockton was a good sport about it. He always wears a hat anyway so it really didn't matter what his hair looked like under the hat that day.
For the last several years, we have always listened intently to when new temples are announced during Conference. We figured (and hoped), with all the temples being built in Utah, there was going to be a Heber temple announced. But the anticipated announcement never came. Prior to this conference, I had heard from more than one person that they wouldn't build a temple here until we got 7 stakes in the valley. Since we just got our 5th stake this summer, I didn't perk up quite as much when President Nelson started announcing temples. Go figure, after announcing 12 temples to be built, we heard the prophet announce a temple in Heber Valley. I get chills just typing about it. We were at Gene and April's and we definitely cheered! It is hard to describe what it was like to hear your very own city called as a place for a future temple. A lot of excitement, a lot of joy. A lot of responsibility now as we try to prepare our families and town for a temple here. I feel a lot of excitement, especially for my kids and our youth for the unique opportunity they have to watch the process unfold and to be involved in something that doesn't happen to every youth. What a blessing!
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| I wish I had a video of the announcement |
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| She is the short one in the middle |
Here are the school pictures for the year. 9th, 7th, 5th, 1st. I think they all turned out so great! We forgot picture day for Stockton which is why he is wearing a hat. But they let him keep it on and it's how he looks every day so it's fitting. I had to call the picture company and order his photos after they were taken.
Justin had been wanting to do something different from the lambs in our pasture. Beyond being good grazers, they really didn't serve much purpose for us and it cost money to feed them and buy hay. I loved them but I saw his point. Enter...kunekune pigs. They serve multiple purposes: they are grazing pigs so they can eat our pasture grass. They have more babies each year and their babies sell for more than lambs do. And we will eat the meat. So the plan is to breed the pigs, sell the babies, and slaughter and eat one each year. We'll see how it goes. These pigs are both males so not into breeding quite yet, we named them The Great Hambino (Hambino or Hammy for short) and Jojo.
For about a month we had 6 sheep, 2 pigs, 5 chickens, several cats that we whittled down to 2, and Cash. Then we had someone come and get the sheep and take them to the auction. We made a little bit of money on them but not enough to cover the cost of their initial price and all the hay and feed we've given them. I will miss the sheep though, I really loved having them.
Ivy got her cast taken off October 11th, 3 weeks after getting it put on. She was ready! It was also Columbus Day (which meant Justin was off) and the first day of Fall Break. We drove down for her early appointment and she had it off in no time. She was very brave. She favored her elbow a lot longer this time than she did last time. It was at least a full week before she would extend her arm all the way.
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| This pumpkin outside of Primary Children's was almost 1,000 pounds! |
We had an entire week + a Monday for Fall Break. We were supposed to be in Hawaii but Covid ruined those plans. (We were planning on using our free trip to cover our airfare but the travel agency wouldn't even book flights to Hawaii.) Then we were going to go to Eric and Heidi's property as we traditionally do but the temperatures were so cold-below 20 degrees at night and not a lot of warm-up during the day. That sounded pretty awful to all of us-even the kids-so we decided not to do that either. So that was a bummer but we tried to do something each day anyway. Not as good as Hawaii but we still have that to look forward to...someday.
Since Justin had Monday off and the weather wasn't supposed to turn bad until late afternoon, we decided to drive up to Cascade Springs and see the leaves. We were little late to see them in their peak but it was still a nice day and felt really good to get out in our beautiful mountains. We had lots and lots of mini photo shoots and had a lot of fun doing that.
I was trying to recreate a picture I had in my mind from when we only had Molly and visited Cascade Springs. This is the same bridge but I got the photo wrong. Oh well.
Our outing turned into an even bigger adventure on the way home when we saw a sheriff hit a biker and drive away. Luckily the biker was okay, although his bike was damaged badly, but Justin had to turn in his eye witness statement. Haha. We also got Seus cookies to take home, which is a local specialty.
I had promised Ivy a bubble bath when she got her cast off so that's what she wanted to do as soon as she got home. Brynn wanted to join her so they put their swimsuits on and stayed in until the water got cold.
This is Brynn doing some flexibility training. Or something.
On Tuesday I told the kids I would take them to the pool. I think Molly was working. I waited forever for someone to come look at the lambs (he never did) and we finally got to the pool only to find out they were closing early that day and we only had an hour to swim. The kids still wanted to stay so it was a short swim for them. Stockton was ready to be done after the hour but the girls could have swam longer.
Wednesday was our cookie day. I made a bunch of sugar cookies and frosting and invited a friend and her boys that I met through teaching preschool. She's from Brazil and had never decorated sugar cookies before...she told me she asked google how to decorate sugar cookies. I thought that was funny! After the cookies were decorated and the sprinkles were all cleaned up, the kids stayed and played for several hours while Fran and I visited. They made up a version of Among Us and played it in real life.
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| Trey and Thomas Lemmons, Stockton, Brynn, Molly, Ivy |
Thursday we went to the rec center. We had some friends meet us there. They played soccer (I jumped in a bit and had a blast), baseball, ran around the track, basketball, and whatever else they could find to do. We don't always use the rec center as an option when we are needing to get out but it's an awesome facility and the kids love it.
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| Molly with the ball, John Pearson, Ivy, Mari Freeman, Stockton |
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| John, Brynn, Sam Freeman |
I laughed when I saw Molly and Justin relaxing on the couch with their phones. Oh boy.
I finished reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets to Brynn. Illustrated version for the win!
Here is another drawing by Molly. This is of my mom's friend, Julie Nicholls, and her husband, Mike. Julie battled cancer for 19 years (!!) and passed away this fall. She loved golfing with her husband so my mom had Molly draw this for the family. A fitting tribute.
Friday of Fall Break we went to Lagoon. It was still chilly but at least the sun was out. We layered up and managed just fine. It was fun to go during Frightmares with all the fall decorations out. We rode all the rides, hung out with cousins, and were ready to be done by about 4:30. The crowds were manageable in the morning and early afternoon but by about 4, the crowd was getting so heavy. The kids would go to a ride, see the line, and decide they didn't want to wait. After a few times of that, we decided it was time to go home. That was our final trip for 2021-we can't wait to go some more next year!
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| riding with my kids while we wait for cousins is my favorite |
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| Ivy made an "I" in her apple |
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| Grant, Stockton, Gavin-2 Dodger's fans and one Braves fan (notice their hats)-the two teams were playing each other in the NLCS and the boys were comparing stats |
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| Chloe, Abby, Ivy, Lucy |
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| Spencer, Grace, Lucy, Harper, Josie, Brynn, Ivy, Seth |
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| Brynn, Josie, Harper |
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| Josie, Lucy, Ivy, Grace |
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| Harper, Brynn, Josie |
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| Brynn and Harper |
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| Chloe, Abby, Molly, Tessa |
We had one more day of break on Monday. We didn't plan anything other than having some of Ivy's friends over. They played at our house for a couple of hours and then one of the mom's picked them up and took them to their house for a couple more hours of playing. I also taught my regular piano lessons for the day.
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| Ivy, Hannah Reynolds, Raina Cottle |
Here is Molly's report card for Term 1. Term 2 looks the same. A strong beginning for her.
For a class activity in October, we planned a wedding capsule activity. Rendi had done this when she was a young woman and when she mentioned it in a planning meeting, the girls were all unanimously on board. Rendi had printed tons of ideas for things like rings, dresses, food, temples, colors, napkins, grooms clothing, invitations, etc. She was very detailed. The girls could go around and find what they liked best in each category. They decorated cans, wrote a letter to themselves, then put all their chosen ideas in the can and glued them closed. The idea is that they will open them on/around their wedding day. They had a lot of fun.
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| Lauren Whimpey, Emma Stinebaugh, Pallas Andersen, Sam Steiner, Molly, Sloane Ellingford |
Now, for a walk down memory lane. We decided to decorate the room with all of our wedding stuff that we could find...wedding dress, bridal photos, wedding photos, invitations, etc. The girls sort of paid attention to everything but I think it was more fun for me to look back. I took pictures of a few things that I thought were fun remembering.
My mom was very thorough in her planning and documenting. She had every note, invoice, receipt, etc. saved in a manila envelope. She was so detailed-down to how much my temple clothing, scrapbook store, stamps, etc all cost. I guess this came in handy when my two sisters got married six and eight months after me. That was quite the year of wedding planning for my mom! Of course it's all written down in her impeccable cursive.
I was an avid scrapbooker back then (which has now transfered to blogging, I suppose) and so glad I have these photos and documentation. Engagement day on July 25, 2003 in a pretty spot up Ogden Canyon. Justin had scouted out a place earlier in the day and left a trail for me to follow. When I made it to the specified location, he proposed. It wasn't a surprise-we had already set a day and picked out a ring-but how he did it was! We were so young and full of excitement!
Picking out my wedding dress with my mom and sisters. It was several sizes too big and I had to go back for two fittings. But I loved it!
Here are some snapshots of my bridals taken one beautiful day in October with my mom and Erin. The location was behind an old stake building in Sugar House. It was a beautiful fall day that felt like a dream. Connie Short (YW leader from my youth) did my hair which feels extra special now since she has since passed away.
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| Especially
love the photo of some of our grandparents-all have since died-Elaine
and Vernal Moyes, Afton Fletcher, Lue Hinchcliff (missing Rae and Ruth Goodrich but I can't remember why they weren't there) |
Our luncheon was at Olive Garden in Salt Lake. Justin wore his suit and I had a new dress.
A neighbor made a scrapbook for our sign-in book with engagement photos. We had two receptions-one in Plain City that night and one in Sandy a week later. Both in our church buildings.
Honeymoon photos. We went to Oceanside, California. It was too cold for the beach but we did Old Towne San Diego, Sea World, Balboa Park, and the San Diego Temple. It was a week before Christmas so everything was decorated for the holidays.
End of trip down memory lane. We just celebrated 18 years a couple of weeks ago. We had no idea what we were getting into! But so glad we jumped in together. It's been the best making a life with him.
Molly was the last one to get her date. The go-out-to-dinner plan worked so well this year-we were actually able to stay on schedule! We went for a late breakfast to Bagel Den. Molly had been dying to try it and it was so yummy. We didn't go home right away and opted instead to go to a boutique in Midway we were both wanting to check out. We just browsed but Molly found a lot she loved and I've been back a few times since then.
Stockton, Brynn, and Ivy spent an entire day building baseball stadiums out of contraption blocks and anything else they could find. They made them detailed too-sponsor signs around the stadium and everything. Stockton got out his baseball guys to add to his as well. A good way to spend a Saturday! This was during the World Series so baseball was on everyone's mind.
Justin was invited to go to Washington D.C. with the Chamber of Commerce. His work approved it as well and even said that they would pay for anything the Chamber didn't cover-so the whole thing was completely free! I toyed around with the idea of going with him but there were a few things that didn't work out so I held down the fort at home. Next time.
Anytime Justin is gone overnight, I buy my favorite kind of Ben and Jerry's. It had to last 5 nights this time! I sure looked forward to going to bed with Ben and Jerry's-it kept me going during the busy days he was gone. He left early Sunday morning and got home late Friday night! Pretty sure that is the longest we've been apart since we got married.
Anyway, he had such a good time on his trip and saw so many amazing sights. He went with head of Heber's Tourism division and some local business owners. They seemed like a really fun group. He texted Molly and Stockton more than me to show them what historical sights he was seeing and other random things. That didn't bother me, they loved getting updates and would share them with me. I'll post a few photos and let them speak for themself.
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| Liberty Bell |
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| State Capital dinner with Senator Mike Lee |
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| fancy Italian place for dinner |
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| Washington Monument |
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| isn't this called The Mall? |
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| Lincoln Monument |
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| hockey game |
Watching the Braves advance to the World Series and then play in the series was full of ups and downs. I loved watching Stockton experience all of it.
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| I have questions about that outfit. That jacket has been tucked in the back of Justin's closet our whole married life. Not sure why he pulled it out to watch baseball. |
On the last Wednesday of the month, I was in charge of pumpkin painting for all the Young Women. Our bishop has a huge pumpkin patch so some of the girls and I went over a couple weeks before to pick a bunch of pumpkins. The rest was self-explanatory. The girls were so creative with their pumpkins!
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| Paisley Post, Hallie Whimpey, Lily Chappell, Brooke Turman, Halie Steward, Lauren, Emma, Dylan Haggerty, Sam, Afton Coleman, Haylee Allen, Grace Vallinga, Violet Hansen, Molly, Cora Hansen, Sloane, Pallas, Elayna and Rachel Knowles |
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