February

100 days of school! Ivy was the only one who did anything to celebrate because 1st grade is still fun like that.  This was as good as the dress-up game got here.  She's a cute granny!

 

Justin got some last minute tickets to a Jazz game.  He usually only gets a couple tickets and takes one of the kids but he got 6 this time so we could all go.  Ivy had never been so she was especially excited.  The kids scoured closets for any Jazz gear.  Justin work besties all brought their families.  We have spent a lot of time with these couples but never with their kids.  And the Jazz won with a close and exciting finish...the cherry on the top of a fun evening.

Kids of: Jc Crowe, Sierra Sorensen, Brad Laing, Justin Goodrich

 

We ran into Jeff, Gavin, Grant, and Seth when we were leaving.  They had been there for Jr. Jazz.

Stockton, Grant, Seth

The chickens have kept up a steady stream of eggs all winter.  At least eggs are one thing I don't have to pay a higher price for...although paying for the chicken feed probably eliminates any budget-friendly benefit of the fresh eggs.  I give them away often and every couple weeks or so use up a bunch making an egg casserole for dinner.

 

Molly finally got her permit.  She technically had until March 15th to get it since teens have to have it for at least 6 months before they can get their license.  She hadn't wanted me to take her back again for the testing since she didn't pass it a few times but she finally felt ready.  She had been taking drivers ed at school (since she has an early birthday she could take it as a freshman) and that helped her feel ready.  She passed it easily.  I have been having her drive everywhere in Heber when it's just us or just the family.  She is a fine driver and getting more and more comfortable but it is a weird feeling to give up that control and I can't say that I love it.

Valentine's Day:

Both Brynn and Ivy had to make boxes for their classes and I was more than happy to let them do it on their own.  I had them look on Pinterest for ideas and got supplies but they put them together one afternoon while I was doing piano.  They were proud of their finished products...a bumblebee for Brynn and what started out as a hot air balloon and warped into something else for Ivy.  I say, as long as they were happy, I was happy!

 

Heart hair for school.  Not my best work but I was a little off my game that day.  I actually kept Ivy home with me most of the day since she was starting on a cold.  I let her go for her Valentine party the last hour of school.  I think she was sick last year and missed Valentine's so I wasn't going to make her miss it twice in a row.

 

I failed to do a fancy dinner that night but did make a favorite, chicken burrito bowls.  The kids drew months and names for their Valentine's dinner dates.  Later, we gave them their family gift.  Really, Valentine's Day was just a convenient time to tell them we had finally settled on dates and booked flights and a condo for Hawaii.  We gave them some snorkel gear and I had made a countdown chain.  We were leaving in 4 weeks!

 

Molly had a big empty wall and she wanted to fill it with photos.  She found her favorites, sent them to Walgreens to be printed, and then hung them on her wall.  I think it turned out pretty cute, although that wall needs to be repainted so bad.  I also need to show the rest of her room because it is looking really good. *Update: she likes her photo wall but has decided that she is going to change it to the inside of her closet doors as soon as she can.  Which will still leave an empty wall sorely in need of a fresh coat of paint.

 

One of Ivy's best friends was performing in the high school's production of "Anastasia" and Ivy wanted to go-she reminded me every day.  So I took her and Brynn on the closing night.  We also had a couple ladies from our ward that we took with us.  I was so impressed by the talent of those kids!  I hadn't really wanted to go but it ended up being a really fun night.

Ivy, Hannah Reynolds, Raina Cottle

Brynn had a cheer competition in Vegas on the Friday and Saturday of President's Day.  Justin and I opted to leave the other kids with my parents and take Brynn on her own.  We drove down on Thursday and got there in time for the team practice.  Her coaches had made some signs that the girls could hang on their hotel room doors.

 

They had their first performance on Friday afternoon.  To be honest, it wasn't their best performance.  I think they were super overwhelmed.  They had competed before but not on such a big stage.  The stage was really big and raised up high, there were flashing lights all over, and there were five rows of judges.  Not to mention how many spectators were in the arena.  So...a little different than the two previous competitions.  They had some falls out of their stunts and Brynn fell out of her elite stunt, something that she never does.  I asked her what happened and she said she stuck her bum out and that made her fall.  She was quick to take blame but when I looked back at the video I noticed that her bases didn't get her legs pushed together which could have caused Brynn to overcompensate by sticking her bum out.  It was probably a combination of both.

hard to see her but she is the flyer about third in from the back/left

middle flyer here

We had the rest of the afternoon with nothing on the schedule.  There was a chance of having an extra practice that night but that never happened.  We didn't really want to do the strip so we drove just under an hour to the Hoover Dam and explored.  It felt wonderful to see the sun!

 

They did have an extra practice the following morning for about two hours.  Everyone hit their stunts and that gave them a lot of confidence for their performance that afternoon.  They did the best I have ever seen that day!  It was a huge improvement from the day before.  One of the mom's purchased the professional shots and we all donated money toward that so we could have these really great photos.

point flyer

prep for some tumbling

going down

coach on the right, one of her bases on the left

They had the award ceremony that afternoon (they didn't place, but that's okay) and then we decided to go into the Las Vegas strip and show Brynn around.  We had an uber drop us off at the Bellagio.  We walked around the indoor garden area and then watched the fountain show.

Justin had wanted to leave Saturday night and get home late.  That would have put us getting home at around 3 in the morning.  I knew that if we did that, we would get up and go to church at 9.  Not that I was intentionally skipping church, but that sounded awful to me.  So, we hung around the strip for a couple of hours before we had enough of that scene and then we went back to the hotel and went to bed.  We got up and watched our sacrament meeting over Zoom and then headed home.

cheer head + bed head

 

The other kids were all too happy to be at the cabin with my mom and dad and some of their cousins.  They played in the cabin and in the snow all weekend.  Grandpa let Stockton and Grant drive the snowmobiles and that was a big deal for them.  I think they rarely got off.  I was so glad that my dad finally played the princess jewelry game with Ivy that she got for her birthday since I had never sat down and played with her.

Grandpa and Ivy

Ivy and Lucy

bead braids by Molly

Lucy, Ivy, Stockton, Grant-someone in the back dong a lay-out pose, Seth maybe?

Molly, Stockton, Lucy, Gavin, Jeff, Ivy

Ivy and Grant

Grant and Stockton

Ivy, Molly, Lucy

Grandpa and Ivy

Gavin, Seth, Molly

 

We got home from Vegas Sunday afternoon and relaxed the rest of the day.  We drove up to the cabin Monday morning to get the rest of our crew.  Justin and Brynn had packed their snow gear and they got a few hours of playing in the snow before we headed home and back to regular life.

Molly

 

Ivy lost another tooth, this time on the top.  Her gap is irresistibly cute.  I was was hoping the other one would go around the same time so both her front teeth would be missing but, while getting looser by the day, it's still hanging on.

 

The Tanner's had come to town because Matt's little brother was getting married.  While they were here, they had Micah get baptized which meant the Utah families were able to be in attendance.  We had dinner at Gene and April's house after.  It's always wonderful to see our Georgia family, just wish it was more often!

Brynn and Kai

 

 At some point, Ivy piled all the stuffed animals that she possibly could onto her bed to sleep with at night.  She sleeps fine so I let it continue.  They are still there.  This is probably her getting an audiobook on before going to bed since she falls asleep to one every night.

 

My old pals in the YW's are so sweet.  They sent me photos of their cake decorating activity and told me they missed me.  More than one and it wasn't planned.  Almost makes me want to go back, but then I remember my schedule and am happy to be home on Wednesday nights.  Molly enjoyed this activity, she was paired with Brooke Turman but I can't remember what cake design they did.

 

I was only home from Vegas for a couple of days before I was heading out again.  This time it was just me and Molly and we were heading to St. George/Mesquite for a soccer tournament.  My mom came as well for a soccer/girls weekend.  We drove down on Thursday and they had their first game late afternoon.  Molly was nervous.  She had a good fall season with the provisional team but she hadn't made the high school team and I think she was feeling like she might be behind and was also feeling like she had a little more to prove than some of the other girls.  She shouldn't have worried-she played so well.  Probably better than ever.  I feel like she has more confidence and so that has translated to her playing smart.  Her passes were spot-on, she was aggressive, and she has gained some speed as well.  They won that first game and it was really fun to watch.

 

The next day she had two games.  They won both.  We went to see the movie "Death on the Nile" with Regan and her mom in between the games and really enjoyed the movie and the break. 

It was nice to see the sun but don't be fooled into thinking the games were warm.  Most of the games had a terrible wind that made it so, so cold.  Good thing my mom had put several blankets in the back of her car or it would have been so much worse for us.  Molly wore an undershirt for most of the games because it was so chilly.  I remarked to my mom that I think I've sat through more cold soccer games than warm.

me and my mom

After the games on Friday, my mom wanted to take us to dinner for my birthday.  We ended up at Olive Garden and Molly and I shared a most delicious virgin pina colada.  The pasta was yummy too, especially after watching those games in the cold.

 

The team played in the championship Saturday morning.  It was a battle but we came out on top.  It was so rewarding for the girls, after making it to the finals and losing in two tournaments last year.  This one felt so good.  I was so proud of Molly for playing some of her best soccer ever.  It felt like a long drive home and I was so glad to be back that night.

my mom, me, Molly

Regan Heywood, Kylie Bishop, Molly

5th in from the right

Justin was home with the kids all weekend.  They went to school, he went to work.  They had to be home for a few hours without him after school but are old enough to do that and were just fine.  I like when he sends me updates, like how proud he was of getting Brynn's ponytail so tight for school Friday morning or Ivy asleep with her monkey.

 

Stockton got to go to Sam Freeman's birthday party while I was gone.  They went to an escape room and out for burgers.  What a great group of boys!

?, Sam, Rocco Delorey, Nixon Ball, Ethan Pearson, Stockton, Locke Erickson

Sam and Stockton showed up in 49ers gear so they found another jersey for Rocco to wear

Brynn also got a party...a cheer hang-out at the Kamas pool.  I was so glad both kids had other parents who were willing to pick them up and take them places while I was gone and Justin was busy with work and baseball.

bottom left

third row up, second in from left

I turned 40 on February 27th.  What a weird age for me to wrap my brain around.  I still feel much younger than that.  We were pretty lame for my birthday but, in Justin's defense, it would have been hard to do much.  I had gotten home late the night before from the soccer tournament.  He had early, early meetings since it was ward conference that day.  He stayed after for a few hours, like always, and I had a ministering interview at 2:30.  He had a new bishop's training at 3 and I had a girls camp meeting at 4.  That was a busier Sunday than usual, go figure it fell on my birthday.  I made my own dinner with stuff I had on hand (tacos al pastor) but I will give Justin credit for making my cake while I was gone.  I usually always make my own cake so I get exactly what I want.  Maybe a little wonky and lopsided but Justin did a great job with my favorite chocolate bundt cake and it tasted delicious!

kids made me a throne to sit on for dinner; I also got lots of notes and my favorite treats

 

My mom was feeling bad that we weren't doing anything to celebrate so I woke up to a fun surprise in my yard.  Good thing I live on a dead-end street, not too many people saw the sign.

crazy kids in the window

My mom gave me money and took me shopping, Gene and April gave me a heated mattress pad back in January, and I gave myself some mixtiles from Justin.  We were planning on counting Hawaii as both of our 40th birthdays.

 

This is Stockton and Molly making fun of Justin for how he wears his hoodie sometimes.

 

Ivy started to complain about her tooth one day and when Justin looked at it, he saw a huge abscess on her gums above one of her molars.  I didn't have time the next day to get her all the way to Jeff but I did take her to Justin's dentist in town.  They gave her an antibiotic and had her go back a few days later to get the tooth pulled.  She was so brave with the whole thing.  She loved making a chart for her medicine and giving herself a sticker when she took it.  She was very independent with the whole thing.  With that tooth and the tooth that she lost the week before and Brynn's tooth that she lost during the same week, we had three visits from the tooth fairy in quick succession!