August

Picking Molly up from soccer practice and a few extra girls piled in! We were in Justin's little car and so they had to squeeze in the back seat but we were just taking them to Callie's car in a different spot in the parking lot so it wasn't very far. (It wasn't the most pleasant smell, I will say that. Ha!)

Addy Bonderant, Jackie Bingham, Callie Bingham, Molly

**Update on high school soccer: after getting cut last year, Molly was so determined to come back stronger and better and make the team this year. She worked so, so hard all year and was so dedicated to being at every training. When she didn't have training, she was out running or doing drills at home. She pretty much always has a soccer ball at her feet. The coaching staff changed this year and that couldn't have come at a better time, for Molly and everyone involved in the program. The old coach is such a nice person but as a coach, it wasn't great. We heard so many horror stories that it was probably a good thing Molly didn't play for her last year. Anyway, we knew that visibility would be the best strategy so we made sure Molly was at all the summer open field and conditioning events. (She missed for FSY and New York but was at all the rest.) She was feeling on the top of her game going into tryouts, both on the field and with her conditioning (she was often running a mile and timing herself and each time was beating her previous time). Tryouts were held the last week of July. There were five sessions, two hours each. She felt pretty good after most of the sessions, really great after some, and pretty bad after one. It was so physically and emotionally draining, she had a break down one night. Her goal was to not only make the team, but to make the JV team (teams are ranked as follows: Freshman/Sophomore ("Frosh"), then JV, then Varsity). She really felt like she had put it all out there for the coaches to see. We had a few hours wait after the last session before announcing the teams...and she had made JV, exactly where she wanted to be! Such a happy, redemptive moment for Molly! There have been so many life lessons wrapped up in all of this-Justin and I couldn't be more proud of her.

Anyway, the whole first week of August was full of soccer, soccer, soccer. It was an exhausting schedule but she was right where she wanted to be so I didn't feel too bad for her. They had morning practices every day from 7:30-9 followed by some sort of activity. Monday they went to Coach Ariel's house and played volleyball and cross-net. Tuesday they went to the lake. Wednesday they did a hike instead of practice. Thursday was game day so they just did an easy practice. Friday they did yoga. They had evening practices on Monday and Tuesday. Each team took a turn picking up garbage at the fair. They had a team dinner Wednesday night. We rarely saw her and when she was home, she was taking a nap. I was so happy for her, how fun it is to be so involved!

bottom right

somewhere

also somewhere

not sure where

who knows

While Stockton was at the Broadbent's, he got to swim (a lot from what I hear), go watch the Walker girl's in their rodeo, go to Lagoon, visit Gavin at the snow cone shack where he works and get snow cones, stay up late and watch movies, and play a lot of baseball. I'm sure they had lots and lots of fun.

trying out virtual reality

Gavin, Stockton, Seth

Game Day! The soccer season starts early with preseason games going about three weeks. I was excited to watch! Molly started as left defensive back for both halves and only subbed out once each half-and one time only because she totally got taken out by an opponent and needed a little recovery time. There could not have been a prouder mom at that game. Or grandparents! My parents are top-notch supporters and they didn't want to miss that first game any more than I did.

with Grandpa and Grandma Moyes

Brynn had boot camp and choreography weeks for cheer. They had a camo day and then stunt groups did a movie-themed dress up day. Brynn had no camo so I found a shirt for cheap when we were school shopping and she dressed as the little girl in Monsters Inc.

bottom middle

back row, 2nd in from left

We had two kids in the Heber Fair Days parade this year. Brynn was doing cheer again and Molly was walking with the soccer team. The soccer team had to be at the end because they were in charge of picking up garbage, haha. Ivy was excited when Hannah's family happened to show up next to where we were sitting and they got to watch the parade together. Brynn loved it and went up into a stunt as soon as she saw us. Molly had told me before that she was not going to pose for a picture...and, true to her word, she didn't. But she did get called out when Justin yelled really loud "I know her!" as she was walking by. He got a good eye-roll for that, but I think Molly thought it was actually funny after all.

Ivy and Hannah Reynolds

That's our Brynn!

Brynn's the little one in the middle

Molly's third in from the right, trying hard to not be noticed by her parents

Stockton had been gone that week at a deacons quorum camp. They went to Mill Hollow and they fished, kayaked, whittled, and whatever else 12 & 13 year old boys do. He loved every minute of it.

I had bought stuff for s'mores when Stockton was having his friends over (his "birthday party") but they never used them. We pulled them out one Sunday night and had a campfire, s'mores, and an outdoor movie.

I wanted to get to Lagoon one more time before school started and we had an open Monday (open after Molly's practice anyway). We met the Broadbent's there in the afternoon and stayed until it closed. It was hot so we did water rides first and then divided up so the big kids could do the big rides while the younger group did the smaller rides. Molly was disappointed that Gavin had to work. She was tired and fighting a cold so she hung out with Ali while I went with the older group.

Molly, Ivy, Grant, Stockton, Brynn, Josie

Brynn, Grant, Stockton

Lucy, Ali, Ivy, Josie, Molly

same group

Ali, Lucy, Molly, Ivy, Josie

Grant, Stockton, Brynn

We were laughing so hard at the difference in shoe size! Grant and Brynn...same age

Cream of the crop dinner is a ward tradition that we haven't been able to do for a few years but were able to this year. In a nutshell, the kids serve dinner to empty nesters, widows, and widowers in our ward. It's good for the kids to rub shoulders with these wise and good people and learn what a life lived in the gospel looks like.

West Ellingford, Brooke Turman, Molly, Sloane Ellingford, Haylee Allen, Grace Vallinga, Rachel Jones, ?

Jantsen Roney, Easton Anderson, Stockton, Rome Piccolo, Katherine Courval, Jan and Dennis Peart

Molly got her braces off! She looked forward to this day all summer and was so happy it happened before she had to go back to school. She was so disappointed last year when she had to get braces so she was extremely diligent wearing her elastics in the hopes that she would get them off early. It worked and she was able to cut several months off of how long they originally told her she would have to wear braces. She still has to wear a retainer but it is one of those clear ones which is way less bad. She has always been beautiful with a gorgeous smile, but look at her know! She is a knock-out!

Stockton is pretty handsome too, especially after I finally got around to taking him to Sports Clips for a haircut. He liked this style so I told him that I would take him there again if Justin can't figure out how to cut it this way. Braces are coming for him, probably around January.

I drove the kids up to Plain City after Cream of the Crop so I could drop Stockton off for a backpacking trip the next day. Molly didn't have practice Thursday morning so we slept over there for the chance to do something in the morning before we had to head home. We rarely get a chance to make it to the Weber County Fair so it worked out that day that we could go. They had a very interactive petting zoo and we had to see the Walker girls' pigs. I spent a fortune on fair food for lunch and then we had to leave since Molly was catching the bus later that afternoon for an away game. It was super quick but we never complain about extra cousin time!

Ivy, Lucy, Josie

Gavin, Grant, Seth, Stockton, Tessa, Josie, Harper, Brynn, Lucy, Ivy

Lucy, Ivy, Josie, Seth, Gavin, Brynn, Grant, Stockton

Stockton got to be the fourth son of Jeff on the backpacking trip and we so appreciate Jeff for letting him tag along since Justin couldn't go that weekend. They went to a lake in the Uintah's and Stockton loved every minute of it. He was sick for half of Friday and slept most of the day but it still didn't dampen his enthusiasm for the experience.

Stockton, Jeff, Seth, Gavin, Grant

Seth, Jeff, Grant, Stockton, Gavin

Bryce, Grace, Gavin, Grant, Stockton

Bryce, Grace, Spencer, Gavin, Seth, Jeff, Stockton, Grant

Stockton, Gavin, Grant

Ivy decided that she wanted to try gymnastics this year. Lucky for her, there is a gym within a couple miles of our house...super easy! She started the week before school started and has had a really good time.

Justin was at priests quorum camp while Stockton was backpacking. They kept it simple and just went to the Bear Lake cabin. They did Bloomington Lake, got a giant pizza, played on the lake, and went boating. There was some spiritual stuff mixed into all of that somewhere, I'm sure. There were more boys than just pictured here and they had a really good time.

Justin and Chase Turman

Justin, Jake and Parker Webb

Justin and Chase

Summer had come to an end. I had mixed feelings about it. Why does it always go by so fast?? Hello, routine! Wait, kids are growing up way too fast! Anyway, we went back on a Tuesday so I declared the Monday before a family day and I took the kids up to Mirror Lake for some mountain therapy. We walked all the way around the lake stopping about halfway for a picnic. Gosh, it's so beautiful up there.

We had to stop at Provo River Falls on our way home. We've been going here for several years and it's a can't-miss kind of place.

First Day of School-

Stockton, Brynn, and Ivy went back on Tuesday, August 16th. Stockton is in 8th grade, his last year of middle school. He wasn't very excited but he grudgingly admitted that it was a good day when he got home. He has percussion, year-long PE (probably the class he's most excited for), business and marketing, and digital literacy. Along with the required subjects like math, english, science.

Brynn started middle school. She was nervous and excited but I took her to walk around the school a couple of times and the nerves went away a little. She has loved it so far! She has yoga and drama and art for her electives. Her best friend's mom (Crystal Freeman) is a school counselor and she rigged the schedule a bit to make it so all of the friends from 5th grade are in the same math class. Brynn had her schedule memorized by the third day.

Ivy started 2nd grade and has Ms. Crane. She was so shy and nervous when we met her teacher at back to school night but she had a great first day. She doesn't have Hannah or Raina in her class but plays with them at recess and seems very happy about school. When I took her school shopping, she picked out all dresses and skirts so that's what she wore for the whole first week. She has plenty of pants and jeans from last year that fit, not to mention all the hand-me-downs from her two sisters. She has a large wardrobe so I allowed her to be a little less practical this year. She wanted a jean jacket so bad but I told her it would have to count as one of her shirts and that was a hard decision for her. It worked out perfectly when I saw that my friend was selling this cute one used for $5.

Molly got that first day off since the high school holds a freshmen first day before all the other kids join them. She went on a picnic in the mountains that day and was off to sophomore year the next day. She is so beautiful! She has physics, sign language, film production, honors English, AP history, photography, math, and seminary. A full schedule in preparation for a much harder junior year. She is responsible and capable and I know she will do great thing this year, on the field and in the classroom.

her last year using her fingers!

I now have three kids that leave at 7 and just Ivy home until 8. The older three are all on one bus (for the first month until Molly gets her license).

Everyone was off doing fun things our first Friday night after school started. It was just Ivy left at home. She had been learning songs from "The Sound of Music" at school that week so I figured it was time to introduce her to the movie. She claimed her couch and got it all set up just how she wanted. I have a hunch that these Ivy-only Friday nights are going to start being a regular occurrence.

Molly had practice that day, followed by a team dinner, followed by watching the sophomore team game, followed by the football game. She was exhausted and texted me at 9:30 telling me she was ready to come home...way earlier than a normal Friday night for her!

Stockton and Brynn both went to birthday parties...Stockton with Payton Western and Brynn with Mari Freeman. They went to Provo Beach and an escape room, respectively. I've never taken my kids to either of those places, good thing they get to go with friends and for birthdays!

Payton, Stockton, Timothy Evans

Briley Smith, Ellie Graff, Mari, Brynn, Clarissa Blair, Taylor Judd

America First brought back their Lagoon night. Justin got tickets for the whole family ($5 each) but only four of us actually attended. Molly's schedule is packed and she needed a night to work on homework and Stockton had a cold and wasn't really feeling up for it. So we took the girls. They love getting to go with Justin and he does his best to keep up. He did paratrooper with Ivy and Cannibal with Brynn while I did Samurai and Space Scrambler with Brynn and Ivy. We did the firetruck ride, Cannibal, and Tidal Wave together and then his stomach was needing a break so I took Brynn on Wicked and Colossus while he let Ivy do some calmer rides solo. We did white roller coaster and the Bat and left early (they stayed open until 10 that night). Justin was the only one who took any pictures that night so enjoy his selfies with Ivy.

I spy kids, Book of Mormons (Books of Mormon?), and a pink sunset. Pretty good combination!

The last pre-season (before regular region play) game was against Ogden High. Conveniently located near Plain City, Molly had her own cheerleading section. I tried to get some action shots when she was playing on our side. She is doing so well, their back defensive line is strong and she is an integral part. She has started every single game and will mostly likely start all the games this year. She had fun playing for grandparents, aunts, uncle, and cousins!