March

After having February off from cheer competitions, we were back at it the first Saturday in March.  They had tweaked their routine just a little (someone couldn't cheer because of a concussion) but not too much.  Brynn was great and super solid on stunting but the rest of the stunting kind of fell apart.  Brynn felt happy with herself but there were a lot of tears from the other girls after the routine.  Surprisingly, they didn't get last.  There was another team that was worse than them so they came home with 5th place.

back flyer

the only flyer still in the air

Brynn is third from right on the bottom

Brynn and her base, Shaylee Williams

Molly went to her first concert.  Her friends bought tickets real cheap for Stephen Sanchez months ago and anxiously awaited the day.  One of the moms was going with them.  They got to the venue super early and had to wait outside until the doors opened.  They door-dashed Chick-fil-a while they waited.  There was an opener that I had never heard of before the main singer and Molly loved it all.

Molly is in the tan coat, leaning against the fence

Sara, ?, Jalynn, Molly, Carolyn Ritchie

Jalynn, Molly, Carol, Sara, ?

Brynn cheered at the high school cheer showcase.  It was just a few days after their last competition but they did much better (still a bobble with the group that has been struggling all year, grrr) but so much better.  It was a laid back, relaxed atmosphere so that probably helped the girls.

back flyer

We had a couple days off of school in the middle of March.  The first day Justin and Gene worked on sheet-rocking our basement bathroom.  I taught most of my regular piano lessons.  The kids had the reign of the house.  Brynn and Ivy like to play a game called "college".  I've never quite figured out what they do when they play this game but from what I've seen, it's a whole lot of setting up their "rooms" and is usually a really big mess.  They bring the suitcases out of the basement and pack those as well.  When I saw that they had their game set up on top of the bookcases, all I could do was roll my eyes.  Sometimes I feel like I have no control.  You can see how big of a mess they had made in the living room.  The loft looked the same and their bedrooms as well, most likely.  I just hope they have good memories of these days when all they wanted to do was play with each other.

 

Justin's birthday was on the second day.  I made him an egg casserole for breakfast.  I told him to take the day off but then wasn't sure what we were going to go do.  We slept in, had breakfast, got ready, then decided to drive down Provo Canyon and walk up to Bridal Veil Falls.  Unfortunately it was closed for avalanche control once we got there.  We ended up at University Mall and walked around for an hour.  Justin bought himself a new hat but the rest of us were just window shopping.  I had to get back for piano so we grabbed some lunch and headed home.

Justin is only capable of taking a normal picture 10% of the time

I had thought we would all be home for dinner but that is not how the night ended up working out.  Ivy went to activity days.  Stockton went to church basketball. Molly drove him over and ended up staying to watch.  Brynn had cheer.  And Justin and I drove up to Home Depot to buy a new washing machine, since Justin had taken ours apart and declared it unfixable.  So...happy birthday to him!  He did get bibimbap for dinner and homemade Twinkies for dessert so there was that.

I asked him over and over what he wanted for his birthday and he always told me he didn't want anything.  I wasn't about to surprise him with something he didn't really want/need but I did have Molly take the kids to the store and have them pick out what they thought his favorite treat was.  (An idea I got from my friend, Diana.)  Ivy got him huckleberry licorice, Brynn got cow tails, Stockton chose Oreos and milk, and Molly got him a Symphony bar with almond and toffee.  They did a pretty good job!  He was given money from his mom and mine and was able to combine that and get some airpods (he's never had a pair).  So happy birthday to our favorite 41-year-old.  He has a full plate and manages all his responsibilities very well.

Molly had another soccer weekend...this time in Las Vegas.  I was tempted to opt out of this one since we had just been to St. George but that's not really something you do when playing at this level.  So down to Vegas we went.  My mom came too so that was fun.  When we were booking hotels, we didn't know when they would play Friday so we got something for Thursday night in case they played early Friday.  By the time the schedule came out, it was too late to get a refund for Thursday night.  She didn't play until 7:40 Friday night so we had all day to kill...in Vegas, bleh.  We had no desire to walk the strip so tried to occupy ourselves in other ways.  I had got online and made an appointment for baptisms at the temple so that's what we did Friday morning.  I love visiting new temples and this one was really neat.  It was really big and so gorgeous.  Majestic is the word that comes to mind.  The flowers were so colorful and there was a part after you entered the temple and were walking back and down to the baptistry that you could look outside to a courtyard that you couldn't see from anywhere else.  I commented on how pretty the flowers were to a worker and they told me that they get re-planted every two weeks during the winter months!  Molly did some temple names while my mom and I witnessed.  We all did confirmations.  It was a great way to spend the morning.

Molly and Grandma

Grandma, Molly, me

We had stayed in a vrbo that I had rented the night before but we were moving to a nicer place.  It was too early to check-in so we had a few hours to fill and found an outlet mall instead.  My mom treated us to lunch at Cheesecake Factory and we walked around the mall for a while.  Molly and I were not looking for anything but my mom found a couple of things to take to Fiji.  I did find a killer deal on an Easter dress for Ivy and was happy about that.

We made it to our condo, checked in, and killed some time before needing to head to the game.  Every team they were set to play was from California, which already gave them an advantage: the fact that they have been able to practice all winter on the grass.  Other than our St. George tournament, we have been entirely inside since November.  The teams were also in a higher bracket than we were so that was another disadvantage for us.  I didn't know how it would go.  We lost that game 5-0.  The girls were very disheartened and we were worried the rest of the weekend would be the same.  We went back to the condo and straight to bed.

They played early the next morning.  I wasn't as warm as I would have liked it to be in Vegas but at least it wasn't dark.  This game went much, much better.  They won 6-0.  Talk about two games with two very opposite outcomes.  We were feeling a little better about the rest of the games.

We didn't do much between the morning and afternoon game.  Molly got a smoothie bowl with some of her team, we went back to the condo, got some lunch, and relaxed.  We took a walk around the complex and my mom and I sat in the sun by the pool until it was time to get ready to go.  This was probably their best game.  They ended up tying 2-2 but it was a really tough team and they fought so hard.  Molly felt good after that game.  We got some Panera with a few of the girls before going back to bed.

The last game was the next morning.  We had to be all loaded up and checked out and I got the timing wrong so we had to rush and Molly was a few minutes late.  Molly had started all the games and did again this game; she got lots of playing time and this was probably her best game.  They won 3-0.  They were happy enough that they were willing to take a team picture after the game.  They didn't  want to do that after losing in the championship in St. George.

Molly is 2nd in from the left on the bottom

This ended up being a great experience for the girls.  They competed at a high level against these teams.  This was not a tournament but a showcase, so there were college scouts at all the games.  I don't know how to navigate that or if that is even an option for Molly so we will see how everything plays out.  For now, she is really enjoying her team and her coach and playing at this higher level.  Now, if we could just actually play a game here.  Her first couple games have been canceled since the fields are too wet which is too bad because they had some good momentum after that last game.

 

*Update April 14: They played their first game two days ago.  The weather was beautiful and the game was great.  They won 6-1 easily so they are off to a good start!

We started our Valentine's dinner dates while I was gone.  Brynn was so excited to draw March...she got to go first and it was her birthday month.  She went with Justin to Mod Pizza.  They got an extra dessert because it was also Justin's birthday month.

Ivy is very enthusiastic using her new scriptures when we do scriptures at night.  She uses her Children and Youth guidebook to track so she doesn't lose her spot.

Early in March, Molly sat Justin and I down and presented us with a PowerPoint presentation titled "Why You Should Let Molly Go to the Eras Tour!"...meaning the Taylor Swift concert.  Molly has become a serious "Swiftie"...she knows every single word to every single song as well as the history behind every album and song (I seriously am not exaggerating even a little)...and was wanting to go to her concert so bad.  She probably hasn't wanted something more in her entire life.  She presented us with problems (cost, the drive back to Vegas) and solutions (how she could help pay and drive).  She wrote about Taylor Swift and her influence...first woman to win artist of the decade, she has a doctorate from NYU, all of her awards, her business acumen and directing skills, and how she will someday be an icon.  She had a whole slide listing all the pros of attending the concert (bonding time, etc.) and made a point to talk about what a good kid she is on another slide (good grades, not doing drugs, active, not a gamer, drives the kids to school, eats my meals, listens to appropriate music...all Taylor, she pointed out...keeps curfew).  Anyway, it was very thought out and thorough and I was leaning towards going anyway so Justin found the cheapest tickets he could through Stubhub and I found a hotel a mile away from the stadium and that was that.  That meant we were heading back down to Las Vegas the weekend after the soccer showcase.

Of course we left on a snowy day, par for course this winter.  Provo Canyon was a nightmare, I-15 a little better.  But we made it and the moisture stopped just before Fillmore and it was fine from there on out.  As fine as driving to Las Vegas is, it seems so much further than St. George.  Those last couple of hours are extra long. We found our hotel, checked in, and got ready for the concert.  I was nervous about two things: 1. navigating the Vegas traffic to get to the venue and 2. that the tickets were real and not a scam.  I went about conquering worry #1 first.  After considering a few different options, we decided to order an uber to get us there.  That was easy-peasy and we made it fine.

Worry #2 was next but it was unfounded.  They scanned our tickets and we were in!  This was the moment I started to really have a lot of fun.

We found our seats, got some pizza, and settled in.  She had two opening acts that we weren't that into but once they put a countdown clock on the big screen, everyone was screaming and the anticipation level was high.

Taylor put on an amazing show.  We stood up almost the entire time.  She titled her tour "Eras Tour" because she did songs from all of her albums.  It really was incredible...her songs, the crowd (60,000 people!!), the stadium.  I have never, ever seen anything like it. She did 44 songs and had 16 different outfit changes.  It was more than a three hour show and she took hardly any breaks.  Every person who entered the stadium was given a wristband and they lit up to coordinate with the songs.  Molly had the time of her life.  She knew every word to every song and she sang her heart out.  I sang my heart out when I knew the words.  It is something I will never forget and I had no regrets getting Molly there.

I was a little worried about getting back to our hotel.  The uber driver had shown me the ride share lot but when we got there after the concert there were literally thousands of people waiting for an uber.  We decided to walk towards our hotel and get an uber where there were less people.  We ended up walking the entire way back to the hotel...about 45 minutes.  It was well lit and there was a group in front of us that walked the entire way as well.  We went to bed, got up in the morning, and drove home.  It was a lot of driving in two days (and the previous weekend) and I will be happy not to see Vegas for a good, long time.  But it was so worth it and I'm so happy we went!

Ivy plays this game occasionally where she puts together different "outfits".  She uses a dress-up and pairs it with a hair bow, shoes, and any other accessories.  Then she puts on a fashion show for anyone who is interested...usually me and Brynn.

Stockton started playing church basketball with our ward and ended up really liking it!  It is a positive atmosphere among all the wards.  We have a few priests who are there every week and they are such good mentors to the younger boys.  They include them, pass to them, cheer for them, etc.  Even the most un-athletic boy in the ward likes to go and the older ones will do everything they can to help him get a basket or two.  Justin has loved going and watching.  I finally made it to the end of a game after picking Brynn up from cheer one night.  Our team is pretty good too and has won every game, thanks to our awesome group of priests.

Stockton in white jersey

*Update, April 13: the boys are playing for the championship tomorrow night.  Stockton has a percussion concert at the same time but he talked to Mr Siggard (percussion teacher) and he pushed the concert up 30 minutes so Stockton can still make it to the game.  What a guy!

After finishing our Harry Potter movie marathon over Christmas Break, Ivy and I decided she was ready for me to read the first book to her.  So we did, the illustrated version.  She enjoyed it but told me she liked the movie better.  Not sure I should consider that a fail or not.  She does want to move on to the second book but we are going to take a few months off and then go back to the series.

I took Brynn and a friend to Walmart to get a tri-fold for a school project and they came home with press-on nails.  Brynn was very nice to share some with Ivy and they both walked around with super long nails for a few days.