June

Ivy wanted to do an escape room/treasure hunt day.  I found an escape room online and printed it but she had other ideas.  She worked all afternoon on her own escape room.  I printed her a code sheet where each letter of the alphabet was represented by a symbol.  She used that to write out the word "SUMMER" in code and hide a different symbol/letter in each room of the house. She hid the code sheet in another room.  She drew a map of the house and marked which rooms where a clue was hiding.  Then the person had to use the map to find the clues, then use the code sheet to figure out the letters, then unscramble the letters to find out the word.  It was very detailed and well-done!  Everyone in our family tried it, at different times, since we weren't all home together than night.  All the other kids were gone that afternoon and working on it was an awesome way for her to kill some time.

Library day.  I can always count on Ivy to go with me, and usually Brynn as well.  Ivy has become a big reader these days and I love it.  This poster was hanging up with a stool so you could stand in as the "I" to make the word KIND.

We celebrated Gene's 70th birthday at our house one Sunday afternoon.  Molly had collected a video from every person in the family...adults and kids...and put together a movie that we watched with him.  There were sentimental stories, funny stories, and lots of thanks for Gene in there and Molly did a great job with the video.  Rachelle and Camille were able to get on a zoom call with their families so we could watch together.  Not as good as physically being together but better than nothing, I guess.  We had bbq ribs and yummy sides, played 9-square that Justin had borrowed from the stake, and generally had a great time together.  I had bought Gene a box of "candy made in 1953" and that went over exactly how I thought it would...all the kids surrounding Gene and wanting tastes.  Gene would say "Oh I remember these" and then hand out samples.  We were dying over the candy cigarettes!  Definitely not something we would see these days!

Cameron, Eli, April, Gene, Brynn, Evie

Cam, Luke, Eli, Heidi, April, Molly, Gene, Brynn, Evie, Ivy

Eli, Brynn, Eric, Jake, Luke, Molly, Cam, Heidi, Justin, Stockton

Eli, Jake, Ivy, Justin

Brett, Luke, Justin, Gene, Cam, Stockton, Molly, Jake, Evie, Brynn

This was also Cam's last day in Utah so we were having a farewell party prior to him flying back to Georgia the next day.

Stockton, Molly, Cam, Luke, Tiana, Evie, Brynn, Jake, Eli

Molly, Brynn, Brett, Cam, Stockton, Ivy

Gene is probably the best dad/grandpa/father-in-law anyone could ask for!  He has a quiet humility about him and goes about doing good with no fanfare.  He has always been obedient and quietly serves where and when and how he is called.  Justin tells the best story of him whenever speaking about service...One day Gene answered his phone to a neighbor saying her water just broke.  So he hung up, put on his work boots, grabbed a bucket and some tools, and walked over to their house prepared to fix a broken water pipe.  Turns out, her actual water had broken and she needed to go to the hospital to give birth and was trying to get a hold of April.  It is a classic family story that we laugh about every time we hear it or re-tell it but it also illustrates how Gene is always willing to serve anytime he is needed.  I can't count the hours and hours he has helped us with house projects.  Gene was called as a stake patriarch at the end of April and has felt very overwhelmed with this new, and life-long, calling.  Those of us who know him know he is perfect for this calling and will do a fabulous job.  He also serves as a recorder in the Draper temple.  We are blessed by his willingness and example.  He has had a large impact on my life for which I am extremely grateful.

Jake, Heidi, Evie, Eric, Tiana, Luke, Gene, April, Brynn, Molly, Brett, Ivy, Eli, Justin, Cam, Stockton, me

I took Brynn to the eye doctor at the beginning of June and she came home with a slight prescription.  She probably could be okay without glasses but she was really excited at the prospect of having glasses so I took her down to Orem to pick out a pair.  We made a day out of it and stopped at the splash pad on the way home.  Brynn and Ivy played for one hour before we drove home.

 

I finished reading the next book in the Nancy Drew series that Ivy and I have been working through.  It was called Last Lemonade Standing.  We are currently working our way through the third book but aren't quite as consistent in the summer as we should/could be.

Ivy's long-term goal is to be a cheerleader like Brynn.  She could start now and get put on a team but our compromise was for her to learn and progress with her tumbling skills first.  (They don't devote a lot of time to tumbling skills in cheer so if you want to advance to higher levels, you have to take tumbling classes on top of the cheer schedule.  I'd like to avoid doing that.)  She was so excited to start her class and has really been enjoying it!

Good thing the gym is less than 10 minutes away from our house.  I am now driving there four days each week for cheer, tumbling, or flyers class!

I took the girls to see the live action Little Mermaid movie.  We had free passes so that was an extra bonus.  Stockton didn't care to join us, haha.  We all liked the movie!

Here is Brynn in her glasses that arrived later that week. 

Stockton wanted to go get Aggie Ice Cream.  They sell it by the scoop at the Midway Dairy.  Yum!  Although I was sad to realize that I really couldn't even stomach a full scoop of my long-ago favorite flavor, Aggie Blue Mint.  After I gave birth to Molly in the Logan hospital all I really wanted was a double scoop of this ice cream and Ali was nice enough to run and get it for me.  The kids enjoyed their cones though!  No Molly this day, she was at work.

 

After two weeks of rehearsing, we were all excited to see Ivy debut in her role as Nanny in the kid's play 101 Dalmatians.  She was adorable, the cast was adorable, the entire thing was adorable.  I loved it, Ivy loved it.  It was a really fun weekend, with three shows!  Our entire family went on opening night and had so much fun cheering her on.  This is a great program that is available for these kids.

Ivy is the back middle

This is the ultimate bed-time stalling tactic:  Ivy got out all her princess stuffy dolls then hid under a blanket.  Stockton would hand one to her and she had to guess which one it was just by feel.  So weird.  Stockton took a turn and then Brynn...then they kept coming up with variations of this game so they could stay up later.  Since it was summer, I really didn't care.

 

The girls wanted to do s'mores so I got all the supplies at the store...and then it was rainy.  Indoor s'mores for the win!

We went up to see Jeff for our semi-annual dentist appointments.  No cavities all around.  We stayed that night in Plain City and had a mini Grandkid Camp.  We swam, had a bbq, and watched an outdoor movie the rest of that day.  The kids all had sleepovers at one house or another.

Abby, Brynn, Molly, Grace

Molly, Harper, Brynn

Ivy, Josie, Lucy

Tessa, Grace, Lucy, Josie, Harper, Brynn

In the morning, we had a pancake breakfast and then got ready to go mini golfing.  We golfed at Toads (it was buy one, get one free so that was a nice surprise), then grabbed pizza to take back home.   We spent the rest of the day in the pool.  We had to leave that afternoon but it was a good, short trip with lots of cousin time.

Seth, Spencer, Stockton, Grant

Abby, Grace, Molly

Lucy, Ivy, Brynn

Molly, Abby, Tessa, Grace

Stockton, Grant, Gavin

Lucy, Ivy, Josie

Brynn and Harper

Seth, Spencer, Grace, Abby, Tessa, Molly, Stockton, Grant, Harper, Gavin, Josie, Ivy, Lucy, Brynn

Tessa and Molly

Seth, Grace, Tessa, Grant, Stockton

Ivy, Josie, Lucy, Harper, Brynn

Father's Day-

We are always happy to have Justin home on Sunday mornings.  It doesn't happen much.  I made him a breakfast casserole and we were able to eat together.  Ivy had made an adorable candy bar poster for him at activity days and was excited to give it to him.  We also gave him some good licorice and cross-net.

After church we went to dinner at Eric and Heidi's house.  Heidi made a delicious taco bar.  We walked to a park across the street and had a family whiffle ball game.  Those are the best kind of nights and we are sure grateful for Justin and all our dad's.  We have some pretty great guys in our family!

A couple of years ago Juneteenth became a federal holiday and that = no work for Justin.  It was finally a good day to set up the pool.  Yay!  I took Molly down to soccer practice in American Fork and when we got home, it was set up.  It took the rest of the day to fill it with water.  The girls were involved in every aspect of the set up.  By the evening it was ready to try out.  The kids have been super spoiled with my parents' very warm pool and this pool is very cold compared.  But they go out there most everyday and play around and everyone has had a friend over to play as well.  I'm really hopeful this will be years of entertainment, especially for Brynn and Ivy.

Dishes in a swimsuit will also hopefully become the norm around here! I lived half my childhood in a swimsuit.

Ivy was excited to finally have a playdate with Hannah and Raina.  She hadn't seen either of them since school got out.  Ivy had seen a photo of candy sushi in a magazine and was anxious to make some of her own so they did that first.  Then they "played" in the pool...it was still super cold so they tip-toed around and dared each other to go under.

Raina Cottle, Ivy, Hannah Reynolds

Our Primary hosted a "Pioneer Day" for the senior primary kids.  They made candles, graham cracker-marshmallow covered wagons, and homemade butter, collected cow pies, and played water games.  I volunteered at the butter station.  Ivy came home wanting to make more butter and shared a pioneer story with the rest of us.

London Mathis, Ivy, Reese Whiting, Olivia Lubina

Ivy had been dying to dye (see what I did there haha) the tips of her hair purple or pink.  I was okay with that, we just needed to get the dye and find a day to do it.  Brynn did not want to miss out on the fun so they each picked a different color from Amazon and used their own money to purchase the kits.  Once they came in the mail, they had to wait until I had a free afternoon to do it for them.  I started with Ivy first and we had to bleach the tips of her hair first.  While her bleach was setting, I dyed the underneath half of Brynn's hair purple then we waited for that to set.  I rinsed out Ivy's bleach and dyed her tips berry pink.  Then we waited for that to set.  I washed Brynn's color out and we decided it wasn't very dark and wouldn't be noticed since it was just the underneath part of her hair.  So we decided that it was subtle enough that we could do her whole head of hair.  So I did that while we waited for Ivy's color to set.  Then we washed out Ivy's while Brynn's was setting.  Finally we washed out Brynn's.  Whew! They turned out great!  Ivy's definitely worked better with the bleaching first but Brynn's was subtle enough to be pretty.  The girls were happy with the results!

Justin ordered a storage bench that we can put by the pool.  When it was delivered Stockton was excited to assemble it and it was done by the time Justin got home from work that night.  He had to take a few things apart along the way and do them over but it was a good project for him to work on that day.

Ivy set up a playdate with Gracen, a friend she met this past year at school.  They started at her house and played for a couple of hours and then her dad drove them both over to our house.  Ivy had really been wanting to make toilet paper wedding dresses.  Raylie came over to join them.  They were not quite as elaborate as the ones the girls made with April last year but they had a good time anyway.  They also played outside and swam in the pool.

Raylie Anderson, Gracen Nalette, Ivy

Ivy got her date with me in June.  She really wanted to go to Culver's.  I tried to find a time that we were already going to be in Utah County and save a trip but that never happened.  She was very distraught on the last day of June because we hadn't done our date yet.  So I gave her two options: wait until we could make it down to Culver's or go that night somewhere in Heber.  She opted to go that night and she chose Dairy Keen.  I got her a kids cheeseburger and fries and we shared a cookie dough shake...she must have been hungry because she ate every bit of her food and some of mine and then polished off the shake as well! 

We stopped at the dollar store on the way home to get decorations for Ivy's 4th of July bike and piano prizes.

Brynn was gone that night with her friend, Ellie.  They went to watch their other friend, Mari, perform in her Finding Nemo play.  I think she felt so grown-up being dropped off and picked up later.  Stockton was with his friends at the movies and Molly was at work.  Justin had the house to himself for a couple of hours and I don't think he minded relaxing by himself at all!

Brynn, Mari Freeman, Ellie Graff