August

Justin and Stockton headed off to Priesthood Camp the first week of August.  They combined all quorums and they both had a really great time.  Justin enjoyed the chance to get to know the deacons a little better.  They went to Flaming Gorge and camped, hiked, floated the river, and did some cliff jumping.  And probably some other things...I don't think I know half of what goes on at Young Men camps!

Stockton, Jacob Jones, Grahm Kelsey, Ben Chappell, Kelton Webb, Bracken Holm, Brother Olivas

Brother Kelsey, Brother Whimpey, Justin, Brother Roney, Timothy Evans, Preston Evans, Ben, Jake Webb, Stockton, Grahm, Issac Munford, Luke Pully, Kelton, Campbell Quinn, Asa Pulley, Easton Anderson, Austin Larsen, Rome Perotti, Bracken, Josh Perotti

I stayed home with Ivy one Sunday because she wasn't feeling well.  We watched sacrament meeting on zoom and I pulled out this puzzle so that I could stay more focused.  I bought it for the kids for Easter and we had never done it.  It didn't take too long and was a really fun and addicting puzzle!  Kind of pricey for a puzzle but I think I would buy more from her shop because it was so enjoyable.

I helped a few cheer moms put together a nacho bar lunch for all the cheer girls during their boot camp week.  We call this our Texas group because it was the five of us who went to San Antonio together.  I've met some awesome people through my kids' sports!

coaches, me, Marissa Boyer, Becky Hansen, Jill Winsor

Once Molly had tryouts and made the team, her summer was pretty much over.  She was okay with that because she was having a lot of fun and was right where she wanted to be.  The Monday following tryouts, they went to Mount Pleasant for three days for soccer camp where they did a whole bunch of stuff.  They got home from that Wednesday night and had their first game Thursday night.  It was a pre-season game against Park City.  I will admit that my eyes got a little teary when Molly was lined up with the starters during the national anthem.  She had a great first game with a win and another win the next night against Ogden.

she's out there somewhere!

A tradition in the Heber Valley and for Wasatch High School is these big wooden W's.  You paint them in Wasatch colors with the last name of the athlete, graduation year, and sport/activity that they are involved in.  Then you display them on your front porch or somewhere in front of your house.  You can drive all around the valley and spot them and it's kind of fun.  I painted this one for Molly last year and it's a little beat up after being out for a full year but that's okay.  We will continue to proudly display our W in support of our favorite player and then I will probably take it down and try to re-do it for next year.

Ivy had been wanting to do an egg drop all summer.  She remembers when we did one in the days of covid.  I finally got around to giving the green light.  I boiled Brynn and Ivy three eggs each and they came up with their contraptions on their own.  Justin was at work so we just dropped them from the lower kitchen roof.  They were both happy to see that none of their eggs had cracked!

 

Stockton and Hunter made chocolate crinkle cookies while we did the egg drop.  They were delicious!

Hunter and Stockton

Brynn got some driving lessons from Justin.  He had driven the Explorer out to the barn to unload some chicken feed and so he coached Brynn with backing out of the yard onto the road and then over to the garage.

(I have a love/hate relationships with car washes...I love having a clean car but hate paying for them...since we rarely find the time to wash it at home, our car is usually dirty.)

Molly and Brynn were in the Heber Fair Days parade again this year.  Ivy and I went to watch them.  We were smarter than last year and packed lots of water and the canopy so it wasn't too bad.  We found the Freeman's to sit by and Ivy played card games with Mari and Beth, who are older than her but she didn't seem to care.  The soccer team was clean-up duty again...they are last in the parade and then turn around and re-walk the route backward and clean up trash.  It's a good little fundraiser for them.

I had told Ivy that she could have a end-of-summer pool party so we did that during the last week of summer.  We got a good crowd of girls!  Inside of the house was off-limits, except for bathroom breaks, but we were able to keep them entertained with the pool, sidewalk chalk on the tramp, water balloons, and the slip 'n slide.  We had popcorn, popsicles, and watermelon for snacks and it was a super fun afternoon.

Kaliyah Pili, Hannah Reynolds, Ivy, Raylie Anderson, Gracen Nalette, Harper Christiansen, Olivia Christiansen, Etta Johnson, Lydia Evans, Blakelee Anderson

Hannah, Blakelee, Gracen, Raylie, Ivy, Etta, Olivia, Lydia, Raina Cottle, London Mathis, Liyah, Harper

Lydia and Ivy

Brynn had three hours of choreography that day so when she was done with that, one of the mom's drove the Texas group over and they had their pool party for the next few hours.  Ivy's party and Brynn's party overlapped a little but it made sense to do them both in one afternoon.  Those cheer girls had just finished three hours of cheer at the gym and guess how they spent the bulk of their time at our house?  Cheering...either in the pool, on the tramp, or on the grass.  They are cute girls!

Brook Moore, Abby Boyer, Abby Hansen, Brynn, Claire Winsor

Here are some soccer picture outtakes.  There are six juniors playing varsity this year.

Sicily Clark, Aspen Ivie, Lucy Jibson, Molly, Regan Heywood, Natalia Wagstaff

Best friends Regan, Caroline Turner, Molly

best-best friends Regan and Molly

Ivy lucked out this year and got to go to Lagoon twice with friends.  Each time she got her ticket paid for by the family.  My older kids were so jealous!  She went with Lydia Evans on the 24th and then went for Liyah Pili's birthday in August.  Raina was there as well.  From the looks of it, they had a great time and were sufficiently tuckered out by the end of the day.  And it's weird that my baby is old enough to go on these friend outings without me!

Raina and Ivy

Liyah, Ivy, Raina

Liyah, Ivy, Raina

Liyah, Ivy, Raina

A few times I have taken the kids up to Mirror Lake Highway on the day before or the weekend before school starts.  I like this tradition.  It's a perfect way to clear my head and gear up for a new year.  Sunday afternoon before school worked best for us this year so I had dinner ready and waiting right when Justin got home from his meetings so we could eat and go.  We walked around Mirror Lake and it was gorgeous and perfect and exactly what I/we needed.  I was dealing with a pretty big migraine that day and needing to get out of the house and the mountain air was wonderfully refreshing.

I asked the kids what they wanted to do on the last day of summer break and they decided that doughnuts at the skate park Monday morning was just the ticket.  Stockton brought Kelton.  Brynn and Ivy roller skated and scootered.  We ate our treats and then went home to prepare for that night and evening.

It ended up being a crazy night with all the back-to-school things going on.  Also, my car was needing the brakes changed so I couldn't drive it and Molly had to go to work.  It took some tricky coordinating but we got to all the schools, made it to Walmart for snacks and supplies for the week, and I was even able to put a spaghetti dinner on the table with some amazing croissant bread I had stashed in the freezer. Whew!

We walked around TMS but it was breeze for Brynn because it's her second year there.  She is a pro.  Ivy got upgraded to the 3rd grade hall (she's been in the 1st and 2nd grade hall the last two years and the 3rd grade hall is in the back of the school).  We met her teacher, Mrs. Letzelter, who thought Brynn was the 3rd grader for a couple of minutes until we set her straight, haha.  I had dropped Stockton off at Hunter's and they walked over the high school to find their classes so all I had to do there was go find him at the school.  He didn't need to show me where all his classes were.  Obviously, Molly didn't need to do a back-to-school walk-through since it's her third year (!!!) at the high school so she knows where everything is.

Justin and I had promised the kids that we would jump in the pool one time this summer so when I got home from getting Stockton, we got our suits on and jumped in.  It was cold!  I swam in this kind of pool all summer as a kid and I have become much more of a wimp.  We got right out!  Brynn and Ivy did one last jump in the pool that night. (The pool stayed up a few weeks longer and they had more days in the pool, this was just the last swim of summer vacation.)

*I will post about first days on a separate post.  Stay tuned!

The priests and the oldest YW class were able to go down and tour the MTC for an activity.  Justin and Molly both loved this.  Justin had been dealing with some heavy bishop stuff and he came home from this activity spiritually rejuvenated.

Molly got asked to Homecoming.  The boy had done his homework and asked her with a Taylor Swift-themed poster.  He is a senior and Molly doesn't know him that well but his best friend is taking one of her friends so she's excited about that.

A friend sent me this picture after Molly hosted her family on the train one Saturday. 

Molly, Marianne Allen

Brynn went to a birthday party at a tumbling gym...perfect for her, since she got to tumble all night.  They had a glow stick dance party and this is what she came home wearing.

We had lots of afternoon rainstorms mid-to-late August.  Summer rainstorms are wonderful and my grass at the end of August was so green.

Brynn went to back-to-back birthday parties-the one at the gym with the glow sticks and one at an escape room.  She has such a fun group of friends whose mom's plan really fun parties!

Briley Smith, ?, Ellie Graff, Brynn, ?

We went to the AFCU Lagoon night.  When we got the tickets a few weeks before we weren't sure who would be where and who would actually be able to come (last year only Brynn and Ivy were able to go) but we got 6 tickets just in case.  Stockton wasn't able to go since he had some baseball games so we had Jake Webb come with us in his place.  Jake had never been to Lagoon and we took him to Cannibal first to initiate him.  Ivy had a first that night as well: Wild Mouse, which she wasn't super impressed with.  We rode as much as we could in the small amount of time we had and were happy that we got the chance.  We were also treated to a beautiful sunset!