January 2025

I thought maybe we'd try to go do something on New Year's Day but we didn't have anything planned and we kind of just ended up staying home. And it felt really great. Ivy put her new puzzle together. I was making dinner for a couple in our ward and made a big pot of my favorite vegetable soup-it tasted so good after all the junk of the holidays.

We did get out and do something the next day. When I asked Brynn and Ivy what they wanted to do, they both said rock climbing. They each invited a friend to join us and both were able to come to our house after as well.

Kallie Gehring, Ivy

Brynn, Oakley Keys

Molly got her room cleaned next. I told her we had to do it this year since she will be partially moving out in the summer but it was fairly easy. She had a good idea of what she already had and where she wanted it all to go so it didn't take us too long.

I don't know who picked this puzzle but one of the girls pulled it out to do next while we were having our movie marathon in the evenings. It was tricky because those colors all blended together. But we persevered and placed the last piece on the night we finished the HP movies. Also the last vacation night before Sunday and then back to school and routines.

Brynn waited anxiously to get her room cleaned out-she was very last.  Brynn has kept her room spic and span clean since last year's clean out so it was really easy this year to go through her stuff. She is meticulous about keeping on top of her room and I would say it is clean 95% of the time.

Stockton was ordained a priest on January 5th. We invited both sets of grandparents to our house for dinner and we were able to do the ordination at home. Stockton asked Brett to ordain him and Justin, Grandpa Gene, and Grandpa Moyes were in the circle as well. I didn't give a speech but I did point out to Stockton how blessed he is to be preceded by so many worthy and amazing priesthood holders. Just in the circle that day he had an elder, two high priests, one current bishop and two former bishops, two temple workers, a patriarch, and a temple sealer. Not that those offices are more important than others, it just shows a strong line of priesthood leaders and I think that's very special. It was a great day. Stockton is a genuinely good kid and he honors his priesthood and tries to make righteous choices each day. One of my favorite things is watching him exercise his priesthood, and to do it happily.

Brett and Stockton

with Grandpa Gene and Grandma April

with Grandma Kay and Grandpa Moyes

Stockton got to cash in his Christmas coupon for the hockey game.  Justin picked him up from baseball and they drove to the Delta Center for the game. Stockton loved it. Justin said he was so hyped up and didn't stop screaming. Utah lost but Stockton has a newly developed interest in hockey and the NHL. He's hoping to get to go to more games in the future.

Brynn had one comp in December but January was when the cheer season started in earnest. 3 out of 4 of our weekends were cheer weekends. That was okay with me and way more than okay with Brynn. She is happiest when she is cheering. We drove up to Ogden for the first of the many comps. They had done so awesome in December, hitting such a clean routine and scoring so high. I was excited to watch that again. Unfortunately, this one did not go as well. They have a high difficulty score so they still came away with first place but they didn't perform like they know they can so they were a little disappointed. Brynn stays positive most all the time and she enjoys the time with teammates so it was a good day for her (and she didn't really make any mistakes). Since we were close to them, lots of my family came to support her that day.

Grandpa, Grandma, Stockton, Justin, Ali, Molly, Harper, Ivy, Lucy, Josie, Brynn

Brynn, Evan Schuler, Claire Winsor

front middle

Ivy left with Grandma after Brynn performed. They were going birthday shopping. Lucy and Josie tagged along. Stockton went to Plain City with Ali and was able to hang out with Grant. Molly went home with Grandpa and got to spend time with Chloe and Abby. After awards were done, as many as were available/wanted to congregated at Bella's for dinner before we drove home. Chloe arranged to have the waiters sing Happy Birthday to Ivy (whose birthday was 8 days away) and she was so embarrassed about that.

Abby, Molly, Chloe, Harper, Brynn, Josie, Lucy, Ivy, me, Stockton, Justin, Grandpa

Molly has an easy schedule this semester. She has one day that she goes to class, although not first period. She has seminary, young adult literature, and then current events. None of these classes has much or any homework. She has an online psychology class through UVU. Then she has the other day with no class at all. She is trying to pick up another job (in addition to the train) but hasn't had any success yet. Since she had some free time she took one day to go stay at Gene and April's and one day to go up to Plain City. She went to the Draper Temple with April and they also went to an antique store and to lunch (no picture from this outing). In Plain City, she and Chloe went to the Brigham City Temple with Grandma and Grandpa. She also got to see Abby perform in one of her last drill team competitions. 

Grandpa, Chloe, Molly, Grandma

Molly and Chloe

Abby and Molly

The next cheer competition was a two-day comp at the Salt Palace. They got to perform both days and the scores were combined.  They looked better than the week before but they still didn't hit a perfect routine either time, although the second day was better than the first day. We weren't sure what to expect going into awards, but they pulled it off and got first place in their division. They also were golden ticket winners which was unexpected...they scored the highest in their level which won them a bid to a US Finals competition. So they were very happy and excited and had to practically get kicked off the stage.

Claire, Katelyn, Brynn, Savannah

Evan and Brynn as flyers

third from left in front

Aviana Blanco, Brynn, Claire, Evan

Aleah Pierce, Savannah West, Evan, Avi, Claire, Oakley, Brynn

Cyndi Blanco, Oakley, Avi, Claire, Jill Winsor, me, Brynn, Bekah Schuler, Evan

I didn't take her to dinner after the first day so I told her we could go after the second day. She loves being with her cheer friends. They won those bags at this comp!

Molly has a lot of friends who wrestle for the girls wrestling team at the high school, including Regan, Molly's best friend.  So she had to go support them at their senior night.

Molly, Regan Heywood

Brynn's cheer pictures for this season. Tumble Central All-Stars, Senior Sargeants, Level 2 Senior team.

Brynn on the left

Evan, Claire, Avi, Oakley, Brynn

flyers: Dani Fritzsche, Evan, Claire, Brynn, Oakley

Brynn is middle front

front middle

Brynn got creative in getting her vacuuming done one day. I make the kids set a timer to vacuum the living room for 10 minutes in the hopes that they {might} get all the places in that amount of time. Bedrooms are 5 minutes.

Next cheer comp was UCA in Sandy. After turning down two bids to summit in previous comps, the coaches finally decided they actually did want to go to summit. So we were trying for that in this comp. (Summit = the superbowl of all cheer comps and one that you can only attend by winning a "bid" which is usually the highest score of each level. We had won bids at two previous comps but, since coaches hadn't told parents to plan for summit at the beginning of the season, they kept turning the bids down. A coach from another gym finally called and told our coaches they were crazy and that we should go for it!) Anwho, there was a lot on the line and while Brynn did excellent and hit all her stunts, one of the other flyers went down in her elite stunt. She felt awful. But it does happen and her team was very supportive and encouraging. They got third at this comp and left a little disappointed. So we keep trying! Grandma and Grandpa came to watch Brynnie and said it was much more impressive to watch her in person than on video. We are so proud of her and the work she puts into this sport!

second in from right on bottom row

with Grandpa Gene and Grandpa April

More hoverboard tricks...very impressive, Brynn!

Molly had her signing ceremony at the school on the last Monday of January. She wasn't sure she wanted to do this (she hates attention) but I told her she had to. Plus maybe a part of her wanted to do it because of what it means for her-where she's been and where she's heading. She invited coaches and teammates to come. Justin and I stood up front with her while Coach Tara and Coach Ariel both spoke about Molly. Then Justin and I each got to say a little something and Molly went last. She wanted it short which we were able to do but it was really neat to be able to honor Molly in that way. We are so proud of her. We have said a couple times in the last few months "man, if freshman Molly could see Molly now" or "freshman Molly wouldn't believe where Molly is now" or other things along those lines. Getting cut from high school as a freshman was the hardest thing Molly has ever gone through (up to this point in her life) but it was also the best thing for her. It pushed her and motivated her beyond what any of us would have thought her capable of. So for her to go from that, to putting in so much work these past three years, and now getting the opportunity to continue to play soccer at a collegiate level...it's hard to put into words, but it is very awesome and very inspiring.

Coach Tara...Wasatch head coach (played for her junior and senior year)

Coach Ariel, Wasatch JV coach (Molly played for her as a sophomore)

my turn!

hug from Dad

Molly saying a few words

the actual signing was a formality and that is just a blank piece of paper...she officially signed her letter of intent back in December

Regan "Potato" Heywood...Molly wouldn't have survived her hard soccer years without Regan

Amberly Howe, Jackie Bingham, Marabelle, Molly, Regan

Sarah Hottle, Molly, Carolyn Ritchie

Coach Tara spoke about how Molly was a role model for the underclassmen...so many of them love her and came to support her that day

with Addy Bondurant

Coach Mike Gardiner, Coach Tara, Molly, Coach Ariel

Avalanche coach Derek Dunn...we owe so much to this guy who gave Molly a chance on his club team, taught her so much about the game, repaired her confidence, and restored her love of soccer. I know for a fact that she would not be in this position without his coaching. Molly was honored that he would drive up from Salt Lake in support of her.

YW President Jan Peart

Molly's goal this year is to keep a sort of "scrapbook" of the year.  So she is printing off pictures and different artwork that she likes and is glueing them into a notebook. It is very eclectic and artsy-not how you would picture scrapbooking from when I was her age. It's looking really good so far and I'm excited to see how it progresses.  She got Brynn and Ivy involved one afternoon and they just had a great time scrapbooking and crafting while watching Frozen.

Molly wanted to drive out to Cedar Valley High School to watch her friends wrestle at the state semi-finals. I didn't love the idea of her driving out there on her own at night so Justin said he would go with her and that would give him a chance to watch one of the girls from our ward. They made it to Provo when one of Molly's friends texted her and told her they were two hours ahead of schedule and the meet was over.  So bummer. Justin and Molly turned it into a date night and went for some yummy Korean food. They were nice enough to order me some bibimbap and bring it home.