I'm so happy that Brynn and Ivy love back to school shopping so much. I love it too so I'm glad they still want to go with me. We make a day of it...we start at Old Navy (I usually have points so it's cheap there), then we go to TJ Maxx and Ross, then we hit up the mall (save the most expensive for last). We'll go to Target at the very end if they are still looking. All the kids get to pick out three outfits and a pair of shoes. Whatever is spent over $100 they have to pay back 30% which helps them be a little more aware of what they are spending rather than just going crazy. I don't buy them a lot of clothes throughout the year so this feels like an okay splurge to me...plus they get so excited about their outfits. Brynn and Ivy still like to give the rest of the family a fashion show when they get home and show-off their new clothes.
Justin and Stockton were still at priest quorum camp that night and Molly was in Price so Brynn and Ivy had a sleepover in my room on the floor. They were still zonked at 9:00 the next morning.
Ivy got to go to Kallie's birthday party. She did a fashion design theme and they had fun activities. Such a cute group of girls!
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| Rocky Crane, Lydia Evans, Ivy |
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| Kallie Gehring in the front, Ivy, ?, Oaklyn Holm, Rocky, Lydia, London Mathis, ? |
We got in a trip to Aggie Ice Cream, yum!
Justin got tickets from work for a Salt Lake Bee's game and it was a night we could actually all be there. Even Molly was able to make it home that weekend, which was the best part. The seats were directly behind home plate and it was a beautiful night. We love us some baseball.
We were so happy that first time Molly was able to come home, as we are so happy every time she makes it home. She invited her friends over Sunday afternoon so they could experience one of our favorite meals, bibimbap. It was fun to host them. I didn't have dessert planned but was able to throw together a giant chocolate chip cookie which they topped with vanilla ice cream and hot fudge when it was hot out of the oven.
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| Stockton, Justin, Ivy, Brynn, Regan Heywood, Amberly Howe, Carolyn Ritchie, Sarah Hottle, Molly |
Brynn and Ivy had been wanting to get to the trampoline park all summer. Stockton had to go down to UVU to take a test to get into English 1010 so it worked perfectly that we could drop him off there then head over to the trampoline park 5 minutes away and let the girls jump while he took his test. We drove to Gene and April's after so April could hem Brynn's cheer sweats and then we wandered around the Southtowne Mall for a bit to see if Stockton could find anything for back to school clothes. We packed it in and it was a full day!
Molly had her first game and we were very excited to go cheer her on. Brynn had cheer that morning and wouldn't be home before we had to leave but everyone else was able to be there, as well as my mom and dad. We weren't sure how much playing time she would get, being a new freshman, but she went in for the last 20 minutes of the game and she played really well! I know she just wanted to be confident and feel like she was a contributor no matter how much or how little she played and she felt that she was able to accomplish that. So she was a happy girl after and so were we! It was a very cool moment for us to see her play at this level, a goal she set for herself a long time ago. 
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| with Grandma and Grandpa Moyes |
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| Hannah Bailey, Haygen Haycock, Molly |
We went to get some lunch in neighboring Helper, where Molly and Ivy found Ivy Street. It obviously warranted a picture.
My mom and dad ended up getting a condo in Park City that night after the game. Molly's team was floating the Provo River the next day so she drove home for that night and met the team there the next day. I took the kids up to the condo and let them swim in the pool. The girls slept over and came home in the morning but Stockton had an appointment in the morning so he came back with me. The next day, we met them in Midway where Stockton and my dad did some fishing at the pond while my mom, me, Brynn, and Ivy walked around the cute shops around town.
That night was a night we were excited for: Brynn's first experience cheering at a high school game. Their season began that night at Park City High School. For years and years the game against Park City has been "hick night" and the cheerleaders wear cowboy hats and boots. It was so fun to watch Brynn. She was a little nervous and kept watching the older girls to make sure she was doing everything right. She did great and is just the cutest little cheerleader.
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| Justin's friend is the football team photographer and he got us in the stands a couple of times during the season |
Which brings us to the first day of school! As always, summer had flown by and we were back to early mornings and homework and schedules and all that comes with that! Brynn left first for freshmen first day. It still boggles my mind to imagine her walking around the halls of the high school with all those big kids. But she is holding her own! She has Spanish, Ag Biology, Geography, English, Math, Seminary, Business Office Pro, and cheer class. Her cheer schedule it grueling, with early morning practice at 6:00 am several days a week, cheer class every other day for last period, plus the football games and all the other extras the cheerleaders are required to be to. Plus learning and rehearsing all their routines for competition season. But she has done a really great job keeping up with that schedule and her schoolwork. Her room has suffered a little more than usual but I can't expect her to do it all haha! I'm really proud of her for how she is juggling her expectations as a new high schooler.
Ivy was supposed to go that day as well but she woke up with a migraine that was bad enough that she was throwing up as well. Poor girl. She was so excited to get started but I sent her back to bed. She was fine with some rest. Stockton didn't start until the next day and earned the best big brother award that afternoon for setting up a mini golf course for Ivy that completely cheered her up.
She was feeling good enough that night for AFCU Lagoon night. It was Brynn's turn to take a friend so we had Oakley with us. Justin was dealing with walking pneumonia (a leftover gift from school in July that lasted two months) so we also grabbed Kelton last minute. The boys did their thing, Brynn and Oakley mostly did their thing, so I got time with Ivy. I told her I would go on whatever she wanted and we managed to fit in just about everything she wanted to, including the Ferris Wheel, which I have never done and which she concluded probably wasn't worth it.
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| Ivy, Oakley, Brynn |
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| Kelton Webb, Stockton, Ivy, Brynn, Oakley |
It was Brynn's second day (1st day for sophomores-seniors) and her first day to wear her cheer uniform. She looks so cute and Stockton looks so big next to her.
Ivy was feeling back to normal the next day so she got have her first day. She was so happy and so excited. She loves school. I can't believe this is her last year in elementary school. Ivy has Mrs. Vanhouten, my fourth kid to have her. That's right-she has never had four kids in one family until this year. Good thing she is a great teacher! Ivy loves GATE (gifted and talented), music, art, library, math...pretty much everything and her scores are off the charts. She is kind and respectful which is even better. I love the enthusiasm she has for learning and hope it continues for many years.
Brynn cheered at all the varsity football games but she also cheered at any home JV games. She had fun cheering at varsity games because she could do harder stunts and she had just as much fun at JV games because she got to stand by her friends. (Her varsity stunt group are seniors and one junior so she doesn't get to stand by her friends during the varsity games.) Basically she is just having fun at all the cheer things.
It took Justin a few weeks to find a new vehicle for Stockton. We had to wait for the insurance to process and get a check. We got way more than we thought we would for that old red truck. We were grateful. We still wanted a truck since having one comes in handy for yard projects and we were able to take that money and find a killer deal on a much nicer and much newer truck. We paid a teeny-tiny bit more than what we got back but couldn't believe the deal we found. Stockton was very happy and takes good care of this new truck.
Varsity cheer at Cyprus. I thought they weren't allowed to do any stunting at away games because they don't have the mats on the track like they do at home...but I was wrong. They still get to stunt but can't do any releases for safety. I drove out to Cyprus with my good cheer mom friends, Kary and Becky, and had a great time. It was a beautiful night, warm, and we got to see a spectacular sunset. Friday night lights are a new experience for me as a parent and they are pretty magical.
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| Ari Apostol and Brynn |
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| flyer on the left |
Rachelle was in town so we were able to go down one Sunday afternoon for dinner and to spend time with her and others. She might be one of my girls' favorite people.
Here are the 2025-26 cheer team photos. I'm grateful for the people Brynn is meeting and the experiences she is having. She has no regrets leaving Tumble Central.
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| bottom left |
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| JV team-far left |
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| freshmen - far right |
**Since they took these photos, there has been one coaching change and a few drop-outs. But it's mostly the same.
Molly started her first day of classes almost a whole month after we dropped her off in Price. She had spent the first few weeks doing two-a-day practices and getting to know her team. She was having a great time. Most of her classes the first semester have been online, to accommodate the soccer schedule and the traveling they do and she has liked having that flexibility. Stockton asked a girl from our ward, Hayley Rose, to Homecoming. She answered back "I would be SODA-lighted to go do HOCO with you" with some Dr. Pepper and candy.
Finally, after two away games, a home football game. USA night. Brynn had fun cheering in front of the student section and doing harder stunts. Usually freshmen start in front of the parent section but, since she has bases who are seniors, she was moved down to the opposite end, in front of the students. So it's tricky for us to see her and took me several games to figure out
the best place to sit and, even then, other people would get in our way a lot.
Since Molly was home for Labor Day weekend, we took the chance to do our annual drive up to and walk around Mirror Lake. It's just a breath of fresh air there and specifically one of Molly's favorite places and must-do traditions. I love the time spent together here. The colors were beautiful this night!
We came back to a new dessert I had tried: eskimo bars. I made a brownie layer followed by an ice cream layer, froze them in a pan, cut them into strips, dipped them in chocolate shell candy and then we dipped the bars in caramel to eat. They were good but way too hard to eat to be worth it. The brownie layer was too frozen. And they were very sweet. But Justin made sure to get silly pictures of all the kids doing their best to eat their treat!
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