Ivy worked here and there on her Wicked Legos in the week after Christmas and finished them on New Year's Day. There is a Glinda castle and an Elpheba castle and they are both very detailed. It was a super fun project for her.
Justin, Molly, and Stockton had watched all the Stranger Things episodes and scored tickets in the theater for the finale. I still haven't watched the whole season but they loved it and were blown away by the entire season.
Ivy actually got her room cleaned out first, on the day after Christmas. There were a couple of things she wanted to finish up (her Legos, for example) before I took her picture. She loves her bookshelf and so do I, it fits perfectly in her room and houses a lot of her books and decorations. Her dresser has always been a catch-all for so much clutter so it felt good to get that cleared off and hopefully we (she) can keep it that way!
Second puzzle of the break, first puzzle of the year!
We had two weeks off for Christmas break and then our district tacked on two extra days for the students and held teacher training the first Monday and Tuesday after New Year's. So we had an extra long break, which was wonderful. We hadn't done a whole lot of anything so I told the girls I would take them to do something fun on the last day before going back. They had conflicting ideas so we did some compromising. Brynn got Oakley to tag along and we dropped the two of them at the mall for one hour. Ivy and I did a couple of other things while they did their shopping then we all got some lunch and went to the trampoline park where they got another hour to play. It was perfect and a great way to finish the break.
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| Brynn, Ivy, Oakley Keys |
Molly had a big, kind of life-changing decision ahead of her after soccer season and over the break. She had a great time in Price, enjoyed being part of the team and playing soccer, made friends, had good experiences. All her classes were online so, after the season finished at the end of October, she was mostly home. She had spent the entire fall waiting for any weekend when she could come home and we loved it. She had a good break but I could sense she was a little lost. She was playing around with the idea of going back to Price for spring semester but then transferring up to Logan after the summer. One morning I asked her, "Do you just want to transfer to Logan now?" and that sparked some excitement in her. All it took was me planting a seed. I thought she would have to find someone to buy her housing contract and didn't know if that would work out but she sent an email and received a response that same day that said she didn't have to sell a contract, she just needed to let the housing department know she wasn't going to be returning and that she had to check out by 5 PM on December 12th. This all happened on the 10th so she was very overwhelmed at how fast everything was happening. She waffled for a little bit because she was nervous about letting people down, letting go of a dream she worked so hard for, etc, but we talked her through it and Justin ended up taking her to Price the very next day (Dec 11th) to clean out her room and officially check out. It was a big step but she told me how, about 10 minutes after they drove off, she felt a huge weight lift off her shoulders and that she was truly, genuinely excited for her next big step in life. Justin and I are so proud of her-for working so hard to get to USUE, for working hard in soccer, for getting out of her comfort zone, making new friends, having new experiences, but also recognizing when the spirit is nudging her down a new path.
Anyway, things just seemed to fall into place after that. She went to Libbie and Sophia Locke's mission call openings and Libbie was desperate to sell her USU contract. And since Molly was desperate to buy a contract, that worked out really well for her! She had already registered for online classes and decided to stick with those, pick up an Institute class, and focus on getting a job. We drove all her stuff up to Logan the Friday before the semester started, she came home, then she drove back up Monday morning. She was understandably anxious and emotional but was fine once she got there. Elayna Knowles from our ward met her at her new apartment with a drink and Abby was there to help her get completely unpacked, since we didn't do that the weekend before. My mom and dad were in Bear Lake so they took both Abby and Molly out to dinner on their way back to Plain City. It has been a good move for her and she is so happy!
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| Abby and Molly |
January brought lots and lots of cheer...several 6:00 am practices before school, cheer class every other day with extended practices, occasional evening practices, several cheer comps, and basketball games. JV cheer cheered at all the girls basketball games so Brynn would stay for the entirety of those games. Varsity cheer cheered at boys basketball games but they usually were performing for half time so she would need to be there for the first half, then perform, then was excused. It was a lot of cheer! Anyone who thinks cheerleaders are ditzy, rah-rah girls have it all wrong. They work just as hard or harder than any other athlete!
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| flyer on the right |
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| you see her from the back here |
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| flyer on the right |
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| fourth from left in the back |
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| Ivy, Brynn, Lucy |
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| Justin, me, Tessa, Brynn, Molly, Ali, Lucy |
Brynn and Ivy have this yoga trick that they do all. the. time. One of them will call out "1-2!" and the other will come running. It's fun and cute of them...and occasionally distracting, if I am trying to get them to do something else. Ivy needed to practice piano one night but Brynn wanted to do yoga so this was the compromise. I laughed, took a picture, and then told them to stop it so Ivy could actually practice. 
Stockton got his braces off! This was three years in the making, plus more if you count the pre-orthodontic work of permanent retainers, spacers, etc. We had fun going back and seeing little Stockton when he got his braces on. He's grown up quite a bit! (But still sporting a Braves hat, haha)
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| January 2023 |
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| Brynn is second in from left in the back, standing next to coach Guiliana Willis |
Brynn and Ivy had the dolls out one day and Brynn came across this baby onesie. She was certain that it had been hers when she was little. I told her there was no way she was ever that small but then I went back and found a picture of her wearing it, and that was proof. I made her hold it up...it is hard to remember her being that small. 
Here the little bundle is, wearing the outfit; March 2011:
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| with Grant, who is six months older |
State Cheer Competition was a big deal! I've mentioned a little about this team's road to get to state...they didn't qualify last year, got a late start on learning routines, had a coaching change, learned all routines waaaaay late...but they qualified and were heading to state! Yay! I can't even convey the amount of work they put into these routines...all on top of school and cheering at games and other school events...it was a lot. I thought all-star cheer was a lot but high school far exceeds. Anyway, they were heading down to UVU Wednesday, the 21st and the parents were at the high school to cheer them off. Ivy had helped me make a candy bar poster for Brynn as her surprise when she boarded the bus. (All the girls had one, it was requested by the coaches.)
Ivy wanted to see Brynn off so I picked her up early from school and we went to cheer the girls onto the bus with all the other moms/parents. Go Brynnie!
Their first routine was show cheer...the fun and exciting one, full of stunting and tumbling. It resembles all-star cheer the most so is my personal favorite...but also the one I get the most nervous for. Brynn flies in every stunt-one man, elite, pyramid. She always tells me that she will hit when she needs to and, so far, this has proved to be true. She hit all her stunts, and all her back tucks beautifully. One of the other flyers struggled in a couple of spots so it was not a clean routine. I was sad it wasn't what they wanted but I'm always happy/relieved when Brynn hits. Gene and April drove down after Gene's temple shift and barely missed show cheer but they stayed for the other two routines.
They did situational cheer next. They did great, it was very clean! Band chant was last and this is their strongest routine. State cheer is so tough because there are not limits to difficulty-so whatever a team can throw, they'll put it in their routine and go for it. We are probably more of an intermediate team while others are advanced, although anything can happen when stunting is involved. At the end of the night, when awards were announced, we ended up getting 2nd in state for band chant. The girls were happy with this. We found out later that out of the 13 teams that were competing for 5A, only 5 teams actually ended up earning a placing-and we were one of the 5. So a strong showing. It was a fun day and we are so proud of Brynn. She works very hard at her sport!
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| awards |
We are loving puzzles this year. I have gotten on a puzzle kick the last couple of years and the new puzzle table seems to make it a lot easier! Anytime it's a movie night or anything, I am working on a puzzle. Ivy loves to help. We finished this Cinderella puzzle which we will count as puzzle #3 for the year.
We have long afternoons on Sunday with lots of time to kill. (We moved to 9:00 church this year.) These girls are pretty good at entertaining each other.
Molly loved her first month of Utah State. She made friends with her roommates quickly. I was excited for her to experience basketball games in the Spectrum, which are unlike any other sporting event I've attended. She went to all the home games. Her roommates bought these blue wigs and wore them a couple of times.
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| Molly and Taya |
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