Noooooo….. did I really go all summer without updating?!
Ugh. Alright, diving in.
Starting way back in MAY, fantastic things like
husband’s birthday (spent at a
scout camp so we snuck in birthday breakfast and date night as we could)
Mother’s Day (lots of cuddles
and chocolate).
Spring Dance recitals were
fantastic. The afternoon show, Peter Pan, included Evie as a pirate and Abi as
a water fairy. And then the evening show included all of the team’s competition
routine plus we got to see Libby’s jazz and ballet routines. We had a mini
meltdown over a costume malfunction so she simply wasn’t herself for the jazz
number but shone brilliantly in the ballet.
Girls’ night out with Sommer for
her birthday. We went to a Greek restaurant and tried random things off the
menu that we couldn’t pronounce, saw Mama Mia! onstage and went out for frozen
yogurt.
WDC jumped right into team and company auditions
for the next year. Evie decided not to audition, wanting more free time (and by
the end of the summer, we called the director and begged for a fall audition,
having changed her mind and desperately wanting to be on the team again.) Libby
worked hard in auditions, really pushing herself and practicing at night. And
then her teachers invited me in for discussion. She’s very talented and her
technique is progressing well. Enough in fact, that her skill put her far above
the next level up. But to jump two levels caused some concern about emotional
readiness, time commitment and taking corrections. After a great deal of
consideration and debate, she opted for an alternate route that allows her to
customize her schedule a bit. She will be dancing with Level 4 for her ballet
and jazz classes, which will help her to continue in her progression. But she
will compete with Club, instead of Company, next year which is a little more
flexible and not quite so many hours. And then she fell in love with tap at a
summer intensive and added that to her schedule as well. I second guessed our
choice many times but she made the decision confidently and (now jumping to
fall) has had a fantastic start so far this year, loving her classes, her
teammates and her extra freetime. I ran into one of the club coaches last week who told me Libby is one of the most advanced dancers in her group and doing so well and the team has really clicked and seems to have a really good camaraderie and energy. I'm so thrilled its worked out so well. She loves dance and has begged for a ballet barre in her room. I love seeing her confidence grow and love watching her dance.
And we had an amazing Memorial Day
Weekend Family Campout in Bryce Canyon! We arrived super late on Friday and a
few hours later, sent husband off with my brother and nephew to go meet some
friends and go canyoneering, while the kids and I swam and played with cousins.
We had a blast at the rodeo that night, all the kids under age 10 participated
in the mutton bustin and calf riding. We went hiking and saw beautiful scenery,
ate fantastic food, chased Zach around and had a blast. It was easy and
relaxed, lots of time for cousins to be together and so fun.
And then ended with our annual
trip to the cemeteries and BBQing with the aunties, getting to enjoy more good
food and wonderful family.
JUNE
And
then the school year ended! Field trips, testing, final projects and field day.
Libby’s last few months of school were a little rough with some obnoxious boys in the
class, to the point of getting teachers involved. So she was eager for summer and a change of pace. All the kids were really. We spent
the first few days doing NOTHING! And then pretty quickly dove into fun
projects like drama boot camp, dance intensives and tumbling classes.
Libby
participated in the Senior drama bootcamp, School House Rock Jr. She loved
getting to sing and be part of the ensemble.
Abi
and Evie, with the Junior bootcamp program, did Cinderella! Abi was cast as the
Grand Queen of the ball (the Prince’s mother) and Evie played a bird! They both
did wonderfully and Abi played her role very well, being so regal and looked so
beautiful. Evie was sweet and charming and they both had so much fun. I ran the
concessions booth for both shows to help ear their tuition and they really
liked having me involved.
Libby
did three summer dance intensives, getting to take a variety of classes from different
teachers. She especially loved the tap classes.
All
three girls got to take a tumbling class this summer. They had a lot of fun
with it and I think I saw the most progression with Evie, who was taking it for
the first time. Libby is inching closer to the highly coveted aerial trick, and
both Abi and Libby are almost their on their walkovers.
While
Libby was at dance camp, Abi and Evie went to swimming lessons. Truthfully not
because they need it but because they love it. The refresher is great but
truly, they’re both fish and love an excuse to go swimming.
But
more specific to June again, husband and I snuck away for a weekend adventure
to go canyoneering! On Friday we conquered Birch and Orderville. I really liked
it, we did lots of great rappels one right after another in the beginning, then
hustled through a rather boring hike, and then enjoyed a ton of fun obstacles
and water features one right after another again. The canyon was great, but
definitely made for a long day. And I would come to find out I had a nasty ear
infection. So I kept it at bay with medicine for awhile but as it really
settled in on Friday I could feel it affect my energy and balance. So on
Saturday, two of our group members had gone home already, leaving 5 of us left.
But I decided I just wasn’t feeling up to another canyon (especially the cold
water part), and my best friend’s daughter/my friend/my part time teenager
Leila opted out as well. So Husband and then other two men raced through
Pinecreek in just under 3 hours, moving fast as a small and well experienced
team. Awesome weekend.
The
girls did Ninja Camp! It actually was a kids’ day camp run by the gym with
everything from yoga to hiking to obstacle course training. They offered it
free to employees the first week as they ironed out the details and the girls
loved it! We will definitely do it again.
We
celebrated Father’s Day and Grammy’s birthday together with a day of playing a
delicious food.
Husband’s
June was also sprinkled with commitments to the Young Men’s with Trek and
Timberline on top of his always heavy work schedule. Seriously, I married
Superman.
And
cousin camp! So much fun! Always a ton of prep and planning and excitement and
always a huge hit. It was held in Heber this year and the theme was a carnival!
I love getting to do this every year with my siblings and the J cousins and
with all of our quickly growing families, we make a huge group! And everyone
made participating so much fun. Everyone brought a food booth and a game booth.
Food included everything from fresh corndogs, pop corn, water melon, shave ice,
Italian sodas and cotton candy. And I lost count of the game booths: wack a
mole, milk bottles, shooting gallery, fortune telling, bounce house, tattoos,
face painting, turtle races, photo booth, plinko and more. And then to top it
all off, a prize booth with amazing choices. And while lots of people helped
out, credit definitely goes to my mom as the visionary and planner
extraordinaire. She pulls of the most incredible and elaborate parties that are
so fun on every level.
MORE MISCELLANEOUS
We met
with several orthodontists over the summer, getting evaluations and estimates
for both Libby and Abi. It’s been a long process. And in the end, found one
that we really liked, very straightforward, very easy to talk to, and
considerably cheaper than the rest. Since then, Libby got her top braces just
before school started and her bottom braces yesterday. Abi got fitted for her
retainer but after two that didn’t fit, we had to go with a different route and
she was fitted with a permanent retainer yesterday. She doesn’t have all her
adult teeth yet but the doc wants to capitalize on an upcoming growth spurt and
widen her top jaw to create much needed space, and then do full braces in a few
years.
I
continued doing cakes through the summer. I don’t do near as many any more
because of my wrist but I’ve gotten to do some really fun designs and build up
our travel fund a little. The silver lining in the whole fiasco with my wrist
is that my cake business had grown so much bigger and faster than I dreamed!
Which is fantastic but I ended up working much more than I had planned. Taking
time off allowed me to revaluate my pricing as well as how much I wanted to
work. I work a lot less now and it’s a better fit. Summer was also particularly
rough because of the crazy heat! I also found a new opportunity just recently
and have started working at Madyson’s Marshmallows. Not much, but doing some
decorating there. Piping melted chocolate instead of frosting was a bit of a
change but because it’s all piping I can do it all one handed and my weak wrist
isn’t a problem. Plus it’s a nice variety from cakes.
My wrist and hand still get sore
really easily. Typing this much is killer! But I did as much physical therapy as insurance will allow, and
truthfully, probably as much as I’m going to benefit from anyway. My recovery
was slower than the doc predicted and while I don’t have full range, it’s okay.
Not as good as new, but good again. It’s my new normal. I even started lifting
at the gym again. I can’t go as heavy in my weights and I’m out of shape
(because instead of continuing to run or bike or something to keep up my
endurance, I chose to stay home and wallow in self pity and chocolate) but
getting there. I even started teaching GroupPower again two weeks ago. My boss had me team teach the first week and then expressed she was pleased with how quickly I was getting back into it and gave me the go ahead to be on the regular schedule again. I've missed it and am thrilled to be back.
JULY
Was
crazy busy. It wasn’t supposed to be. Most of our lessons and camps were
scheduled in June. But July filled in and was such a blast.
On the
4th of July we went to a friend’s house. We spent the day playing in
the water, jumping on the trampoline, and hanging with friends. We made our
flag treat, an annual tradition, bbqed for dinner and had a perfect view of the
Memorial Hill fireworks.
We
spent a weekend at Cherry Hill with my brother, his family and my parents. Camping
there is fantastic because the kids love to play with cousins and I love just
getting to hang out and relax. We ate at Gnarly’s, a local favorite featuring
Hawaiian food, and the Pie Place getting lots of frozen yogurt. We spent all of
Saturday in the water park and wore everyone out. The cousins spent the whole
day racing around to every feature. I spent most the day in the lazy river with
Zach and Grammy. Husband and I participated in a couples content, a race around
the lazy river. We made it to the finals and took second! Zach managed to get
ahold of a tub of red vines, proudly distributing and revoking them all
weekend.
We
spent a day at the zoo with cousins. Zach is the perfect age, squealing with
every discovery and so excited to see the animals. Libby loved hanging with
Mimi, Abi loved the big cats and Evie carried the map and played tour guide.
One favorite highlight was getting to feed the giraffes with their crazy long
tongues. Kylie helped Zach on their turn and then he clung to her the rest of
the day, clearly one of his new favorite people. Followed by slurpees and
swimming, it was probably one of the best days of the whole summer.
Abi
and Husband attended the karate retreat, spending the night at sensei’s cabin
for training in the outdoors, doing service and teambuilding. She talks about
it nonstop, eagerly anticipating it for weeks. And then reported her favorite
part was doing katas outdoors. And the flour fight. Which I still don’t
understand what it was and why it happened but spent a lot of time scrubbing
out of her hair.
We
attended a family reunion in Kanab, with my extended family including my
grandma’s siblings. It’s a huge crowd and was a great success. We rented a
house to share with my parents and brother so as always, the kids are happy
just to be with cousins. My parents put in a ton of work preparing for the
reunion. My favorite was the giant tree, 10 feet tall, 8 feet wide, with my
great grandparents in the center. And then the four siblings extended out on
four branches, each branch then splitting into branches for their kids, and
those branches splitting again for the next generation. It was full of pictures
and names as a brilliant and beautiful display of our family history. So unique
and incredible. Another hit of the reunion was the auction. Donations were
encouraged so we can perpetuate a fund to host the reunion. Husband ended up as
the auctioneer and was fantastic! He was a huge hit. He’s so charmingly witty
and irresistible that no doubt we raised much more than anticipated.
On
Pioneer Day, July 24th, Libby was invited to sing at the Charleston
Day Celebration! Her piano class was working on our state song as one of their
free choice songs for the summer. So Libby and Reese sang it as a duet with
Bryan accompanying them on piano. Reese’s voice teacher helped them prepare and
they did beautifully! Libby sang with a confident, rich sound that really
carried them and I was so impressed! After her performance we wandered the
booths and then spent the day swimming before a BBQ and fireworks at home.
We
spent a day at the lake with friends. We took a picnic and played in the water
at Jordanelle. It was a very relaxed and simply day out and so fun. The water
was freezing but the kids had a great time. Evie and her friend made a secret
hideout (in plain view of everyone) and conducted top secret meeting. Abi swam
nonstop while Libby and her friend shrieked at the cold water, bouncing in and out of the water and playing with the babies.
AUGUST
We had
to miss Fair Days this year. The girls were a little bummed, they love being in
the parade. But this year we spent that day with family. It started with
Rebekah’s birthday party at a karate dojo. I was proud of Abi for not showing
off and bragging about how she is already a blue belt. She simply went along
with the demo lesson and was often pointed to as an example of control and
focus. Then we went to Rebekah’s baptism. Grammy was going to give a talk so
Libby read it for her and it really meant a lot to her that she got to
participate that way. And then we ended the day with swimming with cousins.
The
Bringhurst family came to visti! We were racing to get the basement done before
they arrived. We didn’t quite make it but close enough they helped us set up
beds and make good use of the new guest rooms.
The best part of the weekend was our family adventure on Saturday night
(in part to celebrate my birthday!) We took all the kids to see Newsies! at
Hale Theatre and went to Chili’s for dinner. And then spent Sunday relaxing and
having a bbq with friends. I love, love, love Jo and am so grateful anytime we
get to see each other.
There was
a flurry of moving furniture as we hurried to get the girls settled into their
new rooms before school started (which of course actually took til several days
after. All three girls are on the same school schedule this year and are off to
a great start. Libby announced she loved her new teachers, Abi said the whole
day was amazing and it will be the best year ever, and Evelyn came home
bitterly crying that it was so boring and they didn’t even do any math the
whole day. Fortunately, the next day went much better.
Even
Zach is attending school this year, at a twice a week, 2 year old preschool
program. He adores his teacher and she has reported he is the best dancer and
singer. She loves his energy and sweet manners.
Libby
immediately joined the chess club (who knew?) this year at school and has been
loving that. Abi joined book club. Both girls were pretty disappointed they are
not doing GATE this year so we’re trying hard to find extra challenges for
them.
Nutcracker
auditions were held the first week of school, Evelyn will be an angel and Libby
was cast as a dragon dancer as well as a party guest for the overture. Abigail
decided not to audition this year. We went back and forth many times, she loves
the Nutcracker but really doesn’t want to take ballet (as is required by the
studio to be eligible). So in the end, I enrolled her for a drama program
instead and she’s loving that. One day a week she takes both an acting and a
voice class. One day a week she has her ensemble class that will eventually
cast and prepare Beauty and the Beast.
Libby and
Evelyn both attended Epic, a two day dance convention. We arrived late because
of a major accident on the freeway and hurried them to their classes. We shared
a hotel room with Eva and her room so while the girls were dancing, Elise and I
checked us into the hotel and went to dinner and did a little shopping. After
dance we stayed up late to go swimming and play games. On Saturday, the girls
went back to dance classes and I spent the morning shopping with Grammy and
getting to watch the showcase.
SEPTEMBER
Nate spent the first week in
Alaska and brought us lots of tasty fish again. This year’s group included both
his sister and one of his best friends so they had a blast. He and his friend
were assumed to be guides more than once because they were so successful and so
good at helping others.
Since Nate was gone I took the
kids to my parents for a few days over Labor Day weekend and mostly have just
been trying to keep up with these busy kids.
And then fabulous birthday
weekend came! The morning was busy with Nutcracker costume fittings, dance team
pictures and readying for the party. Abi and Evie requested a Barbie Luau this
year so we got luau themed invitations, borrow tons of decorations from Grammy’s
stash and the party was a huge hit. I did a doll cake as a hula girl with beach
cupcakes and then we served pizza with fruit and veggies. I made a giant Barbie
box that we used as a photo booth, providing lots of props like grass skirts,
leis, sunglasses and accessories. And we
rented a bounce house water slide with a 5 foot tall shark slide. Seeing our
preparations, our new neighbors offered their bounce house water slide to use
as well, but this was an epic adult sized water slide, easily twice as tall and
the kids LOVED it. So the afternoon was filled with tons of giggling, food,
splashing, gifts and general happy chaos.
On their actual birthdays both
Abigail and Evenly got a special breakfast of their choice (Abi was ham and egg
sandwiches, Evie was Belgian waffles with fruit) and got to take rainbow
colored donuts to school. We did a special family dinner at Ichiban and did our
best to cuddle and spoil our quickly growing girls.
A few days later we celebrated
my best friend Amy’s birthday with a double date and while we were gone, the
girls set up the surprise party! We had lots of friends and cupcakes and the
girls loved getting to be in on it. Z loved eating as many cupcakes as he could
sneak away.
And then, BOSTON! Husband and I
took the opportunity to sneak away for a few days and go sight seeing. We left
the kids with Amy and took a late Saturday night flight to Boston, getting
fancy popcorn in the Chicago airport and passing the time watching movies that
did not feature animated princess or talking animals. Very unusual for me.
On Sunday morning, we picked up
my parents from the cruise ship terminal as they were just finishing a week
long fall foliage cruise (yes, I’m jealous. Yes, they did invite us but we
couldn’t go. Yes, it’s still on my bucket list.) We rather spontaneously
decided to spend our first day at Sturbridge Village (which turned out to be a
brilliant plan since it would be closed the next two days. I fell absolutely in
love with it and the whole day was amazing. We started with watching a demo in
the carpenter’s shop and then visited displays about everything from schooling,
to lighting, to weapons. We watched the demo at the mill (where of course Nate
and my dad even went underneath to analyze the engineering) and my mom told me
stories of watching her grandpa do the same work when she delivered his lunch.
We saw the flour mill, granary, blacksmith shop, a demo on dovetailing,
candlemaking and shoe making. We visited the old schoolhouse and the general
good store where mom and I listened to presentation of fashions and got to take
our time wandering through this beautiful haven frozen in time. We took the
carriage ride around the town, realizing we would be unable to see everything
we wanted to at leisure but would get a little bit of it all this way. We
wandered through antique clocks and quilts and finished at the print shop demo
where that part of me, just such a sucker for the stories and nostalgia gave in
and something in that room full of ancient type, now so quiet and still, just
swallows me up. It made me miss teaching more than I have since I quit. I miss
studying and reading and sharing these stories and getting so caught up and
passionate in a lecture. I can’t wait to go back and take the kids.
We were some of the very last
people to leave, but having skipped lunch, we quickly found the Sturbridge Café
and it was amazing! We made our way back to Boston and found our hotel.
On Monday, we toured historic
Boston. After a bit of confusion figuring out parking and trolley tickets and
sites, we spent most of the day touring with a hop on-hop off trolley. I’ve
walked the freedom trail before, devouring every detail I could. So this was a
different way to see it, listening to the drivers’ stories and anecdotes in the
warmth of the trolley instead of slugging through the rain. We admired the monuments
and my dad and I traded stories we’ve read, happily nerding away while Nate and
my mom humored us. We did stop to walk through the old state house and had
lunch at Quincy market. In a perfect world, I wish we could have gone to see Hamilton
that night, but I forgot that outside of Utah, shows don’t run on Monday
nights. We drove through the Sleepy Hollow cemetery on the way home, just as it
was getting dark, paying homage to the famous authors there. It was too late to
visit another historical site so we watched a movie and turned in early.
On Tuesday we went to Lexington
and Concord. We decided to take a trolley tour again and it was amazing! Instead
of a hop on and off, we stayed with the same guide the whole time, spellbound
by her narration. She was a gifted storyteller, fascinating to listen to and
despite how much I have studied, I heard so many little pieces I’ve never heard
before, that made the story more rich and complete. Once we finished our tour
we went back to Minuteman Park to visit the museum there and much too soon, had
to hurry off to the airport.
Back home to finish off the
beautiful and busy month of September, we had one more fabulous weekend.
Husband and Grandpa took Abigial and Evelyn fossil hunting again. Libby was
schedule for another weekend at Epic, this one with Club. So she rode down with
friends on Friday while Z and I stayed home working on cakes and finishing projects.
Then on Saturday, Zach and I drove the girls down. They attended their glasses
while Zach and I did some shopping and discovered the best pizza ever at a
little café around the corner from the conference center. We got to watch the
showcase again and celebrate with frozen yogurt. I love watching my girls
dance! And then spent the evening having a fantastic girls night with Libby.
And OCTOBER!
I love
general conference weekend! My mom plus Sommer and her girls came to visit. So
the kids played every minute they could while I juggled a few cakes and
activities. Then we watched conference with coloring pages and conference
cupcakes and finally landing on our new favorite, conference bingo. The girls
wrote their own bingo cards, placed one treat per square as they heard the
keyword and then devoured the row when they got a bingo. Abi insisted on
writing some words we’ve never used for conference cups before, things like
shepherds and grace. I thought they were too specific and she might get
discouraged if they didn’t ever come up. So perhaps that made us particularly attentive
to how often we heard them! It created a really meaningful experience and
opportunity to discuss the themes. On Saturday, Nate took the kids to help in
Grandpa’s garden and play with the horses while Mom, Sommer, Libby and I got to
have a girls night and experience the women’s session.
I took
the kids to Logan for last minute activity with cousins. We went to the
American Heritage Farm in Logan where the kids got to see some animals, ride
the little train and ride the ponies. And then we reached the Corn maze! They spent
some time on the activities outside of the maze, playing games, going down the
barrel slides and digging in the dirt. And then had a blast wandered the corn
maze. It started to rain so I took over the map and got us out quickly.
Nevertheless, the kids loved the usual and festive challenge. Then we went to
Grammy’s house to build gingerbread Halloween houses, have dinner and play with
cousins. It was a short trip, just the afternoon but we were back soon for…
UEA!
The kids didn’t have school Thursday so I hurried to finish cakes while they
slept in and played with friends. Well, really just Libby. Her best friend Eva
came over and they played all morning. Abi’s playdate got cancelled with the
recent discovery of a tear in the couch. I love this crazy girl. Who is so thoroughly
good and sweet and fun and incredibly tender. She’s has the most amazing and
vivid imagination, creativity and energy that makes life with her so fun…and
sometimes burst out in every direction with a bit of collateral damage. This time
it was the couch who was the innocent victim of her recklessly showing off. And
then hiding it. So damage discovered, conversations had, punishments assigned
and moving on. By late afternoon we were off! We met Grammy in Ogden for
shopping a dinner. Zach has had a crazy growth spurt this summer and needed
more clothes. He happily picked out anything to do with dinosaurs (an apparent new
fascination) and the girls were happy to help. Especially when they got bribed
with looking at toys at the end. We made it to Tremonton to have dinner with
papa and played cards until bedtime.
On
Friday we spent the morning lounging and playing. Then we headed to Logan for a
few errands, have lunch with cousins and to attend the pumpkin walk! It was so
great! The pathway is lined with pumpkins carved in every design and skill
level. And behind those, local groups created scenes using pumpkins to tell
stories like the very hungry catapillar, or Nemo, or even the hospital. So creative!
As a bonus challenge, there was a tiny pumpkin painted like a globe in every
scene and the kids raced to be the first to spot it. The kids were pretty worn
out so we headed back to Tremonton to see Papa again. We built a fire in the
backyard and roasted hot dogs and s’mores and dive into the Jacuzzi (one of the
girls’ favorite activities! And Zach’s first time “goin simming in da big
baftub!”.
Hey I think I’m caught up! Woohoo!
