Fun in the sun

Last Saturday Hallee wanted to put water and dish soap on the trampoline.  I was surprised that Wyatt joined in and decided to get wet.

After they played on the trampoline for a while they wanted to pull out the pool.  

They thought it would be fun to put dish soap in the pool too. 

Keith and I had fun sitting in the shade on the deck and watching them have so much fun together.

I love that they had so much fun with soap and water.

It has been so hot, so this was a great way for them to beat the heat.

Provo Fury

I've been very curious how this new soccer club would go.  We were all excited for soccer season to start.  The boys have been practicing for a while now and I was excited to see them play.  Wyatt and Rockwell have had two games.  They have a really good team, they play well together.  Wyatt played goalie for half of the game at the first game.  He did great.  He has also been playing defense, which I don't think is his favorite position.

It is so fun to have Kyle help coach their team.  When he got to the game this week a bunch of the boys ran up and started talking to him and jumping on him.  Wyatt and Rockwell love having him as their coach. I love watching the boys play but oh my goodness it is so hot still!  I am really looking forward to the Fall weather!

I have been really curious about Jonah's team.  I haven't watched their practices so I only know what Jonah tells me.  Jonah is a pessimist, he was sure they were going to lose.

He had his first game on Tuesday.  Jonah and Christian are playing up one level.  When we got there both of the boys were telling me they weren't going to win and they were more convinced when they saw how tall the players were on the other team.  I don't think Jonah realizes how much fear and shame he experienced with his coach last year.  His coach did some good things too, but I hated how he used fear to motivate the boys.  You can't play your best when you are playing out of fear and you certainly won't enjoy it.

It was so fun to see these boys play with confidence and to see them having fun again!  They both played amazing.  Jonah and Christian work so well together and their coach knows that so he put them together in midfield and they had some great passes and plays together.  Jonah had some awesome assists, two goals (which included a bicycle kick) and amazing footwork.  I was so impressed with his coaches and how they talked to the boys.  I know his coach works them hard in practice AND he is positive with them.  I love the coaches that do both, they work them hard and expect a lot, but they build them up at the same time.  He builds them up and they listen to him when he gives them correction. I'm so relieved to see Jonah enjoying the game again.  His coach is hosting a pool party for the boys tonight.  I love that he said it was to celebrate how hard the boys have been working all summer instead of because they won their game.  Hard work needs to be celebrated, it is so much more important that outcomes.

St. George

Caitlyn really wanted to go to St. George with her tennis team.  She worked so hard to earn it.  I'm so proud of her for working so hard.  I spend a lot of time worrying that I'm not teaching my kids enough so when I see things like this I get excited and think maybe I'm doing better than I think.

Last Thursday night I dropped Caitlyn off at the High School and there was a charter bus that took the girls to St. George.  Caitlyn was a little nervous, but I think her nerves were calmed pretty quickly.

She said she was worried because everyone wanted to room with her and she didn't want to make anyone feel bad.  I was so happy to hear that was her problem.  Caitlyn has not had close friends since we moved to Provo over three years ago, so it makes me so happy to see her get the love and friendship that she has been craving. She said the room situation worked out fine and nobody was mad, so that is great.

She had a blast.  She loved everything about it.  She played well in all of her matches and loved spending time with her team and building friendships.  The bus didn't get back to the school until 12:30 AM Saturday night (I guess technically that is Sunday morning).  She was so tired, but she was so happy!

Life Lately

I got to go Leatherby's with Kyle and EJ the day before EJ left.  It was so fun to sit and visit with them.  They are both so much fun to be around.  It made me feel so good that they wanted me there. 

Wyatt loves to watch You Tube videos.  There is one guy named, Unspeakable, that he loves to watch.  Unspeakable just does something crazy or unique each video and it's surprisingly entertaining.  Wyatt decided that he wanted to be a You Tuber. He has been copying some of the things Unspeakable does, but putting his own twist on them.  Hallee and Wyatt "survived" in his closet for one hour.

He pranked Jonah. He put Lego's all over his bed and then the three cups said, "LOL."  He has also done some other pranks on Jonah.  Jonah is a good sport and gives him the laugh he is hoping for.

Wyatt wanted to order some unspeakable merchandise and then he realized that he should have some of his own merchandise.  He filmed his first You Tube video, his name is Sharp.  I had some pictures of him and he signed all of them "Sharp" and then signed some other things he found around his room and sold them to all of us.  We can't say no to that cute face!

Wyatt loves Jackson.  He loves to pick him up like a baby and carry him around!  The first thing he does when he gets home from school is find Jackson and pick him up.  It's also the first thing he does in the morning and the last thing he does at night. 

I feel like I run a taxi service when the kids get home from school. I am always running someone somewhere and this week we had two soccer games and one tennis match.   On Wednesday Hallee only saw me for a few minutes. Caitlyn had a tennis tournament on Thursday so I told Hallee she should come with me so we can spend time together.  We drove down to Spanish Fork and sat out in the heat for two hours and then had to leave to get Jonah to soccer practice before Caitlyn even played.  It was a bummer that we didn't get to see her play, but Hallee and I had fun playing card games.  She loved that she had my full attention while she played on the play ground.  Caitlyn ended up playing four hours into the tournament and she played against Provo players again.  The other High School teams are half the size of Provo, so that limits their opportunities to compete.  She was thrilled that her and her partner won their match.  I wish I could have been there to see it, at least she knows I tried.

I don't think I ever posted these pictures of Hallee and Tessa. We tried out a few different dance studios this summer and we settled on a ballet class at Dancesation. 

They will start in a week and I think it's going to be a great fit.  Hallee can't wait to start dancing again.

Tiff went with me to a book launch a couple of weeks ago.  I listen to a Podcast called, Listen Learn and Love and I heard about this guy, Dennis on that podcast.  He is gay and joined the church two years ago.  He has been through so much in his life and has a powerful testimony.  He was basically searching for God's Love his whole life and told that he wasn't worthy of it.  When he was told that God loves him exactly the way he is, it was life changing for him and he found his spiritual home in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  I loved listening to him speak.  I have loved this podcast that focuses on LGBTQ people and their struggles.  It is amazing how much you can learn from just listening to people's stories.  Richard Ostler (Papa Ostler) is the host of the podcast and he was at the event.  Tiff helped me be brave enough to go meet him.  He is such a cool guy and doing so much good in the world.  I'm grateful I have found so many podcasts and books that help me become more Christlike by truly understanding what people are going through.  It all goes right along with our study of the New Testament this year.  Christ led the way by meeting people where they were and reaching out to the marginalized groups.  I really do think it all boils down to love. We will never regret loving other people or extending kindness. 

Sunday Shenanigans

Keith didn't have meetings on Sunday so we decided we all needed to get out of the house and go for a walk, even though it was crazy hot!  We went over to the Parkway so I could show the kids the swing that someone put up.

The kids had fun on that for a while. 

I've seen a big herd of goats the last few times I have walked over here.  I told the kids we should go look at them and they all thought that sounded pretty dumb. 

When we got there all of the kids loved looking at the goats and feeding them leaves.  We finally had to tell them it was time to go.

Hallee loved the baby goats. 

The kids couldn't believe that the big goats would kick the babies out of the way to get the leaves.  Hallee said she is asking Santa for a goat this year!

Later that day Hallee and Caitlyn wanted us all to come to the living room.  They pulled Jackson out of a blanket and showed us that they had dressed him in Hallee's leotard and tutu. 

Poor Jackson, his face says it all.  He is a trooper!

Back to School 2019

Last Thursday (kind of weird to start on Thursday) was the first day of school.  Caitlyn started High School (also crazy). She was excited and nervous.

Keith took Caitlyn to back to school night while I took Wyatt to soccer.  Jonah also had back to school night, but he would have died from embarrassment if I tried to take his picture.  Keith was impressed with her teachers.  Caitlyn is excited for ASL, Seminary and Foods. 

9th grade for Caitlyn.  She sure looks grown up and gorgeous!  The first couple of days were a little overwhelming for her.  She was much happier after tennis practice on Thursday.  Tennis has been awesome for her.  She has made friends and the team loves her and tells her all the time how funny she is.  I'm so glad she has that!  This week has been better for her.  She is adjusting to the schedule and work load.  Monday night she had a team dinner after practice and she loved that.  Yesterday she had a match and she won!  Her partner was Daisy and they actually played other Provo High players, Alexa and Haley, because most teams aren't as big as Provo, so if they don't have enough players they will play each other.  Caitlyn and Daisy won 8 games to 3.  It was so hot and long, but I'm glad Keith and I were there to watch.  Caitlyn is improving every game, she did great!  She had some great serves and hits!

Jonah leaves about twenty minutes after Caitlyn in the morning.  He wanted to "get his pictures over with" that's the spirit Jonah! 

Jonah has been a little nervous about Middle School.  He liked being the big man on campus in Elementary School.  He is lucky and has a friend in most of his classes.  I think he felt better about school after he found that out. 

He has some fun classes.  He has peer tutor, gym, Stem math and science, foods, business and Pre AP English.  I'm excited for his classes to really challenge him and for the growth that will bring for him. He said school is SO long!  We are all in the adjusting phase right now, but overall I think he likes it.

We are down to two kids in Elementary School.  Wyatt and Hallee are ready for 3rd and 2nd grade.

We went to Back to School night Wednesday night.  This always helps the kids feel more excited about going back to school.  I was very impressed with Wyatt's teacher.  She teaches growth mindset, which I love!  We already had our parent teacher conference and Mrs. Young kept telling me how great Wyatt is and that she shouldn't say this, but he is her favorite. 

I've been worried about Wyatt since he didn't like school last year.  I was shocked when he told me that he was a little excited for school.  The night before school we were looking through his clothes deciding what he should wear and I told him that we should check with Jonah.  Jonah found this batman shirt in his closet that is too small and gave it to Wyatt and let him borrow some of his crazy socks.  It was so cute to see them figuring it out together, Wyatt ate that right up.

So far Wyatt has loved school.  Today is their first full day (they go for half days for a week) so it will be interesting to see how they feel about the long days.  He has friends in his class and he likes his teacher.  I think this is going to be a good year for him.

Hallee was so excited to see that Amanda, Asia and Kiera are all in her class this year!  She has a new teacher, Mrs. Bertuzzi.  This is her first year of teaching and I think she is going to be great.  I was very impressed with her and Hallee loves her. 

Hallee has been so excited to go back to school.  She is very social and she loves school.  She was counting down the days until school started.

She has loved everything about school so far.  It's so great when your kids love school.  We were all ready (especially me) for school to start and to get back into routines and have some time away from each other.  Absence really does make the heart grow fonder!

Southfork

We had such a great time in South Fork last week that we decided to do it again.  We did a goodbye lunch for EJ.  I wanted to do something special to celebrate him and Mel.  I got the big sandwiches from Walmart and mom and Tiff brought food and we had a great lunch.

Kyle was able to leave work and come up with us. 

We found a great spot in the shade for the food.  We were in between the water and the big grassy area, which made it nice for keeping an eye on my kids.

Alexys and Caitlyn went in the water for a little while, but the girls spent most of their time playing card games.  These girls have so much fun together and get such a kick out of each other. 

These boys had a blast in the water, exploring and hiking. 

Hallee and Tessa are always happy to let me take their picture.

I'm trying to do better at taking pictures with me in them and then liking the pictures.  It's a work in progress!

I love that the water is shallow and just perfect for these girls to play in.

Kyle is going to miss EJ!  These family get togethers just won't be the same without EJ.

The boys had fun exploring together.

EJ was such a good sport and let me take tons of pictures of him.  Keith decided to take a long lunch and come join us so he could say goodbye to EJ.

I had to add the one of Kyle photo bombing us!

I have always looked up to Mel as a mother.  Being a mother seems to come so naturally to her.  She is so wise and always seems to have all of the answers to my mothering questions.  She has a great relationship with her kids. She has always been so good at doing fun things with them and being there for all of their events. EJ has been taught well and he is ready to leave the nest.  He will be an amazing asset to the US Army and to this country.  He is strong, kind, wise, personable, caring, protective, spiritual, welcoming, intelligent, hilarious and my goodness he is handsome (that's okay for an aunt to say, right).  This is going to be a big adjustment for their family, but they are all ready for it!

Hallee and Tessa wanted to be superhero's again.

I think Kyle was the bad guy.

Tessa and Hallee split up so they could get EJ and Kyle!

Watching grandma and Damon play baseball was pretty cute.

The water is so cold so the boys sit on the rock to warm up.

Wyatt was sitting on the blanket and Kyle and Elijah picked him up and said they were going to throw him in the river. 

Rockwell started fighting them to try and save Wyatt.  EJ took care of Rockwell and carried him over to the river. 

Wyatt and Rockwell were able to escape and make a run for it. 

I love those smiling faces and I love that their big cousins will always play with them and make them feel like a million bucks.

Next it was Rockwell's turn to go in the river and Wyatt tried to save him.

All of the kids wanted a turn being carried around in the blankets.  

I love seeing Hallee's cute, little face poking through. 

Everyone joined in on the blanket fun. We finally had to tell the little kids to give their cousins a break because they are too nice to tell them no!

We stayed for a few hours.  The temperature in the shade was great!

Hallee and Tessa wanted us to come watch them stick their face in the water. Damon did it too.

I'm so glad we have had so much time with EJ this summer.  He makes everything so fun and we are soaking him up as much as we can before he leaves!