Life Lately

I found a pancake kit on clearance for really cheap and last week Keith made it with the kids.  They thought it was fun to have animal shaped pancakes.

Hallee has been helping me make dinner a lot lately.  It's nice that she wants to help because it's great to spend time with her and she is a big help.

Keith got a TV from work so we moved things around and finally decided to take apart our piano since we can't find anyone that wants it.  Wyatt thought that was a great idea and loved getting in there and dismantling it. 

It's very heavy so we had to get it taken apart enough so that we could get it outside in pieces and take it to the dumpster.  We got it to this point and then we had to hit it with a hammer to get the sides off.  Jonah thought that was fun.

Wyatt was glad he came home while we were doing this because he really wanted to hit it with a hammer.  

Jackson was a nervous wreck while we were hitting it so Hallee took care of him in her room. We got it all taken apart and Peter Young came over and helped Jonah and Keith with the really heavy part, but Jonah and Keith took care of the rest of it and got it all thrown out.  It's so nice to have that gone.

Our ward had a pinewood derby last week.  They had the primary kids go first.  Hallee did such a good job on her car, it was so cute.

The young men and young women went after the primary.  Jonah lost his car and Caitlyn had no interest in doing it, but Wyatt sure enjoyed it.  He worked hard on his car and it looked great.

This week they had an etiquette dinner for YM/YW.  Caitlyn's class was in charge of it so she did a lot of work for it.  She baked some potatoes that day and they went over with her to help her take them and set up.  They all said they had a good time.

Every night Wyatt walks out of the shower playing "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley on his phone while he dances for us.  It always makes me smile!

They had an Author Con at Provo High this week with local authors.  Wyatt and Dallin came straight home from school and headed over to the High School to get in line.  They waited in line for over an hour because the first 600 people got swag bags.  Wyatt was pretty excited that they were first in line. He also dressed up like Harry Potter because they told them at school if they dressed up they would get a prize.

They didn't stay long, but they got their swag bags! Unfortunately, it was mostly stickers and random things.  He said it was fun to wait in line with Dallin though, so he was happy with it. 

Jonah and Wyatt have both been into finger boards lately.  You can see them doing tricks with them here, Wyatt's is up in the air.  They flip them and do all sorts of tricks with them.  I love hearing my kids have fun together, it is seriously the best sound ever.

Jonah asked his friend Izzy to homecoming.  I couldn't believe he liked my idea for asking her, he thought it was pretty funny.  

Her answer was pretty funny too!

We all got a good laugh! Homecoming is next weekend.  It is a few days before his sixteenth birthday so we left it up to him to decide.  He is excited.  He loves High School and all of the activities! 

Cousins make the best friends

I've been missing Chris a lot lately and this memory popped up on Facebook.  I wish I could go back in time and hang out with him again.  I can't believe it's almost been a year since he died.  I also miss my little kids, how cute are Rockwell and Wyatt?!? 

Speaking of cousins, I'm so glad my kids have cousins that are also their best friends.  Amarie and Caitlyn sure are beauty's.

Amarie came and stayed over night on Labor Day weekend.  Caitlyn was so excited to have some time with Amarie.

Bella came over on Monday and pierced Amarie's ears and then they all hung out for a while.  Caitlyn was in heaven with her two best friends. 

Hallee and Tessa have been able to play together the last few Saturdays.  They play until bed time and they still aren't ready to stop.  

Rockwell mows lawn on Saturday so it usually doesn't work out for him to come over, but one Saturday it did. I loved seeing Jonah hanging out with them.

Cait got a haircut from a friend from work and Bella went with her so they could all hang out.  That definitely made the haircut more fun! Caitlyn and Bella have both been so busy so it's been harder for them to get together, Caitlyn loves any chance she gets to hang out with Bella. 

Caitlyn is working so hard in school.  She has so much homework and so many tests with all of her college classes.  She does hours and hours of homework every day.  She also works a few days a week and ten hours on Saturday.  I'm worried it's too much and she is going to burn herself out, but she says she is up for the challenge and is handling it well.

My parents got a new car so they sold their car to Caitlyn.  She debated because it would take most of the money that she has saved up over the last year, but she decided to do it. She said she is very happy with her decision and loves her car!

She got the car this week and she is loving it, especially the air conditioning.  She loved driving the Aveo and was a good sport about not having air conditioning, but she loves this car even more! I think she loves the feeling of knowing she owns it.  We are so proud of her for working hard and saving her money.  I snapped a picture of her before she went to the hospital for her internship. She is really enjoying that.  She is assigned a nurse to go around with and she just gets right in and helps with whatever they are doing.  She works on the trauma floor, which makes me a little nervous, but she loves it. 

A few weeks ago me and Hallee met Tiff, Paul, Katie and Ben up at South Fork.  Wyatt was at a birthday party so he couldn't come.  It's been so hot.  It was over 100 degrees for 7 days in a row in September! It's finally starting to cool off, but it's still a little too hot for my taste.

Jonah got this beautiful picture one night when he was fishing at Utah Lake.

Jonah is enjoying all of the school activities.  He loves to go to the football games with his friends.  One night they had a "dad out" where they were supposed to dress like dads.

He looked pretty good, but Keith stopped him before he left and gave him his hat as the final touch. 

Wyatt stays busy with friends and break dance.  Here he is at the school picnic, we didn't even go, he just went with Dallin. 

Wyatt is a sucker for a yard sale.  Someone in our neighborhood was having one and he just kept coming home with more and more stuff.  It was really sweet that he bought me these Garth Brooks CDs because he knows I like Garth Brooks. He is always so thoughtful.

He also bought a bunch of records and used them to decorate his room.  Wyatt is always on the look out for a project or a way to change things up.

Hallee loves school and loves her dance and singing class.  She also joined the school choir so she goes to that two mornings a week.  Her choir teacher emailed us and told us they wanted Hallee to try out for a national choir.  Unfortunately it would probably cost us almost $2000 because it is in Florida and we have to cover all of our travel expenses.  I told Hallee, it's just an honor to be nominated.  She is singing a solo for her voice class next month, so I think that helped boost her confidence for that.

Hallee looks so grown up lately! She still loves to play pretend.  I love to see the fun things she comes up with. 

Happenings

Wyatt had a battle a couple of weeks ago.  I thought he was just doing the group battle, but they had him do the single battle as well.  It was for 11-years-old and younger. I guess they figured he had only been 12 for a couple of weeks so they had him compete.  I feel terrible that I missed it.  Keith took him and I stayed home with Hallee.  I was overwhelmed with money problems and teenager problems and I decided to stay home.  We are in one of those times where everything is breaking.  We have had to have both of our cars towed to the shop in the last month and had over $1000 in car repairs.  I also had to have $500 worth of dental work, our washer broke and we had to get a new one and we had to pay $350 to register Jonah for drivers ed.  It's been a rough month! And teenagers, oh man, they are emotionally exhausting and I have really good teenagers! 

I felt so bad when I found out that Wyatt did the 1v1 battle, but Wyatt didn't care and Keith recorded it so I got to watch.  Wyatt took 3rd place!  He went out when he battled Sunny.  Sunny is Deon's daughter and she is amazing, she went on to win the competition.  There were three judges and one of the judges voted for Wyatt over Sunny, that is a huge accomplishment! Wyatt was so proud of himself for that. Deon tells me all the time how amazing Wyatt is and that his footwork is so good.

Jonah is using a new social media app called BeReal. Matt showed it to me while he was here.  At some random point during the day it tells you to take a picture and it takes a picture with the front and back cameras.  I got it so I could be friends with Jonah on there.  He helped me with my first post and took this picture.  I thought it turned out cute.  I haven't done much with it sense because I have no desire to take a selfie every day, Ha!

It's been nice to get back to my weekly temple visits with the kids back in school.

Jonah went hunting with Kyle and Christian.  They stayed for one night and Jonah had to carry everything (including his tent) a few miles up to where they stayed. Keith helped him fit everything in his pack. It was so heavy!

He came home very dirty and very happy.  He had so much fun.

He also came home very sunburned.  He forgot sunblock. They didn't get anything, but they did save a guys life. He said they came across a guy, probably in his 60's or 70's and he was lost and couldn't find his four-wheeler. They drove him around and helped him find it.  Jonah said he had been out there all day and got totally turned around and his family was really worried about him.  They got him safely back to his stuff and his family.  Jonah said it was a 40-minute drive to get him back to his family, so he's really glad they saw him. Jonah said the man got teary eyed and offered them money, but they said no.  I'm so glad they were able to help him. 

Last Saturday Hallee had Tessa over all day and they had so much fun together.  They played non-stop and still didn't want it to end after seven hours. 

Caitlyn is doing an internship this year through the High School. She is at the Utah Valley Hospital.  This will be a great opportunity for her to see if she really wants to be a nurse.  She started this week and went twice this week.  Her first day she just watched everything and didn't love it.  Yesterday the nurse she was with had her help with everything and she loved that.  I'm excited for her that she gets this opportunity.

Wyatt has decided that he wants to be with his friends 24/7.  He has come a long way from my shy, anxious boy who never wanted to go to school or play with friends.  Him, Dallin and Eddie are always together and find all sorts of things to do.  They like to ride their bikes to the river trail and fish, go to the skate park and ride their bikes to Wendy's.  Last Saturday they were gone all day doing all of those  things.  We got him a watch phone and that helps me feel okay about letting him roam around.  I can track his location and he is really good about answering when I call. 

Haircuts, I hate them! We have paid to get Jonah a haircut the last two times because his hair is hard and I want him to be happy with it.  He liked the first haircut, but he wasn't happy with the second one.  He thinks I do a good job and wanted me to cut his hair this time.  He is always very nice, even if I mess up a little.

Jonah has a hard time deciding what to do with his hair.  This is in-style now and he wanted to try this style again.  I think it turned out good. 

Caitlyn is such a hard worker.  She has so much homework this year and has been working a lot of hours on top of school.  This week she started a new schedule at work so she could be home more and off earlier.  I'm glad she is cutting back because I'm worried she is going to burn herself out.  She has basically started college because she has so many college classes this year.  She has already had tests and projects in the first two weeks of school. 

Hallee was so happy to finally have a play date with Trinity today.  They looked cute in their matching school shirts.