SEPTEMBER

 MOLLY'S 5th BIRTHDAY 

Molly had a great day!  She woke up to the sign that we all made during study time.  It was so much fun!  She loved it.  We got to go to the Hess Farms park with Emily and Jonah.  Molly spent most of the day playing with Porter and just being happy that it was her day!  I was glad she was very easy to please this year.  She did keep gasping and reminding us that we hadn't gone birthday present shopping yet.  She had no idea that we had already done it the day before. She was very excited for her party which she chose Castle park for :).  We were glad to have Grandma Hatch, Grandpa Hatch, Grandma Ruthie, Aunt Jen, Aunt Heidi, Porter, Alyssa and most of our family (no Kelly- she was at the training meeting to become a ref and no Charity :(  ) there to support Molly.  Everyone spoiled her rotten with fun gifts.  It got a little cold at the park- I always forget that this is how it goes with these almost fall birthdays.  Such a bummer.  I had to go pick up Bradley from his fishing hole.  Molly played to her heart's content, then begged for presents and then wanted to have her cute ladybug cake!  She is in charge :).  Unfortunately we had left her presents from Nate and I in the Prius that Kelly had taken down to Murray.  When we got home we let Molly wait up until her presents got home.  She LOVED them :).  We were so happy about that.  Brad spoiled her with a cute gift- a big bowl full of treats from Dollar Tree!  So cool.  I love the love that these people have for each other.  Makes me happy.  I think it was a good day!  We love our Molly and the spunk and cheerfulness she brings to our family.  She really fills a spot that none of us would.  9-1-20

DATE NIGHT

Nate and I finally got to go on a date! It's been a very long time.  We went down to Mo Bettas and got food, then drove up to the temple for a bit.  Then we went up above the B and watched the sun set.  It was beautiful!  I had forgotten how fast that happens!  Then we parked down at the ponds and watched a movie on Nate's phone in the car :).  This was fun.  I miss these casual little moments together.  9-3-20

JACK'S BAPTISM

What a cool day this was!!  Jack finally got to get baptized!!  I was so happy that we were very prepared for his day and that there wasn't a whole lot of extra to it!  COVID-19 has done one thing that I actually really love and that is SIMPLIFYING!  I love how simple some things have become because of it.  Jack's baptism especially.  He was allowed 20 people in attendance.  We invited Will and Liam and Will's dad Travis Maughan, Grandma Ruthie, Aunt Becky, Aunt Jen, Grandpa Hatch, Grandma Hatch, Uncle Steve, Aunt Heidi, Porter, and Alyssa. Charity even came down just for the occasion!  We wanted to have treats for after, but treats for 20 looks a lot different than treats for our entire family!  Jack wanted Rice Krispie Treats and Muddy Buddies and I made some brownies and whities to go with them.  Also a token bag of Caramel M&Ms and the leftover Lifesavers from Kelly's talk :). So that was kind of nice.  We got to have the program done all by our family.  Jack was excited to get his white clothes on and didn't quite understand what he was supposed to do with his new suit, but we got it all figured out :).  He was so humble!  So patient with me and so sweet that whole morning!  It was really cute!  I loved it.  We got to the church a little early.  Got the laptop all set up for Zoom and then sat and waited for the meeting to start :).  I decided we needed a little prelude.  I played a little, Charity played a little.  It was nice.  We had the Websters, Idaho Mayneses, Hatches, Nancy, Lynn who joined us on Zoom!  We had Nate presiding as a member of the Bishopric.  Bradley gave the opening prayer and then took Sadie and was her little buddy through the ENTIRE baptism, I was SO GRATEFUL!!  It's been a while since I got to enjoy the baptism so well.  WE sang When I am Baptized as the opening song with Luke leading, me playing.  Charity gave a talk on baptism and did a great job.  Kelly gave a talk on the Holy Ghost and did awesome too.  She had a bag of things that represented what the Holy Ghost does and taught Jack.  They both surpassed any of my expectations.  Especially with only two minutes each.  Then Jack was baptized by Nate!  This was so sweet!  I loved watching him go down, watching his two siblings, Erika and Noah as witnesses, and watching him come up with that big grin!!  It was beautiful.  Nothing beats that spirit.  I was glad Charity offered to hold the laptop for me.  Nate gave him the sweetest hug after and I could see him mouth, "Did you feel it?" I loved that.  They took quite a while getting dressed, so I asked Charity and Luke to sing Miracle for everyone with Charity playing it.  That was really beautiful as well.  So proud of my kids!  All of them!  They all do so many great things.  Jack was then confirmed by Nate.  He had Simon and Travis Maughan standing in the circle.  That was awesome as well.  He jumped up and grabbed the life saver candy he had set on the piano bench and THEN gave hugs and shook hands :).  I just love Jack's personality.  He is so sincere, so real.  Ther eis nothing extra with Jack, nothing fake.  He is him.  I love that.  I hope to be more like him in that way someday.  He seemed pretty happy with the whole experience.  I made him say hi to everyone on Zoom, then we came home for goodies!  He was happy about that and then asked to go play with Will and Liam :).  So I let him.  It was cute.  I knew he would be able to carry on with his life right after.  Not like some of us :).  Just how he is.  Everyone had treats and visited for quite a while.  Then we dashed off for the family party up in Big Cottonwood canyon.  So grateful for Jack's choice to be baptized.  He was so brave even through a lot of nervousness.  I know this meant a lot to him.  9-5-20

BIG COTTONWOOD CANYON

This was a fun activity as much as I had dragged my feet knowing it was going to be the same day as Jack's baptism.  It really was a lot of fun and Jack had a blast.  We got up there around 3:00, played a little game where we looked for some bees.  Then we did a game where we had to guess everyone in the family's middle names.  That was pretty fun.  It was fun to sit and talk with everyone.  I had a long conversation with Lynn about Keto and some other things.  That was nice.  We ate dinner.  The kids were just running around having the time of their lives playing Spike ball and going for rides in the Harris's jeeps.  It was fun.  I had to leave early to serve ice cream at the Nybo's wedding so Charity and Kelly left early with me.  Kelly and I had a blast serving the ice cream with Molly Nybo.  That was fun.  It was a long day though, I was more than happy to sit down when we got home.  Good, but busy!  9-5-20

CHURCH

We went to church again this week.  It was fast and testimony meeting.  I would have loved to have been in the meeting, but I was in the mother's lounge with a grumpy Sadie.  She was not a happy camper.  I did love that she stopped screaming long enough for me to hear Brad's testimony.  It was really sweet.  He was right, it has been a while, I've missed hearing from him!  But it was great!  It's always good to go to church.  I just have to keep reminding myself of that while I'm stressing out about Sadie's crying.  I was in charge of the clean up crew and that was annoying, but very easy.  I shouldn't have been annoyed.  Just the timing I guess.  9-6-20

LABOR DAY

We racked our little brains trying to come up with something fun to do for the holiday.  Settled on Get Air!  We had so much fun!!  Heidi, Porter, Alyssa and Grandma Hatch all joined us.  The kids spent most of the two hours in the dodgeball arena.  It was a lot of fun to watch the little kids playing in the under 46" area.  Sadie loves that spot!  She kept crawling up the stairs to the slide, but turning around and looking out the window and banging on it to get big kids' attention.  It was so cute!  So fun.  She wasn't as brave this timem, but still braved the slide a few times.  9-7-20

FHE

Noah was so tired from his sleepover all weekend at Jarom's.  He was our lesson, so we skipped that this time, but we did get a little more explanation out of Luke's scripture (1 Nephi 3:7) and that was nice.  We played 4 Corners out on the court together.  Then ate Caramel M&Ms for the treat.  9-8-20

BIG WIND STORM

We had the craziest wind storm on Monday night!!  Holy moly!  It was starting to blow Monday night at the end of FHE, but then it stopped.  I couldn't help but laugh about all the warnings I'd seen all day on Facebook.  But then when I woke up at 5:00 I could hear the wind and saw a little wreckage in the back yard.  It was hard to sleep so I got up and listened to the wind blow as I got ready.  It was a go to school day so  I was trying to get our morning going despite the craziness outside.  I started getting a little nervous about the Danaluk's tree and said a little prayer.  It was so cool to feel the comfort and peace of The Spirit and know that everything was going to be okay.  I was a lot more relaxed after that.  I made banana muffins, got everyone up for study time.  As I was making lunches I had the thought, 'what if the power goes out?' and then right then the power flickered a little.  It was so nuts!  Luckily, (and I mean, MOST people didn't have power all day!) we had power the whole day!!  Such a blessing.  Shortly after everyone got up, we started getting calls and texts about school starting late and then cancelled altogether.  That was a fun surprise :).  The kids were actually happy about it- which makes me laugh a little because we were SO HAPPY to go back to school just two weeks ago!  But anyway.  We had a lot of fun all day watching the wind, playing with friends, the kids all went on walks to check out the damage everywhere.  I keep hearing from people about Bradley walking around in just socks!  It was an exciting day.  Thankfully we did not have any damage.  Just a lot of branches all over the yard.  We really couldn't have been more blessed!  Oh!  I forgot the miracle of the prompting to do something with the trampoline and then Nate flipping it over.  That was genius.  So glad we did that!  There were a lot of damaged and AWOL trampolines all over the neighborhood.  Pretty crazy!  I can't believe how much damage the wind did.  So many downed trees.  So much destruction!!  I was blown away (not literally) by how many trees fell down and didn't hit houses or cars!  Heavenly Father was very strategic that's for sure.  There were a few damaged homes and cars, but really... it could have been WAY WORSE in our neighborhood.  I feel like we were really blessed.  I think I know why.  The weather man predicted that there would be an even bigger storm Tuesday night, but that did not happen.  I kept thinking that it was because of all the prayers to have less damage that night.  It's funny how we don't always think to pray for protection before the first storm.  We just kind of wonder how big it's going to be and if the weather man is going to be totally wrong or something.  Ya know.  9-9-20

WEDNESDAY

School was cancelled again because of power outages.  Kinda weird.  We had missed our school day the day before, this was our online day so we were more than happy to skip it.  I kept wondering how this was going to effect the work load for the rest of the week, and sure enough, come Sunday, there was probably the same amount of work for the week for the older kids and they were expected to get it all done in less time.  So annoying.  Wednesday afternoon we went up to Grandpa's house and helped him clean up all the tree parts he'd cut up the day before.  There was a LOT of tree!!  It took us about three trips to Rocket Park which the city was using as a drop off for debris (which was SO NICE of the city to arrange that!!  Our stupid Mayor Katie Witt failed on this opportunity to redeem herself from her concert fiasco in the spring) we were using our trailer and Grandpa was pulling his trailer with his four wheeler.  It was actually almost fun!  The kids loved riding in the trailer to the park and back.  Brent and Sarah would be so proud of the progress I've made in this area :).  We had to hurry and finish because we needed to get kids back home for Youth Activities.  Noah and Nate's group went around the ward helping with debris.  Luke's worked on Pederson's- I can't believe how different their yard looks now with so many trees down!  Kelly's and Brad's groups went together and watched Alex's and Audrey's Softball tournament.  Pretty cool!  9-9-20

ROYALTY- KELLY

Kelly was nominated for Homecoming Royalty!!  Pretty exciting!! All of the girls who were picked are such good, cute girls!  I'm so proud of all that she does and the person she is to those around her.  She really is a bright light and brings so much joy to others.  I just love that she gets to have this honor!  She deserves it!  9-9-20

THE BIG PINE TREE

Grandpa had one lone pine tree standing and really it was only half of the tree since it had been so close to the other ones, so he asked if we could help him chop this one down.  This was pretty thrilling, but also a little anticlimactic with how slowly and not very loud the tree fell.  It also wasn't near as tall as I had imagined.  I'd predicted it would end up in the middle of the road, but it wasn't even close.  Kinda funny.  Took us a couple hours, about four trips to the park with debris to get it all out of there and we still left a few stumps.  But it wasn't too bad!  I think we had a lot of fun together- everyone was in good moods.  Then afterwards, Grandpa went and got us some pizza for dinner :).  He learned that he should probably buy more than two for our family-- haha!!-- but it was fun!  It was nice to see his house back to normal :).  We loved hanging out with Steve too!  He showed up near the end and entertained us before the pizza as well.  I love hearing about Vlad!  9-10-20

REMOTE LEARNING

Jack's schoolwork took us about three hours Friday.  Too long.  I sat there torturing him through it all.  We didn't even get his 20 minutes of reading done.  So frustrating.  I came up with a plan with him, for Monday.  We're going to make a little box of things for him to do in between each assignment to kind of get his blood flowing.  He said that at school the thing that makes it easier is that "you get to raise your hand and move around".  So I'm hoping that helps.  We shall see.  9-11-20

SATURDAY

Brad had a race up in Soldier Hollow that we weren't able to attend (stupid COVID) so we got him to the school at 8:20.  Then Erika's soccer game at 11:30 and Noah's soccer game at 2:40.  Followed by dress shopping with Kelly at Twirl and then Nate's amazing bacon wrapped meatballs for dinner that night! It was a busy day!!  Brad did great on his race even though the track was up hill for the first whole mile!  23 minutes and something for a 3K!  Erika's team won their game 3-2 with one of those being Erika's goal and the other two, her assists! (not to mention she made another goal but it didn't count because it was off sides- dumb rule :) ) Noah's team did really well but lost by one point.  Noah played great though!  We were very proud of all our kids today!  Thanks to Luke we didn't have to juggle the littles through the last half of it- he babysat.  Thankfully everyone watched them so we could go dress shopping as well.  Kelly picked out the cutest, little, blue dress for Homecoming.  There isn't a dance, but they're doing all the other Homecoming things and she is royalty!!!  Go KELZ!!! 9-12-20

FAMILY MEETING

This was not my favorite family meeting.  It started with my frozen lasagna taking too long to cook.  Like 2 hours too long.  Kind of annoying.  So we were almost 45 minutes late.  I kinda wish they would just start without us, but they never do- we just have to feel stupid showing up late and making everyone sit there and wait for us.  Then the lesson was less interactive than I would have liked.  didn't hold my attention although I would love to study the new proclamation a little more than I have.  It's frustrating when we drive an hour out there, sit for an hour lesson and then only get to talk for a few minutes with people before needing to drive home for another hour.  It was fine, I'm just struggling to appreciate them like I used to.  I need to change my attitude.  9-13-20

NATE'S RIB INJURY

Nate went mountain biking with Lynn this morning and came home with some crazy stories about all of his crashes.  Unfortunately his ribs did not come out okay.  We know that not much is done about broken/injured ribs, so we haven't taken him in, but I'm trying to get him to take it easy while it/so it can heal!  We'll see if we can keep him down at all.  9-13-20

FHE

For FHE tonight Noah and Luke switched jobs, so Noah gave us a lesson on how we need to make the important things more of a habit and more second nature.  He did a good job!  We played signs for Luke's game and then Kelly, Erika, and Molly went and got ice cream sandwiches for Erika's treat.  It was a good night.  9-14-20

MUSIC MAKERS IS BACK ON!

Molly and I could hardly contain our excitement today, going back to music makers!  It was a little different since we were outside under the pavilion, but it was just like we remembered it!  Molly was in heaven!  This is HER thing.  I was so happy get to start back up.  Felt like we were getting some more normal back :).  Heidi, Porter and Alyssa came with us- they seemed to like it too!  9-15-20

15 DAY CHALLENGE

I shouldn't post about this, but I'm thinking maybe it will make me more accountable... I don't know.  I started it again!  It's been 3 1/2 years since the very first time I did this and I'm not sure how I did it as many times as I did.  I'm on Day 1 :).  Flush day.  We'll see how it goes.  Right now I have a headache.  Might be all the water.  But I'm hopeful that this will help me get on track like it did before.  Wish me luck!  9-15-20

REMOTE LEARNING

So this remote learning stuff might kill me.  I'm trying to be patient with myself and let myself adapt, but man this learning curve.  Although, even while I'm complaining about the remote learning, I'm also upset that they're going to switch to all at school for four days a week beginning September 28th for Elementary kids, October 5th for the other two schools.  I'm totally bummed about this.  Why did they do the dumb hybrid thing anyway!!  Just to torture me and get my hopes up.  I had really expected them to have canceled school by now, not switching to more school!!  Kinda nuts.  But the kids are happy about it.  We'll see.  9-16-20

KELLY HOMECOMING 2020 ROYALTY

We were so excited when we learned that Kelly had been nominated for Homecoming Royalty but we really didn't know exactly what that entailed especially since there wasn't going to be a Homecoming Dance.  But as the week progressed we got more and more excited for the events she was going to be part of!  She and I went and picked out a really cute light blue dress at Twirl.  She bought some cute jeans for her picture that they were taking Wednesday with "black and jean".  She showed us some pictures on her phone of the pictures in the display case of her and the other girls.  How cool is that!!  I was never in a picture in a display case!  This has been so much fun!  Then the big game!  She chose to have Bradley as her escort, which of course just melted my heart!  We got there early, near the end of the first quarter, got to watch some of the game.  Charity surprised everyone by showing up- we loved Erika's reaction of bursting into tears at the sight of her.  We were all just so anxious and excited for Kelly's big moment.  Half time finally came, Grandpa came, we got all lined up on the track, took a bunch of pictures--- then they had their cool little walk to the middle of the football field!  They announced "Kelly Maynes" and the bleachers erupted!  She had quite the cheering section!  It was so fun.  I loved seeing her face looking up at her fans :).  They announced that her escort was Bradley Maynes "her little brother" and you could hear the crowd's "AWWW" and even a couple "YEAH BRAD!"'s which I of course loved.  Then they told some of the answers from her questionnaire.  They talked about her wanting to perfect her behind the back shot in Lacrosse, her love for lightning storms, her ability to quote Tangled "WORD FOR WORD" and I think that was it?  But it was SO FUN!!  I loved watching her get this moment.  Kelly doesn't always get credit for the things she does and rarely gets any kind of recognition, and that's really okay with her, I don't think she loves attention all that much, but it was so cool for her to get this!  She is so friendly, so loyal to her friends, so outgoing and kind to everyone she comes in contact with and so sweet that it doesn't surprise me that she would get the popular vote of her Senior class.  She really is just a cool cool girl!  I'm so happy for her!  So proud of her.  It was short lived of course, it got over and we took a few pictures and she was on her way, but we loved it!!  I only wish my pictures would have been better!  I needed to use a different setting with all the dumb lights behind her.  I'm mad I didn't do more with my camera.  But it was a great night!!  So fun!!  9-18-20

SEPTEMBER BIRTHDAYS PARTY

We went up to Grandma Ruthie's for her birthday BBQ on Saturday.  Jen had set it all up and wanted it to be for all the September birthdays.  Funny that hers is closer than Ruth's :).  Just kidding.  It was a nice time for everyone.  Sadie was not cooperating as much as I would have liked so rather than be the center of everyone's attention and scrutiny and questions, I decided to just take her on a little walk around the neighborhood.  It was nice and quiet and fun to be with her.  We don't get a lot of those kinds of opportunities.  We saw the neighbors that had decorated with Monsters Inc for Halloween, that was super fun and cute!  We got back to the house and visited a little before it was time to go.  9-19-20

RACE TRACK!

The coolest thing ever happened on the way home from Nate's mom's house!  We were on I-15, just past downtown Salt Lake, and all of a sudden, I was being passed on the right by two Vipers!  I got all excited and pointed them out to Bradley and then before I could finish my sentence, a LAMBORGHINI pulled up behind the Vipers!!  You can imagine my excitement then!!  I seriously exploded as another Viper, a couple Ferraris, Porshes, Mazeratti, all pulled up on the left and the right, weaving in and out of traffic, all of them were just going so fast and all over, it felt a lot like we were in the middle of a race track!  HA!  But it was a total dream come true!!!  I seriously could not believe how awesome that moment was.  I wish I hadn't been driving, I could have gotten some pictures!!!  Then we saw them all again as we passed the North Salt Lake exit.  It was fun to call my dad and Brent about it afterwards.  Even though my phone is lame and I can hardly hear people on it.  But SO SO COOL!!!  9-19-20

PINEVIEW ONE LAST TIME

Last day of the summer, had to fill it with sun and the lake.  Grandpa was so nice to bring the wave runners out one more time for us.  Nate was still injured from his bike crash last Monday, but we made it work without him.  It was kind of a challenge getting going, everyone took different routes for some reason and so we all met up at the campground.  I defused the fight the lady at the booth wanted to have with me and we found out that all the ports were closed except one.  So we went down there.  TWe were wanting to try a different one since that one was so rocky, but the guy in the other booth said they were all going to be like that.  So eventually we were on the beach, with our chairs and bags of stuff, and grandpa and Kelly along with Noah and Erika, pulled up on the wave runners.  We were ready to party :).  We didn't need the canopy because it was only in the 60's we were worried shade would be way too cold :).  But we had so much fun!!  Most people took a turn on the wave runners.  Not Nate sadly.  I took a bunch of the littles out on the water and tried to let them experience some speed, but not too much.  It was fun to take Jack out on his first time, he wasn't super thrilled, but it was some exposure :).  I had a great time.  I hope it was a nice little "last hurrah" before Fall starts!  We had to hurry home for Cross Country, Race Cats, and ONLINE SCHOOL stuff.  9-21-20

FHE

Bradley was our lesson and he hid some of our "treasures" and made little treasure hunts to all of them.  Picture of the family, the temple, Book of Mormon, and a picture of Christ.  It was a cute way to show what our treasures should be and how to "lay them up".  Good job Brad!  Then we played hide and go seek for Luke's game and had drumsticks for the treat.  I missed out on the treat because Sadie was insisting on Mommy juice and rocking.  Not sure I'll ever be able to wean her.  9-21-20

MUSIC MAKERS

Music makers is back in session!  This was our second week.  It's still so fun for Molly.  Both times we've been able to leave Sadie home with dad since it's right during her naptime.  It's a little trickier doing it out in the bowery, but also kind of nice.  9-22-20

BRAD DRIVING

Brad has started driving with his instructor for Driver's Ed!  Pretty exciting stuff.  We're getting close to him being able to get a license!  9-22-20

15TH DAY

I finished my 15 day challenge!  I was very happy with how it went.  I think I could have been a little stricter on the food, measuring it better and such, but I did lose seven pounds, so I really can't complain!  I am actually so happy with it.  I am going to try to keep this up and hopefully keep losing!  We'll see how I do.  9-24-20

SEA TURTLE

Kirstin asked me to make a little turtle topper for her friend's birthday cake- it turned out pretty cute, I was glad she thought to have me do it.  

CROSS COUNTRY

Brad has been doing really great at all his races this year!  His time keeps on improving!  I have been so proud of him and all of his efforts.  He works really hard.  Running five or six miles a day at practice.  9-25-20

HARVEST DANCE

The school is holding an actual dance, or at least planned one- I think most of the kids are thinking of doing it on their own because of COVID.  It's girls choice.   Kelly already asked her date- with a Spice Cake and spices- something about spicing it up at Harvest.  It's cute cuz she calls the guy Jake the Cake :).  And today, Bradley got asked!  His first dance!  He's not even 16 yet and the dance is two months away!  But it's going to be really cool.  He was asked with a giant rock and some pop rocks and a cute poster that said, "Bradley, it would rock if you went to Harvest with me!" Her name BYNDEE MAXWELL was scrambled on the backs of the pop rocks.  It was super exciting.  Bradley had just told me that all of his friends had been asked so he didn't think he would.  Silly boy!!!  I will be shocked if Brad misses a girls choice dance.  Ever.  He's excited- We're all excited for a dance!!  Some normal fun!  9-26-20

SOCCER

Our soccer season has been so much fun this year!  Noah and Erika have both been playing so well!  Erika's team is undefeated and Noah's team isn't, but we have been so proud of both of them!  They both put so much into their playing and work so hard for their teams!  It's been so fun to cheer them on.  Thankfully this hasn't been cancelled by Coronavirus.  9-26-20

FOUR DAYS A WEEK- ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

So Monday our Elementary kids go back to school!  It's been so hard to do the online stuff that we're all a little excited.  But I can't help feeling a little disappointed that I'll have my Jack and Erika home two less days a week now.  They are beyond excited to have their whole class back, together, and that is going to be awesome!  Fridays will be our only online days.  9-28-20

KELLY LACROSSE

Well, so far we are not super thrilled about Kelly's coach.  It's been hard to hear about her not having the girls introduce themselves to each other, or doing cheers with them or how she makes them sprint when they wear jewelry.  I hope this season is still one that Kelly can enjoy and that she gets what she wants out of it.  I wish there was something we could do to get a better coach.  9-29-20

KELLY'S HEADACHES

We finally took Kelly in for her headaches.  Dr. Tew was really awesome, asked all the right questions and then repeated everything that I've been telling her to do for the past two months :).  So that was good.  Some validation.  Hopefully we can get on these headaches and make her more comfortable.  We'll see.  9-30-20