AUGUST 2021

 JUST PLAN ON IT

This week with nursery went a lot better for Sadie and I.  I had decided to just plan on being in there the whole time.  She only sat on my lap for a few minutes and then made herself more at home with the toys and treats and stuff.  It was good.  I just had to stop thinking I was going to leave ever.  It's just too short of a time for her to get used to it.  But she had fun for the most part.  We've got to figure out how to get her to stop shoving and punching kids.  I don't know what to do.  She did miss Rishelle.  8-1-21

BOYS BACKPACKING TRIP

Nate and the older three boys have been planning this backpacking trip with Travis Maughan for a while.  They were really anxious for it.  It was fun to watch them pack and we were all thrilled that their packs would be much lighter this year.  This was a much longer trip- Monday- Saturday- so they needed more stuff, but they consolidated so much and decided to sleep in hammocks.  I was nervous for them, but also very confident in their abilities.  It was a pretty long week.  We tried to do some fun things and get out and play, but nothing quite passes the time quick enough.  I'll have to have them tell about their adventures.  They got up around 4:00 to go.  I was in the room to say goodbye, but definitely not all the way here.  We took a picture, hugged them goodbye and hoped and prayed for a safe trip!  8-2-21

KELLY CAMPING AT SIERRA'S CABIN

We also said goodbye to Kelly Monday morning.  She was headed up to Sierra's cabin.  We were a little nervous about how this was going to go.  Lots of people with significant others invited, but it turned out to be a LOT of fun.  I was happy for her.  She did a lot of fun stuff in Park city and around the area but I think her favorite part was just sitting around doing nothing with everyone.  She keeps talking about that.  I'm glad she had fun.  We sure missed her!!  8-2-21

OH WALMART

It's been a while since Walmart messed up on my order (besides strange substitutions), but this week they didn't just mess up on my order, they gave me someone else's.  It was almost funny, but also really REALLY annoying because then I had to wait another day for mine.  The 12 pack of Diet Coke was the hardest thing to get rid of.  I had Erika take the dog treats up to Hayden's house.  We used the rolls for sliders, ate the gummy candies pretty quickly, still haven't touched the spinach or the crystal light, used the asparagus and ate the Oh's pretty fast.  So strange.  If only we could have got a really huge order of all of our favorite foods... yeah right.  8-2-21

BATH BOMBS

One of the things on Erika's list of fun was making bath bombs.  We bought the stuff for these around Christmas last year, to make for Molly, and never did it, so it's been much anticipated.  Unfortunately, it didn't really go all that well.  We tried a batch that worked pretty good, but after letting them sit on the parchment paper while we made some more, we realized they were drooping!  Then the second batch got too wet so it was growing and fizzing all over the place.  I decided to do some research and learned that the recipe we were following had left out the cornstarch.  So we made plans to make them one more time with cornstarch.  That seemed like the cure for the drooping and over-wet-ness.  It took us til Saturday to finally try them again and they did turn out much better, but the big ones were not coming out of the molds very well.  It was pretty fun though.  Really quick.  We are thinking about doing these for Christmas gifts this year.  Might be fun :).  8-2-21

Eh-wih-DUH

Cute Sadie has finally got Erika's name figured out :).  It's the longest way to say Erika and sounds SOOOO cute!  She's been getting quicker at it all week, but it was super cute in the beginning with how slowly she would say each syllable.  She's really starting to talk a lot more lately.  8-2-21

SCHOOL SHOPPING

With all the older kids gone I thought it might be nice to split up the school shopping so I took the younger four to Target to pick out some clothes and things for school.  We found everyone a first day outfit.  Erika got a backpack.  It was a very productive trip.  8-2-21

CRAFT DAY

Tuesday was our craft day!  We headed over to Bennion for some of their little wood things to paint and they had a very tiny selection.  It was disappointing.  I think it could be because of lumber prices... not sure, but everyone managed to find something crafty to do :).  Erika painted a cute frame with little frames and decided she's going to surprise Kelly with it.  Jack got two dinosaurs to paint and worked really hard on the T-rex- we'll see if he gets around to doing the other one :).  I was really proud of how much detail he was able to put into it.  Molly got a little bug catcher :).  She did a great job too and enjoyed playing with it later.  I loved how she caught a boxelder bug and then let it go because he looked sad and lonely.  Sadie got a little box and was so cute painting that.  She would scribble her paint brush inside really quick for a half a second and then slam the lid shut before getting a different color on her brush.  She was hilarious.  I made a little sign for Sadie's room of her name.  I had done that for all my other girls (minus Molly, but Annie made hers) so it seemed appropriate.  Without any wood letters at the craft store, I had to get a little more creative.  Turned out to be pretty cute.  We also got some glass bubble things to make magnets out of.  This was pretty fun as well.  I don't think we'll try to do the stickers again though.  Didn't work as well as we thought it would.  But the ones we made are way cute and will look so cute on my new magnet board if we ever get that hung up.  8-2-21

RAMEN

One of the foods the kids requested for this week was Ramen :).  Jack was so excited about it, he offered to make it himself!  Chef Jack!  He did great!  Everyone loved it and I loved not having to cook.  8-2-21

ISLAND VIEW PARK

We went up to Island View Park with the Maughans on Tuesday night for dinner.  Grabbed some Chik-fil-a.  This was a lot of fun.  Got to chat with Emily.  That park is really amazing now.  I just don't like all the levels and trying to keep track of little people.  In fact we lost Sadie at the very end.  Or thought we lost her.  She had followed Molly into the bathroom.  That was a panicky few minutes.  So glad I thought to check the bathroom.  I loved when Sadie said, "Pooosh me mama, pooosh me!"  On the way home we realized we'd left Sadie's shoes at the park.  Luckily, they were still there when we went to get them after our movie the next day.  8-3-21

CHURROS

Instead of getting ice cream after the park we decided to try something different and went and got churros from Taco Time.  The kids loved this and apparently Jack really loves them :).  He had shared a lot of his with Sadie in the car and since I thought she couldn't eat the whole thing, promised him some of hers, but of course she was very into them and ate the entire thing.  Her last bite (could have been two or three) was the funniest.  I saw it in her hand, asked her if she wanted to share with Jack because he had been so nice to share with her, and she looks at me with this face like, "I don't care what your saying", and pushes the whole stump in her mouth.  It was so funny!!!  Shame on her!  But SOOO FUNNY!!  I made up for it on Friday by getting Jack two.  8-3-21

CROODS 2

I kept toying with the idea of going to a drive-in movie all week, but couldn't quite settle on it.  It's just SO LATE at night.  But when I had thrown the idea out there Jack was just as excited about and suggested we just go to a movie theater!  So I set my idea aside and went with the easy route :).  We settled on Croods 2 and went to a matinee.  It was kind of funny, I realized when we walked in that I'd forgotten my card (changed my pants darn it) and while I was able to buy tickets on my phone and that went just fine, I wasn't able to buy concessions like you normally can because it was so early in the day- the system wasn't set up for summer hours- and we were really wanting some popcorn!  But I got brave and asked an employee about it not working and he was so nice!  An older gentleman, he brought us to the concession counter, wanted to help out, then offered to buy us some popcorn if we couldn't get it to work, etc.  It was really nice of him.  Well, the girl at the counter was interesting and also very smart and had me give her my number to look up.  This was brilliant!  She looked it up and somehow we had points to get two free regular size popcorns!  (if I'd had a dollar we could have upgraded, but yeah, I didn't)  Can you believe that!!  FREE POPCORN!  This made my day.  Even carried me through the next two hours of juggling Sadie.  We were able to watch the previews and the first ten minutes or so of the movie and then we were out.  I thought she might fall asleep in my arms, so I just carried her around as I walked the halls.  After about a mile of that I decided maybe she wasn't tired enough yet, so I let her run around.  Then another mile of that I tried picking her up again for nap and of course nothing was going the way I'd planned.  We tried going back into the movie a few times, but it was not working.  So finally I just sat down outside the theater and let her wander around aimlessly.  She was pretty tired and grumpy by then.  It was good the movie was almost over.  I talked her into going back in and we did see the last few minutes of the show which seemed pretty fun.  I loved that I got to hear Jack laugh when Thunk throws the rock and it doesn't quite make it then falls down and lands on a catapult that launches a big thing into the bad guy's eye.  He really loved that movie and can't wait for it to be on Disney+.  It wasn't my favorite part of the week, but I'm glad the other three had a good time.  We ran home to get my card then went and got some Panda for lunch.  8-4-21

MOLLY TEETH CLEANING

Molly got to go get her teeth cleaned on Wednesday!  I say "got to" because she was SO EXCITED about it.  It was pretty cute.  It was like a fun little date for us :).  She did so well and no cavities so thanks to Emily's idea she scored a $10 shopping spree at the store of her choice.  Choosing a store was difficult, but she settled on Walmart after browsing Bennion for a while.  She actually made good use of that $10!  She got a soccer ball, a notebook, and some Fun Yuns!  It was a lot of fun to spoil her like that.  Until the next time we were at the store and she thought she needed to get a bunch of new toys.  8-4-21

GAGA BALL AND THE SOUNDS OF SUMMER

Wednesday night Erika got to go to YW all by herself!  It was a combined activity with the boys so she would have had four siblings there with her on any other week, but with everyone gone it was just her!  She was nervous about that, but said it was fine after the first few minutes.  I was so happy for her :).  It sounded like they had a lot of fun!  She was the winner of one of the rounds, which is totally cool.  She keeps talking about how funny Danika was.  She had a good time.  While she was gone the little kids played with all the neighbor kids while I did my new puzzle :).  It was so fun to hear the kids outside the evening.  It sounded like summer!  The old summers where the kids just played and played.  I don't know why it stood out to me, but it did.  I loved it.  It was nice that they were having fun with Sadie too.  So I got a little break.  8-4-21

THURSDAY- PINEVIEW

We planned a fun, simple trip to Pineview with the Maughans for Thursday.  This was exciting and ended up being just a lot of fun.  I was so glad we did it!  The weather was pretty great, even a little cloudy for a while.  The kids played on the two simple tubes we brought.  I got my swimsuit on and played in the water for a while which was fun.  We  wrestled with Sadie's moods.  We ate some of our snacks, but liked the Maughan's snacks better.  We all got sunburnt.  It was the perfect little trip.  We all laughed when the lady put her stuff about five feet away from ours when the beach was almost completely clear- HA!  always happens.  I couldn't believe how low the water was! We stayed for about four hours without any complaints and then it was time to pack up and go get Kelly from Kamas. 8-5-21

PICKING UP KELLY

Kelly had wanted to come home early to go to Audrey's reception so we planned to pick her up that day.  This was really kind of uneventful, but I was pretty proud of myself for two things- 1- I was able to figure out that it would be quicker to go from Pineview straight to Kamas rather than coming home and going the other way, and it worked!  We made it there in an hour and twenty minutes.  This was thanks to my new knowledge of the drive through that canyon to Brad's campout.  2- I was able to make my broken card work when we needed gas in Kamas!  PHEW!!  That was a huge relief.  I was going to have to get real creative with Charity's card or something with sketchy service... would have been a pain.  So I was happy about that!  Not really proud- I didn't do anything- just glad and grateful!  The kids slept the whole drive.  Kind of peaceful really.  8-5-21

AUDREY NYBO RECEPTION

We scrambled and got into our Sunday clothes after stuffing our faces with spaghetti and meatballs, Molly's choice and headed down to Pioneer Park in West Kaysville for Audrey's reception.  There was a really long line to the back of the barn to greet them.  We talked with Leslie Perez and Balahadia girl- I cannot remember her first name.  It was a nice reception.  Gave Audrey and the Nybos our love, grabbed some cookies and milk and ran :).  Good times.  8-5-21

MOVIE NIGHTS

We had a movie night every night this week and never got tired of asking for them :).  It was actually really nice that they would pick one very easily and everyone would get along.  We watched Night at the Museum, Garfield, G-Force, Dumbo, Wild Hearts Can't be Broken (mostly just Erika while we were at the dentist), it was a lot of fun :).  8-5-21

VISITING CHARITY

Friday we got up bright and early to go visit Charity.  This trip could have used a little more planning, but we made do.  We ran to Walmart to get some of the secret sister gifts we needed, walked around and around that Walmart to find anything, but had a good time with Charity.  We still need to do that for their apartment stuff soon here.  Then we went to the toy store and wished we could have everything there.  This is a fun store, but I feel like I want to spoil my kids while I'm there, but my need to get the cheapest price for everything stops me.  I think they still have fun just looking, but... maybe not for too much longer.  Then we went and got some Chik-fil-a and took it to Adam's park.  The kids had a lot of fun and we all love seeing Charity no matter what the circumstances.  We said our goodbyes and dropped her off at her lonely (did I mention Isaac went with the boys?!  Charity about died of loneliness.  We were glad she only had one more day apart) apartment.  8-6-21

COCONUT COVE

After we got home and had some dinner we headed out to Coconut Cove with the Fergusons!  This ended up being a really fun place!  Erika had fun and Sadie had fun and the two in between!  Score!  It's not everyday we find something that pleases everyone.  I had fun talking with Isaac's mom.  Her older daughter seemed bored out of her mind, but hey, it's good to be bored once in a while.  It was interesting watching Sadie with the other little people in the under 3 area.  She was the bully walking around shoving everyone and hitting and punching.  Even when she went to hug and kiss Ella it turned into her rubbing Ella's head into the mat.  I'm not sure what to do with her.  I've gotta figure something out.  Good time though, I'm glad we had this idea.  8-6-21

SATURDAY AND WAITING

We knew the boys were coming home Saturday.  We knew it wouldn't be early in the day, but we were not prepared for just how late they would roll in.  We went to Kneaders for breakfast, got the house cleaned up, made our final batch of bath bombs which worked out pretty well.  Then we waited!!  Waited and waited and waited!  I finished my puzzle.  The little kids checked out the Maughan's new kitten.  Kelly bummed around with Sierra before finally giving up on the waiting and left to play with friends.  It was annoying that I made dinner for the boys a few hours BEFORE they came in full because they'd eaten pizza!  I mean, I'm glad they ate and weren't starving, but we just really weren't prepared for how long it would take them to get home :).  When Nate sent the text that they would be about 20 more minutes, I thought of the sign!  So we whipped up a sign real quick (without Kelly's help :)).  Sadie loved this part.  We got it up on the door and still had a few minutes to sit and wait some more.  It was pretty exciting when they finally drove up!  We walked over to the Maughan's to greet them.  They all looked so good!  It was so good to see them!!  They told us all about their trip for the next couple hours, showing us all their pictures and telling us all their stories.  Sounded like a hard, good time!  I'm so proud of them!  They were rockstars!  And they took good care of Isaac for Charity :).  We had one more movie night- Avengers-Infinity War to top off the week and then dragged ourselves to bed!  Good stuff.  8-7-21

SUNDAY WITH NATE

Nate has leave this week and next so we got to have him with us Sunday.  This was a nice change.  Sadie had a lot of fun in the nursery with me there.  I decided I need to stop thinking about leaving.  She will eventually (slower than my other kids because nursery is only a half hour right now and for the others it was 2 hours!) warm up to it I think.  I hope.  It's been fun to hear about all of Kelly's friends' mission calls and she has been to several wards a week to go to farewells.  Pretty fun and exciting for her to think about hers in a year :).  She is very excited to go on a mission.  8-8-21

FAMILY MEETING

We went to the family meeting all of us! and got to hear Austin talk about his travels in Russia and Macedonia.  Such a cool experience for them and really fun to hear about!  We loved it.  Talked masks and vaccines with Ali and Nancy.  Still so frustrated by this whole mess.  I wish it could be over.  8-8-21

GIRLS CAMP

Got up bright and early Monday morning to finish getting ready for Girls camp.  Nate was so nice to help with loading the car and getting the firewood.  I made sure to try to leave things in order for the boys.  I was kind of nervous about making the boys all take care of themselves, but I also knew things would be okay.  I wrote a meal and babysitting schedule on the board for them with numbers of ladies who they could call for help.  That made me feel better.  We were able to hug them all goodbye and head out to Bowmans for the breakfast rolls and drinks.  

We met up at Keeley's house, loaded last minute stuff in the trailer, waited, passed out the hoodies while the YCL's announced their tents, then had a quick devotional from Kara and then headed out!  

Our first day, we got up there, had lunch, set up camp, worked on journals, then loaded back up into the cars to go to Bloomington lake.  That was a cool place!  I was glad for the little hike-ish that lead to it since we didn't have any other hikes.  Not as glad with the fact that we brought 16 girls up to a lake with a rope swing and didn't let them play on the rope swing at all.  Karen vetoed it the minute we got up there.  Kind of lame if you ask me.  I wish she had said something before we went up there.  BUT it was still a really beautiful place!  The cliffs surrounding us were amazing.  A lot of the girls, Kelly and Erika included, floated/swam over to the other side and had a lot of fun doing that.  I was glad they made it fun rather than just sitting around worried about things like a lot of the adults.  We got back to camp, had delicious fajitas courtesy of the Noriegas, and then sat around the fire for Aubrey's devotional and then to listen to the Jacox's fireside.  They did such a great job!  I LOVED having them speak!  I loved Bro. Jacox's "it sucks to suck" award. HAHAHA!!  That was a very inspiring night.  I had a lot of fun talking with the ladies in our tent that night.  Keeley and I went on too long.  

Day 2 was really fun.  We had a lot of free time planned that turned into craft time.  The girls decorated their draw string bags and played cards and games.  All the adults fretted over the schedule.  We went up to the Minnetonka cave and got to do that tour.  I was really happy that they let Keeley and I (and Nate and the Bishop) go with all the girls.  The rest of them followed behind.  We were so happy when the tour guide pointed out the "room" that has the best acoustics and asked if anyone wanted to sing something.  This was cool because Kelly had had the idea to sing our song in the cave and was wanting to ask for permission to do that.  So we actually got to sing our song in the cave!  Just the first verse and chorus.  Our guide stood their very reverently listening and seemed to be in tears by the end.  In the words of Keeley she had a total returned missionary vibe.  The spirit was so incredible with that song in there.  So beautiful!!  Course that song always gives me chills.  We decided that because we opened up our world to our guide, she then felt comfortable opening up to us and in the room where they turn off all the lights, she pointed out that that is what it must have been like when there was no light for three days after Christ's birth.  Which was really cool to think about.  I loved that she shared that with us.  After the cave and waiting for the rest of our group we went back to camp.  We got to have some more free time and also solo time!  This was much anticipated since I was the one who gathered all the letters from parents.  I loved that part as a young woman.  That went well.  They seemed to make it last forever.  I loved seeing Erika over in Nate's hammock, not too far from us, reading her scriptures and letters.  Cute girl.  This was about the time that I had to sit in on the bashing of the unvaccinated.  Kind of annoying, but prompted me to say a little prayer later when I heard Alix's devotional on prayer.  This was probably the coolest thing that happened at girls camp.  After the dinner (delicious Spaghetti that I splurged and ate!- and then regretted all night) we had our devotional, remarks from the Bishop, then our journal passing, song, and testimony meeting.  During the testimony meeting Aubrey Noriega had talked about her patriarchal blessing and then this line from mine popped into my head and I felt the distinct impression that that was an answer to my prayer just a few minutes before.  It was so incredible!  I was able to finally feel resolve on my decision to not get vaccinated yet.  So that was a huge relief and felt like a burden had been lifted.  I really loved feeling like I'd received personal guidance on the matter and could finally relax.  The testimony meeting was awesome.  Surprised me how great it was since we had only been up there for less than 48 hours!  That's the magic of girls camp.  I love that.  I loved hearing everyone's testimonies and cool things they'd learned from the few things we had done up there.  It was hard to think about it being Kelly's last one.  I wasn't even able to talk about it in my testimony because I knew I'd fall apart.  Keren's "it was either a demon or Angel" lightened the mood a little :).  I enjoyed hearing from almost all the girls.  It was especially good to hear Kelly and Erika.  I loved that we were all up there together and got to spend that time with them.  What a cool little miracle that they got to go to camp for one year together.  If it hadn't been for the recent changes they would have just missed each other.  It was a great time.  I loved sitting around the fire with the leaders talking about our teenage years :).  Lots of fun.  Then overtalking with Keeley in our tent again that night.  Fun stuff.  

Day 3 was a sad, but good one.  We took down camp, loaded the trailer and cars and headed out after taking more than enough pictures of everyone :).  We stopped at the Noriega's family's house on the main road that is right off the Bear Lake.  This was a fun time.  We got to make the muddy trek out to the water- it is SO LOW right now- and played on the dock and on the kayaks and canoes and swam... I had a great time with a few of the girls.  Then it was time for lunch and laying around on the grass before needing to head home.  I really loved that we got to play in Bear Lake.  I wish we could have done it more.  But such a fun time.  

What a blessing to have had this calling as Assistant Camp Director with Keeley.  I feel so lucky to have been able to go.  I don't feel like I did a ton, but I did get to order the hoodies.  I loved that the girls designed those and made all the decisions on those.  They turned out great!  Keeley registered for next year's girls camp on the way there, so it's settled, we're going to the Tetons next year!  For a whole four nights!  That gets me excited!  Although, I've gotta put the kabosh on the lame river ideas they were starting to settle on after having the plan to river raft!  We deserve rapids!!!  I hope I still have this calling by then!  

Things that I want to remember:
Fun talks in the car as we drove to different places, catching air on the big bumps
Being with Nate and witnessing his first girls camp
Time with my girls
That it doesn't help to worry
Getting to know Miranda
Talking with Erika on the way to the bathroom
Hearing all the girls thanking their YCL's for all that they did and loving on Kelly 
The excitement that teenage girls exude in all activities and facets of their lives

The boys did amazing while we were gone!!  I was so proud of them!  They even got themselves off to Young mens camp on their own too.  I was grateful for their cooperation.  It was nice that Jen and my mom could help on Wednesday as well.  Things just worked out and for that I was grateful!  Funny story- they were watching a movie where the power goes out and just as it went out on the movie, the power in our house went out too.  They checked the breaker and then found out it was out on the whole street, and it was only out for a little while, but how funny is that!  Pretty strange.  8-9-21--8-11-21

SCHOOL SHOPPING

Thursday we went and did some shopping for Kelly's apartment stuff as well as Jack's supplies for school.  It was a big trip and we spent a lot of money, but I think it may have helped Kelly with some of her anxiousness about moving soon.  She's excited too, I think she just needed to know she would have everything she needs.  8-12-21

CHARITY BACK HOME

We got to pick up Charity from her apartment in Logan, to come live with us for a week.  Her one apartment ended on the 12th and the next one won't be available until the 23rd, so she had to move all of her stuff home.  Kind of a pain, but we're happy about it :).  She has permission to work from the Ogden call center for her work as well, which is nice that she isn't having to commute up to Logan or something.  8-12-21

BALLOON LAUNCH

We got up at 5:30 Friday morning so that we could head up to the balloon launch in Sandy!  This has been a fun thing to do a lot of years.  I don't know if we can call it a tradition.  I usually talk myself out of it for Nate's sake, but since he was up at YM camp, I decided to do it with the kids.  They were surprisingly really excited about it.  We got there, got an awesome parking spot on the road just up from the park.  Sat on the top of the hill and watched them fill up all the balloons!  It was so much fun!  We all loved it.  Even Sadie sat there mesmerized by it all.  I was glad she wasn't too bored.  We were all relieved and so happy that they were able to launch!  It goes by pretty quickly and we just picked up and left once they'd all left, but so much fun!!  We got home around 8:00.  8-13-21

GRANDMA RUTHIE'S EARLY SURPRISE BIRTHDAY PARTY AT THE ZOO

We actually made it up to the zoo kind of in time to party with everyone.  Feeding the giraffes was a big part of it and we kind of missed that- Molly got to do it with Ali- but we were there!  I wasn't suer we were going to make it up there.  It was a pretty hot day and for some reason Sadie was totally off the entire time- it was too hard for her to go from animal to animal.  She threw a lot of tantrums.  Then Kelly's legs were really bothering her too.  Molly wasn't too happy with the order that we were seeing the animals and all of this made for a less than exciting outing at the zoo for me.  I was kind of grumpy.  We were lucky we had Meg and her family with us and it was really fine, just not my favorite trip there.  We met up with everyone at Litza's for some lunch and to celebrate Grandma Ruthie.  It was a fun day.  8-14-21

DATE WITH NATE

Nate and I needed to get out!  We went to dinner at Jimmy Johns and then the movie Free Guy.  We had a lot of discussion about the most recent urges from the First Presidency about the vaccine as well as our Stake's recent decisions to go back to masks.  This is a strange world we live in.  I'm not super happy about it all.  I'd love to run away and come back when it's over.  It's so frustrating.  8-14-21

THE LAST WEEK OF SCHOOL

This week didn't go how I had planned.  I had wanted to do something big and exciting since Nate was off work still, but it just wasn't panning out.  We had so many little things- picture day at the school, teeth cleaning for Luke, ortho appointments, soccer practices, etc- so it was hard to have a whole day to do anything.  Kind of a bummer.  But it was kind of relaxing and made us feel like we were going to be okay going back to school next week.  8-15-21

SCHOOL SHOPPING

I took the older kids school shopping finally.  This was much harder than the younger kids.  We never did find any shorts for Luke.  Kinda crazy stuff these kids getting older!  8-16-21

FHE

Nate had us draw a picture of our favorite thing we learned this summer.  This was a cool thing to see what everyone learned.  I loved all the drawings of the backpacking trips.  This was a cool idea.  8-16-21

CAMP WRAP UP

Kelly and I worked really hard getting things ready for camp wrap up.  She was making the video and I was making the awards.  It was a great night, fun to think about girls camp again.  Sure missed all the girls though- we had a terrible turnout.  That was a bummer.  But I was glad we got to have it with Kelly there and that things went well.  Karen was so nice to give me a gift.  I got the "I'm going to girls camp not matter what" award.  Kelly got the Best Photographer award.  Erika got the Exterminator award :).  Fun stuff.  8-18-21

JACK BIRTHDAY SHOPPING

Jack got to go birthday shopping with Grandma Hatch and picked out a Jurassic World dinosaur I think it was the Spinosaurus.  He sure loves these things!  8-19-21

STAKE YOUTH CONFERENCE- GOOD JOB KELLY AND BRADLEY!

Kelly and Brad were both on the youth committee to plan this youth conference and spent months going to meetings.  We were all pretty excited for it by the time it was here.  Bradley got Brother Brad Wilcox to come speak, that was awesome!  I went for this part.  He did such a great job!  Talked about the gathering of Israel.  I loved it!  He's just so fun and so enthusiastic!  I wish I had emailed him when I had the thought that he might be late.  One of those times I didn't do what I thought I should do.  After that, the kids broke up into groups and did some self defense, some outside games (which were jeopardized a little with the wind), and a service project.  Then it was time for Nate's food :).  He made pulled pork sandwiches.  Everything went really well.  I was glad.  And proud of my kiddos!  This was Kelly's last official young women activity!  8-21-21

GOODBYE KELLY!

Saturday night we had a little "everyone come over for pizza" thing for Kelly.  I wish she'd let me do a little more with this, but she chose what we were doing.  She had a LOT of friends show up and hang out with her.  It's so strange that everyone is leaving on missions and stuff.  Watching my girls do this is crazy.  I remember that all too well.  I think they will all do great though.  Just hard watching them part ways- kind of.  It's a little different now days with things making it so easy to stay in touch.  I think she will stay friends with a lot of them.  It's getting harder and harder to think about her actually leaving.  I'm not ready.  8-21-21

BACK TO MASKS

So our ward is wearing masks again.  Kind of annoying.  Pres. Nelson urged us to get vaccinated and wear masks when social distancing isn't possible.  So I wore my mask as I came in to church (Even though I don't feel like I can't social distance as I'm coming in.  I think people forget that social distancing is 6 feet between you and anyone you are by for more than 15 minutes. I'm not going to be around anyone for more than 15 minutes as I'm walking in the building.  But whatever.) I took my mask off when I sat down on the pew with my family.  I feel totally fine with that.  Then I put it back on for nursery.  I don't love masks.  I think they're silly, but whatever.  I can comply.  8-22-21

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

This was a big, special day!!  We got all dolled up in our new clothes, got pictures, and rushed everyone out the door for school!  Bradley is a Junior this year, Luke is a Sophomore, Noah is in 8th grade, Erika is in 6th grade with Mrs. Burns as her teacher!  We couldn't have been happier with that news.  Along with Kate and Morgan being in her class- pretty awesome!!  Jack is in 4th grade with Mrs. Hewett!  yay!!  And Molly is in Kindergarten but doesn't officially start til next week.  It was a good first day!  Unless you ask Luke- he said it was pretty boring.  I was glad they got to go back to a routine and see their friends, but it's always so hard to say goodbye and let them go again.  8-23-21

ANNIE'S WITH THE MOMS

Keeley invited all the moms to go to Annie's for breakfast on the first day of school.  I brought my three stooges with me :).  Kelly, Molly and Sadie and I just wanted scones so it was funny when everyone started ordering big breakfasts.  But whatever.  We had a great time talking with everyone and taking turns wrestling/ entertaining Sadie.  8-23-21

KINDERGARTEN ORIENTATION

Molly and I got to go to her classroom, do a little scavenger hunt for all the things she needs to know where they are, she got to decorate her birthday bag and I filled out some forms!  This was pretty exciting!  She has Jonah, Noah Barton and Milo Wiberg in her class!!  And MRS. PIPER!!!  She already knows Molly's name really well.  Going to be awesome!!  8-23-21

KELLY CHARITY MOVING DAY

Well, it really happened.  We took out the back seats of the van, loaded it and the Prius up with their stuff, and hauled it and the whole family up to Logan.  It was a little stressful trying to get up there in time to check in and Isaac was so helpful standing in line for them, then the mix up with the private vs. shared rooms.... a little more than Charity was ready to deal with.  She had worked so hard to get this apartment for these three girls, it was hard to watch it come crumbling down on her.  She was so quick to pick up the pieces though, offered to have a stranger for her roommate, wiped off the tears and moved her stuff in.  Kelly was also good at rolling with the punches that night.  I was really proud of both of them for being so brave and just toughing it out.  Didn't take us long (thanks to all our helpers) to get their stuff moved in- I was surprised.  Then we went to dinner at Costa Vida.  I know this isn't  our last time with them or anything, but it's just too real when we move all their things into somewhere else.  We got to say our goodbyes- Kelly gave everyone a card- we hugged, took pictures- cried!  It was very sweet, but very bitter at the same time.  So hard to say goodbye.  I'm going to miss my girls.  It was good to hear that they met their roommates and were pretty satisfied with them all.  Charity keeps saying that they are the sweetest girls on the planet.  Kelly got to stay up one night playing games with them- they are doing well and I couldn't be more relieved :).  8-23-21

TUESDAY

Monday night, when I went in to kiss Erika goodnight after rocking Sadie, I found her asleep in Kelly's bed (better mattress :) ), puffy-faced and wet from tears.  She had cried herself to sleep.  So I had to ask her in the morning what her plans were with her room situation and how soon she wanted to do the switch into Molly's room.  She was ready to do it right away!  I was surprised, but wanted to make it easier for her.  So Tuesday was the big day!  I moved my sewing table out into the hall, Sadie's crib into the toy room, then her dresser.  I had to clean up the toy room.  Then I was able to move Kelly's bed into Molly's room for Erika to use, then Erika's shelf into her new room.  Then I moved the sewing table into my new office, and moved Molly's dresser in there, moved Kelly's shelf into Molly's room for her to use for her clothes and things... I'm spelling this all out because it was like one of those games where you slide the numbers around and there's only one open space so you have to move everything just so to make the picture work.  It was a little crazy, but we did it!!  I got most of it done Tuesday before everyone got home and then finished up with some help from Erika Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning I was able to move the book shelf from the living room up to Sadie's room and a bunch of other things into the office.  Felt so good!!  Our house feels like it is lightening up.  Less clutter everywhere and less space being taken up!  I need to get on the room downstairs again.  For some reason when we have an empty room, it gets trashed!  I need to get the bed out of there and the clothing rack.  Can't wait to have our house in order!  8-24-21

LATE START

I'm not a huge fan of late start Wednesdays.  This was not my favorite thing.  The elementary kids go at 8:35, Brad and Luke go at 9:25, and Noah at 9:55!!  How annoying is that?!  We all decided that we'd still have study time at the same time to keep consistency, but after watching everyone sit around all morning, I'm not sure that is such a good idea.  I think they could use the sleep more?  8-25-21

JACK'S 9th BIRTHDAY AND FAMILY PARTY

Jack woke up bright and early, had study time with us, loved his sign that I made him :).  (and I tried really hard to make it spectacular since Kelly wasn't there to do her amazing work- I didn't want that to be a sore spot)  I forgot to do crepes so we had them the next morning.  He was very happy and cheerful all morning.   It was fun to spoil him with one gift- from Erika- it was a remote control shark!  Swims in the bathtub!  Pretty cool!  Then off to school.  He didn't want to do a treat for his class for some reason, but they did spoil him in his class.  When he got home he was really anxious for his party.  It was cute to see him so happy and excited.  He played with Will most of the afternoon.  When it came time for his party he couldn't resist inviting Bea and Will to come :).  We headed over to Gailey Park (Jack's choice) dinosaur bone cupcakes in tow and as we were driving over there, remembered the ward Primary's little carnival thing!  So we stopped over there for a quick turn in the fish pond- Jack got two turns, with a birthday gift and song! from everyone.  Popcorn and cotton candy were a must.  It was pretty cute and short which was nice since we were late for his family party.  But I think Jack really loved his attention and the fun there.  We got to Gailey Park- Grandpa was already there- Nate and Erika showed up with the pizza and drumsticks.  Then Grandma Ruthie, Jen, Becky and Jarom and River all showed up!  It was a fun party- I loved talking with my dad.  It got dark really quickly which was a bummer.  But we blew out candles, ate, opened presents real quick in the dim dusk light.  Jack got a bunch of dinosaurs and dinosaur stuff :).  He was pretty happy about that.  Grandpa gave him $20!!  He was super happy about that.  It was a good time.  We were glad Brad and Luke were able to snag the end of the party after young mens.  Happy Birthday Jack!!  We love you so much and are so proud of who you are and what you are doing with your life!!  Our family wouldn't be the same without you!!  8-25-21

JACK'S CAKE

I got a little creative with Jack's cake this time.  We had about 20 cupcakes (yes, from the 24 we took) from the night before and I was not wanting to just throw them away.  As well as all the chocolate dinosaur bones!  I didn't have anymore chocolate cake so I made some brownies instead.  They were pretty short so I got the idea to smash up the cupcakes (frosting, oreo crumbs and all) and spread that on top of the brownie.  Then I frosted around the perimeter so that we could stick Kit Kats all around- which is probably the reason Jack chose that cake- and then laid out the dinosaur bones and covered it all with oreo crumbs.  It was a fun cake to make!  Super easy!  And when they were all crowded around brushing the oreo crumbs off "excavating all the bones" it was totally satisfying :).  I think Jack really liked it.  I love making my kids happy on their birthdays!  So I had planned to make his cake all day and it really didn't take much time at all so I was able to do a lot of cleaning up for the party that afternoon.  8-26-21

MOLLY KINDERGARTEN TESTING

Molly's testing ended up being right before Jack's party!  She was super grumpy right before, choosing not to clean up her room, but she was able to pull it together for Mrs. Piper :).  I love that she has Mrs. Piper!  She did awesome in her testing!  She knew most of the letters and had very little mistakes on anything else.  I was not surprised, but happy she was able to convey her knowledge :).  She's probably one of a few who didn't get preschool at all before, so I'm glad she's been so interested in school stuff.  She was super shy and hardly talked when I was with her, but all was well.  So excited for Molly to go to school!  She is going to love it!  Although, I'm not sure what Sadie and I will do without her here during those 2+ hours!  8-26-21

BRAD'S PRE-REGION RACE

This was Brad's first race of the season.  He seemed excited/nervous about it.  I was happy we were able to finagle our afternoon so that I could go to his race.  I had to hurry up there from Molly's testing so I got there just as they shot the starting gun!  Then I was able to see him a couple times looping around- this was fun because I was able to Marco Polo Kelly during it.  Brad looked awesome!  He seemed much stronger this year, not as tired, but faster too!  I was pretty proud of him!  He was trying to break 13 minutes but would have loved to beat 12.  He came in at 12:39.  So not bad!!  He disappeared at the end and when I found him he was looking really good- not like he was going to throw up like he used to.  I think he's really getting better and faster!  Pretty awesome.  8-26-21

JACK'S FRIEND PARTY

Jack's party went really well!  With the exception of a few of them being late- there were no issues.  I was bummed that Nate and I had had to divide and conquer during the swimming part.  He took Jack and his four friends (Kason, Will, Liam and Ross) to the Bountiful Rec center and they got to swim and go on the yellow slide to their hearts' content.  Then brought them back for some pizza, cake and ice cream.  I had failed to give us enough time and with the late start, we were shoving food down their throats at the end there :).  He also took some time to open presents which was fun.  He had a few party guests who were a little out of control!  Kinda nuts.  But lots of fun and they all seemed happy so that was good.  Jack especially!  He loved his gifts- dino legos, more legos, a dinosaur, and a cool electronic gecko!  He's was so easy to please and so happy :).  8-26-21

SOCCER!!

Soccer started back up this week!  Noah, Erika and Molly are playing.  Noah and Erika had their first practices this week and Molly won't be having practices, but they all have games Saturday.  Pretty exciting!  Erika was glad that Emily agreed to coach one more season, so she has Kate and Morgan on her team again :).  Noah seems happy with his team as well.  Molly will be playing with her friend Henlie from Music Makers which is cool!  Fun stuff.  8-26-21

PICKING UP KELLY

Kelly had some fun stuff this weekend, surprise party, hang out at Sierra's, two farewells, and two doctor appointments so we went to pick her up Friday morning!  It was so good to see her and Charity!  It's been a long week for sure!  Charity had to work so we said goodbye to her again.  Kelly and I got to chat all the way home and then she went to lunch with Nate, the littles and Luke!  Fun stuff.  8-27-21

LUNCH WITH ANDREA

We finally made it happen!!  And I wasn't about to cancel even though my day was pretty full.  We met up at El Matador and sat and talked for four hours!!!  I loved it!  I could do that everyday if I could.  Andrea is such a good friend and such a good recharge for me.  It was nice to get her input on a lot of things I'm dealing with right now.  Hopefully Charley's legs are okay!  8-27-21

BACK TO THE TEMPLE

Nate and I finally got to go do a session at the temple!!  After way too long!!  This was amazing!!  I sat there in the chapel feeling such an overwhelming amount of love from my Heavenly Father.  Made everything all better.  I was very distracted by the masks (I didn't wear one- there were a few of us that didn't), but I'm trying to get past that.  Overall it was a great thing and such a relief to be able to be there again.  8-27-21

SOCCER

Our soccer games started back up finally :).  Noah, Erika and Molly are all playing this season.  Our games today were all crammed together and overlapping, so that was a little disappointing and it was so hot that some of us (Sadie!) got a little grumpy, but it was so fun to be back at it again!!  Noah got to play goalie which he has wanted to do ever since he started but since he's on the shorter side, his coaches never let him.  He did awesome!  He only missed a couple and our defense was not really cutting it so he had a lot of shots coming at him!  I was really proud of him!  The second half he played great as middie, then his coach took him out and we thought the game was almost over so we headed over to Erika's game.  Unfortunately, he got to go back in the game and while we were gone, we missed his penalty kick as well as a goal!  So annoying that we missed those.  Erika's game was great!  She did awesome!  She played goalie the first half also and blocked a few, then played forward the second half and scored a few times.  One of them was a perfect rainbow shot that looked SO beautiful!!  We got to chat with Keeley and her parents throughout their game (Elsie is on Erika's team) and they won so it was a lot of fun.  Molly's little practice time started during Erika's game so Nate left to take her to Pioneer Park.  We all caught up with them after Erika's game, only missing a few minutes of the game part.  Molly was sure a lot of fun to watch!  She played great!  She was being so aggressive, even scored!  It was so much fun to watch her siblings too!  They were all so hyped about how well she was playing and cheering and waving to her- Sadie was adorably very interested in watching this game (unlike the rest), she cheered "doh molly!" and clapped, high fived her with a big smile when she came off for a drink, and even went up put her hand on her back and told her good job when the game was over!!  I seriously loved it!!  Mom heaven.  She was happy about the treats at the end and happy she got Fiiz for her goal!  Fun afternoon0 just super hot!!  8-28-21

MEG!

Meg had to bring Sierra up for hanging out with friends before Matt leaves (thanks to Kallie and her domineering of the plans to go visit Sierra while she couldn't drive herself out here) so she came in and sat down and chatted for most of the evening!  It was so nice!!  I loved it!  I really love the way Sierra puts things so clearly and makes so much sense.  It was refreshing to talk with her.  And therapeutic :).  I've always loved Meg and looked up to her and felt like she was such a good role model.  I'm grateful we are friends.  Hopefully, I still get to see her after the girls are gone.  8-28-21

VACCINATION AND MASKS

Last week the Prophet made a statement and urged everyone to get vaccinated and to wear masks when social distancing isn't possible.  This hit pretty hard because I was very content with my feelings to not get vaccinated (not a shot- I already feel immunized with my own antibodies).  But I tried to pray about it some more and wanted to feel like I was making the right decision again.  There was a little back and forth in my mind, wondering if what I was feeling was personal revelation or not, I've really been wanting to develop the ability to receive and follow promptings, so this was a challenge and took up most of my thoughts.  But Saturday we had Father's blessings and I got to have one too :).  And the very first thing Heavenly Father said was that he is pleased with the decisions I have made!  He is pleased with me and loves me!!  It was so nice.  I really feel like I am okay to not get the shot.  I wouldn't stop anyone else from getting it, or force anyone to get it, but I am okay with me not getting it.  I have realized this week that in order to rise above this division and distraction satan has placed in our way is to stop being so consumed with all of it.  I have got to stop thinking about it and deliberating.  The masks are tough.  I hate them.  But I want to follow the Prophet and use it when I should.  I have been doing good at wearing it when I am not able to social distance.  I need to train myself to stop thinking about it all.  I have got to stop thinking about what others might be thinking of me and be content with me and what I choose.  I want to fit in and feel like I fit in and stop letting what I THINK others are thinking to stop me from feeling that.  So that is my new goal.  I'm grateful for personal revelation and the thoughts and feelings I have had lately about responding to promptings right away.  There have been a bunch of times this past week where I did what I felt I should right away and it has been a blessing.  It seems clearer for some reason and that makes me happy.  I am hoping I can keep this up and make it an even bigger part of my life.  I want to be able to do what is right.  And be an instrument in the Lord's hands.  8-29-21

CRAZY WEEK

I had a crazy week this week, with Molly's first week of Kindergarten, Kelly's appointments, a bunch of ortho/dentist appointments, Musical meeting and auditions, Molly's birthday and parties... it was packed!  I had to keep baby stepping through the week.  I was grateful for impromptu babysitters and help with driving... Kinda nuts, but we made it!  8-30-21

MOLLY'S FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

This blessed day actually came!  Molly was SO excited!  She is funny because she maintains this cool while she is unbelievably overcome with anxiousness, nervousness, excitement, questions... but she stayed pretty chill.  I was surprised :).  She was happy to go stand in line when we walked up to the green shuttle painting.  She didn't smile much, until I told her to for pictures, but she was happy :).   Happy to finally put a face with the name "going to school".  Mrs. Piper came out, told them to turn around (which Molly did, but was then no longer facing me- HA!) and wave goodbye to their parents.  She waved a little facing away from me and then it registered and she turned towards me and waved.  She seriously looked stunned... I wasn't sure what to expect!  I've had a few who reality hit as they were walking in and they couldn't do it, but I wasn't sure what Molly would do.  I waved back, all happy and motivational, Sadie waved, and then they turned and started walking into the school!  I got a video at this point and was hoping for a little turn of her head to say goodbye, but in true Molly form- she was looking ahead, not behind, and didn't need to look back because she had a whole world in front of her.  She was not going to miss that!  I love her courage and I love that she is so excited and feels so ready.  But I am sad to lose my little girl!  It's good that it's just half day :).  I cried a little on the drive home til Sadie took over in the crying department.  And that was that.  We will miss her!  Molly came home with a new energy and shared all the fun she had!  We had to go get ice cream to celebrate :).  She had made a friend, but didn't know her name.  She had listened to a story about a gingerbread man and colored her own.  She had drawn a picture of her being a good friend.  It was so cute to hear about it all.  I knew she would love recess :).  So far that's been her favorite part.  She has really loved it all though.  Throughout the week she started singing "Zero Hero" randomly and we got to hear about her new friend Abby (who I found out is actually Evi).  She got to do her spotlight folder with pictures of her and her family the third day, for her birthday, and take treats for her class.  She chose fruit snacks which was cute :).  It was a big first week!  I loved hearing about it all.  Girls give me so many more details than boys :).  Mrs. Piper is amazing and she loves her.  I think she might be able to enjoy school.  That is a good thing.  8-30-21

FHE

Nate taught the lesson- we talked about some things we can do in our home to make it more temple like.  We played my game- Scattergories and for the treat, we ate the cinnamon rolls from the big box the PTA president forced me to take home after the Boo-hoo Breakfast.  I don't think they had too many people stay for it, lots of leftovers.  8-30-21

KELLY'S RHEUMATOLOGY APPOINTMENT- FINALLY

This was long awaited and we had gotten our hopes up pretty high.  We are pretty sure it's something auto-immune and that rheumatoid arthritis fits, but of course, it wasn't as obvious to Dr. Morgan (new doc- we liked him- seems nice- he takes his kids to Dr. Tew as well), so he wanted to run her blood for a few more things (now we find out that there's a blood test for rheumatoid arthritis- eye roll) rheumatoid and lupus because she did test positive for Lupus on another test, but needs a more reliable one to know for sure.  So we will see what comes of those tests... not til October 4th!!! (AAAAAHHHHH!!!) but we will see.  More waiting.  Poor Kelz.  She went home with Sierra that night- up to Logan- for Sierra to move in. 8-31-21

MOLLY'S FAMILY PARTY

This was such a fun night!  We met up with Grandpa Hatch at the rec center park- we wanted to do the cake and present first.  It was super windy and everyone was anxious to go skating, but we made them wait.  I had made this new Cookie Letter/number Tart thing (I improvised a little) with 2 big sugar cookie sixes stacked with buttercream frosting in between, and then covered in Molly's favorited candies and cookies.  It turned out pretty cute and was really simple!  I was so proud of myself :).  I will have to try the actual custard next time.  Grandpa gave Molly her present which was this adorable Furr-real Unicorn!  She LOVES it!  It's pretty cute.  Then we got out of the wind and into the skating rink.  This was a lot of fun.  Everyone is getting really good at ice skating!  Molly skates around with the little walker thing and loves it!  HA!  I hope we can get her to brave it without soon, but she was beaming :).  Sadie rode in the stroller all night and loved that.  Grandpa used the stroller for a while and then his shins were not happy so he sat and we talked for a while.  Everyone else skated around playing tag and trying new things.  It was a lot of fun!  I loved it!  I was able to skate too which was aweomse!  Kind of a NSV with my weight loss I think.  It was a lot of fun!  8-31-21