Aug. '19- Week 4- Boating, Bethany Ballet, Outdoor Movie, Bountiful Fire, BBQ at Smith's

Thursday I went on ministering visits to Shelly and Janel.  Alice loved the chairs at the Barnes'.  I drove carpool and Anna had Let's Play Music after school.  We also noticed a color motif Ben loves (blue and lime green).  MelodyAnn Swanson came over to play but McKenna ended up going over to their house to swim for a bit.  After kids were in bed, we got a bid for siding from Hansons and then Dan met with the Mudrows as he was getting ready to marry them in a couple weeks. 

Friday I went walking with Sarah and Amy.  Arlee and David came over to play with Bethany and I worked on a grocery order.  After school, Ben went to Taggart's and Anna went to Lizzie's.  We had Cub Scout Pack meeting that night which was a pot luck dinner and skits, then I stopped by to see Andrea Walker who had organized a friends get-together at the Novak's.  Unfortunately, we pretty much missed it all due to Pack meeting going long.  We left for Mantua after that and once kids were in bed, we played games with Sam, Lara, and Adam.  

Saturday was BOATING day!  We had a yummy pancake breakfast and Alice loved some cherries! We had such a great time tubing, relaxing, and I even got up SURFING!  

 Ben was a little dare devil and stood up while tubing, followed by cousin Hailey!

 Love the napping babies and being with cousins too!

We hurried home so Anna could go to Emi Atkin's BD party and Ben could go to Eli's Forbes' BD party at the Wairhouse (trampoline park).  We spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking, doing laundry, baths, and preparing Primary music stuff.  After kids were in bed, Dan and I watched part of the new Jim Gaffigan comedy special.  

Sunday I taught "The Lord Gave me a Temple" in primary.  The girls played Legos nice after church.  Sadly, it was kind of a hard day overall with lots of fighting.  The girls also painted their nails.  My parents and siblings came over for dinner (honey lime chicken enchiladas).  We watched some of McKenna's Peter Pan and had my family conference call.  Alice wanted to be a part of it. She kept climbing up and saying "Hi!"  After kids were in bed, I talked and cried a little with Dan.  :(

Monday I went to Ben's class to help with Math Facts.  At home, I took pictures of Anna's school work from last year.  I drove carpool and we had baked potatoes for dinner.  After kids were in bed, Dan and I delivered cookies to the Koldewyn's in their NEW house!

Tuesday I went walking with Rachael, then Alice and Bethany and I played with bubbles outside.  We watched the Tinkerbelle movie, and Larry Page, the drywall guy, came to fix our ceiling settling crack.  The siding guy also came to do some final measurements.  Bethany had music and after kids were in bed, Dan and I delivered more cookies to the new neighbors, the Hoppes, who moved into the Koldewyn's old house.  That night we also found out Dan's brother David was going to be called as his ward's new BISHOP, so we talked over the phone with Dave and Laurie for a bit.  

Wednesday I worked on cleaning up the basement a bit to look for Anna's lost ballet shoe.  I also tried to get a picture of a little black eye Alice got by running into a kitchen cabinet handle.  The kids had early out and McKenna had a hard time with Piano.  

Dan came home early from work not feeling well.  McKenna babysat at Lara's.  Ben had a baseball game (his knee got hit by a ball during the kid pitch part of the game) and Dan had church meetings.  

Thursday I went again to do Math Facts in Ben's class.  Bethany went to her new dance class and had her Adelaide preschool orientation.  

Unfortunately, I started to feel a cold coming on too.  Anna had music, Ben had scouts.  Ben got some new Pokemon cards from the Bramalls.  We had another anti-pornography lesson with the kids, specifically about addiction.  That night was the BYU/Utah football game, which sadly, BYU lost again (9th year in a row!).  There was also a fire that night on the bench near 400 N.  3 homes burned down. :(

Friday Dan went to the temple and I drove the kids to school.  I watched news coverage of the fire then went for an eye exam and ordered some new RED framed glasses.  I also bought a big bag of movie theater popcorn for an outdoor movie that night.  We met Dan for lunch at Kneaders and the drywall guy came again.  After dinner, Anna and Bethany went to Hailey's for a movie night, and McKenna and Ben had an outdoor movie night with friends watching the new Aladdin.  

Saturday I got some good Alice snuggles in the morning. Dan mowed the lawn.  I went to brunch with Mickelle and Bonnie at Mimi's Cafe and apparently Alice was sad I left.  McKenna went to Kaia's outdoor water BD party.  After that party, I took McKenna shopping at WalMart and the Dollar Store for some school stuff.  That night we went to a BBQ at the Smith's.  The Alexanders, States, and Scott and Kylee Nelson were also there.   

Aug. '19- Week 3- Tour of Utah Race, Alice Talking Video, Bee's Game, Stake Conference, Bethany Upstart, LPM, and Cast, Ben Baseball.

Thursday was another half day for the kids at school.  Afterwards, McKenna went to Hannah Hilbig's BD party.  I took the other kids to our church parking lot and we sat in the shade and watched the Tour of Utah bike race! It was amazing!  The Wirthlins were there with us, so the kids had fun playing together.  I was just amazed how fast the cyclists were going and especially how fast the cameras following them were on motorcycles.  They'd have two guys on one motorcycle, one would drive, the other would stand up and film!  We used whatever we could find in our house to make noise to cheer them on.  Sadly, no cowbells.  We banged on pots and pans and metal water bottles.  The Wirthlins had whistles.  We saw them pass three times in about an hour and then we headed home to cool off!

Anna had her first day of Let's Play Music.  We picked up McKenna from the party.  We went through more school papers.  McKenna also swam at the Novak's that night for Activity Days 

Friday it was feeling good to be back in the routine of doing Come Follow Me every morning at breakfast!  I got these adorable videos of Bethany singing and dancing (I have no idea what she's singing) and Alice saying all the words in her repertoire, but she was being stubborn and wouldn't say "mama" so easily.



After kids were at school (another half day), the little girls watched shows and I made our grocery list.  Jordan came over to play with Ben after school and he made this Lego creation after Jordan left.

I deep cleaned the master bathroom and listened to my book club book.  McKady Kump came to babysit while Dan and I went on a date to dinner and a Bee's Baseball game.  It was quite the night.  While we were waiting in line to buy tickets, some guy handed Dan two free tickets that also included $5 concessions!  The weather was perfect and we sat all the way down the first baseline.  There were 6 home runs that night!  And because of where we were sitting, there were plenty of foul balls that almost hit us.  In fact, one did hit the lady in front of us in the ribs!  She was fine, thankfully, and we joked about it the rest of the night.  We also saw a Richard Branson look alike.  

Saturday morning I took Ben and Alice to pick up groceries while Dan mowed and went to help with Josh Hock's Eagle Scout project which was tying blankets.  McKenna went to help later as well so she could be with Bridgett Moulton.  I took all but Alice swimming at the Atkin's house from 3-4 while Dan stayed home with a sleeping Alice.  Then we came home and he left for the Stake Leadership session of Stake Conference.  The kids all had showers then my parents came to babysit while Dan and I went to the adult session of stake conference.  We were lucky enough to attend a dinner beforehand with all the Bishops and their wives and our visiting General Authority, Elder Mehr and his wife. He said a few words about how blessed we are to be in the Bishop calling together.  He said this calling is a privilege and that Dan was foreordained.  The Saturday evening session is always so uplifting!   Afterwards we went to Nielsen's for a treat.

My mom had fun putting curlers in the little girls' hair that night.  It made for an easier Sunday morning.  Though Alice only had a few left my morning.  

Sunday Dan went to a special Youth session of Stake Conference.  Then we all went to the regular sessions.  Alice was kind of difficult, but most of the kids did well.  They made a big "school" set up in the basement after church to play that afternoon.  Mickelle also came for a visit that afternoon and then we went to the Stewart's for Webster Sunday dinner and August birthdays!  Sam even brought some Hokulia stuff.  

Monday was picture day at school.  It was a pretty normal day at home getting caught up on texts and emails and phone calls.  The little girls played and watched shows.  I finally lined up a carpool for school with the Whitchurches in the stake!  So glad about that!  After homework Ben watched some of Mary Poppins from Backstage, then we had dinner and got kids to bed.  Dan and I were able to relax and watch some of the Jim Gaffigan special on Amazon Prime.  

Tuesday morning Bethany had her initial Upstart meeting/assessment.  When we got home, I worked on taking pictures of all the school papers we had just gone through.  We watched Hazel for an hour while Swa was at kindergarten orientation.  Bethany also had her first day of Let's Play Music that afternoon and she loved it!  McKenna had a bit of a hard time that evening, and later she slept walked, though I don't think those two things are related.  :) I made a note in my journal that I started using a new knee pillow that night to see if it would help my hip pain.  

Wednesday morning Bethany had a cast appointment.  She was able to get a shorter cast and chose pink this time.  Thankfully, they told us we only had to have this one on for TWO more weeks!  

Dan went river rafting with the youth that evening. I ran some errands with the kids and Ben had his first baseball game that evening.  The girls stayed home which was nice because it was pretty hot.  He got one hit on the machine and one hit with kid pitch.  Both times he made it to 3rd base!  

Aug. '19- Week 2- Mantua with Friends, Alice Nursery!, Back to School Shopping/Dinner, First Day of School,

Thursday I took a break from exercising due to my sore hip.  We went to the $1 movie Hotel Transylvania 3 which was quite funny! After lunch, all four older kids had dentist appointments and hooray for no cavities.  Then the three older kids went to the Madrid's house for a play date, and Bethany went to Arlee's.  I took Ben and Anna to back to school night that evening to meet their teachers.  There was a ward game night that night, but due to lightning and rain, we played inside the gym.  

Friday I went walking, picked up groceries, and the three older girls got back to school hair trims.  McKenna played at Lia's and we packed for Mantua.  After lunch we packed up and headed to Mantua with ward friends for the weekend.  We go there around 3:30.  We invited the new family the Chadwicks, and also the Pugsleys and the Moultons.

 Sunday was Alton Mortensen's mission farewell talk.  I taught both Jr. and Sr. Primary singing time because Amy was out of town.  Dan took Alice to Nursery (early)  without telling me, and apparently she did well and loved the babies!

My parents and Jonathan came over for dinner that night.  Afterwards, we drove up to their condo and could smell the mold and mildew in the basement.  :(  They were so sad and disappointed things were not in  better shape.  We did our Come Follow Me lesson on the way home and kids went to bed.  

Monday I went through uniforms and school supplies and we got "special juice and bread" for lunch, the Wal-Mart for some back to school shopping!  McKenna had her first "Frozen" rehearsal that afternoon.  Ben played at Henry's and Arlee came over to play.  We all went to back to school night that night for McKenna's class. 

Tuesday I ran two miles and my hip hurt bad.  It was so hard to wait for it to feel better!  I went through more uniforms and more back to school shopping at Target this time.  Dan came home at 4 and we went swimming at the Gunnerson's for our last hurrah before school started the next day.  Bethany did not want to swim with her cast cover, so she sat poolside and played with my phone and took some cute pictures.  

That evening we had our back-to-school dinner, kids colored on the table and received Priesthood blessings from Dan. 

We made a new back to school theme poster based on the scripture Romans 12:21- "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good!"  We discussed what "evil" might be and then ways we can overcome it.

 Wednesday was the FIRST DAY of SCHOOL!  Man they are all the cutest! 5th, 3rd, and 1st Grades! 

 Dan was able to walk them in and take some pictures for me!  (Lyla carrying Anna. :))

Ben is sitting next to Hayley who's mom is friends with Dan from high school. 

 Anna got right to work!

After they all left, I remember feeling kind of bored and not sure what to do with myself.  Alice and Bethany were really great and low maintenance the first few days, so it was lovely!

Picking up kids that afternoon took a really long time which is expected the first couple days of school!  Then McKenna and Ben had piano.  I went to a Let's Play Music meeting later.  We also went through school papers from last year, and I entered a lot of dates in my calendar.  Dan was really late that night with church meetings! 

Aug. '19- Week 1- Lagoon, Mary Poppins Shows, 5K, Hike/Backyard Camp out, Swimming, Super Heroe Pictures

Thursday I went to the DMV to get a new drivers license since I lost mine in one of the airports during our Nauvoo trip.  I ran to the store for another errand then Dan and I met at LAGOON for the Western States Lagoon day.  I just had the three little girls at first since Dan went to pick up McKenna and Ben from rehearsal.  We rode Jumping Dragon, Bombora, Lady Bug Bop, then McKenna and Ben arrived.  We rode Bombora again, Flying Tigers, then we headed to the pavilion for lunch.  We rode Rattle Snake Rapids, and then I went with the three little girls to do more rides in Kiddie Land, Dan went with Ben and McKenna to do some bigger rides (Wicked, Collossus, Spider, Swings).  

We all met back up so I could take McKenna and Ben home to get cleaned up for their first Mary Poppins performance!  They did so well and had a blast!  

Dan stuck it out at Lagoon with Anna and Bethany until the park closed.  

Goofy girls! 

Friday McKenna had a Stake Activity Days Activity.  The theme was centered around traits of a princess/daughter of God- being calm, loyal... They did Yoga to teach them about being calm and McKenna loved it!  She also loved how beautiful the lunch was decorated.  I worked on editing pictures on my phone, Ben did homework, and the girls played nicely.  We put curlers in as soon as McKenna got home and Ben played at Taggart's. After dinner, I stayed home with Alice while Dan went with Anna and Bethany to see Mary Poppins.  I worked more on my phone picture collages.  Everyone was home by 9pm and straight to bed, while Dan and I went to play games at the Day's.  

Saturday I ran a 5K in Fruit Heights with Kyless Behunin.  It was a free race so it was very small, but I ended up placing 3rd out of all the women, which was probably only about 10-15 total.  It was an out and back race and the "out" was all slightly uphill, which meant the "back" part was very nice running down hill!  My average pace was 9:37 and I finished in 30:53. I got home by 8:15  and got curlers in McKenna's hair.  

We worked on cleaning the house a little and then I showered.  That afternoon, we all went to McKenna and Ben's matinee show.  John and Emily Wade (and kids) came, along with Faye and RJ.  Swa also brought 6 cousins.  I neglected to get OUR family picture with Jane and Michael Banks and I was very sad about that.  :(  In between shows, Ben left with us, but McKenna stayed and hung out.  

Bethany's sweet primary teacher brought over a candy gram because of Bethany's broken arm.  They are always so kind and thoughtful!  I went back for the closing night performance.  Grandma Condie, Mickelle and Jonathan, and the Moultons all came!  Anna and Bethany had a movie night at Sam and Lara's as well.  

This show was put together in just THREE weeks!  I was so impressed with Ben and McKenna's ability to memorize so much dialogue and blocking!!  They were pretty proud of themselves too! They were in almost every scene and loved making new friends with some of the teenagers who did the show as well.  

Sunday we were on time for church!  I taught prophet songs in primary.  After church I also met with Amy and some of the Primary Presidency to talk about which songs we want in the program.  It was a pretty normal evening after that with leftovers for dinner, my weekly family conference call, and kids coming out of their rooms after we put them to bed. ;)

Monday I went walking with Dan.   I worked on getting lists together of all the new school supplies the kids would need.  The kids played well and took some pictures of their creations.  

McKayla Searle came over to play with Anna and then they went to dance.  Our family had originally planned to go camping for two nights this night and the next, but due to Dan's work responsibilities we couldn't make it happen.  So we improvised!  We went on a family hike to Holbrook Canyon from 8-9pm.  Then we borrowed the Winegar's tent and slept in the back yard!  We slept pretty well other than it sprinkling on us around 3:30am.  

Tuesday we cleaned up "camping" and Dan went to work. The kids worked on their homework and I worked on my personal history story.  They are all saved in my "memories" on the Family Tree App.  After lunch and the class, the kids visited "Korie's Cupcakes" and then Grace Eckman came over to play.  We baked cookies and after dinner Dan went to church stuff.  Unfortunately, I had a bit of a rough night with the kids.  

Wednesday I ran 3 miles but had some pretty bad hip pain.  It started before I fan the 5K with Kylee, but that made it way worse.  We cleaned the basement, the kids had piano, and after lunch we went swimming at Winegar's.  Bethany's cast cover totally worked! Though she didn't love it.  

Later, we met Dan at Sugar House Park for a photo shoot for our kids to be in.  They posed with capes as super heroes.  These pictures would be used for an event celebrating 20 years of Utah Foster Care.  Brooklyn Ulmer and later Mickelle babysat that night while Dan and I went on a date to dinner and the temple for Alton Mortensen's own Endowment session.  

Dan had a lot of fun throwing the two little girls and making them fly!