Stake Women's Campout

Last weekend, Brooke and I went on a campout with the women of out stake. I was so excited about it, because I love camping but don't really have much chance to go (usually I stay home with the little kids while Daniel takes the bigger kids camping... it's fine, it's the stage of life were in. Someday I'll be able to go with my family). Plus, the men are always doing church overnight camping trips. It was nice they did one for the women. 

We got there as early as we could to set up. DeAnna and Clarissa and I drove together with Brooke and Corinne. We found a spot and set up DeAnna's huge tent. We shared it together with Sarah and Claire (which made got hard night of sleeping, let me tell you).

That first night was set up camp, dinner, and Fireside. We had a few speakers while we were altogether as a big group; a couple of girls, a couple of teenagers and returned missionaries, and a couple of women. They spoke mainly about their experiences with baptism and the temple. It was really good, but quite long and hard for the little girls to be quiet and still and listen. 

That night, Brooke seemed not to want to spend time with her usual friends, Claire and Lily. I thought it was kind of odd, because she was so excited for this campout and to be able to camp with her friends. She spent most of that night through the Fireside with Oakley Kimball, which I think was good for both of them. Oakley sometimes needs a friend. 

After the stake fireside, we went back to our ward campsite for a ward fireside and testimony meeting. We had smores and banana boats, and we roasted Starbursts. It was a fun night. And we definitely went to bed too late. We shared a tent with so many people, Brooke and I had a really hard time sleeping. 

We had intended to get up for a sunrise hike, but we got so little sleep that I decided it'd be best if we slept. 

Saturday was full of fun things. We went to breakfast with our friends and then there were classes all morning until lunchtime. I went to a food storage class with DeAnna while Brooke did crafting class with her friends and Sarah. Then Brooke, DeAnna and I did an obstacle course activity where we had to get our group of people through a big spiderweb without touching the web. We had to pick up the little girls and put them through some of the smaller holes at the top of the web, and some of the more flexible women and girls made it through smaller holes. It was Brooke's favorite activity. We next went to a wall obstacle, we all had to climb up a wall, with a little help from others. Both obstacle courses had spiritual object lessons for us. 

Brooke and I did the service project after that, where we tired blankets to be given to others in our stake. We liked this too. We made almost an entire blanket by ourselves, which was pretty cool. And our last class, Brooke wanted to do "fun with yarn" -- they taught us how to hand knit (which Brooke is already a master of).

Our campout ended with lunch and taking down camp. I explored a bit of the stream with the little girls. They wanted to show me this one part. And then we drove back home with DeAnna and Clarissa and Corinne. It was a fun weekend! We were sad that Camille couldn't go, though. She's so close to being 8, I sort of wanted to just sneak her in. She would've loved it. 

Starting School

Grampa Holbrook invited us to do a backyard campout at his house last Monday, because he had it all set up after his camping trip. So we rearranged our plans for that evening and did a camping night with them. We built a fire and roasted hotdogs and marshmallows and ate fruit and veggies from Gramma's garden. We had a little family home evening lesson altogether, and got the kids to bed and went to bed. Daniel, Brooke and I stayed up a little bit to look at the stars.

I think the kids had a hard time sleeping. I know I did. It was rough sleeping on the ground. I must be getting old.

The next day we started school. I woke the kids up with time to get dressed and have a little cereal before we drove back home. It was kind of a crazy was to start our school year, but I didn't want to miss out on an opportunity to do something fun with Gramma and Grampa Holbrook and just us. It's important to me that my kids spend time with their grandparents and create relationships and bond as a family. 

We had our back to school dinner that night after we'd started our school year. I did really simple decorations and a simple dinner (chicken ravioli and some kind of veggie). Our theme for this school year is "We Do Our Best". Last year, I noticed the girls cutting corners on their school work and not giving their best effort. So we had a chat about what it means to do our best and how it's so important to give our best effort in anything we do throughout all of life. 

That first week of school went really well with the girls. I could tell they were really stepping up on their school work. And they were so excited to be starting a new school year with new books and all. Because of the busyness of those first few days, with camping at Grampa's house, starting school, back to school night for Jack and meeting Jack's teacher on Wednesday, among other things, we didn't start history until Thursday. And then, of course, we didn't do school on Friday. 

The girls are continuing their art and piano lessons this school year as part of our schedule with My Tech High. And Camille is still doing gymnastics. 

I decided to start reading the 1st Harry Potter book with the girls on Thursday after the start of school. Camille is not quite 8; but she's almost there, and it really is so fun to start reading Harry Potter at the beginning of the school year! She was SO excited. And Brooke and I were so happy to be able to start it with her. 

Friday, we had a little field trip to the aquarium, which was fun. Jack begged me the whole time to go see the sharks. We're in this new shark loving stage, apparently, and I'm glad to see him take an interest in something other than cars and trucks. 😂 He draws sharks and has asked for shark coloring pages and wants to read books and watch videos about sharks. It's cute, how into stuff he gets. 

Saturday morning I went roller blading for my workout, which was fun, but resulted in me being sore in really random places. I ran some errands with DeAnna later, mainly for Brooke's birthday stuff. And it was fun to have a buddy to run errands with! We got swig on the way home. 😊

Jack started school on Wednesday of our 2nd week of school. He was SO excited. There's just a lot of excitement running through our house lately. We all (except for Brooke ... she's at that age where she wants to stay home by herself all the time. And now that she's 10, I've been letting her stay home by herself) got in the car and took Jack to school for his first day. Camille really enjoyed telling him things about kindergarten for the few weeks before he started, and she walked him over to the playground. He just seems too tiny to be in school, and it hurt my poor mommy heart. He was hardly nervous at all, though, and really wanted to start. He loved his backpack and new school clothes and just felt ready to go. 

He didn't do great at his little pre-k assessment, but I didn't really expect him to. I mean, I didn't really do any preschool with him. The girls tried to teach him and letters, but it wasn't consistent enough.

Anyway, we dropped him off at the playground, and he didn't seem to know quite what to do. So he just ran around in circles. 😂😂 It cracked Daniel and I up. It was so funny. We left the playground, but then when the bell rang, he didn't seem to know what to do. So I went back in there to help him find his class line. Little cutie. I have such mixed feelings about sending him to kindergarten. 

I picked him up from that first day, and he had had such a great day! The next day, he rode the bus to and from school, and he was so excited to ride the bus. It kinda broke my heart sending him on the bus, though with all those big kids. He chose a seat way in the back, and I was just hoping and praying that all the kids were nice to him. 😥 I missed the bus picking him up, though. The bus was SUPER early, and even though I was 5 minutes early to the stop, they were rolling away just as I was walking up. I drove out to the school (thinking they'd bring him back), while the bus drove around the neighborhood a couple times waiting for me. It was very frustrating. But Jack was so so brave. He did cry or anything, and he seemed to just bounce off the bus when they brought him back to the school. The girls were really nervous about it, but I knew we'd get him just fine, and he seemed to handle it really well. My sweet little man.

Jack and I are in a pretty good place right now. He's just been so cute and excited about everything and happy almost all the time lately. I love it. And I can't get over his cuteness.

So. Jack's first week (half week, really) of school went well. He's loved it. He hasn't made any friends yet, but I have no doubt he will. Sometimes it takes time. 

August Sunday Notes

8/14/22

•  Morning routine is important -- it helps you establish what you will do and who you are striving to be that day; ask yourself at the beginning of each day, "who do I want to be?" Helps up ground us and focus on what's most important to us. 
• Daily disciplines -- what are my daily disciplines??
• Most important focus: the Savior and our relationship with Him, and our efforts to live the gospel 
• The fruits of nurturing our relationship with -- being better able to serve those around us, and being an example and a light to those around us. 

8/21/22

• How I can serve better in my calling: pray for the girls in my class, get to know them, allow the girls more opportunities to serve and share thoughts, participate in the goals and things my class are doing (ie reading the Book of Mormon to the end of the year) 
• As I say my nightly prayers, I can ask God to bring things to my remembrance from that day, things that I didn't do well that I need I repent of; He will let me know and help me remember and think of the sins I committed that day, SO THAT I CAN repent. He wants me to repent, to release me from that burden and guilt. 
• I can repent on the spot, I do not need to wait for the end of the day as I pray; if I recognize a moment of sin, I can pray for forgiveness right at that moment. 

Brooke's 10th Birthday

Brooke turned 10 this week! 😭 Daniel and I can't believe how big she's getting, and it's unreal that she's 10 already. I sometimes dream about when she was 5 or 6, and how fun it was to have all little kids. Now I have big kids mixed in with my little kids. 

But it's actually pretty fun to have a big kid. She's playing more grown up games with us now and developing her own interests and getting a fun sense of humor. 

She is still a Bookworm. I don't think that will ever change. She and I have been reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire since the beginning of summer. We're only halfway through, but she's been loving it. She and Daniel are making their way through Fablehaven, and they've been loving it. She reads so much, I have a hard time keeping her in books, and it's becoming ever more essential to hit the library every week or two.

She loves to craft. Still. I'm not sure that will ever change either. She's loved making things with Camille for the dollhouse and the dolls, and the things they make are so cute and cleverly done. She loves to crochet, even though her skills and knowledge are still somewhat limited. She makes scarves and blankets for her Stuffies, and she's even made a beanie and sweater for her kitties. We love seeing what she creates out of nothing. She just has a talent for it. 

She normally gets along well with her siblings, and is becoming really good at helping out with them. But lately she's in a phase we are struggling with: she has been enjoying bugging people intentionally. It's not my favorite. She's also gotten into this bad habit of pulling out all her eyebrow hairs and eyelashes. 😬 Daniel and I have been trying to get her to stop for weeks. I hope it doesn't cause

But we love her. She's a happy kid, she's pretty easy going, and she enjoys so many things. It's not hard to please Brooke. 

She's my little social butterfly, she loves being with her friends. And she's still so good at playing with kids of all ages. She likes playing with little 5 year olds, as well as 12 year olds. Kids are constantly wanting to play with Brooke and want to know what she's doing. She's loved going to Primary activities the past few years. It's been fun for her to get together with friends and do fun things. 

This summer she took cheer again and loved it again. This fall she's playing soccer again, and we'll see how it goes for her. She had fun last year. Aside from reading and crafting, we haven't really found her thing. I also have her taking piano lessons from Sarah Frei, which is better than when I was teaching her. It just didn't go very well. 

We didn't do any school for Brooke's birthday, per the girls request for this school year. We took the day off and did fun things. She opened her presents (which consisted of a big package of bracelet making floss, a Harry Potter cookbook, Harry Potter coloring book, and a big tub of perler beads) in the morning. Then she and her siblings played with her things for the day. We also took a little trip to hobby lobby for her to pick out a piece of fabric to buy. She chose a big piece of this really soft leopard faux fur.

That afternoon, we went to the pool as a family. Daniel met us there, and the pool was so dead, almost nobody there! It was so great. We played and went down the slides and jumped off the diving board. And when it was time to go, we stopped at the lehi bakery to pick up donuts. She didn't want a real birthday cake this year -- she wanted donuts for her cake. 😊

Her request for birthday dinner was (finally -- I've been waiting a long time) not kid food!! She wanted cream cheese salmon, cucumbers, and fruit salad. It was very yummy. I had to get right to cooking when we got home while Daniel bathed the little people. 

We ate and had donuts, and it was the perfect birthday for her. 

Catching Up On Summer

• We got swim passes to the outdoor pool for the summer, and have been going at least once a week for the past month. The kids have loved it. We've gone with friends a lot, which has been so great. It's a nice, easy way to get out of the house.
• A few weeks ago, I invited Sarah and Gina to come to a summer kids movie at the theater. It was a fun little outing and the kids loved being with their friends. I love doing these easy little things with the kids over summer. It's so easy and relatively cheap, but it makes the summer feel so special when we do things like that.
• This summer we had late nights, game nights and movie days with our friends. We had an abundance of fun! 

• We went on a fun hike with Sarah and DeAnna and kids, called the Jungle Trail. It's this short little hiking trail in the hills above Draper, and it has these stumps and forts and logs that the kids can climb on. We took Daniel there on the morning of the 4th before he went in to work, and it was just so quick and fun.

• The girls have been so good about getting all their stuff done. For their family economy charts this summer, I have them doing their getting ready routine, 10 minutes of scripture study, 10-15 minutes of piano practice, 15 minutes of math, and 20 minutes of reading, and then a zone. It sounds like a lot, but all in, it only takes about an hour and a half of their entire day. Brooke also does some writing every week. She's doing it with Makai, because Julie and I both felt like our older students could use some practice in writing. The girls have been doing so well and earning some money. The month before girls camp, I took the kids into this local party supply shop to get things for camp. Camille fell in love with this cute little journal she saw there, and she was determined to earn the money and buy that little journal herself. About a week ago, we made a date for us all to go "shopping on Main Street", as Camille said, and she was able to buy herself that cute little journal. She was thrilled, and I was thrilled with her. They sure are motivated to earn all of their money. It's fun to see them progress and be motivated to improve. 

• One day a few weeks ago, we made a date to go to the Lindon Outdoor Pool with Clarissa Rich and her kids. We waited in line to get in, paid, got everyone ready and sunscreened. We watched storm clouds rolling in, and looked apprehensively at them, and before we could even get in the pool, they closed the pool due to storm. It was so disappointing. We waited in the tunnel near the entrance for maybe half an hour before we decided to leave. The little boys were really nervous about the storm. So we left, and the Rich kids came over to play for a while to make up for the disappointment. We did end up going back to that pool (they gave us free day passes to come back) the next week, and we had a great time. Although, it was a TON more busy the day we actually got to swim. And they kept closing parts of the park on us.
  
• I had a girls movie night with DeAnna and Sarah. We've made a list of movies we need to see ... most of them ones I added; old classics and such. We watched Charade that night, and they liked it. It was fun to get together. Daniel was out of town so it was the perfect thing to distract me. 
• Daniel and I went to his company's Moonshot Festival. Their parties are always huge and so fun and expensive. They brought in food trucks and had climbing wall and other activities. The entertainment that night was Flo-Rida, which was definitely not our style, but still fun. 
• The girls and I have had a couple of girls nights. We watched The Princess Frog one night, and for another one we made bracelets while watching a show. We've been watching Just Add Magic together, which they've been LOVING. It's kind of been our thing, we watch it a couple times a week. It's cheesy and fun, and they love it. 
• The girls have been carrying on with art lessons with Tenille this summer, and loving it. They come home with the best little projects. The girls also started up piano lessons with Sarah this summer, which feels like a load off . I was trying to teach Brooke myself, and it wasn't going well. I'm glad to let someone else do it. Brooke has also been doing cheer this summer through the city, and I signed Camille up at a gymnastics studio. They're loving their current activities. 
• Brooke Camille and Jack have been doing summer camp days at the Kimball's house. Bristal has been hosting it this year, and they have the time of their lives every day they go. They love it, and it's nice for me to have some time with Sawyer, and to get some things done around the house while they're gone. 😊
• We made a summer fun list again this year, and each of us picked one of the things on the list that were "must-dos". My "must-do" was taking each of the kids on one-on-one dates. Jack and I biked to the park one Saturday morning, and then biked all the way to the maverick past our neighborhood for ice cream. I was so surprised and proud that he made it the whole way (he WAS highly motivated ... ice cream). Daniel came to pick him up, because I didn't think he could bike all the way home too. I took Brooke on a dinner date to Cubby's. We talked and ate and laughed together. She's quite a delightful person, and very fun to be with. We went to zupas to pick up a little piece of pie to share for dessert. I took Sawyer to the park one Saturday morning as well. We just walked. And we only lasted at the park about 20 minutes before we left. It was hot. We went home and had some ice cream from the freezer together. I have yet to take Camille on a date. 
• I feel like all of my kids had a bunch of birthday parties this summer. They've loved it. One party we all went to was Pepper's birthday party. The Smiths had it at an indoor jungle gym place, and it was so fun to play there together. I climbed and played around with the boys for a while, while the girls went around with their friends. 
• We went to visit Gramma Mitchell the first Sunday of July. She's been slowing down quite a lot, she can't remember things, and it's hard for her to hear. It makes for a difficult visit. But it's been a summer tradition since we moved here, to visit her and/ or take her to Silver Lake. I'm glad my kids have been able to get to know her. 
• Daniel had to work 4th of July, which was lame. But we did get to go to David's house for the annual BBQ and fireworks night. We always love it. My kids love being with their cousins, and they get so excited about the fireworks. 
• We had lunch at Daniel's office one day. Mostly we just ate snacks that they have at the office, and the little lunch that Daniel ordered in -- fries and Mac and cheese from Cubby's. It was fun to visit him at work, though. We should do it more often. 
• I ran a 5k with DeAnna and Sarah one Saturday in July. I hadn't trained much, so I wasn't expecting to run the whole thing or to do that well. Mostly, we were just running it to support Sarah in her goal of running a race. The race was in Springville, and I thought it was very well done, and a fun race. I ran most of it, though! I only walked after quite a big uphill. Sarah finished first, then me, and DeAnna sometime after. It was fun to run it with them. After the race, we chatted for a while and enjoyed the after- race things; and then we went to some cute place in Springville... can't remember the name of it. 

• Brian and Sammy had their baby at the end of June! I got to visit them in the hospital, which was so fun. I didn't even consider that I might be able to visit, if they hadn't called and invited me to. She was such a sweet tiny little baby, it was heavenly holding her. And Brian and Sammy seemed to be going well. A few weeks later, I picked up pizza and zupas for dinner and took it to eat with them at their house. Daniel joined us after work, and we had a nice visit. It was fun to invite ourselves over for dinner ... and also bring the dinner. 😄
• Brooke and Camille and Jack had been planning to do a summer show for their friends for most of the school year... at least 5 months. So we finally planned it for the 15th of July, a Friday. They made invitations and left them in all their friends mailboxes. We made some treats and some popcorn, we created a summer show playlist, and they practiced days before. Our friends came, and my kids performed their show for their friends. The friends were very supportive and cute about the whole thing, clapping and cheering for them, even though there was a good possibility that they were more than a little bored. 😆🥰
• Daniel and I had a date night at the temple. A much needed date night at the temple. Daniel has been working like crazy this summer. We were both tired and a little down in the dumps that day. It felt so nice and peaceful to be at the temple. 
• We had one exciting day with both our family water fight AND a picnic up the canyon. Two of our summer traditions in one day! It was such fun. We bought a pack of water balloons, and, unbeknownst to us, it also contained a mini slip'n'slide in it! The kids were thrilled. That and our newly acquired water table made for a more interesting water fight than years past. Sawyer and Camille both got more into this water fight than years past. And Jack basically didn't participate. I'm hoping someday he gets into it and has fun with us. Our picnic up the canyon was so great. We built a fire and roasted hotdogs and marshmallows and ate fruit. I brought my guitar and played a little. And after dinner, we played for a while by the river. A perfect summer evening. 

• DeAnna, Sarah and I took our kids to a little pond for some swimming and kayaking. It was the cutest little park, with the pond and a playground. The kids loved using the Freis kayaks, and the water felt so good on that hot day. We stayed for a few hours and left just as it stayed raining. We loved it. 

• The last week of July and first week of August we went to Medford for a visit. We left the Saturday before and drove all day. Daniel only stayed for one week, during which time he worked every day, and he flew back home on Saturday, the 30th. Our two weeks in Medford consisted of: a lot of playing with the cousins at Gramma's house and Aunt Julie's house; having dinners mostly all together out under dad's gazebo; watching Crash Landing on You with the women of the family + Roman and Ares; helping mom with her last wedding (it was 112 degrees that day, we were all miserable with the heat; but they had the wedding reception behind tea pot in wheels and it was GORGEOUS); dad and I watching all of the kids while Julie and Schpuck worked a couple of days both weeks (not easy, let me tell you... especially the last day I helped watch, because dad was sick and stayed in his room all day, so it was basically just me and 10 kids) -- we took the kids to the park a few times and to the church to play in the cultural hall once, they watched quite a lot of TV and wreaked havoc in mom and dad's house; taking the kids to a splash pad one day and to the river another day; playing games; and sitting around chatting a lot, or making good and chatting a lot. It was a really good time, and we were glad we went. It was kind of a last minute trip -- we'd not planned to go anywhere this summer, and the plan to go just sort of popped up out of almost nowhere. 

• Mom and dad were both sick towards the end of our time there, but mom agreed to drive with me and the kids back to Utah. It was such a long day, we had to stop several times more than I wanted to, and mom didn't feel well at all. 
• The week that mom and dad were here visiting, they were sick for the first half. They had come to see Brian and Sammy's family and stay close to them. But they couldn't for the first part. I got pretty sick too, and some of the kids with me. It was a slightly miserable week when we got back. We didn't do many fun things. The kids loved the time they got to spend with Gramma and Grampa. And we did go to Ava and Bowen's blessings. We also had a picnic at a park with a splash pad with Brian and Scott's families and Gramma and Grampa. And we also met up with them at the BYU creamery for lunch one day and spent the rest of the day hanging out with them. Daniel went shooting with the men that day. So when though we were somewhat sick for a lot of that week, we still got to spend some good time with family. 

• Gramma Mitchell passed away while we were in Medford. Daniel really struggled dealing with family and things afterwards when he was home without us for that week. Her funeral was the day after we got back, and it was a really nice day. We got to be with a lot of family, and meet family we didn't know. The funeral was long (too long for the boys), but so good. Bowman got up and talked about the things he and the other grandkids remember about her, and it was so sweet and fun and funny. 
• The kids went to a week long summer camp that first week of August while Gramma and Grampa were here at Mary Jane's house. She held a 5 day summer camp, each afternoon for 3 hours. The kids came back having playing new games and learned new songs, and they came back with new books almost every day. They loved it and it was quite nice for me to have a few hours of quiet while they were gone. I was quite unhappy that I spent most of that time sick, and that mom and dad were here. Not that I don't enjoy them; but I had been looking forward to some solitude and the opportunity to get some things done around the house without people. Aw, well. Things don't always go how you want them to. 
• Brooke had her last cheer class on Monday the 8th, and she performed their cheer dance for the last 20 minutes of class. It was so cute and fun. 

• That week after getting back from Medford, when we were sick and Gramma and Grampa were staying with us for half of it, was our last week of summer. Such a bummer way to end summer! I had hoped to be able to do more fun things as a last hurrah before we started school. I was also not prepared in the least to say goodbye to summer. I was fully prepared to start school, and my kids were all really excited, actually, to be starting school. And I was too, in all honesty. But I just wanted a little more fun time, and free time with my kids. There were a lot of things we didn't get done on our summer bucket list. But I figure we still have a few more weeks of hot summer weather for us to get more things from our list done. 🙂

Family home evening picnic at a new park

Camille's creation of Laura Ingalls Wilder's house