Joseph

We had the pleasure of seeing Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat this week at the Eccles Theater.  It was so amazing and always one of my favorite plays to see!  Chad was in town and we dragged him along with us which was a treat.  Mom and Dad hilariously couldn't find the middle balcony where Hayley was sitting and kept ending up either one balcony above or below her.  We just sat and watched from our seats across the way and laughed!  Such a fun night out together!

 

Updates from 3rd Grade

Mrs. Millett is so cute and posts lots of pictures from her 3rd grade classroom.  Here's a small update on what they've been doing in their class so far!

 

Mountain Biking

The boys had their last mountain bike race this weekend and we were lucky that it was right here in our neck of the woods at Butterfield Canyon.  They have had a really fun season and we've seen so much growth in both of them!  The team and community have been so fun to be a part of.

Liev did it again and took the podium with 5th place this time!  I'm not sure where that kick comes from, but he seems to have it just at the right times and can really push hard during the races!  So proud of both of them and what they've accomplished this season.

 

Cross Country

Cross Country continues to roll on as the season goes and Rhen is still doing awesome!  She loves to practice with all her besties and has grown used to running 30-40 miles a week.  She is having a blast and continues to improve every week! We love watching her do her thing!

 

Creed concert

Rease and Rhen got me tickets to the Creed concert for Christmas.  All these months later, we finally got to go see them and it was AMAZING! Our girls have grown up with 90s music as a staple in their lives so they knew every song and were just as excited to go as we were.  It was a beautiful night to sit out and enjoy the concert and people watch like crazy - it's so good at places like this!  What a fun night we had together listening to one of my favorite bands of all time!

 

Scones and Pickleball

Chalks won our annual Labor Day pickleball tournament!  They took the pickle platter from Tayson and Burkeley and now reign as champions until next year!

 

August in the rearview

Just finishing up August on a good note!

- Trail running is the best in August - warm mornings and beautiful views

- A broken dishwasher is always the pits

- When you ask your 8 year old to clean out the cupboard...

- Yard care at Aunt Hayley's house

- Feeding 90 band kids looks like this whole roaster full of chicken!

What a month!

 

US Open

Josh and I have always wanted to go to the US Open in New York but have never been able to make it happen.  It always falls right around the time that school starts and is tucked right in between that and Labor Day.  So we've always been busy or had something else going on that we couldn't make it out.  But this year we decided to do it and make it work!  I'm so glad we did!  We had THE BEST week in New York and loved being at the tournament for a couple days of it.  It was so fun to be there in the place we've seen on tv all these years and be able to be a part of it.  We loved just wandering around to different matches, watching the practice courts, eating good food and just being together.  The weather was perfect (warm and overcast) and we couldn't have asked for two better days to be there!  

Chad and Graham joined us one of the days and it was fun to spend the day with them.  We watched an epic 5 hour match at Arthur Ashe between two Americans - Tiafoe vs. Fritz.  It was awesome and such a thrilling match to be there for!  We also met up with our friend Mike McCarlie just as we were leaving the park one night and he was headed in for the night session.  What a fun time we had watching tennis at this amazing campus!

We spent one day in New York City and did all the touristy stuff.  Josh has never been, so we walked around seeing and eating everything in our path!  The cro-nuts were to die for, the bagels were delicious and we almost died when we ate the banana cream custard.  After we were full enough, we continued on our journey through the city.  We stopped at St. Anthony's church where Hamilton was buried, saw the One trade center and the memory pools, Rockefeller plaza and radio city music hall and all the way up to Central Park.  Such a fun walk through the city and seeing lots of new things!

That night we had tickets to see MJ the musical on Broadway and it was INCREDIBLE! So much talent on that stage and we didn't want it to end. We enjoyed every single minute of the show and felt so lucky to be able to see it!

We had such a fun trip together and packed so many things into just a few days.  Hopefully we'll be back again soon!

 

Family Pictures

 

1st day of school

The first day of school is here and the kids were excited to get back to it!  Summertime is ALWAYS great, but nothing beats a good routine and more sleep!  This year is going to be a good one I just know it.  

Rease is starting her senior year :( 

(I have no idea how we got here!)

Rhen 10th grade.  Both of them are at Mountain Ridge High School and so excited to be there together!

Liev is an 8th grader and Keen is starting 7th grade.  Two middle school boys for us at Fort Herriman Middle School this year.  Help them! Middle school is not always the easiest.

Beck and Desh are holding down the fort at Butterfield Canyon Elementary.  We not done with elementary kids yet and I'm so happy about that!  

Beck is in 5th grade and Desh is in 3rd.  

What a year we have to look forward to!

 

Mountain Biking

Keen and Liev joined the junior high mountain bike team this year and have been practicing as a team most of the summer.  This is really new to them but they have learned to really love it!  There are quite a few boys in the neighborhood that ride so they have a great group to practice with.  They had their first couple of races this month and both did great.  Keen has come a long way and has gotten over some of his fears of mountain biking.  He loves to go fast and does a great job on the hills which are not always easy!  So proud of him and trying and learning something new!

Liev has also gotten to really love being on the team.  And without us even knowing it, he has a natural talent for mountain biking.  He likes going to practice and I know he works hard at is, but I didn't know the competitive drive that fueled this boy until we saw him race for the first time.  We were on the course watching and waiting for the first riders to come by and before we knew it, there he was in fifth place!  He rode hard and finished strong and got to be on the podium as a 5th place finisher in his division!  The coaches were as surprised as we were to see him finish like he did!  What a day for this boy and so fun to see some hard work pay off.  

 

Keen's Birthday

Keen turned 12 and officially seems like a grown up kid now.  What happened this year that most of my kids outgrew me?  Love this boy and his energy!

12 year old stats from Dr. Erickson:

Height: 5'7" - 99%

Weight: 113 lbs - 85%

My favorite things about Keen at 12 years old:

1 - Keen has a lot of energy in that tall skinny body of his!  He's constantly moving, jumping, hitting, teasing, laughing, playing or has his eyes on anything with a screen.  He can't sit still long enough to finish a movie before he's off to the next thing.  He's busy, busy, busy and then crashes when bedtime comes.  That boy needs to sleep when he can and he sleeps hard and deep.  Lots of energy running through his blood and he keeps us all on his toes!

2 - Keen loves football.  He loves playing it with friends, flies up is a favorite with his brothers and his newest obsession is fantasy football with a group of boys from school.  He knows almost every player in the NFL and can spout off stats from most teams at the drop of a hat.  If he had his wish he would play football everyday!  Love him and his passion!

3 - Keen is sweet as can be when the time is right - usually that's in quiet moments at home or when he's talking with a stranger in the grocery store.  He's polite and kind and, when he really wants to be, he's helpful at home and one of my sweetest kids.  Sometimes the sweetness gets lost in the craziness, but I always know it's in there!

Happy Birthday Keen Gregory!  Love you to death!

 

Cross country

Rhen is starting something new to her and is super excited about it!  She joined the cross country team with a bunch of her track friends she made last year and they have been practicing and working hard all summer.  They've had 7:00 am practices going every day since June but now the official season and the meets have started.  She has really loved this which is a little bit of a surprise to me.  She has never wanted to run much, despite my best efforts to get her to run a short race or two with me.  But this year it got into her blood and she loves it!  She has a great group of friends, fun coaches and she was the athlete of the month for August!  She has improved her time at each meet and feels a lot of good momentum heading into the season which is so awesome.  So proud of her and all her hard work!

 

Marching Band

Rease's senior year of marching band is officially starting!  They had band camp the first 2 weeks of the month and are in full swing with their show and getting it ready.  She has loved marching band for a lot of years and it has been such a big and important part of her life.  We feel really lucky to be a part of this group that brings out so much good in these kids!  So excited to see how this season goes!

 

Raspberry Jam

We had a raspberry picking day out at my Aunt Leanne's house in Tooele this week.  She has a pretty amazing raspberry patch and we are lucky to be able to reap what she has sown! I took some of the boys with me and we got a lot done in a short amount of time on a beautiful August morning.  When we got home, I grabbed the other boys to help me make the raspberries into jam with me.  It was so fun and we LOVE raspberry jam the very most.  We're so happy to have our shelf full of jam again.  

 

It's a wrap July!

Another month in the books and what a month it was! Wow how we love summer around here! The weather has been fantastic, the friends, the late nights, smores, movies, no schedules, all of it...We love it all! Here's what the rest of our month brought:

7-11 slurpee day!

Buzz and bleach for Liev

A new niece - Baby Tess is so darling

Running wound

A trip to the chiropractor

And weird selfies

 

Camping trip

We took a camping trip with Chalks, Flints and Hammers this weekend and had so much fun fishing, playing games, paddleboarding and hanging out with friends! We love our annual camping trip together!

 

Boat Week 2024

Our favorite week of the summer is here!  We were able to rent a boat for a few days and spent some time at Deer Creek which is my happy place!  We had amazing weather and perfect water.  We got up early and on the lake before most others are even awake which is the way to find the best water of the day.  Josh, Rease, Rhen and Liev all slalom skied right off the bat and everyone did amazing.  I'm so impressed with Liev especially getting up on the ski almost his first try!  It's incredible what a little testosterone in a kids body can do for his muscles and abilities! Rhen and Rease are both excellent skiers as well and it's always fun to watch them out there.

Keen loves to wakeboard and got up right away and out of the wake.  He's making so much progress with his skills too!  Beck and Desh used the double skis and both got up on their own.  This is the first year Desh has been able to get up on his own and he was so proud! 

It's one of my favorite things as a mom to watch my kids to things that they love and excel at!  It makes my heart full!

The boat we rented included a banana boat with it and OH MY GOSH was it fun!  I remember riding these as a kid but haven't for so many years.  We had a BLAST on that thing and the kids loved bouncing off the back of it with every bump we hit.  Wow so fun!

By the end of the days, the kneeboards are always the go-to.  Rease, Rhen, Liev and Keen did doubles on doubles knee boarding.  It was lots of trial and error, but eventually they got to stand up on the back of both boards with another rider on both of them.  They're so funny!

Liev took charge of the rope and became second mate to Josh this week.  We had the most beautiful days on the lake - so picturesque!

We feel so lucky to have this time together as a family and the chance to keep our traditions going.  It's something we look forward to all year long and we had an amazing week on the lake together! Lots of Love of this family of mine!

 

Weekend at the cabin

We spent the weekend at the cabin and love being able to be there for a few days at a time!  While we were there we booked a last minute tour around BYU and rode a golf cart to all the athletic facilities on campus.  It was so fun to see it all and be inside some of the places we haven't been to.  Of course we had to stop at the bookstore and get our football shirts and a sucker for the road!

Rhen, Josh and I took a run down the canyon one morning and got back to find the rest of the kids in the river outside.  The cold water didn't stop them from building a dam so they had a swimming hole to soak in.

One night we invited the Preece's to come up for dinner and games.  We spent some time at the park playing pickleball, tennis and ultimate frisbee which was so fun! The boys took Tayson on skateboard rides and the big kids gathered on the hammock for "talk time." 

The best part of the whole day was when the kids all challenged each other to a "river soak" to see who could last the longest!  Some didn't make it more than a few seconds (Liev and Desh), others lasted a few minutes (Ashlynn, Rhen and Madi).  Rease and Carson showed everyone up and stayed in over 5 minutes when we finally decided to pull them out so they didn't get hypothermia!  

We had such a fun night with them and are so grateful for good friends that we're surrounded with!

 

July with the Young Women

During the summer we have been doing a lot of combined activities with the young women with so many people coming and going.  For July we decided to learn so outdoor skills so we gathered together to learn how to chop wood and light a fire.  Brother Sorensen taught us and each of the girls had a chance to chop wood if they wanted to.  It ended up being such a fun activity and such a beautiful night in Sister Birchenough's yard!  Summertime is the best!

 

The cabin water project

We discovered that there was a problem with the water at the cabin when we tried to turn it on after the winter.  No water was getting into the house at all and didn't know why.  Dad and Josh decided to figure it out themselves and try to get it fixed.  It turned out to be a bigger project than they thought and they had to to dig out a big cavern on the side and underneath the cabin to finally find the problem.  There was an old pipe that had been melted from the warming tape that was put on it last year and it had broken all the way through.  Once they found the problem, they got a new section of pipe and put that in before covering it back up and placing a new box for the water outlets.  It was a project that took them a few weeks but they got done with it just in time for us to enjoy it for the summer!  Thanks for getting us all squared away!

 

Beck's 10th birthday

Beck's birthday has been drawn out for a couple weeks since we were in Connecticut on his actual birthday.  There's nothing wrong with celebrating birthdays for weeks at a time!

We had a party a few days after we got back and al he wanted to do was play nintendo with a group of friends so that was fun and easy!  We loved spoiling him for the day and are SO happy that he's 10!

10 year old stats from Dr. Erickson:

Height: 5'1" - 98%

Weight: 97 lbs - 92%

My favorite things about 10 year old Beck:

1 - Beck has always been super sweet.  Although 9-10 years olds aren't typically always kind and thoughtful, this boy finds a way to be.  He never shies away from saying I Love You or telling me he likes what I'm wearing.  He is thoughtful from the heart and I appreciate this side of him more than he knows! This boy loves his mama!

2- Beck is SUPER smart.  He's thoughtful about his schoolwork and is always analyzing everything that's going on around him.  He always has an answer to whatever question comes up and is top in his class in reading and math.  He has a bright future ahead of him with those big brains!  

3 - Beck is passionate! He LOVES the 49ers, BYU and the Warriors and HATES to see them lose!  He has some great passion inside that little body and just wants things to be right in the world - so when they're not, it's not easy to reign in the emotions.  I love that about him though and know it's going to be a great quality for him in his life!  Passion is a good thing and I hope he keeps it forever!

Love you so much my boy!

Happy 10th birthday!

 

Our trip to Connecticut

We had the chance to go visit Chad, Britt and family in Connecticut and we've been so excited for it!  It's been a long time since we've been back to visit them as a family so we were really looking forward to it.  We found some pretty cheap flights on Spirit airlines, so we packed tiny suitcases and off we went.  We got there on the 4th of July afternoon and had a fun firework show that night at their house.  They live in the woods in Connecticut in this beautiful spot called Guilford.  We loved it instantly and were so happy to be there with them!

Britt took Rhen and I on a run the next morning down to the beach.  It was close - about a mile or two away and it was so beautiful along the coast!

The kids LOVED being with cousins and just wanted to hang out with them doing whatever.  They have a great pool and hot tub that we spent lots of time in.  The boys played lots of soccer, hockey, football and anything else they could figure out to do.  Beck helped us out with breakfast - German pancakes of course.  And Britt was dog-sitting another dog named Miko while we were there.  He was a silly little dog with a high maintenance hair plan.  The kids thought he was amazing but I just couldn't get over the grooming that he needed.

Chad took us on a tour of Yale which was so awesome! The campus is pretty amazing and has such a great history to it.  I loved being there and seeing everything on the campus!

We also visited the temple, went to a baseball game with a firework show, made homemade pizzas and celebrated Beck's birthday while we were there! What a place to celebrate - surrounded by all the cousins!

Rhen and I ran every morning and fell in love with the woods and the greenery surrounding us.  It was a beautiful, peaceful time to explore and I was glad to have her with me!

We didn't want to say goodbye to the fun and the family! When it was time to go, we left reluctantly. It was so fun for us to be there and be a part of their Connecticut world.  What a beautiful spot to land!

We flew in and out of Newark, so on our way home we made a stop in New York for just a few hours.  We rode the ferry out to the statue of liberty and walked around the island there.  It was a beautiful clear day and we loved looking across to the New York on the other side of the water.  We ate some New York pizza and then settled into our hotel for our early morning flight the next day.  

What a fun trip we had and we're so grateful to see a new part of the country that we've never been to!