It's Fall!

Fall is flying by this year! We definitely enjoyed the warm weather that lasted well into October. Travis took Jaxon on his one on one activity- he chose to go camping, again.

 He takes his calling as deacons president very seriously. He plans and prepares activities well in advance and he's always happy to get up early for a service activity.

Over fall break the kids were able to spend time with Zyanya. She's played at our house every week ever since she was in kindergarten. The kids adore her.

This was taken not long after a check up. Ivy asked Talmage to breathe in deep and he did not disappoint. He complied for the four different areas (each lung, front and back, just like the doctor did).

The kids always love fall festival!

Sunday morning general conference breakfast at Mamie and Papa's...

And doing the usual awesome stuff at school.

Hiking Mt. Timpanogos

 Travis got to hike Mt. Timp this month with his counselors (Hno. Lopez and Hno. Romero) and a few other members of the ward who wanted to try it out. They went up the Aspen Grove side, which is not for the faint of heart! He's hiked the trail before, but from the other side (where most people start). And it's been decades, ha, ha. But he was certain he could do it. And he did! Albeit a little sore for the next few days...

They met up at 4:00 am.

We are so grateful- incredibly grateful- that Travis has had the same counselors since he became bishop three and a half years ago. In a ward like ours with such high turnover, that's EXTREMELY rare. He was definitely inspired to call them as his counselors. They are so wonderful and supportive of him in his calling.

What about Talmage?

Goodness, all this talking about everyone else but Talmage. Poor little guy. He's having some mixed feeling about being the only one at home during the day. Obviously, he misses his siblings like crazy. Every afternoon, it's like a party once they get home from school. He lights up and immediately vies for their attention. They're pretty good about spending time with him after school.

But, one positive aspect of being the only one is that you can choose where you want to go, and you get more one on one time with mom. One of his favorite requests is going to BYU. This is in the bookstore.

Other times he's in the mood for the park.

We like playing with blocks...

Going to Mamie's to pick raspberries or grapes, or just to play with cousins...

And we signed up for a tumbling class at the rec center. He really enjoys it.

He even got to help Travis install a new car battery the other day.

He's usually pretty tuckered out by the end of the day.

Ivy Turns 5

 Our little Ivy-divey turned 5 last week! 

She was able to celebrate it with her class, and after school we had hamburgers and fries. She really wanted fish, but Travis and Jaxon were at a special mutual activity so we saved her special dinner and dessert for the next day. But Travis did make her special birthday pancakes that birthday morning to make up for it.

We still celebrated with ice cream cones and Violet and Ginger gave her some fun presents they made themselves.

The next day we had Jello for dessert. Yes, she picked Jello. Out of all the desserts. But, it's her day, so her way! Oh, it looks like Jaxon thought it was a special enough occasion to don his tea light candles.

We love our Ivy. She is so full of spunk and is a good friend to everyone. As a gift to her, her teacher collected quotes from all her classmates about what they liked about Ivy. One boy in particular said, "I like Ivy because her face is so beautiful it made my brain explode!" It made us laugh so hard. We love you so much, Ivy!

This was her birthday activity with Daddy:

Jaxon Turns 13!

We have a teenager on board! Well, let's face it, in many ways, Jaxon's been acting like a teenager since he was 5, so now it's just official.

Here he is, opening his gift of 50 tea light candles, specifically requested from his Amazon wish list. Why would he want 50 tea light candles, you ask? Because it's Jaxon. We've stopped asking these kind of questions a long time ago, so you should probably stop, too.

We've really seen a change in Jaxon over this summer. I kind of feel like he's maturing a little bit, which, is welcome. I could even welcome a little more of it! jk. He really cares about his classes- his favorites probably being STEM, Latinos en Accion, and Chinese. Travis took him to back to school night and when his LIA teacher asked which class he had her for, they said Latinos en Accion. She almost didn't believe him and casually asked to see his schedule to make sure, ha, ha. Yup, he very much wanted to be in LIA. He's the kind of kid who is indifferent about a lot of things, but if he sees something he wants he definitely goes for it. We're proud of you, Jaxon!

First Day of School 2024

We have a middle schooler! Jaxon was excited to start 7th grade. He even woke up on time and showered without anyone coaxing him. This is the first time we've had a bus rider! So far, middle school has really clicked with him. He doesn't complain about homework at all- he gets right to it after school. He's constantly checking his grades, too. I think he was ready for this a long time ago. I'm actually really proud of him- he took a BYU Independent Study class over the summer to free up space in his schedule. He says he's really glad he did that and wants to do it again next summer.

Violet is so happy to be a fifth grader. She's mostly excited to be in the same class with her good friend Emma, so they can finally be on the same Battle of the Books team, instead of always competing against each other from different classes!

Ginger is ready for 2nd grade! She loves her English and Chinese teacher and is ready to learn even more Chinese and see her friends again.

And, yes, Ivy started full day kindergarten! She was super excited! We let her decide if she wanted to do full or half day, and it was an easy choice for her. She absolutely loves her teacher and classmates.

We just switched out Jaxon for Ivy in our Wasatch photo!

Summer at its End

 The day before school started, I took the kids to Provo Beach Resort for a summer finale party. Ginger was bummed she could do the ropes course (she accidently wore sandals), so I took the three to buy an ice cream while Jaxon and Violet had fun looking down on everyone.

We've enjoyed playing at Mamie's every week with cousins. It's always a fun highlight of our summers. Violet and Laykin are mailing letters to each other every week now. Like in the "olden days". Violet checks the mailbox every day after we get home from school.

It's fun to see these kids grow up together.

Travis took Talmage on his birthday activity- he wanted to go camping.

It was probably a good thing Ginger was wearing a helmet.

This is what I love seeing the most. Just kicking back, doing nothing but chatting with each other and eating popsicles.

We went to Payson Lakes for the 24th- it was a lot of fun. The kids liked jumping off the pier.

We even caught a fish-before Travis realized he forgot his pliers. So one and done. They ate it, too.

The three older kids loved their climbing classes this summer, I think they learned a lot! Maybe this will have to be a repeat Christmas experience gift.

It was a quick, but great summer. At the end of every summer I look back and wonder if I made it fun for my kids. But then I think of this picture, and think, "Yeah, this is what I want them to remember."