August 2022

August is always a different month.  As soon as it hits, there is a panic to fit everything summer related into our days, a panic to get school supplies, clothes, etc. to be ready and then school starts and we're back on a schedule and afternoons are always crazy busy.

So we started off August with the Highland Parade.  Only Aria, Jaron and I went. Siena hurt her leg, pulled a groin muscle the day before and refused to walk on it.  It kept spasming and it looked really painful.  Luckily it only lasted a little over a day and then a couple days of being careful on it so we knew she couldn't get to the parade.  Aria and Jaron got enough candy though for all of us and it's always a fun morning at our local city parade.

The Girls took the first step of getting braces by getting expanders put in.  When they first got them they thought they were going to drown in their spit as it took a little while to figure out how to swallow, etc.  But after that it hasn't been too bad.  We had to adjust it every night for 4 weeks and luckily it didn't bother them too much.  They have to keep it in for 6 months and then they'll look to see if any teeth need to get pulled and then either get braces or invisalign.

Jaron had his 2nd Soccer tournament of the summer, the Utah Cup.  It was in Orem again and they played good but unfortunately lost in the semi-finals.

Siena and Aria had 2 dog watching gigs this summer. The Arnetts across the street and The Daniels dogs.  They love to do it and it's easy money.  Aria in particular loves to watch the dogs and would sometimes bring the dogs over to our house so they could just hang out in the yard.

We had to get an updated picture of the JLO's for their birthdays.  Can't believe these boys are 9!

First day of school for Siena and Aria at Ridgeline.  They are both in Mrs. Leimer's class this year and she seems super nice and fun so I think it's going to be a great year.

Jaron started at a new school this year.  Kind of a long story but last February, Jaron's teach Ms. Hutchinson emailed me on a Sunday night saying they were testing for the gifted program and she was shocked I hadn't signed Jaron up to get tested.  So not knowing much about it, I signed him up and told him just to do his best and we'll see what happens.  Well April rolled around and we got his results back and he did really really well.  Well enough that he was accepted into the A.L.L.(Advanced Learning Lab) program. In order to be in the program he would need to switch schools where the class is being offered.  It was such a hard decision but Jaron has been so bored at school  He likes school but is always complaining about how easy it is and how bored he is.  So ultimately although he was going to miss his friends he really wanted to do the program.  So now he goes to Westfield Elementary.  The first day he came got in the car and said 'Mom, the best part of the day was that we actually did work instead of just learning rules all day,'  Then that Friday he got in the car and said 'We don't have homework this weekend but we might start having it because we voted if we wanted homework on the weekend and most everyone including me voted to have weekend homework.'  Right then I knew we had made the right decision.  He knew one boy, Logan and one girl, Isabelle that also came over from Ridgeline.  He had his friend Sam from his soccer team last year in his class and has already made some other friends.  So we are very happy with the change. 

We tried to go to the zoo before school started but Jaron was sick and the girls were dog sitting so we ended up going the Saturday after school started.  We had free passes and I didn't want to forget to use them before it got too cold to go.  It was a fun morning but I think the highlight was the dog show for us this time around.

We grew our own pumpkins again this year.  Instead of just doing orange ones we tried white pumpkins this year as well.  They grew so much and we ran out of room so we kept piling the vines on top of each other and then we got a whole bunch of rain in August.  Like every night for weeks it rained.  Soon we found that the pumpkin vines got some fungus on them and were making the pumpkins rot.  So we had to harvest them early and some of the pumpkins that would've grown bigger we had to throw away but we were able to save these ones.  We are keeping them in our cold storage until October.

And just like that we're in school and going to piano, violin, soccer, basketball, horse lessons and activity days.  Every day there is something going on and I love to watch my kids do what they love and are good at.

July 2022

We had a fun 4th of July weekend.  We met up with family at the Riverton Fireworks.  They were such good fireworks and we were right underneath them.  It was fun to just hang out, listen to music and relax.  On the actual 4th we took the kids to see the new Minions movie.  That night we watched fireworks on our deck which we had never done before but it was actually kind of fun watching the valley light up all over the place.  And it was nice not going anywhere and fighting crowds for one night.

The next day we went down to Mt Pleasant with my entire family for 3 days and 2 nights.  We got this campsite reserved to ourselves and it was so fun.  We had a huge pavilion, fire pit, lake, grass area and each family got their own little cabin.  We played a lot of corn hole, kayaking, jumping off the diving platform and had so much fun.  I volunteered to be in charge of the food so it was kind of busy doing that but it wasn't too bad and everything turned out great.  I love how well we all get along as a family.

As soon as we got back from Mt Pleasant Jaron had his first soccer tournament, The Surf Invitational.  All the games were in Orem and it was so hot.  He played 4 games in less than 48 hours and ended up going to the finals but they lost in the finals.  He was still excited to be part of a tournament and he still got a medal so all was good.  

That night after the soccer final, I took the girls to the Draper Rodeo with Jennifer.  They love the rodeo and I love that they dress up for the rodeo and looked so cute.  It ended up being a little cloudy so it wasn't as hot as we had thought it was going to be.  Rodeos are always so fun.

I took the kids to the Tracy Aviary.  We hadn't been for a few years and it was raining the morning we decided to go but we still went.  It poured on the way there but only rained for about 20 minutes after we got there so it was a nice morning.  We felt so lucky because they hadn't been having their bird show since Covid and the day we got there they were doing dress rehearsals for their first bird show since Covid.  They were only letting a few people in as to not scare the birds and we were lucky to get front row seats.  We all got to participate during different parts of the show and Aria even got to hold a new bird to the show, a burrowing owl.  It was a fun morning.

The kids always beg to do Lemonade stands and I let them do one a summer.  So Sunday we baked all the goods and got everything ready and Monday was their annual lemonade stand.  Grandma and Grandpa were their biggest customers but they ended up selling out of most of their stuff and always have a fun time selling and making some money.

One thing I don't have a picture of but has taken up the most time this summer is the kids bought themselves a Nintendo Switch.  They've been wanting a gaming system for a long time and we've always said no but we finally gave in along with some rules and limits.  One thing was they bought the system themselves.  And they bought the extra remotes and the games they wanted.  So I was glad they could earn money and spend it on something they really wanted.

7-11 free slurpee day finally came back this year since covid.  It's always fun to do something again after having a 2 year break and this was a fun little activity.  We also took the kids to Lucky's, another sno cone place and they serve the hugest sno cones! This was the kids size!

Part of the kids summer to do list was to sleep on the balcony one night.   So they did it.  They were so excited getting everything set up and ready.  I didn't think they would last night and they did come in early in the morning but they all slept out there most the night and had a fun time.

I don't document this very often but we checked the twins to see who was taller.  Aria has been taller for the last little while but it looks like Siena and passed her up for now.  They seem to go back and forth, I guess it depends on who is on a growing streak.  We'll see how it ends up in the long run.

We had our annual 24th of July ward breakfast and the kids still like participating in the bike parade so of course I have to capture a picture each year.

I've always wanted to hike Stewart Falls and never have so we decided to do it this year.  It's actually a pretty long hike, 2 miles each way but the falls were very pretty and I was glad we did it.  Aria and Jaron got all wet standing so close to it and Siena, who is very vocal about her dislike of hiking did pretty well despite the complaining.

Here's a quick picture to show you one of the reason I love where we live.  Shane and I were on a night walk and saw and heard this owl.  It flew to the top of 3 houses and it was so pretty to watch.

After the fun time we had on the kayaks at Mt Pleasant, Shane searched on KSL and found a great deal on 2 kayaks for sale and so we got them.  The kids have fun on them and they're small enough they fit into our van to transport.  This was at the small Highland Glen lake right by Lone Peak HS.

And that wraps up a busy July month for us.  It was also Jaron's birthday but that will be it's own post.

Jaron turns 9!

Jaron turned 9 this year!  Jaron is really living his best life right now.  He gets his morning chores, piano, reading, etc. done and then is off to find friends to play with.  We often don't see him for the rest of the day until I track him down and tell him to come home and eat dinner.  He has lots of friends in the neighborhood.  He still spends most of the time with his friend Graham.  He's also spent a lot of time with Parker, Aiden and Lincoln.

His true love though is still soccer.  He gets sad if his practices get cancelled, always looking for someone to play with him.  His favorite thing to do with me is play penalty kicks.  This is where we take a rubber ball (like the cheap ones from walmart) and I throw it at him as hard as I can and he tries to block it.  If it's not that we're bouncing it back and forth to each other seeing how many times we can go back and forth without it dropping, or just playing catch.  He loves those balls and is constantly kicking it around.

For his birthday we hung out in the morning playing with his new soccer goal and his friend Graham came over for a while.  That afternoon we went bowling and to Pizza Pie Cafe for dinner.  We were going to go kayaking with the new kayaks we had gotten but a storm blew in and so we just came home and watched a movie and went kayaking the next day.

On Sunday we celebrated all the July birthdays at Grandma and Grandpa's house as is tradition.

The following Monday we had his birthday party.  This year we decided to just take a few friends and go to Splash Summit for the afternoon.  He took, Graham, Lincoln and Aiden and it was such a fun afternoon. Then we stopped by In-N-Out for dinner.  Low key compared to other years but it was fun and the boys all had a great time.

Jaron is such a sweetheart most of the time.  He loves to snuggle with me, will do things I ask him to do and is very obedient.  He does have a hard time being the youngest and the only boy so he does get frustrated pretty easily when things don't go his way but overall he is a happy, good kid who tries his best in everything he does.

We love you Jaron!