Sky, Soccer, School

These pictures probably look kind of unremarkable considering I'm too lazy to actually walk outside to avoid the glare of inside lights, but I was obsessed last year (this year) with taking pictures of the gorgeous sunrises and sunsets and the clouds.

There are no clouds in California.

Once, there was a day with a bunch and I probably saw 10 people post a picture of the clouds in the sky on social media because it was so epic!

Plus the mountains are so colorful in the fall.

It helps that my parents have a perfect view of the mountain sunrises and lake mountain sunsets. 

Continuing with soccer documentation 

Macey:

I coached Mackayla's team this year.

They were adorable, and I mostly loved that we didn't have to be responsible for an extra practice during the week, just a half hour before the games!

 Cody's team killed it this season. No other team even really came close to winning.

One thing I love about soccer is you can immediately pick out which players gravitate towards defense, and which ones gravitate to offense. Good coaches can watch for strengths and play those players in the most advantageous positions. But let's be real, this is AYSO so everyone gets a turn everywhere:) I would say Cody shines in offense, Macey loves defense, and Mackayla would be a great midfielder if she can get her cardio polished up.

All in all, I don't care what sport my kids play. I just understand soccer. But I just think it's important that they do something to move and get exercise!

Apparently I wanted to document the agonizingly slow growth of my ax-split nails.

I am in young women's in our ward with the beehives and I love it. The youth in this ward are confident, and have strong testimonies. It was interesting to watch them blossom this year. Beehives do a lot of growing up in just two years!

It was also sad to watch social media addiction literally zap the happiness from one of the young women. It was kind of a sharp decline from the time I was called to the time we moved and I was sad to see her so sad. 

Bonnie and Jeff redid their upstairs and had a decorator design it. It's beautiful (and still in the stages of completion here).

Burton had a carnival and we went over to support them one night. They had a darling petting zoo area. I saw one of Ben's friends from high school that he was on seminary council with and talked to her for a little bit while we waited in line. She really blossomed after high school and appeared happy. She was divorced and was single-momming it with four kids at Burton Elementary.

About a year later, she commit suicide. It was so eye-opening to know that someone I just assumed was happy (according to our conversation) and finding success despite trials was so not okay.

 This is how I like to roll in cold weather.

 My sister kept buying me new clothes when I would watch her aging Dougie dog. I definitely got the better end of the deal, he was relatively easy (except for his incontinence:)) He passed away a little while ago and it was a sad loss for my sister:( We miss Dougie! 

 My parents sent me flowers for my birthday:)

Sabbatical Break:) End of September Compilation

So, I'm going to go ahead and date this in September of 2017, but it is for sure written a year later. So all of this will be slightly incorrect because I might not remember it right. :) But, I had dusted off our old book made from our blog this week and Ben and I decided this is how we want to document the story of our family. So I feel like it's going to be worth the time.
I've also been thinking about it and I'm always tempted to share everything on this blog because it's a place I can share my feelings without anyone interrupting and where I can lay it all out coherently and have the last word:) ha! BUT this isn't the place I will be doing that completely: I want it to be uplifting and full of good memories, so anything we're struggling with or not great at might be mentioned and might just be deleted out. This is the place for the good stuff.

Starting where I left off.

Ben out of the blue pulled out these awesome handy skills. Our rotors needed to be changed, and we had done it before on our last van, so we knew it wasn't cheap.

He bought the parts and did it himself with the good help of youtube.

{I'm really missing emojis. This is where I would stick a high five.}

 Mackayla (age barely 6) colored this BYU magazine cover all by herself just for fun, but it was part of a competition for BYU alumni, and I entered it. They featured her coloring page on their website!

 Apple season in Utah was especially exciting because - there were apples!

I remember a neighbor in California once telling me they drove 3 hours to a farm so they could pick apples in the fall. It seemed bizarre to me because I grew up with apples in my backyard, but man did I miss them while I was there!

Dried apples, applesauce, and apple pie are my faves.

Sometimes I find things like this and remember that I'm kind of a brat, but it is a little funny.

Cody played flag football and had a blast. 

His coach was such a kind, nice guy, even if his pants drooped. He loved the season, it was actually his first time playing officially in a city league. He played all the time at the park in Cali.

We went to Lagoon after Cody's game.

 It was cool but not bad at all. We met up with Amy.

I'm not going to lie, for as easy as it was to get there and the lack of crowds, it was worth every penny. I love the roller coasters!! So does Cody. Macey is so not a fan, but she has never loved that dropping feeling. She was pretty brave and went on the white rollercoaster right at the beginning. Her hat flew off and she hated the ride, but at least she tried it!

 Macey and I got to go to our first women's conference together. We went with Bonnie, Jessi, Amy, and Blake and went to a restaurant after. Macey took adorable notes. 

Chloe Everleigh is the most adorable child. She was over at our house pretty much every morning of kindergarten. It worked well because both of her parents worked and Mackayla was bored.

I would do her hair and occasionally feed her lunch.

She is delightful and I miss her.

We went and decorated donuts one morning while the other two kids were at school.

 

Meanwhile my parents are still on their mission and having so much success. Their intense work ethic and endless energy has them finding so many ways to serve and help people.

Derrick was one of their neighbors that they became great friends with. He is Hawaiian and has a cute personality.

He ended up choosing to get baptized. My parents had me order some scriptures with his name engraved on them for his baptism day and I had my kids send him their testimonies with it. He wrote them a cute note back.

 One of the benefits of living at my parents house was their garden, and the close proximity to this cute girl, Oakley. We got to know her much better this last year. She's DARLING and loves fruit.

 Fall is also soccer season!

Moosehorn Lake

Swiss Days!!!!

I look forward to this day all year long.

I worked in a neighbor's yard for two days and taught piano lessons forever saving money to spend, and I for sure spent every penny:)

Swiss days is a craft show on steroids. It isn't mostly crocheted blankets and pot holders, it's super cute stuff!

I love the barn door front of this dresser:

 I searched and searched for a necklace of the mountains, and finally found one!

I always love these signs, too:

 Ben came and picked me up from Swiss days in Midway and headed back to the Uintas where they had set up camp at Moose Horn lake campground. Our campground was just up the path from this lake. 

The main event of camping was fishing!

 Camping with five dogs was surprisingly not too crazy and my kids were in heaven!!

One day I came to the lake, set up a chair, and spent my time reading this magazine.

This is the definition of relaxation in my world. 

 

One of my favorite articles was about gratitude. 

I loved his comment about a man not giving him what he had most of, but what he had least of- in his case, time.

He also said "Loving people well means living with constant interruptions."

This is something as a mother that I've had to consciously work on improving. I have a hard time stopping what I'm doing - even now as I'm blogging and my kids are staring at me - and I have to constantly remind myself of this. 

Everyone out fishing on the water 

 

 One day I tried to build a fire and chop some firewood. Good thing I can't even swing an ax right, or I would have cut my fingers right off, but they're fine, just healing really awkwardly. Shoulda got stitches, oh well.

When the kids weren't fishing they were playing pokemon characters or riding strider bikes in the dirt. 

Such a fun labor day weekend. It got a little chilly at night, but we stayed toasty in our tent, and had Crosland's trailer nearby! I made peach cobbler that was pretty gross, and tinfoil dinners that weren't quite cooked, but overall awesome weekend!

I also got to hike Mt. Baldy - the top of that peak below:

 It's a short hike, but super fun, and I'm so glad Ben let me sneak away for a bit.

I can't wait to go back to the Uintas another time!