six girls and their favorite guy: October 2019

August was fun.

We jam packed a lot in.

Saige and Kenna had a "cousin" afternoon @ Willow Park.

Then while the Ibanez girls were still here Saige bought these four matching suits.

They had a sleepover here, and went to the pool to test the suits out of course.

So stinkin' cute!

Shane spent 12 days in Durbin South Africa.
He claims he was working... but from the pictures I'm not so sure??!!

I never got a picture of the Temple, but lots of animals on his safari... and plenty of videos of him playing with monkeys. hahaha

When the summer was about to start, Jadyn reminded me that there was one thing she REALLY wanted to do this summer... Go to the St. George Temple to do Baptisms before it shut down for major renovation.

I assured her we would find time... except we never did, so the week before school started I took two days to do this with her.

We headed out early on a Thursday. Me, Lydia, Jadyn and her friend Carly. We stopped at the Cedar City Temple first. (I was hoping to catch Manti in there too, but sadly they were closed for renovation.)

Lydi and I waited in the waiting room and on the lawn. They were out before we knew it!

I then drove the rest of the way to St. George.

We hurried to the Temple there and they got right in.

Lydia and I layed on the lawn for the 1st half hour.

It was only 108 degrees so no big deal. haha

At one point we looked at each other and said why are we sitting out here?

So we went in for a bit.

It was perfect timing. No waits for the girls at either Temple.

That was a win for all of us!

After both Temple's we stopped @ Brigham Young's Winter Home for a tour.

I would say it was fun, but it really wasn't. It was like 1.5 hours and no... the house is NOT that big.

The girls were good sports about it. We learned lots and lots and lots about Brigham Young. When we walked out they all said, boy that was LONG!

I whole heartedly agreed with them. hahahaha

(There were 2 women in our group + the four of us. Those two women snuck out when the guide walked in the other room about 1/2 hour in. There is NO WAY they would have made it the whole time.)

We checked into our "OK for the night motel". I don't think the girls cared at all that it wasn't in any way "fancy". There was an outdoor pool and breakfast in the morning. Plus swimming when it's dark and still 99 degrees outside obviously feels pretty great. haha

The next morning we drove home.

Combined with stopping @ 20 Walgreens and Dollar Generals searching for Tsum Tsums.

I'm so glad we were able to make it work.

I love Jadyn's love for the Temple.

How could I say no??

She was able to get two more stamps in her Utah Temple Passport Book.

She has 3 left... Manti, Monticello and Vernal.

She's already asking if we can get AT LEAST one of those in next summer.

Again... how can I say no??

We made it home just in time to get to the 1st Green Canyon Football Game.

August also brought two more Green Canyon Games, for a total of 3 wins.

The next game was @ Bonneville

Then back to Green Canyon again.

It was August, so obviously school started.

I have a love/hate relationship with the beginning of school.

I love having the girls home, I truly do.

But there also comes a time when we all need structure.

So school it is...

And waking up for school took some doing for us those first few days...

Lydia started 4th grade @ Cedar Ridge Elementary.

Her teachers are Mrs. Littlefield and Mrs. O. Young

(I just asked her how I should write her Chinese teachers' name since she says it "O Young Lashi" and she said, "you can spell it M... r.... s.... period. Because mom, that's it in English, why would you try to write it in Chinese?"... Ok then.)

This will be her 4th year in the Chinese Program.

I think she knows quite a bit...

but, she doesn't like to speak it for us much.

Plus I have no idea if she sounds good or not.

Her dad assures me that she does.

Jadyn started 8th grade @ Spring Creek Middle School.

Guess what I forgot to do when she left for the bus @ 6:55 am on the first day of school?

(the bus which she almost missed... and then did miss for the next 2 days...)

I forgot to take her picture.

Thanks Kenna for snapping this one for me after school!

Kenna is a Junior @ Green Canyon High School.

She's the most social girl you will ever meet.

That is if you can catch her to meet her in between one of her 5 social events of the day...

Oh, and she got asked to the Homecoming Dance by Carter Compton the night before school started.

She's super excited for her first date dance!

Saige, is a junior @ Utah State.

But kind of not, because she's actually kind of a sophomore in the El Ed Program that she actually isn't even it yet.

But she has a heck of a lot of credits to her name. ;)

Saige gladly let me take her first day of school picture, so I'll keep her.

(It should be noted that I also drove this 20 year old to school one day her 1st week. After I noticed her car still in the garage hence woke her up 20 minutes before her class started.)

Kids...

What would they do without me????