The boys have a player on their flag football team whose name is Dallin, and he is number 11. I like that because it looks like the double L in his name. I told Cooper that he should always be 00 and Boston that he should be 80 or 05, but they didn't go for my pneumonic trick.
Mark was asked to coach because they were short on coaches for the junior high grades. He didn't want to have the commitment, and has never coached football, but finally, as he says, "my inner armchair quarterback took over", and he is having a blast. As are the boys. They have played together before and have a play or two where QB Cooper gets to throw the ball straight up the field to Boston, his very capable center. Their team has been whooping it up, undefeated so far, with a couple of shut-outs. Mark says he recruited for speed and attitude, not size, and it has worked out well. Boston is probably the biggest on the team but not quite the tallest. I also think Mark secretly likes that the jerseys are the same color as his company logo, so sometimes our boys will even wear beanies with the logo when the games are chilly.
Cooper always wants me to video all of the offensive plays (he rarely plays defense, Boston plays all the time) so he can make highlight videos out of them later. He is trying to figure out how to put in music so he can cut out my obnoxious mom-narrative and cheering, haha. Sometimes my hands get cold holding the camera or the shots are too dark (or so I complain) so I don't have all of the games, but here are a few clips. I probably missed some of his favorites, but this is already too many for me, so feel free to skip ahead:
I should probably backtrack and show everyone how our August and September went.
Leslie had a summer job at a local nursing home--that is--until her ankle/instep kept bothering her so much we finally took her to a specialist and found out her foot had grown an "accessory navicular" bone to compensate for a badly healed break from a couple summers ago. Immediate surgery was required to remove the bone and reattach the tendon. Since she is fairly flat-footed she will probably always need high-quality arch support to be pain-free. The surgery upset some of her plans--she was hoping to only attend one semester of college and then leave by her February birthday on a mission, but the doctor thinks it could be a six month recovery, which would disqualify her for that departure date. Now, two months later, her recovery is going well enough that the doctors are thinking they may be able to sign her off much sooner, so we shall see. Stay tuned! Maybe mission call November.
Before the end of summer I got to take the big boys to the Spanish Fork Rodeo, something that had been on my bucket list. We had a blast, but I rolled my eyes a little when they came home and told Dad how awesome the trucks were during the half-time-show.
Boston looks so grown-up here to me. He had a huge growth spurt this summer, and the random voice-cracks have been a source of entertainment for everyone. He is also now wearing the same shoe size as Mark, and has been borrowing his cleats for football.
We have been learning a hymn every month as a family. Earlier in the spring we had learned a hymn called, "Have I Done Any Good in the World Today?" It was a big hit because at the chorus, Rosie would chime in for a few enthusiastic words (yell). "Then wake UP and do something more than dream of your mansions above! Doing good is a pleasure, a joy beyond measure, a blessing of duty and love." One day toward the end of May I was driving my van, thinking about our summer, and this song was stuck in my head. Usually every May we make a big brainstorm poster about what we would like to do that summer. Inspiration struck, and I saw laid out in my mind an opportunity for a really awesome summer, different than we'd ever had. It was called, "The Seventy Service Summer". That night we did make a brainstorm poster--we brainstormed seventy services that we could do outside of our immediate family--especially things that we maybe had never done before or things that could have an element of fun.
We hung this poster on our wall and it was fun to count up the services we had accomplished every few days. I think it really helped me to be more aware of opportunities to help, and more intentional about planning for them. It also helped the kids observe needs and be more enthusiastic about helping others. We counted some things more than once, so although we didn't get to check everything off our list, we easily hit seventy before September 1. A few of these items have been checked off since I took this picture. I was sad that we never got to do our Utah Lake shore cleanup because we didn't get to it before the toxic algae was blooming. Next year!
This was one of our favorites. We are friends with the principal, so we got to repaint the USA on the school playground (minus a couple of yellow states because their paint ran out--Garrett? We are ready to finish when you are).
Leslie noticed that Delaware was completely missing, so we had to look up the outline and try to paint it in. Haha, all those schoolkids who had been trying to count to fifty states have been so befuddled!
Macy loved taking over the kitchen whenever she wanted to make treats this summer. She was excited to experiment with her designs and to share these pretty cupcakes.
Luke and Macy had swimming lessons. It was lovely to be able to leave Rosie home with the big boys so I didn't have to deal with keeping her out of the water. Maybe next year, baby.
The berry picking was an unexpected surprise related to our Seventy Service Summer. Leslie, Macy and I were able to help with a humanitarian organization called "Days For Girls" (it had our name in it--we were totally obligated to help!) that sews feminine hygiene kits for teenage girls in third world countries so that they can take care of themselves without having to miss so many days of school. Our neighbors host a chapter of this organization regularly. They also are the owners of the luscious and beautiful McBride's Briar Patch, where you can pick-your-own berries. All the volunteers from the summer got an invitation to come pick for free before the season officially opened. Woooohooooo!!!
Luke helped me with my Sunday School lesson by learning this entire song. I showed the video to my class so that I could make sure it was loud enough, as opposed to him doing it in person. Super cute. I remember this song from the Scripture Scouts tapes from when I was a kiddo.
Grandma Heagy and Brielle
One adventure I got to have was to fly to Billings, MT for my niece Brielle's sealing to her parents in the Billings Temple. I've never been to a child's sealing before, and it was very beautiful and meaningful. Brielle, who is adopted, is now sealed to her family for time and eternity (includes after we die). She was such a little snuggle bum. It was fun to be the Auntie for a couple of days without having my own snuggle bums hanging on me, haha.
Two pretty girls. So glad for Brooke to have a girl.
Benson, Grandma and Brig.
The day before school started we went to one of our favorite places, the Grotto Falls. The trail had been close for a long time because of the extensive fire damage from last fall. It was fun to show Rosie.
Rosie likes "throw rocks inna water"
Boss and two of his amigos hiked around to the head of the falls.
All too soon it was time to take Leslie to college. Mark stayed home with the kids and I drove her up, because, A. She had sold her car, and B. She couldn't drive anyway. I was really glad to get to be there to help her unload and organize and climb up on chairs to store things in her cupboards and help her figure out how to access things via scooter.
Leslie, showing that she will be able to get and carry her own food at the cafeteria and hence, not starve. Also loving the "We Can Do It" T-Shirt she chose to wear.
This picture was to show Mark that we did not, in fact, pack "way too much crap". She has lots of room.
Leslie's first roommate, Britton. There are a total of five girls in their little apartment.
Freshman luminaries. The center girl is Leslie's friend Kailee that she hangs out with a lot. They knew each other in Jr. High. Kailee also has a car, which is good for us.
Leslie has been enjoying getting to meet lots of new people (read here: guys, and lots of first dates). She even went to Homecoming with Goliath, which has been a source of amusement for our family and also her apartment, partly because one of her shortish roommates ALSO went with a guy well over 6'5". Leslie's date was 6'10", I think officially her tallest date ever.
They went as a 40's themed couple.
She is also liking school and managing to keep on top of her grades. She likes her chemistry class and her public speaking class (no surprise on either of those) and heartily dislikes her biology teacher, but is still pulling A's. I enjoy getting little celebration subtle hair-tossing video clip texts every time she aces a test, haha. She also likes cooking more than she thought she would (yay!) although she only has to cook a couple times a week. I don't think she has been very homesick, but it probably helps that she has been home for a few weekends.
A couple weeks ago we were talking on the speaker phone in the car and she told us she definitely needs to get more sleep, too many late nights, etc. It was a Friday night so I pointed out that surely tomorrow she would get to sleep in. Actually no, she had some kind of commitment. Well, I told her, she could sleep in Sunday since church wasn't until 12:30. No, that wasn't going to work either because she had a ward council meeting she had to go to. Mark piped up, What time is your meeting? Pause. Pause.
"Eleven thirty."
We about died laughing. She did add that usually she got up and made something to put in the crockpot, and that she had to get ready, etc, but at that point we were no longer listening.
We dined al fresco in the backyard several times in the gorgeous September weather. Sometimes our after dinner entertainment involved pool noodle gauntlet running.
Eighth and Seventh graders. The boys have been awesome at getting themselves up, ready and fed, and coming in to wake me up before they get on the early bus. They are liking Junior High. A blessing!
Macy a 5th grader and Luke in 1st grade (where they get to eat lunch at school). Typical boy, his favorite subjects are lunch and recess.
One night while Mark was on a business trip we visited the Payson Temple. The kids were unaware that this was part of an object lesson about to go awry. We were reading in the New Testament about where Paul teaches that Our Body is a Temple, and I wanted to teach the kids to reverence and respect their bodies, as they would our beautiful local temple. So, I packed some towels in a beachbag and threw them in the back of the van. When we arrived, I had the kids get out and come see what surprise I had brought. I opened the hatch, pointed out that since the temple was closed it might be fun if we snuck inside and went swimming in the baptismal font. The older kids looked rightly dubious and confused. I hadn't counted on Luke, though. He puts both fists in the air, screams "YYYEESSSSS!!!!!" grabs the beachbag, and starts running for the door. I guess he has REALLY been wanting to go inside! The big boys had to chase him down, and he was really mad that I was just kidding. So then I read my scripture and we discussed how important the temple, and our bodies, are, and how we need to reverence and respect them and take care of them. Surely they had caught on. Next I pulled out a can of red spray paint to continue making my point. Epic fail once again. I said, "See that big white wall over there? How about before we leave we paint our names on the wall?" Luke: "Wooohoooo! Can we?"
Maybe the whole fiasco will teach Mark that parenting doesn't go nearly as well when he is out of town. He didn't know he was the sane parent.
At least Rosie understood a little at her level. She marched around excitedly, declaring, "Pretty temple!"
We sweetened the evening for Luke by making a trip out to the Red Barn for ice cream and cider sundaes.
Rosie has been doing okay as the lone ranger here at home while the kids are at school, although she asks about them about every day. We've tried to go on lots of walks to the playground and around the neighborhood while the weather holds.
We had some fun with this heirloom Black Krim tomato and sent this kissy picture to Leslie.
Rosie is my breakfast buddy.
Rivalry game BYU vs U was upon us, and we found this Ute flag on our turf. Boston found a good home for it.
Our four-birthday month started off Labor Day, with Leslie home for her first visit. Boston was excited to have his buddies over and also to get his first dumb phone.
Rosie is our bed head prima donna.
But she cleans up pretty well.
On Boston's actual birthday we went to Cabela's to shoot the laser guns and show Rosie the animals and fish. We hadn't been for awhile.
We also finally got to go camping. We didn't go at all last year so this was Rosie's first time. We chose the campsite near Oak City, where Mark's grandmother grew up (also, the mountain adjoining the campsite is Partridge Mtn, named for Mark's ancestors), also, no one else was around, whoot whoot!! It was funny to hear the story about Mark's grandpa Newel fainting dead away on the front porch when Melva accepted his proposal of marriage.
The boys came across this spider as we were getting ready for bed that was so big Boston thought it was a mouse. Is it a tarantula?
Every September I try to inventory and restock our food storage. Rosie loved playing store.
My birthday happened to be the first day of Macy's volleyball season, so I watched instead of going out for dinner. It was pretty fun.
Here she is with her first point, ever. I love her friend Libby's face, below.
I also had been craving a Darcy-style chocolate cheesecake with chocolate ganache, so that is what I made. Luke liked it so much that he requested the same thing for his birthday the next week. Fine by me!
I had forgotten that I had told Mark to pay off some of the van for my birthday the month before, and was a little surprised that I had no presents or cards waiting for me when we got back from volleyball. So Mark took the kids to pick up a few things before bedtime (much to my mortification, after I had asked them, a little bit wounded, if anyone had gotten me anything. I'm chalking it up to chemo brain. I told them to just get something from the dollar store, but they went to Costco, haha).
Rosie got to wear this adorable jumper to church. This was my Mom's, and it still looks great.
For Luke and Rosie's joint birthday adventure we went to the zoo and out for sundaes at Leatherby's.
We had to get a special picture with Boston and this rhinocerous sculpture because we sometimes call him out as "Y'I Know" the Rhino. Every time we remind him to do something or caution him about something his response is "Y'I know."
Luke's lipstick birthday card from Grandma.
Luke got a wiggle car so he can play on our driveways with his buddies Little Cooper and Hayden.
Rosie is kind of a soup girl. She scarfed down this bowl of tomato soup for her birthday lunch.
I'm so happy that I got one more girl. Hello adorableness. Goodbye pirate ships, bat caves, race tracks and nerf guns (oh the nerf guns!).
I've decided that this was the year of the peppers. My tomatoes were ho-hum and I didn't can anything but some peach freezer jam. We've been having fun figuring out how to use the peppers, so I learned how to make chile rellenos (Boston even roasted the peppers over an open fire one night) and cream cheese bacon stuffed jalapeno poppers. Also green chile mac n cheese. MMmm.
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