September Chatbook 2020

Guys!! I am so close to being caught up. It doesn't even seem real. Working from both ends was great. I didn't feel right doing the chatbooks out of order though, so I have a couple to put on here. It will be a whirlwind of random. But who doesn't love a little random. 

This stuff isn't from too long ago...just September, but sometimes it feels like a lifetime. Probably Covid has something to do with that. 

In Robyn's Seminary class, they had to make a mormonad. I think Robyn's is pretty amazing. Her teacher kept it since he liked it so much.

We love the Lays chips bags. They are funny and funnier when your kids hold them in front of their faces.

This was the reception when Dad came home from Louisiana. He was greatly missed. 

Such a happy baby.

When I took Daisy up into the canyon to do her birthday pictures, we saw some deer. I don't know what it is about deer, but I always want to catch a picture.

I thought someone edited this picture because it was so weird. Nope, it is just fruit snacks on Tyler's glasses.

I try to take all my kids to a play during the year. Robyn and I went to see Murder on the Orient Express. It was fantastic. 

I was walking around and spotted this little lizard. What you can't see very well (or really at all) is that his tail is bright blue. It was so cool. I stalked him to get a better picture, but he is a speedy little guy. 

I really like my front door with the special windows, especially when the sun shines in. I'm not sure I had ever seen this pattern before. Must be the angle of the sun.

Some people look down on you, but I don't think this is how they do it...

Tyler's group is still out helping the world. Very cool that they donate to schools. Schools sure can use it.

Sleeping beauty is all tuckered out.

So is Prince Charming.

Speaking of charming, Tyler's hair is an entity unto itself. It really does some interesting things. Like this wave. We just need a miniature surfer.

I think this might be a picture of the first crane. There were many more to come, but I think this was the first attempt. Not too shabby.

Grl Pwr!

Ivory's hair is so long she can wear it as a choker. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

June was nominated for Homecoming Court. They choose a girl and boy from every club. It just makes sense that June would be chosen for the Spikeball club. I'm didn't even know Janson until he was nominated, but he seems like a nice guy. They made a poster and a cake. Neither was chosen for Homecoming royalty, but they had fun.

Daisy loves to snuggle with her huge squishmallows. And apparently tuck them under her hoodie. I think she had Pearl punching her in the stomach to prove how soft, yet structural they can be.

Hi-yah! Pearl looks like the karate kid.

One of the Spikeball nets broke at the club, but I like that the kids had something to fix it. You can't let something as simple as a broken net slow down the game.

I like this photo of Robyn. I like the empty space where her cheek and glasses should meet.

Last but certainly not least is a friendly game of Twister. I've given up that game a long time ago, but it is nice that the girls still enjoy it.

Painting the Window

The front window has sat empty for quite sometime. I don't even remember what was in there last. You never can tell when Robyn will get motivated to paint. She is plenty busy, and I know she likes a burst of creativity. But it doesn't happen consistently. 

However, the night of June's party, she was feeling the vibe. So she went out and painted the window. I loved it. She went with a Fall theme so it could stay up through November. (Smart) We caught some pictures as she was finishing. It was so pretty with the light coming through. She really is quite talented.

Our First Adult Child

It may seem surprising, but Tyler and I managed to raise a small human to adulthood. Shocking, I know. And there are four more behind her that we hope make it as well. For now, we'll just be amazed at our accomplishment. 

We had some fun stuff planned for June's birthday, but I'm always happily surprised when the younger girls do things of their own volition. For instance, Daisy set up a birthday chair with balloons. Sleepy June is pretty cute in the morning.

Pearl and Daisy spelled out June's name with memory cards. My favorite part is that the N is backward. Genuinely sweet.

June's best friends, Hannah and Christina, came over and decorated June's car in the morning before June went to school. When she came outside she was very surprised. I think some of the paint looks like someone shot up June's car and it is bleeding.

We did some of the usual, like balloons and measuring the birthday girl.

But a party had to be different because of Covid. We decided to go with an outdoor option so people could social distance. I'm not sure they all kept six feet apart, but we tried.

All the snacks were grab and go. We did cupcakes so June could blow out a candle but not blow on everyone's food. The other cupcakes had candles that people could blow out and they could write down their wishes for June. That ended up being one her favorite things. She went back and read them later and loved them.

And Spikeball of course. I'm not sure June could have a party that doesn't include her favorite hobby ever. We used the Spikebrite net, although we had more ambient light which helped. 

We have a couple videos. I actually have a couple good hits in them. I wasn't trying to spotlight myself...it was just the videos that Tyler happened to record. :)

We also did some sabering, but they have been making the bottles differently and some of them are really hard to saber. Some people got their top off right away, but others struggled. I get it. (I tried to open one on Thanksgiving and never got the top off. Such is life.)

I would say June had a great birthday. She is such a wonderful young lady. I guess adult now. She is such a fun person to be around. I'm so excited for all the adventures ahead of her, although I secretly want her to stay forever.

Spikebrite and the Week of June

June turned 18 this year. I wanted to make it a special event, but I wasn't exactly sure how to do that. I thought about having the 'week of June' where we would give her a gift each day for a week leading up to her birthday. But I decided I didn't want to worry about remembering a gift a day.

Then one of her gifts came in the mail and she saw it. So I HAD to give it to her early, so we went with the week of June after all.

Some of her gifts were a phone, games, and this fun apron. It is very accurate. June is always sweet.

I took her a boutique and she choose a super cute sweater.

June was very happy to get a new phone. Her other had some issues. 

You would think the phone would be the favorite gift, but I'm pretty sure the fav by far was Spikebrite. It is a glow in the dark attachment that clips on to your Spikeball net. It does raise the rim just a bit, but it allows you to play in the dark, so it is totally worth it.

I think it is easiest to play if there is still a little bit of ambient light. But you can play in the pitch black. The glow in the dark ball is easy to see. However, the other players are much harder to see in the dark. We didn't run into each other much more than usual, but what you realize is that people telegraph their hits through body language. With no light, you can't always tell where people are going to hit it. You just have to watch the glowing ball.

These pictures are funny because it looks like Tyler painted on them with some photo editing software. But it is just the ball. 

The video is better at showing that in actuality, you can't see much besides the ball and the rim. 

June loves Spikebrite. She used it on her birthday (an upcoming post) and sadly, it isn't as handy in the winter because it is cold, but I bet it gets some great use next year.

When the Library is More Than Just Books

This won't be the first (or the last) time I post about Sharon and her amazing talents at decorating the library at the school where I work. At one point, I thought that I wanted that job, but I'm so glad she got it. She does such an amazing job. She tells me that nothing is an original thought from her brain, it is all copied off pinterest.  But man, she can do a great job copying. Wait, I thought copying was my job...

Anyway, she currently has some Christmas stuff up for the holidays. She built this fireplace out of boxes. Pretty amazing.

All the ends of the bookcases have fun Christmas themed characters. 

There are some things that stay in the library year round, like this Harry Potter display. The snitch in the jar and the floating candles are my favorite.

But possibly the coolest is the display she had up before Christmas. She did an Alice in Wonderland theme. Here are the doors as you come in.

There were some fun Mad Hatter decorations.

And a Queen of Hearts selfie backdrop.

But the best thing was Alice's feet coming through the ceiling.

Sadly, Sharon had to take Alice down because she was a fire hazard. What a shame. I can't wait until new year to see what goes up next.