The Leake's Week-September 12, 2022

 Hello!

I feel like we have just lived a marathon of a weekend!  Thankfully, for most of us, today (Sunday) has been laid back and low-key, which has been very much needed!  Here's the rundown of life in the Leake residence for the last six days...

On Tuesday it was semi-nice to get back to school, work, and routine after our birthday extravaganza and three-day weekend.  Once everyone was gone, I painted the closet in Bridget's soon-to-be-new room.  Honestly, not at all how I wanted to spend my kid-free time, but it had to be done.  Thankfully, I had Marco Polo's and great music to listen to to keep me motivated.  :)  As soon as Gretchen got home from kindergarten, we took Ziggy to the groomer.  I swear he knows exactly where we are headed and as soon as we turn onto her street he moves to the back of the van!  Ha!  Once I turn him over to her though, he just licks her and is so happy to see her.  Dogs...they crack me up.  While Ziggy was getting freshened up, Gretchen and I ran up to a dance store in Kaysville.  Gretchen started dance on Thursday and needed a couple of things.  If she had her way, she would have bought every black leotard in there that fit her.  When I told her she could choose one, she resorted to eenie-meanie-minie-mo.  :)  Excellent decision making!  As we were leaving the dance store, I realized that for the first time ever, I have two dancing daughters.  And that, at least for now, I will have two daughters on stage for the dance recitals.  I am over the moon.  Seriously.  I am SO happy about it!  Who knows how long it will last, so I am living in the moment and soaking up each event.  Gretchen and I were elated to pick up Ziggy and see that his fur was in good enough shape that he didn't need a complete shave down, and instead we were greeted with a very clean and perfectly fluffy dog.  I had no idea this 15 pound thing could bring me and us such happiness.  Fortunately, the rest of our day was not the usual crazy that Tuesday is.  The only thing we had on after school was dance for Rachel.  Richard and I did finish prepping the basement that night for new carpet in the morning.  Oh, one funny thing, as I was driving Rachel and Sara to dance that day, they were having a conversation about where they wanted to live when they grow up.  When Sara asked Rachel she said, "I just want to live in a mansion, so I can live anywhere as long as that works out."  So matter of fact as only Rachel can say things.  :)  

Wednesday morning was a real treat for me...my Mom came over at 9:30 in the morning and we ate popcorn and watched the Downton Abbey movie!  It was the most refreshing and enjoyable morning I have had in a long time!  It is ten times better than the first movie.  We laughed, we cried, and we both loved it.  While we were indulging ourselves, new carpet was getting put down in the basement!  The carpet guys were done about 1:30 and it looks great!  We got the same carpet as is in Marshall's room, just a more dense/thicker version of it.  So it goes down our basement stairs, through the hallway, and into the current guest room, which is soon to be Bridget's room.  I am loving the new carpet smell as I go up and down those stairs this week.  Heavenly.  The rest of Wednesday was filled with horseback riding for Bridget, dance for Rachel, and a youth activity for Marshall.  

Thursday morning Bridget had a field trip to a 9-11 exhibit that was in Farmington for just a few days.  She was captivated with it and has not stopped talking about it.  We were hoping to get the rest of our family there during the weekend, but it was just too busy.  A few weeks ago, Bridget decided she definitely wants to go to NYC for her upcoming trip with Richard and me.  Initially, we weren't planning on doing the 9-11 museum with her, but now we are definitely planning on it.  Such a sobering event.  I volunteered in kindergarten that morning as well.  Gretchen was delighted to see me, and I was equally delighted to see her.  :)  She and I were home to eat lunch, and then it was off to dance class!  She was SO excited!  Initially, I just signed her up for a jazz class, but a couple of weeks ago, I decided to tack on ballet.  They are back to back classes, and she said she was up for it.  I am so glad I did because her best friend from preschool is in ballet with her!  Months ago, when I signed her up, I thought about reaching out to Genevieve's mom, but we were out of town when I signed her up, and brushed it off.  But in the end, it all worked out!  Gretchen had such a great time and could not wait to show me and Rachel all she did and learned.  I just ran errands for the entire 90 minutes of dance class, so that wasn't fun, but also so much easier doing it by myself!  Thursday was a busy afternoon and evening for us.  Marshall had soccer practice, Rachel had piano, I had a RS activity, and Richard went to see a Star Trek movie with some friends in the ward.  We all went to bed tired, but very happy.  

On Friday, I picked Bridget, Rachel, and Cambria up from school and finished helping Bridget and Cambria pack up for the State Fair.  One of the Garlick's daughters, Heather, was so kind to offer to drive Bridget and Cambria in for me-that was beyond helpful!  I took Bridget and Cambria to Heather's house and off they went to the fair.  They spent their afternoon bathing goats-of course they loved it!  Gretchen went to Charlie's birthday party that afternoon, and even though it was construction themed, she had a great time.  At 4:00, I coerced all my kids to get in the car and go to the fair.  With the county goat show so recent, they had zero desire to go watch another goat show, but I was insistent.  We also picked up my Dad and zipped into Salt Lake.  Fortunately, we had a livestock parking pass (this cracked me up last year and still cracks me up this year-I get to park in the livestock lot!) so we didn't have to pay for parking, and we got to park very close to the barns.  Anyway, we located the goats and Bridget and Cambria and helped Bridget make final preparations to be show ready.  The show was supposed to start at 5:00, but didn't start until about 5:15.  I forced my kids to come because I thought the whole showmanship show would be one hour tops.  I was basing it off our experience last year.  Well, I just need to remember I cannot predict these goat shows.  The first group in the ring is always the high school aged kids.  The judge spent 90 minutes judging just this group.  One group-90 minutes!  Oh my gosh.  We were dying.  We were all squished on metal bleachers (thankfully we were in a cool barn), but it was bananas.  At one point Rachel yelled, "Hey Lady!" at the judge!  Ah!  When I told her to calm down, she told me she was about to climb in the ring herself and choose a winner!  I would not put it past her!  I could not believe it.  After the first group, I gave my Dad some cash and he and Marshall walked around and got themselves some dinner.  My girls eventually buddied up with some of the Garlick grandkids that they know from school and walked around and saw some animals and talked and played.  After that first group went so long, Richard said he would come pick up the kids and take them home, but by the time he drove from Ogden down to Salt Lake, Bridget was just about to go into the show ring.  Richard quickly parked, bought himself a ticket, and ran into the barn.  So, even though we were all irritable, tired, hungry, and impatient, all of us were there to finally watch Bridget show Luv Bug!  The judge spent about 30 minutes with her group.  Bridget placed fourth out of eight.  In my humble opinion, I think she should have taken 2nd and both Marshall and I completely disagree with who the judge placed first.  I mean, we know nothing about showing goats, but still!  However, Bridget was happy with how it all went, and that is all that matters!  She got a pretty ribbon and we had her pose with Luv Bug and the rest of us for gads of pictures.  We finally made it out of there and got home after 9:00 pm!  Yikes!  It was a great introduction to goat shows for my Dad!  Sheesh!  Once we got home, Richard fed all the girls and put everyone to bed so I could run up to book club, over one hour late.  We talked about "Educated" by Tara Westover and it was a fantastic discussion.  I got home after 11:00 pm, everyone was sound asleep, and I fell into bed!  What a day!  

Saturday morning I was up at 6:15, Bridget was up at 6:58 :) and we were out the door at 7:30 to pick up Cambria.  The girls were ready for another day of fun with the goats!  I was only able to drop them off at the state fair and then I had to turn right around and head back home.  While I was not sad about missing a day of sitting and watching goats, it did break my mama heart to walk away and leave her without a parent for the day!  Thankfully, I knew she was in great hands with Cambria and the Garlicks and the Fawcett girls, and she had a phone to keep me updated, but I still missed her.  Once I got home, I got ready for the next adventure.  At 9:20, Sara's family came to pick up Rachel.  Rachel had dance choreography that afternoon, but the only way she could get there was with Sara's family, but they had a baptism to go to in the morning, so Rachel got to tag along.  :)  She loved it, just as she loves anything she does with Sara and her family!  I left at 9:30 with Marshall and Gretchen, dropped Gretchen off at Danny and Stacie's, and then Marshall and I drove up to Hyde Park for a soccer game.  That is a long drive!  Marshall's team tied 1-1, but it was a great game for them.  For a huge variety of frustrating reasons, we only had 11 players, so that meant zero subs.  We scored first and it was a very offensive first half for us.  The boys were tired in the second half, one player sat out the last 20 minutes with a head injury and two other boys needed their inhalers, but they played a man down and kept the game tied.  For the last ten minutes Marshall was the only center back and he rocked it.  We were all so relieved when the ref finally blew the whistle to end the game!  Two tender moments for Marshall that I have to record.  First, near the start of the second half, our goalie needed his shoe tied, but he had his goalie gloves on and Marshall bent down, while the ball was being played on the other side of the field and tied the goalie's shoe!  I wish I would have snapped a picture.  Towards the very end of the game, when Marshall was the only center back he booted the ball up the field and it ended up hitting an opposing player in the head, very soon after he kicked it.  The player immediately went down and Marshall was right at his side and got the ref's attention to blow the whistle.  Such sweet, considerate moments!  On our way home, we picked up Gretchen who had had a great few hours playing with her cousins.  Bless Danny and Stacie for taking such good care of her for me!  The three of us got home about 4:00, and by then the goat show was just ending.  I zipped down to the fairgrounds and picked up two very tired and hungry girls!  What a day they had had! Bridget had not had time to eat lunch!  She came home with more ribbons though and was happy with how the day had gone.  During all of this, Richard was at home, working 10:30-6:30.  :)  So, he could not help with any of the madness, but we survived!  Richard finished work just after 6:30, hopped in the car with Marshall, picked up Ricky and Duncan and made it down to the BYU game on time!  They had the best time coupled with a very late night, but had a great time and made the 2:00 am arrival worth it.  :)  The girls and I went to Arella's for dinner last night, Bridget's pick after her big day.  We really had such a relaxing and fun dinner.  I was just relieved my driving back and forth along the Wasatch Front was done!  Once I got the girls into bed last night, I caught up on all the royal news with the passing of Queen Elizabeth.  :)  

Richard had to work again today at home.  His shift was 10:30-6:30 again, so he did get to sleep in after his very late night!  But in the afternoon he found out one of the radiologists who was supposed to be working today was sick, so they asked Richard to work until 8:00 pm-long day for him!  The kids and I had a relaxing day.  We went to church, Marshall went to stake priesthood meeting with my Dad, I took a nap, and we just hung out and spent time with each other.  It was a great way to end the day.  Here's to another busy week starting up!

Love to each of you.

Richard, Jenny, Marshall, Bridget, Rachel, and Gretchen :)

The Leake's Week-September 5, 2022

 Hello!  Happy September!  And happy birthday to Gretchen, Richard, and Marshall!  We are wrapping up another epic birthday week in the Leake home, and I am glad I am still standing.  :)  Here's the rundown, starting with the youngest.

Gretchen's birthday was on Thursday, September 1st.  When I put her to bed the night before she told me that I could wake her up anytime the next morning to open presents, so accommodating of her!  For a couple of years we could not wake her up for her birthday or Christmas, or else all her morning happiness was thrown off, so this is actually a very good change!  She desperately wanted to open her presents in the morning, but that did require that I wake her up at 6:50 am!  When I walked in, I was surprised to see Rachel in bed with her, but I also loved it.  Sisters.  :)  When I woke her up she said, "Mama!" and just gave me a big hug.  She knows all my love languages.  She was immediately chipper and happy and was so eager for everyone to gather around her and her presents.  We took pictures and sang happy birthday and then watched her open presents.  She was so good to remember to give a hug and a thank you to each gift giver and she was just so happy with each gift!  She got a dress up from Encanto, magnet dolls, Barbies, a stuffed animal, and dress ups for her doll.  She was elated with each one.  After presents were done we said good-bye to Richard and a few minutes later said good-bye to Marshall.  Gretchen requested Dick's donuts for breakfast, but the girls hardly ate breakfast because they had those new Barbies upstairs and in the loft.  They wasted no time getting to play with them.  Before school, my parents called Gretchen to sing happy birthday and Gretchen had the happiest and most expressive conversation with them telling them all her birthday gifts and cards she had received.  My parents loved it, and so did I.  Gretchen was so excited to go to school.  She had been the line leader all last week, which she loved doing on the first week of school, but on Thursday she got to wear a birthday crown.  She was loving it.  I got to go into her class for the last 30 minutes.  Gretchen got to sit in the big birthday chair while they sang a special rendition of "Happy Birthday" to her.  She then did her "Show and Teach".  I had no idea how this was going to go because she has yet to say one word of a scripture or talk in primary, and she refused to practice or work on this at home with me!  Sure enough, she was pretty nervous, and was on the verge of shutting down, but she and I compromised.  I talked about the bells and what she is learning, and she did all the demonstrating, and she did a great job.  She also got to talk about her birthday poster and answer questions about herself that her classmates asked.  By the end of it all, Gretchen was completely uninhibited and was much more relaxed.  She ended her school day by passing out Oreos to her class.  She loved doing so many birthday celebrations at school.  Thankfully, she and I had a laid back afternoon at home, and I definitely needed it!  Ha!  We ate lunch, she watched some of Encanto and played, I took a power nap, got stuff ready for her birthday party, and she and I read books and snuggled.  My little Bear Cub!  Once the girls were home from school, the girls and I drove up to Freedom Hills Park for Gretchen's birthday party.  This was not Gretchen's year for a friend birthday party, but that girl has made so many friends in the last year and had been begging me for weeks for a party, and I finally said yes.  We hosted a party at Freedom Hills Park from 4:00-5:30 that afternoon.  I kept it super low-key, really hoping that the kids would just play on the playground 90% of the time.  The day before the party I realized how hot it was going to be, so I planned a couple of easy water games.  We really lucked out with the park because the bowery wasn't reserved, and no one else was there...quite possibly because it was like 100 degrees, but I'll take it.  For the 90 minute birthday party, the kids played on the playground, played one water game, and then made their own water fun, had snacks, played more, opened presents and had ice cream treats.  Richard was working, so I didn't have his help, but four other parents stayed and they were SO helpful.  Gretchen had the time of her life, and all the kids went home soaked and happy so I declared it a success.  Right after the party, Bridget left with Cambria to work at the farm.  Our plan was to meet Richard at Costa Vida for a quick dinner before Rachel's piano lesson, but I-15 was a mess and it took Richard 90 minutes to get home from work.  The girls were also pretty tired and did not want to rush on to the next activity.  So, instead, we relaxed at home for an hour, I took Rachel to piano, picked up Costa Vida, brought it home and we had a super relaxing and calm birthday dinner with just Richard, Marshall and Gretchen.  We were all so full and tired that night we didn't even have Gretchen's chosen birthday dessert-brownie bites.  It had been a full and happy day and Gretchen went to bed on Cloud 9 that night.  

I have been a bit of an emotional wreck this week over Gretchen starting kindergarten and turning six all at the same time.  Monday was her first day of kindergarten and she was beyond excited and she has been excited every day since.  In fact, this morning she woke up and was sad and confused about why she was not going to school!  So I am so happy she is loving it, but I cried no less than five times on Monday.  And my first two crying sessions were more like sobbing, shoulder shaking cries.  I have never been that overcome with emotion about a child going off to school, but it seriously did me in.  And then on Wednesday night, I cried as Richard and I were going to bed about Gretchen turning six and Marshall turning 14-those two bookends are going to be the cause of a lot of tears for me!  But, enough about me, let me capture Gretchen at age six.  Gretchen has really honed in on being "Princess Bear Cub" the last month or so.  At night, instead of a song, she wants me to tell her stories of Princess Bear Cub.  Sometimes she requests made up stories, and other times she wants me to tell a story from her own life, but using Princess Bear Cub as the main character.  :)  Gretchen still loves to run and she makes time for it every day, multiple times a day.  She continues to thrive in the loft and I love her imagination.  She still loves Ziggy and he loves her right back.  She is loving Let's Play Music and on Thursday she starts dance class!!!  The girls and I have all been walking to school together this week.  Gretchen will still often hold my hand as we walk, and twice this week, she has kissed my hand while we have been walking.  Could she get any cuter?!  Nope.  Bridget has been begging to walk Gretchen by herself, or at least say good-bye to me at Main St. and then taking Gretchen to her line.  On Friday, both Gretchen and I finally felt ready to let this happen  Oh my heart.  I watched those three girls walk until I couldn't see them anymore.  Gretchen's backpack is wider than she is and I watched as her older sisters helped her navigate around kids on bikes and scooters and my heart was happy and sad all at the same time.  Gretchen still remains incredibly picky with food.  This week I asked the kids at what age we think Gretchen will start eating the dinners I make...no one guessed before age seven.  Who knows what she will do for lunch at school next year?!  Gretchen remains a snuggler and both Richard and I love it.  She is a complete delight to have in our family and we love her dearly.

Next up, Richard's birthday was on Sunday.  42 years old!!!  Sunday was so calm and low-key and exactly what all six of us needed!  I texted all of the bishopric before Richard got to his meetings that morning and they all greeted him with hearty happy birthdays.  I know that deep down, he was happy with every single happy birthday he got at church yesterday.  I actually got to go to ward council with him yesterday too, and even though it was a meeting, it was great to sit by him and walk home with him.  After relaxing afternoon naps, he finally opened his presents.  All his gifts were almost exclusively Legos.  :)  He has very much enjoyed putting them together yesterday and today, and he still has more to go!  For dinner, Richard grilled steaks and we had potatoes and corn and his birthday treat was peach cobbler and vanilla ice cream.  We played games last night as a family and that provided plenty of laughs.  Richard enjoyed a great phone call with his brother, Nathan, last night and then we just relaxed.  It was honestly a great day and had the perfect amount of calm and family time.  

Richard is so wonderful.  He has been at his new job for six months now and he has settled in really well.  His summer was intense with so many work shifts, but his schedule for the remainder of the year is totally manageable, and that feels really nice, for both of us!  Richard is a great husband and a great father.  He is our biggest cheerleader and it is so great to have him in our corner.  Richard is a hard worker and he does so much for us.  On Tuesday evening, in the middle of an absolutely wonderful and unusually laid back school night, Richard and I discovered that we had gallons and gallons of leaking water under a valve box in our front yard.  It was a mess.  Richard wasted no time complaining, instead, he changed into his work clothes, put on a headlamp, and got to work.  It was not at all how he wanted his evening to end, but he did it, and did it well.  Richard is kind and thoughtful.  He is quick to apologize and correct mistakes.  He is an excellent listener.  He and I make a good time in this busy family life we have created, and I am so glad we are on each other's side.  I love him and this life we have.  

Marshall's birthday is today!  The boy who made me a mother is 14 years old today.  I can hardly believe it.  We all got to sleep in, which was very much appreciated.  We opened presents as soon as everyone was awake.  Marshall got a Lego Groot, a BYU sweatshirt, a plane magazine subscription, a framed picture of the Manchester City game at Lambeau Field, a model plane, two tikis, and a giant tiki mask.  All the things he deeply loves!  We had scones for breakfast and had a relaxing morning.  Bob and Becky drove out and spent about three hours here.  We talked with them and they got the birthday update on everyone.  We had Domino's Pizza for lunch and sang to Marshall and had his confetti birthday cake.  The kids chilled and played this afternoon.  All four of the kids are coming down or are in the middle of very mild colds, but I can tell none of them are functioning at 100%, so it has been nice to have a relaxing day.  The kids played a bunch of Lego City late this afternoon and then we went to Five Guys for dinner, per Marshall's request.  When we got home, Marshall wanted us to watch some plane videos with him, we spent some time outside eating a conglomeration of birthday treats and then played games.  It seems that everyone is going to bed tired and happy.  We also did a little friend birthday party for Marshall on Saturday evening.  He had some friends out of town for the holiday weekend, but two were able to go.  Richard took them to In-N-Out for dinner and then bowling.  They bowled two games and Marshall almost doubled his friends' scores.  Ha!  He had a great time.  A happy and successful birthday for him.

My love runs deep for Marshall.  He has stretched me in more ways than any other person or any other thing in my life.  Seriously.  But my love for him is fierce and I cannot believe how quickly he is growing up.  Last night as Richard and I were decorating his bedroom door, I couldn't help but think we don't have many years left of doing this.  Time passes too quickly.  At 14, Marshall is completely obsessed with planes.  When Richard and I were in ward council yesterday, Marshall was outside plane watching.  :)  An A380, which is the biggest passenger airplane flew over our house.  It was the first time he had ever seen one in person.  It was flying from Dubai to Los Angeles.  He texted Richard and I that it was the best moment of his life.  :)  When we got home a bit later, we found him in the driveway, sitting in a chair, with his binoculars.  :)  Love him.  :)  Marshall is still loving soccer.  His team played in a local tournament this week.  They were up against tough competition, and lost their first two games.  They won their third game and Marshall scored the game winning goal!  He has only ever scored a handful of goals, because he loves being back on defense, but his coach is playing him up more this fall season.  On Saturday Marshall was a mid-fielder and the score was 1-1.  In the second half, his team got a free kick and it went right to Marshall.  He headed it down to his feet, took one touch, and then kicked it in.  It went high and the goalie tried to get it with a jump, but he couldn't reach it and it dropped right into the goal.  Oh my gosh.  It was a great moment.  Richard and I were both there and we were so happy to see it.  We both screamed and clapped and cheered and Marshall ran back with open arms to his teammates.  I so wish we had it on video, but I hope every detail of it stays in my mind forever.  Marshall is doing well in 8th grade.  He seems to really be enjoying all of his classes and even though we are only two weeks into the school year, he is handling all of them really well.  He is getting more and more comfortable in social situations and I am so grateful for all of his growth there.  It is not easy for him, but I am so proud of every single difficult thing he chooses to step into.  

Other than all of that, our week consisted of dance, piano, music, the farm, soccer, me spending hours in the car driving kids all over, and all of us falling into bed tired every night!  Looking ahead to this week, it does not appear to be much calmer!  Makes me extra grateful we had Sunday and Monday!  And I cannot wait to say good-bye to 100 degree weather-sheesh!

Love each of you!

Richard, Jenny, Marshall, Bridget, Rachel and Gretchen :)

The Leake's Week-August 28, 2022

 Hello!

The last two weeks of summer completely slipped through my fingers.  Geez!  And now the kids already have one week of school under their belt.  We packed the last of summer full of fun, here's the highlights...

*Lagoon Days:  The kids and I were able to do Lagoon twice during the last two weeks of the summer. One time, we took Marshall's friend, Johnny, with us.  Those two just ventured out on their own and only texted me to ask where I was when they wanted food and water.  We discovered that Johnny loves spinning rides, so he opened Marshall's world to several new rides he had never done.  And, thanks to Dramamine, Marshall loved them all and never got sick!  They did Rock-O-Planes, Centennial Screamer, Samurai, and Air Race.  That same day, our wonderful friends, the Atkinsons, also met up with us.  They could only stay for two hours, but we made the most of it.  Bridget and Avery had a ball doing every ride together their heart desired.  Charlie and Gretchen were the absolute cutest together and were able to do several rides with each other.  After we said good-bye to the Atkinsons, we headed right to Rattlesnake Rapids to cool off.  Always a highlight.  By the time we were off of that, it was after 3:00 pm and all of us were beat, so we called it a day.  We made one more trip to Lagoon last week.  This time we took Cambria with us.  Bridget was super brave and rode Wicked!  She had been toying with this for just a few days, and early on that day she went on it with Marshall and me.  She LOVED it and within an hour had talked Cambria into trying it too.  Cambria was scared to death, but we finally got her on there.  She rode in between Bridget and me, and also loved it!  Yay!  I also did two new rides that day with Marshall:  Rock-O-Planes and Samurai.  My word, Samurai is nuts.  I closed my eyes 90% of the time and just tried to tell myself that I was peacefully flying through the air.  Sometimes it felt like that, but other times I literally felt like I was a rag doll being flung back and forth and I could tell the only thing keeping me from falling to my death was one restraint!  It was at those times I was yelling Marshall's name!  It was crazy!  By about 2:30, everyone but Bridget and Cambria were hot, exhausted, and slightly motion sick-it had been quite the day!  Thankfully, Lagoon is still open on the weekends through October, so we will keep having fun there.  

*Braces for Marshall!  Marshall got braces on his top teeth on Wednesday, August 10th.   He has been such a good sport about it.  It took me about two days to be able to look at him without chuckling each time.  The braces make him look older, as well as just a quintessential teenager-I love it.  He took Tylenol a couple of times a day for about the first four or five days, and he used the wax a couple of times.  But he has adjusted well.  In a few months he will get the bottom braces on, and all in all, it will be about 18 months-lucky him.  :)  

*Fun weekend:  All the way back on August 11-14 Richard finally had four days off where we had nothing going on, so we planned some fun things to do.  :)  On that first day, Richard and I declared it a friend day for all of the kids, and they took full advantage.  Marshall played up at Cooper's for six hours, came home for a bit, and then Johnny came over five hours-it was SO good for Marshall.  Bridget and Cambria spent about seven hours at Lagoon.  And Rachel and Gretchen invited Sara and Kenzie over.  It was a fun day for all, and a rather relaxing day for Richard and me!  Win!  The next morning, Rachel had a primary activity, which was swimming at the Cutler's pool.  She had been looking forward to this activity for weeks and was thrilled the day had finally come!  Once she got home, we had a quick lunch, loaded the van, dropped Ziggy off at doggy day care, and set out for a little weekend excursion.  Our first stop was the outlets in Lehi.  We were hoping to pound out all our back to school shopping, but in the end, we only got some of it done, but still progress.  :)  After that, we had a much more successful shopping trip at the BYU Bookstore.  :)  New BYU clothes for all!  After shopping, we went to a little Italian restaurant in Provo and the kids were good eaters.  Win again!  We did take the leftovers with us, and later that night at the hotel the kids finished eating all the food.  This never happens, and is nothing short of a small miracle in this family!  We stayed at a hotel in Orem for the night and had a ball.  As soon as we checked in, the kids were in swim suits and ready to swim.  We didn't last super long in the pool, but still a good 45 minutes.  After quick showers, we grabbed Culver's custard for dessert.  The little girls ate custard and watched Studio C while the rest of us ate custard and played Play 9.  Everyone went to bed well that night, despite the extremely thin hide-a-bed mattress Rachel and Gretchen were sleeping on-bless them.  We all slept in that morning, but eventually packed up and got going, we were all wearing our new BYU apparel.  :)  We went to Waffle Love for breakfast, which is always a hit, and then we made our way to BYU.  Richard's dreams are slowly coming true and we have now donated enough money to the Cougar Club that we are moving our way up, though if you ask me, there are still not enough perks for the amount of money we have put in!  Ha!  But, that Saturday was one of those perks.  We had been invited to a football scrimmage at the stadium and lunch was also provided, mind you, we still had to pay $10 a person!  Anyway, when we got the invite a couple of weeks ago, we thought this would be a great opportunity to take all of us and have a relatively inexpensive trial run to see if we are at the point where our whole family could go to a football game.  The result...not quite yet!  Ha!  But it was still a lot of fun.  We got there about 30 minutes early and snagged some seats on the third row on the 40 yard line.  We were able to watch the team warm up, and that was honestly really cool.  We were so close, and they are big!  By the time the scrimmage actually started, Rachel had had it.  She was hot (it was in the high 70s, low 80s) and she just resorted to whining and laying all over me, which I tried to tell her was only making her more hot.  :)  Gretchen, surprisingly, created her own fun playing with leaves she was finding on the ground, she could have been occupied for hours I think!  So, the answer to our trial run, not ready quite yet to take on a whole football game.  :)  The Cougar Club did provide lunch from J Dawgs, and most of us enjoyed that.  :)  After the scrimmage was over, we made our way home and had a couple hours of downtime in the afternoon.  That night, Richard and I went out to dinner with the lovely Katie and Ricky.  We ate at Caffe Molise, always delicious and loved catching up with them.  I don't think we had been out with them as a couple since December and there was much to catch up on.  The kids enjoyed a low-key evening at home.  Our Sunday was spent with church and church meetings for Richard, but then the rest of the day was just relaxing and wonderful.  It was a good, good weekend.  

*Marshall and planes:  I am not sure if I have written about Marshall's intense love of planes.  This started in May of this year and since then he has become obsessed.  He has an app on his phone that helps him track planes and it has become his favorite thing to do.  During the summer Richard and I, individually, take each of our kids out on a date.  The week before school started, I took Marshall on his.  We ate dinner at Cubby's and then drove up to Tunnel Springs Park at the top of North Salt Lake with the intention to have a good view of the airport and watch planes coming and going while tracking them with the app.  We realized on the way up that we forgot Marshall's binoculars, but we continued on, knowing we would still have a good time.  Our plan was to find a bench or table at the edge of the park to sit and watch, but once we got there, we realized that the sand quarry sticks out too far, so it completely blocked our view of the airport if we stayed at the park.  So, we hiked!  The Bonneville Shoreline Trail is right there and just south of the manicured park, is just wildland up on the mountainside.  We followed trails and came up against barbed wire fences, but despite all the turning around and problem solving we had to do, Marshall never got discouraged.  Finally, after about 30 minutes of walking, we got to the perfect outlook.  We were literally on top of the sand quarry, only feet from where there were warning signs of mines and more barbed wire, but nothing was obstructing our view!  Marshall was seriously thrilled.  We had been on a path, and as soon as we saw that this place was open to us, he took off running exclaiming, "This is perfect!"  His excitement was palpable.  As I was walking out to where he was, in sandals, I was just terrified of encountering a rattlesnake!  Marshall later admitted he was worried about finding a tarantula!  Thankfully, we encountered nothing like that and just had the best time looking at planes.  He and I sat on two rocks and watched planes and talked for over an hour.  He was just in heaven and so, so happy.  It was a true treasure to get to experience that with him.  When we finally left our outlook, and were walking back to the trail, he said, "That was so great.  I am just so relaxed and so happy."  Bless his little soul.  I was so happy for him!  We actually went up there as a family just a few days later, and this time we remembered the binoculars!  The younger girls just played at the park the whole time with Richard, but Bridget and I went out with Marshall.  It was really cool with the binoculars.  When planes landed you could see smoke coming out of them!  A wonderful little adventure.

 

*Rachel's birthday outing:  Rachel got a real treat for her birthday outing this year with my parents.  They picked her up, along with Jaxon, on a Wednesday afternoon and went straight to the Hale Theatre to see Singing in the Rain.  After the play, they did dinner at Olive Garden and then went back to my parents' house for games and a sleepover.  After breakfast and playtime the next morning, my mom brought her home.  Talk about a birthday outing!  Rachel loved seeing the musical live and was so impressed that they were able to make it rain on stage!  The week after the birthday outing we were baby-sitting Danny's boys and Jaxon and Rachel walked around singing, "Moses supposes his toeses are roses, but Moses supposes erroneously..."  It was completely delightful to listen to those two.  

*County goat showing:  We are back into goat shows again.  If it weren't for shaving those darn animals this would be very loved by me, but the hours it takes to shave them and then being covered in goat hair ranks very, very low on my list of things I love to do.  :)  Fortunately, for Bridget, she loves it all!  The county show was on Thursday, August 18th, up in Ogden.  Last year, this was her very first show and I was a stress ball, and it also poured rain the entire time, making it even more eventful.  This year was very different, and in such a positive way.  I woke up at 5:15 that morning, got Bridget up at 5:45 and we were out the door at 6:15, picked up Cambria and drove up to Ogden.  It was a beautiful day and we caught the most beautiful sunrise coming up over the mountains in Ogden.  I knew exactly where to go when we got to the fairgrounds and we even beat the goats!  Once the goats arrived, it was time to bathe all of them and that is always an undertaking.  Once all the goats were clean, the girls all changed into their show clothes.  Once again, Bridget was able to wear her prized belt buckle, she just loves it.  :)  My mom was so helpful and wonderful that morning.  She was able to pick up the rest of my kids and come up to Ogden so they could all watch.  They got there just as we were bringing the goats into the arena.  Bridget was so happy that they were all able to come.  The weekend of the state fair is so nuts for us that I don't think we can get any of our other kids there, so this was a real win to have them all there. Showmanship was the first event and Bridget was in the last group, so we were able to watch three groups before her.  When it was finally Bridget's turn she walked so confidently into the ring and Luv Bug did just great.  She made a mistake on one body part, but it was a bit of a confusing question, and now she knows!  Sometimes during showmanship, the judge will ask the participants to switch goats to see how they handle a goat they are not familiar with.  Bridget got stuck with a goat who only wanted to eat her!  It was crazy, I even got some of it on video.  :)  She stayed so composed the entire time and did her absolute best to keep that goat in line!  In the end, she placed 3rd in showmanship, but she did win a camp chair, and she is honestly obsessed with it.  :)  The next round of judging is all focused on the goats.  Luv Bug is a small goat and never places well, so Bridget was not at all surprised by that.  But, she also got to show a doe born earlier this year.  This was the same doe Bridget showed in Logan, named Lottie, and she was a pain.  Bridget was actually supposed to show Ellie this time around and had spent a good amount of time working with her.  Ellie had proven to be such a mild mannered and good goat, but the day before the show we got word that poor Ellie was constipated!  I am sure we can all relate to how this goat was feeling!  So, Bridget got stuck with Lottie again, which she was not thrilled about.  However, Lottie was much, much better behaved and placed second in her division and then took fifth in the grand champion round!  Bridget got a big ribbon for that second place finish and was so proud of Lottie.  Now we will just cross our fingers that as Lottie and Ellie grow up they keep their fine goat stature and they could be bringing in many ribbons.  :)  The show ended just before 1:00 and we were home by 2:00.  Bridget came home so happy, and we are so proud of her hard work once again!  

*Last summer weekend:  We sent summer out in a wonderful way last weekend.  Rachel and I kicked it off bright and early last Saturday morning with a dance meeting at 8:00 am.  :)  It was actually very helpful as they laid out the next 11 months for us.  When we got home, the girls and I got ready for my Mom's third annual tea party.  My girls LOVE this event, and so do I!  We got all fancied up, donned our fascinators, and headed out!  As we were turning out of our cul-de-sac, we had two windows rolled down and we passed some neighborhood boys who had a clear view of our fancy hair and flowery fascinators and we heard them exclaim, "Where are they going?!"  My girls got the biggest kick out of it!  The tea party was a smashing success.  My Mom is the most excellent hostess, and Jeeves (my Dad) once again, proved to be the BEST butler!  My sister-in-laws really get the credit for leveling up the tea party because they walk in in full-English character-it is really quite amazing!  Accents and phrases and it is completely delightful.  We started off the tea party by tying two fleece blankets for an organization who will send them to Ukraine.  It was quick and easy and simple enough that Gretchen, Emily, and Eliza were all able to help too.  It was perfect.  After that was done, we moved upstairs for our lunch and tea and it was delightful and delicious.  When we were done eating, all the girls went off to play, and that gave us adults hours to talk.  It was the best way to spend a Saturday afternoon.  We finally pulled ourselves away at 3:30, after being there for over four hours.  While we were gone, Richard and Marshall went to the temple to do baptisms.  I had a goal to get Marshall to the temple each month this summer, and we succeeded, plus he got a bonus temple trip in Vernal with the young men.  I  am so glad we were able to make that happen.  Once we were all home, Richard's Aunt Mary and Uncle Tom came by for a visit and for Uncle Tom to give us some architecture and design knowledge.  It was really great catching up with them.  When they left, we piled in the car, ate dinner at Apollo Burger, and then drove up to Tunnel Springs Park for more plane watching, which I already wrote about.  Sunday was a very relaxing day, which is exactly what we needed the day before school started.  Richard didn't have any meetings after church, which the kids are always so happy about.  After lunch, Richard gave everyone blessings, including me.  It was wonderful.  After that I had each of the kids come snuggle me in bed for a few minutes.  I have done this twice before on Mother's Days, and I love it, and they love it too.  We just snuggle and talk and a couple of days before I had the idea to do it on Sunday.  It was good for my soul, and for each of them.  We had a relaxing evening and FHE and then Bob and Becky came while we were eating scones for Marshall's treat so they got to join in.  We got the kids to bed early and they all went to bed well, which honestly completely shocked me.  Richard and I loved visiting more with his parents and it was just a great Sunday.  

This email is so incredibly long, so I am just going to give a quick recap on the first week of school...

Marshall:  not overly thrilled about going back to school, but he has done well.  He is loving his U.S. History class and teacher.  He was terrified about his Honors English teacher, but after I met her at Back to School NIght I told him he would love this class.  So much reading, some writing, and only five minutes of grammar a day!  She is quirky and has purple hair, but I knew she would be so engaging, and I was absolutely right.  He has loved that class so far.  His math class is 8th and 9th graders and things are going well in there.  He has first lunch both days, and is navigating that.  He suffered through 35 minutes of the school dance on Friday afternoon before texting saying he was ready to come home.  He made it 35 minutes longer than he did last year!  

Bridget:  loving the school life.  Her class is a 5th/6th grade split, meaning half 5th graders and half 6th graders.  She and I both had reservations going into this, but so far, she is really enjoying it.  She had some student council responsibilities last week and has more this week and she is loving that.  After a three week hiatus of working on the farm, she and Cambria worked Thursday night and they were so happy to be there it was like pulling teeth to get them to stay focused and actually finish the chores.  It was a long night for me, but they were in heaven.  

Rachel:  also loving the school life.  She loves her teacher and has a lot of friends in her class.  She is busy after school, but with one week down, she is handling it well.  

Gretchen:  got one more week at home with me and kindergarten officially starts tomorrow.  She is SO excited, and I have absolutely no idea how I am going to feel tomorrow.  Her excitement, so far, I feel is tempering my sad feelings.  Gretchen also started Let's Play Music last Monday, the same three year music program Rachel just finished.  I had a ball going with her and she LOVED it.  She has been listening to those songs daily since then.  I am so excited to send her through this program.  Tomorrow she goes by herself!  Funny Gretchen story from a couple of weeks ago...I was having my near daily conversation with Gretchen about keeping her small and she looked at me matter of factly and said, "You have to talk to God about that."  I was a bit taken aback, so I asked for clarification and she said, "You have to talk to God about me staying small.  I prayed to God if you could stay alive forever and Jesus told me yes."  The sweetest.  Bless her.

Richard and I are alive.  Richard is loving the earlier school year bedtimes for the kids.  Ironically though, his work shift this weekend is 8:00 pm-3:00 am.  :)  He is not loving that.  But, something he is loving, is a couple of weeks ago he read an image on his first BYU athlete.  Ha!  His group covers an outpatient imaging center in Orem and this athlete went there for an MRI.  Richard was on Cloud 9!  

I am hoping to settle into a routine here in the next couple of weeks.  I might have some peaceful and quieter school days, but my afternoons are proving to be bananas, even with carpools.  Last Tuesday I was in the car from 4:15 until 6:15 straight...STRAIGHT.  Just driving back and forth from kids activities in Farmington and Centerville.  

This was too much to catch up on, and took me days!  Better luck next week, but maybe not, because we are headed into birthday week!  Ah!  Gretchen on the 1st, Richard on the 4th and Marshall on the 5th.  Send me energy.  

Love each of you.

Richard, Jenny, Marshall, Bridget, Rachel, and Gretchen :)

The Leake's Week-August 7, 2022

Hello!  I started writing this yesterday, on Sunday, but am finally sending it out, so just read it like it is Sunday!

 

I cannot believe we are in August.  Our last two weeks have flown by, and if I am being honest, they have wiped me out-big time!  We still have two weeks left of summer, and I don't think they will be any more forgiving than the last two weeks, so here's hoping I make it to the first day of school!  I did not write last week, hello exhaustion, so here I am, even more tired, and trying to catch up on two really fun and really busy weeks of life!  But, today is August 7th, and that means that nine years ago today, sweet Rachel Louise was born, and so today, I start with her.  

 

Rachel is our sunshine.  She is warm and welcoming, wears her heart on her sleeve, tells you how it is, but also exudes love and happiness and warmth from her being.  She is always telling me she loves me.  She is quick to hug, and she will hug anyone.  Physical touch is definitely her love language.  If she is upset about anything, for any reason, a snuggle with me will completely turn things around for her.  She is a wonderful sister to Bridget and Gretchen.  She embarasses Bridget more often than Bridget would like, but those two adore each other.  Rachel babies Gretchen just like I do, and so between the two of us, Gretchen might not ever grow up.  If Gretchen is having a hard time going to bed, you can bet that Rachel will climb in bed with her to help her sleep.  Rachel still has a huge imagination and loves to pretend and create all sorts of things up in the loft.   Rachel doesn't often get nervous, but she knows when she is, and can identify it, and talk herself through it.  She has grown by leaps and bounds in reading this year.  She loves school and has a great core group of friends.  She has taken off with piano this summer and never complains about practicing and she loves her new piano teacher, Jill.  She has fallen even more in love with dance this summer, which is good, because it is about to dominate her life.  She has loved going to dance class this summer, even though she has sometimes had to go without Sara, or go to a different class.  Her dance team started choreography this week for their contemporary piece and she came home on Cloud 9.  If she doesn't feel well, she takes great care of herself.  She asks for Tylenol and then puts herself to bed.  Bless her.  She is still a big time snuggler.  She is nine today, and I can't believe it.  

 

Rachel has had a fun and memorable weekend of being celebrated.  Yesterday at 1:00, she had a piano recital as part of a silent film festival, which was actually a fundraiser.  Her piano teacher Jill had about 20 students performing in this, and Rachel was one of them.  It was at the Centerville Megaplex and they showed short, silent films from 12:00-8:00 pm yesterday.  The performers all sat in the front row and there were two pianos next to each other so the students just rotated through and there was never a pause in the music.  It was completely delightful!  My kids have never seen a silent film before, and we all got a kick out of it!  Rachel's group provided the music for Buster Keaton's "The Haunted House".  Rachel did such a great job.  Richard has been working all weekend, so he wasn't able to go, but the rest of us were there to cheer her on and enjoy the movie.  Makes me want to show more old movies to the kids!  Fantastic comedy!  After getting home from that, we finished last minute preparations for Rachel's friend birthday party.  Rachel really, really wanted a swimming party, and I went out on a limb and asked the family who runs the swimming lessons our kids have done if we could use their pool for two hours for the party.  They were beyond kind and said yes!  Rachel has been counting down the days until this party!  Unfortunately, yesterday was literally the chilliest day we have had all summer long, and I had been crossing my fingers regarding rain all week.  All week long, the weather app had been saying rain/thunderstorms in the morning on Saturday.  When I checked my weather app at 8:15 Saturday morning I gasped when it reported storms were supposed to start at 3:00 pm, which was the start time of the party!  Gah!  We could not move the party earlier because of her piano recital, so we just hoped for the best, and while we did not get the best, I would say the girls had the best time, and now we have a great story!  Because Richard was working, I asked my Mom to come and join me from 3:00-5:00 to be a second lifeguard with me.  She was so kind to say yes, and even more kind to sit through two hours of rain yesterday!  Rachel invited seven friends, but only five could come, and Rachel was kind enough to also let Gretchen, Bridget, and Cambria join in on the fun.  The rain started minutes after 3:00, and what started as a sprinkle turned to a downpour, which eventually brought thunder and lightning.  We let the girls swim and play, and the rain seemed to bother not a one of them!  At about 3:40, we saw the first lightning, so we got them all out of the pool and huddled in a little room in the pool house.  I didn't think through some things very well, because all of the girls had left their towels and change of clothes on the pool deck, so by the time they scooped up their things to run to the pool house, there was not one dry object!  Also, I literally cleaned up and put away ponchos that Richard and I had used the night before 20 minutes before leaving for the party!  Why?!  Thankfully, my wonderful friend and neighbor texted me to ask how she could help during the downpour and I had Marshall run her over the ponchos and she drove them down for me and my Mom!  Lifesaver!  Anyway, all those cute girls huddled in that small room for about 20 minutes.  They laughed and giggled, played Telephone, and ate popcorn.  We went with the Cutler's rules and stayed out of the pool until it had been five minutes since seeing lightning.  The girls did not complain once and were such good sports.  I gave them the option of going back to our house instead of waiting, but they all wanted to wait, so wait we did!  Just after 4:00, we let them back in the pool and they thoroughly enjoyed the last hour of swimming.  The rain persisted, but thanks to ponchos and an umbrella, my Mom and I were quite sheltered.  The girls all had the best time, we didn't have to rescue anyone, and I think it was a swim session we will all remember!  At 5:00, my Mom and I drove all the girls back to my house and I enlisted Bridget and Cambria's help since my Mom needed to leave.  The plan for the party was to bring the girls back here for dinner, playing, presents, and cake, but I did not think through all the logistics of that, and then of course, every single thing we brought back here was soaking wet.  Within seconds I had screaming girls all over the house and wet clothes, towels and swimsuits all over.  It was nuts.  Thankfully, Bridget and Cambria helped me wrangle them and all the wet things into a bit of order!  We had Domino's pizza for dinner, the girls played outside, we opened gifts, had cake and then we were done!  Normally, I clean up right after a party, but after all of that, I just collapsed on the couch for a good hour!  Rachel had the best time, and felt so loved.  I loved watching her interact with all of her friends, both at the pool and here.  She is full of life and fun, and that is abundantly clear in social situations.  She went to bed tired and very happy last night.  

Today has been a lovely day to celebrate our Rachel Louise.  We don't have church until 10:30, and Richard, even though he is working this weekend, works from home and his shift didn't start until 10:30-so it was perfect!  We were all able to sleep in, and Rachel came and climbed in bed with us sometime after 7:00 and we all fell back asleep-it was heavenly!  We woke up after 8:00 and scrolled through Facebook memories from August 7th because I can never remember the exact time she was born!  2:58 pm.  :)  We talked through her birth story and snuggled and it was just a great way to start her birthday.  This morning we watched her open presents and then we all had breakfast together, Rachel's pick:  baked eggs and pancakes.  The kids have spent all afternoon playing together and my parents came by for a birthday visit.  My Dad is walking without his crutches now, which is great to see!  For dinner, Rachel has requested spaghetti with meatballs, garlic bread, and she told me I didn't need to provide another birthday dessert and we will just finish her cake from yesterday.  Bless her!  It has been a lovely and low-key day, and that has been wonderful.  

In other Rachel highlights since it has been two weeks since I have written, she and Gretchen got back to school haircuts last week and Rachel took off about 8 inches of hair.  Now it is just a tiny bit past her shoulders and she is loving it.  Rachel invited two girls in our ward to her birthday party.  They were born in the same year as her, so they are in the same primary class, but not in the same grade, so they have not socialized much.  But, they have really gotten to know each other with primary activities this year and she has played with both of them multiple times the last two weeks and has had so much fun.  It makes me so happy, because 1) she can walk to their houses and 2) these girls will go through Young Women's together-so yay for new friendships!  

 

Gretchen:  Gretchen has had some exceptional friend time as well the past two weeks.  She has played at Harper's and at Genevieve's.  My parents had Cal over for a sleepover last weekend, and I took Gretchen to their house after dinner to play with Cal.  Those two had the best time together.  Cal is such a goofball and Gretchen laughs at every single thing he does-they make a great pair.  A couple of funny things from Gretchen.  Two weeks ago we spent the afternoon with Ben and his four oldest kids at Lagoon.  It was so much fun, and I will write more about it later, but it was also SO HOT.  I had to leave early with Rachel and Gretchen because Rachel had dance.  We trudged through the burning parking lot, and got into our black car.  It was so hot.  It took a few minutes for the car to really cool down, and sweat was just dripping down Gretchen's face.  I don't think she has really sweat like that before and as she was wiping her face she said, "I think my skin is melting off!"  Haha!  It was hilarious.  When we pulled into our garage at home, finally sitting in a cool car, she said, "I think Jesus has made heaven to be cold."  :)  And lastly, as you might know, Gretchen's favorite pastime is playing songs on Google and running back and forth.  Well, this week her song of choice has been "I Saw the Sign" because the girls watched a Full House episode with that song and now Gretchen is obsessed.  It cracks me up every time she turns it on...takes me straight back to my teenage years.  

Marshall:  Marshall had a soccer tournament in Park City the last weekend of July.  Usually, we have made a bit of a vacation out of this tournament, but this year, Richard had to work, and with our schedule being so busy, I figured it was easier to just drive back and forth instead of trying to rearrange and coordinate our lives.  So I had lots of good car time with Marshall that week as we drove to and from Park City and to and from Heber.  The tournament was a bust for his team, which we were fully prepared for, but Marshall did play very well, and I loved my time with him in the car.  He is so much fun to talk to, and I love him.  His last game was on Saturday the 30th, and thankfully, Richard was able to come to that game.  They played on the Park City High School football field, which was actually really cool.  We forced the girls to come with us, and we made a day of it.  Becky also came, and it was so great to see her.  Park City was a good 15-20 degrees cooler than down here and it felt so good!  The girls played with their soccer friends and Richard, Becky, and I cheered Marshall on.  Marshall played well again, but it was another loss.  His coach's other team, which Marshall played for last year, was in the championship game after our game.  Tyler invited Marshall to come and watch, and Marshall wanted to, so we drove over to that game.  The girls were good sports about tacking on another game, but fortunately, this game was at a park with two fantastic playgrounds, so they had fun.  Tyler's team ended up losing in overtime with PKs.  It was a really fun game to watch, and all the parents on the sideline were so kind to Marshall.  The biggest benefit to going to this game is Marshall is now committed to practicing with this team.  Even though Marshall played on this team last year as a guest player, he only went to a handful of practices with them because it is SO stressful for him.  Richard and I have encouraged him and Tyler has encouraged him, and he can't jump the mental hurdle.  Tyler talked to him and Richard again last Saturday about coming to white team practices and for now, anyway, Marshall seems totally onboard, so Richard and I are just crossing our fingers that it sticks!  Anyway, after all that soccer, we drove down the canyon and stopped in Sugar House at a New York pizza place called Este Pizza.  Everyone, except Gretchen, ate great and it was delicious.  Gretchen is the pickiest eater and ended up picking off the tips of the breading from the mozzarella sticks and called that her dinner.  When we got home, we all played outside, played with Ziggy, and talked to neighbors.  It was a great end to a good day spent as a family and cheering Marshall on.  This last Wednesday, Marshall had a quick appointment with the orthodontist to prep his teeth for braces, which get put on this Wednesday!  Ah!  They had to put little bands, or donuts as they call them, around his back teeth just to open up space in between teeth for the braces.  When Bridget had this done four years ago, she passed out, but then I really don't remember them bothering her after that!  Marshall though, has been quite bothered by them and has been taking a dose or two of Tylenol up until today!  Honestly, it makes me quite nervous for how he is going to deal with braces!  Say a prayer!  

 

Bridget:  Goats have consumed Bridget's life the last two weeks, which also means goats have consumed my life the last two weeks.  Not only has she been busy working at the farm, this week she had to shave the two goats she is showing at the county show next week.  As I am sure you are aware by now, shaving goats is no small task.  She and I spent Wednesday afternoon, Thursday night and Friday morning down there, covered in goat hair.  Once again, I did something I never thought I would do, I picked up a goat and got her on the milking stand.  I had to do this twice, and almost gagged the first time.  Also, I should clarify, this was a goat just born this spring, so far from full grown, but still very heavy!  Bridget continues to amaze me in her farm capacity.  While I am dying inside, and doing my best to put on a good attitude for her, she is happily shaving and problem solving anything arises...like getting pooped on.  Yep, you read that right.  On Friday morning that goat pooped on her.  I have actually just been waiting for this to happen as she spends so much time by their hind quarters while she is shaving!  Sure enough, goat poop on her hand and on the milking stand.  She screamed, I gasped, she shook it off, wiped the back of her hand on the goat, got a dust pan, flicked the poop off the milking stand, got a baby wipe from the shed, wiped her hand off, and continued on with shaving.  This girl.  She amazes me.  Aside from goats, student council is in full swing for Bridget.  They kicked off their school year with a swimming party at someone's grandma's house in Bountiful.  The parents worked out a carpool and I drove Bridget and two other boys up to a mansion above the Bountiful Temple.  Those kids had the time of their lives swimming, playing in the hot tub and going down the pool slide which is the same size as the rec center slide, so nice and big!  She will have a great year working with these kids and creating fun opportunities for her fellow students.  In other Bridget news, she has gone to a birthday party for a friend, gone to Lagoon twice with friends, and had horseback riding-a good life for this girl!  

 

As I mentioned earlier, we did a day at Lagoon with Ben and his four oldest kids.  This was definitely a highlight of our summer, and so fun.  Ben and his kids got there at 10:00, and we met up with them just after 11:00 because Bridget worked at the farm that morning.  It was a hot day, but we actually all handled the heat better than I thought we would!  We just kept refilling water bottles, found shade when we could, which there is lots of, did a couple of water rides, and we were good!  Lagoon has not been terribly crowded this summer and that day was no exception.  We had a less than 10 minute wait for every single ride except Rattlesnake Rapids, and that wait was probably only 15 minutes!  Ben and his kids are super adventurous with rides.  Right after we got there Marshall did Rocket with Ben, Benson and Cadence.  Marshall has been wanting to try Rocket all summer long, and I have been too nervous to do it!  After watching it while they were on it though I realized it is a fraction as intense as Guardians of the Galaxy so I can totally handle it!  After lunch we did Rattlesnake Rapids, which was a fantastic way to cool off.  They wouldn't let us all ride together, even though I think we could have all fit, so we did a boys tube and a girls tube.  We were all soaked by the end, which was a great way to spend the next couple of hours.  After that, we hit up some roller coasters.  Bridget, Rachel, Anna and Cadence rode Wild Mouse a couple of times.  I told Rachel she had to go without me, and thanks to having cousins there, she did and she did great.  All the boys did Spider and I hung with Gretchen.  Gretchen was such a good sport about sitting and waiting during so many rides, she really didn't complain once.  After that we all did Colossus, except for Rachel and Gretchen.  Bridget has been on the fence about trying Colossus all summer, but once again, having cousins there was just what she needed.  She and I rode together and before the ride was even done she said that she loved it.  She has since done it multiple times with friends.  So proud of her!  After that we did Wicked, while my three girls waited for us.  Ben's kids honestly amaze me with how brave they are!  After Wicked, we moved into the area with the rides Rachel and Gretchen love so all their waiting was rewarded.  They were able to do a handful of rides with no wait time and it was perfect.  We even did the firetruck ride two times in a row because there was no line!  Just before 3:00, I left with Rachel and Gretchen so Rachel could get to dance and Marshall and Bridget stayed with Ben and his kids and did Laguna Beach for a couple of hours.  They had a fun time, even though they said it was more crowded than Lagoon, but they still got some good water slides in and loved cooling off in the water.  Ben dropped my kids and his three oldest kids off at 5:15 for a cousin sleepover.  We had his kids until about 4:30 the next day and fun was had by all.  They spent their evening playing games, eating dinner, and watching a movie.  The next day was Ziggy's birthday so after breakfast we gave him his presents and then Ziggy was in heaven with so many kids outside throwing new toys and playing with him.  My girls all had things going on that afternoon, so there was lots of coming and going, but Anna and Cadence were so great and just jumped in and played with whoever the girl cousins were still here.  Gretchen had particular fun with Cadence and loved playing with her.  Cousin Lagoon day and sleepover was a huge success.  

 

This last Monday we also had a great day at Cherry Hill.  We met Stacie and her boys there and got there shortly after it opened.  Rachel also brought Sara with her, and it was the perfect day.  Marshall and Bridget stuck with Jaxon and those kids swam, did slides, and played miniature golf!  Rachel had Sara, and even though Sara had never been to Cherry Hill before, she helped Rachel be brave and finally got Rachel on the dragon slides, which Rachel loved.  Gretchen and Cal had each other and had a blast in the lazy river and the big pool-they are the best of friends.  It was actually very cloudy last Monday and a tad chilly the first few hours we were there.  Stacie and her boys left about 2:00, and the sun finally came out!  I forced us to leave just after 5:00 only because Richard was home already and Monday was the only day we could eat dinner as a family!  It was such a fun day though-so glad we got it in!

 

A huge highlight of these last two weeks is Richard and I went to go see the Imagine Dragons concert on Friday night at Rice Eccles.  We saw them five years ago in 2017, and I was excited to see them again, but I was also a little nervous I might not like it as much.  Wrong!  It was AMAZING.  We had fantastic seats on the field and it was just an amazing night.  I hardly ever go to concerts, so in all honesty, I don't have much to compare it to, but having seen Imagine Dragons twice now, I can say with certainty, they know how to put on fantastic shows.  Loved every single minute of it.  

 

Okay, by golly, I think that is it.  Two weeks of summer left for the kids.  As we were crawling into bed last night I told Richard I am literally counting down the days until school starts so I can have some peace and order back in my life, but I am also so sad because summer is slipping through my fingers and our days of fun at Cherry Hill and Lagoon are numbered.  A torn mama over here!  

 

Love,

 

Richard, Jenny, Marshall, Bridget, Rachel and Gretchen :)

 

P.S.  Bridget got her glasses!  She actually loves them way more than she thought she would.  :)  Turns out, it is nice to see clearly!