We wrapped up June with a few random thunderstorms (closed down the pool when the kids were there with Kassie one day). Addie had a wonderful time with Nana and Sadie going on a girls visit to the Mall, they rode the city bus and really loved it. Meanwhile, Hinckley and Greyson went with Kassie to the Bean Museum and small BYU dino museum. Also this week Hinckley and Addie finished their summer workbooks and won their prize of some new legos. The agony of waiting for those to arrive after they were delayed and then lost in the mail was rough but we made it through.
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| Firework crew |
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| Homemade ice cream and berries |
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| Waiting for fireworks with the Game of Life |
Kassie and I watched Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness on Friday and it was indeed a very strange and mad movie. Probably my least favorite of all marvel movies. The kids came and visited me at Weave this week and we shared a treat, we are hoping for one more Weave visit before I finish working there on July 19.
June 26, 2022
The highlight this week was Thursday's Lehi Round-Up Rodeo. After a brief rainstorm things cleared up and we were able to go to the Rodeo here in Lehi with the kids. We met the Kays and Spencer Jones there and it was a blast! It was very late, but they really enjoyed it. Addie loved seeing the outfits of the Rodeo queens and the lady standing on two horses, and we all marveled at the insane things people were doing riding bulls and bucking (or “bunking” as Addie says) broncos. Hinckley liked the "clown" guy who made a lot of jokes and hid in a barrel when the bulls came bursting out of the pens.
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| Ready for the Rodeo! |
Hinckley had a great time at a Minecraft Mod camp at UVU and was eager to try things out in his own world here at home. So far he has had a summer full of various learning activities such as art, acting, Minecraft and at the end of the summer, swimming. On Saturday he went up with Nana and Logan and Jack to the airshow and after crazy lines, they came back to 1220 to watch Boss Baby and other fun things.
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| Hinckley achieving his life goal: Wither Storm mod |
Greyson and Addie had fun going to a neighbor's "camp" at their house for kids a couple of times this week as well. They tend to get along pretty well most of the time and enjoyed playing a horse game where Greyson rides on top of Addie and they both laugh a lot. They went out and "slept" on a blanket a few times in the backyard as well.
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| Wrapped up and ready for stories |
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| Creatives at work |
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| Baker Hinckley with strawberry shortcake |
Hard to believe we are wrapping up the first month of summer!
June 19, 2022
This was a full and different kind of summer week. Kassie and Greyson weren't feeling well at the beginning of the week so they didn’t participate in our first neighborhood "cookie walk" that we did on Tuesday evening. A cookie walk is something this neighborhood used to do but hasn't done much of since the Pandemic. I helped organize it as a part of the Ward Mission and we had lots of people out and walking around the block visiting with each other and eating treats. Addie and Hinckley filled up on treats and their tummies were hurting by the end. It was neat to see neighbors out and about, and I am hopeful that next month’s will be equally successful. Kassie was unable to do the Nursing school interview with UVU on Wednesday and they gave her the option to do it in a few months as a part of applying to the Spring semester. She feels better about that anyway as she considers other options and directions outside of nursing.
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| Hinckley as "Goofball" the clown |
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| Post-show grins |
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| Addie as "Rainbow Dash" pony |
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| Hinckley as a nut cracker soldier |
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| Addie as Rainbow Dash |
Addie and Hinckley had "Acting Camp" this week! They were gone from 10-4 each day and were assigned a small part in the show and learned some basic songs and dances. At the end of each day, they went across the street to the Lehi Rec center and swam for an hour. Pretty cool format and they loved it! On Friday we went up to Midvale at an outdoor venue and saw their performance which they did really great in. They got to wear two different costumes and were really excited about it all. It was a very positive experience for them both! Greyson was pretty patient as well with the nearly 2-hour performance, though he desperately wanted to climb the trees next to some other people and he went and peed in a bush nearby before we learned of some bathrooms available. It was fun to have Dad along for the performance.
Greyson had a lot of time with Kassie this week because of the camp. As they got feeling better they went to the Lehi Splash Pad, Farm Country, and also hiked the G (Greyson's been wanting to do this for months now). He has a lot of energy and emotions and has been extra tired lately, though he always wakes up as early as he is able.
We had a full Saturday. We went to the Dinosaur Island event at the Ashton Gardens at Thanksgiving Point. It was an overcast day and actually great weather. The kids really enjoyed it until Addie realized there was a princess/fairy tale event happening there at the same time and that she wasn’t doing it…so things went downhill from there. Either way, it was overall a positive and fun thing. Greyson was really into it!
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| Dinosaur Island at Ashton Gardens |
I took the kids down to a park in Orem where we fed peas to ducks and that was actually amazing. The kids had a ton of fun and were giggling and running around with the ducks. Addie was nearly struck dumb with delight and awe when she discovered that ducks can fly. She “gave them exercise” by chasing them around and was laughing like mad as they flapped their wings and flew a few feet to get away from her. It was really cute how excited she was about it. “I have so many things to tell Mom about ducks when we get home!” We got some ice cream at Handel’s after that to celebrate the play performance the night before and then headed back home to watch Dinosaur which they all seemed to enjoy pretty well. I recall how much I loved the music from that movie! It is still as good as ever.
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| Handel's ice cream |
Lastly, this week I was extended an offer for a new job at McKinsey and Company. It is a remote position and I'm really excited about it. I accepted the job on Friday and we are discussing options now for where I will be working (e.g. rent office space, build office space in our garage). I don't start until August 5 so there will be some time of transition at Weave. It has been a bit of a roller coaster week with that but we are feeling excited about it!
June 12, 2022This week Addie and Hinckley started some art classes at a neighbor's house and really enjoyed that! They learned to simplify images and objects to their basic shapes and then add detail later. They also did some fun painting projects. Kassie worked with them this week on doing some paper mache too, and Addie and Greyson made ice cream cones and Hinckley made three Jelly Fish that he has hung from his ceiling. Pretty fun summer activity! They also did the Draper Bridge hike that Kassie and I had done on a date the previous week. They all made it up and back again without complaining. Truly we are in a new stage of life!
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| Hiking kids |
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| On the bridge |
We accomplished a home improvement project this week and had our Garage get a makeover with epoxy on the floor and painted walls. The guy said that it was one of the hardest jobs he’s done. Not only were the cracks so huge in the floor, but the concrete was the softest he’d seen - they got about 5 bags full of concrete dust out of there. It looks so good! And so different. It was a lot of work to empty the garage, sand, and putty the walls, and then put it all back again (yay for food storage! haha) but we are feeling really happy about it.
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| Before - full garage |
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| Before - deep shot |
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| After - full garage |
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| After - deep shot |
Hinckley had a piano recital of sorts on Saturday. It was quite different than any piano concert I’ve been to! It was outside in a pavilion in Lehi and was proceeded by a BBQ picnic. Only 3 students (counting Hinckley) showed up so I’m glad we attended. He played his song and then later went back up to play the Gravity Falls theme song which he was excited about. After we left he said, “That was fun!” which for him and our goals for music in his life is about as good as it gets. He and I had a lot of fun watching
The Princess Bride at the Scera Outdoor theater for our date this week!
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| Hinckley performing at the Piano BBQ |
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| Coming home from the bake sale with 10.00 worth of goodies |
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| Collaborative zoo building effort |
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| Hangtime big slide |
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| Dad/Hinckley Date at Scera |
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| Greyson's picture frame design |
June 5, 2022
This week kicked off with Memorial day. We went to the Butterfly Biosphere in the afternoon which everyone seemed to enjoy pretty well. It was a rainy/cold day which is rare for this time of year but that was a good thing to do. We stopped at Weave to get a treat (one of the many snacks they have just sitting in cupboards) after and Hinckley was freaking out because he felt like we were not supposed to be there. When we go there Greyson said, “Let’s break in!” and “we are thieves”.
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| Daddy bread |
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| Tea party |
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| The composer writing out "Gravity Falls" theme song |
Addie drew a Duck Tales picture and was very proud of her work there. She is getting better and better the more she draws! She is developing quite the talent the more she works at it. Hinckley has been typing up his Blobby adventure story that he has been writing at church, and he is pretty excited about that. He stayed home alone for the first time on Tuesday while Kassie went to the store and Addie and Greyson went to a “camp” at Ms. Julie's (neighbor's) house.
On Wednesday the Kay kids came over and it sounds like they all had a lot of fun playing in the yard and water. Kassie said they all played so well together, and Jack and Logan had lots of great input for Hinckley about his pit project.
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| Backyard water fun with the Kays |
Kassie finally heard from UVU about the nursing program and she has an interview scheduled to move forward in that process. It is both exciting and a little frightening as we try to determine if this is the right time and thing to be doing right now.
We had a really fun camping trip at the end of this week up at Nunn’s park in Provo Canyon. The weather was perfect. Thursday after we set up camp we walked up to Bridal Veil Falls and the two youngers played in the water while Hinckley and I hiked up to the falls itself. It was beautiful! We enjoyed splashing our faces with the ice-cold water and looking at the view all around. Everything is so green thanks to the late rain and snowfall. After that, we drove up to Squaw Peak and when we got to the top there were a bunch of paragliders preparing to take off! So we watched them fly off the mountain and ride the air currents up far above us.
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| Addie and Greyson at Bridal Viel |
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| At the base of Bridal Viel |
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| Squaw Peak view |
We roasted hotdogs and ate gourmet Sm’ores with various candy bars, then got in the tent and played a Spot it type game. Then each kid took turns telling stories which were pretty fun. We all laid down to sleep as the bathroom light (right near us) switched on and our neighboring campers showed up…it was a rough night but honestly better than I was expecting.
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| Hinckley eating the Pringles |
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| Roasting dogs |
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| Hiding out by the River |
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| Ready for games, reading, and bed |
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| Reading man |
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| Gourmet Sm'ores |
The next morning the kids ran around and continued to play well together. Exploring the river's edge, a small playground, and the underbrush. Addie and Greyson were very cute together, walking around with their arms around one another as they played “Duck Tales”. Hinckley read an entire book on the short trip. After breaking camp, we drove up the Alpine Loop and enjoyed the beautiful views. They were curious about all the aspen trees and the “spooky haunted forest”. We arrived at a great time to get on the Timp Cave trail.
The hike up the trail and into the cave was wonderful. They all made it and enjoyed looking at the various rocks and plants and amazing views of AF canyon. In the Cave Hinckley kept pointing out things to Greyson about the Grinch (e.g. there is where the Grinch takes his bath!) and Addie was patting his head and telling him that the Grinch was saying “hi”. Coming down there were a few moments we didn’t think Greyson would make it, but the promise of McDonalds and many imaginative rounds of “Would you rather” got him down all on his own.
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| Getting ready to hike |
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| At the the cave's entrance |
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| Taking one of our many rests on the way down |
After our trip, I did a ton of work emptying the garage of things and preparing for the epoxy/painting job that will happen this week. On Saturday Kassie and Addie went to Fat Cats on a date. Between mowing the lawn and working on the garage I played a round or two of baseball with the boys in the backyard which was fun. Kassie and I enjoyed a fun date hiking up to a bridge in Draper, then getting food at Even Stevens Sandwich shop, and going to a vegan bakery that was really good. It was a very full few days!
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| Greyson helping prep the garage |
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| On the Draper Suspension Bridge |
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| Addie chalk artwork |
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