August 27, 2023
Greyson started Kindergarten and is doing well with that. He rides the bus home and is the last of 12 stops. Addie broke her arm this week when she slipped and fell on the kitchen floor. It is a minor break though and the cast should come off in a few weeks pending all goes well there. We had a campout behind Timp with M&D and enjoyed some good camping food, spooky stories around the campfire, and a morning hike to Stewart falls. Hinckley got stung by a bee as we sat by the falls which sort of dampened the mood, but overall everyone had a great time.
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| First day of Kindergarten |
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| A pink arm |
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| Hinckley's fire building masterpiece |
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| Camping dinner |
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| S'mores |
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| Camping Breakfast |
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| Camping basketball |
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| one of the "Letter trees" |
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| Setting off on the hike |
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| Stewart falls with a bee sting |
August 20, 2023
This was a big week with back to school for the two oldest. Before that however they ended the summer with a fun trip to the Utah State Capitol with Nan and Grandpa and some cousins which they seemed to enjoy quite a bit. Kassie took them for one last summer swim. Hinckley decided to go to North Point Elementary (about 15 minute drive) and so we had two back-to-school nights. Three days into the new school year they both seem to be pretty happy with their teachers and classes. It was tough to leave Hinckley that first day not knowing a soul at his new school, but he stuck with it and seems to be feeling more comfortable there now. Addie was delighted to learn that her teacher "never yells" and says she is her favorite teacher ever.
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| First day at North Point |
Greyson starts Kindergarten this coming week, and he felt the emptiness of the house the most. He really got busy making more basketball hoops and crafts, including a mini court complete with a Lego and tin foil pair of hoops and jerseys for the Lego characters. He later made a kid-sized hoop using a pool noodle, some wire, and cardboard. He seems to create a hoop, or duplicate a basketball library book on computer paper every single day. It is hard to keep up with. This week Greyson was very intent on watching Michael Jordan play basketball. I found some classic games like the Jazz vs the Bulls in 1997 are on YouTube and he watched nearly a full game. He also went on a hike with Kassie in Draper and got some wiggles out. On Saturday Greyson and Hinckley went with Kassie on a small hike in PG and they zipped up and back really quick! Addie started cross country but there was a huge thunderstorm and so she picked up her shirt and we went home. She is very excited to be doing that with a friend from the neighborhood.
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| Greyson watching the Bulls vs Jazz |
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| Basketball crafts |
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| More basketball crafts |
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| Basketball hoop collection |
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| Hinckley and Greyson at Battle Creek Falls |
I've been doing a Pickleball league in Saratoga Springs once a week with a brother from the ward and that has been really fun. We have another month or so left of that. We also had a fun family hike to the waterfalls on Timp trail.
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| On the Timp trail |
August 13, 2023
This final week of summer break was a full one! We have an 8-year-old on our hands as Addie had a great birthday celebration on Wednesday. We had about 9 girls come over, including Sadie and Kate. Kassie had lots of fun activities planned including a scavenger hunt, a drawing game, a sugar cube stacking race, pin the teapot lid on the teapot, and candy dice. They enjoyed some really good food including macrons Kassie made and cupcakes. It all went really well and everyone loved the big balloon display and Polaroid camera pictures too.
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| Addie's baptism |
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| Ready to be baptized |
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| After the baptism |
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| Baptized girl with Mom |
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| Baptism lunch with cousins |
Also on Saturday, I took Greyson on his long-awaited date at the Lehi rec center to play basketball. He LOVED it. We tried out all the available sizes of basketballs they had for us to check out. He also tried out the climbing wall. He was very excited about the Wilson balls they had. We got a treat at the snack stand they have there and he was just thrilled about everything. Lately, when we play basketball he says we have to play until we are "dripping sweat". He's completely obsessed.
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| Stilts at This is the Place |
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| Riding ponies at This is the Place |
School starts this week and Hinckley decided that he wants to go to North Point (the Advanced Learning Lab - ALL) program he tested into. So we are figuring out how that will work with transportation and so forth. He is excited about it. We capped off deep room cleaning with a trip to shaved ice which was one of the final things the kids wanted to do before the summer ended. It's been a great time!
Saturday was 12 years of marriage for Kassie and me. We had a fun anniversary date last week, so Saturday evening we went and saw
Barbie in the theater. I laughed out loud many times and found it a thought-provoking movie. Many parts of it had me reflecting on the term
differentiation and how that is really important to maturation, and also very different than individualism for which it might be mistaken. I think often in the culture of the church the concept of being differentiated from others can be viewed as selfish, especially for females who are often praised for sacrificing their desires and interests in place of others. It wasn't a perfect movie and had some pretty odd scenes, but I'm glad I saw it.
August 6, 2023
We have one more week of summer and so we are trying to get in all the thing we had hoped to do before school starts! This week kicked off with a really fun movie night at T&N's house. Kate made all sorts of cute posters and other things and our kids had a wonderful time. It was fun to go out to a place to eat with T&N, A&B, and M&D during that time. Swim lessons started this week and despite rain the kids were able to go each day (though Greyson had what looked like pink eye one day so he didn't go). They are loving their lessons and enjoying the water. It is hard to believe the years past when swim lessons were so dramatic and horrible (Addie doing "bobs").
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| Movie night |
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| Ninja playground |
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| At Hale Center Theater |
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| Progress on the massive jaw breaker |
Kassie's sisters Liana and Rochelle were in town for a concert and stayed with us for a night. We played some games and they took Addie to the Butterfly Biosphere to commemorate her 8th birthday coming up this week. Hinckley had a ton of fun watching Liana play Zelda and they talked video games for much of the day. On Friday I met with a few other Mckinsey employees at a work space in Lehi. They are hoping to have Utah employees get together more regularly (monthly maybe) and it was good to talk with some other people from work in person, though I don't work with any of them on my projects.
We received Hinckley's results from his advanced level testing and he got the highest possible score. So this weekend we are all reflecting on whether we should take him to the advanced 5th grade program which is at a different school. It is hard to think about leaving friends, driving many extra minutes a day, etc. but it also feels validating to see his results.
Kassie and I went on a fun date Saturday night to see a play at the Hale Center Theater in Sandy (mega huge newish facility) and it was really great! We are celebrating 12 years of marriage this coming week. I started my new calling this Sunday as the assistant ward clerk over membership. I'll be taking notes for Bishopric meeting and ward council and counting people etc. I'm looking forward to it and am feeling peaceful about hanging up the ward mission leader responsibilities.
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