FAMILY LETTER 08.16.15

Dear Loved Ones,                                                                                             

Remember all that stuff we had planned in our last letter? Well, we did it all, except the Layton Reunion, which is coming up this week. We are WORN OUT, but ready for one last hurrah.

The first Monday in August we went swimming then made dinner for two families whose moms aren’t well. We cooked a triple batch of mac and cheese and it was HUGE. We also watched Niles’ friend Kenny for a few days that week while his mom recovers from surgery. Tuesday 8/4 Heidi and James had dental appointments in Bozeman so we took Kenny with us and stopped to do some back to school thrifting at the awesome Bozeman Goodwill. James got to go back to the dentist on Wednesday for a tiny filling and sealants. Thursday we caught up on chores and laundry—I had to get everyone’s church clothes ready  since I’d be gone til late Saturday night.

Addie and I got packed up and left for Utah at 4pm Thursday 8/6 to attend Jordyn Yarborough’s wedding. We crashed at Uncle Sam Layton’s house around 11pm. Friday 8/7 Addie and I had breakfast with Laytons and headed out to have some fun in SLC. At home, Kelsey Gray babysat the other kids while Rich worked in the morning, then he took the kids camping at the Madison River that night. The Jelli cousins, the grandparents, and Uncle Mike joined them and it looked like a great time. Meanwhile, Addie and I had Smashburger for lunch and shopped a little, then we took Nana a birthday gift and visited for a minute. Then we headed to Jordyn’s pre-wedding Open House after stopping at Swig for an Italian Soda and a sugar cookie. The Open House was held in Sugarhouse in the courtyard of the chapel Jakeob’s family attends and it was really charming (like our building in Millcreek). The Westenskows, Tyners, and Holms were already there. Iceberg Drive In catered the evening so there were burgers, fries, and shakes to eat and lots of friends to visit with. There was a huge cloudburst in the middle of the party and everyone scrambled to rescue the pretty decorations and move everything into the cultural hall. Phew! After the open house, Addie and I headed over to stay with Martin and Becca Buchert at their home. We had such a nice visit, even though Eden and Soren were gone to Youth Conference and Addie didn’t get to hang out with them. We had to get up early to get to the temple by 7:15am, but we made it!

The wedding on 8/8 was wonderful, Jordyn looked angelic, and her new in-laws are such excellent and supportive people. We are so grateful she and Jakeob found each other! They were sealed by Jake’s grandfather, Elder Koellicker, and many of his family were in the temple with them. They had a beautiful lunch reception at the Joseph Smith Building, then they headed to their honeymoon in Florida at Disneyworld. It was so edifying to feel all the love in the room; we are so thankful for Jordyn’s friendship and example to our daughters. At 2:30, I picked up Ally and Isabelle and they came home with Addie and me to visit for a week. While we were driving home, Rich was heading home from his camp out with the kids. We got home around 9:30pm and Rich had the camping laundry done and the boys all bathed and waiting for us at the garage door. It was so sweet. Everyone was so excited to see Ally and Belle, too!

We went to church Sunday morning 8/9 and took some good solid naps—Rich and I were tired from all the weekend fun! While we napped the big girls had Niles give them makeovers, which was hilarious. We had dinner together, then brownies and movies. Monday 8/10 we met up at the park for a picnic with our old friend and neighbor, Lorraine Blatter and her new baby. It was great to see them. Afterward we picked up trash for James’ environmental achievement thing for cub scouts, and I brought Ammon home to nap. The big girls took a bike ride to Chadz coffee shop and all around downtown. I ran to Costco for some groceries and made dinner for our family and a sick friend’s family, then we had family night and the girls played games and watched movies while we got the little boys to bed. Tuesday 8/11 we did chores and scriptures and James finished up his Wolf scout requirements (YAY!) and we  headed for the park for the Primary Activity from 10am-noon. The leaders planned fun relays and activities for the kids with a hot dog lunch and it was really nice. Ammon and Niles had been up a lot Monday night, so when we got home from the activity they both napped until 4pm, I kid you not! Wednesday we had a bunch of playdates after chores and scriptures. First Katy Warren and her girls came to play and have lunch. Then at 1pm Jessi Tyner and her boys came to play. When they left, Addie and I started making Navajo tacos for dinner, and it was time for YW and scouts. Rich and the girls got home super late because they drove Jess and TJay back to the ranch after stopping to get a treat—fun cousin times! Thursday morning 8/13 we had a home visit for Niles’ preschool and go all of his paperwork done. Afterward, I wanted to take the kids bowling but the alley is being remodeled. So we tried mini-gold in Bozeman, but it was shut down. So we played for a while at the toy store (yeah, me and 7 kids!), browsed for books at Barnes and Noble, and played some games at the arcade (highlight: air hockey with Niles). Addie bought TJay a birthday gift and we headed home to get ready for his party at the ranch. Kelli made a yummy taco dinner with an amazing Mexican chopped salad and triple chocolate cake for TJay. The kids played like crazy til sundown (it was SO HOT with no breeze…like 96 degrees) and we headed home with plans to float the river on Friday. Rich and the girls went downtown for the Livingston HOOT (a musicfest on Main Street). Friday we did chores and laundry and got Ally and Belle ready to go home the next day. I made some teriyaki pork, coconut rice, and crab rangoons to serve for dinner with Kelli’s Mexican leftovers after the kids floated the river. Rich met us at the ranch at 4:30 and we sent everybody down the river at 5 and ate dinner at 6:30. We got home at 8:30 and got kids to bed and Rich headed out to see a movie with his brothers (“The Man from Uncle”). We had a freakish wind and lightning storm Friday night, but I don’t think it ever really rained.

Saturday morning (Happy Birthday, Nana!) Addie, Ally, Belle, and I left our house at 7:45am and drove to Idaho Falls so Uncle Drew could meet up and pick up his girls. We got there at 11:30 and stopped at Deseret Book, then we went to lunch at Café Rio with Uncle Drew. We had such a good visit—I’m gonna miss those girls so bad! When we got in the car, we realized that the play that Addie wanted to see all her friends in had its last show at 5pm, not 7pm like we thought, so at 1:15 we left Idaho Falls with the goal of making it to the Shane Center in Livingston by 4:45. We got there and the show was sold out, but they put us 9^th and 10^th on standby. Addie started crying. We waited for Heidi to meet us on her bike. 10 minutes later, they called our names and gave us two tickets and Addie and Heidi got to see the show. YES!  At 7 the whole family went to Jordyn’s reception at the church. We had fun seeing her and her family again, and my boys had fun pigging out on candy. Sunday morning 8/16, I took Addie, Heidi, and Niles to church while Rich took Ammon and James to Yellowstone to meet up with his BYUH buddy Trent and Trent’s family. They met at West Yellowstone and Rich was their tour guide on our Parks Pass. They had a Yellowstone bucket list and it sounds like they checked it all off. Rich got home around 11:30pm. The rest of us just did church, naps, started this letter, then had the Jones family over for cookies and visits, then bed time. It was nice to go to bed with a chill in the air instead of the deathly heat of last week!  This week is all about school registration and Layton Reunion, can’t wait to report on that next week. We love you all and wish you well!

Love, Rich and Jamie and Family

 

Monday 8/3: enormous pot of cheese sauce for triple batch of mac & cheese

Tuesday 8/4: James and Heidi at the dentist with their blow-up animal prizes

8/4: Niles sneaks out and climbs on Mike's construction equipment regularly, little punk. Mike is building a house right next to us!

8/5: Miki Ogao drove from Tucson to LA to SLC to our house on her cross-country road trip. She had a goal to see al 50 states before she turned 40 and she needed to see the Dakotas so we were on the way! Yay! She went all the way to Virginia and back before her birthday, which is next week.

Tucson was on fire the first week of August. Here is a view looking north/northeast from downtown- Pusch Ridge was on fire...so sad.

8/6: Addie and I headed to Utah for a wedding

8/7: Addie at Smashburger in SLC

8/7: Martin and Becca bought a twinner van the same day we came to visit!

This is Martin and Becca. I stole this picture from them on their 19th anniversary this week.
I love them.

8/8: Jessi T. took this beautiful picture of the temple on the morning of Jordyn's wedding

8/8: Addie fit right in with the bridesmaids waiting outside of the sealing.
(Haylee Holm, Addie, Lisa Gillies)

Addie and Me waiting outside of the temple after the sealing at 8:45am

Mr. and Mrs. Ontiveros, first public appearance

Melissa took this picture of Jordyn and Marissa. Marissa left for her mission to Baltimore via the Mexico City MTC the following Wednesday.

Beautiful Jordy with her husband and parents.
(Lisa, Jake, Jordyn, Roger)

At the lunch with Jordyn
(their slide show and first dance made us cry)

Jordyn has been like a wonderful big sister to Addie.
They love each other.

Addie with Jordyn before Jordyn's mission to Tucson.

Me and my sweet sisterfriend, Melissa Westenskow.

 

Jordyn calls us her "Mormon Moms"
 Jessi, Debbie, Me, Melissa



On Sunday afternoon, the big girls let Niles give them makeovers. Behold the beauty!

8/10: Monday Picnic with Lorraine and her miracle baby, Gabriel. Loved seeing her again!

8/10: Niles tagged along with Ally most of the day
 

Ally, Niles, Addie, and Belle waiting for Family Home Evening Monday night.

8/12: Playdates! Warren girls jumping with my boys

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8/13: Niles with a Medusa hat at the toy store in Bozmean

8/13: TJay's golden birthday--13 on the 13th!

Heidi driving the Ranger at the ranch...watch out, gophers!

Teenagers! (and crazy Summer)

Ammon after a bath on the deck at the ranch house

 

8/15: Saying goodbye to my girls at Café Rio in Idaho Falls

Flashback: Addie, Ally, and Belle in 2002

Addie, James, Belle, and Ally in 2010

Addie and Isabelle 2009

With Uncle Drew...we sure love these cousins!!!

 

The Clara Session

Addie and her friends Clara and Izzi went out on a little photo safari last week. Clara styled Addie and then took these photos with our little Canon sure shot. I think the photos are lovely, but I think the girls are AMAZING and I love them.

 

{Great work, Clara Bella!]

BFF Selfies!
(Addie looks very Kiernan Shipka in this picture)

Clara, The Photographer in the flowers

Addie Biker

Addie Street Artist

Addie Outback

Fun with Izzi

Sweet Friends

Love this

Love this the most, too bad it blurred (dumb camera)

maybe my fave

Addie Thinkin' about you...and a root beer.

Addie biker2

Addie Emo Album Cover

FAMILY LETTER 08.02.15

Dear Loved Ones,                                                                                           

We have had a busy summer, pretty much like everyone else. I always take for granted the rhythm and schedule of the school year for getting things like letter-writing (and sewing, and organizing, and personal grooming) done—I can’t seem to find the time with all the kids home all the time and the three meals to make and clean up, and the 5 outfits a day and the staying up late and running to and fro. *Sigh* So I am squeezing in a letter real quick before the girls and I watch episode 7 of “Poldark” on Masterpiece, which has replaced letter writing time for the time being.

I’ve kept up with photos on the blog, so if you go there you will get a pretty good idea about what we have been doing. We’re trying not to travel because we’re on an austerity plan, but back to school and groceries are NOT making me feel very austere! I though the kids might be bored, but they’ve had a pretty fun summer, biking and swimming with their friends, reading books and watching movies together on our many rainy days, and trying to figure out family scripture study with our loopy, lazy summer schedules. We did great daily study through June, but July we averaged twice a week, I think, and never with Daddy because we were sleeping in and staying up late. I even made the kids read while we were driving to Bozeman one day because we’d missed like 4 days and we could feel it! Other than that, we’ve pretty much thrown structure to the wind this summer. It has been pretty dreamy and the time has FLOWN (which is great, because I kind of hate summer).

Rich has been very busy with scouts and he’s so awesome at it. Aside from their weekly activities and merit badge projects, they had a three-day backpacking trip in June and a week at the Island Park Scout Camp in July. He has taken our kids on a few backpacking and car-camping trips, and has another planned for next weekend. They love it.  Ammon and Me: not so much. We usually stay behind and stick to our schedules. We are creatures of habit.

The crazy weather has not been kind to our garden and we haven’t been as attentive as we should have been with all the swings in temperature and moisture. We do, however, have tons of beet greens, spinach, butter crunch lettuce, radishes, chives, and green onions and herbs. We had two salads last week made from our own greens. We hope the tomatoes and squash come around—they’ve had a hard time. It’s fun to see the little boys so into helping me out there. Ammon has helped us weed so much, he likes to just go pull up anything, willy-nilly, so we have to keep an eye on that naughty monkey! I hope that God will recognize our efforts to be obedient, even if they aren’t “fruitful” enough to really feed our family and store for winter. We’re trying!

Addie had a great time at Girls’ Camp this year, back in the middle of July. Grandma Melin was up there working on the food, and this year’s group of young women were really happy and outgoing. They won the award for happiest campers because they cheered everyone up, and I thought that was awesome. Heidi participated in the Library’s Middle School-High School reading program this summer and she loved it. It had a Super Heroes theme and they had their own FanCon, so Heidi got super into it and had a lot of fun. James is enjoying cub scouts—he started the summer off with day camp and continues to earn merit badges (or whatever you call those things I sign off on) on his own and with his pack.  July was all about hiking, and I think August is about birds. I’m grateful he has good, consistent leaders.

The little boys and I  have kept the same schedule pretty much, napping with Ammon most days during our quiet time (siesta). The only difference is more running around in the car and stroller with the big kids (which Ammon hates), and later dinner and bed times. Niles is doing great figuring out how to put letters together to make words, watching lots of Little Einsteins and Phineas and Ferb, digging and building in the yard (so much construction all around us!), swimming and biking. Ammon is babbling and starting to mimic—we catch words every so often, but he’s mostly just saying mom, dad, and hi still. He’s a very busy climber and hates to be left out of what the big kids are doing. I spend a lot of time trying to distract him and encouraging him to act his age (“Be a baby! You’re a baby!”). He loves oatmeal and yogurt and wishes he could eat salad with the rest of us, and he loves to play in the water when he’s not tired.

We are looking forward to good things in August. Next weekend Addie and I are going to a wedding in the Salt Lake Temple and Rich is taking the other kids to camp. The next week Rich’s friends from BYUH are coming to visit, and then the next week is our much anticipated/very belated Layton Family Reunion/ Dad Layton’s 70^th Birthday celebration campout at Mack’s Inn. And then school begins on August 26^th. We will have only one child in elementary school this year for the first time since 2009…weird! We’re excited to get Heidi oriented to middle school life, and happy that James has a great teacher this year.

We wish you a happy week! Happy birthday this coming week to Aryelle Stagner (4) and Melanie Post (17), and last week to Emmalyn Drews (3) and Uncle Rob Hamlin. We love you! Keep in touch!

 Love, Rich and Jamie and Family