Megan turns 8!

 As is our tradition, when each of my kids turned 8, I channeled my inner Grandma Jolley and made them a quilt. Megan reached that milestone in July and I was able to pull together her quilt just in time. 

Our ward holds an annual 4th of July pancake breakfast, which Megan loves going to since it's kind of like a birthday party with over 100 people there. :) 

After the pancakes we always go outside and the kids have a mini parade in the parking lot. The kids got all decked out for the parade.

Rachel brought rollerblades, but forgot to bring extras for Eliza, so they shared the one pair between them. Sophia made signs for them to use for the parade.

This year the candy cannon was back, always a hit.

Back at home we decorated cupcakes for Megan's family party. She wanted a fish theme.

Presents were awesome. Peyton and Kenzie got her this giant squishmallow. 

Megan loved her quilt.

Of course her favorite gift was the hoverboard she had been asking for since Christmas. Also the source of fights and scuff marks on all our baseboards.

We had Eegees for lunch, then did games for a while until Peyton and Kenzie had to go home.

Pinchy-hitty-flatty-cutty-cow:

That night we celebrated our independence (and Megan's birthday) with fireworks. 

Grandma brought over Megan's gift the following day now that she was out of her COVID isolation period.

A few days later Megan had some kids over for a friend party. 

They played games, watched a movie, and had cake. All in all, she had lots of fun.

Megan is a smart kid who loves making people laugh. She's a role model at school for good behavior and gets Caught in the ACT often at school for being responsible and kind. She is creative and goofy and hates socks and pants. She would be happy to wear shorts and flip flops her whole life. She is getting a little better at withstanding the pain and hassle of socks and close-toed shoes on occasion. We're glad she's part of our family.

Summer Break

 Besides YW camp, FSY, cooking and sports camps, we managed to have some fun over the summer. We didn't do a ton of swimming, maybe once a week. Friends offered their pools for swimming, and the kids liked that.

We compared eye colors. All of us have blue eyes, but in varying shades...

Rachel:

Colette (lighting made me look jaundiced):

Ryan:

Jacob:

Megan:

Annie:

Swimming at the Milby's:

We managed semi-regular trips to the library, which always resulted in a few hours of silence when we got back and everyone sat around reading.

YW swimming activity:

Skate country:

Ryan participated in the Hoopz basketball league. He had tons of fun with his best friend Derek on the team, and Derek's dad coaching.

Annie loved doing Karolee's drama camp. (Rachel told me to remind her next time that she does want to do it, even if she says she doesn't want to because she's a bit of a homebody.)

Annie was Lumiere in one of the skits, and also had a part in the Harry Potter spoof they did. It was all very funny. 

We decided to invite some friends over to do a group service project one day. We invited them to bring any snacks they wanted and the kids decorated paper bags then filled them with snacks. We took them to the Ronald McDonald House for parents to grab on their way to hang out with the hospital with their kids so they'd have snacks throughout the day.

We also told everyone to bring their swimsuit and so we could have some water activities going on in the back yard when we finished the service project. 

We finished about 60 bags for the Ronald McDonald House! I love seeing all we can accomplish with just a little planning and an invitation to a few other people to pitch in. 

Annie has been saving up the tokens she gets at her orthodontist for brushing regularly, not breaking any brackets, etc. She can use them to buy gift cards, so she cashed in and got some Eegees gift cards and took me out to lunch. Delicious!

Swimming at the Spear's pool while Rachel was dog sitting:

At the end of June I went to Flagstaff for the Arizona PTA Convention. I worried that it would be a waste of time, but it turned out to be pretty valuable. All our board that was able to go came away with ideas on how to make this year better and a better focus on what really matters.

Anna King, the National PTA President, was in attendance and Nicole and I snapped a picture with her. She was so kind and personable, the kind of person that makes you feel important.

Mini breakout session with all the PTA presidents at the convention:

While Rachel was at FSY we managed a visit to Bahama Bucks for a delicious summer treat to mark off our summer bucket list.

Our friends, the Frosts, were moving to a different house in the ward, so we invited their kids over while they were packing, since all their toys were packed up. The kids had a good time with them. Megan and Annie love following Mila around as a babysitter/boss. Graham and Ryan and Megan made some pretty epic creations with the legos. 

We had to wait longer than planned to celebrate Peyton's birthday, but we were happy to have them come out of the 4th of July weekend. We played games and had cake and celebrated Peyton on Saturday. Unfortunately Grandma and Grandpa Knight had COVID, so they stayed isolated in their house, and just video chatted to watch her open her present.

Peyton and McKenzie were able to stay and celebrate the 4th of July and Megan's birthday with her, but that's in a different post.

We were able to visit Patagonia Lake with Savannah and kids. Everyone had a good time and it wasn't too crowded at all until it was about time for us to leave anyway.

Before heading back to school we had to meet up with Dad for lunch. We met him at Wendy's near his work.

As the Hoopz basketball season wrapped up, Ryan played really hard and was chosen as MVP of his team. He's super fast and aggressive and a great defender. 

Sunday dinner has been a wonderful tradition for our family. Sundays with food, then sharing funny videos, talking, and playing games has been even better the last few years with Todd and Savannah living here. 

I guess we had a girls lunch at Carl's Jr. Not sure why, or where Ryan and Rachel were. 

The Saturday before school started we hosted a good-bye party for Savannah and Todd and their family. We've loved having them here and they've made lots of friends, so it seemed right to have one last hurrah before they left to head back to Seattle now that Savannah is done with law school.

It was a full, somewhat relaxing, and fun summer. We're glad the Knights stuck around to maximize cousin time over the summer before moving. 

FSY

 Rachel got to go to FSY at the U of A this summer. She had a ton of fun, had a great company, and grew spiritually. 

Rachel and her friend, Eliza, roomed together. They stayed in the same dorm, same hall that Savannah lived in when she was a freshman at the U of A. 

By a lucky coincidence 6 out of 10 girls in their group were from our stake: Rachel, Eliza, Sophia, Blue, Adrienne, and Lydia. When we learned that I told Rachel to make sure to not let it be a clique and to include the other girls that didn't know the group. She said that wasn't a problem. They all clicked from the very beginning and were great friends. 

After settling in to their rooms we went and found some food for lunch, which they brought back to their dorm, and ate in the common area, where I left them to their fun. 

On my way home I got a text from her saying she needed more kazoos. She had brought one for herself, but apparently needed enough for the whole group. They ended up using them for the variety show where they did a skit about how to flirt.

The next day Megan helped me deliver the kazoos we found at Instrumental Music Center. No one was in the office so we ended up leaving them in there with a picture to show where they were when she came to pick them up.

The week of FSY was the same week Ryan had sports camp and Annie had cooking camp, so Megan and I had a few hours together every morning to hang out. We squeezed in a few outings while the others had fun in their own activities: