Sept 2025

 We waited a little longer to go dress shopping for Kaylee's homecoming dress this year and we were worried we wouldn't be able to find anything. She went with two other friends and they had fun trying on the same dresses and we were able to find a super cute one for Kaylee!

Richard has been wanting a firepit for a long time and so for his birthday, we got him a smokeless fire pit. Of course we had to try it out immediately! It worked great and we got some really cool pictures of the fire. 

As part of Richard's Distinguished Staff Award, they gave him tickets for him and his family to go to an OSU game. It was perfect that it was the weekend of his birthday! McKenna chose not to go so we invited Brenton Crossley to take her place. We went early and got food near campus and then headed to the game, where we had pretty dang good seats in the end zone. During one of the breaks, they had all the award winners go down to the field and they put their names up on the big screen. At halftime, they also had a drone show that was pretty cool! I left with Brooklyn and Kaylee at the end of the 3rd quarter but Brenton and Richard stayed for the whole game.

Our stake was in charge of a multi-stake dance and they chose to make it western themed so Richard, Kaylee, and McKenna all dressed up for it. Best looking cowboys I've ever seen! 

We went to an OSU fall family night at the alumni building on campus where they had food, activities, and free pumpkins. Mostly it was younger kids and we didn't stay very long but we were happy we went!

August 2025

Brooklyn's friend had a shaving cream party. No idea what it was for but the girls had a blast giving each other shaving cream hairdos, making silly pictures, and of course, ending in a big shaving cream fight. 

Richard drove down with 4 guys from our stake, Dan Evans, Bevan Blake, Jared Crossley, and Benjin Facer, to watch a professional tennis match. It ended up being way longer than either of us expected (and kind of expensive) but Richard said it was very entertaining. 

Starting another year of school! Kaylee's day starts very early in the morning with seminary and McKenna and Brooklyn ride the same bus again. I can't believe this is Brooklyn's last year of elementary school! 

Brooklyn's friend, Grace, from our old elementary school invited her to her birthday party and so Brooklyn got to see some old friends and go to a jump park. 

Krispy Kreme released a line of Harry Potter themed donuts so you know we had to try them! Most of them were just ok but there were some big winners that had the yummiest filling.

Kaylee and McKenna have been trying to get extra volunteer hours and so they went to do a city-sponsored trash clean up. They met at a high school and walked up and down the main roads around that area to find trash to pick up. 

Kaylee is doing sophomore cabinet again this year and decided to run for president. She would make a great president and we were disappointed that the person who won is only at the high school for less than half the day but we were proud of her for going for what she wanted!

July 2025

 The first week of July, Chase and Richard surprised us by planning a vacation for our families to get together in Michigan! We stayed in an Airbnb not too far away from the beach and spent the day playing in the water, riding boogie boards, and digging in the sand. At night, we would walk down to the beach and watch the sunsets, which were incredible every single night. 

We made it to Galien River County Park and went on a walking trail through the woods. Kaylee, Madsy and Chase went a little further and ran the whole time!

We also went into the town, New Buffalo, for souvenir shopping and walked along the rock pier. Despite feeling weak and not doing so many of the things that I want to do, I was determined to climb along the rocks to make it to the end of the pier and felt so proud of myself when I made it!

We made a last minute decision to rent a boat one of the days. We also rented a tube to pull behind the boat and took turns riding it. McKenna was really nervous to ride on the tube and the first time she tried it, she told Chase to go as slow as he could and seemed pretty terrified the whole time. Luckily she decided to try it again and ended up having a blast! I rode with Kaylee and it was the most fun until we went over a big bump and my prescription sunglasses flew off :( Unfortunately, it was a really windy day and Brooklyn and Holly were pretty miserable and I wasn't loving being in the tiny boat either. So Chase took us back to the harbor and everyone else went back out. Unfortunately for us, the wind died down and they said it was SO much smoother of a ride and the water was gorgeous! They even stopped the boat and all jumped off and swam in the clear water where they could see really far down. 

We were there over the 4th of July and we heard a rumor that people lit off big fireworks on the beach so we went down at night and got a great seat. It was honestly one of the best firework shows we've ever seen and I'd never been so close to fireworks before. We couldn't believe how many fireworks people bought and besides the show we saw right in front of us, we also saw multiple shows all the way down the beach. It was amazing!

The house we stayed in was also pretty amazing and had it's own little pool, fire pit, two full kitchens, a hot tub, and even a game room with a pool table and arcades! 

On the last day, we headed down to the Indiana Dunes to go hiking. We managed to do the shortest (but hardest) hike which was three very steep sand dunes. I was not feeling great and barely survived the hike and the kids were pretty wiped out so when we finished the three dune challenge, we hung out in the nature center and had lunch while Richard and Chase went on a longer hike that they said was gorgeous. 

We had never been to "Mormon night" at the Columbus Clippers so we decided to take the whole family this year. I don't think any of the girls were interested in the baseball but it's such a fun environment and there were a lot of people from our stake. We also got slurpees, hot dogs, and popcorn so that helped them survive the game as well. Even if it wasn't their favorite thing, I think everyone was glad we went.

Madsy went to EFY in Kirtland so Holly drove the kids to our house and then took her the next day while Emery stayed with us. McKenna and Brooklyn were sharing a room while they were here and McKenna threw a metal water bottle towards Brooklyn, which hit her in the face. I couldn't believe how fast her lip got swollen and bruised! It got even darker over the next few days and stayed sensitive for longer than I would have expected. 

One thing Emery really wanted to do was go to the Air Force Museum. He was in heaven but the rest of us didn't think it was interesting, so that felt like a long afternoon! Ha ha.

We took Holly and Emery to eat at Playa Bowls and then walked around Quarry Trails for a little bit. We also made sure to get to the temple for baptisms. 

We also went back to Activate since we had so much fun with Grandma and Grandpa there. It didn't disappoint and I think Holly and Emery liked it as much as we did. 

One super fun thing we did was over the last few weeks, we all read a book called the Sherlock Society and then we had a book club party where we did some trivia from the book, we did a Sherlock themed escape room, we decorated and made food from the book. We were so glad Madys had her EFY in Ohio so we got some bonus time with the Andreason's!