Ryan's AMCIS Conference 2022

 

In August Ryan went to a conference in Minneapolis (that's in Minnesota, in case you didn't know). While he was there, he took a few trips to see fun stuff around town. Right in the middle of town is Minnehaha Falls.

He also wandered around a little bit in the skybridge area of downtown. Apparently there are miles and miles of connections between buildings so Minnesotans don't have to go outside in the winter.

This park he saw had a bunch of shuffleboard... courts? fields? boards? Whatever they're called. Nobody was using them, but it looked cool. He went over to check them out because he hoped it was curling, but it wasn't.

He also went down to the sculpture garden to see the fun sculptures there are there.

Like this messed up lookin' dude.

This giant blue rooster

This is a plant growing on another plant. It's not a sculpture. At least I don't think it is.

A rabbit/bell/pillar thing.

And this tower with a statue of a guy inside.

This is the most famous sculpture from the garden. It's called Spoonbridge and Cherry, which feels a little bit on the nose. Unfortunately you can't walk across the bridge. But it does look cool.

Back to School 2022

This is the first year that all four kids are now in school five days a week, and it's so crazy! We kicked off this school year with our back-to-school dinner the Sunday before they started. We had letter chicken nuggets, letter mac and cheese, apples, and jello cups:

 

Monday night the older three had their back to school night at their schools. Cora and Zane got to meet their teachers and see their classrooms (but I only got pictures of Cora):

Hyrum and I walked the halls of his junior high for an hour and a half trying to make sure he met all his teachers, could open his locker, found the cafeteria, and knew where all of his classes were. I was definitely tired by the end of the night, but he definitely felt more comfortable for his first day the next day.

Cora filled out this form for her teacher for the first day of school:

Hyrum had the first "first day" this year, since the 7th graders had a half day before school started for the older kids so they could practice getting to their classes and figuring out where everything is. I can't believe I have a kid in junior high now! He is so ready for this though, and has been loving it so far:

The next day Zane and Cora had their first day of school!

We had a little neighborhood "Back to School Blastoff Breakfast" before their first day, and I think they thought it was fun to hang out with friends a bit that morning:

Walking the red carpet on the first day:

Lining up with their new classes! Zane gets to be in class with his best friend this year:

Cora has the best teacher!

They both had a great first day and are loving school so much too. 

The next week Ivy had her back to school night for kindergarten:

Then she finally had her first day!

She got to walk the red carpet too:

She has been loving kindergarten, and she is lucky enough to have one of her best friends in her class too (who she asks to play with every day when I pick her up)! It is only half day, so we still get to hang out just the two of us every afternoon.

She made this "about me" poster for her first week at school, and she really loved making it!

And, someone else had a first day of school- me! With Ivy having school every morning and starting full day school next year, I decided it was time for me to figure out what I will be doing with this new season of my life. So, I am taking one class this semester at BYU (perks of being a professor's wife) and seeing how it goes. So far I have really enjoyed being back in the classroom, though I'm not used to all this homework!

We're all still settling into the new routine, but it's great that everyone is enjoying school this year!

August 2022

Hyrum has grown so much!

We had a great August! The beginning of the month we tried to squeeze in all the last summer fun that we could, then the kids started school and we got into a new routine again.

Love this boy:

Building with K'nex:

We made homemade ice cream as part of our summer fun list, and the kids insisted that they wanted to do it the Ziploc bag way:

Eating the fruits of their ice cream labor:

Later this month, Hyrum and I made some ice cream in our ice cream maker, since that's how Hyrum likes it best.

Cutie girl, playing dress up with friends, being cozy after a bath, and playing with playdough:

We went to the Scera outdoor theater to see The Sound of Music as a family. The kids got too cold and tired, so we left during the intermission, but they actually loved it and we watched the last half of the movie at home a different day:

Ivy got to hold our piano teacher's baby one day and was LOVING it:

I took Cora for the other half of her summer date one day (the first half was horseback riding in ND). She chose Jurassic Taco and Sweet Rolled Taco for dessert:

I took each of the kids shopping for a back to school outfit this month as a one-on-one experience (it was definitely less stressful for me this way). They also got to pick a treat as part of it. Cora even chose to go to the mall to shop for her outfit! The other kids chose something from the store, but Zane chose to get frozen yogurt for his special treat:

We went to Farm Country at the beginning of August, which was one of the last things on the summer fun list! Sadly, Hyrum is too big for the ponies, and now Cora is too, but she got one last ride:

We finished the outing with checking out a restaurant I've wanted to try for awhile now, Stir's. It's just a place full of different cereals for you to try. The kids loved it!

While Ryan was at a conference this month, the kids and I went to the grand opening of the Frontrunner station. It was a beautiful night:

We all got a treat from the food trucks, and I ended up with a pile of delicious churros:

What we really came for was the drone light show, which we all thought was truly amazing. Hyrum even said it was one of the best things we did all summer:

We went to Bridal Veil Falls again so the kids could have a good, long time to play in the water. They loved it!

We spent Hyrum's last day of summer at the All Abilities park in Spanish Fork, which the big kids have never been to. They all had a great time:

We spent Cora and Zane's last day of summer going to Airborne Trampoline park with second cousins:

Ryan and I had our fifteenth anniversary this month! Our big celebration was our trip to SF earlier in the summer, but we decided to take the whole family out for dessert to celebrate our family's birthday:

Ivy's last day of summer was also spent at Airborne Trampoline Park, it was just a week later, and spent with Uncle Dallen:

Zane learned to ride his bike this month! He was really scared to do it for a long time, but he's finally doing it! Just a bit more practice and they'll be ready to ride bikes to school:

Ryan had the idea to go on an adventure one Saturday so we took Hyrum, Zane, and Ivy rock climbing (Cora was at a friend's birthday party). Everyone did great and had fun! Zane and Ivy were a bit nervous, but they kept trying!

It was a really fun family activity, and I'm sure we'll be back:

The last thing we had to do on our summer fun list was to go to a sports event together, so we went to a BYU women's volleyball game. It was so fun! And our team won, which made it even better :)

The finished summer fun list! We really had such a fun summer, full of adventures and time spent together. All of our summer fun always makes going back to school kind of hard on my momma heart.

Zane made this fun back to school craft at his primary activity this month:

Zane and Ivy wanted me to pretend they were movie stars, so I took selfies with them (like I would if I saw a real celebrity):

Hyrum learned to pluck out Hedwig's theme on the guitar this month:

Ivy the elephant:

Zane started flag football this month. He was chosen to be the starting quarterback for their first game, and he did a great job! He is really loving it:

Ryan and Hyrum went on a short trip to Cedar City one weekend in August for Hyrum's championship swim meet- the Beehive Finale. While waiting for dinner one night, they played with snakes at a pet store:

Hyrum loved having a big bed all to himself:

He had four events the first night, and it was a lot to have so many heats right in a row!

He ended up doing so great, with faster times in all of his events. He also ended up getting 2nd in all six of his events! We are so proud of how hard he has been working at swim team. Here are his medals and ribbons for the meet:

Ryan and I went on a date with some friends to an original play in Provo at the Beehive Collective. It was pretty cool!

Ryan made a giant pancake one Sunday for dinner, and he was actually able to flip it, which was pretty amazing!

We went on another group date this month with neighbor friends to the Bluebird Cafe concert at Sundance. The setting was beautiful, and the country songs were great, so we had a great time, even though it was freezing:

Ryan rides his electric scooter to the bus stop, then takes the bus into work most days, so he ends up with really awesome helmet hair:

August was a great month!