Wrestling

Anthon wrestled in high school and so did my brothers so it's a lot of fun to watch Jr. wrestling. (Actually, for me, it's really stressful to watch. But he loves it so I try to be supportive.) He's been learning and getting better. He's getting stronger from his weight lifting class and for the first time in his life, he is having to watch his weight and even lose weight in order to be in the right weight class. It was really hard for him at first to not be able to eat as much as he normally does, but he's getting used to it now.

Warming up

He's been able to do some weight lifting while at home too.

And some practice with Dad.

He had a meet at Alta, Anthon Sr.'s former high school. We got to see Anthon Sr.'s name on the state championship board.

Jr. had JV state last weekend so we spent the afternoon in Farmington watching him wrestle about every 45 minutes. It was a double elimination event. His first match he won, but it was a really long and hard match that wore him out and made his neck sore. I massaged his arms and neck and we found a place on the bleachers that he could lay down until his next match. I made him drink a whole water bottle before getting up again. He started to feel a little better and then he was up for his second match. He lost that one, but it wasn't long before his 3rd match, which he won.

Lucky for us we dropped Damon off at a friend's house before we went up there because it was hard enough keeping Monson and Sophie occupied during the many hours we were there. Monson spotted 2 pre-teen girls that had a deck of cards and after that he and Sophie were very entertained by hanging out with them. Jr.'s 4th match he won, but his 5th he lost and then he was done. It was a long, exhausting day for him, but he did a great job! He is excited to wrestle varsity next year!

Junior's Junior Year

It's been so good having Jr. live with us. He has been thriving and we are so proud of him. His grades are better than ever, he has a good job at Costa Vida and is a hard worker, he has good friends, and he's fun to be around at home. He has been to a couple of school dances with his group of friends.

He asked his friend Addy to Homecoming in September.

This was her answer back to him.

All his friends came to answer with Addy.

In November he was asked to Sadie Hawkins by his friend (girlfriend maybe) Alyssa.

And here's him hard at work.

The little kids loved seeing him at work. When Jr. started cleaning the tables, all 3 little kids just followed him around, chatting with him while he worked. It was so cute. They love their big brother.

Jr. has been playing the trumpet for a few years now and he has had 2 concerts so far. He has also worked his way up to first chair!

Junior is 17!!

It's birthday season! Anthon Jr. turned 17! We are keeping birthdays pretty low-key this year. He just wanted to hang out with his friends so he had his friend group over for pizza and a movie. We got him some new shoes and a wallet for his birthday so I let him open his presents in the morning so he could wear them to school.

Friendly wrestling match.

We are really enjoying having Anthon Jr. live with us! He told us back in June that he wanted to live with us. We told him that if that's what he wanted, we would make it happen. After some negotiations, we were able to come to an agreement and he gets to live with us now. We have notice some really big changes in him recently. He wants to spend more time with the family, he is more talkative, he is more responsible, and he is overall happier than we have ever seen him.

Happy Birthday Anthon Jr.!

First Day of School

I'm late posting "First Day" pictures because my life is crazy. I have 4 kids going to 3 different schools, all of which are their first year at these schools. The little boys are going to a new charter school in Vineyard because it is close to where our new house is being built (more on that later), I put Sophie in a preschool that includes dance, singing and karate in the curriculum, and Anthon Jr. decided he wanted to live with us so I got him registered at Mountain View High School. I also work 3 days a week, so I feel stretch pretty thin most of the time.

Last year I was so ready for the kids to start school, but this year the boys' new school started earlier than all the other schools so the first day kind of snuck up on me and I felt like we were not quite ready for the summer to be over yet. They were both excited about going to a new school, but I was nervous for them. They are great at making friends so I knew they would be fine, but I was just having some mom-anxiety for them.

The boys have been loving their new school and have already made a few good friends. Within the first couple of weeks Monson had a playdate. After only a few days at school, when I picked the boys up after school, Monson said, "Mom, I'm planning a playdate with someone in my class. Her name is Hadley." Of course it's a girl. Monson has always loved playing with girls and meeting new girls. She is really the only person he talks about in his class. They had a playdate at her house and he asks if he can have another playdate with her all the time.

Damon has some good friends at school, but the only person he wants to spend time with after school is his friend Baden. He's in our ward, but he's a little older than Damon so they didn't really know each other for the past year since Baden moved in. I can't even remember how they became friends, but in about July they started hanging out and now EVERY SINGLE DAY they only want to spend time together, mostly playing Roblox.

Sophie's school didn't start until after Labor Day. I have had all my little kids going to Kids Village preschool in the past, but over the summer I found out about a preschool that offers singing and dancing as part of the curriculum. Those are two out of three of Sophie's favorite things (the third is makeup) so I knew I had to switch her to this other preschool. So far she loves it. They also do Karate one day a week, which she is loving too.

I've never been able to do an official "first day" post and picture for Anthon Jr. so this is new! Anthon Jr. was on a trip to Equador until the weekend before Labor Day so he missed his first 2 weeks of school. On the Tuesday after Labor Day, he and I went to his new high school, met with his counselor and picked out his classes. All the classes he wanted ended up being open and fitting into his schedule on the first try. His counselor said that never happens. It's hard to tell whether a teenage boy is excited about something or not, but I think he was excited about his new school because his friends go there. He even let me take a picture of him before we went in!

So far he is doing well in his classes. He is taking band, wrestling, biology, AP calculus, seminary, English, Spanish, and US history. He gets a ride to and from school with his friend Johnny and they either go to our house or his friend's house for lunch everyday.

Avery started going to a private school this year. It's in Kaysville and it is Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints based and focuses heavily on academics. It doesn't have any art or band or anything like that. They only go to school for 5 hours a day, 4 days a week. They get a lot of homework and read a lot of books. Avery said she is reading 7 different books right now. She seems to be liking it and is learning a lot.

Here are some stats:

Damon

Height: 4 feet 8 1/2 inches     Last Year: 4' 6"

Weight: 70 lbs.                       Last Year: 62 lbs.

Shoe Size: 4                           Last Year: 2

Clothing Size: 10

Favorite Color: Green (Back to normal. For a while last year he was saying red.)

Favorite Super Hero: Spiderman

Favorite Food: Burritos

Favorite Friend: Baden Pratt (a kid in our neighborhood that he hangs out with EVERY SINGLE Day)

Favorite Thing to Do: Play Roblox with Baden

Favorite Subject in School: Math

Favorite Book: Monkey Me

Favorite Toy: Doesn't really have one anymore

Favorite Game: Roblox

What do you want to be when you grow up: Soccer player

Monson

Height: 4 feet 1 1/2 inches     Last Year: 3' 11 1/2"

Weight: 58 lbs.                       Last Year: 50 lbs.

Shoe Size: 1                           Last Year: 1

Clothing Size: 6/7

Favorite Color: Teal (because Avery told them her favorite color is teal)

Favorite Super Hero: Iron Man

Favorite Food: Spaghetti

Favorite Friend: Baden

Favorite Thing to Do: Play outside

Favorite Subject in School: Art

Favorite Book: Dinosaur book

Favorite Toy: I don't care

Favorite Game: Roblox

What do you want to be when you grow up: I don't know

Sophie
Height: 3 ft. 7 inches              Last Year: 3' 4"
Weight: 42 lbs.                       Last Year: 36 lbs.
Shoe Size: 10                         Last Year: 9
Clothing Size: 5

Favorite Color: Teal (because Avery said it was her favorite color)

Favorite Princess: Elsa

Favorite Food: Spaghetti (she heard Monson say this was his favorite)

Favorite Friend: Lilly and Kyrus (next door neighbor kids)

Favorite Thing to Do: Cuddle with Mommy

Favorite Subject in School: Draw

Favorite Book: Kitty book

Favorite Toy: Owley (a rainbow owl with a unicorn horn)

Favorite Game: Guess Who

What do you want to be when you grow up: a Mommy

Anthon Jr.
Height: 6' 2"
Weight: 150
Shoe size: 10 1/2
Favorite color: I don't care
Favorite food: Pizza
Favorite friend: His group of friends
Favorite thing to do: Play video games
Favorite subject in school: Band
Favorite book: Adventures Wanted
Favorite game: Call of Duty
What do you want to be when you grow up: The smartest man alive

Avery
Height: 5' 8"
Shoe size: 9
Favorite color: Yellow (apparently not teal anymore)
Favorite Super Hero: Spiderman
Favorite food: Tin foil dinners
Favorite friend: Tyler, Elana, Xavier, Audam
Favorite subject in school: Math

I think it's going to be a great year!

When Your Kids Aren't Little Anymore

Junior Turned 16!!!

Last weekend we celebrated Anthon Jr.'s 16th birthday! He wanted to have a party with his friends on the lake with the jet ski so that's what we did. We got some pizza and other lake toys and spent the afternoon there.

After the lake we headed home. First everyone watched the BYU game together and then we did cake and presents. Anthon wanted an Oreo Delight cake so I made that for him, but it almost all got eaten before I was able to get a picture of it. It's that good.

He got a new white shirt and tie and suit that arrived a couple days later. He also got a Star Wars crochet set.

Happy 16th birthday Jr.!

Anthon Jr.'s 15th Birthday!

Birthday season continues with Anthon Jr.'s birthday! We celebrated over the weekend and his actual birthday was yesterday. I'm trying to keep this year's birthdays a little low-key so he had some friends over, we had pizza, cupcakes, ice cream and all the teenagers hung out outside. They played games and built a fire. I think it was a success!