Girls camp, Lacrosse camp, and Yur Mom camp

  July was a busy month in the Starley house. Steven left for BYU lacrosse camp on the 12th, Sarah left for YW camp on the 13th, and Adam and Audrey enjoyed a few days alone with me. Because I'm so cool!

Steven has really gotten into Lacrosse, and it's been fun to see him grow in the sport. BYU has a great lacrosse team and they put on these week long camps for the kids. We chose the housing option, which we had to beg to get, so Steven got to sleep in the dorms. They ate, played lacrosse, ate, played lacrosse, and had fun nightly activities. Their camp counselor taught them how to play "Mattress Dominoes" where they'd set up their mattresses in the hall and knock them over...with a kid between each mattress. Dangerous, but fun. 

  Sarah's YW camp looked amazing, and I heard a lot of good things about it. They had the girls paint small squares using paint by number and when they put them together they were a beautiful painting of Jesus. She also got to be a youth leader and helped the younger girls feel welcomed and have fun. There was an incidence of a mouse in their cabin, so she "loved" the lack of sleep that it resulted in. She's definitely a teenager. ;)

Adam, Audrey, and I made the most of our time together. Since it's been five months and I have no pictures I can't remember what we did, BUT, I know I tried to make the most of our time together. ;)

Happy Birthday Adam!

 My sweet "baby" boy turned 11 in July. Mike had to leave before his birthday, so we celebrated early. We took him and a group of friends to Nicklecade. The following Sunday we had his birthday dinner with the in-laws, which was our last hoorah with Mike for a while. 

Adam is still on track to be our tallest kid. He's a wonderful big brother and cuddly momma's boy. He has a great sense of humor and is very quick witted. I feel lucky each day that I get to be him mother. Happy Birthday sweet boy! 

Estes Park and RMNP with the Millers

 We love the National Parks in Utah, but we haven't been to any outside our state. We've talked about going on more road trips to visit them, but haven't quite made it. Ashley and Dave bought a great vacation rental in Estes Park and invited us to stay for a few days. Estes Park is like a little Park City, and the shopping is good, in addition to being a few miles from the park. The kids had a lot of fun just exploring and building things on their vacation property. (and their neighbor's property)We spent one day in RMNP and hiked to Augusta Falls. RMNP is gorgeous, and I can see why it's so popular. It was our last Hoorah before Mike heads off to AF Weapons School. 

Random June

 We finally, FINALLY, got to attend a Jazz game. They'd been allowing fans, but the prices were a bit high for our pocket books. We managed to get some playoff tickets and the Jazz rewarded our efforts by winning. 

Audrey the ballerina. ;) When Sarah was young she'd do the "ballerina leg", which was her interpretation of how a ballerina looked. Adorably enough, Audrey has done the same thing. Audrey also loves to throw in bows after she performs. It's pretty adorable. 

Audrey was terrified of the Megaladon figure, but was finally willing to accept that it wasn't real. It's nice when kids face their fears. 

We wanted to have more room to workout, so we decided to build a Murphy Bed in the guest room. We didn't anticipate wood prices being crazy high, but it turned out great. 

Lagoon with the Millers and Grandparents

 We had fun camping at Lagoon last year, so we decided to do it again and invite my family to come with. I always feel bad asking Ash to drive out here with her family, but not so bad as to stop me from asking. ;) My big kids are old enough that we can let them do their thing as long as they have phones on. 

I should probably post a scan of this, rather than a picture, but we "had" to get new pics now that we have Audrey. 

 

Kicking the competition! Sarah and Adam's first karate tournament

Adam decided he'd like to start karate, but didn't want to do it alone. Inspired by Cobra Kai, Sarah decided to take lessons with him. They started taking lessons at Bobby Lawrence in May. (I think, it's September now) When they announced the tournament I thought it was just a money grab, since it was all students of Bobby Lawrence, but I didn't realize how many locations/students there were. Sarah and Adam competed at the same time so we had to divide and conquer. I watched Adam and Mike watched Sarah. They each competed in three areas; the kata, power karate (moves), and sparring.  They both did amazing! Each brought home a medal for the different areas. Their main Karate teacher Kalum (sp?) was leaving on a mission soon, so it was fun to see him dressed up and in attendance. I got a solo picture of Adam with his medals, but it somehow didn't save. We were really proud of them, and I know they were proud of themselves. 

Schooooollllls out for Summer!

 We made it! The 2020/21 school year was one for the books. I did a good job of taking their first day of school pictures, but I didn't take one on their last day. I was subbing at the elementary and will pretend I forgot rather than I kind of didn't care. ;) I'll do them next year so we can compare them. I'll give a short summary of their school year. 

Sarah had a year of growth. Lots of lesson to be learned, and lots learned. She's a remarkable young lady.  Sarah decided to take all honors classes, including math, as well as AP Human Geography. It was a full load and she learned a lot about time management and what it can be like in college. Second term was a bit rough for her emotionally and mentally, but she...learned. :)  She received High Honors in her other three terms and is pretty sure she did great on the AP exam. (fingers crossed) (Adding their school pictures, so I can add that she got a 4 on her AP exam, which is great)

Steven was a "Sevey" at school, meaning he was cooler than the sixlets, but not a king of the school like the 8th graders. He made honor roll every term, but that probably had something to do with us "forcing" him to turn in all of his work. I sometimes worry Steven's incredible socialness will get him in trouble, but his teachers love him. He was awarded 7th grade Humanities (history) student of the year. (Note from the future. It's November and this year we've been letting him be in control of his grades. What he earns is what he gets. It's been...hard. It's a good lesson to learn, and we want him to learn it now before he goes to High School next year. 

Adam finished 5th grade, and that meant an end to elementary school. My little baby boy is going to Junior High. He's ready. He's one of the youngest kids in his grade, being a July birthday, but he does well academically and felt ready to move on, despite nerves. He's learning to balance school time and reading time. He loves to read, so he'll sometimes rush through assignments to he can read more. His teacher, Mrs. Hurst adored him. (I started this post in June and am now trying to recall things in November. It's been a busy five months with Mike gone) 

Here's to a the end of a challenging school year! It was challenging year with Covid, but I've been impressed at the kid's resiliency.