School So Far (Football, Seminary, Swimming & Fun)

It's been a really fun and busy school year so far! The weeks have been full of activities, and the weekends have been packed with various events and completing the room swap/rearrange.  (I'll do a separate post about that at some point, but I'm writing from my new office--the old guest room.). 
 

Seminary is in full swing.  To catch up on the doctrinal mastery that we missed over the summer, we did a human sculpture park.  This is Jesus creating the worlds.  (I let them edit however they wanted, haha.) 

This is through the ordinances, godliness is manifest. 

Snuck a pic in sacrament meeting when Grammy had the kids help her with an object lesson.  

Yesterday Ben went to a Bat mitzvah that included a Savanah Banana's game.  He hadn't met the girl before, but he enjoyed the event.  

Ben brought his buddies over after the SW Varsity victory on Friday.  Can you guess the theme of the game? 

Libby sent me this picture of her first weld! 

Sarah had her first swim meet.  She also missed one meet due to choir.  There have been a couple "meets" for dive (they do them at practice the day before).  I haven't been to one yet, but there is video evidence of her diving hopefully uploading here.  I'll get to see her this week, as they move back down to Helene Madison this week instead of up at Mariner HS. 

Grammy got this one after I had to go. 

I tried my hands at taking swim pics.  It's tough! I arrived just in time to see her finish her swim.  Then had to leave to help with a football dinner before her next one.  Ugh.  

Cutie BFFs. 

More DM--I the Lord am bound when ye do what I say. 

The blessings of the Word of Wisdom

Having fun in college. 

Ben has had 2 football games now.  So far they've won both.  They've been quite entertaining.  It's been good spectator weather--dry, but a bit chilly by the end.  I'm so glad wrestling is indoors! 

Libby is doing some private coaching in Iowa.  These are members of the Centerville Branch. 

First day of Seminary! 

Dad coaching.  A rousing post-game speech I'm sure, but I beat it to the car to get warm. 

Last Sunday I didn't blog because we had a wedding in Pasco for one of Derek's coworkers.  Made for a long day (3 hour drive each way.). But it was fun to spend time chatting.

Also week 2 of school and 1 of seminary I got a nasty stye.  I decided to go to urgent care after my head felt like it was exploding and I had a black eye.  The antibiotics really helped!

Hard to tell here how bad it was.  But ouch! 

This week on Thurs, Fri, and Saturday I did a workshop with WIFYR (Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers.). I'm hoping to submit one or two query letters for my book (now titled Reversal) before the Wrestling Season starts. 

School is IN!

 We made it through our first week.  It was such a crazy week getting ready for school to start, and getting Libby's old room ready for Ben.  But we did it! 

Definitely the worst first day of school pics we've ever done.  But oh  well.  We captured the moment, in all its hectic glory. 

The world is in their hands! 

The carpet cleaned up nicely! A blank slate for Ben to move into.  He's been super motivated to have a closet.  But of course this meant I had to buy him a desk and some shelves.  Ugh.  I just did such a nice redo of his room (with my parents' help) 2 years ago.  But he's such a good helper, and doing most of the work himself. So I'm here for it. 

Classroom Set Up

 I had such a hard time settling on a quote for my door this year.  It wasn't until we were in church in Iowa that a girl made a comment about changing the world that it finally clicked.  I rushed through making the door posters.  I'm irritated with my choices on both of them.  But I do like the overall theme.  My kids are going to cut out handprints to put on the outside door, holding up the world. (Not pictured, but I added a globe to the outside door.) 

Yeah, this one is super hard to see.  I knew the letters were probably too thin, but was too hasty.  Oh well.  Maybe I'll redo it.  Probably not.  Haha. It's much more readable than in this picture I think. 

AND...Libby is a College Student!

 Okay, this blog is called libbynorton.blogspot.com...and I started it when Libby was just a few weeks old.  And now she's all moved out.  What!?  How did all that time go by?  Luckily, I have this blog, so I can look back and be reminded.  Seriously.  The days were long but the years were (mostly) SO SO short.

Anyway, Libby was essentially unable to pack without her bestie Izzy.  Thankfully Izzy donated many hours to the effort.  Finally on the Sunday after girls camp we all got in on it (except Derek who went to bed so he could get up for work.). Between Izzy, Sarah, Ben, and I, we were able to sort and empty out her room.  We loaded up the cartop carrier we bought for the Subaru (a collapsible one) and then filled the back up just high enough that we could still see out the rear window.  It was probably way too much for a dorm room, but we had space in the car for it all.  We took lots to the DI and put 4 big bins in the attic.  Now the room was a blank (not clean) slate for Ben to move in.  Much carpet and wall scrubbing will commence before it's move in ready for Ben.

The Monday before she left we did all kinds of odds and ends.  She got a checking account, a physical, and finished some packing.  Then--off to Iowa (Iowa or BUST!)

We drove to Utah on day 1 (after dropping off Izzy and a few tears), a drive we've done lots of times.  We listened to a thriller.  She slept through the first part, but I caught her up and we enjoyed the rest.  We got to have a nice dinner with Mimi and Papa before we headed out to Lincoln bright and early.

The drive to Lincoln we listened to Verity, a book Libby had really enjoyed.  It's trippy.  But kept me driving.  When we finished that it was her turn to drive, so I decided to read her my book that I wrote this summer.  It's about a middle schooler who becomes a wrestler.  She LOVED it.  And had some good suggestions.  It was really fun to read it to her because she responded just right to all the parts (including shedding some really big tears--maybe wasn't super safe to read it to her while she was driving, but we survived.)  Then she read me some of her poetry when it was my turn to drive.  Then we listened to some Reddit stories.  Very entertaining.  We made it to Lincoln at around 9:30 pm.  Not too bad, but I was car weary.  It was fun to chat with my Uncle Jim (my dad's oldest brother) and my Aunt Susan.  They are great.  They fed me a yummy breakfast and we headed to Iowa in the morning (Libby doesn't really do breakfast).

We tried to take my uncle's advice to avoid a bunch of lights and still get to I-80.  Somehow we avoided all the lights.  And the highway.  So we took back roads for the final 4 hours to Centerville.  It was actually amazing!  We saw so much corn.  So much corn.  And an Amish buggy driving  on one road.  

Centerville is a super small town, as advertised.  We got her books and supplies from the book store and she had her first psych appointment with her new psychiatrist.  

Then we got to bum around Centerville for a day before move-ins.  We hit up Walmart, tried the restaurants, and went to see Freakier Friday (amazing!).  

We really did have a great time together, and the move-in went smooth for everyone (except Derek, who's flight was cancelled.  He ended up flying in Minneapolis and driving the 5 hours from there.). Once she was moved in, there were team activities all evening and all day Sunday.  So we said a quick goodbye and headed out to Des Moines.  

I had originally bought our tickets based on the website info that Move In Day was Sunday.  I was so glad we got it done on Saturday, even thought it meant Derek wasn't there.  Instead, Derek and I attended the branch on Sunday.   It was an awesome experience.  Libby is super ready to not go to church.  But the branch is full of former wrestlers, wrestling fans and coaches. So they are hiring Libby to work with their daughters and are going to pray for her.  I'm glad she'll have a bigger support system there. (Outside of her team, who also seem amazing.) 

Libby also has a great roommate.  They hit it off really well.  Jeanette is from St. George.  She's not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but her boyfriend is.  She gets Mormon culture.  So that's a good building block.  They are both freshman.  Jeanette is injured, so won't be able to wrestle this season, but they have a class together and are really enjoying getting to know each other.  She also has a hedgehog!  Her mom gave Libby some solid advice about remembering to take her meds.  I loved her.

Anyway, I've had moments this week were I'm sad that Libby isn't here.  But she's so happy and it feels so right for her to be where she is.  So that's a huge blessing.  She also had a hard time living house rules this summer.  So it's nice that she can have some space to set some of her own rules. 

I went straight back to work (literally almost straight from the airport.)  So it was a busy week for me. We went to a Mariners game on Tuesday. Ben and I got the first coat done on his new room yesterday. We'll finish tomorrow.  Sarah and I watched the Thursday Murder Club movie.  Excellent!  Libby called to tell me about the first day of school.  So far so good!  I'm finishing summer right with quality time with all my kids.  It was great.  

We didn't exactly have room to drive Izzy home, but we did it.  HUGE thanks to Izzy or we may never have gotten Libby all packed. 

Small town with a BIG sign. 

This wrestling facility is SO nice. 

Libby made a best friend near our hotel. 

Libby and Jeanette

The bed space.  So cute!  

The desk space (for makeup OBV--she'll have study group in the library.) 

The wardrobe/laundry area

It's official!  She has her own locker :)

Derek paid for her to drive to an Iowa State game yesterday.

She spent the summer chatting with this cute boy.  Seems like they are hitting it off in person.  I got to meet him and he's a sweet boy. 

Ben getting all set to paint over the pink so this can become his room. He's so excited to have a closet that he already moved his clothes in. The carpets will definitley need a thorough cleaning before he can move in.  

Girls Camp 2025

 For the past several years, girls camp has been in a different place.  That makes planning and anticipating so hard.  But, we finally hit on the right place!  The lodge at Ensign Ranch.  One of the priesthood leaders who came up said it felt more like a "wellness retreat," and that hit the nail on the head.  

We had a great theme, (Doubt Not, Fear Not) and a great symbol, the sunflower--a heliotrope that follows the sun (AKA the SON Jesus Christ.)  We sang "Let Us All Press On," about 50 times (we did it in different ways--pointing at different groups, and doing the wave), I sang "Rise and Shine" horribly to wake them up.  It was just such a good week.  The food was awesome, and the cooks (Chunie & Caroline) came up with a fun twist to do "doubt not fear not" food sampling several times a day.  It was mostly delicious (I wasn't into the anchovy or squid--but other than that yum!) 

Seriously Sarah--getting this pic of Peak Norton (last day--pretty tired!)

Rescue carries during our camp skills relays

Sarah killing it at archery

3 in the target

Derek shooting too (I also shot!) 

 

We did a human pyramid for my "organize yourselves" Come Follow Me lesson.  Haha.  It was pretty fun.  We did not succeed in a full pyramid.  

The pickleball tournament was super fun.  They have 3 courts and a bunch of supplies.  Sarah got to partner with Chunie and they took 3rd. 

Derek served as tournament director so I could take photos.  (Until a light sprinkle caused me to put my camera away.) 

With very little experience--Sarah did pretty well--and got better each game I think. 

All the things in the schedule went really well.  The number of things on the schedule were just right (with some free time for ping pong, air hockey, and extra crafts.) 

One of our key goals was unity--and the girls did come together really beautifully, all 14 of them. 

I felt inspired to ask the people leading devotionals to tell a story of Jesus that helped them realize they could look to him and get to know him--which helped them doubt not and fear not.  Each devotional took this in a bit of a different direction.  It was so fantastic. 

The stained glass art that the girls did was beautiful.  (Lisa and I both felt inspired to do stained glass!)  They shared some of the truths they had learned about the Savior in their art. I also gave them each one of the screw up shirts--where they did the yellow logo on the yellow shirts.  Keep looking for Christ.  He is there and will help you doubt not and fear not.  Even if you can't discern him at first. I just felt like the Lord was with me--with all of us.  

It was so fun to be there with Derek and Sarah (Derek was there Tues even-Friday even).  Sarah was a good YCL.  She did a great job helping us move things along.  

Anyway, of course I have some thoughts for next year, but overall, I want to do this again. Same place, same staff. And we'll have a new crop of 1st years!