The days pass slow but the years fly by. The best way to stop the blur is to write and tell our stories before they are a distant memory and forgotten. I realized this summer how much I've missed typing up the day to day activities especially as I have been working on filling in 2018 pictures in the Project Life album. The basics are there but sometimes the little details as to why I or the kiddos took a certain picture escape me. I often send the picture and ask the kiddos about it. To which they often reply... "That was when I was in 8th grade... why would I remember that?"

Maybe someday I'll go back into the archives of the brain and type up what happened from 2019 until now, I have notes and bits and pieces in a journal but that seems overwhelming at the moment so I will just start from here.

Yesterday we said goodbye to Mulan. It was a hard choice to make but it was time. She was diagnosed with diabetes back in June and then it was a steady down hill decline. Hard to notice in the day to day events but looking back through the summer pictures it was occurring.

Her passing was peaceful and I'm glad it was something we could give her. Having her family around her... petting her and telling her how much she was loved while she purred and then laid her head down is not a bad way to head up to kitty heaven. We went to breakfast after we left the vet and told stories about her. She had a great life at 14 years old.

Walker Jack has got some mad guitar skills!

He started by taking a guitar class at school last year where he played the acoustic guitar. Over the summer he asked about getting an electric guitar with all his lawn mowing money. From then on he's been so passionate about learning and teaching himself any song he wants to play. He will play for hours and hours!! He loves classic rock and his favorite bands to play are Credence Clearwater, AC/DC and Red Hot Chili Peppers.

This pretty much sums up the past 18 months on the blog! I always planned to get "caught up" but life just kind of took over... and blink... it's 2020!!

I don't even know where to begin... 2019 was seriously a blur... ever wonder what a year looks like in a blur?? It's this... bits of color and random memories!

Ainsley's got a job for the summer...

She is working at Cold Stone Creamery and while she is making minimum wage at $7.25 she also gets tips!! The first night of work she made $10.25 in tips!! She had "training" the first 2 nights and when I asked her how it went after the first night she said, "It got busy and you just had to jump right in!" She also couldn't believe there was so many dishes to wash! Makes her chore of emptying the top rack of the dishwasher not so bad!! :)

After the 4th day of work she had some homework to finish up when she got home. She worked til close which was 11pm that night and then decided she'd go and get a pop to help keep her awake to finish her assignments. She went to the grocery store and being aware of spending her own money she decided getting a fountain drink at the gas station was the better choice as it would be cheaper. She left and on the way to the gas station she hit a pothole... she saw it too late and swerved out of the way only to hit it on the wall of her tire!! Well that made for an instant flat tire... nothing like having a flat tire at midnight!! Another first for her this week!

Yay for Daddy's who come to the rescue...

Hard to believe that Walker had his last middle school choir concert...

He had a new choir teacher this year and unfortunately didn't have the same 8th grade choir experience with Franklin Singers that Ainsley did. Which might have been a good thing since he decided show choir with all the dancing just isn't him. He will do Freshman Choir next year and Ainsley's already told him that it will be such a huge difference that he will really enjoy it... let's hope so!

He also finished up piano for the year with his Spring recital and earned his 2nd gold cup from Festival which is an accumulation of 6 years of Superiors!

Trying to find a dress in Ainsley's size that did not need to be altered a week before Prom was a bit stressful... but when you added in the factor that the dress had to have some sort of sleeves... and you only had 1 day to find everything since we went to Salt Lake City then it became REALLY stressful.  But I always love a good challenge!!

We found a couple possibilities but finding something modest enough to fit in with her all Morman group was challenging even in Salt Lake City!!! I'm all about modesty with my 16 year old... no plunging necklines... no tight, strapless or super short dresses etc.. but I didn't think having sleeves made you all high and mighty and better than others, but regardless she wanted to fit in and not be judged by her group before they got to know her. The group was mostly all Juniors and a lot of them were in her new Trouveres group. It took us all day but we did find the dress and the shoes.

Next on her list was to answer the "Promposal". She made this sign...

filled a bag with his favorite candy and then added these star balloons that spelled out Y - E - S...

and then put the answer in his car...

Prom is not just a night thing... it's now an all day thing!! The boys planned everything and in the morning Ainsley started out her day by getting picked up for Breakfast and then they all went to play Paintball! She had such a fun time and she ended up only getting hit twice... once on the shoulder which made an instant bruise and the other on her ankle. So very glad she had sleeves on the dress!!

Then it was home to get ready... I just sat and chatted with her as she got ready and was the "gopher" to get things she needed... loved every minute of it!!

She was told she'd be picked back up at 630... well nothing like your date texting you and saying he will be there 20 minutes earlier than planned. Gluing on those nails in 10 seconds while trying to get Ainsley dressed still makes me laugh! She looked absolutely stunning... I'll be honest I wasn't so sure of the dress when we bought it but I think it was just perfect!!

Here is the fun shoes...

They all met up at another boy's house for dinner where his family made dinner with courses that matched the Prom theme... "To the Moon and Back" They also took group photos and headed off in a Limo!

Just some fun photos of the girls flowers...

Then Ainsley and her friend Kemmi that also made Trouveres with her...

She had an amazing time and thought she had the best date with the best dance moves! Here is the last one with their flowers... Ainsley and Braxton..

The one thing Ainsley was most excited about her Sophomore year was trying out for Trouveres. Trouveres is a singing/dancing choir group at her High School. She tried out the end of her Freshman year and didn't make it... most freshman don't... only 2 were selected last year. She received so many compliments and encouragements that she knew she wanted to try out again the end of her Sophomore year. Trouveres tryouts are intense... its like one of the most sought after "extra curricular" activities at Highland... who would have thought "show choir" would be so popular?!?

She had her singing tryout on a Monday and that weekend I kept asking her if she was ready... she was over analyzing everything and she couldn't decide on what song she wanted to sing. She had it narrowed down to two of them. The first one being "The Shoop Shoop song" by Betty Everett... she is a huge fan of 60's oldies and it suited her voice. Her other song choice was "Lips Are Movin" by Meghan Trainor... which was also a good one for her because she could show off her range by rapping and singing. You also have to have a choreographic dance to your song choice as well as something to be remembered by since there are so many people that try out. She ended up going with the Meghan Trainor song and off she went...

She said she went all out for it and thought she did well but honestly couldn't remember! They had 3 days of auditions and then they had a 3 hour dance audition, where they were shown 2 dances and then were put into groups to be judged on each dance. One is easier with more time to practice and the other is harder with only a few moments to watch and repeat for the judges.

The theme was "Throwback" and she and friend Kemmi wanted to be remembered... I think they did a good job of that... the glitter is still being found at our house!!!

Then the waiting came... there is always drama and poor sports so they waited until Friday after school to post the results... 2 whole days since the auditions!! There were over 100 students that tried out. 63 of them were girls that were trying to get one of the 6 available spots and... SHE MADE IT!!! Her friend Kemmi, pictured above also MADE IT!!! So very excited for them both!!

As if that wasn't exciting enough... a few hours later I got a text from Kemmi and she asked if we could get Ainsley out of the house because someone wanted to ask her to PROM and wanted to set up the question in her room!

"Promposals" as they are called... so big and so fun!! I don't think it's just an Idaho thing since I've seen so many on Pinterest and social media but not sure. We took Ainsley out to celebrate making Trouveres and this is what was waiting for her when she got home...

This was the inside of the card...

And the "Brighton" was this necklace... so unbelievably cute!!

The next day she was woken up and whisked away at 6am by the Trouveres group for breakfast...

and then she and I headed to Salt Lake City to go Prom dress shopping since Prom was only 1 week away!!

April came and went in a blur... there was Easter Snapchat selfies...

Easter April Fools jokes... I only hard boiled some of the eggs!!

We took Bug to register for his HIGH SCHOOL classes...(he was in a bad mood because we asked him what type of classes he was interested in and gave suggestions... gasp... the horror of parents who have an interest in their kiddo!!)

There was turning 16... with fun fake eyelashes for the day!

and heading to the movies to watch "The Greatest Showman". 3 out of 4 McFarlands LOVED it... RAVED about it and went home to listen to the soundtrack... one was less than thrilled about going but said it was fine when it was over. Ainsley drove as she got a Birthday Gas fill up!

Just an at home birthday this year... long story short... High School can be so rough and friends so mean. It was really... really tough for me to not to say or do anything. She told me she wanted to handle the situation her own way... grr. We were more than excited to spend the entire day with her however!!

Savoring photos like this one...

since they seem to be few and far between lately...blink...

Oh my heart... these two growing up so fast.

Middle school track season was complicated this year. First they had a shortened track season, next Walker's school, Franklin was the only school with a track that did not have any structural problems this year. To accommodate all the students participating in track they held all field events at your local school and then all running events were held at Franklin the next day. We never got to see him actually compete against other students from the other middle schools. They just took everyone's scores and then produced a list the next day to show how they compared.

Walker's original plan was to do long jump, 100m dash, a thrower relay, shot put and discus but he ended up just choosing to do what he was most comfortable with... shot put and discus. After the first meet he figured out where he stood compared to other 8th graders and actually decided to put in extra work to improve. He borrowed a shot put from school (we already had a discus) and went over to the field by the house and would throw until dark. He also stayed later at track practices to get more throwing time in and during PE he was also allowed to go and throw in the pits.

He definitely saw results with the extra practicing. He started shot put throwing 29 ft 4 in. The next meet he went to 31 ft 11 3/4 in. Then the last meet which included all students from the 4 middle schools he threw 36 ft 4 3/4 inches which gave him 3rd place in the city.

In discus he started out the season throwing all scratches. The next meet he threw 86 ft 5 inches and then in the city meet he threw 89 ft which again gave him 3rd in the city.

Really hoping he gets some good coaching in High school next year and can succeed further now that he's had a taste of what putting in extra practices does!

Ainsley's track season was a big flop. She had joined winter track to help her stay in shape and be prepared for the spring season but by the time normal track came she was suffering from extreme shin splints... and the practices were super intense... her school work increased while grades decreased... choir became more of a focus and she just couldn't do it all. We paid a lot of money to have a really expensive track uniform to take pictures in... I guess there is next year!?!