2017- Week 38(Sept 18- Sept 24)

DUP started back up this week. I got voted in as the new historian- which means I am in charge of submitting all the pioneer histories that any one gives through out the year. I also received my official membership certificate. It was a pot luck and I made chicken salad sandwiches. I grossly over estimated how many to make and ended up with a whole dozen left at the end so we had them for lunch and dinner for a few days. The lesson was on the Mexican colonies of saints that moved to Mexico in order to still practice polygamy. Camilla Eyring Kimball was born there. It was interesting. It's a fun group of ladies.

I helped out with the Wolf Den this week because one of the leaders son broke his leg and is in a full body cast. We learned about compasses and finding directions. One little boy named Easton discovered that his house faces East so he was certain that is why his parents named him Easton- ha ha. Scouts is a lot like herding cats- they have a 10 second attention span before they are wondering about something completely off topic. They sure are darling boys and I'll get to help for a few more weeks.

I worked three days this week. One day I was suppose to teach handcarts but it was pouring rain so me and one of the supervisors taught dance instead. We taught the Virginia Reel. It was so so fun. One of our field trip groups had an adventure when the train slid off the road and into a ditch- I'm glad I didn't see it or I think I would have freaked out. Always an adventure at the park.

I found this discourse on the Sabbath Day in one of the pioneer readers at work- boy did people in the 1800's have their lives together!

We had a progressive dinner for Relief Society. We went to three homes. It was really yummy food and fun to get to visit with so many great ladies.

Monstrous fatigue for me this week so I went to bed at 7:30 a few nights- any time I have a busy week I end up with a few of these days. I think I must age in dog years- so I am technically 273 ha ha and I sure feel like it.

My car has been acting up so we had to take it in. It needs a new EGR valve- which is going to cost a mere $900- YIKES! Luckily it's not a serious problem and we can wait a while before doing it so we have decide to either buy a new car which is way more then $900 or pay this on a car that isn't even worth $900- BOO I hate cars.

Friday I tutored both my reading students since I worked all week and had to rearrange some lessons. I'm not sure if I mentioned that I took on a new student named Hayden who is 11. His family is Korean. I really don't want to do it at all, but he's sweet and easy to teach and his mom said I was an answer to prayer-so how do you say no to that??

Friday night was my friend Chuck's birthday party. Chuck is 86. He's the coolest man. He even still drives and he is a whiz with Facebook. He is the father of my friend and boss Cliff at work- who is also my neighbor. Chuck married a beautiful Hawaiian girl so his children are half Hawaiian. There was a former missionary from our Stake there that is also Hawaiian and did the hula for us- her name is Katie and she had dinner at our house when she was a missionary here and I had totally forgotten, but she remembered us. We gave Chuck a Hawaiian t-shirt with a camera on the front and I told him to wear it when it's cold and he wants to pretend to be on vacation.

Saturday was the funeral for another neighbor who passed away this week. It's so sad- he had lung problems. He's married to a darling Swedish woman who is blind- so I am very worried what she will do. Luckily most of their kids live here so I know she will be taken care.

Our ward also helped move a sister and her mom that are not members this week- I am grateful our ward could help her and she was so grateful too but wow what a huge undertaking. She had so much stuff (junk) and she is autistic so she wouldn't let them get rid of anything- she yelled at my poor friend Melissa who was trying to help her sort and donate and dejunk. I helped with yard work to clean up her yard. It was super overwhelming to everyone but you just have to do it when someone needs help I suppose.

My step mom has been texting me pictures of their dog Piper because they are going to give it to Melinda and Kevin to be a hunting dog and because Piper needs a more active lifestyle then they can provide. This picture made me laugh so hard- apparently she loves to watch TV.

Ashtyn and Whitney and some friends went and got Mary Kay facials. Not sure the consultant realized it would be all teenage girls(that don't have money to spend) but she was nice and even let Ashtyn purchase something for half off- now they have a whole new line of skin care and makeup to spend money on- ha ha.

Saturday night was the women's session of Conference. Ashtyn and I weren't feeling that good so we opted to get take out and watch it on TV and it was not the same- I really really missed being in the church with all the other ladies and feeling that unifying spirit. We got Panda Express and sunggled up on the couch which was nice but also made for some sleepy girls. I loved President Uchtdorf's talk about the three sisters Sad, Mad and Glad- he is the best story teller. I also loved Sister Eubanks talk about how women will be the great influences of growth in the church. I am so looking forward to hearing all the talks next weekend.

I finally found a set of wooden spoons I can use- I can't handle the feel of wood against my skin. It has always bothered me so much. But cooking with wooden spoons is much better for your pans so when I saw these I knew they were perfect for me.

Sunday was busy busy- I had lots of meetings, it was Fast Sunday, one of my teachers had a blood sugar low in Sharing Time which was scary(she's diabetic) and Ethan got a new calling and did fast offerings in the pouring rain.

2017- Week 37(Sept 11- Sept 17)

Monday was Jenacee's birthday so the kids drove over to her house to wish her a happy birthday. 

Monday was also September 11th Day. Ethan's school held a sunrise service and he got to do the flag ceremony. It is hard to believe it's been 16 years since that horrible day.

Whitney had an ortho appointment and it was suppose to be her last before she gets her braces off but they told her that her teeth are not quite ready and now she has to wait until November. She was super upset about this because she is so tired of having braces but we didn't pay an arm an a leg for them to not be perfect.

I started back up at This is the Place. I was so worried that I would forget everything I am suppose to say so I watched a documentary on Lincoln and studied all week- you'd think I was an actual teacher. It went great though and it was so nice to be back. I love getting to see all the kids and my boss Kim.

We held another Primary meeting to finalize the program and assign parts. 

My reading student was sick Friday so we skipped his lesson and instead I had our old neighbor come over and stretch our carpet. It had a lot of big bubbles in it.

Kristy got four tickets to the BYU game from Miles work so she invited our girls to go. Ashtyn didn't want to because it was homecoming and she wanted to help her friends get ready. So Ethan and Jeff went instead.

I had been asked to speak on Sunday so I used that time to work on my talk and also to help my neighbor with her garage sale.

Later Ashtyn needed to go to the park to finish a photography assignment. She had borrowed Jenacee's nice camera and was taking a picture of a duck by the side of the lake. When she stood up the bag fell and all of the contents fell into the water including one of her lens's. We hurried to get them out and dry them off with a blanket I had in the car and then we came straight home and blow dryed it but it was too late. There was water stuck inside of it so we will have to get it repaired or replaced. Ashtyn was so upset. She was bawling because she felt to bad and thought Jenacee would hate her and never trust her again. Of course she didn't but it's going to be an 

expensive mistake to correct. 

Ashtyn helped her three friends get ready for homecoming. I thought it was awesome of her to do this because she was the only one that didn't get asked. It never seemed to bother her that she didn't and I think she would have told me if she was sad about it but boy was I sad. I was seriously depressed scrolling through Instagram and seeing all of the pictures of girls getting asked and then of them in their gorgeous dresses. I wasn't sad that she didn't get asked because I never got asked until my Senior year, I was sad that all of her friends were getting to go and have a magical night and she couldn't. It didn't seem right or fair. I gave her $100 and told her she could go to dinner and a movie and shopping so that she could still have a fun night but then when the camera got ruined I had to take back $50 to help pay for it, but she still got to use the other $50. In true Ashtyn fashion she opted to spend it all on makeup instead of going out. That girl loves her makeup. I was so proud of her for genuinely being happy for her friends and excited for them instead of jealous. 

She has such a great group of friends! 

I spoke on the Law of the Fast in church. It was Taylor Bingham's homecoming so there was a packed house. I was the last or accordion speaker so I had to prepare enough for a full talk but be able to shorten it if necessary so I prepared it in parts. I ended up with about fifteen minutes which was perfect. For the first time ever I didn't even hardly read my talk but just spoke which was so nice and I felt like I was able to say everything that I needed to. I told them that fasting is like exercise for your spirit. It is easy to see when your body need exercise because of the physical change that takes place but it's harder to recognize when your spirit is becoming weak. I read them a list of ways to tell if you have the spirit or not. I also shared several purposes for fasting- including receiving revelation, expressing gratitude, to improve your gospel teaching- you can fast as a sign of mourning, for the sick, for blessings, for understanding, for humility, for forgiveness, etc. Fasting without a purpose is nothing more then starving. Every time I give a talk- the week before is full of adversity and this time was no different. It was one of the hardest weeks of my life. I don't get nervous to speak but I don't like that I have to struggle so hard.

We finally got our family pictures back and most of them turned out darling.

2017- Week 36(Sept 4- Sept 10)

Monday was Labor Day. Fischer and Bryant slept over. This was Bryant's first time being invited to the big boys sleepover. He is so cute and the boys are so good with him. I read him some posts I had written about when he stayed with us for three weeks as a baby. He loved seeing his tiny little chubby face and hearing about how much we love him- even though those week were super hard. They had nerf wars and played video games and jumped on the tramp.

Ethan earned his Life Rank in scouts- that is the last one before Eagle. We are really proud of him. He also earned a bunch of merit badges including: Basketry, Communications, Canoeing, Rowing, Game Design, Archery and Geocaching.

Whitney took the frame of a canvas picture and turned it into a quote display board for her room.

After they went home our family decided to try out the local foot golf course. Basically golf with a soccer ball. It follows the nine hole course at Mulligans. The holes are two feet wide and marked with white flags. It was so fun and harder then it looked. There were three holes surrounded by water but luckily unlike golf balls, soccer balls float so we were able to rescue our balls by waiting for the wind to blow them to the side. It was really hot so by the end I was super sick. I don't know why I can no longer tolerate heat, but even a little and I'm sick. We went home so I could put ice packs on. Ashtyn was awesome and made dinner without even being asked. After dinner I was feeling better so we went to get ice cream. First we had to stop at Hobby Lobby because Whitney remembered she needed a yard of fabric for her sports design class. Unfortunately it was closed so we went to Walmart instead and ended up just getting some cones there.

The rest of the week was spent at doctors appointments and meetings and tutoring sessions. I was asked to be a reading tutor to an 11 year old boy from Korea. His parents English isn't good enough to help him. I don't know what qualifies me to help him but I was willing to and since I had been doing it with Austin I knew I could come up with some fun things for him to do.

They opened a new Bath and Body Works in the District right by my house so I have been checking to see if my favorite Fall scents have arrived. Then I got an email about an awesome online sale they were having that was a better price then in store so I ordered them online instead. Bring on FALL!

Still working on the Primary Program. We went over it as a presidency so we could write the final draft. Now I just need the Bishop's approval and then we can assign parts.

My sister Melinda celebrated her 11th anniversary on Friday so we babysat Brody and Brooklyn. They went to a new dessert place called DoCo- which sells cookie dough in all kinds of flavors. They brought us back a pack. All of them tasted exactly the same to me and had the texture of play dough. Also they weren't sweet. I was very confused. They didn't taste gross they just didn't taste anything like cookie dough to me and the whole reason I like cookie dough is for the sugar so I won't be getting them again- but it was super nice of her to bring us some.

Saturday was the BYU vs. UTAH football game. Jeff's dad just had knee surgery so he gave Jeff and his brother Paul the tickets. We lost unfortunately but not by a ton. Better luck next year.

I have to document the girls sock obsession. Every time we go to Target they want to buy more socks so we have a ton.

Moses visited our Primary this week.

2017- Week 35(Aug 28- Sep 3)

Ashtyn had one of her last orthodontist appointments. She will get her braces off in November. To say she is excited is an understatement.

I've spent all week writing the Primary Program. I haven't felt very motivated but it helps that we took notes all year for me to work from. It's always a guessing game that it will be too long or short. We will finalize it next week. 

This is a little goal we are working on this year. It's based on the church's video about family that is so awesome. We are striving to be more loving and loyal to one another.

Someone has been painting the utility boxes in the city. I'm not sure if the city hired someone to do it or if it is a mystery artist just trying to make the city a little better but they sure look awesome.

I found a new and super delicious snack at Costco. I love popcorn and this was so good I could have eaten the whole bag. It's kettle corn and so yummy.

Whitney finished her Personal Progress this week. She just had a few more things to work on but has been putting them off. We have an amazing Personal Progress Coordinator in our ward who always checks in with the girls about their progress. She met with Whitney and I last week and we discovered that she was so close so she asked Whitney to commit to finishing this week. She made a book about our trip to Nauvoo and some of our pioneer ancestors that lived there and we finally finished our basement organizing project.

She had one last Good Works goal to do so she decided to do a table and dessert for the Personal Progress activity this month. She made homemade sugar cookie bars and put quotes about Individual Worth(the theme of the activity) into frames and then we bought some beautiful roses and she set up a pretty table display. She wasn't super motivated to do this so at first she didn't really want to go the extra mile to make it nice but with a little coaxing from her mom(a.k.a- ME) she did a beautiful job. I am proud of all the hard work she has put in the last few years in earning this goal.

Saturday was the Stake Baptism. We just had one little boy from our ward this time. I played the piano and I don't know why I always get so nervous because I can play the song in my sleep but it still freaks me out to play in front of people and it was on one of the new electronic pianos which sounded so weird to me. It turned out fine and I love that I get to witness these special days.

Our friends the Gappmayers came over for dinner. Their boys are good friends with Ethan. I made Cafe Rio salads. Their family is big into jujitsu and Burke the dad just won the World Championship for his division. He beat guys that were bigger then him and also had a higher belt color then him. Their boys also compete and do extremely well. Gavyn their son who is Ethan's age use to have all kinds of behavioral problems, ticks, anxiety and other problems. He has seen a number of specialists over the years and after doing starting jujitsu he is completely cured. He is night and day different- it is crazy to me- but for whatever reason jujitsu was exactly the therapy he needed and he excels at it.

I took my mom to the doctor to have her foot looked at because she hurt it and on the way home we stopped to see if my grandma's headstone was finally finished. It was and looks perfect.

It was Shaw Sunday this week. There were only 17 of us because Miles and Porter were in St. George.