2017- Week 42(Oct 16- Oct 22)

My DUP group went down town and toured the Beehive House. It was so fun and I actually found out that one of the ladies in my group is married to a man who is a descendant of George Watt the creator of the Deseret Alphabet that I teach at school every day. I also got to see a copy of the Book of Mormon written in Deseret Alphabet. We had lunch at the Lion House afterward.

My view from work is so amazing each day with all the Fall colors.

We have a tree growing in our window well. Jeff said there is no way it's a tree. It's just a weed. Does this look like a weed to you?

The kids were off of school for UEA this weekend and we tried our best to not just sit home. I had to work on Thursday at the Little Haunts event painting faces(actually we did hands because it was quicker) so the kids just hung out and then we baby sat Brody and Brooklyn that night. The girls and I went to Target to buy some baby gifts for a few neighbors. They had so many cute cute clearance baby girl clothes. I wanted to buy Brooklyn one of everything but we opted for a black and white striped peplum shirt. The boys hung out at home. Melinda and Kevin went to a wood working class at the Home Depot and made me a spooky candy holder.

 She said does your Target have a big circle? 

Friday we went to lunch at Empanada's Express for Whitney to get extra credit in Spanish. The food was good but gave a few of us stomach aches afterward- probably the beans ha ha. Then when we got home we watched Planet of the Apes- We are watching the trilogy. When Jeff got home we went to Fizz and got drinks and then Ethan went bowling with some friends.

Saturday was our annual "Y" hike. Ian came with us again this year. This was the 7th year we have done this hike. We invited a few other families but no one could make it and I didn't mind that it was just us. I was so worried about it being cold but it ended up beautiful and perfect weather. You want it a bit on the cold side because you work up such a sweat doing the hike. Whitney got sick around turn 4 and we thought we might need to stop and turn back and wait for everyone else to finish but I gave her an applesauce and that helped her to feel better. It felt much harder this year for everyone except for Ian, who had endless stamina. It took us about two hours to get to the top. The Fall colors were gorgeous and the views amazing as always. I love that we still do this. Our kids wanted it to be our last year- so we'll see what happens in the future. Afterward we had lunch at the park and played baseball. My team won. It was me, Ian and Ethan. Then we went to the BYU Bookstore and Ian bought everyone ice cream at the creamery at the end. It was such a fun day.

Sunday we held a practice for our Primary Program during sharing time and Ethan was also set apart as the new Deacon's Quorum President. Jeff and I took Daisy on a walk after church and helped a neighbor bring a clock into his house. I am loving this weather and trying to soak up every last minute. 

2017- Week 41(Oct 9- Oct 15)

I was in charge of Pack Meeting this month along with my counselor Elissa over scouts. Our Cub Master is out of town and our Cub Committee Chair asked to be released. It was so fun and so much work. The theme was camping. We decided to set up a campsite in the gym. We tried for an hour to get the tent to work on the gym floor. We tried putting a rug under it and it still wouldn't stay up. So then we switched to Elissas tent and still couldn't get it to work until a nice man in the other ward came in and showed us what we could do. After that we were exhausted. We set up the rest of the site and put in five wrong things you shouldn't do when camping and five things that were thrifty and the boys had to guess them all. After the awards and other skits and such we had all the kids climb in the tent and we told camp stories. We ended the night with smores. It was so fun and I'm sad I don't have a single picture.

Then the next night I got to help with our Activity Day Daddy/Daughter night. It was an iron rod theme and they did a three legged race, dipped pretzels to make iron rods, colored place mats for each other and wrote down nice things they liked about each other, and played pin the fruit on the tree of life. It was so cute as well. I have such great leaders. 

Thursday were Ethan's parent teacher conferences. He's doing well. Chinese was the only class I really cared about because I have no way of knowing how he is doing. She said he is amazing. She also said the other day she caught him with two game windows open on the computer when he was suppose to be working on an assignment. It surprised me and yet didn't because of course he is obsessed with games but I didn't think he would do that at school. But if that's the worst thing he ever does I'm fine with that. 

Saturday my girls hosted a Mary Kay party. It was at their studio instead of our house which was nice but only a few people were able to come. I've used Mary Kay over the years. My girls did it so they could earn free stuff. They had to write down referrals to earn more things so they stole my phone and went through my contacts. If you get a call from a Mary Kay consultant 

I am sorry in advance ha ha.

Saturday night we went to our friends the Songs house. They are Korean. We had them to our house a while back. They made Korean BBQ and it was amazing. They asked me to bring Jello because they don't have that in Korea and they love it. It was the worst part of the meal ha ha.

Sunday we practiced for our Primary Program that is coming up. Last year we tried to stay in the chapel to organize our seating chart and it ended up being a fiasco. This year my counselors wanted to try it again so we did and this time it went great. The kids listened and followed directions and we were able to accomplish what we needed. It's coming together. Jeff and I went on another Fall drive. The kids didn't want to come. This time we drove the Alpine Loop. It was pretty good but a lot of the color was already gone. A man in a white truck flagged us down at one point and said that he had locked his keys in his car and had called the police but they couldn't locate him. We were able to tell him where he was on the loop because we had just passed the Cascade Springs turn off so he was able to get help. It made me wish I had finished lock smithing school. I had to quite because he couldn't afford it and I have just never gone back. When we got home we had Julia come to dinner. We love visiting with her. 

These are the new missionaries in our Stake. Whenever the missionaries come over I take their picture and text it to their mom. Moms appreciate things like that.

I heard this quote this week when my friend posted a video of herself listening to Joy Jones talk from conference. I heard the talk then but this time this quote jumped out at me. I pray all the time that I can find ways to make our home a safe place. Where everyone feels loved, accepted and that they matter. I pray that I can help my kids have an abundant life and find their talents and passions in life. I pray that they can be strengthened against the temptations they will face. I'm always trying to figure out what makes a family great and this quote was my answer. We let way too much of the world in. We let it in on social media, we let it in on TV, magazines, the conversations we have, etc. It knocks at our door every chance it gets and we always let it in. Sometimes I think well if we get off those things then we will miss out. We won't see the latest news or keep up with the goings on of our friends. But then it occurred to me that the people I know with the happiest lives and the ones I admire most don't even have a social media account or they do and I never see them on it. I have been feeling like it is robbing my kids of a childhood. They are seeing things I didn't ever even think of until I was an adult. Yes on one hand it is opening their minds to what it out their beyond our little bubble- but it is also so very very lopsided. No one posts real life much, you only see "plandid" photos that are carefully staged to show the very best of your life. I think it's great to remember the good times in your life but if that's the only thing people see, that's not the real you and they will start to think your life is perfect and theirs is a failure. It creates feelings of comparison in my girls that I never ever had as a kid. And I hate all these things. So I took social media off of their phones for now. Just as an experiment. I also took it off mine. We are going to work on real relationships, face to face. We are going to explore our talents and try new things and LIVE more then we have been. The other day I was in the car with Ethan and he was on his phone playing a game and I said Ethan look up- it's Fall and you are missing it. That is what I want for them- to not miss all that is around them.