2018- Week 4(Jan 22- Jan 28)

This week was DUP. We learned about Martin Harris and had broccoli cheese soup for lunch.

Tuesday I worked. I only had one class and then I did some sewing to repair one of my class bench cushions. I have been teaching myself the Deseret Alphabet so that I can be a better teacher. It is actually really fun and I hope to become proficient at it.

Whitney had a dentist appointment on Thursday and I got my hair done. I had her add more of my natural dark blond so it wouldn't grow out so fast.

We started a Happiness Jar at the beginning of the year. The goal was to write down something that made us happy each day and put it in the jar. We get busy so we usually just do it on Sunday nights and write down five or six things that made us happy that week. We can take one out and read it if we are having a bad day and we plan to read them all at the end of the year.

I spent several days clearing out the basement so we can get it finished next month. We've been talking about doing this for years but never want to spend that much money. We've bee saving up and with our tax return decided we'd better do it before the kids move out and there is no one to use the space. We actually are down there quite a bit with cousins and friends so it was time. One thing I wanted to do first was to put up shelves in my cold storage. This is where we keep all of our food storage and I use it as an extra pantry as well. Luckily I have an amazing brother in law-Kevin who does all things construction and was willing to help Jeff do this. They got started this weekend.

 Still need to pack up the books.

 All of our stuff jammed into the storage side.

We went to dinner with our old Bishopric to Brio. Bishop Nance was our Bishop when we became the 7th ward. He's the fourth Bishop we've had since moving here. Jeff was his Ward Clerk. It was fun to see them and everyone else. All of us are now in the 6th ward except for them. There was the Barneys, Duvalls, Bengtzens, Twitchells, Nances and us. The food was so good until it gave me a headache and stomach ache- story of my life. 

Whitney has become really good at doing eye shadow. Her and Ashtyn both love all things pallets so she asked me if she could do my eyes. She used blues and I love it. I'll have to have them be my personal makeup artists.

2018- Week 3(Jan 15- Jan 21)

Monday was Martin Luther King Day. I did some visiting teaching and Ethan had a dentist appointment. Aside from that we didn't do much. We did listen to the I Have A Dream speech during dinner. I forgot how powerful that is.

Tuesday morning Ashtyn, Ethan and I all woke up with the stomach flu. Malia and Fischer also had it so we probably all got it Sunday. Then Wednesday Whitney came home from school sick. We spent pretty much the whole week in bed.

Thursday I was better so I went with Sharon, Kristy, Malia and Kellie out to lunch at Olive Garden. The waiters sang Happy Birthday to Kellie and wow they were amazing.

After lunch I took Corban shopping for his birthday. We went to Target. I told him his budget and that he could choose anything he liked in that price range. We went up and down every aisle and he found something he liked on each aisle. We would take it and he would scan the bar code to make sure he could afford it then he would want to carry it with us while we continued to look. Pretty soon both our arms were full so we got two baskets to make it easier. He talked the whole time all about some kind of gun he likes to play with in a video game. He was very passionate about it. It was really cute. Finally when our time was up we layed all of the toys out in a line and I told him to choose his three favorite. He chose three and then he changed his mind and chose three different items. Then I told him he had to decide on his very very favorite thing. This was hard and he told me all the reasons why he loved each thing. Then he would pick one up and say I can buy this later when I earn more money and save up and then he'd set the item aside. He finally decided on a set of Pokemon figurines. I asked him if he ever watched Pokemon or played it and he said no but that he would learn their names. He was very polite the whole time and never complained at all when we had to put toys back that he didn't have enough money for. Then we went out to the car and he wanted to open the set so he could see them. It was really fun. He is such a great little boy. Too bad I didn't get a picture.

That night was my work party so Jeff and I got to go and enjoy a delicious dinner at the Garden Place at This is the Place. We also heard Martin Frey speak. He is the only man to ever climb the 7 summits and sail the 7 seas. What a story. He talked about all of the lessons he has learned through these experiences. The biggest being that if we want to be successful in life then we have to face uncertainty. He said we spend to much time trying to make our children's lives predictable and comfortable and safe and all we are really doing is holding them back. It was really something that made me think. I know I definitely need to provide room for more hard work in our lives and more sacrifice. I was so honored to get to attend because not everyone does.

Ethan went on a Klondike camp this weekend. It hasn't snowed for weeks and of course this night it snowed a ton- I think Winter was trying to make up for the lack of snow. Luckily Ethan got to be in a heated yurt so he was cozy.

 The view from our bedroom window

Saturday night Jeff took Ashtyn on a date. We try to take each kid once a month on a one on one date. She chose painting with Bob Ross and Costa Vida for dinner. They went to Hobby Lobby and bought canvas and then came home and watched the Joy of Painting on Netflix and followed along. Their paintings turned out amazing! They both had a great time.

2018- Week 2(Jan 8- 14)

We held our first Pack Meeting of 2018 and it was an Arrow of Light Ceremony for two boys in our pack- Jordan and Alex. We hired a lovely woman named She Who Flies Birds. That is her indian name at least. I'm not even sure what her real name is. She came all decked out with her two bids. She danced first and then had the boys come up and presented them with their arrows and talked all about being straight and true. Then she had her birds fly in and dazzle the crowd. I'm always amazed how people can train birds. At one point one of them flew just inches above my head and it freaked me out- ha ha. When she was done we did the traditional bridge ceremony where they cross over and meet the boy scout leader. It was really fun.

Malia and the kids came into town so on Thursday all the adult women met up at the Cracker Barrell for breakfast. I forgot what a cute restaurant it is and how yummy the food is. I had a yogurt parfait, eggs, sausage and a delicious blueberry muffin. On our way out we had to explore the country store and I found a darling white pitcher to add to my collection above my cabinets. After I stopped at Barb's house to see the kids and Barb. Corban and I battled  with the Ninja Turtles for a bit. I love his big imagination, even if his turtle did do all the winning- ha ha. Barb has the most amazing doll collection of tiny Madame Alexander dolls. I forget how fun playing with toys are sometimes. Her house is the best for kids! Again why do I never take pictures??

That night was roundtable so Elissa and I went. I'm always completely out of my element there. Scouting is a whole different world to me. I earned a special award for coming in uniform three times in a row. I hadn't worn my uniform that night because I'd worn it the night before to pack meeting so I felt kind of dumb going up to get a uniform award. After Elissa and I always go and stop at Culvers. She always gets cherry chocolate chip malt and this time I tried coconut cashew. I didn't love that flavor. It's my quest to try all the flavors.

Brody and Brooklyn slept over Saturday night while Melinda and Kevin went to a concert in Wendover. Malia and the kids stopped by and we ate beans and talked and the kids played. Jeff gave me the Pioneer Woman's cookbook for Christmas so I've been trying out the recipes all week. The beans were cooked in the crockpot and were so yummy.

Sunday was such a crazy day. I had ward council and then three of my people were gone so it was busy and I had Brody and Brooklyn who I hopped would go to class. They did and did great but they both were a little under the weather. After church I had to run Whitney to a meeting and then I stopped at Elissa's so I could borrow her cotton candy machine. We were going to do a birthday party for Corban at the Shaw dinner. I also had our Temple and Priesthood Preparation Meeting at 4. This is the first time we have held this meeting. It use to be the Priesthood Preview just for boys but now girls are invited too- which is awesome! I had completely forgotten to copy the programs so I had to run home. Which meant we started a little late. We had both the Beehive President and the Deacon's Quorum President speak. Ethan is the Deacon's Quorum President and he did a great job. Then we had a temple worker speak. Then I spoke about covenants and Brother Poulter from our bishopric ended. We also showed the video The Blessings of the Priesthood. We gave each child a picture of the Oquirrh Mountain temple for their rooms and had chocolate chip cookies for dessert.

Then it was off to the Shaw's for some prime rib and partying. Prime rib is wasted on me. Meat all tastes the same to me. It was good and we enjoyed Ruby entertaining us at the table. Then we hurried and set up for Corban's party. It was a super hero carnival theme. There was a kissing booth(guess how many kisses are in the jar)- Ethan won, a duck pond, a bean bag toss, a pinata and cotton candy. Elissa's machine is big and it spins fast and was scaring me so I only did a few batches. The kids loved this and it was pretty fun to see them enjoy it. When we went to do the pinata Corban went first and he was so good he broke it open on his second swing. It was so fun!

2018- Week 1 (Jan 1- Jan 7)

Happy New Year! We got up bright and early and went bowling with the Pearson clan. Julia was sick so she didn't come and it was so weird to not have them there. I crushed the kids with my skills- ha ha- not really but I did get a 116 which is pretty dang good for me. Afterwards we headed to Drew and Cathie's house for brunch. It was fun to visit with all of them. Then we went home and crashed the rest of the day.

I spent a good portion of the week getting everything ready for Primary. We got a bunch of new teachers and we had to contact all of them with lesson schedules etc. We also had to make birthday gifts, put up new bulletin boards, make picture binders, etc. When we went to the church we found that one of our primary kids had written in crayon on the chalk board "Hawk cleaned this room". It took us a while to figure out how to get it to come off. First you have to erase it with a pencil eraser and then you have to color over it with chalk and then erase it with a chalk eraser. We let his mom know so she could tell him to not do it again. We weren't mad about it but definitely don't want it happening again. Well on Sunday he brought me the very cutest apology note and said he was sorry. It was so sweet. 

We found out Wednesday morning along with the rest of the world that President Thomas S. Monson had passed away. I cried when I heard the news. He has always been one of my favorite apostle. He has been one my whole life. He tells the best stories. He spent over 50 years completely devoted to the church which I find so admirable. Some people get a calling and they want to be released after just one year, but not him- he welcomed every call and served faithfully. I know his family had to make great sacrifices for him to be able to do this and I've heard many times that his wife never complained. He also had a special connection to the Pearson family. He used to spend time at Jeff's great grandma Terry's home. They would let him cut out coupons from their magazines so he could send away for free things. Later Sister Terry was one of his widows that he took care of. 

He always remembered her. 

Friday night Jeff wanted to go to the Nike store to exchange a few things. He had gotten me some sweatpants and shoes and the pants didn't fit. He also had a shirt that he wanted to take back. I was so tired and not feeling well but I never pass up a chance to go with him anywhere. It is my favorite thing to do to just be together the two of us. However I don't like the Nike store- nothing fits me there but the shoes. I'm not sure how their sizing in womens works because Jeff wears a medium in every store and he does at Nike. I wear smalls and mediums at stores but neither of those fit me at Nike. I have to go up to at least a large and I'm thin. Plus I hate that everything there costs so much darn money. Jeff has a talent for finding the cheapest items in a store though so he got us some great deals- mostly for him, but he did find me a long sleeve warm shirt. We stopped at Walmart on the way home so I could get some note cards for the Stake baptism the next day and I also got some Tonight Dough ice cream so I could come home and watch the Tonight Show while I ate it.

Saturday was the Stake baptism. We had one child being baptized and our ward was also in charge of a musical number. I got a group of the girls class and friends to sing the Miracle. This was our song for 2017 and we got asked to sing it a lot. It was a great baptism for a great family. 

Saturday night Jeff and I went down to the new Provo City Center temple with Blake and Jill. We had never been there. We ran into our old friends the Andersons from a few wards ago outside. We arrived an hour early because we didn't know what the wait would be like. It wasn't busy so we were actually able to do initiatory first for a few of their son Phoenix's family. He is adopted so none of his family work has been done. The building is so beautiful. I loved all the dark wood work and gorgeous nature paintings. Afterward we stopped for a quick dinner at Cafe Trang. 

Sunday went off with out a hitch and was a good way to start 2018 by fasting.