2020- Week 30(Jul 20- Jul 26)

The groomer was finally able to groom Daisy again. Now she doesn't look like a little neglected dog.

Melissa and I went to a drive by wedding shower for our neighbors daughter. I wish I had taken a picture. It was so cute. They had it set up outside with a big balloon arch. They gave everyone a wedding ring sugar cookie. 

Now it was Whitney's turn to go to the dentist. At least she can drive so she took herself.

We have taken Ethan night driving every day to finish up his hours and 

he'll get his license next week.

Ashtyn and Whitney and I went downtown to get Ashtyn's ring fixed at the Gem Studio. Baylee and Rylee took her to get it for her mission last week and the band wasn't attached all the way. We also got her some exercise pants. We pretty much had the whole mall to ourselves.

We were finally able to harvest some broccoli. It's not the best looking but I made soup with it and it tasted great.

The girls were both gone for FHE so Jeff, Ethan and I played some Wii Sport Tournaments. We played bowling, basketball free throws and Frisbee dog. I won all three. I am unstoppable on Wii Sports- real sports not so much ha ha.

Whitney and Jenacee and I went to the Sunflower Festival at Cross E Ranch. I love sunflowers. It was so amazing. Sunflowers as far as the eye could see and some of them were huge. You get to pick one for free so I chose a giant one. I am going to dry it out and save the seeds and plant my own next spring. They also had a small petting zoo with the cutest little donkey ever. It was a beautiful night and so fun.   

 

 

 

For the 24th we chose to visit the pioneer graves of both sets of my great great grandparents on my Grandma Betty's side. The cemeteries were in Hinckley and Deseret down past Delta. The drive was pretty boring with miles of nothing to see. The towns were cute. We went to Hinckley first. Buried there is Cora Cutler Robinson and Robert Eccles Robinson along with several of their children. I made Ashtyn take a photo with aunt Graces grave. Grandma Betty's middle name is after her and I named Ashtyn's middle name is Grace after Grandma Betty. It was a small little cemetery so it was easy to find their graves. It was fun to think of what life would have been like for them there. I printed off a story about their life written by great grandma Cora Kelly their daughter. Then we drove the ten minutes south to Deseret. This was the one I had been anticipating. Buried there was Virgil Kelly and his wife Amanda Barron Kelly who I am named after. I read another story about them. Virgil was a US Marshall and total bad ass. Amanda was known as someone who saw the good in everything, a peacemaker, a wonderful baker, loyal letter writer and someone who had a special connection with little children. I have a copy of several letters that were written to her from her cousins and it was fun to read some. I feel like I have a lot of those same traits. I am grateful for her. She came to Utah as a pioneer when she was just two years old. This is my favorite tradition. Just for fun I also did a search of both cemeteries to see if I had any other relatives there and to my surprise I had over 30 distant relatives from both my parents sides.

 

 

 

I painted my friend Grace this little doll of her daughter Emily who is Ashtyn's frined and just left on her mission. She was called to Korea and is temporarily reassigned to Tacoma. I am going to paint one of her friend Sydney and also one of Ashtyn too.

Saturday afternoon we found out that Ashtyn's friend Rylee had to get tested for Covid. She has been at our house several times the last few weeks. Luckily her test came back negative.

We are going to be studying all things mission for the next few Sundays to help Ashtyn get ready to enter the MTC- which will be our home. We are going to try really hard to make our home as close to the MTC as possible. This means we will have to cut some things out of our life for a while.

Sunday night Ashtyn and Whitney and I went and checked out the Mehraban Wetlands Park. It's near our house but we had never heard of it. It has two lakes that you can go fishing in. The girls were not being pleasant to each other so it was not the best trip and we didn't stay long. Sometimes they are the best of friends and other times not so much. I think all the stress we have been under with Whitney's school, Ashtyn's mission stuff and Covid just exaggerates the problems. I lose patience with contention very fast so I was also ticked at both of them. Ugh it makes it worse when I have the expectation that my adult children will not behave that way. 

I keep telling myself that will change eventually- right?

 

 

   

2020- Week 29(Jul 13- Jul 19)

Monday was National French Fry Day. We love fries at our house so we decided we would get fries from five different restaurants to celebrate. After waiting at the first restaurant for ten minutes we decided that was a very bad idea and that the fries would be cold by the time we got home. We had brought a cooler with us to keep them in in an effort to keep them warm but we knew if it took us an hour to get home we were in for some soggy fries. In the end we got fries from Five Guys, Chick-Fil-A and McDonalds. They definitely were a bit soggy when we ate them but still good and we were able to reheat the left overs in the oven the next day and they were as good as new. 

Ethan had a dentist and ortho appointment this week. Ortho to get his retainers. He is the only one allowed to come inside due to Covid so I got to sit in the car a lot this week.

Whitney did something to her left side of her back several months ago and after a few tests the doctor decided to send her to physical therapy so she started that this week. I feel like it could be from her scoliosis but every one keeps telling me it's not. I guess we will see if this helps. Since she is 18 she is handling it all herself. 

Melinda and Kevin got a new car this week so the BBB came to hang out. Bronson is into everything and you have to keep your eyes on him at all times. We tried to do a fire and roast marshmallows but it was too hot so we ate popsicles instead. Did I mention how glad I am that we got the train table back. Bronson loves the train table.

  

  

Whitney had her final pass off for surg tech and then she can start her clinicals. She had our kitchen set up like an operating room all week and her and her friends practiced non stop. She passed with flying colors.

Whitney and I took a trip to Trader Joes for the first time. I had a recipe for artichoke chicken that I wanted to try and it called for Trader Joes frozen artichokes and a bag of formagio cheese. What a darling little store. I was expecting it to be really expensive but it's not. We found so many fun things to try. I wish it was a little closer and I'd go all the time. 

Jeff and I went to watch the sunset at the amphitheater. There was an empty bench so we got to sit and have the perfect view. 

  

  

Jeff got a call earlier in the week that the Stake President wanted to meet with us so naturally we spent all week speculating about why. I thought maybe they were calling us to be over trek but it's probably one year too early for that so we decided it must be a calling for Jeff. We were right they called him to be the stake clerk. The last person who held this position had it for five years so it may be a calling he has for a while. I was a tiny bit worried about how much time this will require because we had just had a talk a few days before about how we don't get enough time to spend together. This calling will mean he is gone all day on Sundays and Tuesday nights so it looks like we will have to prioritize our time a little better. Our stake presidency is pretty awesome so I think Jeff will love working with them.

Baylee and Rylee took Ashtyn to the Gem Studio to get a ring for her mission. They are the best friends to her.