2022- Week 29(Jul 18- Jul 24)

 Jeff took the young men to the suspension bridge in Draper for a hike.

My friend Joidee had to give a speech to at least five adults for her class at school. She invited me and my mom. Joidee loves to bake so she did it on cupcakes. Did you know that a cupcake was called that because originally they made them in 8 oz. ramekins which equals one cup- so a cup cake. I never knew that. They were delicious!

I am going through a transition. It is such a strange phase of life for me now. All my kids are graduated, Jeff is busy being the bishop, my kids are slowly leaving the nest and so I feel like I am starting a new chapter and I don't know what I should be doing with my time. Not working this summer was my choice but now I am left with more free time than I know what to do with. You can only clean your house so much. I have thought about getting a new job that is more full time but I like having the flexibility to do what I want to and to be available to help my kids if they need it. Plus now is not the time to start a full time job. My mom is starting to need more help. I also hope to have grandkids in the next five years or so. I never finished my degree and would love to go back to school and do that but I worry I am not near as smart as I need to be. I just don't know and that is a strange and scary feeling. My identity has been wrapped up in motherhood for the past 21 years. I loved it. I wouldn't trade those years for anything. They taught me so much. Now I have to figure out who I am again. What are my hobbies? What are my dreams? Who am I- me, just me- Amanda? I guess we will see.

For our Pioneer Day grave visit this year we went down to Springville to visit the grave of Joseph Kelly. He is the father of Virgil Kelly who was married to Amanda Barren who I am named for. He is my third great grandfather on my father's side. He had at least five wives. My grandmother was his third wife. They had three children together Lydia, Oscar and Virgil. When she died she was buried in the Cottonwood area and then her remains were later moved to Springville to an unmarked grave. While in Springville grandpa owned 79 acres of land known as Kelly's Grove or Kelly's Ranch. It was in our family for three generations until it was sold to the city in the 1940's. It is where Hobble Creek Golf Course sits today. There is a DUP marker at the location in honor of the Kelly's. Joseph Kelly served in the Black Hawk War. He was around 5' 11" tall with blue eyes and dark hair. He was born in Ohio and later moved to Nauvoo where he joined the church and then later to Utah in 1850. Ethan wasn't feeling well so he didn't come with us. I am not sure my kids have quite caught the spirit of family history yet or not but I am glad they tolerate these trips with us. 

2022- Week 28(Jul 11- Jul 17)

 Ashtyn, Ethan and I all tested positive for Covid on Monday so this week was spent in bed. We didn't leave the house all week. We watched way too much Netflix. We felt very sick three to four of the days this week and then finally felt better near the end of the week. Here is what our symptoms looked like:

Jeff: Cough, body aches, tired

Amanda: Cough, sore throat, stuffy nose, runny nose, congested, body aches- especially in my hands and feet, tired, fever

Ashtyn: Cough, few body aches, fever

Whitney: Cough, sore throat, stuffy nose, runny nose, congested, body aches

Ethan: Cough, sore throat, high fever, throwing up, body aches

Ashtyn looks entirely too happy to have tested positive ha ha

It felt very much like the flu does. I slept down stairs some of the nights because it was so hot and I couldn't breath at all. We took a lot of cold and flu medicine, Advil, Sudefed and Afrin

The Poulter's, Bircher's and Gibbons brought over dinner and care packages which was so sweet. We told our ward we were fine because I had done a grocery order on Friday when we found out Jeff was sick so we didn't need anything but it still makes you feel great when someone thinks of you. Melinda also offered to bring over dinner but we told her no- the less people we expose to this the better 

in my mind. 

We watched Clynn's funeral online. It was a wonderful service. I didn't help with the luncheon because we were sick. Saturday Val Higginbotham died. He was diagnosed with cancer a few months back and it was very aggressive. He and Clynn were friends along with Bud so I suppose they had planned this all along but now we have three more widows in the ward bringing our widow total to nine. Val was known for having a secret handshake with just about every person in our ward- ours was the dolphin handshake. I will miss him greeting me that way every week. We also have 22 single sisters including the nine widows which is a lot of people Jeff will need to watch over. His funeral will be next week and Jeff will conduct that as he is now feeling much better and will be past his ten day window.

Miles found this cute picture of Ethan and Porter and now they really are going on missions which is so fun that they will get to share this memory. 

My hand is almost completely healed from the sourdough burn.

2022- Week 27(Jul 4- Jul 10)

 Jeff, Ashtyn and Ethan came home on Monday and we were all pretty tired from the trip so we just stayed home and watched the Capital 4th broadcast. Cute Emma Sims put this sign on our door wishing us a happy 4th.

Cheris birthday is on the 9th so Mike and I went up to the cemetery together to visit her the day before. We brought flowers and balloons. First we grabbed some lunch at Zupas to catch up. He showed me the house he grew up in and and also the one Cheri grew up in. It happens to be in the same circle where Uncle Dennis' house is. 

The 9th was also my Whitney's big 20th birthday! What?? Two kids in their 20's now is surreal. Whitney is the very best! She is so fun to talk to and be with and we all adore her! She wanted to go hiking that morning. We planned to hike to Donut Falls but the canyon was closed so we decided to hike to Gloria Falls up Little Cottonwood instead. It was so so crowded at the trail head- cars lining each side of the road with a full lot but the trail itself wasn't too bad. The falls were stunning just as before. The trail after the Red Pine Lake sign was pretty muddy at first. 

After the hike we went home and Whitney opened up her gifts. She had requested an ice cream cake and 20 balloons- which I thought meant 20 individual balloons in her room like we do- but she meant a number 20 balloon so her and Ashtyn picked one up after they went and she got a manicure and pedicure and Ashtyn got a manicure. Ashtyn is so much like Sharon in that way- 

loves to have her nails done. 

Did I mention that Whitney had extensions put in her hair and I think she looks amazing!

In the mean time Jeff tested positive for Covid. So any other plans we had had to be cancelled. We did a pick up an order at Chick-Fil-A for dinner and stayed home the rest of the night. We made Jeff quarantine in his room so we sang to Whitney with him

 joining by Facetime. 

Speaking of Covid Paul also had tested positive on the 4th and Sharon on the 6th so it's not surprising that we would get it and our family besides Ashtyn has not had it yet so I guess it was our turn. Whitney had actually tested on the 5th because she had a runny nose and some congestion but the test was negative and then she felt fine. Ashtyn tested two days in a row but both were negative- I think she really wanted to get Covid to get out of work ha ha. Well Whitney ended up testing positive on Sunday and the rest of us on Monday. It was a relief to all be sick because it meant no one had to 

isolate any more. 

Clynn Mann in our ward died on the 7th and Jeff and I had gone to visit Marilyn his wife on Thursday night so we felt absolutely horrible that we might have exposed her family. She had Covid over Memorial Day so we prayed that she would not get it again. Jeff was suppose to conduct the funeral but he had to turn it over to Brian Barney as Bryan Hall also tested positive for Covid on Sunday. 

2022- Week 26 (Jun 27- Jul 3)

Ever since we stopped going to Mesquite years ago with all the Shaw family we have been dying to find a new vacation spot. Malia found an amazing AirBnb called The Old Town Family Lodge located in Fruitland Utah. Located at 7002 S 47000 West, Fruitland, UT 84027 and hosted by Vanessa. It was an hour and 45 minutes from Salt Lake so it was the perfect location. It had seven bedrooms, a loft with three built in beds that had trundles that pulled out and also three hammocks so there was plenty of space for us all to sleep. It is located on 11 acres of property and had a zipline, pickleball/basketball court. We went up Thursday night and stayed through the Fourth of July. Here are some of the details:

Sleeping Arrangements:

Upstairs: King bed- Paul and Kellie, Queen Bed- Maddie and Hallie and Phoebe and Kenzie on air mattresses on the floor, Trundles/Hammocks- Ethan, Porter, Fischer, Bryant

Main Level: Master- Tom and Sharon

Downstairs: Queen bed- Ashtyn and Whitney, Queen bed- Jeff and Amanda, Queen bed-Miles and Kristy, Bunk beds- Scott, Malia, Corban and Ruby

Meals We Ate:

Breakfast: Steel cut oats, Yogurt Parfaits, Pancakes with bacon and eggs or cereal any day

Lunch: Cold cut sandwiches, quesadillas, burgers

Dinner: Burgers and hot dogs, Walking tacos, Lasagna, Chicken cordon bleu

Treats: Cazookies, M&M's, Smores

There was more than ample seating- a huge dining table that seated ten, a "diner" where there was three more tables and then a big outdoor table that could seat another ten to twelve people- this was my favorite place to eat.

Activities:

Smores by the fire

Zipline

Kan Jam

Basketball

There were so many fun books to read. I found one called How to Stop Worrying and Start Living by Dale Carnegie and I liked it so much that I bought it when we got home.

Card games, Defuse the bomb- Ethan found this fun game online. One person looks at the bomb on the computer and the rest of the players all have to look at the bomb defusal booklet and tell the person what to cut or click on to complete tasks on the bomb so it doesn't explode- so fun! We also played Forbidden Desert and lots of rounds of Hide and Go Seek

Minute to Win it

Rocking on the front porch- There were three rocking chairs

Lounging on the back patio

Ping Pong

Walks

Runs

Exploring- tons of scat, an old shoe, beautiful blooming cactus, funky old trees, tons of lizards, a bunny

Sunsets

Movies

Come Follow Me after church. There is one tiny little chapel in Fruitland and it was filled to the brim with people this holiday weekend. The chapel was full, all the classrooms were full and there were chairs lining the hallways and people also outside on the grass. It was the best feeling- like when the people gathered to hear King Benjamin speak or the Savior. Such a feeling of unity.

Fishing at Strawberry Reservoir- Not everyone did this and they didn't get any fish but said it was fun.

Amazing Race: Malia and I put together a fun Amazing Race style game. We had twelve challenges the teams had to complete including 1. Musical chairs and eating baby food- whoever got out first had to eat the worst flavor which was sweet corn and green beans and the best flavor for the winner (Ethan) was apple sauce. 2. Drive to Big G gas station and buy an item in your team color. 3. Five people had to shoot five baskets with a basketball. 4. Name 12 countries based on 12 flags or draw one of four flags that you had to run downstairs to look at. 5. Trail Mix bar. 6. Find six letters hidden in the yard and make them into a word- It was CELERY after Luke Shaw who was the first person to plant celery in Utah. 7. Find packages of gum in the laundry room and all team blows a bubble. 8. Fifty pushups or run around the whole house four times. 9. Put together a puzzle- this was so hard. Our team was way ahead but our puzzle was super crappy and kept breaking apart each time Ashtyn put in a piece. 10. Sing verses 1, 3 and 5 of How Firm A Foundation or put all seven verses in order. 11. Whole team goes down the zip line. 12. Lunch. Here were the teams:

Winning Team-Team Rooster (Red): Jeff, Malia, Whitney, Porter and Hallie

Second Place- Team Maverick (Green): Scott, Amanda, Ashtyn, Bryant, Phoebe and Ruby

Third Place- Team Goose (Yellow): Miles, Paul, Sharon, Fischer, Maddie, Kenzie

Last Place- Team Iceman (Blue): Tom, Kristy, Kellie, Ethan and Corban(Kellie got shingles on her head and was pretty sick so she didn't participate)

The prize was five items we got from the Dollar Tree. This was such a fun activity!

I spent a lot of time on the rocking chairs on the front porch- so peaceful. Whitney and I had to come home early on Sunday night because she was on call for work on the fourth. The rest of the family came home the next day. Poor Kellie had shingles and was in so much pain the whole time and Paul ended up testing positive for Covid the day they came home so we may have a little outbreak on our hands. It was such a fun time!