Sickies, Snow, Singing, and Stuff!!

I was glad that it was nice weather for Jase and Ellen's visit over President's day last weekend. They drove home right after his presentation last Tuesday. There was a big snow storm coming and so they wanted to hurry home. Jase said that his presentation went well -- it had something to do with the research he did at his internship at John's Hopkins last summer. I drove Jaiden to Utah Tech to meet them and then they dropped her off in Cedar City and drove home. They said that there wasn't any snow (yet) and so their drive was fine. Tuesday I worked my regular classes and that night I went to a camp meeting since I was asked to help with the service project for girls' camp. 

I brought Josh to the doctor Wednesday since he has been sick at least once a week for the past four months. Basically the doctor said that they have seen a lot of cases like that post-Covid. But he said everything looked and sounded good. Josh actually seems to be getting better though, thank goodness. But now Rick is sick! He went up north for a meeting on Wednesday night and came home Friday, picking up Jaiden on the way. Thankfully he missed most of the storm. Thursday I was supposed to drive to my class in Cedar City, but one of the other interpreters was heading back from her class in Cedar City that morning and she called me and said the I-15 was horrible. She said it was a total white out with cars driving 25-30 mph. She advised me not to come up if there were any other alternatives. Thankfully I was able to get a sub who lived in Cedar City and so I didn't have to drive up. It worked out since another evening interpreting job opened up that same night and I grabbed that one instead. Jared had to pick up Jenna and bring her to dance though, since Rick and I were not home to do it.

Friday I interpreted for classes all day and then went to Costco to get my tires rotated. I had a note in my calendar to do it this week and got it done Friday. But as I typed this I went to check my calendar and realized that I just had my tires rotated last December and so it wasn't even time to do it again! So I basically did it for nothing -- ugh!! Well, not for nothing, but I could have waited another three or four months! Oh well! I got some shopping done while I was there. I got home at the exact same time that Rick and Jaiden did. I spent the evening putting together my RS lesson for Sunday. Rick had come down with a cold and went to bed early. Jaiden spent the evening with Maddox. Jenna had decided to go on a self-imposed phone fast. I think the constant notifications and drama from all of her huge friend-group texts were making her crazy. So she stopped using her phone for a full 24 hours. Pretty impressive for a 14 year old girl! She spent the afternoon and evening with friends. Josh went with Max and Ethan to the Contact climbing wall. 

Saturday I went to an interpreter workshop at Utah Tech and it was really good!! I was really glad that I went. Saturday night me and Jaiden and Maddox went to go see The Drowsy Chaperone at Utah Tech. It was hilarious! Rick was supposed to come too, but wasn't feeling well. Jenna went to the Stake Youth Dance and had a fun time. Josh's plans with friends fell through and so he just stayed home and watched "Avator." Sunday I taught my RS lesson on Elder Gary Stevenson's Conference talk, Nourishing and Sharing Testimony. Such a great talk! I felt like the lesson went well. Jaiden and Maddox sang in church for Brandson Averett's missionary farewell. They did a great job! Jaiden and Maddox did the Come Follow Me lesson today too and did a great job on that also. Jenna fixed Chinese food for dinner while I was trying to figure out Janelle's hiring paperwork for FSY. That's my week!! 

President's Day Weekend!

Thursday night after interpreting at SUU I brought Jaiden back home with me. Then Jase and Ellen came down later that night. Jase had a presentation at Utah Tech University on Friday and also on Tuesday. Friday I worked all day. Saturday Jase and Ellen went with Rick to the Parade of Homes while I watched the boys. We enjoyed a nice walk to the park. That night we had a nice family dinner and Jared came over and joined us. Sunday we all went to church. Jaiden was supposed to sing Sunday, but I bumped her a week since another college student was in town and it worked out for her to sing this week. Monday Jenna and I brought the boys back to the park for a walk. Monday night Jase and Ellen went to Sakura while Rick and I watched the boys. I was glad that we had nice weather for their weekend because the next week brought cold and snow! 

Happy Valentine's Day!!

We woke up to decent weather, but by mid-day it was pouring outside and then later it even started snowing!! Jaiden sent us a Marco Polo from SUU and they received several inches of snow! Josh participated in singing valentines with the Madrigals, only they didn't drive around to various businesses  and homes like usual, instead they just sang for various people at the school. Apparently the district is against them leaving school and going around singing to people. Too bad!

We decided to do our traditional Valentine's Day breakfast for dinner instead (omelets, hash browns, sausage etc.) Rick did love letters for me and the kids and I wrote a love letter for him and put out some treats (chips, chocolate, and popcorn). Then we decided to watch one of Rick and my all-time favorite movies, Sleepless in Seattle. Love that movie! Plus it came out in 1993 when Rick and I were dating and so it brought back a lot of memories. Jenna asked if she could do my nails during the movie. Fun evening! 

And some cute ones from Ellen's Social Media of Eli and Evan...

Cute recent pic from Janika, Brandon, and Everett...

And Jaiden...

Sledding and Galantine's Party

Josh went to Flagstaff, Arizona yesterday with the Madrigals for a Jazz Festival at Northern Utah Arizona. They sang three songs and got a 33.5 out of 35, earning them a superior rating! Unfortunately Josh is not one to take a lot of pictures, so no photos, darn it! 

Jenna went sledding with the Young Women in Pine Valley this morning. So she was in snow this morning and in hiking in the sun at Snow Canyon State Park in the afternoon -- same day! 

She decided to throw a "Galantine's Party" for all of her friends this afternoon evening. The girls dressed in Valentine's dresses -- pick, coral, white...  and made a cute little picnic, complete with jello in tiny little containers and martinelli's. Since it was way too many girls for my Subaru, Caprina's parents agreed to take the girls in their party bus (RV). The girls ate their picnic, hiked around, and took a few pictures. Jenna said that they were going to take more, but decided to "live in the moment" instead. They got back and then continued their adventure at our local park. I am so grateful that Jenna has such good friends! 

And what did I do? Put some ear buds in with my latest audio book and cleaned the house! I started this audio book called "Unwind" by Neal Shusterman and plowed through the whole book! Now, on to the next one in the series! 

Middle School Valentine's Dance

Jenna had her middle school Valentine's dance tonight. She and her friends make SUCH A BIG DEAL out of all of their school dances this, ha ha! Even though the dance is casual, they still get dressed up in dresses (and often wear each other's dresses), and go to one of the girls' houses (usually Caprina's house) and they all get ready together. Then Caprina's dad drives them the half mile to the dance in their enormous RV (the party bus) and the girls crank up the music and dance and sing at the top of their lungs. There had been a bunch of drama leading up to the dance with certain guys in their friend group asking certain girls in the friend group to the dance. When Jenna told me this I said, "Don't they know it is not a date dance?" Kind of weird. But as middle school relationships go, most of the kids "broke-up" before the dance anyway. But a few still went with the person who asked them. Several boys had hinted to Jenna that they (or their friend) wanted to ask her to be their Valentine, but she successfully squashed such attempts by saying that she didn't want a "Valentine" and was waiting until 16 for anything resembling relationships or dating. Good for her! The girls all had a great time before, during, and after the dance, and took a billion pictures, ha ha! 

 

I Love to See the Temple

 

I Love to See the Temple