Happy 16th Birthday to Jenna!!

Jenna turned 16 today!! Our baby is growing up! She didn't have Madrigals this week, and so she was able to sleep in a little longer! Her good friend, Clarissa, came to the house early and set up cute decorations on the door with a "Happy Birthday" sign and balloons and a poster of pictures of them through the years. It was SO cute!! Made me cry! There were also balloons on sticks lining the porch steps. The Young Women leaders also left a cute sign in the yard. 

Jenna has such thoughtful friends! Several of her friends gave her gifts, and she received loads of text messages from both family and friends wishing her a happy birthday. At school she was surprised by a few white roses and notes that were delivered to her in every class period!! After a bit she realized that the deliveries were from her dad. She said that all of the girls in her class asked her who gave her the flowers. When she saidm "My Dad!" They were all like, "Awww! That is SO sweet!" Some said, "My dad would never do something like that!" 

For lunch Jenna's "lunch bunch" all came over to our house for lunch. I had gone shopping last night and was up late getting all the food and baking one of the cakes. Jenna baked the other cake when she got home. She didn't get home until after 10:00 because she and her friends were out delivering their Sadies' posters. They decided to ask some boys from Hurricane and so they had to drive clear out there. For the lunch I made White Chicken Chili and it turned out really good! I had never made it before and so I was happy with how it turned out. However, it didn't make as much as I was expecting. I doubled the recipe and it still didn't look like enough to feel a crowd of 12 hungry teenagers! So at the last minute I cooked a cookie sheet of taquitos too. We also had the two cakes (one regular and one gluten free).

Usually I am working in the morning, but the teacher had cancelled class on this particular day, which worked out perfectly for me! But then one of our other interpreters cancelled for today and Rick was still feeling sick and so I had to scramble to get ready and hurry over to the University after the lunch and work for a few hours.

 After Jenna got home from school I brought her to the DMV to get her driver's license! She had taken and passed the test yesterday. She got a -13, which she wasn't happy about, but at least she passed, haha! We were in and out of the DMV in less than fifteen minutes, with license in hand! Then we headed to Nothing Bundt cakes since Jenna wanted one for her birthday. (They have two kinds which are gluten free, and they are amazing!)  I ordered a few of the Bundtlets, and she also got a free one for her birthday and so headed home with four of them!  

After we got home Ethan Allred came over to take her on a date. He had asked her what she wanted to do for her birthday and she said, "Go to Home Depot!" So random! They walked around Home Depot and then went out for ice cream and then picked up some painting supplies and canvases from his house and had a painting party! So all in all Jenna had a GREAT birthday and felt very loved!! 

He Passed!! Josh -- our newest driver!!

Josh is the first one that got his driver's license right after his birthday! His birthday was on Saturday (so the Driver's License Division was closed) and he got his license on Monday! 

Jaiden was two months after her birthday (due to Covid), Janelle was five months after her birthday, Jared was 4 months after, Jase was 3 1/2 months after, and Janika was six months after! Josh took driver's education clear last summer. We figured that summer would be best so that it wouldn't conflict with soccer. But he didn't really start driving much with us until January 2022. At that time we sat down and figured out how many weeks there were until his birthday and how many hours a week he would need to finish his driving hours by then. I kept track of it on a spreadsheet and he had the hours he needed by time he was eligible. The Monday before his birthday one of the driving instructors contacted him to set up driving time with him. He did it before school at 6:00 a.m. a few days this week and then a few hours on Friday since school was our for Easter break.

The instructor drove with Josh again on Saturday (on Josh's birthday) for a couple of hours and texted him Monday morning to ask if he wanted to take the test that day. It worked out perfectly because the kids were out Monday for Easter break too. Josh wasn't sure if he was ready, but I assured him that he was and that he should jump at the opportunity! Then I went to the driver's license division website to see if there were any open appointments that day, and there was just one appointment left! So I took it! I figured if he didn't pass his test then we could always cancel. I was confident he would pass though -- he is a good driver. 

I was supposed to go interpret that morning, but Josh wanted to practice parallel parking and backing up by a street curb and so I asked Rick if he could interpret my class instead so that I could practice with Josh, and he agreed. During our practice Josh didn't do very well parallel parking the first time, but then did perfect the second time. Josh went to take his test and only missed six points. Two points for not signaling when leaving a round-a-bout (is that a thing?) and then four points for parallel parking. Apparently it didn't go as well as it did during our practice, ha ha! But he did great on everything else!

There is an online test they have to get 100% on and Josh had done one section, but not the rest. I told him to hurry and finish because he couldn't get his license without it! Their website was soooo slow and kept timing out and so that was frustrating, but he was finally able to finish it and we went to Hurricane to get his license! We were in and out in ten minutes! Congratulations, Josh!!!

 

She Passed!! Jaiden's Driver's License

Jaiden got her driver's license today!! She was the first of all of our kids that would have gotten her driver's license on time, but then Covid hit and everything shut down and so it was delayed. But it was less than two months after her birthday and so it wasn't too bad! (Janika got hers six months after her birthday, Jase got his 3 1/2 months after his birthday, Jared got his 4 months after his birthday, and Janelle almost five months after her birthday!) They all had different reasons. The first three weren't very motivated to study for the written test on their own and they had to pass that test before they could even sign up for driver's ed. A couple of the kids failed the written test and had to re-take it. Janelle was so busy once she got her permit that it was difficult getting her driving hours in -- plus she failed her driving test the first two times. Jaiden would have been right on time (had it not been for Covid -- which was totally out of her control!) But she still beat all of her siblings!

Jaiden signed up for Driver's Education last summer so that she could take it with her friend, Emily. Having those dates scheduled spurred her into getting her permit early. She started her driving hours last January and was pretty well on track keeping up with her hours since she had so many places to be (tumbling, dance...) and so she usually drove back and forth to those places (with me in the car of course!) She normally would have tested around her birthday but the driving instructor (Mr. Bundy) was behind schedule due to the shutdown. Jaiden finally did her driving hours with him the last few days of June. The first day of driving with him was pretty rough, but after that it went a lot better. She tested on July 1st and passed her test with flying colors! She only missed four points!

She wanted to immediately run out to the DLD (Driver's License Division) but when I tried to call to set up an appointment all I got was an answering machine (after trying over and over again). I got through the next morning but they said that we would have to put our contact information on a "call-back" list and they would get back to us to schedule an appointment. So that was frustrating!

After waiting about two weeks we decided to try our luck just going in without an appointment as soon as it opened. We waited for about an hour, but they said that they wouldn't get to the "walk in" line until after all of the appointments had been serviced -- and there were 128 appointments! We would have been there all day and so we gave up and went home! But I called the office while we were waiting in line and they said that the online scheduler was now open and I could set up an appointment. I wish that someone from the "call-back" list would have contacted us to let us know that!! Who knows how long we would have been waiting around for them to get back with us! We set up an appointment for Wednesday afternoon at 4:30 and were in and out in under thirty minutes! Jaiden is SO excited to finally have a license! But now she keeps complaining that she has to share a car with her sister!

Janelle Driver's License!!

Janelle finally passed her driver's test today!! This was her third time taking the test and so we were really hoping that she would pass! Her appointment was at 8:30 a.m. and so I had Jenna go over to the Williams before school and Janelle drove us out to the DMV in Hurricane. It was raining on and off and I was praying that it wouldn't be raining during her test -- especially since her windshield wipers were not working very well! The rain let up during the thirty minutes of her test and so our prayers were answered! Great job, Janelle!

Jared's Driver's License!!

Jared got his driver’s license today!!  He has been driving with Mr. Bundy all week and finished up his ten hours today.  He got -15 on his test.  I am not sure how many points you can miss and still pass.  Now they have to take a little online test again – 4 tests of 10 questions each.  They have to get 100% on it but can take it as many times as they need to.  So he finally got all of those right and then we hurried out to the DMV.  So he is official!  (Except he can only have immediate family members in the car for the next six months).  It is nice that he can drive to work now since I had been driving with him back and forth!

He passed!! Jase's Driver's License!!

She PASSED!!! Janika's Driver's License

Janika is now an official licensed driver!  Yeah!!  Now we just need to wait for the "real" license to come in the mail!