Week of 1-12-20

FIRST TIMES!
So today was Noah's first time passing the sacrament!  He did great!  I had to take Sadie out in the middle of it and got to have him bring me the water in the foyer.  So that was cool.  I think he enjoyed it and is looking forward to getting more comfortable with it all.  So cool!!  Also, Bradley got to bless the sacrament for the first time!  I loved this as well!!  Again, I was in the foyer for it, but I think it was really fun to hear my little boy's voice saying those words and performing such a special ordinance.  Made the Sacrament that much more meaningful to me this week!  So cool that they get to participate in that.  Luke will get to prepare the Sacrament for the first time next week probably.  We'll see.  1-12-20

WRESTLING- BRAD
Wrestling conditioning started back up on Monday!  Brad's been looking forward to this!  He was awesome, getting up at 5:20 to get there by 6:00!  And now he's talked several other boys in the ward to join.  Pretty fun stuff!  I'm so impressed!  1-13-20

COOL SADIE CRYING IN THE CAR ANALOGY
I was having an especially spiritual morning on Monday- these are my best mornings for some reason- and had a lot of time to think in the morning as well as on my three trips to the schools.  On the way home from one of them, it was just Sadie and I in the car and she started crying.  I was quick to try to calm her by talking to her and telling her she was going to be okay, but nothing I was saying was even phasing her.  Which was to be expected- she isn't usually very easy to calm down this way.  She was in her carseat, all buckled in, safe, but wishing she was somewhere else.  And then it hit me this is a lot like us in life.  We are riding in this car called life.  Heavenly Father is the driver.  He's put us securely in our car seat, and knows where he wants us to go, knows how to get there, knows everything about the journey "home" and is anxious for us to return with him.  But sometimes we are just so impatient!  We could just sit there and enjoy the ride.  Making good choices of course, but enjoying the scenery, feeling safe and secure, knowing that He is there, watching out for us, doing all in His power to get us home safely.  We could sit back and relax for the most part.  But instead we cry.  We worry about little bumps in the road and wish we could stop and get out of the carseat.  Even just for a minute.  Which is sad because if we would just sit there, we would get home and be comfortable and happy!  But we get so impatient.  Crying out for who knows what and not even noticing that Heavenly Father is there, trying to comfort us, trying to reassure us of our position in this life.  Just hit me and gave me reason to think about how I am doing right now.  I was definitely needing to take inventory.  Monday was a great day!  I had so many awesome little miracles that day.  1-13-20

SADIE 6 MONTH WELL CHECK
Took Sadie to the doctor on Monday.  She looks great!  She showed off her skills and wowed the doc with her cool moves :).  He was laughing about how "busy" she is.  She REALLY demonstrated that well :).  She needs to work on sitting up on her own a little more and laying on her tummy, but overall- doing great!  Growing on schedule even!  She hated her shots.  And again, she is the most sensitive baby I have ever had with shots.  She doesn't let you touch her legs for days!  And the Tylenol is necessary for days as well.  Poor little Princess!!  Makes me so sad!  She has a definite sad cry and even whimpers a little.  Pretty hard for the rest of us.  She's such a sweet little thing!  She is loving trying out crackers and the few finger foods we've let her have.  She HAS to be held.  She does not like to be set down.  Anywhere.  Which isn't too bad with so many helpers around.  She likes to smile and is easy to get to laugh.  She is VERY busy.  Wiggles and kicks her legs NONSTOP!  Just like in my tummy!  Kinda funny to watch.  She still loves her baths and kicks and splashes a ton in there too.  She loves her sibs.  She could watch them all day and does sometimes.  In fact, she's probably our best baby for basketball games!  She just sits and watches the game for the most part!  Kinda funny really.  She gets a little bored towards the end, but for the most part does pretty good!  She will never tire of Molly and her "Don't Be Sad" song.  We all can't get enough of their relationship.  It's miraculous what she will allow Molly to do with her and how much she just watches her.  Molly is too!  Molly never gets tired of Sadie and makes room for her in her life better than any of the other kids did with younger siblings.  It's really cute!  I think the only thing Molly won't do for her is throw away her diapers :).  1-13-20

BRADLEY SOPHOMORE ORIENTATION
This was anticlimactic!  We filled out his schedule for next year, brought it with us.  Tried to cram into the auditorium for the dumb little meeting, but didn't really hear anything.  Then went into the school to maybe talk to someone and there was just no motivation from Bradley.  So we turned around, turned in his schedule and walked out the door!  I think he was only a few minutes late to basketball practice :).  Funny stuff.  I think he's anxious and nervous for High School.  But I'm sure he will do great!  I can see him just thriving there.  Can't believe he will be going to High School though!!!  1-13-20

NOAH ORCHESTRA
Noah got his new Orchestra teacher this week!  His other one got fired just before Christmas break so we were anxious to find out who the new one would be and so far he just loves him!!  Mr. K? I think.  I have no idea what his name is- he's never made any attempt to communicate with the parents which is really okay with me, but Noah LOVES him!  So this should be fun.  I'm glad he's getting a little more/better instruction.  1-14-20

ERIKA'S BACK
We've been really stumped on Erika's back pain lately.  She woke up on Tuesday with unbearable pain.  I let her stay home and we just couldn't shake this pain!  It was awful.  She did finally make it back to school, but not sure what we should do about this back pain.  So far, it's been heping her to try to stay active- we will see if that can keep working.  1-14-20

UNCLE DREWS- GAME 2
Bradley did SO AWESOME in his game this week!!!  He was definitely the team MVP!!  Made tons of points, plenty of  assists, and some really incredible blocks!!!  It was so much fun to watch him play!!  Made the other team's annoying crowd more bearable!!  We lost, but only by a point at the VERY END!!  So crazy!  This will be a fun season though, if he can keep playing like that!  1-14-20

CHARITY HONOR CHOIR
Charity made it into Honor choir!  She had pass offs this week.  I'm so proud of her and that she does these things!  She's such a cool girl!  Glad she keeps using her beautiful voice.  1-15-20

FHE
We had to have FHE on Wednesday this week.  There were no youth activities because they're doing the rec center thing on Friday, so it worked out with everyone for the most part.  Erika was the lesson- she did a matching game for the tree of life, and we all got to talk about that some more.  We've had a lot of study times on it, so we've really done a lot to get this into our heads.  She did good.  We had Jack's game- button button, and then Molly's treat- POPCORN!  1-15-20

NOAH TEMPLE
Noah went on that Thursday with Nate and I, then the next day with friends, and then Tuesday morning with the girls and then again this Thursday with friends!!  He has really been rockin it with the temple attendance.  And loving it!  I'm so proud of him!  I love that he wants to be there and that he chooses friends who want to be there!  Very cool!  He's going to be a pro in no time!  1-16-20

JACK ACTIVITY DAYS
Jack went to his first activity days activity on Thursday!  This was a cool thing for him!  They played in the snow and talked about their goals.  I think he liked it!  1-16-20

NO SCHOOL/ SLEDDING!!!
Nate and I were racking our brains for something fun to do with the kids this break because we weren't able to go anywhere with the youth rec center activity, but we finally settled on SLEDDING!  It was rough getting out the door with all the snow gear and grumpy-ish kids, but we did it!  Everyone cheered up on the way to the old Bountiful church, and we all had a really great time!  It was 32 degrees outside, so not too ideal, but it had just snowed a ton too!  Nate and I juggled Sadie and I did spend a lot of time in the car, but she did surprisingly well especially for not feeling too hot.  Molly was fun to watch sledding- this is fairly new to her- and she LOVES snow!  Like, to eat it!  She would snack on her glove snow all the way back up the hill.  As well as smoothing out the cracks in the snow.  She loved going down with everyone!  She's so brave!  We even got her to go down a few times by herself!  That was cool.  Jack spent a lot of time going down on his own.  He is usually off in his own world, but Nate made him go down with Molly and him and Jack LOVED that.  He ended up really joining the group and having fun with everyone.  Went down with me a few times too!  Cute boy.  He was pretty happy about the bags on his feet, keeping them warm :).  Erika had a blast!  She was a tough little girl, doing a belly flop onto the ground, totally hurt her chest, but still got back into things.  She had a lot of fun.  She's fun to watch- just so brave!  Noah was fun too- he liked scaring people as they came down, pretending to almost get hit.  He did a flip to get out of the way of Nate, Kelly and Molly when they almost took him out.  And I love the story of him jumping over Brad as he laid in front of the ramp.  Luke kept pretty busy, first trying to build a ramp and then going down it.  He had a lot of fun!  I loved seeing him active and havin ga good time.  Brad ran around pushing everyone down the hill.  Going halfway down each time as he did it.  He really enjoys being a facilitator.  I think that's cool.  He did get to go down a few times on the tubes too- he loved that.  Racing Kelly.  He was pretty fun the whole time.  Kelly acted like she wasn't going to do anything the whole time because she doesn't like cold, but I think she warmed up and was able to really get into it!  She had fun going down with Nate and Molly.  It was fun to watch her gt into it.  Charity was out with friends, so we missed her, but everybody was wishing she could come.  Nate was a blast!  He did all the hard stuff, pumping up the tubes, pushing everyone down, spinning legs :).  And he was lots of fun for everyone!  I loved watching him enjoying it all!  Lots of fun!  It's been a while since we did something like this!  I was glad we made time for it and thought of it!  Hot chocolate afterwards, a must!  1-17-20

REC CENTER NIGHT/PROJECTOR MOVIE FOR THE LITTLES
The big kids went to the Rec Center night- the little kids and I stayed home for a fun projector movie in mom's bed!  We watched Mighty Joe Young!  This was a fun evening for us!  The big kids had fun too.  Sounded like lots of basketball, swimming, handball, six-square, and working out!  Don't know how they keep going that late at night!  1-17-20