MOLLY NUTCRACKER
Molly got to dance around to the Nutcracker music at dance on Friday. She was really happy about that :). She looked so happy dancing around with the hula hoops :). 12-1-23
WARD CHRISTMAS PARTY
The Ward Party was a lot of fun this year! We ate yummy Chicken Cordon Bleu for dinner with everyone's Funeral potatoes and then I went and sat at the coloring table with Sadie, Sadie Caldwell and Keren Perez. Shelly Last came over and talked as well as Leslie Perez after a while and then I got up and chatted with Nate and the Fields and Dave Noriega. it was a good time. Luke sat with all of his friends (Sadie Read came), Noah sat with us and then left when it was time to go hang out with friends. Erika was fun with all the little kids, making it okay to not run around the church. I don't know why this bugs me so much, but everyone just lets their kids run wild in the church, destroying classrooms and just messing around. There were a bunch of girls playing with the bell, a few little boys in the RS room drawing with marker all over the board. The lights in the hall were going on and off. Annoys me. And makes Jack and Molly sad because I refuse to let my kids run around the church and stage and I force them to sray in the gym. Total buzz kill. But they survived. It was a fun night. 12-1-23
The Ward Party was a lot of fun this year! We ate yummy Chicken Cordon Bleu for dinner with everyone's Funeral potatoes and then I went and sat at the coloring table with Sadie, Sadie Caldwell and Keren Perez. Shelly Last came over and talked as well as Leslie Perez after a while and then I got up and chatted with Nate and the Fields and Dave Noriega. it was a good time. Luke sat with all of his friends (Sadie Read came), Noah sat with us and then left when it was time to go hang out with friends. Erika was fun with all the little kids, making it okay to not run around the church. I don't know why this bugs me so much, but everyone just lets their kids run wild in the church, destroying classrooms and just messing around. There were a bunch of girls playing with the bell, a few little boys in the RS room drawing with marker all over the board. The lights in the hall were going on and off. Annoys me. And makes Jack and Molly sad because I refuse to let my kids run around the church and stage and I force them to sray in the gym. Total buzz kill. But they survived. It was a fun night. 12-1-23
STEVE FOR SUNDAY DINNER
I invited Steve over for dinner on Sunday and we had such a great time! He's so entertaining and fun to talk to. Everyone just sits around listening to him joke around. So fun. The little kids went and got their coloring stuff to do it in the middle of the living room because they all wanted to be around. So cute. 12-2-23
I invited Steve over for dinner on Sunday and we had such a great time! He's so entertaining and fun to talk to. Everyone just sits around listening to him joke around. So fun. The little kids went and got their coloring stuff to do it in the middle of the living room because they all wanted to be around. So cute. 12-2-23
KELLY IUD
This was an adventure. I really had no idea how involved getting an IUD is! Sheesh! Now I know an even better reason to never get one. We got there a little before 8:00 (surprisingly because we are never on time there), they took her to this we're little triangle room with accordion doors. Told her to get undressed and sit there. Then a few minutes later someone else came in and did her IV. This was fun. She didn't seem to know what she was doing, blood came gushing out of the tube all over Kelly's hand and the pillow she had on her lap. "That's why they have the chuck on the pillow", but couldn't they just do the IV right and then there wouldn't be blood gushing out?? hmmmm. She was also not very good at wiping blood off of Kelly's hand for some reason. Felt a little like she had never done any of this before. So weird how that is sometimes. She also got a drop of blood on the drawer handle as she was struggling to get something to clean the blood off with and then about five minutes later, when everything else was done (taping the tubing to Kelly's hand with wet bloody alcohol all over the place- super competant!), she grabbed a paper towel, and with it dry, wiped, scaped, wiped the blood spot off the drawer handle. Super thorough. Yes, I did keep track of how many other people touched that handle and then the next few places they touched after that and then all the people who touched those places after that. There was something on the wall that probably has a LOT of Kelly's blood germs on it. Just saying. Luckily, I'm not too worried about Kelly's blood, just makes me wonder how many other drops of blood were "cleaned off" that way. Yes, I'm a dork. I worked with blood!! It's what I did!! You don't clean blood off with a dry paper towel. You just don't. End of story. Well, not the end of Kelly's story, sorry, back to Kelly :). She did awesome with everything they did with her- all their weird mess ups. Like when they had to have her walk naked through the hall with people holding the IV bag and helping her keep her gown closed, to the bathroom so that they could get the pee sample for the pregnancy test they forgot to have her do BEFORE they had her undress and get an IV. Strange. And I really had to hold my tongue when I wanted to ask why they need a pregnancy test from someone they are CERTAIN she will NOT ever get pregnant on her own!! Whatever. Kelly was super patient. A super patient :). After our point five, or five point 0, however you say it :), some chatting, a few drugs in the IV, and nervous waiting, they whisked Kelly away and sent me to the waiting room. She was done pretty quick, but very VERY sleepy for quite a while. She's not the best and coming out of anesthesia, so I was nervous to do anything too annoying for her. I think I did pretty good :). I do remember her saying at some point that morning that I am not invited when she has her babies, we'll see, but I think I did okay. She was conscious enough to tell them she couldn't eat Oreos and fish crackers, so grape juice and popcorn it is. She didn't love the popcorn but sat there and painstakingly, sleepily, ate every last kernel. Along with drinking all the juice and throwing it into the garbage can like a boss. We had some funny conversations as she came out and I got to share some of that with Devan- Kelly's orders- he got a good laugh, but was concerned about her. So that was fun. They finally took out her IV, sent me to go get the car, and wheeled her out the door! She slept all the way home, missed Trader Joes while I went in and got 10 bags of takis :). She was in a lot of pain most of the day, slept for a good four hours, but stayed down most of the day. I felt so bad! I wish I'd been more experienced to help her with this! She did great though! Lots of Ibuprofen and rest. It was great to hear that she has four good eggs in there!! We thought of all the combinations she could get with four eggs. She could still have her 12 kids if they all split three ways! Pretty cool :). 12-4-23
This was an adventure. I really had no idea how involved getting an IUD is! Sheesh! Now I know an even better reason to never get one. We got there a little before 8:00 (surprisingly because we are never on time there), they took her to this we're little triangle room with accordion doors. Told her to get undressed and sit there. Then a few minutes later someone else came in and did her IV. This was fun. She didn't seem to know what she was doing, blood came gushing out of the tube all over Kelly's hand and the pillow she had on her lap. "That's why they have the chuck on the pillow", but couldn't they just do the IV right and then there wouldn't be blood gushing out?? hmmmm. She was also not very good at wiping blood off of Kelly's hand for some reason. Felt a little like she had never done any of this before. So weird how that is sometimes. She also got a drop of blood on the drawer handle as she was struggling to get something to clean the blood off with and then about five minutes later, when everything else was done (taping the tubing to Kelly's hand with wet bloody alcohol all over the place- super competant!), she grabbed a paper towel, and with it dry, wiped, scaped, wiped the blood spot off the drawer handle. Super thorough. Yes, I did keep track of how many other people touched that handle and then the next few places they touched after that and then all the people who touched those places after that. There was something on the wall that probably has a LOT of Kelly's blood germs on it. Just saying. Luckily, I'm not too worried about Kelly's blood, just makes me wonder how many other drops of blood were "cleaned off" that way. Yes, I'm a dork. I worked with blood!! It's what I did!! You don't clean blood off with a dry paper towel. You just don't. End of story. Well, not the end of Kelly's story, sorry, back to Kelly :). She did awesome with everything they did with her- all their weird mess ups. Like when they had to have her walk naked through the hall with people holding the IV bag and helping her keep her gown closed, to the bathroom so that they could get the pee sample for the pregnancy test they forgot to have her do BEFORE they had her undress and get an IV. Strange. And I really had to hold my tongue when I wanted to ask why they need a pregnancy test from someone they are CERTAIN she will NOT ever get pregnant on her own!! Whatever. Kelly was super patient. A super patient :). After our point five, or five point 0, however you say it :), some chatting, a few drugs in the IV, and nervous waiting, they whisked Kelly away and sent me to the waiting room. She was done pretty quick, but very VERY sleepy for quite a while. She's not the best and coming out of anesthesia, so I was nervous to do anything too annoying for her. I think I did pretty good :). I do remember her saying at some point that morning that I am not invited when she has her babies, we'll see, but I think I did okay. She was conscious enough to tell them she couldn't eat Oreos and fish crackers, so grape juice and popcorn it is. She didn't love the popcorn but sat there and painstakingly, sleepily, ate every last kernel. Along with drinking all the juice and throwing it into the garbage can like a boss. We had some funny conversations as she came out and I got to share some of that with Devan- Kelly's orders- he got a good laugh, but was concerned about her. So that was fun. They finally took out her IV, sent me to go get the car, and wheeled her out the door! She slept all the way home, missed Trader Joes while I went in and got 10 bags of takis :). She was in a lot of pain most of the day, slept for a good four hours, but stayed down most of the day. I felt so bad! I wish I'd been more experienced to help her with this! She did great though! Lots of Ibuprofen and rest. It was great to hear that she has four good eggs in there!! We thought of all the combinations she could get with four eggs. She could still have her 12 kids if they all split three ways! Pretty cool :). 12-4-23
PUTTING UP CHRISTMAS
Not gonna lie, this wasn't our best year for putting up the tree for some reason. We went to our usual lot by Big Lots, they thanked us for being repeat customers :) and we quickly picked out our favorite tree. Nate tied it onto the top of the van and we brought our new friend home. I had the thought that we should have dinner first, but that got overridden by wanting to get started, and we pushed forward. With all the family room nappers all day, I hadn't taken time to clean under the couches and get a spot ready, so I quickly did that. Nate brought it in, we got it set up in the stand, which took longer than usual. Then we started getting out the ornaments- took our first ornament pic- and basically started hanging ornaments BEFORE putting the lights on! Weird! So we took the ornaments off, found the lights, found out some don't work, voted on whether we should do white or colorful, then I vetoed everyone and did both because we didn't have enough of one or the other. THEN we decorated it with all our crazy amount of oranments. Nobody seemed way into it this year. Kelly was a little out of it and wasn't as reminisce-y as usual. Charity wasn't there, Brad wasn't there. It was just different maybe. There wasn't a lot of negative, just not a lot of positive either. I was starting to feel a little sick that evening, I could feel something coming on, so it could have just been me. But it was still fun. Sadie loved knowing whose ornaments were whose and would only hang up the ones I said were hers :). She doesn't really have that many so I lied a few times. Molly enjoyed putting up Christmas, but was kind of quiet about it. She loves the homemade ornaments, we need to get back into that. Jack had fun as well and then offered to get started on browning the ground beef for tacos before we were done. Sweet boy. Erika was having fun also. She is always a positive vibe in the room. Noah and Luke humored me really well and were a lot of fun for everyone else. They had fun lauging over all the funny things Sadie was doing and saying. We all did. They were nice to make this evening a priority. Noah helped Jack a little with dinner too. It was a good night. We finished and did our holiday specs and everyone crashed. I think we might have some kind of bug, I feel like everyone's been more tired than usual. We'll live though!! Christmas is here!! 12-4-23
Not gonna lie, this wasn't our best year for putting up the tree for some reason. We went to our usual lot by Big Lots, they thanked us for being repeat customers :) and we quickly picked out our favorite tree. Nate tied it onto the top of the van and we brought our new friend home. I had the thought that we should have dinner first, but that got overridden by wanting to get started, and we pushed forward. With all the family room nappers all day, I hadn't taken time to clean under the couches and get a spot ready, so I quickly did that. Nate brought it in, we got it set up in the stand, which took longer than usual. Then we started getting out the ornaments- took our first ornament pic- and basically started hanging ornaments BEFORE putting the lights on! Weird! So we took the ornaments off, found the lights, found out some don't work, voted on whether we should do white or colorful, then I vetoed everyone and did both because we didn't have enough of one or the other. THEN we decorated it with all our crazy amount of oranments. Nobody seemed way into it this year. Kelly was a little out of it and wasn't as reminisce-y as usual. Charity wasn't there, Brad wasn't there. It was just different maybe. There wasn't a lot of negative, just not a lot of positive either. I was starting to feel a little sick that evening, I could feel something coming on, so it could have just been me. But it was still fun. Sadie loved knowing whose ornaments were whose and would only hang up the ones I said were hers :). She doesn't really have that many so I lied a few times. Molly enjoyed putting up Christmas, but was kind of quiet about it. She loves the homemade ornaments, we need to get back into that. Jack had fun as well and then offered to get started on browning the ground beef for tacos before we were done. Sweet boy. Erika was having fun also. She is always a positive vibe in the room. Noah and Luke humored me really well and were a lot of fun for everyone else. They had fun lauging over all the funny things Sadie was doing and saying. We all did. They were nice to make this evening a priority. Noah helped Jack a little with dinner too. It was a good night. We finished and did our holiday specs and everyone crashed. I think we might have some kind of bug, I feel like everyone's been more tired than usual. We'll live though!! Christmas is here!! 12-4-23
TUESDAY
Tuesday was rough this week. Like I said, the day before I was starting to feel a little sick. Had chills and some body aches (could be the wheat and sugar I ate, which is a fun little guessing game), but I wasn't feeling well, slept in, and then struggled the entire day to get on track. It was so annoying! I've been so frustrated with my health lately. It's so hard to eat right when I don't see any results. I've let up on my working out a little and I can feel that too. It had just been a rough day! I was useless to Kelly who was still recovering and then Erika needed me to pick her up- she was having that pain she gets in her back and lower abdomen every month or so. Noah needed to come home for lunch. It was busy and I wasn't in the mood for all of it. I feel bad when it's like that. I am hoping we can do better tomorrow! But basketball started up this week!! Nate survived basketball practices for three hours straight!! And so did we :). 12-5-23
PHONE CALL WITH ELDER MAYNES
Brad keeps calling later and later each week, so our time is shorter, but we LOVED seeing and hearing from him. This week was fun because Sadie was in a talkative mood so it was basically Charity, Kelly, Bradley, Luke, Erika and Sadie all chatting together and having a fun time with all the funny stuff she says. It seemed like sibling bonding moment. Noah, Molly and Jack were sleeping and watching TV, so they missed it, but I thought it was pretty fun. I got to chat with him later to pick out his shoes and waterproofing spray. So I got my time :). But I did love listening to all the kids. It sounded like a tough week. 12-5-23
Brad keeps calling later and later each week, so our time is shorter, but we LOVED seeing and hearing from him. This week was fun because Sadie was in a talkative mood so it was basically Charity, Kelly, Bradley, Luke, Erika and Sadie all chatting together and having a fun time with all the funny stuff she says. It seemed like sibling bonding moment. Noah, Molly and Jack were sleeping and watching TV, so they missed it, but I thought it was pretty fun. I got to chat with him later to pick out his shoes and waterproofing spray. So I got my time :). But I did love listening to all the kids. It sounded like a tough week. 12-5-23
LETTER FROM BRAD- BABYSITTERS
Soooo this week was rough. We had some really amazing days and then the exact opposite for the others. But let me tell you Oregon is seriously sooo pretty. If it weren't for the druggies, homeless people, crazy activists, and people getting murdered outside our apartment Portland would be a lot safer because I'd probably never raise a family here. But its still amazing and beautiful and it spices up the work whenever crazy things happen.
Soooo this week was rough. We had some really amazing days and then the exact opposite for the others. But let me tell you Oregon is seriously sooo pretty. If it weren't for the druggies, homeless people, crazy activists, and people getting murdered outside our apartment Portland would be a lot safer because I'd probably never raise a family here. But its still amazing and beautiful and it spices up the work whenever crazy things happen.
Wednesday- ummmm so today was also rough I got pretty sick right before our zone training so I was dyinggg during it. It was really awesome though it was focused on powerful invitations and promising blessings personal to our friends.
Thursday- today was kinda just a super slow day
Friday- today was also kind of just a chum day. We had a really powerful lesson with one of our friends though and so that was good! We then went to help our recent convert with family history with the senior missionaries and got voluntold to babysit her boy for the next 2 hours. He's a demon child so they kind of needed it. He basically just screamed the whole time but glad we could help. I also almost caught a rat and kept it as a pet but I decided not to
Saturday- I almost cried today. We had 8 lessons planned and 8 lessons that fell through. Our friend Hilary we were teaching dropped us because the leader of her church told her to stop talking to us. Sooo that's really sad and I almost cried because she was really close. And then a lot of our other friends are on the fence so we made the decisión today with those contacts and how they went. Kind of depressing
Sunday- made up for the entire week! We had 4 friends make it to church: Darwin, Erika, Anais, and Alejandro. It was amazingggg. We had some powerful lessons with them afterwards and are having another temple tour Thursday. We were walking back from 2 hours of rough tracting when a guy yelled at us to see if we would read the Bible with him. We walked in and it was him his family and his buddies family. We talked with them and got to know them sooo well. Super tight with them and they told me I look like John Cena and Connor McGregor. Not sure how or why but made me feel good haha cuz they said I look big. Basically we're besties now and I am sad I'm leaving. But this week was so awesome somehow because although it was super slow we managed to find 11 new friends that we are teaching and that want to learn more! So we are gonna have lots of lessons hopefully this week.
Monday went on an exchange with another spanish Elder and it was awesome! He actually hyped me up on my Spanish so much today and I realized how much I've improved. We only had one door answer and it was a Venezuelan that somehow pulled every single piece of Anti ever invented and wanted answers. He had lots of really deep doctrine questions and didn't seem too bashy just confused and lost. It reminded me of a scripture "But behold, the Jews were a stiffnecked people; and they despised the words of plainness, and killed the prophets, and sought for things that they could not understand. Wherefore, because of their blindness, which blindness came by looking beyond the mark, they must needs fall; for God hath taken away his plainness from them, and delivered unto them many things which they cannot understand, because they desired it. And because they desired it God hath done it, that they may stumble." (Jacob 4: 14) It really goes to show that the gospel isn't complicated. God speaks in plainness. If we are too focused "beyond the mark" we won't see what's right in front of us. If we are able to focus on the doctrine of christ which is Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Recieving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end; it can answer any question you have that is focused on the "mark." And as we stay focused on the "mark" which is becoming like Christ, God will consecrate your efforts and you will grow spiritually. Sorry this was a tad confusing but basically... if we can focus on the basics which are the doctrine of christ we will recieve answers to any questions you have that are focused on the mark.
Seriously love you all soooo much and transfers is next week sooo wish me luck
Tell me this picture isn't amazing
Pizza for dinner
Our little friend Santi we babysat
12-4-23
WEDNESDAY MORNING
I did it! I got up almost at my usual time, on a late start day, and had some good quality time with myself before Sadie woke up early :). It was great. I really only read my scriptures, but it was so nice! I felt so much better being alive and doing my day. I got to do my work out after I took the little kids and then my shower before taking Erika! Pretty awesome! I was extra tired after my workout, extra shaky, so I still might not be 100%, but I am determined to have a good day!! 12-6-23
I did it! I got up almost at my usual time, on a late start day, and had some good quality time with myself before Sadie woke up early :). It was great. I really only read my scriptures, but it was so nice! I felt so much better being alive and doing my day. I got to do my work out after I took the little kids and then my shower before taking Erika! Pretty awesome! I was extra tired after my workout, extra shaky, so I still might not be 100%, but I am determined to have a good day!! 12-6-23
LUNCHTIME WITH THE QUILTING LADIES
The secretary in Brad's Portland mission office is a good friend of the Barbaras', Sister Nay. She finished her mission a week ago and was having a fun little temple trip and lunch with her quilting friends. She had wanted to meet me, I had wanted to meet her, so they invited me over. This was a huge highlight of my week! I felt bad, I had already had Jimmy Johns with the boys, so I didn't eat any of Barbara's food, but the conversation was hilarious!! They were so sweet to let me talk about Brad a bunch, but lots of other conversation too. So fun!! I stayed for a good four hours. They're just so nice to me. I got to talk to Barbara and Barbara about the whole Sunday school thing with Bonnie. I got to hear Barbara Noriega say "private parts" and then Barbara Farnes leaned over and said, "Normally she would say, 'dillywacker'" HA! I got to meet Sis. Nay and her fun personality. I can see why she and Brad got along. She was such a relief to him when he got there. She hadn't been replaced yet, so she was still getting calls from the mission and helping people run things. She let me say hi to an Elder I can't remember his name, he was from Arizona. Barbara Noriega wanted her to call Brad and let me say hi :). I had just talked to him the day before and was pretty much chatting with him every day about things for him to go to Peru. It was just a fun afternoon. I loved it!! 12-6-23
The secretary in Brad's Portland mission office is a good friend of the Barbaras', Sister Nay. She finished her mission a week ago and was having a fun little temple trip and lunch with her quilting friends. She had wanted to meet me, I had wanted to meet her, so they invited me over. This was a huge highlight of my week! I felt bad, I had already had Jimmy Johns with the boys, so I didn't eat any of Barbara's food, but the conversation was hilarious!! They were so sweet to let me talk about Brad a bunch, but lots of other conversation too. So fun!! I stayed for a good four hours. They're just so nice to me. I got to talk to Barbara and Barbara about the whole Sunday school thing with Bonnie. I got to hear Barbara Noriega say "private parts" and then Barbara Farnes leaned over and said, "Normally she would say, 'dillywacker'" HA! I got to meet Sis. Nay and her fun personality. I can see why she and Brad got along. She was such a relief to him when he got there. She hadn't been replaced yet, so she was still getting calls from the mission and helping people run things. She let me say hi to an Elder I can't remember his name, he was from Arizona. Barbara Noriega wanted her to call Brad and let me say hi :). I had just talked to him the day before and was pretty much chatting with him every day about things for him to go to Peru. It was just a fun afternoon. I loved it!! 12-6-23
MOLLY FIELD TRIP WITH NATE
Sounded like these two had a fun time together. They didn't love the talking part but they still had a lot of fun. I was glad to hear that it went well. I felt bad that Nate had not had any sleep for two days though and he was so busy with catering orders! But Molly was so happy to have him go. 12-7-23
Sounded like these two had a fun time together. They didn't love the talking part but they still had a lot of fun. I was glad to hear that it went well. I felt bad that Nate had not had any sleep for two days though and he was so busy with catering orders! But Molly was so happy to have him go. 12-7-23
DATE WITH ERIKA
Erika needed some new shoes, so we decided to base our date around that. She wanted to try something new so we went to Slapfish for dinner. We both stuffed ourselves so much we weren't able to go get ice cream after the date like I'd planned. But after dinner we went over to Nike and picked out THE PERFECT shoes for Erika THE PERFECT size. This was not easy but it was fun :). We had alot of fun and she got some really cute shoes. I was so happy. This was a really fun night. We were able to talk a lot and laugh a ton. Good times. It was pretty crazy that while we were out, I kept feeling like I needed to call the doctor to have her blood work done- for hormones, since she hadn't stopped bleeding- so I was committed to calling the next day and sure enough, she started bleeding THAT NIGHT! Kinda cool, kinda not. I got her text in the middle of the night unfortunately, but once I figured out it wasn't from Kelly, I was happy for her and happy that I no longer felt the need to call and schedule a hormone appointment. So anyway. This was the first day of forever- HA! 12-7-23
Erika needed some new shoes, so we decided to base our date around that. She wanted to try something new so we went to Slapfish for dinner. We both stuffed ourselves so much we weren't able to go get ice cream after the date like I'd planned. But after dinner we went over to Nike and picked out THE PERFECT shoes for Erika THE PERFECT size. This was not easy but it was fun :). We had alot of fun and she got some really cute shoes. I was so happy. This was a really fun night. We were able to talk a lot and laugh a ton. Good times. It was pretty crazy that while we were out, I kept feeling like I needed to call the doctor to have her blood work done- for hormones, since she hadn't stopped bleeding- so I was committed to calling the next day and sure enough, she started bleeding THAT NIGHT! Kinda cool, kinda not. I got her text in the middle of the night unfortunately, but once I figured out it wasn't from Kelly, I was happy for her and happy that I no longer felt the need to call and schedule a hormone appointment. So anyway. This was the first day of forever- HA! 12-7-23
JACK AUDITIONS- LION KING
Jack finally got to try out for his part in the Lion King! We had spent the whole day before learning the song and getting it down and then he knocked it out of the park at the audition. Course they only had him sing a small part of it, not what we had practiced at all and then they had him read something. He did great! We found out the next day at the UVU/USU game that he got the part of Scar!!! His reaction was awesome when I told him. He was very happy :). So cool! School musical, here we come! 12-8-23
Jack finally got to try out for his part in the Lion King! We had spent the whole day before learning the song and getting it down and then he knocked it out of the park at the audition. Course they only had him sing a small part of it, not what we had practiced at all and then they had him read something. He did great! We found out the next day at the UVU/USU game that he got the part of Scar!!! His reaction was awesome when I told him. He was very happy :). So cool! School musical, here we come! 12-8-23
DATE NIGHT
We went to Zupas for our date night tonight, something close and quick because Noah needed a ride to a party and we wanted to be home with the kids to watch a movie. 12-8-23
We went to Zupas for our date night tonight, something close and quick because Noah needed a ride to a party and we wanted to be home with the kids to watch a movie. 12-8-23
CHARITY SINGING AT THE UVU/USU WOMENS BASKETBALL GAME
We all loaded up in the car to go watch Charity sing! We met up with Kelly and Devan at Mo' betta's for some food and then quickly piled back into the car to get to the UCCU center in time. Charity had told us 2:00, but since that was tip off told us that she would be singing at 1:45. We raced over there. Luckily it was really easy to park and get in. We were the first people there, Nate showed up (he'd been delivering food), then Charity and Hunter came to say hi. Grandma and Simon came and sat by us. Then Charity was announced and went out on the court and sang her little heart out! She does this with such poise and looks effortless. It's so incredible to me that she can sing in front of that many people, in that setting, a cappella, and hitting such high notes! She's just SO AMAZING!! We were all so proud of her!! It was fun to see everyone's compliments on fb after I posted the video. Grandpa and Jo showed up RIGHT as Charity finished. Like seconds after. Totally missed it though. I couldn't believe it! Kinda sad, but he watched the video and was really proud of her too. We stayed to watch the game- Erika and Jack were glued. Nate had to leave before it was over. As well as Grandpa and Jo. I watched a lot of it and then went around visiting with all the big kids. That was fun for me. I got to meet Hunter and talk with him a little. UVU won the game, by like 20 points. We decided we needed to celebrate with ice cream after and Cold Stone has dairy free, so we went there. There weren't enough seats for us inside so most of the kids sat out in the cold and had contest to see who could make it the longest out there. Sadie only lasted a few seconds and made me go inside with her. Jack joined us. It was a fun time. We had to say goodbye to Charity and Hunter and then we took Kelly and Devan to her car. It's always a bummer when we have to say goodbye. It was a long drive home. But we all had a good day. Luke, Noah and Erika all went off to their friends' houses and the littles and me found fun things to do. It was a good evening. 12-9-23
SUNDAY
I bagged up some freeze dried skittles in the cutest little gift bags ever and Shalane and I went around and met the new kids who will be joining our class. It's all the 2007 kids. Jaxx, Josh, Brody, Cooper, Sadie, Raegan, Annika, Maya. It's gonna be great! I'm excited to add them to the class. Hopefully, they all come.
I bagged up some freeze dried skittles in the cutest little gift bags ever and Shalane and I went around and met the new kids who will be joining our class. It's all the 2007 kids. Jaxx, Josh, Brody, Cooper, Sadie, Raegan, Annika, Maya. It's gonna be great! I'm excited to add them to the class. Hopefully, they all come.
This was also the day of Jack's family history party. He took a picture of Grandpa Russ with him to share some things about him. So fun. He was VERY excited for this!!
We're getting really close to the Christmas Program so choir practices have been much longer. We're getting close to being ready.
No family meeting today. Tomorrow is Marshall's reception.
12-10-23
LION KING
Jack started early morning rehearsals today for Lion King. I think they are just learning music for now, but he's loving it! I decided to offer to take all the kids in the ward that wanted rides so we grabbed, Desmonds, Shaws, Cutlers and Addison Allred. Fun stuff! 12-11-23
Jack started early morning rehearsals today for Lion King. I think they are just learning music for now, but he's loving it! I decided to offer to take all the kids in the ward that wanted rides so we grabbed, Desmonds, Shaws, Cutlers and Addison Allred. Fun stuff! 12-11-23
MARSHALL'S RECEPTION
This was interesting. I was supposed to take pictures but from day one, I was not thrilled about the lighting in this place. Too many white walls and glass walls. It was hard!! And there weren't that many people there so it looked weird. But I did take a few with my camera and then a bunch with my phone. We'll see how they turned out. We met up with Nate there, since he drove Becky. And Charity and Hunter showed up a little after us. The little girls had cried and whined all the way there about having to go and then loved all the treats and had a lot of fun. Kinda funny. We sat and talked for quite a while and then there were too many hangry kids (and adult- Charity) who needed real food. We had not had dinner before because I thought there would be food. It started at 6:00 so... We also had 6:00 open gym and 7:30 play practice the next morning, so while I felt bad and knew everyone would be annoyed, we did have to leave at 8:00 instead of 9:00 when it was supposed to end. We missed all the cute stuff. I feel bad now that I think about how Nancy probably wanted pictures of all that. It's so hard to please and take care of everyone. Nate stayed so that Becky could stay and we didn't see him come in way late. But on our way home, we stopped at chick-fil-a. This was fun. We got to talk with Hunter a little more and laughed a LOT. I was using the cards from the kids meal to strike up conversation. They were dumb questions, but they made us talk and laugh. It was fun. We said goobye to Charity and Hunter and headed home. Late night for us! 12-11-23
This was interesting. I was supposed to take pictures but from day one, I was not thrilled about the lighting in this place. Too many white walls and glass walls. It was hard!! And there weren't that many people there so it looked weird. But I did take a few with my camera and then a bunch with my phone. We'll see how they turned out. We met up with Nate there, since he drove Becky. And Charity and Hunter showed up a little after us. The little girls had cried and whined all the way there about having to go and then loved all the treats and had a lot of fun. Kinda funny. We sat and talked for quite a while and then there were too many hangry kids (and adult- Charity) who needed real food. We had not had dinner before because I thought there would be food. It started at 6:00 so... We also had 6:00 open gym and 7:30 play practice the next morning, so while I felt bad and knew everyone would be annoyed, we did have to leave at 8:00 instead of 9:00 when it was supposed to end. We missed all the cute stuff. I feel bad now that I think about how Nancy probably wanted pictures of all that. It's so hard to please and take care of everyone. Nate stayed so that Becky could stay and we didn't see him come in way late. But on our way home, we stopped at chick-fil-a. This was fun. We got to talk with Hunter a little more and laughed a LOT. I was using the cards from the kids meal to strike up conversation. They were dumb questions, but they made us talk and laugh. It was fun. We said goobye to Charity and Hunter and headed home. Late night for us! 12-11-23
DOOR DASH FOR BRAD
We sent Brad his "last supper" from door dash Monday. He wanted Panda. He wanted it with a different Elder while he was on exchanges. He leaves Wednesday for the AP's house and will be on his way to Peru after that. 12-11-23
We sent Brad his "last supper" from door dash Monday. He wanted Panda. He wanted it with a different Elder while he was on exchanges. He leaves Wednesday for the AP's house and will be on his way to Peru after that. 12-11-23
MY DOCTOR APPOINTMENT
My toe was doing this weird thing last week where it felt like there was a string tied around it and the other toes were kind of tingly, so I decided it was time to schedule an appointment. My elbows have been tight as well. I mostly wanted to talk about the extreme fatigue problem I have. Dr. Woods was really nice and listened to all my problems. He decided to run about every test he could on my blood. We'll see if anything shows up. On one hand, I'd love to fix the problem, on the other hand, I don't really want to know any other problems that are not contributing to this. I cannot get my sleep apnea test until January 2nd and my mammogram won't be until February 9th. So this will be a process. 12-12-23
My toe was doing this weird thing last week where it felt like there was a string tied around it and the other toes were kind of tingly, so I decided it was time to schedule an appointment. My elbows have been tight as well. I mostly wanted to talk about the extreme fatigue problem I have. Dr. Woods was really nice and listened to all my problems. He decided to run about every test he could on my blood. We'll see if anything shows up. On one hand, I'd love to fix the problem, on the other hand, I don't really want to know any other problems that are not contributing to this. I cannot get my sleep apnea test until January 2nd and my mammogram won't be until February 9th. So this will be a process. 12-12-23
EMAIL FROM ELDER MAYNES- "Goodby Portland"
Today is basically my last day because tomorrow I pack up and leave to go to the APs apartment and then I am heading off to Peru in the morning. Its actually so sad. When i first got here I hated it so much and wanted to be gone and was talking with my Mom about it. She told me the Lord wont let me go until I don't want to. I didnt know if I ever could but here I am and I do not want to leave its so sad. The people in Portland are a different breed here. My first day was crazy seeing how different everyone is here. And it seriously has shown to me how everyone has a chance. Some of our greatest friends we have made here were some of the people I never would have even thought would invite us back. Like our friends Darwin and Erika, he and his buddies were drunk out of their mind when we firsr found them. I thought it wad stupid we talked to them but now here we are almost about to plan his baptism because hes so close. Oregon is also sooo pretty. I would probably never raise my family here in Portland buttt its a gorgeous state. I'm still scared of white people though... if someone answers the door and they are white I immediately get ready to be threatened with a gun or knife because thats how consistent white people are. BUT also I just said everyone has a chance which is true because we have met some AMAZING white people here its just much harder hahaha. Anyways I love this place and am coming on a roadtrip up here when i get back from my mission so who's coming with?
Tuesday: P day was hype we hungout with the other zone and got to just hangout for a few hours with them, the APs, and the office Elders. We're all super tight now. We then went back and met at our stake presidents house to have food and a testimony meeting with the zone.
Wednesday- I got to lead out Spanish againnnn. I actually love leading out its so much more fun. It was with another Elder who knows 0 Spanish so basically just me and he followed around all day. Kinda sucks for him but I was able to find a few new people and then me and him sent out 8 referrals to other Elders in our zone because we knocked on doors and they ended up not hispanic so we taught them a bit and then set up RAs with. So far they're all commited to coming to church with the older elders which is SOOO EXCITING.
Thursday: Temple tour with Darwin again and we talked a lot about baptism. He really
wants to he just needs to be seperated or married. Hes going to have a genuine convo with erika so we can help them make that big step. Hes so elect and really hope hes able to work it out with Erika! Hopefully I can get a text while in Peru and hesr about him getting baptized. He seriously has such a strong testimony.
Friday: uhhhhh today was strange and I dont even know what we did because we worked so hard but nothing really happened haha. We had a lot of failed contacts and then the bike elders broke their bikes and it would have been a 2 hour walk for them to their appointments so we had to drive them a lot. Theyre super cool and have a Tongan member living above rhem so they get their groceries paid for them so now they provide us dinner.
Saturday: not much happened we had a lot of failed contacts and then we had a christmas party with the ward and one of the Tongan members bought us a TON of food. Like 2 large bags of pizza rolls, a box of hot pockets, lasagna, lots of oreos,
Sunday: sad day because I had to say goodbye to our ward and theres actually so many amazing people in our ward. Ive grown so close to them and one of them sent me his email because he wants to talk to me after the mission. Super cool dude and he also served in Peru. We had 2 new friends show up to church!
Monday: I got to lead out Spanish again! It was so exciting actually I love leading out because when I don't my comp doesn't really let me use any spanish and takes over. I went with an english greenie. But today was really cool! Our friend we met last week called us. He wanted to call a little later because he was going to be busy all day. At dinner time we had some amazing Panda Express and me and the Elder i was with both said if our fortune cookies said anything about putting him on date or baptism, we would teach him about baptism and put him on date. Welll the first fortune cookie said, "make it a win win situation." The other said something about being humble and quiet in your successes. We both were like these cookies are inspired we need to. But like as a joke but also in the back of our heads not. Sooo we called him up and talked w him a little bit. We got super close and talked about track and lifting. We then had suchhh a spiritual and powerful lesson. It was such a spirit led lesson because half the stuff I did I've never done before it was really cool. Well the time came and I invited him to be baptized and he was so down! He was like, "why wouldn’t I get baptized if I have the opportunity to, everyone should." It was so cool! But also super sad cuz I'm leaving tomorrow...
Something I learned in the temple is that right before we recieve huge blessings or miracles its usually preceeded with temptation or pull in the other direction; like Joseph Smith and the first vision. As you are overwhelmed with temptation or really anything, its the devil working real hard to make it so you can't experience this blessing or miracle. So push through those temptations theres something good coming your way.
Next week I'll be In Peruuuu
Elder Sanford pretending to was my shoes
Scary church building we had to go to the bathroom in on an exchange and the piano played by itself
Another exchange we got gyros
PHONE CALL FROM BRADLEY
We got to talk to Brad a little bit, Tuesday night. He was excited and anxious to go to Peru, feeling the crunch. He only had that one day left with Elder Adams which was nice. We talked a lot about logistics with his trip to Peru. I was happy that he called Luke after to talk to him alone. This was good. 12-12-23
We got to talk to Brad a little bit, Tuesday night. He was excited and anxious to go to Peru, feeling the crunch. He only had that one day left with Elder Adams which was nice. We talked a lot about logistics with his trip to Peru. I was happy that he called Luke after to talk to him alone. This was good. 12-12-23
ERIKA'S CONCERT
Nate met up with the littles, Kelly and me and we all watched Erika perform. She did such a great job!! Especially when we heard the older choir after her, they didn't do as well as she did, so the contrast was noticeable. We could barely see her little head behind the kid with a big head. She did great though! So fun that she shares this talent. 12-12-23
Nate met up with the littles, Kelly and me and we all watched Erika perform. She did such a great job!! Especially when we heard the older choir after her, they didn't do as well as she did, so the contrast was noticeable. We could barely see her little head behind the kid with a big head. She did great though! So fun that she shares this talent. 12-12-23
DERMATOLOGIST
I cannot believe how many visits these warts have taken to get rid of. We went back again Wednesday. Cross your fingers that this is it. We hadn't gone out for our ice cream for her other big milestone, so we decided now was a good time. Baskin Robbins was right there! It was fun to be in there again, it's been a while. They haven't changed it at all. It's like stepping into the past. 12-13-23
I cannot believe how many visits these warts have taken to get rid of. We went back again Wednesday. Cross your fingers that this is it. We hadn't gone out for our ice cream for her other big milestone, so we decided now was a good time. Baskin Robbins was right there! It was fun to be in there again, it's been a while. They haven't changed it at all. It's like stepping into the past. 12-13-23
KAREN RICHARDSON
Erika and I are new ministering companions and got assigned Karen. We got to go visit her this week. That was so fun! We talked the entire time, almost an hour! So cool! She is fun to talk to and we are excited to have her and be able to think about and pray for her and her family. 12-13-23
Erika and I are new ministering companions and got assigned Karen. We got to go visit her this week. That was so fun! We talked the entire time, almost an hour! So cool! She is fun to talk to and we are excited to have her and be able to think about and pray for her and her family. 12-13-23
DINNER WITH CLAIRE
Claire and I met up at the Sawadee Thai Restaurant in Salt Lake. So YUMMY! We had so much fun talking. We tried to go through all my kids and update on them all, but we didn't make it all the way through. We had too many stories to tell. Plus, Claire is writing a book, making cool new ornaments with a sear, her brother's books and such, and all the Tim Ballard hoopla. There were so many things to talk about- we need to talk more often obviously! Hopefully January! I didn't get home until 10:30 and Sadie had gotten herself to bed, so of course she woke up at 3:30 in the morning, came up to bed with me (Nate was working the mid) and kept me up for the rest of the morning. 12-13-23
Claire and I met up at the Sawadee Thai Restaurant in Salt Lake. So YUMMY! We had so much fun talking. We tried to go through all my kids and update on them all, but we didn't make it all the way through. We had too many stories to tell. Plus, Claire is writing a book, making cool new ornaments with a sear, her brother's books and such, and all the Tim Ballard hoopla. There were so many things to talk about- we need to talk more often obviously! Hopefully January! I didn't get home until 10:30 and Sadie had gotten herself to bed, so of course she woke up at 3:30 in the morning, came up to bed with me (Nate was working the mid) and kept me up for the rest of the morning. 12-13-23
BRAD IN PORTLAND AIRPORT- TRAVEL DAY MIRACLE
So Thursday morning while I was laying on the couch, trying to motivate myself to do something productive- it was a rough night, just as I was thinking about where Brad could be at that moment, I got a text from him!! He told me he still had his phone!! President Botchway never took it from him! Kinda funny. And I'm calling this our travel day miracle. Nate and I could not settle on a way to get him a phone. Pres. Chipman had asked us to send him a burner phone and we had put it off. We could not figure out a plan that would work to get him the phone in time and have it work everywhere. It really felt like a stupor of thought if I look back. When I re-read the email from Pres. Chipman, I came to the conclusion that Brad would not need a phone. With the long layovers everywhere, I wasn't worried about him missing a flight. With all the other Elders meeting up in New York, I knew someone would have a phone. It just didn't seem necessary anymore. So we made the executive decision to not send a phone! We were going to let Brad tough it out. He was okay with it, but then this surprise of Pres. Botchway not taking his phone, it was kind of a cool little miracle!! It made me think that Heavenly Father knew he would have a phone and that was why we didn't need to spend the money and the effort to send him one. (either that or He had to fix our mess up, but I like the other idea, makes me feel like an inspired mom :) ) So anyway. He was able to text me and then call, even, the whole time he was travelling. It was kind of nice for us and I bet it helped pass the time a little bit for Bradley. So we chatted a little while he was in Portand. Then when he got to New York he called! I happened to be sitting at the dentist office one of the times he called. So funny that he's called a few times while we were there. The phone calls weren't working great, but we did get to talk to him for a good hour or two while he was waiting in New York. That was a lot of fun. He was being really funny. His whole, "Wait, is the sun setting??.... When we took off, it was rising!!" So confused about how the day passed while he was on his five hour flight. He was people watching the whole time took, which was fun. The dog that peed and then the guy just walked away after. It was fun that Kelly was here and she talked about some fun things with him. I loved it!! I loved hearing some of his htoughts about Peru and what kind of companion he wanted. I am really excited for him. Once some of the other missionaries started showing up in the gate he decided he better go socialize. It was so fun to talk to him. He boarded the plane around 11:20 New York time and then I got a text from him at 6:42 telling me he had made it to Peru and "what time is it there?" He couldn't believe it was 6:42 in the morning and said he felt like it was 6 pm. He said the funniest thing, "this is about to be a really long recovery". Knowing he has another layover and flight to Arequipa ahead. He called that morning as well and we got to talk for quite a while. I loved that he was calling and talking to me. I let the musical carpool kids say hi and I said, "Brad tell them how long you've been awake" and instead of a number of hours he just said, "Since Wednesday morning!" Poor guy. He had gotten up bright and early Wednesday and then stayed up pretty late with President Botchway's son and daughter packing and talking, so getting up early to go to the airport Thursday was hard too. Poor guy! Kinda funny the way he kept describing it though. I was so happy to hear that he had made it okay though! He went exploring with some Elders and we lost him in a stairwell, but he was able to call on the President's phone at about 1:00 our time and tell us he made it to Arequipa. He had been in a hotel, sleeping for a few hours and was going to sleep some more, then have dinner and some orientation and then go to sleep again. He sounded so tired. I was so happy that everything had gone well with his traveling. So many cool miracles. The luggage was under weight (he had received a carry on from Pres. and Sis. Botchway), he got the Peru Soles just fine, he'd had the phone the whole time to contact us and have company, all the other missionaries traveling with him, and then getting through customs just fine. Such a relief. He was getting a head cold, sounded stuffy, but was able to get some really good orange juice in Lima, and he did have to sit in the middle seat, unfortunately, next to a white woman who bible bashed for an hour, but he did really good!!! So proud of him! I can't wait to hear about the next few days- hopefully he can call on his Pday. 12-14-23--12-15-23
So Thursday morning while I was laying on the couch, trying to motivate myself to do something productive- it was a rough night, just as I was thinking about where Brad could be at that moment, I got a text from him!! He told me he still had his phone!! President Botchway never took it from him! Kinda funny. And I'm calling this our travel day miracle. Nate and I could not settle on a way to get him a phone. Pres. Chipman had asked us to send him a burner phone and we had put it off. We could not figure out a plan that would work to get him the phone in time and have it work everywhere. It really felt like a stupor of thought if I look back. When I re-read the email from Pres. Chipman, I came to the conclusion that Brad would not need a phone. With the long layovers everywhere, I wasn't worried about him missing a flight. With all the other Elders meeting up in New York, I knew someone would have a phone. It just didn't seem necessary anymore. So we made the executive decision to not send a phone! We were going to let Brad tough it out. He was okay with it, but then this surprise of Pres. Botchway not taking his phone, it was kind of a cool little miracle!! It made me think that Heavenly Father knew he would have a phone and that was why we didn't need to spend the money and the effort to send him one. (either that or He had to fix our mess up, but I like the other idea, makes me feel like an inspired mom :) ) So anyway. He was able to text me and then call, even, the whole time he was travelling. It was kind of nice for us and I bet it helped pass the time a little bit for Bradley. So we chatted a little while he was in Portand. Then when he got to New York he called! I happened to be sitting at the dentist office one of the times he called. So funny that he's called a few times while we were there. The phone calls weren't working great, but we did get to talk to him for a good hour or two while he was waiting in New York. That was a lot of fun. He was being really funny. His whole, "Wait, is the sun setting??.... When we took off, it was rising!!" So confused about how the day passed while he was on his five hour flight. He was people watching the whole time took, which was fun. The dog that peed and then the guy just walked away after. It was fun that Kelly was here and she talked about some fun things with him. I loved it!! I loved hearing some of his htoughts about Peru and what kind of companion he wanted. I am really excited for him. Once some of the other missionaries started showing up in the gate he decided he better go socialize. It was so fun to talk to him. He boarded the plane around 11:20 New York time and then I got a text from him at 6:42 telling me he had made it to Peru and "what time is it there?" He couldn't believe it was 6:42 in the morning and said he felt like it was 6 pm. He said the funniest thing, "this is about to be a really long recovery". Knowing he has another layover and flight to Arequipa ahead. He called that morning as well and we got to talk for quite a while. I loved that he was calling and talking to me. I let the musical carpool kids say hi and I said, "Brad tell them how long you've been awake" and instead of a number of hours he just said, "Since Wednesday morning!" Poor guy. He had gotten up bright and early Wednesday and then stayed up pretty late with President Botchway's son and daughter packing and talking, so getting up early to go to the airport Thursday was hard too. Poor guy! Kinda funny the way he kept describing it though. I was so happy to hear that he had made it okay though! He went exploring with some Elders and we lost him in a stairwell, but he was able to call on the President's phone at about 1:00 our time and tell us he made it to Arequipa. He had been in a hotel, sleeping for a few hours and was going to sleep some more, then have dinner and some orientation and then go to sleep again. He sounded so tired. I was so happy that everything had gone well with his traveling. So many cool miracles. The luggage was under weight (he had received a carry on from Pres. and Sis. Botchway), he got the Peru Soles just fine, he'd had the phone the whole time to contact us and have company, all the other missionaries traveling with him, and then getting through customs just fine. Such a relief. He was getting a head cold, sounded stuffy, but was able to get some really good orange juice in Lima, and he did have to sit in the middle seat, unfortunately, next to a white woman who bible bashed for an hour, but he did really good!!! So proud of him! I can't wait to hear about the next few days- hopefully he can call on his Pday. 12-14-23--12-15-23
EYE DOCTOR FOR ME AND MOLLY
We did this together so we wouldn't have to be scared. I've been wondering if Molly's eyes were okay and I am hoping glasses might help my tiredness thing. So I got mine checked first, then Molly. I need a stronger prescription and Molly's eyes are fine!! I didn't love the yellow stuff they put in them and we both didn't love the dilation stuff either. So we had to go get some lunch after- it was lunch time anyway. Zupas was the only place I could think of with grilled cheese sandwiches that she would like so we went there. She loved my soup and dipped her bread from her sandwich in it. She loved the strawberries and kept asking me to "go ask for more" for her. So funny. This was a fun time together. 12-14-23
We did this together so we wouldn't have to be scared. I've been wondering if Molly's eyes were okay and I am hoping glasses might help my tiredness thing. So I got mine checked first, then Molly. I need a stronger prescription and Molly's eyes are fine!! I didn't love the yellow stuff they put in them and we both didn't love the dilation stuff either. So we had to go get some lunch after- it was lunch time anyway. Zupas was the only place I could think of with grilled cheese sandwiches that she would like so we went there. She loved my soup and dipped her bread from her sandwich in it. She loved the strawberries and kept asking me to "go ask for more" for her. So funny. This was a fun time together. 12-14-23
CHRISTMAS IN COLOR
This has been a fun tradition, we had to keep it up. We stopped for some Wendy's and then drove down to South Jordan for our drive through the lights. It was so fun! Then grabbed hot chocolate after. I loved Sadie's reactions to everything and we didn't have the cry session after, so we must be getting older. I think it's pretty fun for everyone, next year I might just do the one at the state fairpark though, since it's closer. 12-14-23
This has been a fun tradition, we had to keep it up. We stopped for some Wendy's and then drove down to South Jordan for our drive through the lights. It was so fun! Then grabbed hot chocolate after. I loved Sadie's reactions to everything and we didn't have the cry session after, so we must be getting older. I think it's pretty fun for everyone, next year I might just do the one at the state fairpark though, since it's closer. 12-14-23
DATE NIGHT- WITH DAD AND JO
Jo had the great idea of going out and being able to talk just the four of us! We had a lot of fun once we finally found a restaurant that was open! All of the ones they suggested weren't working and then Blue Fin that I suggested was randomly closed! So sad!! But we went over to Osaka Sushi. Hopefully the food was good enough for Jo. But we had a good time! It was fun to be able to actually talk. When we got home we went and bought all the stuff for our neighbor gifts- chips and queso. 12-15-23
Jo had the great idea of going out and being able to talk just the four of us! We had a lot of fun once we finally found a restaurant that was open! All of the ones they suggested weren't working and then Blue Fin that I suggested was randomly closed! So sad!! But we went over to Osaka Sushi. Hopefully the food was good enough for Jo. But we had a good time! It was fun to be able to actually talk. When we got home we went and bought all the stuff for our neighbor gifts- chips and queso. 12-15-23
SATURDAY
Molly got to go to This is the Place with her Activity Days group. Pretty fun stuff. The rest of us got some Christmassy things done. Nate worked on the queso so that Kelly, Erika, Molly, Sadie and I could package and deliver them that night. I was so proud of us for getting it all out before it was dark. It was still a lot of work. Not sure I want to do it like that again. Maybe just ziploc bags for the chips. But they got 5 star reviews from everyone that talked about it the next day at church. Hopefully nobody feels bad they didn't get any. 12-16-23
Molly got to go to This is the Place with her Activity Days group. Pretty fun stuff. The rest of us got some Christmassy things done. Nate worked on the queso so that Kelly, Erika, Molly, Sadie and I could package and deliver them that night. I was so proud of us for getting it all out before it was dark. It was still a lot of work. Not sure I want to do it like that again. Maybe just ziploc bags for the chips. But they got 5 star reviews from everyone that talked about it the next day at church. Hopefully nobody feels bad they didn't get any. 12-16-23
DATE WITH JACK
We kind of decided to squeeze this date in. We were already needing to go get stuff for Sadie's gift, so we made a date out of it. Lots of browsing and shopping at Hobby Lobby and it was cute to see hwo into the place Jack was. He might like a Hobby Lobby gift card. Then we went to, Jack's choice, Taco bell for tacos afterwards. Have I mentioned that Jack is obsessed with Tacos these days? We decided to stay in the car- his eyes were really bugging him by now, pink eye has been going around with all the kids in the musical- but it was a nice time to chat. We ran to Bowman's after that for the chips for the neighbor gifts. It wasn't our most well thought out date, but so good to spend time together. 12-16-23
JACK'S PINK EYE
All weekend Jack was struggling with his eyes hurting and being all puffy and locked up in the mornings. I made him stay home from church and he had to miss school Monday to go to the doctor. We kind of had fun on Monday, just Jack, Sadie and I. They were funny playing eye spy in the doctor's office. There was so little in the room it got really creative. Jack goes, "I spy with my little eye, something that is pink!" and Sadie bouces back, real fast, with, "YOUR EYES!" As if it was the most obvious choice and she was going to beat anyone else to it. So cute. We had a new doctor, I think his name was Dr. Spencer? I can't remember. But I really liked him. He's new, so it's easier to get in with him. Might be a good second to Dr. Tew. He knew right away that Jack had pink eye, gave us drops with refills so that we could take care of anyone else who gets it too. Which was SO NICE. I like it when they think of it themselves and I don't have to ask. He was really fun with Jack and helped out a lot. We had Jack home for two days, because the drops take 24 hours to make it not contagious. I liked having him home. He's a sweetie. Hopefully it goes away soon! 12-18-23
All weekend Jack was struggling with his eyes hurting and being all puffy and locked up in the mornings. I made him stay home from church and he had to miss school Monday to go to the doctor. We kind of had fun on Monday, just Jack, Sadie and I. They were funny playing eye spy in the doctor's office. There was so little in the room it got really creative. Jack goes, "I spy with my little eye, something that is pink!" and Sadie bouces back, real fast, with, "YOUR EYES!" As if it was the most obvious choice and she was going to beat anyone else to it. So cute. We had a new doctor, I think his name was Dr. Spencer? I can't remember. But I really liked him. He's new, so it's easier to get in with him. Might be a good second to Dr. Tew. He knew right away that Jack had pink eye, gave us drops with refills so that we could take care of anyone else who gets it too. Which was SO NICE. I like it when they think of it themselves and I don't have to ask. He was really fun with Jack and helped out a lot. We had Jack home for two days, because the drops take 24 hours to make it not contagious. I liked having him home. He's a sweetie. Hopefully it goes away soon! 12-18-23
LUNCH WITH MARIANNE- CANCELLED
I had to cancel my lunch with Marianne Monday because of Jack's pink eye, but instead of just rescheduling, she ended up bringing me some Everbowl yumminess. It seriously made my day. And it had been a challenging day. I just love it when Heavenly Father uses friends, or neighbors to help me out. 12-18-23
I had to cancel my lunch with Marianne Monday because of Jack's pink eye, but instead of just rescheduling, she ended up bringing me some Everbowl yumminess. It seriously made my day. And it had been a challenging day. I just love it when Heavenly Father uses friends, or neighbors to help me out. 12-18-23
CALL FROM BRADLEY
It took him a while to get his messenger working and when he finally did, his time was almost up for P-day. This was kind of a somber call. His first from Peru. He gave me a little tour of his place, which looks pretty good. He's on a third floor with a little courtyard between his living space and bedroom. He has a view of the ocean which is pretty cool. He showed me the sink he will be washing his clothes by hand in. He even had couches! It was so good to talk to him, but also so hard. He seemed to be on the verge of tears the entire phone call. He was honest about his situation and really felt pretty depressed not being able to communicate is probably the worst part. I wanted to reach through my phone and give him a big hug and then bring him home so he doesn't have to go through all that. Seems so hard. But I'm really proud of him for trying to "be a man" and that he is trying to be positive. I know he will get through this, I just hope it is soon. I was glad we could talk even for the little bit. Nate didn't get to, he was still at work. Most of the kids were at school. It was probably a bummer for him to not talk to everyone, but I was glad I got my mom/son call. I miss him so much. 12-18-23
It took him a while to get his messenger working and when he finally did, his time was almost up for P-day. This was kind of a somber call. His first from Peru. He gave me a little tour of his place, which looks pretty good. He's on a third floor with a little courtyard between his living space and bedroom. He has a view of the ocean which is pretty cool. He showed me the sink he will be washing his clothes by hand in. He even had couches! It was so good to talk to him, but also so hard. He seemed to be on the verge of tears the entire phone call. He was honest about his situation and really felt pretty depressed not being able to communicate is probably the worst part. I wanted to reach through my phone and give him a big hug and then bring him home so he doesn't have to go through all that. Seems so hard. But I'm really proud of him for trying to "be a man" and that he is trying to be positive. I know he will get through this, I just hope it is soon. I was glad we could talk even for the little bit. Nate didn't get to, he was still at work. Most of the kids were at school. It was probably a bummer for him to not talk to everyone, but I was glad I got my mom/son call. I miss him so much. 12-18-23
EMAIL FROM ELDER MAYNES- VOICE RECORDING TRANSCRIBED
RE: PERU
I will try to send a better email next week. I apologize. God is good.
RE: PERU
I will try to send a better email next week. I apologize. God is good.
Okay, I'm doing a voice memo again for my email because... I don't want to have to type it up because it takes forever to type and I'm not in my apartment er my little shack. BUT I'll make it way shorter this time because everyone threw a tantrum about it being too long. So recap- I traveled here. On the way I got bashed on the plane, er not like, it's where she argues with me about the bible and stuff. So this lady was arguing with me on the way and I was like, "Lady I don't want to argue." And then she was just crazy, she was wild. And then, I had like an eight hour flight to New York, eight hour layover there, eight hour flight to Peru, two hour layover there and then three hour flight to Arequipa. Then I got here and we met AP's and President and got all cozy with them and then they let us sleep in their- in a hotel next to the home, the mission home, because we were tired, so we got to sleep until the morning. Then we did a little orientation and then met our comps over Zoom cuz it was too far to have them come in and so I met my comp, he's a native. Whoever's praying for me to get a native companion, you got your wish, I hope you're happy, but I'll survive. It's really hard though cuz it's like, it just, he doesn't know any English at all. And I know a good amount of Spanish, but it's just like, he always puts stuff into google translate, which is so... cuz I'm always like, "I can understand you." And then he's like, keeps putting it in google translate, but I'm like, "No!", but I definitely do wish I had an English one, but I know one day I will look back and be like happy I had it, but that day is not today right now. Um anyways. Our apartment is this tiny little shack, on like top floor which is really cool cuz we have a cool view of like the beach and stuff, But, um, we have no warm water, we have to hand wash our clothes and hang 'em up. We have to... we have no lights outside of our living room, um, let's see, what else do we NOT HAVE? Yeah, so just me and my companion living in the apartment and so it's kind of difficult, but we actually make do. And I've been reading and studying a lot of Spanish and I've actually gotten so much better in the past couple days, but [big sigh], we're getting there. Um. Let's see what else has happened-oh the roads here are so crazy, oh my goodness. Everyone's just like driving everywhere and honking and driving around each other and like it's actually insane. We do a lot of taxis, so that's fun. There's SO many dogs here. I haven't been attacked by one yet, so thank- thank you for not praying that I'd get attacked by a dog. Let's see. It's actually awesome here though. It's super duper hot so it's a lot different than Portland. I'm not really looking forward to washing my clothes by hand, because they're all sweaty and nasty, but we are getting there. Hmmm. What else do I say? I can't make it only four minutes, you guys need a little bit of quality content. Um. Our ward is actually really cool. They have a hu-it's not actually a ward, it's a district, but they have so many people, in my last one we had eight Spanish in our group, this one is like 60. So they had me go give a short little talk in Sacrament meeting yesterday, which is scary but that was fine. But yeah, the ward's awesome. I was able to talk to some of the youth and they were like, "yeah, teach us English", and I was like, "Okay". What else is there? Yeah. That's basically it. Super humbling experience. And I'm going through the pits. I don't know what that means. But yeah, no, it's okay. It's a very humbling experience because everyone lives such a low, humble life here. There's really not much. Like everyone is super nice too and they're all like saying hi and we've seen like so many members here and every member is just like, "Elders oh my gosh!" But. Yeah. I feel bad for my comp because he's stuck with me and I don't speak very much Spanish for him so he's probably going through it too. So, pray for us that we will be able to speak our languages. [chuckle] Um. Yeah. I've been loving it here though. I'm super excited to finally be here. And my messenger isn't working, but I can message, so if you get a message from some random person, it's probably me. Uh, or, I'm gonna figure it out next week. Um. Let's see. OH YEAH! My ear, I can't hear out of my left ear. Ever since I went on the plane, I don't know if it's a problem, I don't know if I should be worried about it, but it kind of is a problem. But so I've been like so deaf in my left ear. I always have to like turn my... ugh. Yeah, that's not cool, so I'll probably call President in a minute if it doesn't stop. Um. What else is there? Yeah, that's basically it. I love and miss you all. Please don't tell me I--- Okay, love and miss you all. Keep my comp in your prayers so he doesn't kill me. And yeah, there will probably be a better email next week, and I might actually send out an email next week. but this week I didn't want to because it takes too long to type out. Oh also, I haven't actually had a meal yet. Which was weird. I was just... uh, we went out for China food the other day, I was like so confused cuz it was our, uh, food lady that took us there. I was so confused why we went to Chinese, but yeah, it was good. Anyways. Love you all, you're all in my prayers and I hope the best for you. Let me know how you're doing.
12-18-23
ELDER MAYNES VOICE RECORDING FOR THE FAMILY
Um. I don't know when I'm gonna get my messenger to work so I'm just doing this for now. Because I think I can call on Whatsapp today, but I'm gonna be honest, I don't really know. So I'm just sending you guys a voice memo because then if I can't talk to you guys this week, which would be absolutely devastating, I have a cool little voice memo I can send you guys. Um, but anyways. Peru is absolutely wild. We came here, took me like two days to travel all the way here. I got here Friday at like 6:00 because I had to- I landed in Arequipa, then we like did this, a bunch of stuff on Satur- er- Thursday, wait no, did I travel on? I got here... Thursday, shoot, I don't remember, oh yeah, yeah, I got here Thursday night. Then I slept. And then Friday we did a bunch of stuff and then I was traveling all day Friday, on a bus, with a bunch of Hispanics and I was just by myself and I didn't know where I was going. And then my comp, met me at the bus stop and we like walked over to our house and these houses were all like so weird, they're all like little shacks stacked on top of each other. And uh we're playing soccer right now, but I'm just sitting and watching because there's only four of us since one of them is on his phone so I'm just like hmm... but my comp's a native. And he knows like barely any English. He's actually been out the same time as me so, it's kind of awkward that he's my trainer, but he knows zero English. So my Spanish has been improving lately. But I'm also kind of depressed right now because I have no social interaction in English, so I'm like I have literally just been reading a TON of the Book of Mormon and studying a lot of Spanish, so hopefully I can get it down soon. But whoever's been praying for me to have a native comp, you have succeeded. Um. Anyways. Let's see. This is actually so hard. I have had so many different emotions lately. And they've like all been so extreme. So... and we live by ourself, so it's just me and my comp and it's really confusing. We don't have any warm water so it's all... we don't got any light in the, except our main how- cuz we have like three different little rooms, separate from the house. So you have to like walk out of the house to go to them. And so we don't have light in any of those including the bathroom, the bathroom is super duper nasty, but I think I'm getting used to it, so it's okay. Um. Let's see. What else do we have? Oh yeah, the water you can't drink, so I've been drinking bottled water. Um. Let's see. It's kind of crazy. It doesn't rain here, apparently, I'm by the beach. It's so hot though, I'm like suffocating. The ward was actually really cool, I liked it. I just wish I could understand more and everyone just calls me gringito, which is just little gringo. Um. But yeah. I'm not really sure what else to say, this is probably really long for you guys, but hope you're all doing wonderful. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to call tonight, but I don't know what my comp's plan is because he doesn't tell me much just because he can't really. He tries to use google translate, but I like keep telling him I understand him, and then he just keeps- and I'm like, "no I literally can understand what you're saying", so it's weird. But. I think I'll get used to this, especially once I can understand the language. And hopefully in like, end of this transfer, I think I'll understand it pretty well. I can understand a lot of it, but yeah. It's difficult. But it's okay. I hope you all are doing well. Feel free to email me cuz I can email today. My messenger is broken, but I'm pretty sure I'll figure it out next week. Hopefully. And then I can call on Christmas too, if I can figure it out. 12-18-23
Um. I don't know when I'm gonna get my messenger to work so I'm just doing this for now. Because I think I can call on Whatsapp today, but I'm gonna be honest, I don't really know. So I'm just sending you guys a voice memo because then if I can't talk to you guys this week, which would be absolutely devastating, I have a cool little voice memo I can send you guys. Um, but anyways. Peru is absolutely wild. We came here, took me like two days to travel all the way here. I got here Friday at like 6:00 because I had to- I landed in Arequipa, then we like did this, a bunch of stuff on Satur- er- Thursday, wait no, did I travel on? I got here... Thursday, shoot, I don't remember, oh yeah, yeah, I got here Thursday night. Then I slept. And then Friday we did a bunch of stuff and then I was traveling all day Friday, on a bus, with a bunch of Hispanics and I was just by myself and I didn't know where I was going. And then my comp, met me at the bus stop and we like walked over to our house and these houses were all like so weird, they're all like little shacks stacked on top of each other. And uh we're playing soccer right now, but I'm just sitting and watching because there's only four of us since one of them is on his phone so I'm just like hmm... but my comp's a native. And he knows like barely any English. He's actually been out the same time as me so, it's kind of awkward that he's my trainer, but he knows zero English. So my Spanish has been improving lately. But I'm also kind of depressed right now because I have no social interaction in English, so I'm like I have literally just been reading a TON of the Book of Mormon and studying a lot of Spanish, so hopefully I can get it down soon. But whoever's been praying for me to have a native comp, you have succeeded. Um. Anyways. Let's see. This is actually so hard. I have had so many different emotions lately. And they've like all been so extreme. So... and we live by ourself, so it's just me and my comp and it's really confusing. We don't have any warm water so it's all... we don't got any light in the, except our main how- cuz we have like three different little rooms, separate from the house. So you have to like walk out of the house to go to them. And so we don't have light in any of those including the bathroom, the bathroom is super duper nasty, but I think I'm getting used to it, so it's okay. Um. Let's see. What else do we have? Oh yeah, the water you can't drink, so I've been drinking bottled water. Um. Let's see. It's kind of crazy. It doesn't rain here, apparently, I'm by the beach. It's so hot though, I'm like suffocating. The ward was actually really cool, I liked it. I just wish I could understand more and everyone just calls me gringito, which is just little gringo. Um. But yeah. I'm not really sure what else to say, this is probably really long for you guys, but hope you're all doing wonderful. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to call tonight, but I don't know what my comp's plan is because he doesn't tell me much just because he can't really. He tries to use google translate, but I like keep telling him I understand him, and then he just keeps- and I'm like, "no I literally can understand what you're saying", so it's weird. But. I think I'll get used to this, especially once I can understand the language. And hopefully in like, end of this transfer, I think I'll understand it pretty well. I can understand a lot of it, but yeah. It's difficult. But it's okay. I hope you all are doing well. Feel free to email me cuz I can email today. My messenger is broken, but I'm pretty sure I'll figure it out next week. Hopefully. And then I can call on Christmas too, if I can figure it out. 12-18-23
JAZZ GAME!
We had the best time at the Jazz game Monday night! This had been Kelly and Devan's idea so it really stunk when Devan wasn't able to come- so sick! But we met up with Charity and Hunter there and had a total blast! I am trying to use some self-control to not talk about the torture Molly and Sadie put me through, but let's just say, I have no desire to take either of them to a Jazz game again. "I don't wanna sit up here, I don't wanna sit up here, I don't wanna sit up here..." and "I'm starrrrving, I'm starrrrving, I'm starrrrrving..." is not my idea of a good time. The tears! Ugh. It's fine, we won! So that was good! It was fun to hear Charity screaming her heart out and to see Nate and Noah talking and having fun. And I was glad Kelly switched me places so that Luke had her company- I would have been way too boring. They seemed like they talked quite a bit and had fun too. It was good. The part that wasn't good was the two hour drive home in stupid traffic!! Holy Moly!! They were trying to clear the freeway for "Police Incident" and it took FOREVER!! 12-18-23
We had the best time at the Jazz game Monday night! This had been Kelly and Devan's idea so it really stunk when Devan wasn't able to come- so sick! But we met up with Charity and Hunter there and had a total blast! I am trying to use some self-control to not talk about the torture Molly and Sadie put me through, but let's just say, I have no desire to take either of them to a Jazz game again. "I don't wanna sit up here, I don't wanna sit up here, I don't wanna sit up here..." and "I'm starrrrving, I'm starrrrving, I'm starrrrrving..." is not my idea of a good time. The tears! Ugh. It's fine, we won! So that was good! It was fun to hear Charity screaming her heart out and to see Nate and Noah talking and having fun. And I was glad Kelly switched me places so that Luke had her company- I would have been way too boring. They seemed like they talked quite a bit and had fun too. It was good. The part that wasn't good was the two hour drive home in stupid traffic!! Holy Moly!! They were trying to clear the freeway for "Police Incident" and it took FOREVER!! 12-18-23
MOLLY'S CLASS PARTY
I got to go do a game in Molly's class for her Winter Celebration. We had so much fun! She helped me choose what we were going to do, so we did wrapping people up in toilet paper to look like snowmen, with all the accessories and then snowball toss for when we were done with that. It was a lot of fun! Molly came running over and gave me a big hug when I got there which made me so happy. She was fun to be with all day and it was fun to see her and her friends in action. 12-20-23
I got to go do a game in Molly's class for her Winter Celebration. We had so much fun! She helped me choose what we were going to do, so we did wrapping people up in toilet paper to look like snowmen, with all the accessories and then snowball toss for when we were done with that. It was a lot of fun! Molly came running over and gave me a big hug when I got there which made me so happy. She was fun to be with all day and it was fun to see her and her friends in action. 12-20-23
JACK SWIMMING WITH THE DEACONS
Jack and the other boys moving up soon were invited to go swimming with the deacons! It sounded like it was a little rough getting a pool that was open, they were supposed to go to Surf n Swim, but ended up at Clearfield with a lot less time, but I think he had fun. He's been really cute talking about being a Deacon and being old enough to pass the sacrament. I'm really excited for him. 12-20-23
NATE GABLE'S WEDDING
Nate and I headed on over to the SL County Courthouse for his coworker's wedding. Going there is always a trip down memory lane. We have to reminisce about the day before we got married when someone mentioned a marriage license and we realized we needed one- HA! Luckily we were able to go get that! But anyway- his friend was getting married there, so we met up there with their wedding party and a bunch of the guys from work and witnessed their marriage. I just always feel bad when it's not made to be a bigger deal. And why would you choose the courthouse over a church? But whatever. I'm happy for them and happy that the sealer at Jake and Grace's sealing mentioned that all marriages are sacred. That changes things for me. We skipped out on everything after and went to Costco for some more last minute gifts and food for something. I'm not even sure what. 12-21-23
Nate and I headed on over to the SL County Courthouse for his coworker's wedding. Going there is always a trip down memory lane. We have to reminisce about the day before we got married when someone mentioned a marriage license and we realized we needed one- HA! Luckily we were able to go get that! But anyway- his friend was getting married there, so we met up there with their wedding party and a bunch of the guys from work and witnessed their marriage. I just always feel bad when it's not made to be a bigger deal. And why would you choose the courthouse over a church? But whatever. I'm happy for them and happy that the sealer at Jake and Grace's sealing mentioned that all marriages are sacred. That changes things for me. We skipped out on everything after and went to Costco for some more last minute gifts and food for something. I'm not even sure what. 12-21-23
GRANDMA HATCH'S CHARCUTERIE CHRISTMAS PARTY
Grandma and Simon had us over Friday for an afternoon Christmas party. Grandma had gotten really excited about charcuterie boards planning the party and started to involve Noah because I had expressed his interest when I read her text aloud. Which is kinda funny, kinda cute. But he totally got into it. We went over, ate lots of different foods, watched my mom and Simon experience microwave s'mores for the first time- I hope I never forget that, it was adorable. They let everyone open their gifts. They gave everyone minky pillow cases! So nice! They were all loving that. We gave Simon his pen fishing pole and my mom the hoodie I made and a personalized ornament. Super fun time. 12-22-23
Grandma and Simon had us over Friday for an afternoon Christmas party. Grandma had gotten really excited about charcuterie boards planning the party and started to involve Noah because I had expressed his interest when I read her text aloud. Which is kinda funny, kinda cute. But he totally got into it. We went over, ate lots of different foods, watched my mom and Simon experience microwave s'mores for the first time- I hope I never forget that, it was adorable. They let everyone open their gifts. They gave everyone minky pillow cases! So nice! They were all loving that. We gave Simon his pen fishing pole and my mom the hoodie I made and a personalized ornament. Super fun time. 12-22-23
DATE NIGHT
Nate and I went to see the new Hunger Games movie. I thought it was very entertaining, but I wasn't a huge fan of how dark and gruesome it was. I don't like watching people become evil. It's so disturbing. But it was well done. We grabbed some Betos breakfast burritos after and then grabbed food for the Maynes Family Breakfast. We probably should have gone over to the church to set up tables. Really regretting not doing that. 12-22-23
Nate and I went to see the new Hunger Games movie. I thought it was very entertaining, but I wasn't a huge fan of how dark and gruesome it was. I don't like watching people become evil. It's so disturbing. But it was well done. We grabbed some Betos breakfast burritos after and then grabbed food for the Maynes Family Breakfast. We probably should have gone over to the church to set up tables. Really regretting not doing that. 12-22-23
MAYNES FAMILY BREAKFAST
We were in charge of the party this year. We had it at our church. The only time we could do it was Saturday morning. We had Creamed Eggs on Toast, pancakes, and thanks to Ruth Sausage along with cold cereal and all the works. Then we played our white elephant games and then chair soccer. It was pretty fun! I wish we'd set up before. I wish we had been a little more prepared and I wish decorations were my thing. But other than that, it was a really good time. I loved talking with Austin and his girlfriend Aubrey. They had creamed eggs on toast for the first time. I got to talk with Malisa a little more too. We were so happy the Idaho Mayneses made it down. I got to talk with them. The white elephant game was pretty chaotic, but lots of fun. I liked how we did the little kids version. Sadie got a really fancy caboodle and loved it, carried it around everywhere. It was fun to have Hunter, Charity's boyfriend, there. He seemed to get along well. Minus when he nailed Erika in the face with the soccer ball during chair soccer. She's not a fan. I was really happy with how many people played chair soccer! Looked like a lot of fun. I wish I'd been able to, but I was trying to clean up things so that we would be done when the Moores got there to set up for their party. Which coincidentally didn't start until 5:00 that evening!!! Why they needed to set up tables at NOON is beyond me. Still a little bugged about that. This was a fun morning though. Glad everyone came and that we were able to party together. 12-23-23
We were in charge of the party this year. We had it at our church. The only time we could do it was Saturday morning. We had Creamed Eggs on Toast, pancakes, and thanks to Ruth Sausage along with cold cereal and all the works. Then we played our white elephant games and then chair soccer. It was pretty fun! I wish we'd set up before. I wish we had been a little more prepared and I wish decorations were my thing. But other than that, it was a really good time. I loved talking with Austin and his girlfriend Aubrey. They had creamed eggs on toast for the first time. I got to talk with Malisa a little more too. We were so happy the Idaho Mayneses made it down. I got to talk with them. The white elephant game was pretty chaotic, but lots of fun. I liked how we did the little kids version. Sadie got a really fancy caboodle and loved it, carried it around everywhere. It was fun to have Hunter, Charity's boyfriend, there. He seemed to get along well. Minus when he nailed Erika in the face with the soccer ball during chair soccer. She's not a fan. I was really happy with how many people played chair soccer! Looked like a lot of fun. I wish I'd been able to, but I was trying to clean up things so that we would be done when the Moores got there to set up for their party. Which coincidentally didn't start until 5:00 that evening!!! Why they needed to set up tables at NOON is beyond me. Still a little bugged about that. This was a fun morning though. Glad everyone came and that we were able to party together. 12-23-23
CHRISTMAS EVE
We had a really nice Christmas Eve this year! It was on Sunday which was fun. I got to sing in the choir and we did awesome! Then no classes, we came home and got to spend time with Nate. I tried to take a nap because I had stayed up so late the night before (have I mentioned that we watched movies all Christmas break? Staying up way too late every night). That wasn't really happening, so I helped the kids get their friend gifts together and we went and delivered them. At about 4:00 we started to leave for Nate's work. This was a lot of fun this year! It seemed kind of refreshing. Charity was first. He complimented her on her schooling and then moved on to Kelly pretty quickly. He talked about Kelly's health and how well she has dealt with that challenge. He asked her what she wanted and she said gel nail polish. When she was getting done she started to say, "okay, here's Brad-", caught herself and changed it to Luke, and then proceeded to burst into tears. Which then caused Charity to cry as well. It was pretty sad. Luke took his turn. I can't remember the first part of his, but I loved that he threw in taking care of Sadie at the end. Santa commended Noah for his straight A's this term and then talked about him getting his license. Erika got to talk about basketball and Hallie. Those three told Santa to surprise them. Jack got to talk about Cheeto and his role in the school play. He asked for a drone. Molly talked about dance and taking care of Misty so well. She asked for a RC reindeer. Sadie got to talk about what she wanted for Christmas, the long list of stuffy cow, necklace, bracelet, earrings, HEELS... she's been so funny. Santa reminded her to be more helpful and clean up after herself. We had a fun time. We didn't get the tour of the place this year because Nate was on the clock. But we had fun! Everything has been weird this year without Bradley, we've all expressed that. And it's been crazy to think that we will be missing Luke next year. Not sure how we will manage. After Santa, we went to Grandma and Simon's for some leftovers from Friday, and some more chatting. This is always hard because the kids are anxious to go to Grandpa's, but we had a good time. We left at 6:30 to go to up to Grandpa's. Grandpa's house was a little different this year. For starters, he wasn't there when we got there. The house was completely pitch dark when we pulled up. We decided to just go in and we saw his naked strange looking tree and then were able to summon Steve. He was very sweet to try to entertain us, got some of the food out, joked. It was pretty fun, just really strange that Grandpa wasn't there. Heidi and her kids showed up while we were waiting and things felt a little more normal, but so weird at the same time. While we were waiting for Grandpa, Bradley called! I got to go sit in the other room and facetime him for about a half hour. This was SO NICE!!! His last call/voice memos had left me feeling so rattled all week, so it was so nice to see him, big smiles, santa hat and all! He looked SO GOOD! So much better than last week. He still hadn't washed his clothes yet, but he looked great!! I really loved this phone call. It totally set my heart at ease knowing he was getting along just fine now. He had Christmas lights in the background. He was at his pensionista's house and introduced me to her. He told me about his President hyping him up and confessing that he had really put Brad in a tough spot, but that he trusted him. I think this was huge for Brad. Cool President. He "loves his president!" So cute. He wants to get permission to do PMG (Preach My Gospel) study with Luke and Noah in the mornings :). Cute idea. I wonder if they'll do it! I got to see a dog and some other friends of his. I loved hearing how happy he was to see Elder Cloward. Who woulda thought. I think it was cute to hear him talk about how prideful he was in the MTC and how he is "still prideful". Sounds just like a missionary. I think he is going to do fine though. I'm really relieved. After the phone call- I was the only one who got to talk to him- we sat and waited for Grandpa to give the go ahead for opening presents. The little ones were all dying. Finally, he conceded. Sadie was so happy about her purses! She was not as happy about the slime Heidi gave her because she "didnt' ask for that". We're going to have to talk about gracious gift opening I guess. Molly got a science kit! This was an engineer science kit- she sure loved that. She's played with it constantly which has really surprised me for some reason. But it's been a lot of fun. Jack loved his hoodie and 3D pen. Pretty exciting. Erika got a 3D pen as well and was pretty excited about that. Noah got a white hoodie like he wanted. Looked really nice on him and Luke got surprised with a buildable combustion V8 engine. Very cool. Grandpa seemed really excited about it. Kelly got earrings- some really pretty dangly ones. And Charity got some pens- a LOT of pens. We gave Grandpa a mini bow and arrow and some pistachios. We gave Steve handwarmers and a framed screenshot of Nana's post on facebook that talked about him. And we gave Heidi a planter and a hoodie that says, "I'm not a regular mom, I'm a cool mom". And we gave Jo a blanket. It was a fun night! I didn't love Sadie's greediness. She was a pill really. But probably tired and still dealing with her pink eye. Poor thing. And since there wasn't real food there, she was probably pretty hungry as well. But it was on to the next thing! When we got home we opened our jammies. Everyone seemed mostly happy with theirs. Maybe not Charity, but 7 out of 8 is not bad. I wish so badly I'd known that Brad was going to have room in his suitcase for jammies. Next year. We took our picture and then did something we've never done before. We sat up and talked for a good hour and a half before going to bed. It was pretty nice to talk with everyone. We needed to get to bed so we could get up early to open presents with Nate before he had to leave for work. So we did finally head off to bed. I had only three presents left to wrap which was pretty miraculous, but still ended up not getting to sleep until 2:00. Not sure why. 12-24-23
We had a really nice Christmas Eve this year! It was on Sunday which was fun. I got to sing in the choir and we did awesome! Then no classes, we came home and got to spend time with Nate. I tried to take a nap because I had stayed up so late the night before (have I mentioned that we watched movies all Christmas break? Staying up way too late every night). That wasn't really happening, so I helped the kids get their friend gifts together and we went and delivered them. At about 4:00 we started to leave for Nate's work. This was a lot of fun this year! It seemed kind of refreshing. Charity was first. He complimented her on her schooling and then moved on to Kelly pretty quickly. He talked about Kelly's health and how well she has dealt with that challenge. He asked her what she wanted and she said gel nail polish. When she was getting done she started to say, "okay, here's Brad-", caught herself and changed it to Luke, and then proceeded to burst into tears. Which then caused Charity to cry as well. It was pretty sad. Luke took his turn. I can't remember the first part of his, but I loved that he threw in taking care of Sadie at the end. Santa commended Noah for his straight A's this term and then talked about him getting his license. Erika got to talk about basketball and Hallie. Those three told Santa to surprise them. Jack got to talk about Cheeto and his role in the school play. He asked for a drone. Molly talked about dance and taking care of Misty so well. She asked for a RC reindeer. Sadie got to talk about what she wanted for Christmas, the long list of stuffy cow, necklace, bracelet, earrings, HEELS... she's been so funny. Santa reminded her to be more helpful and clean up after herself. We had a fun time. We didn't get the tour of the place this year because Nate was on the clock. But we had fun! Everything has been weird this year without Bradley, we've all expressed that. And it's been crazy to think that we will be missing Luke next year. Not sure how we will manage. After Santa, we went to Grandma and Simon's for some leftovers from Friday, and some more chatting. This is always hard because the kids are anxious to go to Grandpa's, but we had a good time. We left at 6:30 to go to up to Grandpa's. Grandpa's house was a little different this year. For starters, he wasn't there when we got there. The house was completely pitch dark when we pulled up. We decided to just go in and we saw his naked strange looking tree and then were able to summon Steve. He was very sweet to try to entertain us, got some of the food out, joked. It was pretty fun, just really strange that Grandpa wasn't there. Heidi and her kids showed up while we were waiting and things felt a little more normal, but so weird at the same time. While we were waiting for Grandpa, Bradley called! I got to go sit in the other room and facetime him for about a half hour. This was SO NICE!!! His last call/voice memos had left me feeling so rattled all week, so it was so nice to see him, big smiles, santa hat and all! He looked SO GOOD! So much better than last week. He still hadn't washed his clothes yet, but he looked great!! I really loved this phone call. It totally set my heart at ease knowing he was getting along just fine now. He had Christmas lights in the background. He was at his pensionista's house and introduced me to her. He told me about his President hyping him up and confessing that he had really put Brad in a tough spot, but that he trusted him. I think this was huge for Brad. Cool President. He "loves his president!" So cute. He wants to get permission to do PMG (Preach My Gospel) study with Luke and Noah in the mornings :). Cute idea. I wonder if they'll do it! I got to see a dog and some other friends of his. I loved hearing how happy he was to see Elder Cloward. Who woulda thought. I think it was cute to hear him talk about how prideful he was in the MTC and how he is "still prideful". Sounds just like a missionary. I think he is going to do fine though. I'm really relieved. After the phone call- I was the only one who got to talk to him- we sat and waited for Grandpa to give the go ahead for opening presents. The little ones were all dying. Finally, he conceded. Sadie was so happy about her purses! She was not as happy about the slime Heidi gave her because she "didnt' ask for that". We're going to have to talk about gracious gift opening I guess. Molly got a science kit! This was an engineer science kit- she sure loved that. She's played with it constantly which has really surprised me for some reason. But it's been a lot of fun. Jack loved his hoodie and 3D pen. Pretty exciting. Erika got a 3D pen as well and was pretty excited about that. Noah got a white hoodie like he wanted. Looked really nice on him and Luke got surprised with a buildable combustion V8 engine. Very cool. Grandpa seemed really excited about it. Kelly got earrings- some really pretty dangly ones. And Charity got some pens- a LOT of pens. We gave Grandpa a mini bow and arrow and some pistachios. We gave Steve handwarmers and a framed screenshot of Nana's post on facebook that talked about him. And we gave Heidi a planter and a hoodie that says, "I'm not a regular mom, I'm a cool mom". And we gave Jo a blanket. It was a fun night! I didn't love Sadie's greediness. She was a pill really. But probably tired and still dealing with her pink eye. Poor thing. And since there wasn't real food there, she was probably pretty hungry as well. But it was on to the next thing! When we got home we opened our jammies. Everyone seemed mostly happy with theirs. Maybe not Charity, but 7 out of 8 is not bad. I wish so badly I'd known that Brad was going to have room in his suitcase for jammies. Next year. We took our picture and then did something we've never done before. We sat up and talked for a good hour and a half before going to bed. It was pretty nice to talk with everyone. We needed to get to bed so we could get up early to open presents with Nate before he had to leave for work. So we did finally head off to bed. I had only three presents left to wrap which was pretty miraculous, but still ended up not getting to sleep until 2:00. Not sure why. 12-24-23
CHRISTMAS DAY!!!
At about 7:30 I noticed a text from Erika asking if dad was going to wake them up or what. She had discovered that he wasn't really waking them up really early afterall. I decided we needed to come clean with our little fib. Nate had actually gotten the day off! Surprise!! I mean, he told me a few days earlier, which was nice, but we did surprise the kids. They got to sleep in, we got to sleep in- and then open all the presents first thing- pretty harmless little lie. So we got out of bed at 7:30, went down for stockings. This was so fun and cute to watch everyone get all excited about pringles and drinks. After stockings it's creamed eggs on toast. We hadn't done any of the prep work, so it took a little while. I was happy to sit and do nothing as per Nate's request. Then they spoiled me with birthday gifts. A game, two personalized hoodies, a puzzle, a heated jacket, and a digital picture frame. Pretty exciting!! Very spoiled!! We ate breakfast. Then it was time for Santa gifts- Sadie got her stuffy cow. Molly got a remote control bird- just like the one birdie broke. Jack got a telescope. Erika got a dollhouse building kit. Noah got a new fly pole. Luke got a new knife. Kelly got her gel nail kit. Charity got a ring with a stone from the Logan temple. This became a really fun Christmas when Jack leaned over and said, "this is going to be a really great Christmas!" Cutie. Then we did our homemade gifts, going youngest to oldest- GIVING. So Sadie gave Erika the hoodie she designed with a dolphin jumping out of the water. Molly gave Kelly the hoodie and sweat pants with the giraffe she drew blowing out a dandelion. Then Jack gave Sadie the hair bows he and I had made. Erika gave Nate the picture she painted- so amazing!! She did such a great job on this!! Noah gave Molly the bag he made her for dance stuff. Luke gave me the picture frame with wire hearts that everyone had drawn- SO COOL! We gave Jack the hoodie and magnet game from Brad (I loved picking that hoodie out with him on facetime, screensharing amazon :). Kelly gave Noah the TruMoo Shoes she painted. Charity gave Luke the date night box. So fun! And I announced my gift for Brad was a digital album of pictures and videos from people. Then Nate presented his drawing of Buddy to Charity and she bawled her eyes out :). So cute!! It was a great year for the homemade gifts!! I was happy with how it all went. On to the rest of the gifts. It was funny to hear Sadie complain about a few because they "weren't what she asked for". Heaven forbid we get creative and pick something out that you didn't ask for. But we were all very happy for her when she got her "heels"!! So funny. Her life was suddenly complete. For a minute anyway. Everyone gave really good reactions to their other gifts :). I think they liked them. I was really happy to be texting Brad all morning and then to get his text that he was going to call soon was fun as well. We got to talk to him on Christmas Eve because it was the Sunday before P day, but then he got to call Christmas day as well because of my birthday :). So I decided to share my call with everyone since I'd hogged the one the day before. So this was fun to pass Brad around and let everyone get a few minutes. He was pretty busy both days. Christmas day he was wearing his new soccer jersey he bought by the beach along with a cowboy hat- HA! He's really embracing the place and making himself at home, which makes me so happy!! I loved hearing about his Christmas eve all night party and all the fireworks. I loved being able to see him smiling so much and meet some of his friends and his pensionista again. He turned the camera around to point out Elder Cloward which was so funny again. He is really happy to see him again! He didn't have much to say about the food he's eating. I'm not entirely sure he knows what it is. He did mention the rice. Lots of rice. We'll see how this goes. He says he's losing weight. Should be interesting. He just sounded so good. I wish we'd asked him about the earthquake he talked about in his email, but that didn't make it to conversation. He was in a hurry so we let him go, but SO GOOD to see him and talk to him!! Here's to another week! We had a pretty fun Christmas, playing all the new games, getting our nails done by Kelly, some people slept, we lost pieces, found pieces, some of the kids put things together and we all put on Sadie's earrings about a half a million times. Our house was a mess!! Becky came by. Grandma and Simon stopped by. Nate spoiled me with not having to make lunch and dinner and then a Dairy Queen ice cream cake! He's so good to me!! We actually didn't watch any tv that day which was a nice break. We turned on a Christmas movie to wind down and go to bed. I'm drawing a blank and can't remember which movie it was. 12-25-23
LETTER FROM ELDER MAYNES
First I would like to apologize I was very depressed in my last email. President basically told me he just threw me into a crazy lil situation because I have a native comp with no English knowledge, 2 natives that we eat with, we're opening a new area, and our apartment is dying, BUT this week was pretty hype. I don't have a ton of time but here's my week.
Monday not much happened minus our pensionista keeps telling me my eyes are beautiful over and over haha
Tuesday and Wednesday we traveled to zone conference and got to sleep in a hotel. It was quite exciting to hangout with the zone and explore the malls and plazas of arequipa. We went and delivered gifts to little kids who are losing their houses and sang them songs. So precious. Packed up and drove many hours back to our apartment. Oh and we had a 6.7 earthquake nearby so the power was out and that was pretty lit that morning.
Thursday we had a baptism of our friend luana! It was so precious because everyone was crying and the spirit was just so strong that day. I'm also now the English teacher for the district so that's exciting.
Friday today spent a lot of time learning Spanish slang from the 3 natives I spend 99% of my time with. We also had a talent show where me and elder henostroza sung in... it was very bad. But the ward is so fun and super strong here i love it. Much bigger than my Portland ward and a lot more youth.
Saturday spent a lot of time finding. Made our way down by the beach and so that was exciting. We had a fun lesson in a barbershop and then did a lot of walking. The Spanish is slowly improving and I've probably learned more here than my 2 transfers in Portland irs crazy.
Sunday- probably one of my favorite days of the mission yet. We spent the second half of the day walking from lesson to lesson with 2 of our members. An rm she served in Lima and then her younger brother who's 16 and preparing. We had some really powerful lessons with them and then as we walked I was teaching them English and they were teaching me Spanish. It's crazy how the gift of tongues work because it truly has made this week and a half sooo much easier and made it possible to do this. We then went to our pensionista and the president said we can stay up til 13 watching fireworks because it's beautiful here. So that was amazing but not worth it because I'm sleepy.
Spiritual thought: read D&C 18
Repentance is truly a God given gift and why should we not do it? I love you all and miss you. I can text on messenger if there's anyone that wants to say hi.
DATE WITH MOLLY
We've been anxious to go to Melty at the mall for a while now, for our date, so I figured why not during Christmas break! I could not believe how packed the mall was!! Luckily Melty isn't a popular place, there was no line. We got our food right away and enjoyed sitting there talking. I was glad that on the way there we established that we are going to talk while we're on this date, no more, "I don't know"'s. She was fun to talk to me about anything and everything came to her mind. She was funny to watch eating onion rings and her beloved grilled cheese sandwich. In that order for some reason. We had a great time though! Then we decided to go do some browsing through the mall. Lots of people everywhere, but we saw a lot of fun things. I let Molly pick out some clip on earrings at Claire's. Then we got Smoothies and pretzel bites to share with the kids at home and headed out. Good times. 12-26-23
We've been anxious to go to Melty at the mall for a while now, for our date, so I figured why not during Christmas break! I could not believe how packed the mall was!! Luckily Melty isn't a popular place, there was no line. We got our food right away and enjoyed sitting there talking. I was glad that on the way there we established that we are going to talk while we're on this date, no more, "I don't know"'s. She was fun to talk to me about anything and everything came to her mind. She was funny to watch eating onion rings and her beloved grilled cheese sandwich. In that order for some reason. We had a great time though! Then we decided to go do some browsing through the mall. Lots of people everywhere, but we saw a lot of fun things. I let Molly pick out some clip on earrings at Claire's. Then we got Smoothies and pretzel bites to share with the kids at home and headed out. Good times. 12-26-23
DATE WITH KELLY
This wasn't an official date, but Kelly had asked if I wanted to go to Everbowl today, so we went :). I had wanted her to try it ever since Marianne brought it over to me last week. Everything there is dairy free and gluten free! Holy moly! We sat and talked for quite a while which was really nice. I'm so grateful when my kids will talk to me and tell me what's going on in their worlds. 12-27-23
This wasn't an official date, but Kelly had asked if I wanted to go to Everbowl today, so we went :). I had wanted her to try it ever since Marianne brought it over to me last week. Everything there is dairy free and gluten free! Holy moly! We sat and talked for quite a while which was really nice. I'm so grateful when my kids will talk to me and tell me what's going on in their worlds. 12-27-23
BLANKETS FROM SIS. MORAN
Luke and Nate remembered they had blankets from Sis. Moran in the car- they were supposed to give us for Christmas. This was a fun surprise! I can't believe she made us each one! We decided we needed to go thank her and walked over in the dark with some bread and a card. She's so sweet. She's become really impressed with Luke and wanted to spoil him and the family. She's so sweet! Good stuff. 12-27-23
Luke and Nate remembered they had blankets from Sis. Moran in the car- they were supposed to give us for Christmas. This was a fun surprise! I can't believe she made us each one! We decided we needed to go thank her and walked over in the dark with some bread and a card. She's so sweet. She's become really impressed with Luke and wanted to spoil him and the family. She's so sweet! Good stuff. 12-27-23
BIRTHDAY SHOPPING WITH PAPPY
This has been a fun tradition over the years. I'm glad we did it again. My dad picked me up, insisted that we go shopping first, at the mall. So we wandered around the mall a little. I found the perfect place to spoil myself- Bath and Body Works. Found some "stinky stuff" there and then looked around some more. My dad was set on me getting some actual gifts and not just a gift card to Joann. Unfortunately I couldn't find anything else I wanted. so we went over to Olive Garden for some lunch. This is our new hang out. We get the herb crusted salmon. Every time. Both of us. HA! He has to say something about that to the waittress every time. Makes me laugh. After lunch we drove up to Joann's. He really didn't want me to just get a gift card, so we walked around for a while looking at everything. The hard part was how bad I needed to pee and their bathrooms were out of order! I was DYING, literally. My bladder was on the verge of exploding for sure. I wish I'd thought to run over to Dollar Tree sooner, but we did have to do that at the end. But the funny part was that my dad was checking out the embroidery machines :). He was sounding really interested in them and I thought for sure he wasn't thinking we would buy one, but he started asking the lady working there questions about them. Then he noticed the $1200 off sign and was even more intrigued. I seriously wanted to laugh, but I didn't want to embarrass him. Then he asked the crowning question, "How much are they?" The look on his face when she answered, "That one is $10,000" was HILARIOUS!!! Well there went that idea :). HA!! So funny. But now he's really interested in embroidery machines and wants one for himself :). Funny guy. So in the end, we bought me some colorful elastic for the girls to make bracelets with and drum roll please- a Joann Gift Card :). My favorite! I'm very excited. I hope my dad knows how much I love spending time with him and making funny memories. I love that we are friends and that we have so much fun together. I wish we could hang out more often. 12-28-23
This has been a fun tradition over the years. I'm glad we did it again. My dad picked me up, insisted that we go shopping first, at the mall. So we wandered around the mall a little. I found the perfect place to spoil myself- Bath and Body Works. Found some "stinky stuff" there and then looked around some more. My dad was set on me getting some actual gifts and not just a gift card to Joann. Unfortunately I couldn't find anything else I wanted. so we went over to Olive Garden for some lunch. This is our new hang out. We get the herb crusted salmon. Every time. Both of us. HA! He has to say something about that to the waittress every time. Makes me laugh. After lunch we drove up to Joann's. He really didn't want me to just get a gift card, so we walked around for a while looking at everything. The hard part was how bad I needed to pee and their bathrooms were out of order! I was DYING, literally. My bladder was on the verge of exploding for sure. I wish I'd thought to run over to Dollar Tree sooner, but we did have to do that at the end. But the funny part was that my dad was checking out the embroidery machines :). He was sounding really interested in them and I thought for sure he wasn't thinking we would buy one, but he started asking the lady working there questions about them. Then he noticed the $1200 off sign and was even more intrigued. I seriously wanted to laugh, but I didn't want to embarrass him. Then he asked the crowning question, "How much are they?" The look on his face when she answered, "That one is $10,000" was HILARIOUS!!! Well there went that idea :). HA!! So funny. But now he's really interested in embroidery machines and wants one for himself :). Funny guy. So in the end, we bought me some colorful elastic for the girls to make bracelets with and drum roll please- a Joann Gift Card :). My favorite! I'm very excited. I hope my dad knows how much I love spending time with him and making funny memories. I love that we are friends and that we have so much fun together. I wish we could hang out more often. 12-28-23
DOWNTOWN LIGHTS ON THE TRAIN
So now that Subway is gone, we had to change up our tradition. We went and got pizza at Blaze Pizza instead. This was fun and way yummier than Subway in my opinion. Kelly's pizza may not have been, but I hope she doesn't ever let the workers leave the cheese on the pizza when she has said she can't have pizza. Kelly brought Devan with us, so the whole time I was over analyzing this tradition and how strange it might be to outsiders. The things we do as traditions, a lot of them, started out when we were dirt poor. Everyone was younger and very easily entertained, so I sometimes wonder if it's worth it to keep up the traditions or if it's really time to create some new ones. More exciting ones. I don't know. But anyway- no real hangups getting onto the train. We got down to temple square without too much trouble. It was pretty cold that night, but we survived. I think Molly should have worn thicker pants, but she survived. We walked through the west part of temple square, then over to city creek and the ornaments. As we were walking over the bridge over Main this Hawaiian looking guy had recommended, I realized my phone was no longer in my back pocket. The last time I remember taking it out was at the bathrooms back in temple square. RATS! I decided to run back over there by myself and get it. Here's my funny story: as I walked past the guy playing the saxophone music, I remembered my comments with Erika where I said, "I wish I had a dollar, then I could give it to him", but then realized he had a venmo code and said, "Oh, he has a venmo code. That's awkward, now I can't say, 'if I had a dollar' anymore". I remembered feeling like I should take my phone out and send him some money, but didn't. I realized if I had done that, I would have noticed that my phone was not in my pocket anymore and saved myself the trouble of having to go back and get it. I decided right then, I needed to venmo the guy some money once I found my phone. So then, I got to the bathroom, checked the stall I'd used and no phone! I was super bummed. I decided I'd stop at the missionary booth and ask if anyone had turned it in, but as I was thinking that, I reached down and there was my phone in my front pocket! I had seriously checked there!!! I don't know why I didn't feel it sooner. So strange!! So as I walked back past the saxophone guy for the third time, I knew I HAD to send him some money. Got my phone out and did so. It just seemed like too much of a coicidence to be a coincidence. And recently I realized that so many of the times I have seen the Lord's hand in my life it has been wish small amounts of money or relief financially. It's time for me to share that blessing with others. So anyway. After that we went back over to the easy part of temple square that has been recently finished- looks amazing!! I love the idea of having all the country flags. Mine and Nate's spot is still there- just looks a little different. The view has remained the same. I'm not bothered by the redo at all. I actually really like the changes they've made. They did have some of our favorite nativities up and we got some pictures. We made our way back to city creek, and then back home to drop off Luke and go get some hot chocolate at Fiiz. So fun! 12-28-23
So now that Subway is gone, we had to change up our tradition. We went and got pizza at Blaze Pizza instead. This was fun and way yummier than Subway in my opinion. Kelly's pizza may not have been, but I hope she doesn't ever let the workers leave the cheese on the pizza when she has said she can't have pizza. Kelly brought Devan with us, so the whole time I was over analyzing this tradition and how strange it might be to outsiders. The things we do as traditions, a lot of them, started out when we were dirt poor. Everyone was younger and very easily entertained, so I sometimes wonder if it's worth it to keep up the traditions or if it's really time to create some new ones. More exciting ones. I don't know. But anyway- no real hangups getting onto the train. We got down to temple square without too much trouble. It was pretty cold that night, but we survived. I think Molly should have worn thicker pants, but she survived. We walked through the west part of temple square, then over to city creek and the ornaments. As we were walking over the bridge over Main this Hawaiian looking guy had recommended, I realized my phone was no longer in my back pocket. The last time I remember taking it out was at the bathrooms back in temple square. RATS! I decided to run back over there by myself and get it. Here's my funny story: as I walked past the guy playing the saxophone music, I remembered my comments with Erika where I said, "I wish I had a dollar, then I could give it to him", but then realized he had a venmo code and said, "Oh, he has a venmo code. That's awkward, now I can't say, 'if I had a dollar' anymore". I remembered feeling like I should take my phone out and send him some money, but didn't. I realized if I had done that, I would have noticed that my phone was not in my pocket anymore and saved myself the trouble of having to go back and get it. I decided right then, I needed to venmo the guy some money once I found my phone. So then, I got to the bathroom, checked the stall I'd used and no phone! I was super bummed. I decided I'd stop at the missionary booth and ask if anyone had turned it in, but as I was thinking that, I reached down and there was my phone in my front pocket! I had seriously checked there!!! I don't know why I didn't feel it sooner. So strange!! So as I walked back past the saxophone guy for the third time, I knew I HAD to send him some money. Got my phone out and did so. It just seemed like too much of a coicidence to be a coincidence. And recently I realized that so many of the times I have seen the Lord's hand in my life it has been wish small amounts of money or relief financially. It's time for me to share that blessing with others. So anyway. After that we went back over to the easy part of temple square that has been recently finished- looks amazing!! I love the idea of having all the country flags. Mine and Nate's spot is still there- just looks a little different. The view has remained the same. I'm not bothered by the redo at all. I actually really like the changes they've made. They did have some of our favorite nativities up and we got some pictures. We made our way back to city creek, and then back home to drop off Luke and go get some hot chocolate at Fiiz. So fun! 12-28-23
TEMPLE ENDOWMENT
Nate and I got to go to the temple on Friday. Kelly came with us then ditched us so we could go on our date :). It was such a nice time at the temple. After the temple we went to dinner at Hug Hes after. Super yummy! Luke was right! 12-28-23
Nate and I got to go to the temple on Friday. Kelly came with us then ditched us so we could go on our date :). It was such a nice time at the temple. After the temple we went to dinner at Hug Hes after. Super yummy! Luke was right! 12-28-23
NEW YEAR'S EVE
We had a really nice New Year's Eve Sunday. We got to have most the big kids home to celebrate with us this year, which was SO nice! I am really happy we got that. We did our balloons with something to do every hour. Let's see if I can remember what order we did everything?
We had a really nice New Year's Eve Sunday. We got to have most the big kids home to celebrate with us this year, which was SO nice! I am really happy we got that. We did our balloons with something to do every hour. Let's see if I can remember what order we did everything?
1:00- make our year ornaments. This went well, but we realized we need to replenish our stock of craft stuff. It was slim pickings. But I think everyone was satisfied, maybe not Molly. I did my usual block with a picture of the Saratoga Springs temple because we went to the open house, a Romanian flag to represent the woman at walmart needing coats, freeze dried skittles cuz I did a lot of freeze drying this year, a medical symbol for all the doctor visits we made this year, and a little "date night" sticky note to represent that I did really well on dates with the kids this year. Made me happy. Kelly did two cute little frogs for getting her first boyfriend this year. Luke did a little sushi. I can't remember Noah's. Erika did a basketball. Jack did a baseball. Molly couldn't settle on anything and then wanted to do a ctr shield with perler beads but couldn't because we couldn't find the peg board. I don't remember what Sadie did either. I should ask everyone.
2:00- we watched a conference talk
3:00- we did minute to win it games- everyone really got into this, it was a lot of fun, mostly cup stacking and then ping pong bouncing into the cups. Pretty fun.
4:00- we played abducktion I think Luke and Noah really liked this game, that made me happy.
5:00- we played gingerbread house baseball. Always a fun one.
6:00- Time for dinner
7:00- Make a treat for a friend- we did reese's puff minis in marshmallow treats for Richelle :)
8:00- We did buddy time! This was my favorite :). I got to be buddies with Luke and he chose to do a puzzle with me! We got out one of my cool scenery ones from last year and did the Mount Rushmore puzzle! So cool :). We got tons of it done for only doing it for one hour. Kelly was buddies with Molly they did some ping pong. Noah was buddies with Erika. I can't remember what they did. Jack and Sadie were buddies and they went around playing hide and seek and some other make believe games- Jack was a LOT of fun for her- super cute! I loved watching them.
9:00- Ping Pong tournament- Everyone got into this, it was a lot of fun.
10:00- Anomia- fun new game. Nate came home while we were screaming words at each other during this game :). He loved that we were all laughing and having fun together as he got home. Kinda fun.
11:00- write on the plates and throw them into the road (in bags!). This was a cool idea of Kelly's. I was glad we remembered to get the plates the night before. We all wrote things we want to leave behind in 2023 on our plate. I kind of wish I'd just narrowed it down to a few because I think focusing on all the negative got me down. I am happy to leave a lot of my bad habits and things back there. Hopefully this is a new shining year :). We went out into the road to break the plates and it was pretty awesome :).
10:00- Anomia- fun new game. Nate came home while we were screaming words at each other during this game :). He loved that we were all laughing and having fun together as he got home. Kinda fun.
11:00- write on the plates and throw them into the road (in bags!). This was a cool idea of Kelly's. I was glad we remembered to get the plates the night before. We all wrote things we want to leave behind in 2023 on our plate. I kind of wish I'd just narrowed it down to a few because I think focusing on all the negative got me down. I am happy to leave a lot of my bad habits and things back there. Hopefully this is a new shining year :). We went out into the road to break the plates and it was pretty awesome :).
12:00- Ring in the new year!
12-31-23
