February 2025

ABBY WATSON'S BABY SHOWER
Charity did me the hugest favor and came to Abby's shower with me on Saturday.  We got there a little late, ate some food, watched her open gifts, chatted with Amy, and then we were off again.  Super cute shower- Abby was adorable.  We got back to Charity's house and got to talk for an hour or so.  That was so nice!  I love hanging out with Charity!  She's so fun to talk to.  It was a long ride home by myself, but a fun morning.  2-1-25

MUFASA
Kind of on a whim, Erika, Jack, Molly, Sadie and I decided to go see Mufasa at the Kaysville Theater.  Everyone seemed to like it!  Even Sadie sat there and watched most of it.  I was happy about that.  Cool movie.  I liked talking with Jack about all the details and things we noticed.  Fun times.  2-1-25

CHURCH
I extra enjoyed church today, being able to go to my own ward.  I really enjoyed Sunday School.  Michelle Johnstun was teaching and announced that the reason her husband wasn't there was because he was just diagnosed with Diabetes.  Kinda crazy.  I think it was Type 2, but I felt a connection right away.  She did a great lesson, I loved all the discussion and it felt good to be there.  I shared my story about feeling prompted to go take something to someone and I had had good intentions and wanted to do it, but then let other things come first and eventually felt like it was no longer needed.  I had missed my opportunity.  It was such a sad thing, but I know Heavenly Father will forgive me.  It's nice to know that He forgave Joseph, with the lost pages because that seems huge and if he can be forgiven of that, surely I can be forgiven of my mistakes.  I don't think I've enjoyed Sunday school that much in a long time.  2-2-25

TRAINING YW LEADERS
This was a hard thing for me, for some reason.  I really didn't feel qualified, but I tried and then I felt like I screwed it all up.  It's fine.  I'm over it for the most part, but I do wish things could go differently next time.  That felt like we were pretending.  And I didn't like hearing that the girls' lessons were boring.  I don't think that's a reason to take over teaching.  I also don't think anyone needs to move up to the next class at the school year.  Handbook.  Oh well.  2-2-25

GRANDPA RUSS'S BIRTHDAY PARTY
Grandma Ruthie had the Family Meeting a week early so that we could celebrate Russ's birthday.  This ended up being a really fun evening.  I got to talk with Dan and Adele and Meg and Ali.  Good stuff.  It was fun to have Charity and Kelly and their guys with us.  We had pizza from Papa Murphy's, which Jack won't eat, so that was a little frustrating.  I need to remember to bring him a PB and J.  Then his pump was dying and his phone was dying and all things were going haywire on the one time we forgot his bag!!  So nuts!!  Not our best obviously.  We fixed it and made things right.  It wasn't too bad.  2-2-25

LUKE'S 19th BIRTHDAY!
It's the weirdest thing to not be able to be with my kids on their birthdays.  I'm trying to get used to it, but so far not.  We did send him some fun little gifts, who knows when he'll get them.  Then he got to call and we got to talk to him for quite a while, that was nice.  I wish we could have done more.  I wish we would have sent him a sign or some food or something.  But he doesn't make it over to the mission home much anymore.  So lame.  Hopefully he had fun at FHE :).  He told us that their friend they just baptized knew it was his birthday and got him a cake and sang to him and everything!  So fun.  I'm happy they did that!  I hope he had a nice day.  2-3-25

JAZZ GAME!
We were able to get Danika Desmond to come babysit Molly and Sadie- they're not huge fans yet- and the rest of us went to the Jazz game for the free Junior Jazz night!  This was a lot of fun!  It was nice to be able to just sit there and watch!  The Jazz played so well for most of the game!  They were so close to winning and if it hadn't been for some stupid calls at the end, we would have totally won.  It was so dumb that the refs sucked it up so bad at the end.  But we had a good time.  Even got free mini hot dogs and drinks :).  2-3-25

ERIKA GAME 1
We were playing Fairfield.  The last time we played them the refs were awful and really made it unenjoyable.  We weren't quite sure how it would go, but they had only won like two games the whole season, so we weren't too worried.  Erika's team played SO WELL!!  It was a great game!  I was really proud of her!  They won by a mile and made it to the Semi-finals!!  Nate had picked up Grandma Ruthie to come watch Erika's game, which was super fun.  2-4-25

DINNER WITH GRANDMA RUTHIE AND MEG AND CHRIS
Taking Grandma Ruthie home we met up with Meg and Chris at Chubby's in Riverton for some yummy dinner!  This was a fun time.  I think there was some tension about us getting there a little late, Nate had had to help Hunter with his brakes right before and it took much longer than anticipated.  But we made it and once everyone had food in their tummies we were good to go.  That was a yummy restaurant.  Yummy fries.  2-4-25

ERIKA TEAM DINNER
We threw together a team dinner for Erika's team for Wednesday night.  Nate had catered for the Junior High teachers earlier in the day and had plenty of pulled pork for the team.  We weren't able to stay for it- watching Noah's game- but it sounded like it went well.  I'm glad we were able to help.   2-5-25

ERIKA'S ORCHESTRA CONCERT
We were able to get everyone out to Erika's concert!  Even Noah!  Super fun.  They played a song from Pirates of the Carribean and Try Everything from Zootopia!  They sounded great!  We did the unthinkable and left in the middle of the concert, but we had places to be!  I actually found out mid-concert that my presidency meeting was at 7:00 and not 8:00.  So that was fun.  I was only like 20 minutes late surprisingly.  2-6-25

PRESIDENCY MEETING
Lots of calendaring at this meeting.  I really wish there was more talking about the girls and their leaders, but maybe that's not how this calling goes.  We planned some fun things and food.  It was fine.  I am anxious to get to know our presidency better.  It's good though.  Things are good.  2-6-25

ERIKA TEAM BREAKFAST
We decided on pancakes which was super easy and nice.  Nate thankfully helped chop up the strawberries.  We got yummy syrup and got it over to the school in time for practice.  Meg's mom helped and brought parfaits.  It was a good time.  I got to talk with Christine a little about her athletic career and about our team.  She's been an incredible coach and I was happy to be able to tell her that. 2-7-25

MISSIONARY MOMS LUNCH
We had our lunch at Kneaders this time.  This was only my second time going.  Got to talk about the boys and hear about everyone else's kids.  It was nice.  And the french dip sandwich was amazing!  2-7-25

ENDOWMENT SESSION WITH DAN AND ADELE
We met up at the Ogden temple for a session Friday night.  I was so happy we were making it to the temple that day.  This was nice, but I was slightly distracted worrying about my out of control period the whole time.  Luckily everything was fine.  We were able to go to Sonora's for dinner after as well.  It's always fun talking with Dan and Adele.  Good times.  2-7-25

NANA'S BIRTHDAY
I tried to plan a little party for Nana with Steve, but apparently we didn't see it as such.  So we went and got Steve, took him out to her grave for some M&Ms and joking.  Steve also ran over to the cannon, fell and ran back.  Kelly and Devan met up with us there.  We thought Steve was coming back to our house with us, but he was not.  So we grabbed a few things at Smith's and then took him home.  I made us BLTs and we ate Frozen Snickers and Mentos to celebrate Nana :).  We did play a game, but overall it was pretty lame.  2-8-25

WARD CONFERENCES
We only had one ward conference this week.  Same building as last time, so that was a rerun.  But overall, things were great.  Bishop Dewsnup gave a nice talk.  The girls were SO lively in YW.  It was really fun to have their comments and discussion.  It was fun to have Becky's girls in there and to talk with them for a bit.  All was well.  2-9-25

PREP FOR LIFE
This was my first Prep for Life in the presidency.  We decided to do chips and dips for refreshments.  We had chips, nacho cheese, salsa.  It was pretty yummy food.  Took a lot to get the cheese warmed up and to the church, but I did fine.  It was a good time.  Brody Last and Alan led the discussion.  Things were great!  It was SuperBowl Sunday so we only had about 30 kids there, unfortunately.  And we had planned for 80!!  So lots of leftovers!!  But it was fine!!  Good times!  First time down.  2-9-25

CALL FROM THE BOYS
Brad had called and hung up the night before since he wasn't feeling great.  Then he and Luke both got on Monday early afternoon and it was a really fun phone call for like an hour and a half!  We heard all about Brad's new area.  We got to hear all about Luke's successes as well.  It was a fun time.  I was making posters for Erika's team, we were doing a big send off for them to their Semi-Final game, and of course, since I was having so much fun talking to the boys and perfecting the posters, I completely missed the send off!!!  I was SO MAD!!  It was good to talk to the boys though!  2-10-25

ERIKA'S SEMIFINAL GAME!!
This was a rough game!!  There were so many nerves in that room!  You could have cut it with a knife.  I was annoyed that the music was so loud and new and we were at the High School which felt like more pressure somehow.  It was stressy just waiting for the game to start!!  This ended up being a really rough game!  Millcreek was a good team.  They were all older and taller than our girls.  They were really rough and aggressive physically which caught us up in the beginning and then once we got so far behind, I just think our girls weren't sure how to pull out of it.  They had such a good season, they never really had to come back from behind.  They weren't experienced with that at all.  They pushed so hard though til the very last second and did so good!  Nothing to be ashamed of at all!  I just think we were a new team, with inexperienced players and way younger... just not the recipe we needed.  It was super sad when it got over and they all burst into tears.  Having the season end and their first loss at the same time was too much emotionally I think.  Erika was so cute and was able to such it up pretty fast.  She knew she did her best.  We were so proud of her and the whole team.  They really pushed it!  Plus, you can't be sad with an undefeated season!!  It was nice we had Steve's birthday party to distract us when we got home.  2-10-25

STEVE'S BIRTHDAY PARTY
We had finished late at Erika's game, didn't make it home til 20 minutes after 7:00 (the start time of the party) so Steve had been waiting here for an hour (he thought it started at 6:30) and was pretty hurt and bummed by the time we all got here.  It was a tense few minutes of trying to convince him to come back and some of us yelled, but he came back and we were able to have a nice evening with him.  I made him a chocolate Reese's cake that looked amazing, if I do say so myself, and we even played Spoons at the end of the night, so that was fun.  Charity and Kelly and their guys were here.  It was just a fun time.  I think Steve felt loved by the end of the night.  Thanks grandpa for the pizza!  Who knew Little Caesars had other toppings besides cheese and pepperoni- jk.  Good times.  2-10-25

CULTURAL NIGHT KICK-OFF
I was very relieved when I was finally able to get ahold of Becky to make sure Katherine was ready for her presentation (did I mention I was asked to invite her to present her calligraphy craft to the stake at this kick-off night).  Kind of stressy for a second there.  But she did such a great job!  I was so happy she did!  I had stayed home for Sadie- she woke up from her nap feeling horrible and Nate needed to be there.  But I heard she did amazing!!  Thankfully!  2-11-25

1st COUNSELORS
Thankfully, I finally got all my treats out to the 1st Counselors.  This was weighing on my mind and I was very relieved to get it done finally.  Brownies are not super exciting, but they worked!  2-12-25 

SEMINARY MORNINGSIDE
I got to go to the Seminary Morningside- we were in charge of refreshments.  It was super nice of Seth to provide Chick-fil-a sandwiches for all 800 kids!  Well, there weren't quite 800 so we had lots to throw around and give seconds at the end.  This was a cool fireside.  I'm trying to remember the guy's name.  Something Young.  He was a runner and got 8th place in the Olympics last year in the marathon.  Reminded me a lot of hearing from Jared Ward.  He was really great and shared a powerful testimony.  His wife did as well, talking about how he ran the New York Marathon and then WALKED a mile to church as soon as he was done.  The magical moment when he saw his old college roommate at the church they ended up at.  So cool!!  I loved that story.  I also loved seeing all those youth in that room!  Filled that stake center up!!  So many sacrificing their time to be closer to the Lord.  What a miracle and blessing to be able to witness that.  The church is in good hands.  I'm excited to see what they all do.  2-12-25

JACK'S EDUCATION APPOINTMENT
This was annoying.  I don't love taking time to go there and have them scrutinize what and how Jack eats.  He gets enough of that at home.  I was happy I told the doctor (or "Trevor") how it was.  We didn't make any changes, just talked about everything- huge eye roll- and then he quizzed us about keytones for 15 minutes after I told him we didn't need anything else.  Sorry, but when it happens, I'm just gonna look up the information.  None of it is staying in my brain and Jack is just a kid!!  So annoying.  I don't love these.  2-12-25

NOAH REC GAME
NOah had a really fun, awesome game tomnight!!  They were so close the whole game, came back from five or six point lead, then totally won the game with a shot right at the end!!  Noah had played AWESOME!!  It's such a miracle that he can play anyway and then to be scoring half the points for the team is just so fun!!  Good job NOah!!  2-12-25

VALENTINE'S DAY
Molly had slaved on her box all evening the two nights before.  She ended up with a really cute long nekced llama :).  She LOVED this box!!  We all did!!  It turned out so cute.  Complete with a little blanket on it's back.  She's been obsessed with llamas ever since Bradley got his call.  So this is fun for her.  We had a very normal Valentine's day for most of us, but Nate was doing his own little thing, obsessing over career day :).  It was pretty cute, he was making airplanes on sticks for the kids to practice controlling traffic with.  He was going all out with pens and peanuts.  Super cute.  So he was busy doing that while I made pink waffles and helped Sadie and Molly label their valentines.  Molly gave out little scratch pages with wooden scratchers and Molly gave out tiny erasers with cute foods on them.  They were both so different from our usual ring pops or fun dip we've been doing for decades.  But super fun to try something new.  We got everyone to school- not all on time, but to school- Molly even took her llama box to rehearsal, pretty cute.  During the day, I spent about four hours cleaning our house.  It was pretty messy, I got it looking really nice.  Then took food to Nate at the Junior High (he had also volunteered to bring in the food for all the volunteers), I got to sit there and talk with Erika (she was wanting some pulled pork and to avoid her friends at the moment), Nate, Mrs. Beebee and Andrew Larsen's dad.  I forget his first name.  The rest of the day was fun, we went through all the valentines which was fun- some really creative ones out there.  Sadie got slime, a toy car, a 3D printed hammerhead shark, stickers, squishies, a paper seed to plant, and a couple of suckers.  Kinda crazy.  We're evolving again.  At about 3:30 my mom showed up with some treats in a bucket.  The kids were less than thrilled with these, none of them are their favorites.  But we got to chat with Simon and Grandma.  After that, Nate and I left for our big date.  We went to Sushi Monster pretty early, were seated right away and then didn't get our food for about forty-five minutes :).  It was a nice time talking though and really didn't feel that long.  Jesse Johnson showed up and said hi- he was waiting for take out.  We ate way too much sushi- like- I felt like I was going to explode.  But we walked around station park for a while and then made our way over to the theater for the new Captain American Brave New World movie.  It was pretty good.  Hard to follow on some things, celestial body in the Indian Ocean- but that's because we didn't watch the movie Celestials.  But it was very entertaining.  We had a nice time.  When we got home we learned that Jack had taken matters into his own hands, no drivers were around, so he rode his bike in the almost freezing temps up to Dollar Tree to get a treat for his Valentine and then came home and talked Noah into driving him to her house to deliver it.  How cute is that!?  I just love it.  What a cool guy!  Kinda fun for him.  We all finished watching Hugh School Musical and then went to bed.  I don't know what was going on with my body, but it was not happy!!  I didn't fall asleep for quite a while and it was a struggle laying there twitching and feeling like garbage.  2-14-25

SIMPLOT
Kelly, Devan and I all drove Noah and some of his fellow track buddies up to Pocatello for Simplot this year!  This year was a lot of fun.  We were responsible for getting kids places, so a little more of that, but we were staying in the same hotel with them, so that helped too.  It was a little less comfortable to be in a two queen room for the three of us- felt a little weird, but we made it work.  Kelly and Devan loved the pool and hot tub.  We got to go up to the Pocatello temple, but Kelly didn't have a recommend, so we just took a picture and left :).  We spent some time at the mall, smelled EVERYTHING in Bath and Body Works while it was the only store open.  I made a little friend there.  I hope that guy finds a good group of friends and can straighten his life out.  He seemed like he was trying.  We got lots of dirty sodas at our favorite little shack.  I got my Third Wheel drink- very tasty.  Kelly's drink was gross.  I think we ate out enough to last us a lifetime.  Noah did great at Simplot! I was so proud of him and glad he got to participate in that.  He was pretty bummed when they invited him to run in a relay and then the guy who they thought wasn't going to make it, made it.  Such a bummer!  But everything went really well.  It was another great Simplot trip in the books!  2-20-25--2-22-25

MOLLY IN MATILDA
We had a great week of performances this week!  Molly did amazing!  She was in the ensemble as one of the young kids, but she shined like a true performer!!  It was fun to see her getting into it and having some fun.  This really is such a great experience for my kids when they get to do plays- they really shine.  Makes me so happy!  We had fun running the concessions stand as well, did some fun Matilda themed things like mini chocolate cakes, candy boxes that looked like books, some book keychains, green cotton candy for the dad's hair... I can't remember it all- but lots of fun!  Good job Molly!  2-26-25--3-1-25