Thursday, November 2, 2023
Wednesday, November 1, 2023
OCTOBER 2023
GENERAL CONFERENCE WEEKEND
As always, I was very excited for conference this time!! I wish I'd planned ahead better and prepared myself for how little of it I would get to see live. We had soccer games that coincided with conference almost all day Saturday. I was able to listen to the later session during Erika's game, but other than that, we had to play catch up all day. Which was kind of a challenge for me. I like watching it with the rest of the world. BUT that being said, it was a really good conference!! I LOVED the talks this time!! So much!! There was one moment during Erika's game tat I was totally tearing up. The speaker was talking about how the little things do matter and to just keep being consistent. Got me thinking about study time. Really awesome. We had lots of treats and yummy food to eat and Sunday we had our creamed eggs on toast. Charity came up for Sunday. We drove out to Syracuse to see the temple under construction and then to the Layton one to see it with the lights on- SO PRETTY!! We were really excited to hear Peru is getting two more temples! It was a great weekend!! 9-30-23--10-1-23
As always, I was very excited for conference this time!! I wish I'd planned ahead better and prepared myself for how little of it I would get to see live. We had soccer games that coincided with conference almost all day Saturday. I was able to listen to the later session during Erika's game, but other than that, we had to play catch up all day. Which was kind of a challenge for me. I like watching it with the rest of the world. BUT that being said, it was a really good conference!! I LOVED the talks this time!! So much!! There was one moment during Erika's game tat I was totally tearing up. The speaker was talking about how the little things do matter and to just keep being consistent. Got me thinking about study time. Really awesome. We had lots of treats and yummy food to eat and Sunday we had our creamed eggs on toast. Charity came up for Sunday. We drove out to Syracuse to see the temple under construction and then to the Layton one to see it with the lights on- SO PRETTY!! We were really excited to hear Peru is getting two more temples! It was a great weekend!! 9-30-23--10-1-23
Taught a man that has killed 28 people- Letter from Bradley
This week has actually felt like 800 years long but then all of a sudden it's P day and sooo that's very excitinggg. I'm starting to think I'll be here for 2 transfers because of my Visa but i guess we will see!
Wednesday: went on an exchange Tuesday night in the SKETCHIEST apartment it was like in the middle of an ally way and the apartment itself is barely functioning. This exchange was definitely making me grumpy cuz I didn't want to because I was comfy in my other apartment BUT I went and it ended up being amazing. It was relieving to be able to talk with people and teach them in English because I could actually understand how they felt and help them yk? We had zone training too and had a role play where we had to teach someone about our "why" for serving a mission. Wellll I didn't think it'd happen but I defintely couldn't get out my why without crying just because of how important it is to me and how much this mission means to me. It really helped me establish my purpose for being here and help me stay positive when I hit low points. Some funny things that happened today was we saw a dude pushing a dumpster on wheels full of his stuff across the street. We taught darmin and had to wipe off hundreds of cigarettes and beer cans to sit at his table haha.
We then ended up teaching a guy whose killed 28 people because when he was 8 his dad was killed by the cartel so he killed one of them and then the only way to be safe from them was to join them. So after he was in the cartel he escaped to America to be safe. He wants to get baptized but you have to go through the court system in the country it happened in so he'd have to go back to Mexico and the Cartel would find him and kill him so he's decided not to go back which is hard and sad. Kinda crazy though.
Thursday: zone conference was so hype and then afterwards we had COSTA VIDA AHHHH! it was amazing and I had like enough food to feed a family of 6. Awkward moment today was we met these two people and started talking to them. We asked what the lady's name was and she said Ruth or something and then we asked the guy and he just goes "I'm gay
." And then he walks away. Nothing against gay people but that was very funny. Remember him though.
." And then he walks away. Nothing against gay people but that was very funny. Remember him though.Friday: we visited Darwin and his family again and taught them some more! They are always so into the lessons and asking a lot of questions. We Invited them to watch conference with us and they said yes!
Saturday: YES CONFERENCE WEEKEND!
Yeah we were supposed to watch it with a recent convert and she said yes but then realized she promised to dog sit sooooo we walked her dog and played pass with her little boy while she listened to it at the park hahaha. Let me tell you this dog was CRAZY! He actually was dragging my comp around and also bit us too many times haha. It was exciting though. We then went and watched conference with the other elders in our district which was so hype and I loveddd the talks in the 2nd session. After that we went and helped these ladies move their stuff into a storage facility thingie. Ended up taking 2 hours and we missed the rest of the last session which was sad but glad we got to help them move. On our way back we saw a dude walking down the street all suspicious but had a gun with his Hoodie draped over it. Very sketch.
Sunday: this was awkward we kept telling darwin to click the link he sent but he kept saying what's the address and we thought he meant the literally address to the church and not the web address for conference haha. So he didn't get to watch because technology is actually stupid but we went and visited him that night and got to teach him a little bit. His brother and his wife were there and in the middle of our lesson they turned on the LOUDEST show ever and we were like bruhhhhh. But eventually Darwin got mad and told them to turn it off so I'm glad he wants to focus and listen. We watched the first session with our district again which was super hype because we set up the couches and TV in the church and had snacks. I actually love my district they're all the coolest guys. The second session was in spanish because we watched it with some members. I actually got a lot more out of it than I thought I would but it still was a struggle. Definitely have some listening of talks to do the next few weeks. We ate pozole and it was very new but very good! Definitely would eat it again haha 100% recommend. Then for dinner we ate with this Peruvian family and talked to them about Peru for like 40 minutes. Made me so excited to go there and realize how different it will be from here. Definitely excited though
Monday: Our district decided to do a gratitude fast and so we didn't have lunch or dinner planned on our schedule so we were just going going going alllll day. One of the apartment complexes(we can only do complexes because that's where the Hispanics live haha) but we knocked a ton of doors, no one answered. Then we felt like we should do one last door and so we went over and knocked it... ended up being the gay guy again hahahah. His name is Alberto and he's actually very nice but definitely wanted us to leave. I've learned God has a good sense of humor hahaha. ALSO yk how I was saying I'm bulking??? Wellll turns out I haven't gained a single pound since I left 2 months ago. Kinda sucks but I also have been running a couple miles everyday which is probably more than I was during cross country cuz I was always broken.
Anyways this was long and I apologize buttt Saturday is my birthdayyy and Friday is my comps birthday so this week is gonna be so excitinggg. I love you guys and want the best for all of you.
Spiritual thought: I want everyone even if you aren't sure what it is but write down your conversion story. What was or is the reason you choose Christ's church and to stand as an example of him at all times. Even just writing down why you do it makes it have so much more of an emphasis in your life and helps you understand it better. It can be a story or experience or even just a couple sentences. I promise that as you do this you will feel the spirit and will feel there love God has for you as his child.
1. My amazing pants my mom got me and then a shirt my bestie kenzie sent me
2. The same
3. A pretty bridge
4/5. Me and my comp driving for the 1000 time
6. The dog we got to watch that was crazy
7. @Victor Chavez
8. In the car again
TEMPLE TUESDAY WITH KELLY AND I
Kelly and I got to go to the temple on Tuesday. Thanks to my mom for watching Sadie. The temple was packed! We were on the boys' side in the very back- so that was different. But it was a really good session. I was so happy we went! We stopped for Mo'Bettas on the way home. 10-3-23
Kelly and I got to go to the temple on Tuesday. Thanks to my mom for watching Sadie. The temple was packed! We were on the boys' side in the very back- so that was different. But it was a really good session. I was so happy we went! We stopped for Mo'Bettas on the way home. 10-3-23
ELDER MAYNES
We got to talk to Bradley again this week. We did another group video chat. We want to split it up next call. But it was nice to talk to him. It felt like he was doing a little better from last week. Still adjusting of course. We liked hearing about all the crazy people he runs into and being able to laugh with him. Hopefully he's doing well. 10-3-23
We got to talk to Bradley again this week. We did another group video chat. We want to split it up next call. But it was nice to talk to him. It felt like he was doing a little better from last week. Still adjusting of course. We liked hearing about all the crazy people he runs into and being able to laugh with him. Hopefully he's doing well. 10-3-23
LUNCH DAY/PRIEST FEAST
Nate fed all the youth again today. It was a really big group, but they didn't even eat all the teriyaki chicken Nate had slaved over :). It's always so fun to have them all here- I think it's the highlight of the week for Nate. He had another job he was also working on while they were here, but he loves all the positive feedback they give for sure. 10-4-23
Nate fed all the youth again today. It was a really big group, but they didn't even eat all the teriyaki chicken Nate had slaved over :). It's always so fun to have them all here- I think it's the highlight of the week for Nate. He had another job he was also working on while they were here, but he loves all the positive feedback they give for sure. 10-4-23
BRAD'S BIRTHDAY PACKAGE
We made some really big signs for Brad and his comp (Elder Adams' birthday is the day before his) and I packaged them up with some candy, an "it's my birthday" pin, some punching balloons and some beef jerky. For some reason this was hard to get out on time, hopefully he gets it before Saturday. 10-4-23
We made some really big signs for Brad and his comp (Elder Adams' birthday is the day before his) and I packaged them up with some candy, an "it's my birthday" pin, some punching balloons and some beef jerky. For some reason this was hard to get out on time, hopefully he gets it before Saturday. 10-4-23
PARENT/TEACHER CONFERENCES
We had conferences this week. We went to Molly's first with Mrs. Lindsey. This was a great conference! Molly is doing so well! It's fun to hear how much Mrs. Lindsey loves her and appreciates having her in class. She is such a good girl! And SO smart!! We went to Jack's next with Mrs. Halm and Mrs. Beuhner. His went really well also! Lots of good things to hear about Jack and the progress he is making. I'm so happy to hear he is getting along with everyone in class and being such a good student. They both got to pick out books from the book fair after. 10-4-23
KELLY
Kelly has been here all week because Devan is recovering from his hand surgery. It's been really nice to have her here even if it isn't just for us :). We actually got a lot of time with her! I only wish I was better at feeding her. She helped me make red velvet cupcakes with pink and blue frosting for Stori's birthday/volleyball and we ate my weird salad together. 10-5-23
Kelly has been here all week because Devan is recovering from his hand surgery. It's been really nice to have her here even if it isn't just for us :). We actually got a lot of time with her! I only wish I was better at feeding her. She helped me make red velvet cupcakes with pink and blue frosting for Stori's birthday/volleyball and we ate my weird salad together. 10-5-23
PARENT TEACHER CONFERENCE DINNER
I went out on a limb this time and did Panda Express for the teachers. I am not sure how they liked it. There was MORE than enough food for all of them though- I was shocked at how much was leftover! I won't get double orange chicken again. But at least they didn't run out of food. I think it went okay. It was nice to have Erika's company and help picking up the food and then Nate saved the day meeting us there to set up. Noah showed up too which was fun. Then having Molly and Sadie with me when I cleaned up was equally fun. I like making it a family affair :). 10-5-23
I went out on a limb this time and did Panda Express for the teachers. I am not sure how they liked it. There was MORE than enough food for all of them though- I was shocked at how much was leftover! I won't get double orange chicken again. But at least they didn't run out of food. I think it went okay. It was nice to have Erika's company and help picking up the food and then Nate saved the day meeting us there to set up. Noah showed up too which was fun. Then having Molly and Sadie with me when I cleaned up was equally fun. I like making it a family affair :). 10-5-23
DATE NIGHT
This week we went to Aubergine Kitchen for dinner- I needed it to be something pretty clean for this "Metaclean" thing I'm trying out. Then we went and saw Creator the movie. It was strange. I was entertained but also distracted by all the possible agendas. I wish I could turn that off sometimes. But Nate and I had a good time!! Always good to spend time together. 10-6-23
This week we went to Aubergine Kitchen for dinner- I needed it to be something pretty clean for this "Metaclean" thing I'm trying out. Then we went and saw Creator the movie. It was strange. I was entertained but also distracted by all the possible agendas. I wish I could turn that off sometimes. But Nate and I had a good time!! Always good to spend time together. 10-6-23
LAST SOCCER GAMES
We had our last games of the season this week. Noah's team did awesome. It was an early game, so just Nate and I were there to watch, but Noah played so well! Raegan Caldwell showed up and sat and talked to us while we watched- she's adorable. It was fun to talk with her. Then Erika and Molly had their games at the same time. Kelly and I went to Erika's. Nate took the little girls and Jack to Molly's. We were in the middle of our call with Bradley at the beginning of the games. Erika scored while we were talking to Brad and he wanted us to take the phone out to her so that he could tell her good job :). She played so well! It was so sad when she got slammed into, mid-jump and landed on her hand. Hurt pretty bad. We're waiting til Monday to find out if there's a break. She couldn't resist going back in for the last five minutes of the game and trying to score- she almost did again like three times!! Molly scored in her game also!! So I think this season was a success. 10-7-23
We had our last games of the season this week. Noah's team did awesome. It was an early game, so just Nate and I were there to watch, but Noah played so well! Raegan Caldwell showed up and sat and talked to us while we watched- she's adorable. It was fun to talk with her. Then Erika and Molly had their games at the same time. Kelly and I went to Erika's. Nate took the little girls and Jack to Molly's. We were in the middle of our call with Bradley at the beginning of the games. Erika scored while we were talking to Brad and he wanted us to take the phone out to her so that he could tell her good job :). She played so well! It was so sad when she got slammed into, mid-jump and landed on her hand. Hurt pretty bad. We're waiting til Monday to find out if there's a break. She couldn't resist going back in for the last five minutes of the game and trying to score- she almost did again like three times!! Molly scored in her game also!! So I think this season was a success. 10-7-23
HAPPY 19TH BIRTHDAY ELDER MAYNES
We're still not sure where his package is- hopefully it wasn't stolen. But we got to text Brad and talk to him on his birthday!! That was exciting! He had been telling me about his excema and so we talked about that quite a bt, back and forth and then he informed us that he was going to be able to call! Luckily we were able to get most of us on the call- he was in such a good mood and sounded so happy!! Minus that his comp was sleeping- like all day! All of the Elders in his room were sleeping during personal study, so he sent us a video of that. He was just in a really up beat mood for all the weird things that were happening. I was proud of him. He's had a good week. He got to go on exchanges with the Zone leader and he just boosted him up and gave him lots of praise and compliments. I thought that was pretty cool. He just sounded really good. I liked that we got a mid-week call too :). I hope he gets his package someday. Til then. I think we might door dash him some food Monday. 10-7-23
We're still not sure where his package is- hopefully it wasn't stolen. But we got to text Brad and talk to him on his birthday!! That was exciting! He had been telling me about his excema and so we talked about that quite a bt, back and forth and then he informed us that he was going to be able to call! Luckily we were able to get most of us on the call- he was in such a good mood and sounded so happy!! Minus that his comp was sleeping- like all day! All of the Elders in his room were sleeping during personal study, so he sent us a video of that. He was just in a really up beat mood for all the weird things that were happening. I was proud of him. He's had a good week. He got to go on exchanges with the Zone leader and he just boosted him up and gave him lots of praise and compliments. I thought that was pretty cool. He just sounded really good. I liked that we got a mid-week call too :). I hope he gets his package someday. Til then. I think we might door dash him some food Monday. 10-7-23
FOOD TO BECKY
Family meeting was cancelled, but we needed something to go and do. So we went on a little drive to Becky's to take her the food she's ordered and I sure got a scare. I am pretty good at remaining calm and mostly I just had prepared myself for the worst, but what a happy moment when I barged in and saw Becky just chilling in her chair, awakened from a nap. I mean, I felt a little bad at that point, but at least she was okay. We got to chat with her for a minute, Erika, Molly, Sadie and I. It was nice. 10-8-23
Family meeting was cancelled, but we needed something to go and do. So we went on a little drive to Becky's to take her the food she's ordered and I sure got a scare. I am pretty good at remaining calm and mostly I just had prepared myself for the worst, but what a happy moment when I barged in and saw Becky just chilling in her chair, awakened from a nap. I mean, I felt a little bad at that point, but at least she was okay. We got to chat with her for a minute, Erika, Molly, Sadie and I. It was nice. 10-8-23
ERIKA'S BRACES
She did it!! She finally got them off! We are so happy for her!! She looks beautiful still!! It's not as exciting for her because I guess the "rigid" retainer she has to wear 24/7 for the next month is not comfy at all and feels a lot like wearing braces. So that's a bummer, but just one more month of that. She got to eat her blueberry popcorn and that made her happy :). She'll be really happy to chew gum again in a month too. 10-9-23
She did it!! She finally got them off! We are so happy for her!! She looks beautiful still!! It's not as exciting for her because I guess the "rigid" retainer she has to wear 24/7 for the next month is not comfy at all and feels a lot like wearing braces. So that's a bummer, but just one more month of that. She got to eat her blueberry popcorn and that made her happy :). She'll be really happy to chew gum again in a month too. 10-9-23
ZERO FATALITIES WITH NOAH
I've lost count of how many times I've been to this, and we only caught the last fifteen minutes because Noah was working til 6:30, but I really do love how they do it. I love the reminders and being urged to be more careful when we drive. Everyone needs to do that. Noah will have to get the notes from someone, but I think he still got credit. Kinda bummed he didn't get more of it, but whatever. 10-9-23
I've lost count of how many times I've been to this, and we only caught the last fifteen minutes because Noah was working til 6:30, but I really do love how they do it. I love the reminders and being urged to be more careful when we drive. Everyone needs to do that. Noah will have to get the notes from someone, but I think he still got credit. Kinda bummed he didn't get more of it, but whatever. 10-9-23
FHE
Nate taught us about the reaction the Lord had with the woman taken in adultery. We talked a lot about His compassion but also the fact that he doesn't ever pretend it wasn't a sin and affirm her actions. He told her he forgave her and told her to sin no more. Pretty cool example. Then we played bananagrams for my game and Luke didn't want a treat so we had Oatmeal Creme Pies from the storage room. Kinda funny night- everyone was really tired. Then at the end, Molly suddenly woke up from her FHE nap and was squeezing her neck and looking a little green. She really needed to throw up, so I told her to head upstairs and do it in the toilet. Well, she ran ALL the way upstairs to my bathroom. She stood there for quite a while, not wanting to throw up. She kept squeezing her neck. Then she just decided she didn't need to anymore, she went to bed and slept all night. No throw up. Kinda weird. We're not sure what that was all about. Nate said she had eaten a whole pizza (one of his homemade ones) and she said it was only two slices, but she also said she didn't eat breakfast and only a little lunch, so it could be a combo. Either way- I was very relieved we hadn't hopped on the throwing up train that seems to last too long and make a stop at everyone. Interesting evening. 10-9-23
Nate taught us about the reaction the Lord had with the woman taken in adultery. We talked a lot about His compassion but also the fact that he doesn't ever pretend it wasn't a sin and affirm her actions. He told her he forgave her and told her to sin no more. Pretty cool example. Then we played bananagrams for my game and Luke didn't want a treat so we had Oatmeal Creme Pies from the storage room. Kinda funny night- everyone was really tired. Then at the end, Molly suddenly woke up from her FHE nap and was squeezing her neck and looking a little green. She really needed to throw up, so I told her to head upstairs and do it in the toilet. Well, she ran ALL the way upstairs to my bathroom. She stood there for quite a while, not wanting to throw up. She kept squeezing her neck. Then she just decided she didn't need to anymore, she went to bed and slept all night. No throw up. Kinda weird. We're not sure what that was all about. Nate said she had eaten a whole pizza (one of his homemade ones) and she said it was only two slices, but she also said she didn't eat breakfast and only a little lunch, so it could be a combo. Either way- I was very relieved we hadn't hopped on the throwing up train that seems to last too long and make a stop at everyone. Interesting evening. 10-9-23
OOPS
Nate stayed home today to work on the yard- and he actually worked on it basically all day. Around 1:00 we set out to get me some food and Sadie some chicken stars and it wasn't until we were sitting in the Carls Jr. drive thru with a sleeping Sadie that it hit me I was missing Erika's doctor appointment to go have her arm looked at!! Her appointment was at 2:00. It was then 2:03 and I was fifteen minutes out. So luckily, Luke was home, he went and picked up Erika and took her to the doctors office for me. We actually just planned to meet her there, and surprisingly Nate and I made it there first! Which, if we had had to stop and get her would have been another 15 minutes, so Luke really saved the day! I hate it when I forget things like this!! 10-10-23
Nate stayed home today to work on the yard- and he actually worked on it basically all day. Around 1:00 we set out to get me some food and Sadie some chicken stars and it wasn't until we were sitting in the Carls Jr. drive thru with a sleeping Sadie that it hit me I was missing Erika's doctor appointment to go have her arm looked at!! Her appointment was at 2:00. It was then 2:03 and I was fifteen minutes out. So luckily, Luke was home, he went and picked up Erika and took her to the doctors office for me. We actually just planned to meet her there, and surprisingly Nate and I made it there first! Which, if we had had to stop and get her would have been another 15 minutes, so Luke really saved the day! I hate it when I forget things like this!! 10-10-23
ERIKA'S WRIST
Dr. Woods was so nice- we really like him- and talked a lot about the different breaks from falling the way she did. Then sent her off for an x-ray. Then surprisingly announced that everything looked good! Just a sprain!! THANK GOODNESS!! I think for Erika this took a minute to appreciate- it's been hurting so much, I think she was pretty convinced it was broken, but once she realized she would only have to wear the brace a little- she was more relieved. She even played in her concert that night! 10-10-23
Dr. Woods was so nice- we really like him- and talked a lot about the different breaks from falling the way she did. Then sent her off for an x-ray. Then surprisingly announced that everything looked good! Just a sprain!! THANK GOODNESS!! I think for Erika this took a minute to appreciate- it's been hurting so much, I think she was pretty convinced it was broken, but once she realized she would only have to wear the brace a little- she was more relieved. She even played in her concert that night! 10-10-23
ELDER MAYNES PHONE CALL
We got to talk to Brad for quite a while this week! The connection wasn't the greatest and we were trying to do the group call again. Kinda crazy. But it's always so good to see him and hear what he's doing. He seems so much happier these days. We were on the phone when the door dash guy couldn't find his building and learned that he gave us the wrong address. Which explains why the birthday package didn't get to him. Such a bummer, but also really good to know now. He enjoyed his sweet pork burrito and chips and queso and I'm not sure he will give the other burrito to Elder Adams or not- haha! Funny kid. But I'm happy we got to do that for him. Just wish it could have been on his actual day. We ended our call with him as we walked over to the Hills for the walkabout. It's going to be a long week waiting for our next call this time- after getting the extra birthday call on Saturday. That's okay- we're tough! 10-10-23
We got to talk to Brad for quite a while this week! The connection wasn't the greatest and we were trying to do the group call again. Kinda crazy. But it's always so good to see him and hear what he's doing. He seems so much happier these days. We were on the phone when the door dash guy couldn't find his building and learned that he gave us the wrong address. Which explains why the birthday package didn't get to him. Such a bummer, but also really good to know now. He enjoyed his sweet pork burrito and chips and queso and I'm not sure he will give the other burrito to Elder Adams or not- haha! Funny kid. But I'm happy we got to do that for him. Just wish it could have been on his actual day. We ended our call with him as we walked over to the Hills for the walkabout. It's going to be a long week waiting for our next call this time- after getting the extra birthday call on Saturday. That's okay- we're tough! 10-10-23
WARD WALKABOUT
These are so fun. I wish I could have participated just a little more. I got to talk with Dolores and Michelle for a minute about Tim Ballard and then Steve called- which he rarely does- so I answered. Then the rest of the walkabout, I was talking with him about how he can't control anyone else and that he shouldn't think he could influence someone's day to be better just because he wants it to happen. It was an interesting call. He's going to focus on thinking about himself more. Then we rushed home to get in the car and head off to Erika's concert. 10-10-23
These are so fun. I wish I could have participated just a little more. I got to talk with Dolores and Michelle for a minute about Tim Ballard and then Steve called- which he rarely does- so I answered. Then the rest of the walkabout, I was talking with him about how he can't control anyone else and that he shouldn't think he could influence someone's day to be better just because he wants it to happen. It was an interesting call. He's going to focus on thinking about himself more. Then we rushed home to get in the car and head off to Erika's concert. 10-10-23
ERIKA'S CONCERT
We were so lucky we made it to her part of the concert- Erika looked great up there, even with her wrist brace on. They sounded great! We got to see the maraca "dance off" she had told me about earlier- it was interesting. She wasn't thrilled with it and I could see why, but very interesting. They played a few songs and then they were done. Molly was so disappointed that it was done when we left. Too short for her I guess. Good job Erika! 10-10-23
We were so lucky we made it to her part of the concert- Erika looked great up there, even with her wrist brace on. They sounded great! We got to see the maraca "dance off" she had told me about earlier- it was interesting. She wasn't thrilled with it and I could see why, but very interesting. They played a few songs and then they were done. Molly was so disappointed that it was done when we left. Too short for her I guess. Good job Erika! 10-10-23
PANTS
Noah needed some pants pretty urgently tonight so we just jumped in the car 8:00- picked up Erika from her concert real quick- and then went down to Ross for some late night shopping. He found one pair that fit. We were glad about that. We will need to go get some more soon. I had to lecture him about saying sorry. And maybe I should have said sorry for yelling about him just looking in the dryer. Maybe I will still. It was actually a fun time with Erika and Noah- cuties. We had left Jack in charge, so I was happy to see everyone still alive and well when we got home. He's pretty capable, just not 12 yet :). You know me. But all was well. We said prayer and went to bed! 10-10-23
Noah needed some pants pretty urgently tonight so we just jumped in the car 8:00- picked up Erika from her concert real quick- and then went down to Ross for some late night shopping. He found one pair that fit. We were glad about that. We will need to go get some more soon. I had to lecture him about saying sorry. And maybe I should have said sorry for yelling about him just looking in the dryer. Maybe I will still. It was actually a fun time with Erika and Noah- cuties. We had left Jack in charge, so I was happy to see everyone still alive and well when we got home. He's pretty capable, just not 12 yet :). You know me. But all was well. We said prayer and went to bed! 10-10-23
"BIRTHDAY BOY"- LETTER FROM BRAD
To start off this week was crazyyy. We had like 5+ lessons everyday and most of them went through! I'm starting to LOVE Portland and love the people here. The diverseness in everyone is what makes it so exciting haha. One second we are talking to a pastor from the church of Albuquerque New Mexico and then the next second there's a naked old man in the middle of an intersection. Needless to say it's an exciting place. I've heard so many things about how scary it is but I know God would never let anything to happen to his missionaries so I've been very comfortable and content with being here and the gunshots every couple nights. I am starting to realize why I was needed to be reassigned here because HOLY Portland Oregon is an obedient mission. I heard it used to be the most disobedient and one of the worst in the pacific North West but then they had a "shafting"(not sure what that means)and basically the mission president told everyone that they were going to change and if they weren't on board they could start packing their stuff. Now its one of the most obedient and diligent missions and everyone holds eachother accountable. I have learned to live and love the standards and have noticed the blessings that come from following them. We have been able to find so many people that are willing to hear the gospel and learn more. Oh and it's also one of the few missions that still have their own social media because they're so efficient with it. Sadly I have to get my social media "verified" sooo I can't post anything until then. BUT on the bright side I made a caption for the profile picture I was going to use and usually for greenies it's a huge process buttt apparently I was able to get it verified in one try haha. My district says if I were to be here permanently they would put me on the official social media team or whatever that means haha. Kinda exciting though.
Anyways I can already tell this is boutta be a little long so I apologize my friends.
Tuesday- P day went to the Columbia employee store and the church bought us a special pass or whatever where you get 50% off on everything and so I bought some COZY jackets and so that was very exciting. I now feel like a teddy bear. Definitely one of my greatest investments. We play a lot of basketball and Holy my entire zone is somehow all insane and a few of them are playing in college after the mission so it's actually so fun. When I first started the mission and found out Pday wasn't a whole day I was furious haha. Why would we call it P day if we don't get to have it the entire day. But there is work to do. We have a Winco nearby so we go shopping there a lot which is actually the best.
Wednesday: today was hard. I had a major headache for half the day and then the other half was spent on the toilet. I'm pretty sure the street tacos we tried to make for lunch weren't cooked all the way so I was extremely sick today. Not much happened.
Thursday: today was miserable as well because I had a migrane and couldn't function and definitely couldn't understand any spanish. Somehow it stopped for a sec and we were able to teach Darwin and Erika again, they're from Venezuela and my absolute favorite. We met this Jewish lady who wanted to talk about the church. Eventually was enraged because we didn't get to travel Oregon so she was going to call our supervisor. She also invited us to read this book so I made a deal with her that I'll read her book if she reads the book of Mormon. She definitely isn't gonna read it and i already forgot what her book was. She told us where all the good food was though so that was exciting. While we were teaching Darwin and Erika we met these pastors for the Church of Albuquerque.(not sure I'd that's how you spell it but my phone autocorrects to that) they were funny but very nice.
Friday: we went on exchanges and AHHH I LOVE EXCHANGES! English speaking was such a relief and I got to teach 6 lessons with some friends. It was very different because our zone leader was with me so he was trying to get me to challenge myself and so what he was meaning was he's gonna have me do 80% of the teaching. I was terrified but eventually got very good at it and it was a relief to really understand their needs and what they needed. We went to a mental health institution to teach a guy and it was wacko. Some of the people there are absolutely terrifying. He also challenged me to eat a pepper he found. Turns out it was the hottest thing and I was crying for like 20 minutes it was awful. Definitely don't recommend. Also today was my comps bday.
Saturday: BIRTHDAY HOORAY
Today was hype because it was my birthday obviously. I got to call my family and I ended up getting to talk to them all morning because my comp slept until 1230. I was actually so annoyed because I feel so unproductive and wasteful of our time but it was nice to talk to my family again. I eventually forced him to get outside and it was really good!we taught a few lessons and found a few new people too. I also LOVED the birthday wishes and if you didn't it's not too late. JOKING HAHAA Definitely was such a good birthday though. We celebrated that night and got to eat at a members house and it was this cutie Lil old couple that couldn't hear so we had to yell the whole time.
Sunday: church and our friends Darwin and Erika came!!!! It seriously made me soooo happy. Darwin walked in and waved to me because I was on the stand for sacrament. At our ward we have a translater so they all have headphones in and one of the members will translate it into Spanish for them so we do the sacrament prayer in English and Spanish which is really cool. Anyways after sacrament I went to go talk with Darwin and he legit shoot my hand and then gave me a hug. I love him hahahah. I also finally got the workout bands out because I'm tired of only doing pushups so I will be jacked 6 months from now. Oh also haha funny story this old lady Clara was talking to us. Somehow we got to the topic of husband and she goes "well I am still looking," as she tugs on my suit HAHAHAH. So now Clara is hitting on me.
Monday: ighty today was roughhhh. My Spanish was struggling and my patience was at an all time low. I wanted to punch my comp and I was just struggling so much haha. Eventually It chilled out but it was a rough moment. Today was longgg because we had 7 lessons and so we were just hopping in between lessons. And my Spanish was a struggle so my comp kinda took over and that was sad because I still need the practice. Anyways I'm done complaining and I love you all.
I've decided I'm a chef and take pictures of the food I make even when it sucks haha. So here's some random photos and I'm sure you can all tell what's in them and what they are.
Also I love all the emails and even though I can't respond to them all I love reading them so feel free haha. Love you all have a good Tuesday night. 10-17-23
CORNBELLY'S TAKE ONE- PACK FARM
Heidi and I had a fun day all planned out to go down to Cornbelly's with the little girls and then surprisingly, when Heidi got there, she found out it didn't open until 4:00. There was no way of waiting til 4:00 so we drove back up here to Farmington and went to the Pack Farm instead. Sadie and Alyssa had plenty of fun here! They played in the corn pit, the zip line, the barrel rolling- once I convinced Sadie that it was fun, the ducks in the the water, we looked at pumpkins, went on the big tall slide a million times, they got to go on the train together, and the maze. It was a pretty fun afternoon. I was glad we found something they loved instead! 10-17-23
Heidi and I had a fun day all planned out to go down to Cornbelly's with the little girls and then surprisingly, when Heidi got there, she found out it didn't open until 4:00. There was no way of waiting til 4:00 so we drove back up here to Farmington and went to the Pack Farm instead. Sadie and Alyssa had plenty of fun here! They played in the corn pit, the zip line, the barrel rolling- once I convinced Sadie that it was fun, the ducks in the the water, we looked at pumpkins, went on the big tall slide a million times, they got to go on the train together, and the maze. It was a pretty fun afternoon. I was glad we found something they loved instead! 10-17-23
MORNINGSIDE
Luke and Noah got themselves up and ready for the morningside all by themselves this late start morning! Caught me off guard for sure, but I am so proud of them!! 10-18-23
Luke and Noah got themselves up and ready for the morningside all by themselves this late start morning! Caught me off guard for sure, but I am so proud of them!! 10-18-23
DATE WITH NOAH
We had had Panda for our lunch day so Noah chose Chick-fil-a instead. We had a lot of time to just sit and talk as it took them a half hour to get our order to us. Well, it was really only a few minutes once I went back up and gave them my receipt. But we were fine with the wait. The food was good, we got to talk a lot. I was so glad. I am so proud of Noah and all that he stands for and is. He's such a good kid! We went to Smith's after for some off brand/on brand foods for his YM activity. 10-18-23
We had had Panda for our lunch day so Noah chose Chick-fil-a instead. We had a lot of time to just sit and talk as it took them a half hour to get our order to us. Well, it was really only a few minutes once I went back up and gave them my receipt. But we were fine with the wait. The food was good, we got to talk a lot. I was so glad. I am so proud of Noah and all that he stands for and is. He's such a good kid! We went to Smith's after for some off brand/on brand foods for his YM activity. 10-18-23
LUNCH WITH GRANDPA HATCH
We had our usual lunch date, my dad and I, but since the kids were out of school, we decided to go to Carls Jr. and bring them all along :). It ended up being a lot of fun. Sadie and Molly got to play the whole time and the rest of us visited with Grandpa and looked at his Ireland pictures. Looked like a fun trip! Good stuff! 10-19-23
We had our usual lunch date, my dad and I, but since the kids were out of school, we decided to go to Carls Jr. and bring them all along :). It ended up being a lot of fun. Sadie and Molly got to play the whole time and the rest of us visited with Grandpa and looked at his Ireland pictures. Looked like a fun trip! Good stuff! 10-19-23
BEAR LAKE WITH THE MAYNES FAMILY
We have not been to Bear Lake with Nate's family in a while so we were really excited for this trip. Charity and Kelly were able to come with us which was a fun surprise.
We have not been to Bear Lake with Nate's family in a while so we were really excited for this trip. Charity and Kelly were able to come with us which was a fun surprise.
DAY 1- Thursday, we packed up and had everything ready to go when Nate got off work at 3:00. He loaded up the car and we were off. We stopped at Jersey Mike's on the way there. Their gluten free bread wasn't too bad. We got to our condo in good time, got everything unloaded from the car and then went over to Grandma's to visit for a minute. Then we made our way over to the pool for some swimming. Everyone was having a lot of fun at the pool so we stayed for quite a while. We had snacks and watched tv when we got back.
DAY 2- Friday, we got up early to go swim while Nate was fishing with Noah. We got back and went over to grandma's for some puzzles and prizes :). She has really been loving these puzzles and rewarding the kids for beating them. This was the day I talked with Nancy and Dan for quite a while. Very enjoyable. Not sure if I agree with Nancy on the boy mom things, but we'll see how it goes. That evening we met up with everyone at Firehouse pizza. I use the term "met up with" lightly, because we got there a few minutes after everyone and they were all seated in one area, we got the other area- all to ourselves, which in some ways was really awesome :). We had a lot of fun talking and laughing together. We got the yummy cordon bleu pizza and some pepperoni, some cheese bread and artichoke dip. We ended it all off with some F'zookies!! So delicious! It's been a while since we had those. We came back to our "special place" and went swimming again! This was a fun night for swimming too. We could not get enough of the pool :).
DAY 3- Saturday morning I got up kind of early to go take pictures of Rachel. She had made arrangements and asked if I would do Senior pictures while we were up there. We found some really beautiful spots just around the resort which was fun. I was happy to have Kelly's help with these and Nate as well. After that we went over to Grandma's for some more puzzles and games. Nate took Erika and the little girls over to the lake to look for "sheshells" and I got to play Secret Hitler with all the big kids. This was a highlight for me! It was interesting spending that time together. I'm way too trusting, I learned. But had so much fun!! Then we all took a break for lunch, played some more and then went out to play some sand volleyball!! SO MUCH FUN!! Nate came back and joined us- which was awesome. It was cool to have Jack playing all the big kid games and learning to serve and getting so much praise and support from all the big kids. We had River, Rachel, Miles, Charity, Kelly, Luke, Noah, Erika, Jack, Me and Nate all playing for at least an hour before it was time to go to Coopers. We had so much fun. Then it was time for Coopers. This was not a highlight for Nate or me. We got there, stood in the doorway for about 15 minutes. Then they seated us. This was awkward. The first two tables got filled up- one with the fun big kids- I was really wishing we could have sat with them, but I also like it when they get time to themselves. They did a fun game with their phones and not using them the ENTIRE TIME! Pretty amazing! So we walked over to where Jen was about to sit down, Sadie, Molly and I were headed over there, I thought Nate was following me, but then as I was pulling out a chair for me, a bunch of adults (Nancy, Rob, Heather, etc) all came and took up all the other seats- so there wasn't any room for Sadie or Molly. So I was basically booted off the island. I walked back over toward Nate, where he and Jack had found their own table. We sat down with them and had our own little table together. Which was fine- I like sitting with Nate and my kids, but also a little bit lame that we weren't able to visit with anyone else. Nate was bugged too. It was strange. We had fun talking though and tried to make the most of it. After sitting there for about an hour and a half, we started to wonder where our food was. They had sat and fed and cleaned up after several people while we were still sitting there, not getting our food, so the hangry-ness was setting in. They started bringing food to all the other tables. Even skipping our little kids which was strange. And then at 6:58 finally brought some of our food. That was when they asked me again what I had ordered. Wow. I honestly couldn't remember. We were annoyed beyond annoyed. So strange!! So after two hours of waiting we finally got our food. It was good, but I don't know if it was two hour wait good. Plus, everyone else had finished eating and were kind of swarming our table and watching us eat and offering words of wisdom like, "You're in that stage of life..." Yeah, which stage of life? The one where we're the outcasts in the family who get booted off any table with other adults? Or the stage where we sit and listen to your dumb advice and you watch us eat? Sorry. I was annoyed. It was super funny when Jen asked Sadie for a fry, she said no, then Jen asked for this tiny burnt looking one and Sadie offers up the tiniest crumb on her plate! We all got a good laugh about that. Once the torture of eating at Coopers was over, we all went over to the pool! This was really fun because all the cousins and everyone came. We played with the volleyball for quite a while before finally hurting some strangers and deciding it was time to be done. It was a really fun evening! We came back and watched movies all night.
DAY 4- Sunday, we had creamed eggs on toast for breakfast- thanks Nate! Said our goodbyes to Charity. And then quickly got ready for church. We listened to most of Reagan's homecoming talk on Zoom, before it cut off, and then went to the "Visitor Branch" for Sacrament Meeting. This was actually a really cool experience. A whole room full of chairs (no pews, Kelly says it felt like a barn), and people on vacation. It was run by a Branch President and a bunch of missionaries. We got to watch the Idaho Mayneses pass the sacrament and then listened to a bunch of strangers give talks! We got to hear from the sister of Coach Porter from the Chiefs football team- pretty cool. It was a great meeting. I loved it!
When we got back to our "Special Space" we all took a nap! So nice! While we were all sleeping, Sadie and Molly and Jack were out on the playground. I can't believe they played on the playground for two hours!! So amazing!! At 4:00 we all started getting up and got ready to go drive up the St. Charles canyon to take some pictures of Hunter. He also wanted some Senior Photos. Kinda fun. We enjoyed the drive and looking at the scenery. It was fun to hang out with Jared's family. Then when we got home, we ate our yummy pot roast and potatoes and then had Jared, Paulette and Hunter over for games. Well, one game really. Two rounds of Triple Agent and then we sat and listened to Jared :). He's funny. The kids loved hearing his side of all of Nate's stories. Fun stuff. The peep hole from the stairs to the boys' room growing up was probably my favorite part. Or the red and green flag.... HA!! DAY 5- Monday, Nate got up with the littles and took them swimming while I showered, made breakfast and started getting things cleaned up to go. We got packed up and loaded in the car just in time for the 10:00 check out!! Miraculously really! I was grateful for everyone's help. We did good. We stopped at the Creamery for some ice cream in Logan- Kelly invited Cam- and then we went to Panda for some lunch. We had our priorities straight. We said goodby to Cam and drove the rest of the way home. It was nice to get home. We were able to relax and veg for the rest of the evening. Funny quotes from our family group text:
"I've been farting all day and in the car"
"Kelly doesn't sleep with people"
"Yeah I am noticing the absence of a sink..."
"Yeah wild cracks!!"
"I just breathed in and there it was"
"Can we go to our Ssspecial Ssspace and get our swim suits on?"
"Easy peasy mac and cheesy"
"I thought that was my brain crunching"
10-19-23--10-23-23
FHE
We had a really awesome lesson from Molly about how we can make our home a more holy place and watched a cool video. Then we played Hide-and-seek for Sadie's game and went to Crumbl for Nate's treat. So fun! 10-23-23
We had a really awesome lesson from Molly about how we can make our home a more holy place and watched a cool video. Then we played Hide-and-seek for Sadie's game and went to Crumbl for Nate's treat. So fun! 10-23-23
BRENT CALLED
I was so happy to see Brent's picture when my phone rang today. I hadn't heard back from him after he and his family saw Brad so I was happy to see I hadn't offended him afterall. He was so sweet and wanted me to know what a special experience that was when he saw Brad. Made my day. And it was fun to hear that he was so happy and that Brad had included the kids and was just really fun to visit. So great. I hope they get to go up there again and see him. I think it meant a lot to Brad too. 10-24-23
I was so happy to see Brent's picture when my phone rang today. I hadn't heard back from him after he and his family saw Brad so I was happy to see I hadn't offended him afterall. He was so sweet and wanted me to know what a special experience that was when he saw Brad. Made my day. And it was fun to hear that he was so happy and that Brad had included the kids and was just really fun to visit. So great. I hope they get to go up there again and see him. I think it meant a lot to Brad too. 10-24-23
PHONE CALL WITH ELDER MAYNES
We went all day hoping he'd call before the evening because we needed to go to Cornbelly's for Heidi's birthday party that night, but he ended up calling right as we were leaving. Which was still kind of nice because we got to talk to him while we were driving down there. It was a long drive with the traffic. He was really talkative and we all had fun listening to his stories about his spider and his banter with his roommates. It sounded like a rough week with Darwin and Erika splitting up and not responding to them. But he still sounded really upbeat. We loved it when he was talking about the 10 year old who is "extremely artistic- with a hard R" HA!! I wanted to be able to talk to him alone a little, but I haven't had that in a while. Kind of hard, but I'm trying to be a go along girl. He found out from his President that his visa has not come through yet, so he has another six weeks in Portland I guess. He said he's "comfy" so it's all good. 10-24-23
We went all day hoping he'd call before the evening because we needed to go to Cornbelly's for Heidi's birthday party that night, but he ended up calling right as we were leaving. Which was still kind of nice because we got to talk to him while we were driving down there. It was a long drive with the traffic. He was really talkative and we all had fun listening to his stories about his spider and his banter with his roommates. It sounded like a rough week with Darwin and Erika splitting up and not responding to them. But he still sounded really upbeat. We loved it when he was talking about the 10 year old who is "extremely artistic- with a hard R" HA!! I wanted to be able to talk to him alone a little, but I haven't had that in a while. Kind of hard, but I'm trying to be a go along girl. He found out from his President that his visa has not come through yet, so he has another six weeks in Portland I guess. He said he's "comfy" so it's all good. 10-24-23
LETTER FROM BRADLEY- WE HAVE 2 APARTMENT PETS NOW
Okkkk so this week was kind of a downer. We had like 80% of our appointments and contacts fall through. Kinda a bummer. We still managed to make this week exciting though so I enjoyed it. Also I realized I worded my visa information wrong... I found out yesterday I'm not going to Peru this transfer sooo hopefully I'll go December 15-ish. Which is still very exciting because I love Portland so much. Also I'm pretty sure no one reads these so thankyou for those that read them I hope they bless you haha.
Okkkk so this week was kind of a downer. We had like 80% of our appointments and contacts fall through. Kinda a bummer. We still managed to make this week exciting though so I enjoyed it. Also I realized I worded my visa information wrong... I found out yesterday I'm not going to Peru this transfer sooo hopefully I'll go December 15-ish. Which is still very exciting because I love Portland so much. Also I'm pretty sure no one reads these so thankyou for those that read them I hope they bless you haha.
Tuesday: Elder Nielsons mom sent us pizza which was scrumptioussss. We met a lot of strange people and one of these guys wanted to preach to us his "philosophy" so we talked for a minute and he went on and on and eventually started going against himself and we just let him keep going. Eventually, he taught himself haha. He proved his own theory wrong and eventually was like "yk what nevermind." Which was kinda funny. Every P day we play a lottt of basketball and volleyball which is always so fun.
Wednesday:
Me and elder Adam's got in a little fight sorta but then eventually made up which was so good because our lessons that didn't go through today were sooo goood!! We met a Peruvian family and they love us and kept giving us food and juice. I love them so much now. We talked a lot about Peru with them which made me very excited. Uhhh later tonight was bad. I let elder Adam's trim my hair. NOT A GOOD IDEA. He messed up. Terribly. So then our ZL came over and got mad that we let elder Adam's touch the clippers soooo we had to put an 8 on and just cut it all off. It looked like a puff ball but it's whatever.
Thursday: our ZL came over and "fixed it" but now I have this super nasty fade and now the back of my head is naked. While tracting today we found a piggy bank duck thing by a dumpster so I had to collect it of course. So now I have a cutie little pet friend on my desk. We gave him some tattoos and sun glasses as well. We also started collecting other stuff because St. Johns has this thing where they leave stuff they don't want on their porch so people can have it. Soooo we have some random stuff. My family sent me a package for my birthday. I don't know what happened to it until today it showed up!! It was adorable and they made a cutie little sign for me and then one for my comp! We also helped a lady move her stuff today for a few hours
Friday: we helped the same woman move her stuff into a storage unit. There was this one random guy there that was trying to teach us "alien doctrine" and his car was covered in tin foil. He called it his spaceship and said he's been abducted... I thought that only happened in movies but there are people that say that in real life somehow. We met a Lady from Utah that isn't a member but wanted to say hi because she's from Utah which was fun. We accidentally interrupted a drug deal. There were these islanders who didn't speak spanish and spoke little English. Then man with them that only speaks Spanish and no English haha. So we asked who he was and they just say a "close friend" when they can't even speak to him. OH and we accidentally knocked on one of the homeless ladies that we met at the intersection by our apartment. We always give her water and she proceeds to flirt with us. But apparently she can pay for her rent by standing on the street somehow. OH AND we found a dumpster with a couple rats that always ran out from under it so we wanted to see how many would run out. WE COUNTED 27 RATS UNDER THIS DUMPSTER THAT RAN OUT. This is after a bunch ran out as we walked towards it. It was absolutely nasty but kinda cool how the rats could fit under there. We also caught a GIANT spider and put it in a jar and now it sits on our kitchen counter and we put a couple flies in there every once in a while.
Saturday: today I was a grumpy child for the first part. I feel bad for my comp cuz I was just pouting. We met a Budhist woman who taught us a little bit about Buddhism and them we tried teaching about the book of mormon and a scripture that literally said the same stuff she was teaching us and she says ,"whatever makes you happy." Then proceeded to say how climate change is more important than religion. If anyone can tell me what it is about climate change because I would like to understand why. We went to a yummy Mexican restaurant with the bishop today which was so hype. I have become the guy everyone asks for help with their captions somehow so that's exciting. I convinced the sisters to buy me a fanny back from the Columbia store so now I have a fanny pack and it's now my best friend.
Sunday: THUMBS DOWN. We made it to church and none of our friends showed up. 2 of them have covid, 3 ghosted us, Darwin and Erika didn't text us til 4 and a family had to work so it was lame. We didn't get a lunch because we were at church for so long. There was this woman that came and proceeded to say how she's God's wife, and that she heals people she sees on the street. A lot more but she was crazyyyy. And then the bishop came and she SWITCHED. Like i don't know how but she just swapped personalities. Eventually Darwin answered with a voice memo and said he has a "problem that involves his documents." We got scared he was deported or something. Eventually we knocked on a random door and Erika answered! She was at her cousins house so we asked what happened and apparently Darwin hit her or sum sooo they are seperated now and we haven't been able to get a hold of Darwin. We were about to put them on date which is sad how the devil can influence people so much. Also not sure what rules are on what I can say in emails butttt I'm sure none of you guys know these people or ever will sooooo oh well. Today we met Chinese, Buddhists, Muslims, islanders, and some people who spoke African dialects. Kind of a crazy day.
Monday: we had DC prep today and then visited out friend Saulo who owns a food truck for lunch. He's so elect! And everytime we see him he lights up. Whenever we ask him how reading the scriptures and praying was he gets so excited and happy so I'm hoping we can keep teaching him. We knocked a lot of doors and there's a whole lot a catholics here grrrr. We brought Angie who is a recent convert with us while we visited Graciela. WENT SO GOOD. They're besties now and Gracielas son is 10 and his artistic abilities are better than I've ever seen before. He's absolutely insane. I'm gonna challenge him to draw me a self portrait. Mondays are actually the best because we call it P-eve and it's basically a holiday for us. We celebrate by playing card games or listening to random talks haha.
Tuesday: today was hype. We played basketball again, surprise surprise. I think.i broke my finger cuz its huge and swollen so I shall keep yall updated. Last night my comps snoring sounded like a chainsaw and I was so close to sleeping on the kitchen table. If anyone wants to send us food I will be overjoyed to send me address but I'm also kidding so it's okay. I have pics from when we went to the temple but its the worst filter ever and idk why they used one so it won't be going here.
Spiritual thought:
I'm giving a talk next Sunday and the topic is "everyone needs the gospel" I need some ideas so I'll give it to you guys to give me some insight.
I love the emails and remember who you are and what you stand for
I only have pics of this duck. I am sorry mom I will try to take more pics next week.
10-24-23
CORNBELLY'S
We finally made it down to Cornbelly's with Heidi! We actually took the younger kids (no Charity, Kelly, Brad, Luke or Noah) and Grandpa Hatch along with Heidi and her kids to celebrate Heidi's 40th! It was a lot of fun! We played with everything we could! Wandered around and tried everything. The big slide was a big hit. We made it over to the "hayride" and some more doddling, climbing on tractors every few steps, lots of fun! Then it was time to fill our tummies with some overpriced amazing fries and subpar corndogs. It was a fun night. I was really glad we went. It was good time with everyone and something different. 10-24-23
We finally made it down to Cornbelly's with Heidi! We actually took the younger kids (no Charity, Kelly, Brad, Luke or Noah) and Grandpa Hatch along with Heidi and her kids to celebrate Heidi's 40th! It was a lot of fun! We played with everything we could! Wandered around and tried everything. The big slide was a big hit. We made it over to the "hayride" and some more doddling, climbing on tractors every few steps, lots of fun! Then it was time to fill our tummies with some overpriced amazing fries and subpar corndogs. It was a fun night. I was really glad we went. It was good time with everyone and something different. 10-24-23
PUMPKIN CARVING
We had so much fun carving pumpkins this year! Felt really laid back and chill most of the time. We all went and picked out pumpkins at Bowman's this year. Had lots of different options on sizes and colors. We went inside to get some smaller ones for Molly's Fly Guy pumpkin project and then Sadie wanted one as well. We had to pick out a "big and round" one for Charity too. It was a fun stop. Grabbed some more pumpkin knives and scoopers. We also grabbed some pizza for dinner. Everyone seemed to have fun and got into it. Charity found THE PERFECT design for hers online and nailed it. I seriously loved her attitude this year- so fun! Not to mention we got to hear all about her latest crush and all the details of every interaction together. Then he called and asked her to come hang out with a group to see a movie. She was so funny, "I'm not going to be lame and just leave early- I said I'm leaving at 9:00, I'll leave then." and then "Mom said I can leave early so I'm going to!" HAHA!! Funny girl. Kelly wasn't able to come up because she had the date wrong on her calendar. We missed her. Brad. He would have had fun and we all thought about him while we were carving. Luke quietly carved a very cool design, using all different techniques from our Halloween War days. His looked amazing! Noah got very creative as well. Luke and Noah both are opening up a bunch lately and really stepping up to the big kid role in a lot of situations. It's been a new, fun dynamic. Erika was fun as well. She seemed pretty decisive this year- not too much deliberation and did a great job! Jack was a lot of fun- he added an apple to his design, looked really cool. He's very creative. Molly did hers mostly on her own! I was really proud of her. I think she had a little help from Nate, but overall got way into it. I did help her with scooping. That's not her favorite. Sadie had help from Nate and then I ended up carving hers basically for her. She picked the design, that was all. She is four though, so I think that's okay :). Nate, as always, wowed us with his abilities. His looked awesome! And mine went from a MIkey design to something completely different, and way different than I usually do, because I messed up on the eye. It was fine. I didn't really care too much this year for some reason. We had a great time though! I love this tradition and I'm glad the kids love it. 10-26-23
We had so much fun carving pumpkins this year! Felt really laid back and chill most of the time. We all went and picked out pumpkins at Bowman's this year. Had lots of different options on sizes and colors. We went inside to get some smaller ones for Molly's Fly Guy pumpkin project and then Sadie wanted one as well. We had to pick out a "big and round" one for Charity too. It was a fun stop. Grabbed some more pumpkin knives and scoopers. We also grabbed some pizza for dinner. Everyone seemed to have fun and got into it. Charity found THE PERFECT design for hers online and nailed it. I seriously loved her attitude this year- so fun! Not to mention we got to hear all about her latest crush and all the details of every interaction together. Then he called and asked her to come hang out with a group to see a movie. She was so funny, "I'm not going to be lame and just leave early- I said I'm leaving at 9:00, I'll leave then." and then "Mom said I can leave early so I'm going to!" HAHA!! Funny girl. Kelly wasn't able to come up because she had the date wrong on her calendar. We missed her. Brad. He would have had fun and we all thought about him while we were carving. Luke quietly carved a very cool design, using all different techniques from our Halloween War days. His looked amazing! Noah got very creative as well. Luke and Noah both are opening up a bunch lately and really stepping up to the big kid role in a lot of situations. It's been a new, fun dynamic. Erika was fun as well. She seemed pretty decisive this year- not too much deliberation and did a great job! Jack was a lot of fun- he added an apple to his design, looked really cool. He's very creative. Molly did hers mostly on her own! I was really proud of her. I think she had a little help from Nate, but overall got way into it. I did help her with scooping. That's not her favorite. Sadie had help from Nate and then I ended up carving hers basically for her. She picked the design, that was all. She is four though, so I think that's okay :). Nate, as always, wowed us with his abilities. His looked awesome! And mine went from a MIkey design to something completely different, and way different than I usually do, because I messed up on the eye. It was fine. I didn't really care too much this year for some reason. We had a great time though! I love this tradition and I'm glad the kids love it. 10-26-23
DATE NIGHT
We had to hurry this week because of the Maughan's Haunted Forest so we just went to Sushi Monster. It was strangley packed and took a lot longer than usual, but we had a great time! Sat really close to the table next to us, but it was fine :). So grateful for our dates!! 10-27-23
We had to hurry this week because of the Maughan's Haunted Forest so we just went to Sushi Monster. It was strangley packed and took a lot longer than usual, but we had a great time! Sat really close to the table next to us, but it was fine :). So grateful for our dates!! 10-27-23
HAUNTED FOREST
Everyone loved the forest this year. It was way colder than I thought it was, only wore my hoodie- only thing that fits at the moment anyway, but who's counting- I was cold! Should have stood by the fire. But it was fun to chat with everyone. I loved Sadie's tour through the forest- she kept reminding me that everything was fake and then we got to Jack in a wolf mask and she was suddenly really freaked out! It was so cute. Luckily he pulled off the mask and she could see it was him. Then we carried on as if nothing had happened :). She's funny. 10-27-23
Everyone loved the forest this year. It was way colder than I thought it was, only wore my hoodie- only thing that fits at the moment anyway, but who's counting- I was cold! Should have stood by the fire. But it was fun to chat with everyone. I loved Sadie's tour through the forest- she kept reminding me that everything was fake and then we got to Jack in a wolf mask and she was suddenly really freaked out! It was so cute. Luckily he pulled off the mask and she could see it was him. Then we carried on as if nothing had happened :). She's funny. 10-27-23
STAKE CONFERENCE
We had a good stake conference this time. I was able to go to a little of the adult session. I forgot about it so I was a little late, sat by Krista Johnson which was awesome and then got a text from Noah asking me to drive him and his friends to a haunted house, so I had to leave early. (Which by the way- Noah's idea of a half hour is much longer than mine. I sat in my not heated van for about an hour and a half waiting for him and his friends at a haunted house up on the hill in Bountiful. It was a fund raiser, so probably worth the trouble, and if I'm being honest it really didn't feel that long to me, I just played games on my phone and I did have a good coat on. But kind of funny it was so long!) The general meeting was really good. We had front row- literally- seats so that we could watch Molly when she was singing in the choir- couldn't believe how early people took seats! We would have been on like the sixth or seventh row if we hadn't settled on the front. We got to sit by Furnisses and then Luke's kinda- friend Grace came and sat by him because she was speaking. Kinda funny. So we were able to listen really well! I was happy to see that the boys weren't on their phones the entire time too! Good boys. There were quite a few youth speakers which I LOVED. Most of the talks were really awesome. It was a great meeting, very uplifting. I had a few things that came to my mind during the meeting and I was glad I took note of those. I'd tell you what they are, but they're on my phone. Good stuff though. 10-29-23
We had a good stake conference this time. I was able to go to a little of the adult session. I forgot about it so I was a little late, sat by Krista Johnson which was awesome and then got a text from Noah asking me to drive him and his friends to a haunted house, so I had to leave early. (Which by the way- Noah's idea of a half hour is much longer than mine. I sat in my not heated van for about an hour and a half waiting for him and his friends at a haunted house up on the hill in Bountiful. It was a fund raiser, so probably worth the trouble, and if I'm being honest it really didn't feel that long to me, I just played games on my phone and I did have a good coat on. But kind of funny it was so long!) The general meeting was really good. We had front row- literally- seats so that we could watch Molly when she was singing in the choir- couldn't believe how early people took seats! We would have been on like the sixth or seventh row if we hadn't settled on the front. We got to sit by Furnisses and then Luke's kinda- friend Grace came and sat by him because she was speaking. Kinda funny. So we were able to listen really well! I was happy to see that the boys weren't on their phones the entire time too! Good boys. There were quite a few youth speakers which I LOVED. Most of the talks were really awesome. It was a great meeting, very uplifting. I had a few things that came to my mind during the meeting and I was glad I took note of those. I'd tell you what they are, but they're on my phone. Good stuff though. 10-29-23
COOKIES
We made some really amazing Crumbl copycat sugar cookies tonight to take to the Taylors (in the stake) to thank them for donating so much for Kelly, and then to a few other people who came to mind while we were making them and delivering them. Kinda fun. I like doing this. We need to do it more often. 10-29-23
We made some really amazing Crumbl copycat sugar cookies tonight to take to the Taylors (in the stake) to thank them for donating so much for Kelly, and then to a few other people who came to mind while we were making them and delivering them. Kinda fun. I like doing this. We need to do it more often. 10-29-23
BRAD'S GOOGLE DRIVE TALKS
I have had these talks just rolliing around in my head for the past week- they really jump started something in me with wanting to have good positive things flowing through my ears and into my brain on a daily basis. It's been really awesome. I loved the conversion of the Catholic story. The belief window one was really awesome also, and the one about all the prophecies really got me into reading Isaiah when I opened up my Book of Mormon to get back into reading it. Very cool!! I wish I had more peopel to share them with and talk about them with. But that's okay. I did make the kids listen to the conversion story one on Sunday night. They loved it too :). SO good! 10-29-23
I have had these talks just rolliing around in my head for the past week- they really jump started something in me with wanting to have good positive things flowing through my ears and into my brain on a daily basis. It's been really awesome. I loved the conversion of the Catholic story. The belief window one was really awesome also, and the one about all the prophecies really got me into reading Isaiah when I opened up my Book of Mormon to get back into reading it. Very cool!! I wish I had more peopel to share them with and talk about them with. But that's okay. I did make the kids listen to the conversion story one on Sunday night. They loved it too :). SO good! 10-29-23
FAMILY HALLOWEEN PARTY
This is our third annual Halloween Party. We started this a few years ago when the Maynes family stopped doing something for Halloween and it has been a welcomed tradition. The kids seem to love it. I hope we can keep it going forever :). We didn't get to have Charity here this time, but Kelly did come and join us- made a whole day of driving four hours for our short little party :). Very cool of her. Luke had Jaxx, Jack had Will and Bea, and Sadie had Owen here- for some of it. All the friends left a little early. But it was so fun! We had a simpler dinner this time- just hotdogs, but I tried to make it all cute at least. We ate, played the eyeball toss game- which we added one dollar bills to the green pumpkin one, if you made it in there you got a dollar. Then offered a $20 for the tiny cauldron. Nobody made it in the cauldron. Huge bummer. Then we went down and played the candy bar game. Nate had given me a LOT of cash right before- $100, $50, a couple $20s a $10 and $5, so I had sneakily added them in to some of the candies- and we did big stuff again this year, Cheez-its, Takis, pringles, along with some larger box items. I got black licorice and hid the $100 in there. Kind of funny. I did hint to Kelly that it would be worth getting. I was in a panic when some of the friends started getting some of the larger dollar candies and urged people to steal them. Kelly was the only one catching on and giving in to my urging, so she ended up with about $170 by the end of the night. Kinda cool :). College kids gotsta eat! Some of the other kids won money as well. I gave my gum to Erika at the end when I remembered/saw the $5 in it. She was happy about that. It was so fun!! The kids all did really good too, which was new!! Even Sadie knew it was for fun and didn't cry when things were stolen from her. She actually kind of got into it. After that, we played the donut game. Fun stuff!! I was impressed with Jack's abilities this time! Very cool! He didn't win, but came very close with the first round. Noah did great! I think Nate got the first place on the third round. Fun stuff!! Kelly and I had fun holding the mop pole and swinging the strings around and adding obstacle to the game. Fun stuff. Everyone seems to love this party and that makes me happy. We had to go to bed when it was over, school night. But I think it was a hit. 10-30-23
This is our third annual Halloween Party. We started this a few years ago when the Maynes family stopped doing something for Halloween and it has been a welcomed tradition. The kids seem to love it. I hope we can keep it going forever :). We didn't get to have Charity here this time, but Kelly did come and join us- made a whole day of driving four hours for our short little party :). Very cool of her. Luke had Jaxx, Jack had Will and Bea, and Sadie had Owen here- for some of it. All the friends left a little early. But it was so fun! We had a simpler dinner this time- just hotdogs, but I tried to make it all cute at least. We ate, played the eyeball toss game- which we added one dollar bills to the green pumpkin one, if you made it in there you got a dollar. Then offered a $20 for the tiny cauldron. Nobody made it in the cauldron. Huge bummer. Then we went down and played the candy bar game. Nate had given me a LOT of cash right before- $100, $50, a couple $20s a $10 and $5, so I had sneakily added them in to some of the candies- and we did big stuff again this year, Cheez-its, Takis, pringles, along with some larger box items. I got black licorice and hid the $100 in there. Kind of funny. I did hint to Kelly that it would be worth getting. I was in a panic when some of the friends started getting some of the larger dollar candies and urged people to steal them. Kelly was the only one catching on and giving in to my urging, so she ended up with about $170 by the end of the night. Kinda cool :). College kids gotsta eat! Some of the other kids won money as well. I gave my gum to Erika at the end when I remembered/saw the $5 in it. She was happy about that. It was so fun!! The kids all did really good too, which was new!! Even Sadie knew it was for fun and didn't cry when things were stolen from her. She actually kind of got into it. After that, we played the donut game. Fun stuff!! I was impressed with Jack's abilities this time! Very cool! He didn't win, but came very close with the first round. Noah did great! I think Nate got the first place on the third round. Fun stuff!! Kelly and I had fun holding the mop pole and swinging the strings around and adding obstacle to the game. Fun stuff. Everyone seems to love this party and that makes me happy. We had to go to bed when it was over, school night. But I think it was a hit. 10-30-23
"Hello I am the Devil, welcome in"LETTER FROM ELDER MAYNES
WHERE DO I EVEN START HOLY. Actually one of the craziest weeks I've had and it was actually so hype. I'm sure if I was back at home and all this stuff happened I'd be terrified of going outside but its really just so hype and exciting to have random stuff be going on all the time. This is my 12th week so we're almost on to my 3rd month which is actually insane to think about. And also today I get an all day P day so we are watching tangled as a mission and guess who convinced the entire mission to do so😎👈. Its gonna be pretty exciting.
Tuesday: welll today was a normal P-day. Until 8 O clock. We were knocking and knocked on a door that looked like it had a cutie little Hispanic family we could talk to. Turned out to be this 6'4 50 year old hispanic man. When he opened the door he goes, "soy el diablo" which means I am the Devil. We kind of laughed it off and he welcomed us into his home. We walk in, and he puts on a navy general/captain hat thingie and salutes us. We sat down and he runs to grab something and as we wait we notice he has a devil statue, a ton of Egyptian statues, a skull with a crown on top statue thingie, the arch angel statue, lots of devil related items on his desk in his front room. As he spoke he referred to himself as the devil and us as angels. He basically has a catholic view on God and an Islamic view on Christ which is a little strange. He had sooo many questions and we did so good at answering his questions which was very good. Whenever we would read a scripture he would stare at his skull with a crown and just basically go back and forth from that and us. Everytime he left the room I was terrified he'd come back with some weapon of some sort and we just get murdered right there or sum cuz my comp wouldn't leave. He told us how he had a problem in Columbia and had to flee to America which definitely means he committed a hugeee crime and now is hiding out here. We asked him if he wanted a book of mormon and he went and pulled his out cuz he apparently already had one. IT WAS ALREADY MARKED UP FROM COVER TO COVER.This man has read and marked the entire book of mormon and still had no testimony whatsoever on it. It was actually a strange moment because he was so hesitant to go grab it. He did he read it before we were even born and that he just doesn't believe it. He also kept lighting candles and I thought he was a boutta summon an evil spirit or something in the middle of us teaching him. OVERALL I was terrified and thought I was gonna have to fight off some guy with a sword or shotgun or cast off some evil spirit. I definitely think he's possessed or something of the sort because this man was so strange it was scary. We walked by his house another day and just like glanced in and he had candles allll over his entire room in some rando shape and he was def in there naked soooo everyone pray my comp won't make us go back to devil man.
Wednesday: went on an exchange with Elder Cherry today who we ward share with. SOOO HYPE. I stayed in the sketchy triplex apartment again and it was like 30 degrees Holy. They turn the AC and a fan even though it's like 40 degrees outside already. The rest of the day was pretty average. English speaking in Alameda is mega slow so we didn't get to teach very much buttt we had a lot of fun talking to people.
Thursday: super slow day until we got back home to our apartment. We saw police lights so went over a block next to our apartment and the had the entire block blocked off with police cars. They probably had half the entire Portland police force and were on every corner and driveway basically. We made a loop and they had 3 canine units and then a ton of them had huge guns and were inspecting every house. Definitely a huge shooting or something like that right next to our apartment. Not sure why we wanted to go check it out.
Friday: not much except a burger place down the road got burned down by some homeless person who lit a dumpster on fire.
Saturday: super slow again haha. And then on our way back ANOTHER block next to our apartment was blocked off because of a shooting with the same set up of police cars. I'm scared how casual I am about talking about shootings and stuff like that outside my apartment but I really do feel so safe in God's hands.
Sunday: I gave a talk in church and I re listened to it and it was mega awkward. Hopefully I will get better as the mission goes on. Darwin and Erika came!! They are confusing and I don't know what their plan is but they are still coming to church so that's amazing. We also had another friend come to church and he's so mega elect. He showed up with a notepad and pen and just took notes all of sacrament. He also has been studying saints and the book of Mormon because he wanted to learn about the history of Christ's church.
Monday: Elder Adams finally let me do some talking and leading sooo he let me choose which doors we go to and let me introduce us, share our purpose and a principle, and then setting up an RA. It was so exciting because I prayed that I could have more confidence and fluidity with my Spanish and thats exactly what I was able to have. We found 2 families and they both want to learn more! Very exciting. Then tonight Elder Adam's wanted to have a mega bed and I wanted to sleep so I won't fall asleep in the temple and so he said he wasn't gonna let me sleep until I joined the mega bed. Finally I got to sleep around 12 which kind of sucks because we are going to the temple right now and I'm dead. But its whatever haha.
I love you all and all I want to say is read your scriptures today. As you do this you will feel peace in our crazy world we live in and I promise you will recieve answers to questions you have. And I can email sooo send me an email abt anything cool you readdd.
1. I told Elder Adam's I'll take pics of him if he sleep during comp study so here we are
2. I found glasses
3. Cool graffiti
4. We bought apple juice
5. Someone's bad parking
10-31-23
BRAD'S PHONE CALL
We were so happy to hear from Brad when he called. It was fun to chat with him about all of his funny pranks on the sister missionaries and the hard things he is dealing with, with his companion. He is positive about the challenges and is willing to deal with it all and that is good. He was happy he was going to get to watch Rapunzel :). He just sounded like he's doing good and that he will be okay :). It's always good to hear that. He could tell we needed to focus on getting the kids ready to go, so he let us go, but it was so fun to hear from him. 10-31-23
We were so happy to hear from Brad when he called. It was fun to chat with him about all of his funny pranks on the sister missionaries and the hard things he is dealing with, with his companion. He is positive about the challenges and is willing to deal with it all and that is good. He was happy he was going to get to watch Rapunzel :). He just sounded like he's doing good and that he will be okay :). It's always good to hear that. He could tell we needed to focus on getting the kids ready to go, so he let us go, but it was so fun to hear from him. 10-31-23
HAPPY HALLOWEEN
We had a wonderful Halloween!! I was really glad about how it all went!! Fun day!! In the morning we got the Elementary kids all decked out for their parade. Sadie and I froze our tooshies off watching the parade and loved it. It was funny to have Jack come back out after to get help taking his costume off. Fun kid. I loved his costume this year! Way fun! Then Sadie and I went shopping for some last minute things and candy. Then we veged for most of the early afternoon. It was strange how easy it was to just relax. Good for me though, I think. We hurried off to Jack's party at 2:00 and had a lot of fun running the Eye Ball Toss game for his class. His class was really awesome. I was pleasantly surprised with how well behaved everyone was and how respectful they were! I enjoyed it thoroughly. Especially Jack's group at the end- they were so much fun!! Trying SO HARD to get it into the little cauldron, because I told them that since nobody had made it if ANYONE on their team made it, I'd give them EACH a big prize. They had me laughing so hard!! I wished so bad they could make it. But it was really cool to see their ingenuity and teamwork!! Very cool kids!! I was really impressed with this class. Very awesome, polite, fun kids! We came home with our sanity in tact which is not always the case. It was fun that Erika and Kate joined us at the end, helped pass out drinks. Fun stuff. So after the party, we came home, sat around some more. Got a call from Brad, which took all of our attention away from Halloween completely! Then we did a mad dash to get ready before 6:00 when we'd told the Maughan's we could go trick-or-treating. This was a fun, easy mostly, year for costumes.
Sadie went through SEVERAL ideas all season. Like since August. She finally settled on a zebra a week or so ago and I bought her cotume on Amazon, then like the next day was suddenly repulsed by the idea, so I canceled the order. Then a day or so later she said she wanted to be a mouse. I let that simmer a bit and then ordered some grey sweats for her. I figured if she changed her mind, I'd just have some cute grey sweats for her. Luckily she stayed with this idea- it tried to evolve a few times, into a mouse-zebra-something, but I stopped her. She was going to use the mask she got at Holly's birthday and then realized it hurts her nose, so I just made her some felt ears. Fun stuff! And as I'm typing this, I realized, I never did make a tail- oops. Oh well. Nobody even mentioned it. She looked adorable! So cuddly! And once she woke up- which took quite a while- she was relatively happy and had a lot of fun the rest of the night. She only got sad when Sis. Blankenship's black lap jumped on her and then again when she spilled hot chocolate on her new costume :). Poor little lady. She liked Halloween though! I was glad.
We had a wonderful Halloween!! I was really glad about how it all went!! Fun day!! In the morning we got the Elementary kids all decked out for their parade. Sadie and I froze our tooshies off watching the parade and loved it. It was funny to have Jack come back out after to get help taking his costume off. Fun kid. I loved his costume this year! Way fun! Then Sadie and I went shopping for some last minute things and candy. Then we veged for most of the early afternoon. It was strange how easy it was to just relax. Good for me though, I think. We hurried off to Jack's party at 2:00 and had a lot of fun running the Eye Ball Toss game for his class. His class was really awesome. I was pleasantly surprised with how well behaved everyone was and how respectful they were! I enjoyed it thoroughly. Especially Jack's group at the end- they were so much fun!! Trying SO HARD to get it into the little cauldron, because I told them that since nobody had made it if ANYONE on their team made it, I'd give them EACH a big prize. They had me laughing so hard!! I wished so bad they could make it. But it was really cool to see their ingenuity and teamwork!! Very cool kids!! I was really impressed with this class. Very awesome, polite, fun kids! We came home with our sanity in tact which is not always the case. It was fun that Erika and Kate joined us at the end, helped pass out drinks. Fun stuff. So after the party, we came home, sat around some more. Got a call from Brad, which took all of our attention away from Halloween completely! Then we did a mad dash to get ready before 6:00 when we'd told the Maughan's we could go trick-or-treating. This was a fun, easy mostly, year for costumes.
Sadie went through SEVERAL ideas all season. Like since August. She finally settled on a zebra a week or so ago and I bought her cotume on Amazon, then like the next day was suddenly repulsed by the idea, so I canceled the order. Then a day or so later she said she wanted to be a mouse. I let that simmer a bit and then ordered some grey sweats for her. I figured if she changed her mind, I'd just have some cute grey sweats for her. Luckily she stayed with this idea- it tried to evolve a few times, into a mouse-zebra-something, but I stopped her. She was going to use the mask she got at Holly's birthday and then realized it hurts her nose, so I just made her some felt ears. Fun stuff! And as I'm typing this, I realized, I never did make a tail- oops. Oh well. Nobody even mentioned it. She looked adorable! So cuddly! And once she woke up- which took quite a while- she was relatively happy and had a lot of fun the rest of the night. She only got sad when Sis. Blankenship's black lap jumped on her and then again when she spilled hot chocolate on her new costume :). Poor little lady. She liked Halloween though! I was glad.
Molly was pretty decisive this year. She had two costumes in mind, Jasmine and Raya and after examining the ones on Amazon settled on Raya. Pretty quickly I might add. I worried about how fast she made this decision :). But she is pretty good at making decisions. She LOVED her costume when she got it and then slowly started to dislike most things about it as the day rolled on. It was a little big so we had to cut end of the legs off. Then the hat, then the cape... it was funny. By the end of the night she was wearing her heart hoodie over it and just carrying her cape :). But she looked awesome!! And I was surprised at the quality of that costume with how cheap it was! It was fun for her to be what she wanted to be and that made me happy. She was disappointed when we wouldn't let her paint her skin brown or dye her hair black. We were glad the school (or anyone) didn't say anything about the asian-looking-ness of it, even though Raya is from a fictional place. So anyway. Fun stuff. Molly loved trick-or-treating and did really well. She got a little cold, but trudged on. It was nice of Nate to go get her jacket.
Jack had a blast and I think he felt pretty much like a celebrity in his awesome costume. We had so much fun making this together and planning it out. I had found it on a video early on in the month and Jack is always game for a cool idea, so he was in. Then pulling it off went way better than I'd imagined. I was glad I thought of the styrofoam from my new sewing machine and luckily we had lots of cardboard for all my mistakes. But we did pretty good, I think! It looked very believable and was a lot of fun. He got so many compliments :). Even Brad was pretty impressed, seeing the pictures :). Fun stuff. He loved trick-or-treating, his shoulders just got a little tired by the end. But even with just the two eye holes, he did really great!
Erika struggled with the decision of what to be this year. It was hard that Kate wanted to plan it out earlier and then it was hard when it actually came time to deciding. She really just wanted to wear a hoodie, so that narrowed it down to a few ideas. I was happy they settled on somethins so simple :). Unfortunately, much to my surprise, it was way harder to find hoodies the right colors than I had planned. We went to a few different stores on Saturday, looking for the colors they wanted. Even called my hoodie guy. Not a big enough order for him, obviously. Michales had the brighter blue that we needed and then a red, so we ended there. Pretty awesome that they had such good coupons too- together they only cost $25! So that was awesome. I made the vinyl and ironed it on on Monday, pretty quickly- I may actually know how to use my stuff finally :). Course when I looked at Kate's later on Halloween, it looked like her m was coming off a little already, so maybe not. I don't know what to do about that. And Jonah was wearing Kate's old skeleton costume I made and mentioned that some of the bones were coming off of that too, so... I digreess. Erika really wanted to trick-or-treat, so she came with us, which was fun. I was happy to have her with us. Then at about 8:00 she went over to Easton's for a fun party. Sounded like a good time and she was allowed to stay til 11:00 so that was special :). She is growing up. So crazy. But she's doing a great job at it, so it's all good.
Noah we hardly saw. At one point in the week he wanted a white sheet, a trip to the DI, a trip to the mall... I am not even sure what all happened, but by the end of the night he was an old man! with loafers! Funny kid. He was out with his friends most of the evening. I did get to drive them all from one house to another, but other than that- I didn't see him most of the day. He had fun though! Especially at the "mansion". And bowling at the mansion girl's grandparents' house. Fun stuff.
Luke was on it this year- since Austin was in charge- he bought his costume, his very expensive Spider Man costume a few weeks ago! He and all his friends were dressing up as all the different spidermans. This ended up being a really fun thing for him!! I was so happy! They got all dressed up, went to heritage park and had Dave Noriega take pictures of them climbing on all the web looking toys, then they went to the mall for a scavenger hunt and ended up being the subjects of pictures with kids for a little while. I guess they almost started forming a line before they told them they were all done :). Funny stuff. I still think Luke could hire himself out for birthday parties or something. Make some extra cash :). They went back to Austin's and sat around and when Luke got a call from Brad, he decided he was done and walked home while he talked and was home way early before his freshly chosen curfew. I was surprised to see him home when I got home from picking up Erika. The person who wasn't home by then, nor was he home by midnight as he'd said, was Noah!! Stinker! But anyway. I think Luke had fun!! Once I found out that Sadie Read had not been there all evening, it made more sense that he'd come home early.
Kelly sent us pictures of her and Devan in their Tom and Jerry costumes she made and we did get to see Charity for a few hours, she was here! Course I didn't realize she wasn't staying long and sent her on a bunch of stupid errands, so that was a bummer. But it was fun for Erika. They grabbed the pizza for us too. It was a good day for all of us!! 10-31-23
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