APRIL 2025

KELLY BRIDALS
This was a really special day!  Kelly and I drove down to the Capitol building in a blizzard!  I guess I should go back- Kelly had scheduled her pictures for the 3rd, but once we planned Yellowstone, we didn't want to have to compete with that, so I asked her (and paid for) to move it to the 1st.  Well mother nature pulled a little April Fool's joke on her and made it SNOW!!  In April!  I mean, we've seen real snow in April before, but this was really in the middle of a lot of sunny days!  So it was such a surprise.  Kelly had wanted to get some photos with the cherry blossoms out on the grounds of the capitol building.  We were trying to stay positive all the way there and hopeful that we could still get some, even some outside, good shots of her and Devan, regardless of the weather.  So we pulled up to the capitol, Mandy was there, having walked up after parking and then offered to park my car also- super nice!- so I could go in with Kelly.  We got in, made our way up to the spot Kelly had chosen for their "first look" pictures.  Devan and the photographer were waiting.  This was so neat!  I loved being there for this and seeing these two enjoying each other.  Kelly looked amazing!!  They were so cute the whole time, posing for all their pictures, nobody complained, they just had so much fun and made it such a pleasant experience.  I loved it.  Mandy and I got to talk a little which was also fun even though she was feeling really horrible I guess.  We made our way outside and got some amazing pictures in the snowy spring.  BEAUTIFUL cherry blossom pictures, with all white sky and background!  Nobody would ever be able to recreate these!  They were so perfect!!  I loved how they all turned out!!  Kelly's feet had to be freezing though!  Poor girl.  4-1-25

YELLOWSTONE 2025
This was kind of a funny trip.  By the time we went we knew that Yellowstone was not going to be open which was a huge bummer, but we'd gotten such a great deal from Ruth on the rooms, we couldn't change it.  We decided to just make the most of it, and I really think we did.  We had a nice ride up there.  We stopped in Idaho Falls to go to Chillis with the Idaho Mayneses which was fun for everyone except Jack.  He doesn't love eating out and he had gotten so hungry that he was in a really bad mood.  He basically just laid his head down the whole time til Nate was able to get him to eat.  Poor guy.  But we had fun with Rob, Heather and Hannah.  Good times.  We got up to the resort in West Yellowstone with plenty of time for dinner and swimming.  Everyone was happy.  We had two rooms while we were there, one for all the girls and one for all the boys and mom.  It was tricky to figure that all out, but that was how it worked best.  The girls were down the hall from us which wasn't super convenient, but we made do.  We were able to go exploring a little while we were up there, took a little drive where we saw some buffalo and had a little snowball fight- yet still snowy.  We walked through the little town, hitting the few gift shops that were open.  Felt a little like a ghost town except that a few stores were setting up for the big season in a few weeks.  We spent a lot of time swimming, laying around watching General Conference in our room, hot tubbing for some of us and at the Grizzly World (or whatever it was called).  We got passes that worked for two days so we went twice.  The bears were so fun to watch!  And they were so much more active the second day.  Noah got lots of pictures of them, which was super fun.  We saw otters which the girls loved- one was chewing on it's tail.  Wolves were cool- not super active, but cool to see.  And LOTS of ravens.  We really did have a lot of fun though.  I was pleasantly surprised.  I had my moment where I overthought about how this trip could be perceived as really lame, especially to the newbies, but it was fine- I worked out of it.  We had some really special study time moments talking about what Jesus would tell Heavenly Father as our advocate.  And played some rousing rounds of four on the couch.  Got a little tense at times.  We survived.  And really, 11 people crammed into 2 rooms for fourish days--- we did awesome :).  I did my questionnaire on the way home.  We did the thing where we have everyone pick a question:

Nate: What is your favorite restaurant?

Nate- Blue Fin

Me- The Habit

Hunter- Cheesecake Factory

Charity- Chick-fil-a

Devan- Hip Hop Chicken
Kelly- Pizza, Buffalo Wild Wings, Olive Garden

Noah- B dubs

Erika- Zupas

Jack- The Habit

Molly- Ihop and The Habit and Dylans

Sadie- Carl's Jr

Me: What's one thing you want to accomplish in the next year?

Nate- Read every book of scripture all the way thru

Me- workout everyday for a while month

Hunter- Jujitsu group

Charity- do a pull-up

Devan- go on lots of fun adventures and have fun with Kelly
Kelly- be a good wife and learn the job in AK and work hard at it

Noah- Sub 16 hurdle time

Erika- make the high school basketball team

Jack- perfect A1c

Molly- make friends on my soccer team and learn to save money

Sadie- be a flower girl and do my tithing

Hunter: If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go?

Nate- Sweden

Me- Australia

Hunter- Greece

Charity- Greece

Devan- Europe

Kelly- Amsterdam

Noah- Alaska Cape Town South Africa

Erika- Norway

Jack- Back in Time

Molly- Australia Peru Alaska

Sadie- Florida

Charity: IF you could be any animal what would you be?

Nate- perigrene falcon

Me- Penguin

Hunter- Cheetah

Charity- orca

Devan- Bald eagle

Kelly- panda

Noah- elephant

Erika- orca

Jack- dinosaur

Molly- horse or wolf

Sadie- koala and giraffe

Devan: What is your biggest pet peeve?

Nate- Laziness

me- people calling adult kids "kiddos"

Hunter- when people don't offer him their leftover

Charity- when people say something mean and say it's a joke

Devan- Slow drivers or people that don't walk straight

Kelly- when people cheat in games

Noah- When people ask if I'm okay, fake people

Erika- when people ask how you're doing and don't listen to your answer, loud chewing

Jack- diabetes stuff

Molly- when people know what bugs me and do it

Sadie- when people eat something in a room and don't wash it

Kelly: Which Disney/Pixar movie would you choose to be in?

Nate- finding Nemo

me- brave little toaster

Hunter- Brother Bear- throwing spears

Charity- Inside Out

Devan- Star Wars

Kelly- Bug's Life

Noah- How to train your Dragon

Erika- Cars

Jack- Spider Man

Molly- Tinkerbell, The Little Mermaid or Bluey

Sadie- Tinkerbell

Noah: What is your favorite kind of tree?

Nate- Bonzai

Me- Oak Tree

Hunter- Red Oak

Charity- Willow

Devan- Dark Oak

Kelly- Redwood
Noah- bush tree, mystree

Erika- Willow

Jack- Oak tree

Molly- Cherry blossom

Sadie- Drooping tree where the leaves are down

Erika: if you could have any car what would you choose?

Nate- truck

me- Lambourghini

Hunter- dodge challenger

Charity- Forerunner

Devan- Ram Trx

Kelly- Time travel car- delorian from bttf

Noah- school bus

Erika- cool truck

Jack- truck

Molly- dream house car

Sadie- ice cream truck

Jack: What dinosaur would you be?

Nate- triceratops

Me- mosasaurus

Hunter- stegosaurus

Charity- brontosaurus

Devan- Raptor

Kelly- triceratops that befriends raptors

Noah- pteranodon

Erika- pterodactyl

Jack- T Rex

Molly- Long neck, triceratops or blue

Sadie- pterydactyl

Molly: What is your favorite animal seen on this trip?

Nate- wolf

me- bison

Hunter- bears

Charity- otters

Devan- fish

Kelly- grizzly bear or otter sucking his tail

Noah- bison

Erika- bison

Jack- wolves

Molly- all of them

Sadie- turtles

Sadie: What is your favorite kind of weather?
Nate- cool summer morning

me- fall rain

Hunter- sunny

Charity- summer rain

Devan- warm rain

Kelly- lightning storms

Noah- sun but not super hot but like fall sun when it's fall and there's sun, wait change mine to acid rain

Erika- sunny rain

Jack- sunny

Molly- warm actually magic weather

Sadie- raining hard

What was your most memorable moment of the trip?

Kelly- snowball fight on the sid eof the road and icicle hunting

Charity- opening the door and taking pictures of the buffalo as we drove past

Nate- study time Sunday night

me- swimming and the bears

Devan- Four on the couch when me and Noah were crashing out, and fishing

Noah- fishing or when we were driving thru the bison taking pictures, when Molly let me go swimming with her

Erika- looking at the bison

Hunter- when Kelly threw a snowball at Charity's crotch

Jack- seeing the buffalo

Sadie- when Noah put Erika's phone in his pants and when we were panicking

Molly- everything

ERIKA SET APART FOR STAKE YOUTH COUNCIL

They finally did it!!  We're so proud of Erika and her willingness to accept this calling.  She's going to be awesome.  She had her first meeting also and it did not disappoint- wink wink-- kinda funny.  She's going to be great!  4-13-25

NOAH NEURO-PSYCH EXAM

This was pretty fun :).  Noah got to play with blocks, look at pictures and memorize lists while I sat in the waiting room listening to the Saints Book.  He did great!!  One more day of it.  4-14-25

TRACK

Our track season for both Noah and Erika has been amazing!!  I'm so far behind on my blog that I cannot update on specific meets and times and stuff which is a huge bummer!!  But they've been doing so great!!  They've had lots of support from grandma and Simon, me and Nate and even Kelly and Devan :).  Fun stuff!  4-15-25

CULTURAL NIGHT
This ended up being really cool!  We got to see so much talent and everything pointing to Christ!  I actually really loved it.  I hope we do it again sometime.  Erika had played her cello with a few other string instruments and it was compiled together to be played as one song and it was cool, but would have been better if we'd been able to just listen to them all play!  But very cool.  4-16-25

MOLLY'S 3rd GRADE PROGRAM

Molly was so cute in her program!  Did her part perfectly!  She knew all the songs and sang her little heart out.  I really enjoyed this one- lots of fun songs!! 4-17-25

PAIN

Erika found herself in an excruciating amount of pain this weekend.  She did NOT feel well for most of the evening Friday night.  She had a moment that felt especially awful, but the pain did not go away.  She played her game in the morning, but all afternoon was just writhing.  The poor girl.  

DAVIS INVITE

This was a big deal this year!  Nate had volunteered to cook the meat for the sponsors this year! BIG JOB!!  Then he decided he wanted to try selling sandwiches outside of the entrance as well.  So he was VERY busy, running around getting things done.  With a big smile on his face.  I know because I was sitting across the way in the ticket booth watching him work.  He did awesome.  It was a crazy busy day but we survived!  That night was Kelly's Bachelorette party!  I'd give details but I wasn't invited :).  4-19-25

ER FOR ERIKA

Once we were done with selling meat and the ticket booth on Saturday, I'd had enough of Erika's pain and decided to take her to the Urgent Care.  They did some tests and then decided she needed to go to the ER.  We walked over there, they ran some more of the same tests, plus an ultrasound (that they call three ultrasounds, the weirdos).  They were able to determine that it wasn't her appendix or gallbladder but that she'd had an ovary that burst.  There was a lot of fluid floating around so they told her she'd be in pain for a while.  This was a huge understatement.  About a month later and she's still having off days with pain.  Poor thing.  4-19-25

EASTER SUNDAY!

I really wanted to do Easter baskets and stuff on Saturday, but it just didn't work out with soccer games and Davis Invite.  So we did it all on Sunday.  Charity and Hunter slept over.  Kelly was here.  We did creamed eggs on toast.  It was a good day.  I was trying to make it more Christ centered so I assigned everyone to come prepared ot share something or an activity or something about Christ.  I think it went pretty well.  4-20-25

ERIKA ON VARSITY
Erika was picked to dress and play on Varsity this week, the same game that Kelly had volunteered to announce!  This was so cool!  So after a huge lead, Devin put her in the game and seconds later, SHE SCORED!!!  It was so much fun!!  Kelly got to announce her first shot/score on the Varsity team!  Very cool stuff.  Erika played awesome in that game and in the next one!  So proud of her!  4-22-25

SETTING UP THE CANOPY

I wasn't there, and I didn't help at all, but it took them like five hours so I had to document that Nate, Kelly and Devan all set up the canopy!  Not the arrangement we'd signed up for, but they did it!!  It looked AMAZING!!  4-23-25

SADIE KINDERGARTEN PROGRAM

It was a tough decision, but I decided I needed to be with Kelly on her wedding morning, getting all ready.  So I chose to go to Sadie's program the morning before, during the assembly performance of it.  This was SO FUN!!  I had Jack, Erika and Kelly with me, we all LOVED Sadie's performance!  She did so good!  She knew all the words and got so into all the fun actions- it was so much fun!!  Her beautiful smile and saying her part perfectly!  I loved it!!  I was so glad I got to see her!  She did amazing.  4-24-25

FLOWERS

We went down to Trader Joes after Sadie's performance and got all the pretty yellow, white and green flowers we could find.  We even ran into Mandy while we were there :).  Then we went to the D I for some vases, ran into Mandy there as well :).  Then that evening after Erika's game, we all put together the centerpieces.  It was actually so much fun!!  They weren't professional by any stretch of the imagination, but it was so fun doing it.  Sierra, Matt and Meg and Chris were here to keep us company and help take things up to the Church which was so nice.  We had taken a lot of it the day before, which was so good, but still a lot to take up there.  We were waiting for the go ahead from the Samoan/Mexican wedding that they were done and once we got the word we were up there.  Unfortunately, it felt like we kicked them out!  But it was a LOT of work!  We ended up cleaning up after their reception, moving all the tables and chairs to one side of the room to mop and then back to the other side to mop the other half of the gym.  SO much work!  We finished cleaning up their stuff and then started on ours.  We had help from the Brenchley's and bridesmaids, and then Sarah Laramore and Barbara Noriega as well.  Our one sad moment was when Kelly's mirror fell off the easel and cracked.  She was so sad!  It was really heartbreaking.  Luckily we found one on Walmart really quickly and we'd basically solved the problem minutes after it happened.  She just needed to write on the new one sometime tomorrow :).  But it all looked so good! So awesome!  We really couldn't have done it without them all.  We were all SO pleased with how it turned out though and very excited for the next day!  I think we got home around 1:30am!!  SO crazy.  4-25-25

KELLY AND DEVAN'S WEDDING DAY

This day can only be summed up as perfect!  It went SO WELL.  I have said that so many times and it is so true.  We only had a few tiny hang ups.  Kelly was just giddy getting ready.  She was bouncing around reminding everyone that she is getting married today!  So fun!  I had been trying to figure out how to do a video with their kid pictures and the ones Devan had given me were way too small so it wasn't working at all.  I feel bad that I was working on that quite a bit that morning, but luckily, I finally moved on and we made do without.  But it was cute to see Kelly bouncing around, so happy.  She passed around notes to everyone, gave me a sweet gift, and was just a little ray of sunshine.  As we were walking out the door to make it to the temple on time, Jack announced that he was almost out of insulin.  We paused, reloaded his pump, and THEN left for the temple.  We got there a few minutes late, but it was okay.  I got a little anxious at this point and needed some calming, said a prayer and seconds later Lynn was sitting by me, laughing and talking about kids and this crazy job as parents.  It was nice.  Then I ran into Debbie McColley who gave me the warmest hug.  It was great.  I was calmed down.  Things moved very slowly after this, which was SO nice.  The temple workers are so amazing.  They led us to the Bride's dressing room, Kelly and I got to talk and laugh as she got ready.  We loved that the temple worker informed her that she "chose right!" when she saw she was wearing her temple dress for the sealing.  So cute.  Then we split up again.  I got to go in and talk with family waiting in the waiting room.  I got to talk with Maddie, Becky and Jen, then Brent and Sarah came in and I got the biggest hug from Brent- that was nice.  I got to introduce him to Devan's parents.  It was such a calm, peaceful wait.  I loved it!  We paused for a minute waiting for a couple family members on Devan's side, but then we were escorted to the sealing room.  I LOVED this part!!  Nate sat down next to me, just cuz there was a chair there, we both thought they'd make him go back to the witness seats, but they never did!  Which was SO awesome.  We got to sit there holding hands and loving the moment together.  I had to whisper to Nate, "How did we get here?"  It feels like just yesterday Nate and I were sitting in the hallway of the Salt Lake temple, outside the 2C sealing room, telling our sealer what we loved about each other, then sitting on the couch in a pool of my tears before kneeling across the alter together.  Those are some of my most cherished memories.  They are so vivid still.  And yet, here we are.  Sitting next to the couch/pool of Kelly's tears, watching her making the Everlasting Covenant of marriage with the Lord and Devan.  So cool.  I really loved it.  COuldn't believe it is here already, but I definitely loved it!!  Their sealing was amazing.  I loved that the sealer talked about the Initiatory blessings and Heavenly Mother (things Kelly and I had been talking about on the way to the temple! that were very important to her).  It was hard when he talked about "multiplying and replenishing the earth" just knowing the hard road they might have ahead on this matter, but also knowing that they are tough and are geared up and ready for that challenge.  Everything about their sealing was so wonderful.  I loved it.  At the end, Nate nad I were talking and found out the same line had stood out to both of us about "presiding in gentleness", which I thought was interesting.  We got to hug them a few times, everyone walked by and hugged and congratulated, it was so fun.  Then I got to go back to the Bride's dressing room with Kelly and help her get in her wedding dress and touch up her makeup and hair.  This was so awesome also.  I loved it.  It was fun to come out to the large group of Kelly and Devan supporters/family waiting for them.  I was handed a sick, feverish Sadie, which caught me off guard and was really the only challenge we faced that day, but we carried on with the grand exit, pictures, and more pictures just fine.  Sweet Aunt Jen offered to get some medicine for Sadie (and of course took some orders for a toy pony for Sadie and some candy for Jack).  We met up with her at the luncheon.  Kelly and Devan were only 20 minutes late :).  We ate the delicious Cafe Rio food and enjoyed visiting with everyone.  This was a really nice relaxing part of the day, no pressured speeches or anything, just sitting and eating.  We were anxious for our part of the evening, but this was a highlight.  After the luncheon we hurried home for the food and things to finish setting up the reception.  We got up there, got things done- thanks to lots of helpers- Sarah Laramore, Barbara Noriega, Suzanne Blanketship, Cathie Nybo, Krista Johnson, who am I forgetting?- and it was all ready to go when Kelly and Devan got there at 6:00!  I had kind of maxed out and had promised Sadie some cuddle time, so we made our way to the far foyer couch and cuddled for a while.  My dad joined us and it was fun talking with him about how awesome Kelly and Devan are and what a great day this was for them.  I loved that.  I was pretty prepared to just sit there all night and might have enjoyed that enough, but thankfully, Paige came and got me because, "Someone needed to see me".  She didn't say who or how I would know them, but when I got in the gym it was Mrs. Ashliman!!  I was so happy she had shown up and that she'd requested to see me!  I got to talk to her for a while.  SO cool that she would come- it's been over a decade!!  That's just too cool.  By then I was in the room.  I may as well make the rounds a little.  Sadie was asleep on the couch all comfy.  I got to talk with Nancy a little, then Kim Ball!! Then Courtney!!!  The wardies made it- I got to talk to Shelly Last and Margie.  It was so fun!  I only wish I'd been able to talk shorter with people so that I could have said hi to more people?  I don't know.  Seemed like things went really fast because all of a sudden we were doing the shoe game, cutting the cake and throwing the bouquet!  Then the dance party started!  This was a LOT of fun.  The Ritchies showed up.  So amy good things!!  I really loved their reception.  I was exhausted of course, but I really loved it!!  The cake was to die for!!  I did get a slice of that.  We ahd pulled pork sliders, baked potato bar, pineapple, caesar salad, and lots of dessert bars!  Apparently we did really good on amounts of everything.  There was enough food/leftovers, but not so much leftover that we didn't know what to do with it.  So that was awesome.  Nate did great on the meat.  We had our exciting send off with the sparklers.  Took some coordinating while we waited for the newlyweds, but worked out SO WELL!!  I couldn't believe it!  It was so cute when she got in the car with her "HUSBAND" and less cute when they drove off.  Kinda sad really.  But I am so happy for them.  They are going to have a beautiful life together.  They left for their stay up in Ogden.  We stayed and cleaned up for a VERY long time.  I think we got home around 10:00 though, so that was good.  4-25-25

March 2025

 ERIKA LACROSSE

Erika did it!  She decided to play Lacrosse!  I think she's really going to enjoy it.  Her coach is already very impressed with how good she is and she's reached her goal of becoming a "Swing player".  So that's fun.  We're excited for a fun season!  3-5-25

QUAD SHOWER
It came!  This was a much-anticipated event... lots of fun drama... and we were excited for Kelly and Devan to have their moment.   It ended up being so cute!  Waffles with all the toppings.  A cute flower buffet to create your own bouquets.  Fun games and visiting.  And lots of gifts!  Fun stuff.  3-8-25

CHARITY'S 23rd BIRTHDAY!
Charity chose Texas Roadhouse for her birthday party and since the Layton one was packed, we made everyone go down to the Bountiful one.  Unfortunately, it was just as packed!  We sat there for about an hour and a half.  It wasn't anyone's favorite to wait, but we did get to chat a little.  We got to have Steve there for a little bit, but again, with the wait, it was too much.  Jack also met his match, and really wasn't happy for a lot of it.  But we loved celebrating Charity and having that time for her.  They finally brought my food while I was out getting Molly at her friend's birthday party and they also sang to Charity, so that was good.  Good times.  3-8-25

WARD CONFERENCE
Martha was out of town this week for our Country Lane Ward Conference meeting, so I did her part.  It was a little crazy.  I was SO nervous.  But I think it went okay.  I'm no Martha, but I think it passed.  I hope it wasn't too bad.  3-9-25

ERIKA'S BASKETBALL TEAM BANQUET
Erika struggled with where to be that night, with a lacrosse game on top of it.  But she made it to the banquet and got her special blanket and some recognition for the fun season.  She is going to miss Christine and Bree.  But what a great season!!  They did so well!  3-13-25

PRESIDENTS DINNER
We had our dinner with all the YW Presidents.  Martha did all the work picking up the food from zupas which was nice.  I showed up late because I had Erika's Basketball Team Banquet.  It was a good little meeting.  I've got to get myself in a place where I can listen and not think about what I want.  There are some opinions I don't agree with and the misinterpretation of the Worldwide Broadcast with Emily Freeman is crazy.  This will be an interesting calling I think.  We'll see how it goes.  3-13-25

PINEWOOD DERBY
Molly, with activity day girls and boys, got to participate in a Pinewood Derby :).  These are always so fun and get so many in the ward to come out.  Molly's Snickers candy bar was so cute and did pretty well on the track too!!  So fun!  3-14-25

KELLY'S FRIEND SHOWER- TANGLED THEME
Mine and Charity's hard work and planning finally game to fruition Saturday!  We threw Kelly's friend shower.  It took a little preparation but was pretty easy to pull off.  She had a really good turn out and it was really fun to see who came.  SO many friends.  She really does have a lot of support in life.  Makes me happy for her.  We had a lot of fun with the question game Charity made and everyone put advice on wooden hearts for the picture frame.  We ate soups (not hazelnut, but that's okay), pineapple, purple grapes, braid breadsticks, purple drink.  It was so fun!  We got these cute little purple votive candle holders, with candles and then a little flower in each as centerpieces.  Along wtih a little printout of their timeline that I made on Canva and put in the little wire stands I made.  She got lots of gifts and had a lot of fun.  The clean up was pretty quick- we had a lot of help from bridesmaids and Claire :).  It was so fun that Claire came.  She helped us clean up and then showed us some of her published books she's been making.  Then she actually came with me to take pictures of Noah's Prom group and Chick-fil-a after!!  So much fun!!  She's the best!  3-15-25

NOAH'S PROM PICTURES
I had so much fun doing pictures for Noah!  Claire came which was so fun!  She seemed stunned by how not modest the girls' dresses were.  But we had so much fun posing them and getting some fun pictures.  Noah is nice to let me do that :).  I think he had a fun time at Prom.  He seemed happy about it.  3-15-25

ST PATRICK'S DAY
I didn't get to do everything I'd planned for this day, this year, but it was still wonderful :).  We had green pancakes, I left little gifts of green things for the kids by their beds.  The leprechauns left us a treasure hunt that actually required some thinking this year.  Still fun.  Although, we have yet to escape the saddies.  Maybe one day.  The pot of gold did not disappoint!  Such a fun day!  3-17-25

JACK ENDOSCOPY
Jack and I were not looking forward to this day.  Anxious to hear whether he had celiac or not though.  Everything went really well though.  As good as we could expect.  It felt pretty early in the morning, we were up at Primary Children's, but we were able to check in, sit and relax in the waiting room, and then they called him back, got him all set up with the anesthesiologist, and off they went.  I really wish they would just let me stay in the same room, but they never do.  So dumb.  But I did get to listen to The Saints book while I was there.  Got through almost a whole volume.  Jack did awesome!  Coming out of the anesthesia was a trip :).  He was funny.  But pretty quickly.  Then we headed home.  We found out almost a week later that he did in fact have Celiac disease.  Kinda crazy.  One more thing to add to Jack's list.  He's done so well and is handling it really well so far.  3-21-25

BRENCHLEY SHOWER
This ended up being a really fun, chill shower.  We got to meet some of Devan's extended family and stood and talked for a bit.  Then got some food, played a few games and got to hear Kelly's answers about their dating and engagement, that was fun.  It was a fun time- everyone was really welcoming and fun to be with.  She got good and spoiled with gifts!  So fun though!!  We're getting closer!  3-22-25

DINNER WITH CLAIRE
We met up at our usual place- Sawadee Thai I think it's called.  We had fun talking.  It is always good to visit with Claire.  Hopefully we get to meet her puppy when she gets home from Georgia.  3-227-25

WARD SHOWER
Brooke Desmond was so sweet to offer to throw a shower for Kelly.  Christie May helped her.  They invited the entire ward!  I thought she had a really great turnout to this one.  Christie went all out on the gluten free stuff for Kelly which was so nice of her.  We had a lot of fun.  It was fun to be with everyone and get to chat with a lot of people.  I loved that Aubrey McColley and Debbie came!  So fun.  3-29-25

February 2025

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

January 2025

 DINNER WITH THE BRENCHLEYS
We finally had the opportunity of going out to dinner with Devan's parents.  We've actually been talking about getting together with their family for years.  This was a little different now that Kelly and Devan are engaged.  It was such a good time though!  We all got along really well.  I'm really glad it went so well and that we are all on the same page.  I feel like they were so fun to talk to.  I felt like we have quite a bit in common especially kid ages and the span of parenting years.  Kinda fun to have a friend in the same boat really.  It is nice to know that we will be able to enjoy Kelly's in-laws and that we don't have to worry about the dreaded combined things :).  It will actually be really nice.  1-3-25

DRESS SHOPPING FOR KELLY
This was exciting!  And a first for all of us!  Charity, Kelly, Erika, Molly and I all met up to be there while Kelly picked out her wedding dress!!  So fun!  She tried on a LOT of dresses, but only came out in three of them.  The first one she really liked and gave it a 9.  The second one was not better than the first so we forgot about that one.  Then the third one, she came hopping and skipping out of the dressing room and had the biggest smile on her face!  We could all tell she liked this one the best!!  I was hesitant for her to pick right away and wanted her to be able to try on as many as she wanted, but she had chosen the perfect/only sleeves she wanted, and this one had the perfect neckline and the skirt was just what she wanted as well, so this one was IT!  She was so happy and got all excited for it!!  We were all feeling all the feels for her! It was so fun!  We got to take a picture with her to be posted on social media for the company whose name has escaped my mind- but they were very awesome!  I would highly recommend this company!  This was a really neat experience.  I'm so glad Kelly let us in on it.  1-6-25

ERIKA'S FIRST GAME OF THE SEASON
Erika's team is made up of 3 9th graders (two of whom- Erika and Kate- were not technically on varsity last year) and one who would not have made varsity.  Then there was only one girl who had been on varsity last year and the rest were 8th and very inexperienced 7th graders.  So in my mind this was going to be a building year.  I had seen it with Kelly's lacrosse teams and knew it could be a tough one with lots of losses and growing.  But this first game was not indicative of that at all!!  This team is amazing!!  They played so hard!!  I was so impressed!!  We totally killed them!  It's going to be an awesome season!  1-7-25

TENDING BRIGGS
Courtney got called to Hawaii to investigate a fire there and needed a sitter for a short time Thursday evening.  It happened to be the night of my first Presidency meeting, so I left a lot of it to Nate and the kids- mostly Noah.  But I was able to hang out with him a little when I got home.  Such a cute little guy!!  I love that she has a baby and that I got to spend some time with him.  He really was so sweet and easy while he was here.  Just a slight drooling problem :).  But such a sweetie!  Didn't cry at all.  So fun!  Brett came and got him when he got off work- unfortunately we didn't have him asleep.  1-9-25

CELEBRATING SADIE'S BIRTHDAY AT SCHOOL
I got to go to Sadie's class and celebrate her birthday with her.  We got to talk all about her birthday poster and all the pictures.  They loved the one of her in Brad's backpack.  She got to talk in the microphone which was awesome.  She forgot her stuffy and I didn't read her mind that I needed to bring it so that was a bummer, but she did get to pass out her mamba candies to everyone and that was a fun thing for her.  She loved this!!  Then I got to stay for centers.  1-10-25

NOAH FAMILY PARTY
We had a fun little afternoon party for Noah- a lot of the family came to Erika's rec game before and then we were able to have a nice little party.  Nate slaved over the teriyaki chicken for sandwiches at Noah's request and then I made some Ramen and Grape Salads.  We had a good turn out.  Grandpa Hatch and Jo, Grandma Hatch and Simon, Grandma Ruthie and Jen and the Taylors to top it off!  It ended up being a lot of fun!  We even played the paper bag game.  This was a highlight.  I think Molly won, beating Hunter I think.  Now I'm questioning my memory.  Either way- lots of fun.  We were all surprised at how competitive Grandpa Hatch was being and that he wasn't very good, but good at trash talking.  We are still laughing about how Grandma Hatch was extremely flexible (which we know) but that Simon wanted pictures of her reenacting her moves :).  So funny!! Noah was good and spoiled by us and everyone.  I think he felt loved.  I made him a fishing cupcake cake that was kinda lame.  I feel bad it wasn't my best work.  I had such high hopes for it.  But he knows I tried, I guess that's all that matters.  It's hard to believe he's 17!!  Growing up way too fast.  And I can't help but mention what an awesome kid he is.  So helpful and loving to me!  Always willing to do what I ask and with a smile.  I honestly couldn't be more grateful for his efforts and service.  And he's doing well in so many other areas as well.  School grades are always right up there, almost straight A's most of the time which has been challenging since the stroke.  He just makes such good choices all the time.  I just love him.  1-11-25

NOAH FRIEND PARTY
That night, Noah had his friend party!  Lots of goodies and pizza for his millions of friends.  It was a lot of fun to listen to them all evening.  We espeically loved the conversation about Helen Keller and how she must have been faking- HA!  They are fun kids and very polite for the most part.  I think Noah had a good time!  They ended the night with Sting Pong.  Ouch.  1-11-25

ERIKA CALLED TO THE STAKE YOUTH COMMITTEE
This was pretty exciting and then kind of died out now that it's taken so long for them to set her apart- still waiting a month later- HA!  But Erika was called by the stake to serve on the youth committee!  Pretty awesome!  Especially considering my new calling- I THINK we will get to work together.  It might take some convincing since they haven't been having the whole presidency come to their meetings.  Not sure what that's about.  But I'm super excited for Erika- she seems like she might like it too.  1-12-25

SETTING APART
I finally got set apart- felt like a long wait, but all good.  I felt like having the kids there since I want them to know that this calling is going to take some sacrifice on everyone's part- I wanted them to be part of it.  Nobody else brought kids so that was weird, but luckily, they all did VERY awesome and sat there very reverently the entire time.  I was pretty proud of them.  I don't remember a lot from my setting apart, but I do remember him telling me that I was "prepare for this calling" a few times.  It has really sat in my mind and kind of marinated there ever since.  I hope that I am able to use what he has given me to do this calling.  I hope I'm not really an imposter like I feel.  I will do my best for sure!!  I do love the youth and love serving my Heavenly Father, so hopefully this will be a way to practice both.  1-12-25

UTAH AREA BROADCAST- PRESIDENT FREEMAN AND PRESIDENT LUND
This meeting was SO COOL!! I honestly LOVED it.  It was so full of good things!  I loved watching Martha take a million pages of notes!  I took a few on my phone.  I was anxious to look up the transcript so I could read it over and over.  I was sitting in the overflow with my presidency while Nate and the older kids were up closer in the chapel and Sadie and Molly were basically roaming the halls and complaining about the nursery being too boring.  I finally gave them my phone and they were able to entertain themselves, surprisingly, the whole time.  They did really well.  I LOVED this meeting.  There was a lot of good stuff in it.  Unfortunately, it was a little long and kind of boring, just being the two of them bouncing back and forth.  It actually reminded me of "Don't Miss This" when they would bounce back and forth and I would get distracted by how they chose to do that- like were they interrupting each other or did they plan the switch or was it like a timer or something?  I don't know.  So that was somewhat distracting, but overall, I didn't mind how long it was.  I know there were some people who left early and then the following Thursday, when we were asked what we thought about the meeting all anyone talked about was how long it was and that we "lost capital" with the youth.  I was pretty bummed we didn't get to discuss a lot of it.  My favorite part was about getting to know the youth so well that you can predict what they will need help with.  Being there as a support, not to bail them out, but to help them learn to plan ahead.  I loved it.  I wish we could talk about it some more.  1-12-25

MATILDA FEATURING JACK!
Jack's play finally came to fruition!  We were so excited to see him in the play Matilda.  This ended up being a lot of fun!  I liked this musical.  They did a great job- especially Jack!  We had full support from so much family all week.  I got to see it every night except for one.  Jack did so good!  1-13-25

NOAH PRACTICE ACT
I've been trying to find out more about how Noah could get extra time to take the ACT because of his stroke, but he informed me that he is fine just doing it in the normal amount of time and he felt better about that.  Kinda cool.  He got to have a practice test this week though- we'll see how he did!  He seemed to think it wasn't too bad.  Pretty awesome.  1-14-25

JACK'S APPOINTMENT
His appointments are feeling less and less productive as we go.  I wish it felt like we were doing something good.  It almost seems like whatever changes they make at the doctor always throw things off.  They told him he has an A1C of 5.4 and that they'd sacrifice some of that for not having so many lows.  Which he was having A TON of.  So they had us lower his dose.  This wasn't too bad, but it has been a change to have a lot more highs.  Jack also had to retest for Celiac and again his numbers were high.  We will be scheduling an appointment with a Gastroenterologist soon.  Yay.  1-15-25

JACK'S YELLOW HANDS
We had an appointment with Dr. Loftus at Grow Up Great for Jack to check on his yellow hands (they had noticed it at his appointment Tuesday and wanted us to look into it with the family doc).  Turns out it's probably from the seaweed.  If only I'd found the study he found on Google before having to go all the way in.  His feet were even worse than his hands, but we don't want him to stop eating seaweed- it's like the healthiest thing he has on his menu.  1-16-25

SO MANY THINGS
Thursday was packed.  We had to do some juggling and I think Erika missed her rec practice which didn't matter because she hates them.  But we had Erika's Home Game at KJH, Molly's dance, Jack's performance, Noah's game, My presidency meeting and a meeting with the YM/President Perry.  And Nate helped juggle it all.  I was really grateful for all the help.  Didn't get home until 10:30!!  So crazy.  I hope I never forget Christa Skousen's, "Honestly, I'm just so tired, I am not even sure what we're talking about".  So funny.  1-16-25

THE TEMPLE
Nate and I made it to the temple this week!  So cool!  We were very happy with ourselves.  Hopefully we can make it a new routine going Friday mornings.  1-17-25

LUNCH AND SHOPPING WITH PAPPY
After doing packets at Molly's class I was able to hurry home in time to go to lunch with my dad.  We went shopping first and got a few things at Hobby Lobby along with a HUGE gift card (amount, not size).  Then Olive Garden which is our fave.  My dad did not get the salmon this time for some reason.  But then he insisted we got to Cabella's to get a Yeti water bottle.  I do love it, it's so adorable.  But just SO EXPENSIVE!!  But it was so nice of him!  I love spending time with my dad.  Never gets old.  1-17-25

MY FIRST ASSIGNMENT
My first assignment as the 1st counselor in the YW was to invite Brody to lead the discussion for Prep For Life with one of his parents.  I was pretty happy with how it went asking him.  1-18-25

INAUGURATION DAY/MLKJD/NO SCHOOL
Not really sure what we did this day.  Nothing's jumping out at me, but it was kind of refreshing when Trump was Inaugurated.  I feel like he will do a much better job than Kamala.  Hopefully things will get better!  1-20-25

LUNCH WITH MOLLY AND THE PRINCIPAL AND MRS. TIDWELL
Molly was chosen by her class and by Mrs. Johnson as the Star Student this month!  She was chosen for how well she adheres to the LEAD initiative.  (Learn, Explore, Achieve and Discover or something)- basically for being awesome!  All around awesome.  So she got to invite her parents to come have lunch with her and the principal and as she always adds, Mrs. Tidwell as well.  Mrs. Johnson was also there.  This was pretty cool.  We have never done anything like this before.  We had pizza in Room 1 and the teachers got to explain why each kid was chosen and present them with little gifts.  It was so fun!  I love that Molly got some recognition for all that she does and works so hard at.  We're so proud of her!!  Good job Molly!!  1-22-25

WEDDING PLANNING
We're making lots of progress on the wedding plans!!  Things are coming together.  I still need to work on getting a dress.  But today I went and scanned her drawing of her wedding announcement!  So exciting!  They look beautiful!  1-22-25

NOAH'S FARMINGTON REC GAME
Noah has a pretty fun team of all his friends playing on a Farmington Rec league.  It's been fun to go watch him play Wednesday nights.  He's doing great!!  1-22-25

THE TEMPLE
We did it again!  Made it to the temple two weeks in a row!  Pretty proud of that!  1-24-25

HAIRCUT WITH MARIANNE
I got to go have Marianne cut my hair finally.  We've struggled to make this happen.  Nate took over Centers for me, thankfully, and I was able to go get my hair done.  She did a great job!  I think this was the first time in a very long time that I haven't had to fix my hair after.  I have a new hairdresser.  1-24-25

DATE NIGHT
Nate and I got to go to dinner and a movie.  I can't remember where we ate, but we saw the movie Brave the Dark.  This was an Angel Studio movie and I thought they did a great job with it!  I was pleasantly surprised.  Good feel.  1-24-25

REC CENTER NIGHT
After our date, Nate took off with Noah and Jack for the Rec Center activity.  I had to go pick up Erika from her team party to get her down to the rec center in a good time.  But they all had fun.  Never a dull moment on the all night party.  1-24-25

ERIKA REC GAMES
These games are getting less and less enjoyable.  Her coach is just so set on micromanaging their every move and doesn't just let them play.  It's very frustrating for Erika and her fan club.  We're toughing it out, I think we might live.  But it is torture.  We're totally find killing every team we play.  I don't know why the coach can't just let it be.  1-25-25

FUNNY COINCIDENCE
With Sadie going to Zoie's party, we learned that Zoie is Mrs. Burns' granddaughter.  Pretty fun coincidence!  Not only is she her granddaughter, but she is the one whose hand-me-down newborn clothes Mrs. Burns gave us for Sadie!  So essentially Sadie wore Zoie's baby clothes :).  I know this is only fun for me, but it's still fun.  1-25-25

WARD CONFERENCES
This was my first week of conferences.  It was interesting.  We did the Spencer Ward first, same time as our ward so I had to say goodbye to the kids as Noah drove them all to church in his car.  I was almost in tears.  So hard.  We went to the Sacrament meeting and then YW.  I liked both meetings.  It was all new and kinda nice to sit and take the sacrament without distractions and being able to think about things.  I took lots of good notes during the Bishop's talk.  President Larsen gave a nice talk as well.  I felt like YW went really well.  We did our break out seessions with the girls discussing a few questions and then talking together as a group.  It felt like it went well.  So then, we had a few minutes to run home and get something to eat and then we were right back up at the Red brick main street chapel for round 2.  This was funny.  Same songs all through Sacrament meeting.  An excellent talk from the Bishop of the 11th ward, and then it was a rerun of Pres. Larsen's talk.  Exactly the same.  Kinda funny.  Even the musical number.  But it was still nice.  I took lots of notes from the Bishop's talk and even some more from Pres. Larsen.  But it did feel a little like Ground Hog Day- rerun-ish.  Still the YW lesson went differently.  I had a very quiet group that didn't want to talk much.  The leaders were very vocal and it felt really rough.  It was fine tho.  We survived.  So that was that.  2 down, 7 more to go!  1-26-25

ACTIVITY DAYS MEETING
This was annoying.  We forgot it was happening, so we got there about 10 minutes late, and then two minutes after interruptingly walking in late, my phone went off with Brad's phone call.  "Bradley, Noah, Charity, Nathan...." my phone calling out all the people on the call- so funny- so embarrassing.  I went out in the hall and got to talk to him a little, but it was crazy.  Then the meeting was over.  Pretty short and sweet- Brooke must have been in charge :).  Molly seemed fine with how things went and she is very excited for activity days this year.  1-26-25

LUNCH WITH ANNIE
Annie and I got to meet up in West Jordan at Chipotle for some yummy food.  I loved visiting with her. We need to hang out more often.  1-27-25

DINNER WITH WOLSEY'S
This was a fun night- tacos at the Wolsey's house.  How did she know that Jack likes tacos?  I don't know.  She's amazing.  We had a lot of fun just chatting with them.  We always say we're going to play games, but we never do :).  Super fun though.  We were glad Noah showed up even though he was a little late.  Jack seems so comfortable with them, makes me happy.  1-27-26

MOLLY DRY SCALP
At Molly's request, I took her to the doctor.  They decided it was not a gland problem, but a skin problem from the broken skin on her scalp.  So we are going to work on healing that.  Should be interesting.  1-28-25

AWESOME HOME GAME
Erika had a really fun home game!  This was her second to last game.  We did the snack packs, we were so excited for their team- being undefeated this entire season and all!!  This was a close game, thanks to the refs, but Erika did so good!!  This was the game she dropped two three pointers in the first few minutes of the game!!  SO COOL!!!  1-28-25

100's DAY WITH SADIE!!
I got to go help with 100s day in Sadie's class!  This was super fun!  I picked the station where we lick dum dums 100 times :).  So fun!  It actually was a lot of fun.  I was laughing my head off.  These kids are hilarious.  The drawing yourself at 100 was my favorite part.  They really got into this.  Super cute how a lot of them pictured themselves really really tall.  So cute.  1-29-25

TEACHER DINNER
We did Olive Garden this time.  Very last minute decision, but I think it went over well.  The teachers seemed happy with it.  I think this might be my last time doing dinners.  I need to weed out some of these extra things from my life. It's someone else's turn too.  1-29-25

HOBBY LOBBY MIRACLE
Thanks to the coaches taking a while to get me the balls they were having the team sign, I had really put off making the 9th grader gifts.  It was a challenge to decide how to do it and I thought I was going to have the balls to make sure I got something they'd fit in, but I ended up at Hobby Lobby looking for the perfect thing 5 minutes before closing!  I had Kelly's help over facetime and Molly and Sadie were good for that too.  We picked out the perfect white boxes, then some cool shredded black and red paper, then some number stickers to put on the sides of the boxes- they were going to be so cute!!  Some cellophane to wrap them up in.  I was pretty proud of all the things we had picked out. We got up to the check stand as they were announcing that there were five minutes left and of course, they don't have Apple Pay!!! My heart sank completely!!  I was hoping someone would jump in and offer to let me venmo them or something, but nope.  It was SO disturbing.  And then since we couldn't buy Sadie's toy, she started to throw the hugest tantrum.  I walked out and to the car, completely stumped with what I was going to do now.  I didn't have time to go the next day- work- so I was freaking out inside.  Well, then something awesome happened.  I decided to look in the center console (this is all while Sadie is sitting on the floor inside the store doors, pouting.  Molly was keeping an eye on her), to see if MAYBE I had a card in there.  I really knew it wasn't there, but still felt compelled to check.  So as I lifted up a few things to look under them, and then sifted through some more things, I realized what was in my left hand!!!  A HOBBY LOBBY GIFT CARD from my dad a few weeks ago1!!!!  WHO KNEW!!!  This was like heaven in a bottle.  I wasn't a hundred percent sure there was enough on the card since we'd used some of it on the 20th- OH!  That's what we did that day off!!- but I knew I could get some of the things I'd picked out!!  Luckily there was enough plus three dollars!!  We are calling this my Hobby Lobby miracle- it was heaven sent!!!  He was looking out for me.  So blessed!!  And the boxes/gifts turned out perfect!  1-30-25

FORGOT
Totally forgot about early out Thursday, I was working, and SURPRISE! Sadie and Molly were at home alone when I got home with Jack.  So crazy!!  The nice thing was I had asked to leave early since I wanted to get things ready for Erika's last game, so they were probably only home alone for a half hour or so.  SO crazy though.  1-30-25

9TH GRADERS!!
We got to recognize our 9th graders at this last game!  Kinda fun.  I made them all a cute little box of goodies and signed basketballs from the team.  They ended up so cute!  Thanks to my Hobby Lobby Miracle.  This has been such a great year!! UNDEFEATED!!!  Erika played so well and helped her new teammates so much!!  It has been so much fun!!  1-30-25

THE TEMPLE
We missed the temple this week.  It was extremely noticeable.  I was completely off the entire day!! Lots of Bridal shower drama! 1-31-25

DATE NIGHT- BEAUTIFICA
First we went to Tucanos in the Gateway and then Nate and I got to go to this cool show at the Clark Planetarium.  It was in the dome theater- very cool music and designs.  Really relaxing and pretty fun to watch.  I loved that he picked something different to do and that we were able to spend so much time together. I love being with him.  1-31-25

DECEMBER 2024

 BRAD'S PHONE CALL
We got to talk to Brad and his companion today :).  Brad has been teaching him English so we have lots to talk about.  It's so fun to see Brad in his element and thriving as a missionary.  So proud of him.  12-1-24

ERIKA BASKETBALL TRYOUTS
This was a much more chill tryout for Erika.  She knew she was on the team and was able to kind of relax for the most part.  That was nice.  She did awesome!  Made the team and then was voted as captain!!  12-2-24

LUKE'S PHONE CALL
We got to talk to Luke today!  He looks so good and seems so gungho.  He's been getting a little frustrated with his companion, but mostly doing really well.  It was fun to see him.  12-2-24

BRAD'S EMAIL- THANKS GIVIN
This week was a battleeee. Not sure why but Satan felt like working extra hard on me this week. Everything felt way harder to do and I feel like it was a lot harder to feel joy in the work. But we kept going strong I'm pretty sure my poor comps are dying but we are getting things done

This week we spent like 3 days in our area. We had a very full week.

Wednesday we had zone conference. I LOVE zone conferences they're always soo goood. I got to give a little training on how to help our friends that have baptismal dates find people to get baptized that same day with them. We also talked a lot about high love and high expectations. 

Thursday we went to the templeeeee. I ALSO LOVE the temple. Its such an amazing place. Normally I'm fighting to stay awake while I'm there but this time I was wide awake and legit recieved so much revelation for my area and the district. It was amazing. And this kid that always goes out with us to teach lessons received his endowment in the same session. So cool!! 

Friday-Saturday: First full days in our area this week. To be honest my patience always gets texted to the max when we get halfway through the first transfer of training. Almost everytime my comp hits a mental wall and starts saying everything is too hard, there's no point they're just going to say no, this isn't who they are they can't just go up and talk to people... stuff like that. It tests my patience a lot but that means my patience is growing haha. 

We had a baptism of our friend Karla!! She has been a battle for the past month because ir has been so hard to meet with her. She had so many doubts as well because her whole family are catholics so she was pretty scared about committing to something. It was cool because she was probably the first person I found, taught in every single lesson, and got to watch her get baptized. She is going to be an amazing disciple of Christ. It was cool looking back to those first few lessons and thinking how she has potential and then seeing all the progress she has made to now. Also the same day our bishop got released after 9 years!!! So we had 2 amazing gran miracles. Missionary work is just awesome.

We also met with our friend named Julio. Hes so cool as well! Heres a funny story. His best friend is a Missionary serving in Ecuador Elder Mejia i think. ( it's the mission of Elder Jex and Jones) and he is from a place called Mollendo. I served there and was best friends with his family actually. I almost baptized their cousin but she moved. But the sister of this missionary is now in my ward here in Umacollo. She gave us the reference of Julio. The missionary that's his best friend called us during one of our lessons and we found out the kid he is training was the comp in the MTC of the kid I am training right now. It was all just so many cool little miracles that showed how small the world is. Missionary work is so cool. Julio asked me to baptize him but I might be leaving this transfer... 3 days before his baptism. I really really really dont want to miss it because he also is like one of my best friends right now. 

Sunday we went to a YSA devotional with our friend and basically they just yelled at them and told them all they need to get married. Apparently like 70% of the church is YSA in Peru and so they need them all to stop being so lame and date people. Our friend is super socially awkward but he opened up so much as we walked him home! He's like one of my best friends right now. I am going to do everything possible to help him get baptized. Hes amazing. 

LUKE'S EMAIL- THANKSGIVING
This week was good! We had so many lessons and we had our boy Spencer (he's a young man from the ward) come out with us for like two whole days. He's the goat and super excited to become a missionary and we love having him come with us. Plus he drives us so we don't have to use any miles 

Our friend Michael has been progressing a lot more this week, we taught him a super good lesson about the priesthood. He rlly wants to join the church but he thinks he's too old to get married and have a family so we were trying to tell him there's still time for him. Afterwards he was like yeah I think the only thing that I can do good for my life is to join the church. And then he said he's just gonna join the church, not get married, and just become a priest for the rest of his life. I think we still have a little more explaining to do about what a priest does but I'm glad he knows baptism will bless his life. He also got rid of his vapes finally which is super super good and we were so hyped. Thanks so much for all your prayers for him, keep it up

We had a good Thanksgiving, we did some service at an old folks home, and we went to a members house and ate too much. I felt kinda bad tho cuz their mom wouldn't let them watch football while we were there, so we played Catan for hours while they all watched the football game anyways, just with no sound . 

Idk I can't really remember what else happened this week. We worked really hard this week and had some pretty good days. We can't get anyone to come to church so we need to switch things up and figure it out. 

I hope yall had an awesome Thanksgiving, love yall so much

PUTTING UP CHRISTMAS
We got off to kind of a late start, but we were able to fit it all in!  We went and picked up our tree- this was quick this year!  Sadie said she found the perfect tree and it was!  We were able to just shove it in the van where the seats are missing.  Kind of nice.  We'll have to remember that for next time.  We grabbed some pizza on the way home and met up with Charity and Kelly and Hunters.  We learned very quickly that our tree lights from past years were burnt out.  Luckily I had my pearl lights and they worked just fine.  We got our first ornament picture and then everyone took turns putting ornaments on the tree.  Everyone got along really well.  It was fun!  It's just fun to have everyone (that's here) together.  We all went and got hot chocolate after!  Fun stuff.  12-2-24

JACK'S PUMP CLASS
This was the long awaited Pump Start Day!  We were so excited!!  It was a long appointment full of LOTS of information and Jack and I were dummies the whole time, but we were SO excited!  He got the Tandem Mobi.  He got his first infusion set installed and we filled the cartridge, did our practice bolus and we were ready to go!  It was so exciting, but then our excitement sort of died out a little when Jack's blood glucose started to go up.  Like really high.  And higher and higher.  It was so scary!  Jack didn't feel good.  I finally gave him a correction dose with the pen.  Then we made a call to tech support and learned that his canula was totally bent!  When I pulled it out a bunch of blood squirted out with it.  It looked so painful!  I felt so bad for Jack!!  He was so tough and let me put in a new infusion set.  It was a rough three days of us trying to recover from this first round.  Such a bummer that our excitement had to be snuffed out.  But after a few days we were on track, things felt much easier and Jack is a pump pro!  It has been a really nice change.  12-3-24

RELIEF SOCIETY CHRISTMAS DINNER
This was a really fun night and exactly what I needed that day.  I got to sit with the Barbaras, Amber Williams, and some others I love while we ate.  Unfortunately, I was in a pretty stressed mood from the day that we'd had with the pump, that I let that kind of ooze out.  But everyone helped me cheer up.  I sat with Shelly Last and Emily during the white elephant game.  That was a lot of fun.  I was happy my dog puzzle was such a big hit.  I got a big huge soft blue blanket.  I stole it from Sherrie Chambers.  At the end, I stood and talked with Amber about the pump day and she was so nice and comforting to talk to.  It was a good night.  12-3-24

CHRIS FURNISS FUNERAL
Nate and I went to the viewing together.  It was good to see Dolores so upbeat and doing okay about things.  Michelle and Marianne were fun to talk to also.  They have such a great family.  I just love them.  12-5-24

MISSIONARY MOM LUNCH
This was my first time going.  We went to Chonchi's.  It was so yummy!!  It was fun to talk to everyone and be able to share about my missionaries.  12-6-24

PRIMARY DRIVE-IN MOVIE- POLAR EXPRESS
This ended up being a fun activity minus all the hangups with my projector, sound bar, phone.  That part was rough.  I couldn't find our sound bar, decided to use the mic, then the projector was too quiet for the mic, so I pulled up the movie on my phone and had to line it up just right to the blue ray player and play the sound from my phone through the mic.  It was so nuts.  I had to keep readjusting it and it kept getting screwed up from my texts and phone calls.  I was frustrated and worn out and it was kind of a pain, but I think the kids all had fun.  Molly missed part of it so that she could go to her concert dress rehearsal, which she missed most of because I didn't tell Noah where to take her and Sadie wasn't there because she had a birthday party.  I wasn't on my best behavior that night.  Kind of crazy.  But it was fine.  12-6-24

ERIKA ORCHESTRA CONCERT WITH MOLLY'S CHOIR CONCERT
We got to listen to Erika's orchestra play and then we got to hear Molly's choir singing with the Davis High Symphony.  Kinda cool!  I'm so proud of my talented kids!  12-6-24

FIRST PRESIDENCY CHRISTMAS DEVOTIONAL
This was such a great meeting!  I loved it!  I felt so inspired and motivated by this.  We paused it so we could talk to Brad and finished after.  12-8-24

BRAD'S PHONE CALL
We got to talk to Brad tonight.  He was somewhat distracted, but it was fun to talk to him.  He's doing great!  Still training two natives and dealing with the racist comments.  12-8-24

EMAIL FROM LUKE- RUDY RUDY RUDY
Hellooooo. This week was pretty good, we had some super hard days and then some pretty good days.

Monday we watched the movie Rudy as a mission cuz the real guy is gonna give a devotional this Sunday. After the movie they ordered us a bunch of pizza and a couple of us just started playing basketball in our church clothes while we were waiting, it was so fun. 

Tuesday was probably one of the hardest days on the mish. I was not feeling motivated whatsoever and my comp was super trunky so it was just not a good combo. Also we had a lesson with our friend Michael that night and he said he wasn't going to be able to quit vaping. We decided we've done all we can do and that we need to let God do the rest. Super sad tho cuz we thought he was gonna get baptized soon 

Wednesday was an average day.

Same with Thursday

Friday we ran exchanges and I went with my boy elder madsen. We also had a stake nativity event at our church, im pretty sure the number of missionaries was more than the rest of the people there. Not really, there was just hardly anyone there, but it was fun to have all the other missionaries there.

Saturday we had a pretty cool miracle. This guy we knocked into last week fed us lunch. He and his wife were super nice, and apparently like two days before we knocked into them, they were talking about how poor missionaries are. And they felt bad that they had a no soliciting sign and do they took it down so that we could knock on their door, literally two days later we knocked. So they offered to feed us every Saturday . And they're so awesome! His wife was a member before but left when she was super young, and she kept talking about how awesome her baptism and confirmation was. It was such a good lesson with them. We also met with this one guy named silver. Apparently he heard we don't get paid and so he was like, im gonna take you guys shopping. We told him we're fine and we have enough food and he told us not to be prideful. So we are going shopping with him tonight we'll see how that goes. 

Sunday was super sad cuz we didn't get anyone to church. I think this week we're gonna have to really focus on that cuz if people don't come to church they really can't progress. 

This is the last week before mini transfers and the last week with my trainer. Hopefully we can lock in and work super hard before he goes home. I am super excited to be out of training tho

Guys I'm so sorry I never take pictures. I'll try to be better I swear

Spiritual thought: 2 nephi 2

16 Wherefore, the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself. Wherefore, man could not act for himself save it should be that he was enticed by the one or the other

We're all given agency in this life. We have the ability to choose from right and wrong and the point of this life is learning to choose the right, especially when it's hard. The more we choose right, the more that God will trust us with his work. God has given us commandments to guide us to become the best we can be. 

Love yall

EMAIL FROM BRAD- MERRY CHRISTMAS
Hey guys whats up. This week was cool. We saw so many cool miracles. 

Tuesday: it was pretty slow if im being honest. Tuesday is usually a day of chamba but it was not this week. I think its because I was pretty worn out. I was tired. I've been pretty tired recently. We then had interviews with Presi. Those are always so fire. He always seems to start it off talking about leadership stuff and I just always have to remind him I genuinely to care and I'll serve wherever the Lord wants me. We talked a lot about if I'm staying or not. He wants me to stay for 1 more transfer because our area and zone is in such a good place right now. It genuinely is crazy. I really hope I stay because I'm figuring things out here. 

Wednesday: Today was lots of work, we got to invite 2 children of God make a covenant with him!! They accepted so we will be helping them progress and make these steps towards Christ.  

Thursday: Presi called me kinda worried because we set a goal as a zone to baptize weekly in 2025. He was worried that it would be a goal apostate because the missionaries would then start baptizing just to baptize. I then shared with him the perspective we had and how we were going at it and the doctrine we were teaching/studying to guide our goals. He then goes "nevermind you guys are doing wonderful I don't need to call you." And hangs up hahaha. Today I realized the Elder I'm training needs to start inviting people to be baptized. So hes now going to so everysingle invitation. The first one was today. It was really really bad. I love him but it was bad. But its okay because hes learning how to make invitations. 

Friday: this whole week my comp has been on a divis tour. Hes just been jumping area to area to teach and implement some principles we need to develop as a zone and as missionaries. We had some other invitations that went really bad again. We saved a couple but sometimes it's too long gone to be saved. My comp has been learning a lot. We've had some super hard days for him. Its hard because every single new elder that comes in from the MTC, wants to be perfect at everything. They want to be able to communicate perfectly and be good at everything so there's a big wall that they have to break through in order to start this learning process. 

Saturday: we had divis with Elder Johnson. He ran the 400 and 800 at BYU last year. He's a dawg. We actually ended up talking so much about track haha it was fun. He also was able to invite our friend Javier to be baptized and it was his first invitation which was sick. He gave me lots of good tips to get healthy for track. It was fun talking english again though. Haven't had a divis in english for a really long time and it was fun. We were literally just sprinting from lesson to lesson. 

Sunday: we had a lot of friends show up! It was cool because we now split the area and in the whole ward we had like 20+ friends there which was sickkk. Itt was also the primary program which is always very fun.

Spiritual thought: There's a line in everything. One side of the line are those that are proactive, responsible, happy, obedient... the other side of the line comes stress, anxiety, lies, blaming others... theres a line in daily planning. That line is when you start the day. You must have already prepared your day the day before or 2 days before. Same thing with school. If we wait to be responsible and proactive and we cross the line, that's where cheating comes in, we start lying, rushing, not doing it how we should. The most responsible people in the world are those that not only take the blame for stuff but those who do everything they possibly can to prevent something from happening before the blame can be caught. There's a line when listening to the spirit. If we don't act when we hear an impression, that's when miss opportunities, get stressed, overthink... there's a line in literally everything. As we focus on being 100% responsible for ourselves and staying on this side of the line, when we cross it we won't have those negarive feelings.

LUNCH WITH BECKY
Becky and I went to Chonchi's, I had to show her the yummy food.  We had a nice time talking longer than we should have.  I had to get back to Sadie's class.  It was a good time though- fun to talk missionary with her.  12-9-24

LUKE'S PHONE CALL
THis was a lot of fun.  Luke is doing great.  We had fun hearing about his day and telling him all about our week.  He's fun to talk to.  12-9-24

ERIKA'S FIRST GAME
This game was SO AMAZING!!  Erika scored 17 points!!  Christine even texted me after to geek over how good Erika did!  She was AWESOME!!  We won by like 30 points.  She had this incredible clean block as she chased down a fast break.  So amazing!  And like three three pointers!!  12-10-24

JACK'S PUMP
We've done a few pump changes now and getting pretty good at it.  It's been new and challenging, but Jack is doing awesome at it and I think he actually likes it.  I do think it's helping him eat more.  12-10-24

SADIE'S LEGS
We had another episode with Sadie's legs Thursday night.  Not cool.  The poor little thing.  And ever since my co-worker mentioned Leukemia, I've wondered.  She really hasn't been looking well for at least a month. I've been fighting the urge to take her to the Doctor.  12-12-24

TEAM BREAKFAST
I got up all night to make cinnamon rolls for Erika's team dinner.  It was a little nuts, but anything for Erika :).  Kennedy's mom helped with the meal.  The girls got out early so we were "late" bringing the food, but it was okay.  They loved them!  I am always happy Nate can help with those things on Fridays.  I think it went pretty well.  12-13-24

SHOPPING
Nate and I finally started our Christmas shopping!  Not a moment too soon!  We got a lot done at Station Park and had fun being with each other.  We took some pizza to Erika and Jack and then I went and did centers in Sadie's class.  It was a full day.  12-13-24

DATE NIGHT
We went to Five Guys for dinner and then to see the movie "Interstellar".  It was the 10th anniversary or something so they put it back in theaters.  Such a good movie!  I had such a spiritual experience there at the end, thinking about life and how I want to spend my time and be with my kids as much as I can.  Kinda crazy.  Cool movie though.  12-13-24

WARD CHRISTMAS PARTY
This was a challenge.  Highlights: getting to hear Charity and Hunter sing together again.  Chatting with Charity and Kelly.  Cute decorations and fun theme.  That's about it.  I was annoyed with how bad the manners of our ward were during Barbara Farnes' talking and Charity's song.  They were so very rude.  Then the battle with Jack about what to eat was unending and so frustrating.  Not sure how to handle those things.  Then we came home and watched a movie together.  12-14-24

ISAAC MAYNES' HOMECOMING
We had the privilege of hearing one of Isaac's homecoming talks on Sunday.  We got up bright and early, Charity and Hunter came with us, and we all drove up to Idaho Falls.  We still had my mom's Christmas party that night and so we knew we needed to leave Idaho Falls by 2:00.  Unfortunately, the Idaho Mayneses do not miss second hour and wanted us to stay for all of church.  We had determined that we might as well go home right then if we're not even going to get to spend any time with them anyway.  Luckily, Heather came up with the idea to have the kids come home with us and help us get some food.  So we got to hang out with Hannah, Jake and Grace, Isaac and Rachel at their new house eating all the yummy food and chatting.  Kinda fun really!  I liked it.  We felt bad leaving as soon as everyone else got there (Dan and Adele, Grandma Ruthie, Jen), but we needed to hurry home.  I did get a quick tour of their house.  So pretty!  We had a long drive home and stopped at the house for "three minutes" to change clothes or get things and then headed off to my mom's party.  Fun surprise at home- Kelly had cleaned the kitchen while we were gone! 12-15-24

GRANDMA AND SIMON CHRISTMAS PARTY
We had a lot of fun at Grandma's party this year.  We ate yummy food, talked, laughed, started playing Noah's fun writing to 100 game and then we were interrupted with Brad's phone call which we all love!  Then we finished the game and got prizes.  We had a good time.  It was fun that Kelly and Charity brought Devan and Hunter.  Steve was there too.  He was so fun to sit and play the memory game with Sadie and Molly.  Well, Sadie was worried about him beating her because of all of his trash talking, but I think Molly ended up winning.  They all played with the Bluey house for quite a while also.  Fun kids.  Good times.  12-15-24

PHONE CALL WITH BRAD
It was nice that the younger kids all got a turn to talk to him.  He was really attentive and asked them lots of questions.  We didn't even get to talk to his comp :).  

SADIE DR. TEW
I finally did it.  Monday morning was kind of the last straw with how Sadie is feeling.  I needed some answers.  It was really kind of cool how my morning went.  I tried to plan out my day with all the things on my to do list and nothing was working out in my mind and I kept having a hard time planning.  Then the Spirit told me to just go on my walk and take a shower and then I would be able to figure things out.  Well, I ended up calling the doctor's office after taking the kids to school and they had an appointment at 11:20 which is about the time I would be done showering after my walk.  It fit perfectly.  Felt meant to be.  When Dr. Tew came in the room the first thing he asked was how our family was doing.  I thought he knew everything we'd been doing this summer with the stroke and diabetes, but he hadn't heard anything about any of it.  So we ended up talking about everyone else first.  It's kind of weird that the information wasn't sent to him.  But this really cool moment, when we brought up Kelly, Dr. Tew mentioned that his niece went through early menopause and then spontaneously had her own babies, just had her third!  This was the coolest little piece of information I have heard in a long time!  It made me happy.  We finished talking about everyone else, got through all of Sadie's symptoms and issues, and then we were on our way to the lab on 400 North for some blood work.  This was rough.  Poor little Sadie!  Screamed and thrashed the whole time they were getting the blood draw ready and it was so sad that she was saying, "Please don't! Please don't!"  What kid says please?  So sad.  She was fine once they got the needle in her arm and we could see the blood, but it was a rough hour or so afterwards, worrying about the wrap and everything.  We stopped at Wendy's for lunch and had to take the Coban off right away because she wasn't able to use her diplings with the arm they used.  She needed a picture of her with the Coban before we took it off.  She was being really sweet and pretty tough really and went back to school.  That night I looked up her lab results and got pretty nervous googling all the ones that she was out of range.  Dumb me.  In the morning the next day I got the call from the receptionist that everything was fine.  She just needs to take a vitamin and make sure she's getting all her water and we only call if she refuses to bear weight on her legs.  Kinda crazy, but okay!  I don't know why hearing that someone is perfectly fine is so frustrating, but I have learned that there are just things we don't know about.  She will be fine.  Just not comfortable every night.  12-16-24

EMAIL FROM LUKE- A guy bought us so much groceries
Hey guys, short email this week cuz I'm tired.

On Monday this guy named silver took us shopping, we picked out a few things for sandwiches and called it good then he made us go back and he grabbed a ton of stuff and put it in our cart, it was seriously 70 bucks worth of groceries it was insane. Then he took us back to his house to give us some banana pudding. And this dude isn't even a member of the church he's literally just a guy we've met like twice. He's so nice though. 

I went on a super weird cross zone exchange, somehow I ended up in a Spanish area, not in my zone. This was a super good exchange though because the elder I went with was elder bench, he went to Davis. He hasn't been out very long so I kinda got to step up and be a lot more involved in everything, it was lowkey so fun. We also did a passoff lesson with another set of elders and one of the elders was elder edgington who also went to Davis, it was kinda awesome.

We had Christmas conference, it took literally all day and they fed us some super good food. We all performed some skits in front of everyone and it was probably one of the cringiest things I've done so far on the mish.

I get a new comp this week, should be exciting we'll see what happens

Spiritual thought: Luke 6

38 Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

I read this the other day and it just hit so hard. As we serve others, not only do we help others feel good, but we also feel good. As we learn to constantly look outside ourselves and seek to serve God's children, we will feel more joy than we've felt before.

EMAIL FROM BRAD
Today I don't want to write a long email. This week was cool!! We had the baptism of one of my best friends Jose Carlos! He's so cool! Heres some pictures and we also had transfers and I'm staying till February!!!

TENDER MERCY
Heavenly Father totally prepared me for the day to go different than I had thought and helped me to not get bugged.  I wasn't able to do any of the things on my to do list and it was okay.  It felt like he had orchestrated that day.  So grateful.  12-16-24

CHRISTMAS IN COLOR LIGHTS
We went on our fun tradition to drive through the Christmas lights up in South Jordan.  I keep wanting to try the closer ones at our fairgrounds, but this year it was nice to have it there so we could meet up with Charity and Kelly and their guys.  We all met up at Panda Express and had dinner and then piled into the van and drove through the lights.  Nate took all the right turns and made our way quickly up to the front of the line.  It was as if we had VIP tickets but we didn't.  Luckily they didn't send us back to the end of the line when they didn't see VIP on our tickets that Nate FINALLY showed them.  Kinda funny, a little embarrassing, but Nate was tired, so we all excused it :).  Our car sounded like a party as we drove through.  It was MUCH longer this year!  I don't think we needed to drive as slow as we did.  It was fun to have Molly and Sadie up front with us and it felt like everyone was having a good time.  Kind of a funny tradition when we look at it from the perspective of outsiders, but anything to get together and have some fun.  12-16-24

WORK
I've been getting a little frustrated with how unorganized my boss is at work these days.  We have SO MANY orders, so it's kind of understandable, but it's getting frustrating.  We put the wrong labels on about 100 bags of Cinnamon Roll, he told us to peel them off, which wasn't going so well on about 30 of them, and then he remembered a different order and told us we didn't have to peel the rest off.  So annoying.  But whatever.  We spent the rest of the day doing caramel.  He also told us that we need to put something in the Amazon cart worth around $100, so that's fun.  I didn't get a chance to put anything on there because Aumberlee was hogging it, but hopefully I can still do it on Thursday.  I think I'm going to get an Amazon gift card :).  12-17-24

ERIKA'S FIRST HOME GAME
This game was SO intense!!  It was kind of hard for our team.  For some reason none of our shots were going in and passes were just a little off.  It was such a bummer.  I mean, don't get me wrong, we were winning most of the game!  It just was so close it was frustrating for a lot of it.  Erika wasn't feeling great and said she was dizzy for a lot of the game, which is a bummer, but she played so hard!  She may not have made any of her shots, but she was a force out there on the court and was helping everyone else along.  It was a pretty cool game though, with an over time and Erika had the ball at the last few seconds when the other coach was screaming at her team to foul her and she just held onto that ball so tight!  We were two points ahead and we kept that lead til the buzzer went off thanks to Erika.  Pretty cool.  I was so happy to win after having to listen to the people behind us cheering for the other team the whole time.  And I'll admit the refs missed a couple of our fouls at the end there, but hey, we'll take it!  We shoulda won by a lot anyway, just unlucky shots.  Erika played like a champ and I was so proud of her.  Christine sent her the nicest text as well, boosting her up and letting her know that she recognized all that she did for the team today, and just because she didn't score 17 points doesn't mean she didn't play well.  I really love our coaches.  12-17-24

OFF
This Christmastime has been an off one for me for some reason.  People have speculated that it's because my boys are gone, could be.  I just haven't felt the motivation for everything.  It's kind of a bummer.  I've put off putting up my tall tree and didn't get my nativities up until Saturday (which did feel really good and I was happy to get some of them out- not as many because clutter is really overwhelming to me right now).  I've just been really slow with everything Christmas.  Kind of a bummer.  I do miss my boys.  I miss their hugs, their smiles, all the funny jokes and laughter and watching them play with their younger siblings and entertain their big sisters.  It is really hard.  I have to admit that.  But I also have this long list of tender mercies and times when I saw the hand of the Lord in my day and I can't deny that Heavenly Father has been here with me and for me and we've been blessed in really interesting ways.  Ways I can't even explain.  So I feel a little guilty complaining about how hard it is.  I know they are out doing the best thing they could be doing and that is comforting.  I know that they will become more like who they are supposed to be while they are out there and gain so much experience to help them with the rest of their lives.  I'm excited about the ways that a mission can prepare them for being a husband and father later and the things that they will improve on and the things they will learn.  I know this is a good thing for them.  There is no doubt.  I just wish it could be closer to home :).  Closer to me.  It's been cool to hear about their successes and watch them grow, even Luke already!  I am just so happy for them most of the time.  But I do miss them terribly.  Maybe it does make it harder during the holidays to not feel their absence.  Maybe there are more reminders.  I just need to toughen up.  I need to keep it together for everyone else.  Which I do feel like I've done okay at keeping up most of our traditions and making things fun for the little ones.  I think we're doing okay.  Just off a little I guess.  I'll get there.  12-18-24

MOLLY'S CHOIR CONCERT
We all got to go hear Molly perform in her choir.  She has been so diligent at going and was so brave to try this new thing out.  She did so good!  They sounded great and it was fun to see her getting into the actions and stuff.  Good job, Mollz!!  12-18-25

KELLY AND DEVAN ARE ENGAGED!!!
He did it!  He finally proposed!!  So exciting!  He had texted Nate and I earlier that day to let us know he was proposing and since he had been kind of warming Kelly up for this date that was kind of special and different, she kind of seemed to know also.  But we didn't spill the beans!  He took her out and they went to a few different places, she was anxious for him to pop the question, but also not sure if he was going to.  He had thought he wouldn't have the ring until January, so this was earlier than he had planned too, but she was kind of going back and forth in her mind.  Kinda cute.  Finally when they got back to his house, he took her down by the creek and he had set up a cute little scene with lights in the shape of a heart and lights above and the ring was sitting on a little table.  So cute!!  Kelly has been on a cloud ever since.  We were so happy they stopped by here, after, and showed us the beautiful ring and told us the whole story.  It was so fun.  Everyone is very excited and glad we get to add Devan to the family finally :).  12-19-25

POLAR EXPRESS PARTY- SADIE
Nate and I got to go help in Sadie's Polar Express Party.  We were in charge of hot chocolate and cookies.  I got E. L. Fudge cookies cuz they looked like elves.  These kids were not impressed.  Kinda funny.  But we did have fun helping them all with their hot chocolate and talking to them about what they wanted for Christmas and stuff.  Cute kids.  Sadie is always so loving and affectionate when we go into her class.  So cute.  12-20-25

CHRISTMAS EVE A WEEK EARLY
We had a pretend Christmas Eve this Sunday.  Grandpa and Jo are going to be gone on actual Christmas Eve, so we moved it up.  That was cool of Grandpa.  We all went up, Steve was there, we ate lots of yummy food, the kids all begged to open presents and Grandpa finally gave in.  It was a fun one.  I think everyone got good and spoiled.  Sadie got a music/jewelry box which she LOVED.  Molly got a breathing dog toy- just like the cats Charity and Kelly had.  Kinda funny how much she loved it, but way cute.  Jack got a handheld microscope.  Grandpa was really excited about that.  Erika got a really pretty water bottle.  I can't remember what Grandpa gave Noah.  Kelly got a beanie and scarf and gloves.  Charity got a weighted stuffy dinosaur- super cute.  It was a fun time.  Felt pretty weird driving home feeling like it should be Christmas eve and it wasn't.  But good stuff.  12-22-25

DOWNTOWN LIGHTS ON THE TRAIN
We got everyone out for this, this year, which was so much fun!  I'll admit I was a little nervous for Devan to experience this tradition with us.  I've been nervous lately with the things that we do and how they will be judged.  I want him to want to spend time with us so I hope it's not dorky stuff all the time, ya know.  But he's been very reassuring and fun to have around.  We got on the train at Station Park, drove down to Salt Lake and right when we got off the last bus Hunter started feeling pretty sick.  We were all worried about him, but also very hungry (there's no Subway in Station Park anymore, so we chanced it and decided to do dinner at the food court), so we wished him well with the green face and most of us went on.  This year was the first in a while that we've gone to the lights before Christmas, and we were reminded why and that we want to do after again in the future.  It was SO BUSY!!  So packed everywhere!!  The food court was insane, but actually the Chick-fil-a line went pretty fast.  It was kind of a tense moment where we were trying to figure out what Jack would eat and Sadie and Molly all wanted different things, along with everyone else.  So we all kind of split up.  Super crazy, but we all ended up back at the same table and actually ate together.  Everyone was much happier and things lightened up once we ate.  That was good.  We got to see some lights, some of the new things at Temple Square. We went over to the conference center this time.  It was fun to reminisce about the day Nate proposed to me there, with Kelly and Devan's recent engagement.  We got to see what they've done with our spot.  It's still the best view of the Salt Lake temple and was never really about that spot, just about the view from it, so it was okay they changed it up a little.  It's really beautiful.  We gave out Great Harvest Bread to the homeless.  I think they were happy.  We went into Red Balloon for a few minutes and found the perfect Lego set for Jack.  Luckily he had no clue the bag Nate was carrying and kicking was not actually a puzzle for someone at work.   Not really hard to fool Jack, but super funny.  I loved that we had everyone together and spent that evening out.  It wasn't too cold but we want to remember to go after Christmas next year.  12-23-25

CHRISTMAS EVE
After doing a good cleaning on the house, and dropping off a gift at the Wolsey's, we got to go talk to Santa this year.  Not a surprise though :).  We were over in the sim building this year which was different, but just fine.  I met Duke's wife who was talking about living in New York for their last three years before he retires thing- sounded so cool.  I would love to do that.  Then the kids got to talk to Santa.  This was a fun year.  We decided not to do the older girls which is a bummer, but makes sense.  Sadie was super nervous but did really good.  I wish I wasn't writing this in February and could remember all the things he said to everyone, but unfortunately, I don't.  But it was a fun year.  I do remember him teasing Erika about Collin and getting after Noah for picking on Jack and him telling Jack he could take Noah.  Lots of fun.  After Santa, we got to go to Longhorn Steakhouse for dinner with Grandma, and Becky (and her boys!).  I had fun talking to Ruth and Becky and Adam and his girlfriend.  It was a fun time.  Different kind of Christmas Eve for us, but it worked!  We missed Kelly and Devan.  They had some Brenchley fun though.  We came home and opened up our Christmas Jammies.  I did matching ones this year!  Kinda risky, but they ended up being so comfy and so cute!!  Everyone seemed to like theirs.  I was happy about that.  It was nice that Hunter was here, we got a  picture with everyone in it.  I was happy to get photos from Brad and Luke the next day of them in theirs.  It was a lot of work getting those to the boys!  I need to plan the Christmas packages better in the future.  12-24-25

CHRISTMAS DAY!!!
This Christmas looked a lot like all the others :).  With all the traditions happening just as planned.  Everybody woke up early, woke up mom with the birthday song, stockings while we prepared creamed eggs on toast.  And actually, I got out of the cooking and just took a few pictures instead.  Everyone is so helpful on Christmas morning.  Good kids.  Everyone spoiled me with birthday gifts and then we moved down to the family room for Santa gifts!  Sadie got "a dog in a kaj" as requested in her letter and the night before on the phone with Santa.  Molly got Legos.  Some really cute ones!  She seemed pretty happy with those.  She had asked for them as well.  Jack got Legos also.  He seemed very relieved (even though he got a small set in his stocking, I think he was worried that was it in the Lego department).  Erika got a new coat and some shoes!  Super cute ones.  Noah got a new fishing pole.  Big smile there.  Luke and Brad were very missed.  Christmas is just not the same without everyone here.  It's a hard truth that we've all had to learn to live with.  But we were happy to have Kelly and Charity (and her plus one) with us for sure.  Kelly got speakers.  She seemed quite happy with them.  And Charity got a weighted blanket.  It seemed like everyone was satisfied with their gifts from Santa.  Then we moved on to the homemade gifts to each other.  Sadie had Charity.  She had designed an adorable hoodie for Charity with a cute kitty on it.  Charity almost cried.  It is super cute.  Molly had Brad and she made him some pajama pants with a cute llama on the thigh.  Super cute!  He loved it of course.  Jack had Kelly.  He had made her some really cool candles.  He made them all on his own after me showing him how to do it.  I was really proud of him.  Super cool.  Erika had Luke.  She decided to go the Amazon route and sent him a basketball :).  I'm sure he loved it.  Noah had Sadie and had slaved over her bath bombs for an entire Saturday.  He went all out and put cute little animals in them.  She has loved using them and the surprise animals that come out in the water.  Such a fun thing he did for her.  Now he needs to teach her how to make her own.  Luke had Nate and picked out some fish Hey Dudes a couple months before Christmas.  Very cool.  Nate loves them.  Brad had Molly and struggled to find the perfect llama hoodie for her on Amazon with me.  He picked a cute one, unfortunately, it is really big despite the sizing it claimed on Amazon.  But she loves it.  He will have to bring her home a really nice Peruvian one I guess.  Kelly had Erika and she made her a really beautiful mirror for her bedroom. So pretty.  Charity had me and she wrote me a really sweet song.  I really can't get enough of that song.  Of course I cried the first fifty times I listened to it.  She's so sweet and so thoughtful.  I had Noah and I got him one of those journaling Book of Mormons so I could mark it up and put cool quotes and cross-references in it.  I think he liked it.  Nate had Jack, he had been working on the stained glass frame he made Jack all season.  Funny enough Jack had seen him working on it but had no idea it was for him.  Funny kid.  After that we went youngest to oldest through all the gifts.  It was pretty fun and a nice time together.  Everyone was in a good mood and we had fun.  Christmas is always a good time.  We all hang out trying out new toys and games and taking naps and stuff.  It was so nice.  We even got to talk to Luke and Brad that evening, both of them together.  They were very focused on missionary work, which was really fun to hear about.  They were grateful for the packages we'd sent them both and sent me their pictures of them in their Christmas Jammies.   12-25-24

NEW CALLING
We were invited to visit with President Perry and I assumed it was either Nate getting released or a Girls Camp calling for me.  I was actually kind of excited about the thought of going to Stake Girls Camp.  But alas, it was a full on Stake calling for me.  1st Counselor in the Stake Young Women's Presidency.  They are keeping Martha McKay in and calling all new counselors and secretary.  Kind of crazy.  But I'm willing to try whatever I am asked to do.  12-29-24

GRANDMA RUTHIE'S FAMILY DINNER AND GIFT EXCHANGE
This was a fun evening. We all met up at Lynn and Ali's for soups and fun.  It was funny when we first got there, everyone was playing with some bells that you follow youtube videos and play your note when it comes up.  It was really loud and obnoxious sounding when we first got there and I was worried about Devan and Hunter's headaches, but we ended up making it fun and having a really good time.  Everyone was talking to all the newly engaged kids and talking wedding plans, so that was fun for them.  We remembered Jack's pbjs so that was awesome for him also.  After food we did a little gift exchange and that was a lot of fun.  We ended up with a lot of the stuff we brought which was kind of fun.  It was especially fun to have Nate with us.  He took work off to come!  12-29-24

NEW YEAR'S EVE
We had a pretty fun New Year's Eve this year!  I was surprised to have Kelly and Devan and Charity and Hunter with us for most of it!  Even Noah stuck around for most of it.  Lots of fun.  We did our traditional balloon popping with fun ideas to do inside each one.  
12:00 eat lunch and make the yummy cereal treat
1:00 board games
2:00 make molten lava cake
3:00 gingerbread house baseball and hot chocolate
4:00 scavenger hunt station park- this ended up being a lot of fun!  Two teams going around getting pictures of stuff.  Kelly, Devan, Erika and Sadie in one group, Charity, Hunter, Noah and Molly in the other one.  Lots of fun.  I felt like everyone had a good time.  We met up at Pretzel Maker for Pretzel Bites at the end.  I was surprised that Hunter did the whole thing on crutches!
5:00 minute to win it games
6:00 tacos for dinner- dessert molten lava cake
7:00 paper plate ribbon game- this was a lot of fun too- Molly won the biggest prize- cheesecake factory $50 gift card!  So cool!  
8:00 New Year's resolutions and study time- I found a bunch of questions you can print out on cards to play for this, pretty fun
9:00 paper airplane contest- an oldie but goodie
10:00 board games
11:00 studio c and get ready to ring in the new year!
It was a fun night.  
12-31-24

FAMILY SUM UP IN 33 Sentences- I'm hoping to do this every year now
Sadie (5)- I started kindergarten.  Went to Lagood for the first time.  I got a new bike!
Molly (9)- I got to perform in my Illume's production of Beauty and the Beast.  My soccer team was undefeated.  I became a chef this year, making treats for everyone.
Jack (12)- I got the Priesthood this year.  Got diagnosed with Type 1.  And I started junior hight.
Erika (15)- I got my learners permit which has been so funn!!  I made the varsity basketball team and became a captain!  I'm now a freshmann which is super fun!
Noah (16)- I turned 16 and got my drivers license so I've been driving around a lot.  I had a stroke and did physical therapy in order to get healthy again.  I had a good year and I've learned a lot of new talents that I didn't know I had before
Elder Luke Maynes (18)- I graduated from davis high school and hung around all summer.  I got my mission call to the Texas Houston south mission.  I'm serving my mission right now and it's super awesome so far.  
Elder Bradley Maynes (20)- Basically this year was the greatest year of my life.  The progress I have witnessed from 2024=2025 is the most progress I'm sure I'll ever experience in my life.  I love Jesus
Kelly (21)- This year was the best ever because I got engaged to the best guy ever :) I spent the summer as an fsy counselor and then moved to provo!!  So many good things happened this year and I can't wait for more!!
Charity (22)- I started a new job at Vivint that I've been performing really well at and love.  I'm still a relief society teacher in my YSA ward and that's so fulfilling.  I've loved the lessons learned this year and am excited for more with the next one :)
Me- I started a new life chapter- having all of the kids in school.  I got some great one on one time with Noah and Jack during their separate hospital stays.  I did about 416 loads of laundry :).  
Nate- I am so happy to be blessed with an amazing and wonderful wife.  I am so happy and blessed with obedient and cheerful children.  I couldn't ask for more!!