Back to school party

The Clingers hosted us for a back to school night movie.  We watched the Emperor's New Groove and ate Peruvian food.  It was fun and I always enjoy talking with them. The Clingers were our Home teachers years ago.  They've never stopped ministering to us.  I love them even more for it.

 

January

 

It's become popular this month to go visit frozen Utah Lake.  My friend took these pictures of the ice stacks.  I want to take the kids down, but I just haven't gotten to it.  Hopefully we will before it all melts.

Our neighbors, and Jer's ministeree family are trying to rebuild their house.  New Year's Eve they had set off fireworks and put them in their garbage can next to the garage.  At 2:30 in the morning, one of the single guys in our neighborhood was coming back from a party and saw their house on fire.  He pounded on the door and woke them up.  They were able to evacuate and got their kids to sleep in the neighbor's house across the street while the fire department put out the fire.  It didn't look too bad, but now that they have taken off the roof, you can see that all the rafters were burnt from the inside.  God knows what we need.  He knew that that young man needed to come home at that late hour, and he knew that they needed neighbors that were willing to help them at that time.  For now, they are living in a hotel until the  damage is fixed, but the construction is being held up because of building permits.

This is my 2020-2021 survival kit.  It has everything I have needed this year.  Thermometer and handsanitizer station for the daycare.  Disinfectant wipes and sprays after they leave.  Diaper station. Left over food for the food pantry from the Parent Organization.  Shoe drawers. And mask station.  I have made about 200 homemade masks in the last year. (Thank you Amy Hansen for the wonderful pattern).  Some I gave to the school, some I gave to the daycare, but about a hundred of them sit in the bags on the the side of the cupboard.  If we leave the house, we grab a clean mask.  When we come home, we put it in the dirty bag.  When the bag is 3/4 full or at the end of the week, I wash it.  Unfortunately they don't dry very well, so we hang them out to dry to keep them from molding.

I bought the cupboard for daycare, but I was so much more grateful for it when COVID hit.

This dress is one that I made for Ada.  Evelyn was so excited when I pulled out all of the sized 12 dresses from storage for her.  She's been wearing dresses and smiling for a month.

Home again, home again, jiggity jig

We got home Saturday.  The kids had been really great travelers until the last day... then they were loud and squirmy, but we made it home without incident.  

Sunday was my parents mission report in their ward.  Their ward is a new one, so they actually didn't know very many people yet and there were a lot of kids squirming in sacrament meeting.  Mine were definitely louder than usual.  I think they were glad to be home and glad that Grandparents were home too.  Both of their talks were excellent and then we went to my parents house with cousins, and second cousins that had come.  I love that my Mom's cousins still come to support things when they can.  It's always so good to see them.  

Seth got home to a birthday card from Grandma Robertson.  He loved it and wanted me to take a picture of the Hippo birdie 2 ewe.  

Monday was a try to catch up from the last three weeks and prepare for the next two ones for me.  I have a list of things a mile long.  We also came back to one of our trees had fallen down and had split our baby silver maple tree on it's way down.  So we're going to be cutting up trees this week.  My sister, Sharon, and my parents were going to the Humanitarian Center to tie quilts while my sister Janelle watched Sharon's babies for the morning.  They asked if Ada and Evelyn wanted to go.  They had a complete blast and loved it.  Both girls want to tie quilts at home now to donate.  They both love that Grandpa ties quilts too.  Then I went with Sharon to my neighbor's house that sells Lularoe clothing to get some school shirts for Ada and Emma.  It's always fun to chat with my sisters.  I think Thea is starting to like me.  She only cried once when I held her this weekend and fell asleep on me twice.

Tuesday morning, the sisters I minister to and I went to the Butterfly biosphere for $2 Tuesday.  It was fun but extremely busy.  Then we had back to school night.  I was volunteered to be the PTO president elect.... which means that they're training me this year to take over the President position next year.  I really haven't ever done anything with the PTO before.  I enjoy helping in the kids classes, which is probably why they asked me to do it.  That means that I took the kids to back to school night at 5:30 and was there until 8.  I got all the paperwork done, but I still have some emails to teachers to write.  My Mom and Dad took Seth on a Kindergarten date.  They took him out for ice cream and to get him some good school shoes.  He was so thrilled and had to tell me everything.  (Thanks mom!) 

Today is Wed.  I'm in great need of a shower, my ministering sister came by to see how our trip was and to ask about Sam's scouting stuff (she's his scout leader).  She's super sweet and it's kind of funny watching a new mom with all the new mom worries.  The kids are in swimsuits and playing in the water outside.  Ada is painting at the table.  I'm trying to get ready for Evelyn switching dance studios and trying to decide if I'm going to keep teaching fencing with the new fencing club.  The next couple of days should have less mental things and more catch up stuff.  By Saturday, I'm anticipating that we'll be all caught up and in the school swing again.  Next week looks like a breeze.

Well, today was different

I was so proud of myself this morning.  Got up, got Ada off to school on time, mowed the lawn in enough time to pick up Ada from school, got the kids shoes on... they were standing next to the door when I figured out that I couldn't find my van keys anywhere.  Jer had one set at work, at least a 1/2 hour away.  I couldn't find mine.  Finally gave up and called my VTer and HTer/ carpooling buddy (yeah they're married) to go get her at school for me.  (The problem is that you have to have the right color and number on an official school card displayed in your windshield that matches with your child's color and number. I think it's a great precaution but it wasn't convenient today... at all.)  Proud Mommy moment... Ada told the teacher that the black car wasn't her car and she was only supposed to get in her car... Cringing moment... Ada carpools in the black car with my VTer every morning to school so she should know who they are by now.  I couldn't bring myself to even be remotely mad about that though... she knew not to get in a stranger's car... awesome!  Jer got home, unlocked the van with his set of keys and found my set which had fallen on the floor before closing and locking it last time I used it.  Nice.  Let's just say, thank goodness for Visiting and Home Teachers.

Saturday

You know those crazy days?!  Well, yesterday was one of them... though mostly of my own making...

First, wake up and fold the laundry and start the dishes... feed kids and get them changed... shower... go shopping and end up running into my Brown cousins... catch up with how they're doing.... run into my Wilcox (Chris and Cheryl) cousins and catch up... finally get in the car.  I'm 45 min late for a luncheon for all the new mommies and mommies to be thrown by my VTer who's also part of the RS presidency.  They waited for me... whoops!  They ended up having presents from some of the sisters... which made me feel dumb cause I got things but didn't give anything.  Then Jer had to get the kids ready for me to take to a baby shower in SLC.  I left to pick up someone from Provo to take with me... part of the way down I realize that I forgot the present, turn around and went back... picked it up... Jer had to wrap it while I was on my way back... Thanks Jer!  Went down to Provo, got lost on the way to her house... end up finally finding it at 3:15 when the shower's supposed to start at 3:30 and we still have a 45 -60min drive.  Finally get there and I realize I'd forgotten half the present... I hadn't told Jer where it was.  And I was the only North American that came... they were all Latinas.  Which is fine with me, I had fun catching up with my Spanish and there was actually a big surprise waiting for me... it was just funny because all the Latinas acted like I had no idea what was going on... big surprise for them.

Here's my big surprise... The sister on the left was Hna Lopez... A sister missionary from our mission that is from El Salvador... I left the mission field thinking I'd never cross paths with her again... and yet here she is... living in UT for the last year with her two boys (a 3 year old and a month old) and her husband working for the church in manufacturing... Loved saying hi to her again! 

The shower was for Mayra Cueva Clawson... she's only got about 5 weeks left and I think it's pretty funny... I'm fatter in the picture but she looks more pregnant than I do, I've only got about a week and a half left.  Partly becasue I'm taller than her by about 4 inches... and my baby's dropped already where hers hasn't.  And probably also because mine's a girl and hers is a boy... maybe he's a husky boy?  But looking at this picture I can see why some people are still surprised to find out that I'm pregnant and not just fat.  I don't exactly have the typical pregnancy shape do I...

The kids had fun playing in the water... Sammy had fun trying to sneak chips from other peoples plates... I hope he's not going to be grumpy at church today because he had corn... And Ada had fun trying to participate in the shower games. 

The rest of regional conference

We just got back and kids are in bed... and I'm lunching on squash ravioli (yum!) And I thought I'd quickly jot down my thoughts.

First of all, our kids were amazingly behaved considering it was a two hour meeting... Ada colored and ate raisins... Sammy ate raisins and colored on my skirt.  Ahh well.  The main themes of talks were: You're doing better than you're thinking of doing but we can be doing better, The pioneers did amazing things and we need to build our faith and our families as they did, and my favorite... Pres. Packer talked about how WE ARE children of God... and EVERYONE here is.  We need to act as children of God and treat everyone else as children of God. 

It seems like, especially for me, everyone is pointing out the importance of teaching and focusing on our children.  The YW Stake orientation, the VT message, a blessing given to me by my priesthood bearing husband, and talks from regional conference... they've all talked about teaching the next generation responsibility and living the gospel.  Not getting distracted by the plethora of good but non essential things.  Just teaching our children and building our families.  It's sooooo easy to get distracted!  Scheduling too much into our days, doing fun but unneeded things, focusing on money that we can really do without, toys or clothes that they really don't need, etc... I know that families are important in Heavenly Father's eternal plan.  And I've been given the responsibility to be a loving and good mother, wife and to help those outside of our home to strengthen their families and come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.  I know that God has called prophets in these latter days to guide and direct us in our lives.  And I'm grateful that I have a husband that is not only a worthy priesthood holder but that he is very conscious about how he uses the priesthood to direct our family and council me in my life.  I love the Savior and our Father in Heaven and hope that I can do better in my life so that I can help my family return to them.

Home teaching

Here is an example of how doing your home teaching can bless your life.

Jer Home Teaches a family in our ward that has 5 little kids including one little boy that recently received the priesthood. The kids and I go with him often because Jer's partner is usually out of town for his job. Ada likes to play with their kids even though the one closest to her age is either 5 months old or 4 years old...
So on Sunday I got up to play the closing hymn on the organ and Jer was feeding a bottle to the baby so neither of us saw that Ada had followed me up to the organ until I had gotten there... I can't play with Ada there for several reasons... mostly because she turns the page before the end of the song and I lose the music. I didn't want to cause a huge delay or a fuss by walking her back down into the audience just for her to throw a fit... Parker... the boy that had just gotten into the priesthood quorums was the bishop's helper and was sitting next to him on the stand. I saw him and asked Ada if she wanted to sit with Parker... to my surprise she did. He held her on his lap and then for a little while after the meeting so that I could play postlude. Thank goodness that she was familiar enough with him that she was willing to do that!