Weekend of cousins, St Patrick's Day, and Women at the Well

This one was on my camera, but it's from a couple weeks ago at the baptism.

This Friday,  my brother McKay who is moving to Virginia, asked if they could stay with us until they left because all of their furniture had been packed.  We loved having them here.  I love people being around.  Remember that book about love languages?  I think that my love language is time.  When people give me their time I feel loved.  The first night, Janelle had them all over to sleep at her house as a niece and nephew sleepover.  That had so much fun and came back chatty and happy.  Sam woke up at 4:30 and chatted with Janelle, woke up Jordan and then eventually woke up every one else too. McKay and I stayed up late talking.  Jer had TERT training on Saturday and McKay was still cleaning the house up there, so I  took the kids and we just hung out all day.  The Bronleys were visiting their grandparents, so they came to play too.  I had 11 kids for most of the day.  It was fun to see Sam loving baseball and cousins.  Evelyn and Ada playing dolls with Michelle and Lizzie.  Aubrey asking to cook all day and Jordan getting out games to play.  I have a hard time loving Hannah, my friend's 6 year old, but everything was so fun.  It was such a nice day outside.  I asked the kids to pick up dog poop and then they played out there for most of the day.  After asking the kids to put away the same game three times, I put everyone in our two cars and Jer and I took them to the park.  That was fun despite Sam and Ada falling and getting scraped up.  

On Sunday, we got kids up and dressed for church.  It was cute to see Jordan hugging his Dad all through sacrament meeting.  Evelyn and Seth were particularly wiggly.  I'm guessing that they were tired.  We've been going to bed late.  Sophie had flown in from Virginia to Las Vegas to see her sister and parents before meeting up with McKay and the kids to drive out there.  She took the shuttle up from St George and got up to Orem about the time that church got out.  It was fun to chat with her.  Sunday was St Patrick's Day.  Janelle made and brought all of an amazing Irish dinner with fun green veggies and desserts.  It was delicious corned beef and potatoes with brussel sprouts.  Monday we got to spend the afternoon and evening together before they drove out on Tuesday morning.  

Tuesday morning, Ada and I got up to go to our barre class before she had to leave for school.  She's such a trooper.  We usually go in the evening, which is easier for me physically, but she wanted to spend more time with cousins so we opted to go the next morning.  She never complained once about having to wake up at 5:30 am.  She did have some problems with some of the exercises, but I think that's more to do with the fact that I have to modify some of the exercises because my plantar is still inflamed.  She sees me modify and doesn't push herself as hard.  It's hard for me to tell her to work harder so that her feet get stronger when I'm just proud that she's there at all.  Jer would be a better work out companion for her, but I need these same exercises for my own feet so she's stuck with me.  I enjoy the time with her too.  It's fun to get one on one time with her.  I think her love language is time as well.  

Two weeks ago I was asked to play the Women at the Well program on the piano for our next Relief Society meeting.  It was fun.  I made lots of mistakes, even going back to the wrong coda.  It was pretty funny.  But my favorite thing that came out of it was Ada.  I would practice and she would come and watch me play.  Sometimes even asking to sing along with me.  I LOVED it.  

Aubrey gets a little anxious with all the chaos, so she always asked to do the cooking or do something by but not with everyone.  She loves my camera because she's part of everything but not directly involved.  She took all these gems and many more.  

She had a million pictures of our cat on in the trailer with the stuff that was waiting to get hauled to the dump.  That was pretty funny.

She even took a selfie in the window.

She took pictures of the messy rooms after days of cousins too.  I thought that was pretty funny.

We were trying to get a picture of everyone smiling... Each one had someone with a funny face, like Evelyn and Isaiah here.

We did finally get one though....

Me, Jeremy, Sophie, McKay, Janelle, Seth

Ada, Michelle, Devin, Aubrey, Jordan, Sam, Isaiah

Evelyn and Seth

Way home from church

Watching Into the Spider-verse with Uncle Seth and Aunt Nellie

We had an expired fire extinguisher.  Jer took the kids out and taught them how to use it. (Not cousins, just neighbors).  I think being prepared it a good thing and hopefully none of them will need it.

This is the cousins playing baseball in the cul-de-sac.  They used a soft ball so it wouldn't get hit as far and hurt anything.  Sam LOVED it.

We did a taste testing experiment too.  That was really cute.

The girls after church.  I loved doing our home scripture study with our Wilcox family.  They all are very eager participators and it was easy to feel the Holy Ghost.  So much fun.  We're still working on getting our youngest one to be an eager participator.  One step at a time.

This week

A couple of these pictures are older and I just found them on Jer's phone.  I loved this one.  Jer and Judy took Ada to the temple together.  

Sam's blue and gold banquet was a picnic on the floor.  It was awesome.  They even had bigger pickles than Sam could eat and that's saying something.

Tuesday, my niece got home from her mission.  I'm so proud of her and the testimony that she bears.  I can't believe that she's an adult!  All these sweet family members that have gone from kid to adult are fun to see.  I love seeing the lives that Emma, Lizzie, Jacob and made for themselves.  I can't wait to see what Ruth can do!  

We've had some bad storms.   Friday morning, even though he was running a little late for work, Jer was inspired to check our roof through the crawl space.  Lo and behold... He has tried to fix the roof so many times, but the problem was something that he couldn't find.  He called our old neighbor Gonzalo Canos and he came over.  He patched it and is going to put together a bid to replace our roof.  Not something we were planning for this year, but hmmmm.

Sam and Ada

Saturday was an unsanctioned fencing tournament.  The last one we did was fairly hard for both of the kids.  This one was a lot smoother.  Ada made huge strides forward.  She never had to be reminded to stay in the strip.  She has very solid parries. She was able to get hooked up and didn't stress about any of it.  She got hit hard several times and would tear up but then would keep going.  I was very proud of her!  Sam never had a break down until he lost his last bout.  You can tell that he was happy to be winning.  He won every bout until the semi-finals.  He ended up tying for 3rd place.

This is my very favorite picture of Ada ever.  Thanks Jer for that!

Jer was amazing.  He got the kids up and there early to get ready.  He helped them every step of the way.

Julie is pushing really hard for our kids to join the USFA so that they can get points and ratings for competitions.  I was purposefully keeping the kids out of both because of the time and money involved.  After Sam doing so well at this one he might want to push competing.  I'll watch him over the next few weeks and see how motivated he is in practice.  

After the competition, we drove up to Sharon and Brad's house.  They'd taken Emma to the temple to do baptisms for the first time for both her and for Brad.  Brad got to baptize Emma.  What a neat experience. 

Daylight savings time hit our kids hard this time.  Watching Seth petting Sam's hair was the cutest thing.  Ada was completely out.  

Our neighbors, the Clingers, are always thinking of the kids.  They brought Sam the Hardy boy books last week and this week they brought Evelyn the Magic Treehouse books that they had collect for their now older kids.  For 6 hours she carried the box of books around and read.  

Sunday night we had my friend, Elizabeth Cason Stott and her husband and son over for dinner and games.  It was fun to catch up with her.  She was always fun to talk to. Sam really had fun with their son, Isaac.

This week

Our last sick kid got better this week.  I enjoyed the kind cuddles instead of the 4 year old bounces for a while, but I'm glad he's back to himself.

Evelyn was Noble Knight at school!  Good job!

Thanks Mindy for the marvelous fry bread!  My cousin was doing a fundraiser for band tour.  Yummiest fundraiser.

Ada had a yeast infection and I didn't make her go to school so we called up Aunt Nellie to see if she was working and took her out to lunch.  I caught Ada patting Seth on the head.  I love seeing them love each other, then I hate it when they bug each other.... oh the learning curve.

We took Ada to the Dinosaur Museum instead.

I finished the blanket I made for Thea while we were stuck in the house.  

One of Janelle's days off, we went to IKEA to pick up some hangers and little stuff.  Seth and Vivien loved bouncing on the couches.  Sharon is so close to having her baby, I'm so excited to meet her new one.  

Friday is early out day at school.  A neighbor had some baptisms for the temple, so Sam watched the kids and I took Ada to the temple.  It was fun to run into my Great-Aunt and Uncle... Linda and Doug Harding.  He just finished radiation, so he's not as bouncy and chipper as usual, but they were there serving and are perfect to give hugs.  Ada remembers them from meeting them a couple of times, but I tried to put them into a timeline for her.... The grandma that Ada is named after is Doug's sister.  So it's like Ada and Seth.

On Saturday we got to go to Isaiah and Michelle's baptism.  They're in the middle to moving to Virginia, but we were so lucky to be able to see them before they leave.  Sophie left to start her job training with Amazon and McKay will take kids out there this next week.  His job is just going to transfer him, so that's a good thing.  They have two offices within and hour of where Sophie will work, so they are going to try to find a place somewhere between that.  Congrats on the baptism you two!

With our tax return we bought a table that's big enough for our aging family and can host people when we have them over.  I really want to repaint the kitchen a light yellow color.  I think it would look really pretty with this table.

Sunday we got to see our Robertson grandparents for the first time in 3 weeks.  Grandpa was making cookies and Sam and Ada jumped right in.  It was fun to watch and listen to.

We had a teacher prep day off.  I told the kids that I would take them skating because they had all earned free passes at school.  Laurel and Ian came with us. (Laurel had a pass and we missed Ian's birthday because we were sick.) I figured that 6 older kids wouldn't be a problem.  They weren't.  I did end up watching my friends' 2 kids while she went to class. (She's a single mom in college with two kids.  One is high functioning autistic that I've helped out with before.)  She brought them and they were great the entire time, until I told them that it was time to go because their mom was at the entrance waiting for them.  Then her autistic son (I think he's 12ish) decided that he would hide in the laser tag area.  I had them turn it off and pull everyone out, I also had Ada take my keys and get the rest of them in the van while I got him.  I asked his sister if she knew how to get him out, she went in and came out bawling along with a worker holding a baseboard.  He decided to pull the laser tag area apart and hit people with it.  I ran in, took away the other piece that he'd peeled off the wall and grabbed him in a bear hug.  He screamed, "I hate you and I wish you were dead." the entire time that I was trying to drag him to the front doors.  I got him about half way when he decided to lay on the floor and not move, then I dragged him the rest of the way.  His mom took him from there.  She said that he ended up in the crisis center for the afternoon.  She says that he's been having more meltdowns lately... maybe he's growing and needs to adjust his meds.  I don't know.  He called a couple hours later to talk.  He never apologized for his behavior, but he did talk about how he felt and then chatted with me for an hour about dinosaurs, legos and submarines.  I hope that was able to smooth out hurt feelings on his end.  

We were late for taking kids home so I could teach my fencing class, so I took all 6 with me instead of just 2.  It was actually really fun to have everyone... I had my 6, my 2 regulars and 3 more visitors.  (The 3 visiting were Elliot and Susan's kids.  Man they're adorable.  Susan brought their 3 year old daughter, Ashley, with them.  Ada was telling me how cute she is.  I told her that it's her 2nd cousin and she squeals, "I'm related to a princess!")  It was fun to see the two older boys again.  They've all been in my class before.

I found these online.... I really need to try to make them for Ada.  She would be in heaven.

Jer came home from meetings on Sunday and was absolutely exhausted, so he told everyone to go read in bed... and they all went and fell asleep instead.  It was pretty funny.

Here are McKay with Michelle and Isaiah.