Saratoga Springs temple

PC: Zak Bartholomew

Our neighbor is working on the Saratoga Springs Temple site.  He sent this to our neighborhood facebook page because he knows how excited all of his neighbors are for a new temple in the area.  He's not a member of the church, but he knew we'd want to see what was going on!  Can I just say that I love my neighborhood.

School pictures

I didn't buy kids school pictures last year because they are sooooo expensive.  I did get them this year because I wanted Seth to have his Kindergarten picture.  Luckily they sell the digital file.  That's much cheaper.  These guys are growing up so much!

   

Busy busy

We've had quite the week.

Judy had her another chemo treatment.  She's doing really well.  Feels sick, but the tumors are gone as far as the doctor can see.

Ada kicked two goals in her last game of the season.  She played mid field the entire game.

Seth went on a field trip with school for the first time.  He loved it.  They went to Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point.  He came home and told me how he played in the box with corn and ended up with it in his pants pockets and shoes.  They let them pick out a small pumpkin to take home.  Seth told me not to throw it away because it was for, "Hawaleen." That night he couldn't sleep and the next morning he had broken out in blisters all over his feet.  Sooooo, he is either having an allergic reaction to the corn which he's never tested positive for (he has external outbreaks when he's allergic to something) or he has caught hand foot and mouth disease somewhere in the last week.  I talked to their school and they haven't had anyone report it at their school.  That's the only place that he's been in the last week.... We'll see.  I gave him allergy meds and put his eczema cream on .  That made it not itch at least.  If it's hand foot and mouth, it takes about a week to heal.  If it's allergies it take about 3-4 days.  Today is day 2.

Sam, Evelyn and I all took turns with a fever and head ache.  Sam's class had a reported lice incident.  I checked all the kids, I'm making sure that they are wearing their hair up and spraying their hair with a lice repellant spray for a few weeks just to make sure we don't catch it again. I will say that lice is not nearly as scary now.  It's annoying to deal with, but it isn't scary anymore.

My friend, Silvia, left to go home to Ecuador.  She was only here for a month instead of 6 like she'd planned.  Her English improved a lot in that month though.  Her work called and asked her to come home early, she missed her family so it was easy to say yes.  She said that she wants to apply to BYU's ESL program with her husband so that they can both come study up here and bring her son too.  She'd also like to try to get into the art museum circuit up here.  She enjoyed being here.  She said that with all the Venezuelan immigrants coming to Quito, it's hectic, hard to get employment and scary to let you children leave the house.  Well, we might see her again if their visas get approved.  I admire that she has goals and is willing to jump through the hoops to get to them instead of taking shortcuts.   My Friday was spent running her around to finish up any errands (her son is vitamin deficient and his hair is starting to fall out, we went and found all the vitamins that the doctor asked her to bring home for him), and driving her up to the airport for her flight.  Ada drove up with me and we had a mini date on the way back.  In between, I was going over to mow the Robertson's lawn and Evelyn didn't want to go.  We were dropping her friend off at his house and they invited Evelyn and Seth to stay and play while I went.  Their oldest daughter asked how long it would take me.... I told her that with two people it took about 1 1/2-2 hours but I was on my own this time so it would probably be about 3 hours.  She said, "Just a minute." When she came to the door, she had shoes in her hand and said, "Okay, I'm ready."  She's one of my Laurels that really struggles spiritually.  She's so willing to serve.  I think this will help her as her testimony grows.  Sam and her took turns with the push mower doing the edges of the grass and helped with the leaf blower at the end.

My brother, Seth, came over to host another kid D&D night.  Sam surprised him with a new player.  I felt bad, but Sam had been talking up D&D to our autistic neighbor and he loved it.  Seth has the patience of a saint.  I know it's not easy to try to roll with the punches that kids can throw at you, but he did and it was beautiful.

For Mutual, we had a hygiene night.  Did you know that hygiene is part of the Personal Progress Program?  We did a scavenger hunt in groups, then we talked about each of the items and why they were important.  They were things like soap, deodorant, bras, pads, toothpaste, etc.... we also talked about alternative things they can use ie:salt sticks instead of deodorant, baking powder instead of toothpaste, etc... basically that taking care of your body is important and should be done and there are different ways and things that you can use to do it.  I was surprised at how many people didn't have an answer to why you use deodorant or toothpaste.  Or why you should wash your bras and clothes.  Hmmmmm….. the laurels were  hosting, so we put a lot of 11-15 year old girls on the spot, but it turned out well.  For the fun activity afterwards I bought dollar store eyeshadow and lipstick.  The girls got in pairs and had to close their eyes and use q tips to put make up on each other.  They even did mine.  It was so funny.

We now officially have a new roof.  We've had rain and no leaking, so I think we should be good for awhile.  Our old neighbor was our roofer, they did a great job, cleaned up after, and it only took 3 days.  Roofing is a very lucrative business I think.  About half of what is charged goes to materials, the other half is split between your 3 person crew for a 3 day venture.  (besides taking out money for business taxes and insurance)  Especially if your crew is fast and you have a lot of jobs scheduled.... That's a decently paying business.  I've done roofs a couple of times now.  We could have done it ourselves, but I'm really glad not to right now.  I'm okay with paying someone for this one.  On Friday, we should get our solar panels back on.  I'm excited for that.  That's a big chunk of the need to dos here.  The next one is trimming trees before it snows.

As a side note, Jer was able to get tickets for our family to go to the Conference center for Saturday morning's session of conference.  I'm excited.  Seth will stay with my parents and I'll sit next to Evelyn to keep her happy, but I think that it will be a neat experience all around.

Zoo

blackberry picker

Ada the yearbook photographer

the runners from the triple crown race

Saturday, we took the day and went to the zoo with my parents, Janelle and Silvia.  We skipped Ada's soccer game and Sam made it to half of his.  But we needed to use our passes at least one last time before they expire.  Financially, I don't think we'll be buying any new passes anywhere for another year or so.  We're running a day late and a dollar short.  We did a first though.... I decided to pay to let the kids feed an animal.  We fed the giraffe.  I loved watching them giggle when the giraffe grabbed the lettuce from them.  So cute.

This guy's doing yoga.

My parents paid for the kids to go on the carousel.  I think Seth especially liked it.

These three are Evelyn's pictures..... I love them.

The sand cat had babies.... 

Everywhere we explored had these sculptures made from plastics and garbage.  They were all sea animals.  This was a whale's ribcage made from plastic bottles.  

On Sunday, we drove up to Salt Lake City so that Silvia could see three more of our missionary friends before going back to Ecuador.  I love Temple Square, it's so beautiful.  There were hardly any people there too.  

Silvia, me, Ada, Karen, Cristina, Mia, Christian, Frederico

Sam, Seth, Evelyn, Cristina's mom, Karen's kids

Silvia and Karen lived together in Guayaquil.  Karen and I were companions in Santa Elena.  She was my favorite companion.  Now she teaches biology at the Salt Lake extension of BYU.  Our kids are the same age and all love soccer, so I think we're going to have to play soccer next time.

Spur of the moment, we decided to tour the Conference Center because Silvia's leaving before conference.  It was so pretty on the roof while the sun set. 

Amazing Jeremy took all our pictures.  But he was there too.  He's so patient with all my get togethers.  He even enjoys them sometimes, but half the time he's stuck with a bunch of Spanish speakers.  He is doing an amazing job and learning what they're saying and getting his point across when he needs them to know something.  Maybe Jer will be a Spanish speaker too.

this one's an Ada picture

Two of our missionary friends are currently rehearing for the Christmas concert so they couldn't be there during our time on temple square, but they were there just as we finished touring the conference center.  Ben and Mayra Clawson.  Ben was one of the office elders and Mayra lived with both Silvia and I at different times, as well as being Karen's trainer.

See, he's marvelous.

The kids' old PE teacher drove up from St George for the kid's race.  I loved this one of her and Evelyn.  

Silvia and the kids feeding the giraffe.

Awwww my heart

I let the kids sit in the back of the train.  I told them that if any of them stood up at all during the ride that we would never ride the train again.  Evelyn immediately stood up.  Ummmm do I have a snarky one?  She did do something super cute the other day though.  She's been practicing what little Spanish she knows with Silvia.  She asked me how to say, "Let's go."  I told her that it was, "Vamos or Vamanos." For the life of her, she couldn't say either.  She ended up with, "Vanamos" and now every time it's time to go, Silvia and I say, "Vanamos."

While we were at the zoo, we ran into our cousin.  Well, it's my 2nd cousin, but because of Bear Lake it feels like closer.  Ashley was there with her girls while her son was at work.  I'm glad that her dad is recovering from his stroke.  They almost lost him.  He's such a sweet man with a smile that would make anyone happy.  He is German, grew up in Canada, raised his family in Utah, traveled the world doing the gold paint work in temples as they were built or remodeled.  He is was one of the main caretakers for the Bear Lake cabin until this year.  Good man.

My neighbor Alina was there too with her daughter.  She's a nanny, so she usually has 7 kids when she does things like going to the zoo.  This time she only had 1 and almost didn't know what to do with herself.