Mission Call, Concerts, Spacers, Easteregg Hunt, March Birthdays, Soccer, Track, Meets, Food

The past two weeks have been a blur.  Here’s what we have been up to.  We got to meet with the local missionaries via Zoom a few weeks ago.  They had three in the companionship.  One of the elders had only been out for two weeks.  However, once they heard Josh had turned in his mission papers they offered a lot of advice for Josh on how to prepare for his upcoming mission.  Here’s a picture of our Zoom visit (Josh is there on the far right, but just not on the screen):

Our family likes to try different things.  Aaron served his mission in Canada, but the area he served in was really populated with Filipino people.  Because of that he really loves Lumpia, Chicken Adobo, Pork kabobs, fried pork belly, and sticky rice.  We found a Filipino restaurant by our house and decided to try it out.  We got some food to go and brought it home for everyone to try out.  It was pretty good!

Things have been warming up.  Last week I took the kids out and we played some Pickleball.  It was fun to be outside and to play.  We are all a bit rusty from not playing in the winter, let’s be honest we weren’t that great before, but it was fun to try it out again.  

Josh has had two track meets this past two weeks.  He ran the mile and the two mile race in one and just the two mile race in the other.  Syracuse didn’t have a dedicated two mile runner so the coach decided to have Josh be the dedicated two mile runner for the team.  The second meet he even got under a 12 minute two mile run which was his goal, but is crazy!!  Here’s a few pictures from both meets:

What a poser....

Josh was able to get his second Pfizer Covid shot last Friday.  I had to work so Aaron took him to get it done.  Josh felt fine until later that day.  The poor guy had to work that evening and all the next day.  He felt pretty crummy, but just made sure he took Tylenol and ibuprofen around the clock.  At least he is now complete in his Covid vaccination series.

I got to work at a care center last week.  Most of the clinics I have done only require a mask.  However, this clinic required the mask, goggles, gown and gloves.  It was so hot.  Care center residents usually like the temperature at 80 degrees so by the end of my shift I was a huge, sweaty mess since I had to wear multiple layers.  It made me glad I don’t work at the hospital right now!!

Since the majority of the adults in my family have been vaccinated for Covid we got together to celebrate the March birthdays and to have the annual Easter egg hunt at G&G T’s house.  It was nice to get together again since it has been so long since we have been able to see each other in person.    The grandkids had fun doing the Easter egg hunt:

Josh had to work so I got to pick up a few eggs for him:

G&G T even through in some extra big eggs just for fun:

Seeing the loot:

Silly string and squirt guns were some of the favorites--haha!

Matthew knows that this get together is a tradition for our family.  He also knows that when the extended family gets together that everyone usually pitches in and helps bring a food item.  A few weeks before the get together he kept calling G&G T to ask what he could bring.  He doesn’t take no for an answer very well.  G&G T finally decided to have him bring brownies.  However, they wanted to make it as easy for Matthew as they could so they dropped off the brownie mix, the eggs, oil and pan for him to make it with that evening.  Matthew was so excited to participate and cook his own offering for our party.  In addition the March get together is to celebrate the March birthdays--my birthday, Johanna’s birthday, and Grandpa T’s birthday.  Matthew saved up his petty cash (which he earns by doing chores around his group home) and bought all three of us a present.  He also bought a card to go along with the wrapped present (which was a candy bar from the dollar store he picked out himself) he got for each of us.  The cards all had a sweet saying on them handwritten by Matthew.  He even created his own ‘confetti’ to add with his shredded paper--haha!  He wanted to do this all on his own.  He was so excited to give Grandpa and Johanna their presents at our get together.  Here’s Grandpa T opening Matthew’s present:

It was nice of all of us to finally be able to all get together again. 

Speaking of Matthew we had his annual meeting with Vocational Rehab.  Due to Covid we had to do it over the phone and Matthew’s representative only works from 9-3 pm M-Th.  That meant I had to pick Matthew up from his school so we could do the phone visit in the parking lot.  We are still holding off on getting a real job at this point so he can get some more ‘work experiences’ from school to help him narrow down what field he wants to work in.  It was fun pick him up from school and meet a few of the people he talks about, though.

It was my birthday a few days ago.  This year Aaron surprised me with a massage.  It was really nice to have a break and enjoy something just for me!  He also cooked us dinner (tri-tip with baked potatoes and bacon wrapped asparagus) and picked up a cheesecake for my ‘birthday cake’ since that is my absolute favorite.  I had a good day!

Sarah and Daniel had a band concert this past week.  To enable social distancing they broke up the concerts into 4 different times.  The beginning band went first and only those families with a student in beginning band could come watch in person.  Sarah was in beginning band so Aaron and I as well as G&G T were able to watch her perform. After that concert was over you had to leave the building while they sanitized everything.  The next concert was for intermediate band which we didn’t have a student in.  While they were playing we just hung out in our car in the parking lot.  After intermediate band they sanitized everything and then had the Jazz band play.  Daniel was in Jazz band so we got to watch that concert.  The last concert of the night was the advanced band which Daniel was in as well.

Beginning Band:

Sarah plays the flute and Daniel plays the baritone saxophone.

Jazz Band:

Advanced band:

Sarah had gone home between the concerts, but she did see G&G T before she left.  Here’s Daniel talking with G&G T after the concert:

The biggest excitement of these past two weeks was receiving Josh’s mission call.  Aaron and Josh have been checking multiple times a day to see if it had come in the past two weeks.  Aaron was so excited to see this when he check on Josh’s mission call status (he is the Ward Clerk and can check on things like this):

Josh received a text saying that his call was ready right at the same time. Even though it was assigned on the 17th of March the email didn’t come in until March 23rd.  However, Josh had to work that evening and we had Daniel and Sarah’s band concerts to attend.  That meant he couldn’t open it until 9 pm that evening.  Aaron set up a Facebook Live stream for those who wouldn’t be at our house.  Josh invited a ton of people and a ton of people came.  By the time Josh opened his call there were over 35 people at our house.  As people started arriving we would have them write down their guesses as to where Josh would go on sticky notes and put them up on the map.  Aaron walked around with the live camera to get everyone on the video.

Right before Josh opened his call a bunch of friends had tuned in to watch another friend open his mission call that night, too.  Here they are waiting to find out where Josh’s friend was going to go to:

Josh invited his Cross Country/track friends, friends from Youth council, friends from Clearfield and friends from Syracuse.  Here are his friends from Clearfield:

Time to open his call.  

Here’s Josh reading the part where it says where he will be serving:

Chicago, Illinois Spanish speaking!!!!  We were all pretty excited!!  He is supposed to go to the Provo, MTC on July 21.  However, after writing his mission acceptance he got another email saying he would be doing home MTC.  That will be interesting because it says he needs a quiet place so he can concentrate on his learning.  I don’t think anywhere in our house is conducive to quiet learning......haha!  We will make it work, though.

Hugs from me:

Hugs from Aaron:

Here’s all the guesses:

So Josh has taken two years of Spanish in high school.  Hopefully that will help him because this is the extent of my Spanish--haha:

I am excited for him.  I am still in a bit of denial because he doesn’t seem like he is old enough to go, yet.  However, we have a lot to get done in the next four months!!

The next day Noah had a doctor’s appointment.  The appointment finished at the same time lunch started so Noah got to have a lunch date and Aaron and me.  He thought that was pretty cool!

When Josh read his mission call it was pretty late for Matthew.  So we ended up going over to his house the next evening to share Josh’s mission call with Matthew.  Matthew had set up chairs to the side of his group home so we could visit for a little while after Josh read his call:

Spring is a busy time.  Daniel has started track practice and Noah started soccer.  Noah had his first practice this past week.  It was rainy/snowy icky weather so I was really glad he is playing in the field that I can watch from my car.  He is playing goalie in this picture:

Sarah and Noah got to visit the orthodontist to get their spacers for the metal that will be going in their mouth the following week.  However, Sarah and Noah’s spacers fell out numerous times so we had lots of extra appointments to get them put back in which was frustrating. Oh well they finally both got them replaced this morning, again.  Hopefully, they will stay in until tomorrow!!  Here’s the spacers in Sarah’s mouth--it’s the blue things between her back teeth:

Josh is getting excited for his mission.  His friends are all starting to go.  He went to one of his cute friends farewell this past Sunday.  He made sure to get a picture with her--haha!

I did not know that you could share and edit notes from iPhones until this morning.  I sent Sarah, Daniel, and Josh packing lists for an upcoming trip.  I went to print it out for Noah and found that Josh and Daniel had added some ‘extra’ things to my original list--the bums!  Now I will need to look for my Batman costume and the Elixir of Life....

Sophie knows what a few words mean.  She knows what ’shower’ means as well as ‘walk’, ‘outside’, ‘potty’, ’treat’, ’tuck in kids’, and her favorite ‘go get the mail’.  When she hears anything about the mail she starts barking and runs to jump in the chair by the window to watch whoever is getting the mail across the street.  This time it was Noah: