Family Blog 2: July 2023

I am quite behind in the blog. Here’s the latest with our family in the last three weeks.

Aaron survived doing all the food for AP (Aaronic Priesthood) Camp. He was so stressed out about it beforehand, but everything went smoothly for the most part. He enjoyed his time up there. Here’s some pictures he took:

Aaron was in charge of all the food for originally 160 people. By the time camp started it got cut down to 110, but they were a bunch of boys so there weren’t too many leftovers. Aaron didn’t see Daniel very often since he was cooking most the time and Daniel was a youth leader and not around a whole lot. But they did get this picture together:

Their service project was to cut up wood to build up the camp supply for the season. Daniel did his part by helping split logs:

There was no electricity up there so everything had to be cooked on Camp Chefs. One night they had chili dogs:

Here’s Aaron’s cot in a tiny lean to some of the leaders shared:

It was an exhausting week, but he made it through. Daniel said the food was awesome so that made Aaron feel good. Even after two weeks of camping (Girl’s Camp the week before and AP Camp the next week) Aaron still is not a camping fan, but can tolerate it--haha!

Josh came home from his two year mission from Chicago, Illinois Spanish speaking. YAY!! Before he left all the departing missionaries got a chance to attend the temple with the Mission President and Companion. Here’s a picture after that trip:

The departing missionaries:

Here’s us talking with Josh in his very last P-Day call:

Matthew got to attend two more weeks of Camp Kostopolus. He absolutely loves this residential camp for kids with special needs. Here’s some of the pictures his leader shared with me. I loved it! Matthew on the ropes course:

Matthew horseback riding:

Every time I pick him up to come home on Friday we stop for lunch. This time he chose In-N-Out Burger:

We have some friends that LOVE fireworks and go all out on their own display every year. We were glad to join up with them to watch the night before the 4th. They were pretty awesome. Thanks Einzingers!!

Noah wanted to be in a Marching Band this year. He checked out Clearfield Highschool because they have a summer marching band, but the times didn’t work out for him to attend. Instead he heard about a summer marching band that just marches in the July 4th parade. It is a community band open to anyone who is interested. I didn’t want Noah to join alone so I dusted off my flute and joined with him. They had the percussion they let Noah borrow. Practices were once a week until the parade.

It was the morning of the parade:

Matthew LOVES the West Point parade because there are so many people that he recognizes and likes to talk to. Sometimes that has led to him bolting and getting in some dangerous situations--like almost getting hit by a car because he didn’t look before running out into the road to talk to someone. This happens EVERY year. So this year Aaron thought he would try something new. He decided to use our OLD truck and decorate it for Matthew--the HUMAN GPS and let him actually be in the parade. Aaron drove the truck while Daniel, and his girlfriend Katie rode in the back to help keep Matthew contained and excited about the parade. It worked marvelously!! Matthew absolutely LOVED it!! However, they ran out of candy (we bought a TON) after the first 1/3 of the parade. Next year we will have to plan better. This was a fun thing for Matthew.

Sarah was in the parade as well with her dance team. She danced the whole parade route.

This meant that all of us were in the parade so there was no one left to actually watch it--haha! Noah and I finished first. That let me watch Sarah dance to the finish:

I also got to see Matthew, Daniel, Aaron and Katie finish, too. It was a fun morning! The parade route was about a mile and a half.

Matthew LOVES giving directions. You can ask him road routes to get to places and he can tell you road numbers, exit numbers, etc. He wants everyone and anyone to call to get assistance if they need it. To make sure he would be accessible he YELLED out my cellphone number through the WHOLE parade to make sure everyone knows how to get a hold of him. Ugh!! I haven’t had any calls yet, but I am glad any random person from the parade now has my phone number--haha!

We had a few friends along the parade route take some pictures for us:

After the parade we went over to the park and got to play some BINGO. Matthew tends to be pretty lucky, but the rest of us don’t usually win anything every year. True to from Matthew won a BINGO pretty close to the beginning. He won a patriotic wind sock he was pretty proud of:

So Matthew was a little antsy when BINGO started back up again since he didn't have a card anymore since he had already won. I had him help me out. The amazing thing was I shortly got a BINGO after. Matthew ran up to the front again before I had even had a chance to get to my feet--we were sitting on the ground since all the seats were already taken. I hurried up to the front to show that it was actually me and NOT Matthew that had won again. I won a cool water bottle and a $50 Amazon gift card.

Our prizes:

We went and sat back down. Aaron let Matthew help him with his BINGO card and HE WON a BINGO. The same thing happened Matthew ran up to the front before Aaron could even get to his feet. Aaron won a cool grilling set where all the utensils were shaped like golf clubs--the spatula, the scraper, the tongs, etc. It was pretty cool. After that we stopped playing BINGO since we had already won so many times when in the previous years we have never won anything. It was pretty crazy. As we were leaving the person that was sitting next to us on the ground asked if Matthew could touch her card to see if his luck would rub off--haha!

After wandering around and seeing the different games--and Matthew, Sarah and Noah played in a few stage games--we came home. Katie and Daniel were home so we had some hamburgers and hung out for a bit. Sarah then had to go to work. She didn’t have too much to do at work since it started really raining and not many people wanted to swim when it was rainy and cold. There was lighting so they made everyone get out of the pool until it subsided. While they were waiting Sarah took this picture of the parking lot:

Then later on that night we went to watch the fireworks at the park. It was a fun day!

Matthew is still working with his job coordinator, Melanie, at getting a job. She will take him to have different experiences and put him in different situations to see how he does. That way she can evaluate how he would behave in different job settings. This week she took him out to lunch and let him order what he wanted. He had fun with that. She sent me a picture:

Well the moment I have been waiting two years for finally happened. Josh came home from his mission. We met him at the airport with some signs along with G&G T, Johanna and Burke Williams and his mission trainer Elder DeMartin. It was so awesome. Here’s the signs I made:

Josh wasn’t too hard to spot when he walked through the security gate. He is still tall and I still needed to stand on my tip toes to hug him, but it was great!!

Everyone was excited to see him. Matthew:

Daniel:

Dad:

Noah:

Sarah:

Elder DeMartin:

So happy to have him home!!

G&GT and Elder DeMartin and another returned Sister missionary from Chicago:

Johanna and Burke:

Josh wanted to go out to Cafe Rio for lunch:

Welcome home:

Here’s his Chicago flag that he had all his companions sign:

We then went to the Stake offices to get him released. He is no longer a missionary:

He then came home and went on a long run by himself. The next morning he gave his mission report to the High Council the next day, Sunday, and then came to church with us. We had Matthew with us that weekend, too. It was so neat to have all my children under the same roof again. That hasn’t happened for two years!!

The following week didn’t slow down. Josh caught up on his well visits with the dentist, doctor, optometrist (he needs new glasses), orthodontist (his retainer broke and he needed a new one), and the allergist. Unfortunately he needs to start allergy shots ASAP. He is not tolerating Sophie very well--as in breaking out in hives, wheezing, sneezing, and super congested. It’s too bad because all she wants to do is snuggle with him. It also doesn’t help that the kids like to wrap her up in all the blankets which in turn gets her dander on them. I am washing the blankets at least twice a week now.... I guess as long as Sophie is comfortable right-haha!

We then took him out to pick up some new clothes for him since a lot of his old ones don’t fit anymore. We have been keeping him busy.

Also last week Matthew went to his third and final week of Camp K for this summer. He absolutely loves going there. I am grateful they have it available for people with special needs.

They did make it up to Antelope Island:

The Utah Governor likes to send his task force people to different areas and different companies, programs, etc. to interview them to see what they do in the community. They happened to visit CampK while Matthew was there. The Camp K director had Matthew go over and chat and let them interview him. He was able to tell them all about Camp K and then some I am sure. They got an earful because Matthew LOVES talking--haha! I thought that was pretty cool, though.

When I went to pick him up he was still pretty wired. He said his goodbyes to his staff members and we came home. This was one of his leaders at camp:

This was his award this week:

They even sent him home with a daily journal of what they did every day:

Here was his group this week:

When Josh got home we showed him the huge Mexican Market by our house. He took Noah over there and they did some shopping. He picked up some Mexican sodas for us to try. They were pretty good:

He also made us something called Jimaca. It is made from some dried flowers. It was interesting. It tasted a lot like cranberry juice:

I also was able to pick up some free Ogden Raptors baseball tickets. Sarah, Noah, and Daniel ended up having other things to do, but the three of us enjoyed ourselves:

The next day we had our annual Terry family BINGO party. We were pretty excited because my sister Jennifer and her family came in from Ohio for Josh’s homecoming so they were able to do BINGO, too. Here’s all of us eating pizza and having a rager BINGO party--haha! It was a fun night:

The next day was Josh’s Homecoming talk at church. He shared sacrament meeting with another returning Sister Missionary so the meeting was awesome. He also got his missionary plaque given to him after sacrament meeting was over:

Afterward we went to a park and had a luncheon for everyone that came to see Josh. It was nice. Aaron cooked some pulled pork and we had a taco bar. It was nice to see everyone that made it. Aaron’s friend growing up in Texas, Brad came as did some of Josh’s missionary companions. It was fun to meet and see everyone:

I don’t know what his going on, but ever since Josh came home lots of things have broken. Our dishwasher died (I know a total first world problem, but terrible nonetheless), both kids’ cars died, we had a small flood in the basement we needed to call a plumber for, Matthew’s dental insurance almost got cancelled since he soon will be 22. Ugh. Oh well. I guess we were blessed to not have these things happed while Josh was out on his mission so I will try and call it a win despite it not feeling like winning right now....Luckily, we were able to get a letter from Matthew’s psychiatrist stating that Matthew is special needs so we can keep him on our insurance (dental and health) for life. That was a big relief!! However, there have been many blessings, too. Josh was able to find a job at Weber State pretty quickly. He starts in two weeks. Wahoo! He also met with his academic advisor and registered for fall semester classes.

Noah has been able to go to the temple a few times with a friend and his family to do baptisms. He has really enjoyed that. Sarah finished her four classes of summer school. I am so glad that is done! Noah finished Weber State Prep and really is looking forward to his 3rd and final year of Weber State Prep next summer. Daniel was able to go out with the local missionaries to go on visits. He really enjoyed going out with them. We were able to go to Roy Aquatic Center as a family one evening. We had a friend rent out the whole place for his realty business so we were able to attend. It was fun to go as a family, but Sarah and Noah didn’t want to hang around with Mom and Dad. That meant Aaron and I just sat in chairs and chatted that evening. It ended up being a nice night.

Daniel finally had his follow up appointment with Primary Children’s Genetics this past week. Daniel got referred to Genetics from his family practice doctor after hearing our family history of liver issues and his liver labs looked funky. He originally saw them three months ago and they decided to do a genetic panel. We came back for the results this week. He has a mutation on the ABCB4 gene with two variants. Some of the results are a bit troubling so they should be followed up. Sarah has the same mutation, but with only one variant. Daniel is now being referred over to the Liver Clinic to be more closely followed and to do more testing. Genetics is hoping to get him in to Primary Children’s Liver Clinic since that is where Sarah goes and they can be seen together. However, he turns 18 in a few months and I don’t know if they can get him in before then. Primary Children’s Hospital is for pediatrics and Daniel will be considered an adult when he turns 18. I am keeping my fingers crossed, but if he doesn’t get in there the U of U has a wonderful Liver clinic as well for adults. Either way there will be more testing and follow up in his future which he is not very excited about.....Since a visit at Genetics tends to be a longer visit they get to know their patients a bit more. It was nice to see this friendly sign for Daniel on the white board in the room:

Noah had a youth activity this past week. His group went on a 7 mile hike up by Snowbasin. Noah said he liked it so I say it was a win. By the end of the hike, though, a huge storm had kicked up so we were glad when they finally made it back to the parking lot! I am glad the leader took some pictures and shared them with us:

We went outside the other morning to this not awesome surprise:

EWWWW!! Since I was the only adult in the house I had to put on my big girl pants and deal with the dead mouse on our back porch. Did I mention it was Ewwww?!

Matthew had his Special Olympics Bowling regional tournament this past Saturday. Here he is bowling:

He got a Gold medal and qualified to compete at the state level in Salt Lake next month. He was pretty excited about that!

Sarah had her last parade to participate in for dance this past Saturday. When Aaron saw her he yelled out, “Way to go Sarah!!” a few times. He was loud enough and said it enough times that the crowd around us started telling Sarah way to go, too. She was a bit embarrassed, but thought it was funny.