The last two weeks has felt like 2 years!! It has been quite the roller coaster for sure! June 8th was a wonderful day. Daniel got to go through the temple for the first time in preparation for his mission. We wanted Josh to be there with us and Daniel at the temple and since he was going to be gone for a big portion of the summer as a FSY (For the Strength of the Youth) Counselor, we needed to do it before he left. June 8th ended up being the perfect day. Not only did we go to the temple with Daniel, but it was also mine and Aaron’s 24th wedding anniversary. Did I mention that June 8 was a great day?!? Here we are as we got to the temple:
After the session:
After bowling we came home and found Josh and Daniel asleep on the couch in quite the crazy positions. Good thing Sophie was able to squeeze in there and get some sleep, too--haha!
Matthew also had his Special Olympics Track and Field competition that weekend. He got a silver medal in his mile and a half race. He also got 4th and 6th place in his mile race and shot put. He had a great time.
Matthew had a check up with the psychiatrist a few weeks ago. She ordered routine lab work to be done. One of his levels is high so she is readjusting and lowering his medication dose. Wish us luck that it doesn’t affect him too much. He has to repeat labs in a few weeks to see if anything has changed.
Josh went to church with us on two Sundays ago because our church is earlier than his and he needed to leave for FSY right after church ended. His first week of being an FSY counselor would be on the BYU campus. I drove him down to Provo because we didn’t want his car to be parked there for a long time. Here he is with his name tag on:
Luckily, I just happen to know my way around BYU campus from being a student there a long time ago. I helped him find the check in area. After checking in and getting his dorm key, he came back to the car to pick up his stuff and leave for the week. Here he is walking away to his dorm. This kid NEVER looks back. Even when he left on his mission once he entered the airport security line he never looked back at us. I wish I could have his confidence!!
Daniel is still playing softball. His team is not great, but they do have fun which is most important. Here he is up at bat:
We have a Community Marching Band. They get together and perform in the July 4th parade every year. Noah and I tried it out last year and Noah wanted to do it again this year so I joined him, too. He gets to play the crash cymbals. I am still playing the flute. The cymbals are really heavy so, hopefully, he can still be able to hold them up by the end of the parade!
We had our first practice a few weeks ago. This band is open to anyone who wants to participate in the community. When I showed up there were about 6 other flutes. I don’t play too much anymore so it takes me a minute to remember everything so I am not great. I was glad to see other flutes so I could hide amongst them when I couldn’t play everything that first day. During the next week I vowed to practice and learn the music. However, that week ended up being a dumpster fire. I got so many crazy things thrown my way that I had to deal with that took a lot of time so practicing got put on the back burner. The second band practice I showed up glad that I could hide amongst the other flutes. However, NONE of the other flutes showed up to practice. Eeeegads!! That was not good for me....whenever I screwed up while the band played together there was no question who made the mistakes--ugh!! That was a bit embarrassing, but what can you do?! These full band practices are once a week. The third and next band practice I had practiced throughout the week so I could play a lot better--not perfect yet, but a lot better. Thankfully, there were flutes at that practice I could hide amongst so my mistakes weren’t as obvious--phew! Hopefully, by the July 4th parade I will be able to play the music perfectly or at we can at least hope there are other flutes I can hide amongst for everyone’s sake--haha! Wish me luck!!
Noah has started his 3rd and last year of Weber State Prep a few weeks ago. He goes to Weber State campus Monday through Thursday from 9 am to 2:30 pm for 6 weeks. They have different classes from engineering, career awareness, statistics, problem solving, logic, and physics. He enjoys it. I am glad because it keeps him busy and his mind active through the summer. He even gets to be in it with his cousin Bree.
Last week Sarah and her friends wanted to support another friend who was in a play. Sarah asked me a few weeks ago if she could go see her perform. I had no issues with that so I said yes. When it was finally time to see her friend perform is when Sarah told me that the performance was down in downtown Salt Lake and started at 8 pm. She then informed me that I needed to pick her and her friends up from the performance at 10:30 pm. I was not too pleased at that information seeing as it is a 45 minute drive away one way. Ugh!! Thankfully, Aaron is a good sport and suggested that we go down early and enjoy an appetizer and piece of cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory while we waited for Sarah and her friends to be done. That made it a bit easier to accommodate, but I told Sarah that she needs to give me ALL the details before she asks something like this again. Good thing I love her. Also a good thing I love cheesecake, too--haha! Here is Aaron and I enjoying our evening treat of fried Mac and cheese balls and white chocolate raspberry cheesecake. We are so healthy....read with much sarcasm--haha!
Aaron has been traveling a lot lately so I will take some date time when I can get it.
Daniel had his senior trip with friends this past week. They went up to a friend’s cabin at Bear Lake. They had a great time. Here’s a few pictures I had to get from his girlfriend since Daniel doesn’t take very many pictures--haha! They went paddle boarding, swimming, to the ropes course, and visited Minnetonka Cave. They had a great time.
Father’s Day morning we were low in numbers. Josh was gone to FSY, Daniel was on his senior trip, and I hadn’t picked up Matthew yet. Luckily, Sarah and Noah were still around and made Aaron breakfast in bed. I am thankful for Aaron and glad he is the kids’ dad. He is very involved in their lives and takes interest and wants to be a part of things. I love it!
Later that afternoon we went and had a Father’s Day dinner with my family at my sister Johanna’s house. I didn’t think to take any pictures, but we had a good visit. There are lots of good Dads at that get together!
The next day Matthew got to start his second week of Camp Kostopulos. He was pretty excited and bouncing off the walls as I dropped him off.
His previous week that he attended he got the ‘Most Enthusiastic Camper’ Award which does not surprise me in the least.
Matthew is moving. A new house has come available that would accommodate more staff and one more client. However, we have mixed feelings about this move. He will be moving from Clearfield up to Ogden. That means his commute to work has now doubled. Also we are now going to be 30 minutes away from him instead of just 10. It will open some new experiences up for him, but will be harder in some ways, too. I guess we will just wait and see how things turn out. He will move next Tuesday. He doesn’t even know yet since he is at Camp K this week. That will be a big surprise for him. I am sure he will be fine with it, though.
She is a funny dog!
Daniel had another softball game Monday evening. Here he is up to bat:
Yesterday was the Juneteenth holiday which meant Aaron got it off from work. We took Sarah and Daniel down to do some Top Golf before Sarah had to go to work. Noah wanted to go to Weber State Prep instead so it was just the four of us yesterday morning. Sarah taking a swing with her lefty clubs:
Don’t you love Sarah’s reflection in the above picture--haha! Nice!
Afterward Sarah had to go straight to work. We dropped her off right as her shift was beginning. That was cutting it a bit close....
Well that’s not good. I would have insisted he went to the dentist, too!! Anyway, thankfully Aaron was actually accessible because that is usually not the case because he can’t have a cell phone at his job and he is never at his desk at work. I am glad Aaron was not at work and could be available for Daniel. Aaron finished dropping off the kids for carpool, then picked up Daniel and took him to the dentist to get evaluated. At this point I had completed the CPR class and had just finished and passed my test so I was quickly headed home to help. Thankfully enough the dentist was able to squeeze in that emergency appointment. Thankfully, again, there should be no lasting damage to Daniel’s teeth. Unfortunately, as I was walking in the house Aaron was on the phone with the dentist. On Daniel’s X-ray of his lip, teeth, and jaw the dentist saw a suspicious mass that the X-ray happened to pick up that was NOT related to Daniel’s injury. He sent the image to an oral surgeon friend to ask what he thought. The oral surgeon said that Daniel needed to be seen for a CT scan of the mass. As I walked in the house Aaron was on the phone with the dentist as the dentist gave him this news. Ugh!! As soon as Aaron got off the phone with the dentist he tried calling the oral surgeon's office, but they had just closed for the day. Talk about a stressor. We had to sit on that information--not able to do anything about it except think of all the worst case scenarios until we could call the oral surgeon’s office when they opened the next morning. Thankfully, they were able to squeeze Daniel in for an appointment later that afternoon. We went in and they did a CT scan of his jaw and teeth.
I was working in the Walk-In Clinic today. When I am there I can’t leave for lunch. Aaron brought me lunch today and we ate together. It was nice. It was like old times when I worked the graveyard shift at the hospital and he would bring me dinner and we would eat together. Luckily this time it was during the actual daytime since I don’t have to work those crazy hospital graveyard 6pm-6am shifts anymore.
Sarah got to go perform at Disneyland with her dance team. They drove there the day after their recital. Then the next day they performed. They stayed and spent the next day in Disneyland. Then the rest of the team drove home on a Saturday. However, Sarah’s friend, Gabby, her family decided to stay an extra few days and invited Sarah to stay with them. They ended up flying home on Monday. Sarah had an amazing time. Here’s a few of her dances she was in. Sarah is the one on the right:
Sarah is in front:
Sarah is in front:
Sarah is standing up:
Sarah and Gabby hanging out at Disney the rest of the time:
I guess they really liked the duck face--haha!
To get from BYU in Provo to Flagstaff they were driven in a bus. I was surprised they didn’t fly them, but I guess a bus is probably cheaper.
I also want to say that Sarah worked and saved this whole last year and paid for the trip 100% by herself. I was quite impressed.
Josh is liking being an FSY counselor. He did send us this picture:
I guess Doordash for the kids at FSY is against the rules. If they do order it, it will get confiscated and eaten by the counselors. Josh was willing to make that sacrifice--haha! He got to try some Taco Bell the other day. I don’t think the kids thought was nice, but what can you do?!
He sends us a few random pictures here and there. We don’t hear too much from him because he is busy. He did call Aaron on Father’s Day, though. His first week was at BYU, his next two weeks are down in Flagstaff, Arizona at Northern Arizona University. The only tough part is there is no air-conditioning in their dorms. Luckily, he brought a fan with him to try and help keep him cooler at night.
They did get to stop by and see part of Lake Powell:
That is pretty crazy since josh is 6’6”.
