Dance Pictures, Baptism, Thanksgiving, Job Changes, Top Golf

Here’s a quick catch up from our family.  Sarah had dance pictures taken and we got them back.  I love them! 

Here’s Sarah’s Dance Company.  Sarah is the one in the middle with the ankle length dress and blue Chuck Taylor shoes:

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving we all had the morning off so we went down and did a round of Top Golf.  I played terribly!  I won’t even post any of the scores--haha!  It was that bad.  I was the one score that made everyone else feel better about their scores--haha!  We all had fun, though.  The bay we were assigned had a heater so after a few minutes we could take off our warm clothes even though we were outside.  It was nice.  Here’s a few of our swings.  Sarah and Josh were the only lefties:

Family selfie outside:

Afterward we wandered around Costco to pick up a few things and grabbed a gourmet lunch of pizza and hotdogs at the Costco eatery.  We are pretty boujee--haha! The day must have worn them out because they fell asleep on the way home:

The other evening I was driving home from work and saw that I was low on gas.  I just figured I would gas up in the morning before I left for work.  That was a terrible decision because I forgot about it until I got in the car that morning and realized I was low on gas.  I had left a few minutes late and didn’t have time to fill up.  When I got done with my clinic I was desperate for gas. I finally pulled into the gas station with only 4 more miles to go before I ran out of gas. I am just glad I made it before I ran out of gas!

We got to talk to Daniel twice this week. Monday he sounded really upbeat and happy.  They had a place to go for Thanksgiving which I was grateful for!  He looked good.

I love that he can call in the evening so everyone is home to talk.  It is great.

We hosted Thanksgiving at our house.  Aaron was amazing and took on smoking the turkey and making the green been casserole.  It turned out delicious.  I made the mashed potatoes, gravy and cranberry sauce.  I was wearing an apron I got from a friend so I had to show her I was wearing it that day: 

We had my mom and my sister and her whole family over for dinner.  They split the other dishes up between them so we had a full spread.  This was the first Thanksgiving without my dad so it was a bit emotional.  We were glad to be able to get together, though. Here’s everyone at dinner:

Josh has been busy between work, school and friends.  He did send me a few of his ‘Be Real’ pictures:

Here’s our Beef Stew Sunday family Dinner:

Daniel had Zone Conference last week.  His Mission President will post pictures of their get togethers.  Here’s Daniel’s Zone:

Daniel did have a baptism last week. This is someone Daniel got to teach and baptize. He was pretty excited about it.

After Eddie got baptized he was able to receive the Aaronic Priesthood shortly after.  Later on in the week they were all able to meet up at the Winter Quarters temple in Omaha to do some baptisms for the Dead later that week.  Daniel was pretty excited about all of it!

While we were talking with Daniel on Thanksgiving he was playing with his Kendama toy. He will be getting a new companion soon so he is anxious to see who he will be paired up with.

Noah got to play a musical number in Sacrament Meeting this past Sunday.  He played a rendition of Nearer My God to Thee.  It was beautiful!  Sarah and her friend got to teach the lesson in Young Women that week, too.  I think it is great all the times the youth get to teach!  Sarah and Noah along with the city youth council got to volunteer to help with the city’s Turkey trot race this morning. They said everything went well.  However, Sarah got pulled over for the first time on her way home from the race.  She called me immediately so I could get her a digital copy of her insurance card.  She was freaking out just a bit.  Luckily for her and us, she was able to get off with just a warning despite being pulled over for going 10 over the speed limit.  She promises to slow down going forward...I hope she does!  Yesterday we were out running some errands and we stopped by to see Katie, Daniel’s girlfriend, at work.  She is doing well and staying busy.  We did find out that her grandpa was named as the new Syracuse Temple President. He is the one that helped us out planning my Dad’s funeral.  He is a really nice guy. It was pretty cool to hear that news! Katie is getting ready to go through the temple and start on her mission paperwork which is exciting!  It was good to see her. 

In other news it looks like my main job will be changing, unfortunately.  They are scaling back on work hours and opportunities. We are still hearing about all the new changes, but I am starting to update my resume...The thought of job searching (especially at my age) is a bit daunting to say the least...Ugh!  Boo to changes!!

Top Golf, P-Day Chats, Reviews, Christmas, CCYC, Hair Cut/Spa Day

These past two weeks have been insanely busy.  Things should hopefully slow down soon, though!!  Aaron and I did get a fun break for Veteran’s Day.  This is one holiday Aaron has off from work, but all the kids still have school.  We decided to do a day date. We started out at Top Golf. Aaron totally killed me at most of the games, but I did win a few, though.

Even though it was chilly outside, our golf area had a heater so we stayed warm.  Here’s Aaron:

Here’s my turn:

Afterward we are a boring married couple so we went to the huge Costco to browse and pick up a few things. It was a fun day date.  Later that evening we were able talk with our missionary--Elder Mancil.  He seemed to be doing okay.  Missionary life is not always easy, but he seemed to be in good spirits that Monday evening.

Sophie was overdue for her annual vaccines. They had a vaccine clinic set up at our city fire station Saturday morning. I made the appointment a few weeks beforehand, but I got pulled away that Saturday morning for something else.  That meant Aaron had to take her in to get them which he wasn’t too happy about, but what can you do?! He brought Sarah along with him to help. Poor Sophie--those vaccines made her sick for a few days.  She had a fever, was lethargic and had some GI upset. Good thing it was only a few days, though. After that she was back to her normal self. Last week was finally her groom appointment. She was in desperate need. She looks and--I think--feels so much better! Here’s her before and after:

Our garage door opener in the car has been only working occasionally.  I finally decided it was time to trade out the battery when I got home from work the other day and the garage door wouldn’t open at all. I brought the opener inside, popped out the battery in the garage door opener, however, the writing on it was so small I had to take a picture of it to see the numbers.  Luckily, we actually had one to replace it with in the cupboard.  Yay!  That makes things easier!

We got to talk with Elder Mancil this past Monday evening.  He and his companion have now moved out of the apartment with the Zone Leaders and into their own apartment.  It was good to talk with him.

We share a google drive for photos so we can see the pictures he takes.  He made a perfect grilled cheese sandwich the other day.

He is branching out in his cooking repertoire--haha!

I was lucky enough to be chosen to review a brand new lifetime 6’ folding table and 4 chairs.  They had a random lottery and I got picked.  As long as I review the table and chairs on their forum I get to keep them for free. Wahoo!! Just in time to host Thanksgiving!  

The city youth council had their ‘Knock and Drops’ activity this week.  It is where the council sorts donated food and then delivers basketfuls to underprivileged families in the area in time for Thanksgiving.  It is one of the best activities they do every year.  Sarah had dance at the same time so she didn’t make it to this activity, but Noah did.  He said it was awesome.  Here’s a few pictures.  Noah is stacking the cans in behind everyone:

Here’s everyone working hard to fill the boxes with food to deliver.  They deliver them anonymously by putting the box of food on the porch, knocking and hiding.  

Here they are getting ready to go:

Speaking of Noah he just had an orthodontic appointment where he was told he only has two more months of wearing braces until he can get them off.  Wahoo!  He’s pretty excited about that!  He also got to team teach the YM middle class lesson a few weeks ago.  He wasn’t even nervous to teach.  I don’t know if he is my kid--haha!  I wish I could feel that relaxed when I have to teach!!

Last week I had a few hours open on Saturday so I decided I wanted to set up our Christmas decorations.  I made Aaron and Josh bring up all the boxes from the basement.  It was a bit of a mess while we were getting things sorted out and arranged:

It was nice because all kids happened to be home at the same time so I had a bunch of help.  It is also nice that the kids are old enough to actually help decorate without me worrying about them breaking all the ornaments. Sarah, Josh and Noah helped decorate the front room Christmas Tree.

Sarah was goofing off and Josh took this picture while they were decorating the tree.  Haha!

Sarah got the chance to speak in Sacrament Meeting this past Sunday.  She has known for a month that this was coming up.  However, whenever I would ask her if she has put together anything she said she would do it later. How is she my child?!?  I can’t procrastinate anything like that. Anyway, she finished writing up her talk Sunday morning right before church.  She did just fine.  

Sarah went to Sadie Hawkins dance a few weeks ago and asked me if I could help her do her hair.  I was happy to help.  Aaron took this picture while I was doing her hair in the family room before the dance:

Josh is staying busy between work, school and YSA activities.  He is looking forward to Thanksgiving Break, the end of the semester and Christmas Break.  He has some pretty early mornings and late nights.  

We don’t see too much of him despite him living at home.  He has also started volunteering at the hospital.  He says it has been kind of interesting.  Every volunteer shift he does he gets an $8 credit to use at the hospital cafeteria. He bought a blue bacon burger meal the other evening and took a picture of it to show us. He knows I LOVE a good blue bacon burger!

I am currently working both my jobs right now.  It has been pretty stressful since it is equalling out to be full time hours. I worked my Clinical CNA Instructor job yesterday. However, at the Care Center we were at they are having a huge outbreak of Covid. That meant all of us got to wear masks all day. The poor students had to wear PPE stuff in almost all the rooms.  It was pretty crazy!!  I really don’t enjoy wearing a mask, but I would enjoy Covid even less so here we are--haha!

These past 3 weeks have been insane between me working a ton, 3 Stake Relief Society trainings, a Relief Society activity, 2 separate unexpected funerals, I am about ready to pull out my hair.  My stress level has been pretty high...ugh!!  However, good and bad things should be slower soon...

I was working the Walk In Clinic today and Aaron brought me some lunch.  It was fun to have a quick lunch together.

Sophie’s favorite part about the day is waking kids up and tucking kids in bed.  As soon as you say either of those phrases--'Should we wake up kids?' or 'Should we go tuck in kids?'--she gets really excited, barks, jumps up, grabs a toy and runs over to the kids’ rooms to jump on their beds.  

Here’s this blogs funny meme picture from Josh:

Craziness, Solo, Labs, Halloween, Sadies, Fluffball, Special Olympics State Tournament

Here’s what we have been up to these past 10 days. Sarah had to get some labs drawn last week. Three months ago her liver enzymes were especially high--a lot higher than her normal high levels--so the doctor increased her Ursodiol dose and wanted to do repeat labs three months later. So here she is three months later at the lab.  I am so glad Sarah doesn’t have any issues with getting her blood drawn.  It makes things so much easier....

 I got a call from the liver doctor’s office the next day.  Her levels looked amazing.  Don’t get me wrong they were all still HIGH but a lot lower than they were three months ago.  The doctor was pleased with the results and wants her to continue with the higher Ursodiol dose.  They will redraw the labs in 6 months with a follow up Fibroscan and in person visit. That was awesome news!!

Speaking of Sarah she came to visit me at work at my Walk In Clinic and I got her all caught up on her vaccines.  She thought she was only coming in to the office for a flu shot, but she needed a few more vaccines which got taken care of.  However, the next day she felt pretty rotten at school so she came home sick after 2nd period. Luckily, it only lasted a day and she is back to feeling normal.

I had a clinic out in Morgan the other day.  On my way out there it was stormy and the mountains had snow on them!!  They were pretty, but it was quite chilly. I like the cooler fall weather, but I am not ready for snow yet.

Noah had a Jazz Band concert early before school one morning.  I didn’t find out about it until right before so I had to work and couldn’t attend.  Luckily, Aaron was in town and was able to watch Noah play the piano. Noah even got an 8 measure improvisational solo during the performance which was pretty awesome.  He was a bit nervous about it, but did great. Way to go!!  

There’s a bunch of background noise so it makes it a bit hard to hear, but here’s Noah’s improvisation solo:

Speaking of Noah he had his CCR (college and career readiness) meeting with the school counselor last week.  He is doing great.  Noah is trying to decided where to go to high school for next year, though.  He has applied to attend the NUAMES charter school where he has the chance to get his Associate’s Degree before he even graduates high school. That is crazy to me.  However, it has a lottery so you can apply, but don’t know if you get in for sure or not.  He should find out next week, though.  We will see. 

Halloween was last week.  The kids all wore costumes, but only Matthew and Noah went Trick or Treating.  Of course I had to dress Sophie up.  However, she absolutely HATES her costume and tried to hide from me when she saw me pick it up.  She looks super cute in her lobster costume, though.

If she could talk I am sure she would say, "Please save me from this ridiculous costume....” haha!

Noah, the penguin, went trick or treating with friends and then came back to our house.  They spent the rest of the night playing poker betting with their candy.

Sarah, the dinosaur, went to a friend party.

Josh, the whoopie cushion, went to a Young Single Adult activity.  He even made some homemade rootbeer as his potluck:

Here’s Josh’s YSA party:

Matthew was an old man.  Aaron took him around to do some trick or treating at some houses in our neighborhood.

However, earlier in the week Matthew had had a fun PARC Halloween party and dance.  His house manager sent these pictures to us from that event:

Daniel’s girlfriend Katie works at Twisted Sugar.  She was kind enough to drop off some cookies at our doorstep last week with a sweet note.  

That was very thoughtful!!

Aaron and I were out running errands and saw her car at Twisted Sugar.  We stopped in to say hello for a minute. It was fun to see her and talk for a bit.

Sarah had the Sadie Hawkins dance this past Saturday.  It is a girls choice dance, but she didn’t want to ask anybody.  Instead she and two other friends decided to join up with another couples friend group and go with them. They had their daytime activity which was Pickleball.  Here’s a few pictures:

The theme for Sadie Hawkins was dynamic duos.  Sarah and her two other friends decided to dress up as Disney Princesses.  Sarah was Belle from Beauty and the Beast. She even asked if I would help do her hair.  FOR SURE!!  I tried to make it look more like Belle from Beauty and the Beast, but Sarah didn’t like it.  This was the compromise we came up with and I still think it looks great. I did end up accidentally burning her cheek with the flat iron which I feel terrible about.  Sorry, Sarah!

Here’s their group:

They went fancy for dinner with Domino’s pizza and chips. I was surprised Sarah stepped out on Little Caesar’s by getting Domino’s since she works at Little Caesar’s but don’t tell anybody--haha!

Dinner:

Cinderella, Ariel and Belle:

Group pictures:

At the actual dance:

Sarah had a fun time.

Sophie is in dire need of a groom, but our groomer was booked out until for two months.  So we are finally coming up on her groom appointment next week, but she is so shaggy.  I bathed her a few days ago and as her fur dried she turned into a huge, hairy puffball.

I even put her forehead hair into a ponytail to keep it out of her eyes.  She did not like that, though.

She is so shaggy.  I can’t wait until her groom appointment next week.

Josh and Noah decided to go out for sushi the other evening.  My whole family is always up for sushi!! YUM!!

Josh has been so busy this semester.  We don’t see him at home very much.  He sends a few pictures of things he has been up to in-between school, work, Institute, YSA, etc.  This is one of those pictures:

Daniel got to go to the Winter Quarters temple last week.  He said it was a great experience.  Here’s a picture he got while he was there.

His Mission President and Companion post regular pictures on their Instagram page.  Here’s a few pictures of Daniel’s Zone Conference last week:

He decided to get a buzz cut two weeks ago.  He still looks cute.

Matthew had his State Special Olympics Bocce Ball tournament last Saturday down in Herriman.  He and his Bocce Ball partner Daniel got 4th place.  Here they are getting ready to play:

4th Place!!  Wahoo!  He made sure to bring his ribbon to church the next day to show everyone.

We are a texting family. I love sending fun messages like this one this morning--haha!! Does this make me the mean mom?!  However, I have told everyone multiple times not to do this, but it still keeps happening...Ugh!!  It is one of my pet peeves...Good thing I still love my family!

This is the funny meme for this post:

Aaron HATES birds.  He avoids them at all costs.  I was parking at the church last Sunday when there was a HUGE flock of birds in the field right by my car.  I decided to take and send the picture to Aaron for some nightmare fuel and to be funny.  

That whole black area is straight birds.  Let’s just say Aaron was not amused--but I sure was!!  Haha!

In other happenings I am still pretty busy at work.  This week has been insane because I am currently working both jobs. Yesterday I had to do double duty. I worked one job from 5:30 am to 2:00 pm then the other job from 2:30pm to 6:30pm. After that I had some meetings I had to go to. Let’s just say my brain was fried by the end of the night. This is how I felt last night--haha:

I did get to do an outdoor clinic Monday evening.  I had to layer up because it was chilly.  You never know what kind of weather you will get this time of year.  I keep telling myself next week will be better and not as crazy, but it just is not slowing down....Maybe next week will be better--haha!