Pink Eye, Sadie Hawkins, Single Parenting, Youth Council, Musical Number, Apron, Prime Rib, Rivalry Week, Hope Day, Santa

Things have been pretty busy for our family.  I am two weeks overdue, but here is what we have been up to.

Daniel had an exciting time at the Jr. high this past week.  All the students had to be evacuated since there was a gas leak.  The funny thing is that it made the news.  The headline read that there was a funny smell coming from the gym so they evacuated the kids.  We laughed about that because isn't there always a funny smell coming from the gym especially in a Jr high--haha!  Luckily, everything was cleared an hour later and school was safe to resume afterward.  It happened at the end of the day so it wasn't as bad as it could have been.  

Last week I got to substitute in Noah's primary class.  Holy cow those kids are active!!  The poor teacher really has her hands full.  I was glad I was just there to help and not to teach!  I have a whole new appreciation for Noah's primary teachers!!

Last week the young men all got the chance to do baptisms for the dead.  Josh was able to find some family file names which I think is pretty awesome.  I think it makes it more personal when you can perform things for people in your own family.  Josh and Daniel had a great experience.

My first day back at my CNA instructing job I had to leave the house by 5 am which is so early.  Luckily, Aaron's job is flexible enough that he can be there with the kids in the morning to get them to school.  Unfortunately, I got a call at 6 am from Aaron.  He texted me a picture of Josh who looks like he had lost a fight.  Poor Josh woke up with a nasty case of pink eye.  It made him look like Rocky after a boxing fight.  I half expected him to yell, "Yo Adrienne!" Doh!  Anyway, needless to say he stayed home from school.  Aaron even got to try out the new Connect Care which is seeing a doctor via webcam since we knew the problem and didn't want to make the trip in to the doctor's office.  Thankfully, it worked and the doctor called in some antibiotic eye drops for Josh.  He only had to stay home for two day until it was a lot better.

Aaron also was gone last week on a work trip.  It makes it hard when he is gone especially when I am working.  There was an evening where G&G T were able to come and help out with the kids.  The kids seem to not fight when there is an adult there to referee.  I was grateful for the help.  It saved me from answering the phone a bazillion times trying to referee while also trying to work.  That's never fun to do!  I was grateful for the help, but it was nice to have Aaron back in town again, though!!

Matthew got to go to the Sadie Hawkins dance with his friend Chloe.  They went to dinner and then to the dance with a group.  I never did get to see the group pictures, but I am sure they turned out great.  Chloe had spent the week before the dance in Disney World so for the dance she wanted Matthew and her to be Mickey and Minnie Mouse.  She even bought Matthew some Mickey ears and a shirt to wear.  She shipped the shirt to our house for him to wear.  Unfortunately, the shirt got lost in the mail.  Luckily, we happened to have a Mickey shirt he could wear instead.  The shirt that got lost in the mail ended up finally getting to our house two weeks late.  Oh crazy times.  Here's the cute couple right before they left our house:

Chloe had gotten in from Florida late that day and felt bad they couldn't do more than dinner and the dance so she ended up taking him out again Monday evening to dinner and to see the high school play.  Matthew loved it.  I am so grateful that he was able to have such an experience.  I am grateful for kind hearted people who really can look outside themselves and take care of others.  My momma heart is full!

The city youth council has been busy.  They provided a fun night for the Christmas Box House children that included a nice turkey dinner along with games and activities.  The Christmas Box House is an emergency children's shelter that is located in Ogden.  This is an activity the youth council does every year.  Josh loves participating in this activity.  Unfortunately, this activity happened the same day he had pink eye so he couldn't go--doh!!  He still had volunteered to bring mashed potatoes for 30 people so Aaron and I brought them instead.  When Aaron went to pick up our dishes afterward, it sounded like things went well that evening.  I am glad since those poor kids needed a fun night.  They did tell us they missed Josh and the fun that he brings to the BINGO game. Hopefully, next year he won't have any pink eye so he can attend.

The youth council also got sworn in last week.  It was done during a city council meeting.  Josh got to lead the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of the meeting.  He is the tall kid on the right side of the picture:

 The youth council also brought in a bunch of pink flowers.  A city councilwomen has been fighting breast cancer and her son is on the youth council.  To try and show their support all the kids were given a pink flower to present the councilwomen who has breast cancer.  By the end she had a beautiful bouquet of pink flowers.  Her and her son were surprised and touched by the gesture.  Here are the kids waiting to present the councilwomen her flowers:

When it came time to be sworn in the mayor got up and had the kids repeat after him.  They each said their names and then they went on to finish being sworn in.  Here's Josh saying his name:

His voice has gotten so low!!

Here's the sworn in youth council members for this year:

 Matthew has been getting a piano piece ready to play in sacrament meeting.  His piano teacher finally gave her seal of approval so we got him a date to play in church.  Once Matthew found out what day he would be playing in sacrament meeting he told anyone and everyone he could when he would be playing and then invited those people to come hear him.  I was surprised at how many kids came to show their support.  Here's a picture of just a few of Matthew's friends from high school that came to hear him play in church:

Matthew was so excited to play that he shouted out highway exit names and numbers the whole way up to the piano while he jumped up and down.  He did the same thing all the way back to our bench when he was done.  However, once he did get to the piano he was very reverent and appropriate.  He played a variation of the hymn "For the Beauty of the Earth".  He did a great job.

Anyway, back to the picture--Josh in the picture, too.  He can't miss a good photo op... It was also really neat to speak with the senior missionary couple that serves at the high school seminary.  They told us all about Matthew which was nice to hear.  Matthew doesn't say a whole lot about what happens at school so it was nice to hear from other people.

Matthew is in a sewing class at school.  He was pretty proud of his apron that he made.

 He even chose his own fabric which was a dog paw print with bones.  An interesting choice for an apron, but whatever works right?!

 The kids had off from school yesterday so we all had a lunch date at McDonald's.  Josh was at a birthday party for a friend so it was just me and the four other kids.

 Aaron was teasing Daniel about his fedora hat, but I did sneak a picture of him wearing it--haha!

 Anytime Aaron and I have a big event we seem to get in an argument.  I found this comic that sums that up pretty well--haha!

 Also I found a new sign I think would fit in my house perfectly--haha!

I was talking with Noah the other day.  He brought up this subject that goes along with the sign above pretty well:

Aaron has been smoking as always.  This past week he tried his hand at prime rib.  He has been wanting to smoke a prime rib for a while so when we found a good price for one we picked it up.  Here's the steps he took.  

 Put a seasoned butter rub all over the meat:

Let the smoking begin:

 At the end he seared the outside:

He also made some smashed baked potatoes to go along with it which were pretty yummy.

Needless to say there were no leftovers after that meal--haha!

Veteran's Day was last week which meant Aaron had it off so we were able to go play.  It was fun to just spend the whole day together.  We usually do Christmas shopping that day and we did some, but just were able to enjoy each others company.  

Rivalry week starts this week.  We have a rivalry with the Einzinger family.  One time while we were on vacation they came and put a big 'U' on our porch and took a picture of it.  They have taunted us with this picture for years.

 We were able to get them back this past week while they were on vacation--haha!  We 'Y'd up their house while they were gone and they couldn't do anything about it, either--haha!

We will be watching the game on Saturday.  Hopefully it will turn out great--GO BYU!!

Matthew had fun Tuesday at his after school program.  His group went and saw Santa and got pictures.  Here's my cute Matthew boy:

 Nice to know that Santa has a great sense of humor, too!

 Tuesday was Hope Day at the Jr. High.  All the Hope Squad members were able to answer questions and give out tickets to those that asked the questions.  All the tickets will go into a drawing for prizes.  The Hope Squad members also got their t-shirts--yay!  Here's Daniel sporting his new t-shirt: