School Registration, Band, Youth Council, Work, Missionary Farewells, New Shredder, Shop Vac, Blessings, Day Date

Another two weeks have flown by.  Last week it was new 7th grade registration where the new incoming 7th graders for next year came to look around the school and to register for classes.  That meant Sarah got to go.  I still can't believe she will be in 7th grade next year--that is crazy!!  Anyway, I had to work that night doing immunizations at the school.  Even though I was at the same school I didn't get a chance to see Sarah or Daniel that evening.  Anyway, Aaron took Sarah for the Warrior Welcome.  Daniel had to be there early because they had asked the Jazz band to play.  Daniel even got a chance to do a solo during the performance which was pretty cool.  Sarah was pretty excited to see Daniel at her soon to be new school.  Here are my two cuties before the evening events started:

Here's Daniel on the very end of the left side playing with the Jazz band to welcome the new 7th graders:

After the performance the Jazz band kids hung around in the hallway to play and try to get the new students to sign up for band.

Daniel played one of his favorite songs 'Careless Whisper' if you play the video link you would recognize the song.  He plays that around the house ALL THE TIME.  It's pretty funny.

There was an instrument person there showing what different instruments the kids can play.  Sarah got to try out a few.

The trombone:

The flute, but she had to be shown how to hold her mouth before she got to play it:

We tried to persuade Sarah to pick the trumpet since we already have one, but she had other plans.  Sarah picked the flute.  I think it's pretty cool so maybe when she learns it a bit better we can play a duet together with me and my flute.

Sarah registered for 7th grade classes.  Aaron was with her so he let her pick what she wanted.  It probably was a good thing because otherwise I don't know if I would have signed her up for the classes she picked.....I may have encouraged her to take a few different ones, but what can you do.  I am sure she will do great and enjoy what she has picked.

Since I was at the school doing immunizations I got to see a few of the girls I know from our neighborhood.  It was fun to see them, but they were as excited to see me since I was the one holding the shot needles--haha!  Most of them weren't too traumatized, though.

Josh and Daniel got their Youth Council shirts this past week.  They both got a t-shirt and a sweatshirt and they both look awesome.  They get to try them out at their leadership Conference held at Utah State at the end of this week.  They are pretty excited to go.

Daniel and his friends made it on to the district level for their solo/ensemble performance.  They did great.  However, they only take 9th graders on to state so this is where their last performance would be.  Here is Daniel introducing what they would be playing:

I had to work that night so Aaron and Grandma T took pictures and a video for me so I could see and hear the performance later. They did great.

 

Speaking of Daniel we got to meet with his Jr. High counselor to discuss his career plans.  This is something every student has to do to make sure they are on par to graduate high school and take the classes that would help them most in their career path.  Daniel doesn't know what he wants to be quite yet.  He is interested in possibly being a doctor, however, he doesn't handle the site of blood very well which might pose a bit of a problem with that profession.  He is also considering being an engineer, but it still is pretty early to know what he wants to be when he grows up.  He did register for his 9th grade classes and is doing good.

The Sunday before last Matthew had a friend who was giving a farewell talk before she left on her mission.  She invited Matthew to come to hear her speak and then over to her house afterward for an openhouse.  Matthew was so excited and kept making sure we were aware of when and where this was going to happen.  That morning, however, Aaron and I both had meetings we had to go to.  Josh was nice enough to volunteer to go with Matthew to the sacrament meeting.  I got done with my meeting a bit early so I headed over to stay with Matthew through the end of the farewell sacrament meeting.  After sacrament meeting was over Matthew went crazy with excitement because he saw so many of his high school friends there.  He was so excited to try and talk to them all.  It was a bit hard to keep him contained.  He made sure we went over to her house afterward for an openhouse/luncheon.  We could only stay for about 30 minutes before we had to leave because I had another meeting I had to go to.  Before we left, though, he gathered up everyone from high school and made them all take a picture.  To gather everyone together he yelled all throughout the house to make sure everyone knew they were going to take some pictures.  It was a bit embarrassing, but he got the job done.  Here are all the fun people from high school that were at Kalli's mission open house:

She is going to Brazil so she was pretty excited.  Matthew made sure he got a picture with Kalli 'one of his cute girls' as he calls her.  I thought it was pretty sweet she invited him.  He LOVED it and she did a great job.  She will be a great missionary!

The next hour in our sacrament meeting we had a missionary farewell, too and a lot of the same kids that were at Kalli's farewell came to Bree's farewell, too.  When we walked in to sacrament meeting Matthew got a bit crazy with excitement.  Good thing I wasn't wearing high heels because it took some wrangling to get him away from his friends to come and sit down.  That kid is as strong as an ox and about as stubborn as one, too.  Good thing we love him, though!!

Speaking of Matthew he had a death in the family this week--his shredder died.  The poor kid used his shredder so much it finally just wore out and died.  He was quite distraught.  Don't worry we went out the next day and picked up another one.  Matthew put the new one to the test, though.  He shoved so many papers in it at once it completely jammed.  Aaron had to take it apart clear down to the motor to get it unstuck.  Thankfully, once Aaron put it all back together it worked great.  Matthew has been instructed to not stick any more than 2 pieces of paper in it at a time.  However, if it does get jammed Aaron is now a pro at taking it apart and putting it together again--haha!

To keep up with all the bits of shredded paper all over his bedroom floor he has been using my vacuum to clean it up.  In doing so he has clogged my vacuum more times than I can count.  I am a pro at taking apart my vacuum to get it unclogged and putting it back together again.  However, this last week was the last straw.  He picked the most inopportune time to clog my vacuum.  Anyway, we got it fixed, but we then went out and bought him his own Shop-vac.  Those things are next to impossible to clog, but I am sure Matthew will put it to the test, though.  So far it has handled everything Matthew has thrown at it so I feel like it was a worthwhile investment--haha!

I bought some bananas from the grocery store and then brought them home to find a few hours later they had some weird things written on them.  The kids denied doing anything to them so I thought I had just bought them that way.  However, Josh fessed up later that he had written on them to be funny.  If you scratch them hard enough with your fingernail, the word won't appear brown until a couple hours later.  He thought he was pretty hilarious--me....not so much.  Oh well, they all got eaten so what can you do?!

Sophie is a pretty lazy dog.  She loves to find the sunniest spot and sleep awhile all curled up.  I can't say I wouldn't do the same if I could!

I got this email from Josh's Financial Literacy teacher last week.   I was pretty impressed.

You try and teach your kids as best as you can how to behave, but you never really know what they are like outside of your site.  This made my heart happy to know that he is a good kid even when I am not around to whip him in to shape--haha!  Especially when you spend most of your time looking at your kid like this meme--haha!:

Speaking of Josh he is still having some issues with his eyes. His new contacts have really been bothering his left eye.  The optometrist had Josh do another round with some steroid drops and he has just started wearing his contacts again.  So I am keeping my fingers crossed he can actually wear them.  His eyes are so sensitive--it is crazy!

Also Josh had the opportunity to receive his Patriarchal blessing this past Sunday.  It was a really neat  and spiritual experience.  He is a pretty amazing kid and I am excited to see what things he will accomplish in his lifetime.

Every year Aaron has to have an appointment with his neurologist down in American Fork.  We usually make a day of it and have a fun day date.  We drove down to Provo just to look at our old stomping grounds--where we met, where we lived while going to school at BYU, etc.  It was fun reliving some old memories.  However, when it came to lunchtime Aaron had been wanting to try a BBQ place he had heard about quite a bit--Bam Bam's BBQ.   We walked in and ordered our food.  We each got a sandwich and a side.  I got a smoked turkey sandwich with macaroni and cheese which had crushed goldfish crackers on top.  It was more tasty than it sounded.  Aaron got a brisket BBQ sandwich and potato salad.  He also wanted to try a smoked sausage link, too.  He was in heaven.  I am glad this place is pretty far away, otherwise he would want to go there more often than he should. Here's what our lunch looked like:

After lunch Aaron got to get his blood drawn and then we headed back home.  It was a fun day.

This past Saturday I had a great experience.  There was a leadership meeting for about 7 of the church stakes in our area.  We had the apostle Elder Quentin Cook, Elder Gonzales from the Seventy, and Elder R. Pepper Murray come and speak to us.  It was just for the Stake Presidencies, Bishops, Elders Quorum presidencies, Stake and Ward Relief Society presidencies, Stake and ward Young Women presidencies to attend, but even with those it still filled the stake center pretty full.  They talked about the new youth program, the importance of Sabbath day worship, our different responsibilities, Come Follow Me for families, missionary work on both sides of the veil, ministering, having more joy, how to receive personal revelation, the atonement, etc.  It was a 3 hour meeting/training, but it was pretty awesome.  It was really neat to be that close and taught by an apostle.  The Spirit of that meeting was strong and was grateful for the chance to attend. I was a bit worried by knowing it was going to be 3 hours, but it really did go by fast.  I feel my testimony was strengthened and that despite my weaknesses and feelings of being overwhelmed I really felt that as long as I am trying I am doing okay.  I love being in Young women especially being in there with Sarah.  It has been great.