The past two weeks have been pretty routine. However, we did have a combined young men/young women activity in which we did a virtual talent show. The sign up list went out two weeks before the activity. Kids could sign up for a ‘live’ spot or do a prerecorded talent. About a week before the activity, there weren’t very many people signed up so I made my kids sign up. There were groans all around, but they did it anyway--haha! Josh decided to play John Williams song ’Sophie’s Theme’ from the movie The BFG--prerecorded. While he played there were a few comments about how the piano was way too small for Josh-haha!
Daniel played a prerecorded part from the song ‘Careless Whisper’ (made famous by George Michael) on the saxophone:
Sarah and I did a prerecorded flute duet where we played ‘How Great Thou Art’:
Noah happened to have a talent show at the elementary School that week as well. He did two different piano songs--I Feel My Savior’s Love and another song from one of his lesson books. They didn’t allow any parents to watch the talent show at school, but Noah said he did okay. He was pretty nervous the morning of the talent show because he doesn’t like performing in front of people, but he said he did fine. I HATE performing in front of people, but the more you do it the easier it is supposed to become. However, I don’t care to do it again for a LONG time and I think my kids feel the same way--haha!
Speaking of Noah he is cute. Every time he has computer free time at school he emails me. His emails are pretty much the same thing every time, but it is still fun to see:
I am still working. I am doing mostly Covid vaccination clinics, but occasionally there are a few other immunization clinics I am working as well. However, I must say it takes me a few minutes to switch gears in my brain when I am doing a different immunization type clinic outside of Covid. It is a nice change of pace to have something a bit different, though. I did go out to Gunnison to do a second Covid shot clinic a week and a half ago. I had to be there by 5:30 am. It is a two and a half hour drive to get there. Needless to say I didn’t sleep a whole lot the night before. However, I was not thinking clearly when I went to bed and set my alarm for 1:30 am. The clinic I had done a month ago I had to be there at 4:30 am and for some reason as I was setting my alarm it didn’t occur to me that this shift was an hour later than the one I worked a month ago. My alarm went off and I got ready and left the house for the 2.5 hour drive to Gunnison. It wasn’t until I hit Spanish Fork that I realized I had gotten up and left my house an hour earlier than I had to. DOH!!! Oh well, sleep is for schmucks right?! Anyway, I was definitely NOT LATE for that clinic--haha! After the Gunnison clinic I had to drive back to the office in West Valley to do another Covid clinic afterward. By the time I got home at 3 pm I was just a wee bit tired--haha! It didn’t help that I got up an hour earlier than I needed to, though! I can be a moron sometimes--haha! On my drive to and from Gunnison I was able to finish listening to the audio Saints volume 2 book. I highly recommend reading/listening to them. It is interesting to learn about the history of the early church. It really helps you to understand the Doctrine and Covenants more if you understand what was going on at the time.
Our dishwasher is still not working. We never heard back from the repairman so Aaron called them. That is when they said our case had been closed since no one makes those parts anymore. Wha??? Aaron asked why they didn’t call us and let us know, but no one knew that answer. Aaron then had to call our warranty company. They said they would make a note of it and the person who was in charge of that particular order would give us a call back in 3-5 business days to let us know what would happen next. Sigh....I keep reminding myself this is a first world problem, but it is still very annoying....UGH!!! I think our family is singlehandedly keeping the paper plate and plastic utensil companies in business--haha!
Last week Daniel had his high school orientation. Aaron went with him because I had to work. I can’t believe he will be in high school next year. Aaron helped him decide which classes to take. Daniel also made sure they found out about summer Driver’s Ed. That is so scary!! We will need to sign him up in May for summer Driver’s Ed that way he will be able to get his license on his birthday in September. While they were registering they had a bunch of different club representatives there to let people know about the different opportunities that were available. Daniel was interested in track and cross country. However, as they were wandering around a girl started motioning for them to come and talk to her. She was pretty animated so they walked over. She then started into her spiel telling Daniel how their group does service, how it looks so good on a college application, how they have so much fun and are able to help so many people. At this point Daniel was interested, but then Aaron noticed what the name of the club was... Latinos in Action. At that point they were stuck listening to her spiel and there was no polite escape. I am sure Daniel would have loved to have joined had he had the right credentials, but he was missing the most important one--he is not Latino--like AT ALL. She was persistent and wouldn’t take ‘no' for an answer so Aaron grabbed a flyer and they walked away after her spiel. I am sure it is a wonderful club and they do a lot of great things, but Daniel just didn’t have the credentials to make it work.... Kudos for their spokesman, though! She would make a GREAT salesperson!! Aaron was so surprised by that interaction that he immediately called me at work to tell me what had just happened. I had no answers...
Josh is still enjoying being a peer tutor in the special needs seminary class. He has been designated at the ‘bolter stopper’. There is a special needs girl in that class that will bolt or run any time she gets a chance. Josh is in charge of not letting her get out of the classroom during class. Matthew used to be a runner aka ‘bolter’ too and run every chance he got. Thankfully, that decreased somewhat as he got older, but he still will do it on occasion. That is why I have a firm grip on him a lot of the time. A few years ago he almost got hit by a car because he saw someone across the street he wanted to talk to and just bolted into the road without looking. He was within inches of getting hit by a car going roughly 40 miles an hour. I am so glad that didn’t happen, but ‘bolters' can be super fast! Josh is learning things in seminary this year that he never thought he’d learn, however, he is enjoying it.
This past week my nephew, Kade, got his mission call. He read his mission to everyone over a Zoom call. He is going to Africa in the Uganda, Kampala mission speaking English. That was interesting! Here’s a few people that were on the Zoom call:
One of everyone’s favorite meals is Aaron’s ’Smashburgers’. It is a fancy hamburger that the kids can’t get enough of. It is topped with their choices of any/or all of these toppings: bacon, lettuce, tomato, cheese, blue cheese crumbles, blue cheese dressing, caramelized onions, pickles, chipotle mayonnaise, on a butter toasted hamburger bun. So as you can see it is super healthy--not really--haha! We do serve it with a side of Parmesan roasted broccoli so it almost makes up for the unhealthy burger, right?! Anyway, Aaron buys about 5-6 pounds of ground meat. He then seasons it and makes a bunch of 1/4 hamburger patties then grills them. He usually ends up making about 25 quarter pound patties. Often times there are very few leftovers which means everyone usually ends up eating about an average of 4 burgers each. Aaron and I usually only eat one burger so the kids are the ones eating up all the food (mostly Matthew, Josh and Daniel). Amazingly enough we actually had 5 patties leftover from dinner. The kids were afraid they wouldn’t get any of the leftovers so all of them got up early the next morning to have a hamburger for breakfast. Not my choice of breakfast foods, but what do I know?! Haha! Here’s everyone either preparing or eating their smash burger for breakfast this morning:
Speaking of cooking Matthew is LOVING cooking his own food. He has asked for so many recipes to try. This week he asked how to make copycat Cafe Rio burritos. I sent him the recipes for the Cafe Rio chicken, tomatillo dressing, pinto beans, and for cilantro lime rice. His staff helped him pick up all the ingredients and cook the meal. Matthew LOVED it!! I am quite impressed with the stuff he has wanted to make. So far he has gotten the recipes and actually made Sweet and Sour Meatballs, Instant Pot macaroni and cheese, Alfredo sauce, Chicken Tater tot casserole, chicken broccoli casserole, etc. That is more than what I knew how to make when I was 19!
Sophie is a pretty lazy dog. Most days she spends her time sleeping. Her favorite spots are the ones where the sun shines down on her like this:
She is a good sport most of the time, too. The kids like to bundle her up. She will tolerate it for a few minutes, but then she will go and hide in her kennel if it gets to be too much for her. She’s a good dog.
Daniel got to help make Easter basket goodies with the city youth council. Before Covid they would do a HUGE Easter egg hunt, but last year and this year they will do a car drive through and hand out small baggies of goodies to the kids. Here’s a few pictures from the Easter goodie assembly line:
Wahoo Daniel:
Josh didn’t make it to this activity because he was at work. Here’s a few of the completed goodie bags at the end of the meeting:
Sarah had some friends over Saturday afternoon for a Psych marathon. We love the Psych TV series. We are sad it isn’t on TV anymore, but the reruns are on Hulu. The girls snacked and watched different episodes. We picked up some Little Caesars pizza for dinner. Since they had caller ID they immediately handed Josh the phone when Aaron called to place the order. Daniel went with Aaron to pick up the pizzas since they had never purchased a pizza from Josh while he was working. Josh says he has to watch his head while at work because if he isn’t paying attention he hits it on the TV displays behind him. Josh even through in a few free Crazy Breads on our order--wahoo! It pays to know someone in the pizza business--haha! Here’s Josh at work:
This past week Aaron was able to get his second Covid shot. The first shot didn’t effect him too much. However, the second shot made him sick. He had chills, body aches, a low grade fever, and just didn’t feel well. Good thing it only lasted about two days then he was back to normal. I am glad we have both had the chance to be vaccinated. The state just opened up vaccinations for people over 16 with preexisting health conditions. Josh, who has epilepsy, will be getting his first Covid shot on Friday. He actually has wanted to get one so he was more than happy to get the appointment scheduled. He will be getting the Pfizer shot since it is the only one approved for 16 and older. He will get his second shot in three weeks.
Speaking of Josh he went to Preference this past weekend. His friend Jayne asked him to Preference and he was pretty excited to go with her. They had a large group of friends that went together. They went sledding for the day part of their date. They found a rather impressive hill to sled down as you can see:
Josh even tried going off the jump, but crashed and burned instead--haha!
After the day date was over they dropped everyone off to get ready for that evening. His date came and picked him up. They exchanged the corsage and boutonniere. Here’s Josh before his last Preference dance:
They went and took pictures, then ate dinner:
Josh had a lot of fun. I was glad he was able to attend! Josh also got his service award from the youth council this past week. He earned the Bronze level of service which means he got between 100-174 hours of service last year. Here’s the certificate and pin:
Josh is a big Dr. Who fan and ordered himself a Tardis ’Starry Night’ face mask. He was pretty proud of it and made sure to show it off to anyone and everyone that would see it:
Wow!
ReplyDelete