FSY, Anniversary, Dancing at Disneyland, Crazy Driving, Camp K, WSU Prep, Time Capsule, Father’s Day

Aaron and I celebrated our 22nd wedding anniversary two weeks ago.  Wahoo!  This meme sums up our marriage--haha!

Sarah got the opportunity to go to Disneyland with her dance group two weeks ago.  It was a quick trip. They left early on a Wednesday morning and drove all day and got into Anaheim that evening.  They spent two days Thursday and Friday in the Disneyland parks and drove home all day Saturday.  Here is Sarah’s dance group:

Sarah’s friend, Gabby:

The dance teams filled two 15 passenger vans and that is how they all got to Disneyland.  Here’s the van Sarah was in:

They got to have fun in the Disneyland parks, but they also got the chance to perform as well.  Here’s the girls in their team gear:

Some highlights:

Meeting Jack Sparrow:

Aaron and I didn’t get to go, but some friends did and were kind enough to send us some pictures of Sarah dancing on the Disneyland stage:

It was so good to see her:

Meanwhile while Sarah was at Disneyland the rest of us celebrated our anniversary by going to see the movie Top Gun Maverick at the theater.

Later on that evening I had scored some free baseball tickets to watch an Ogden Raptor’s game, but Daniel and Noah decided they would rather go to their young men activity instead.  Daniel hiked Adams Canyon and Noah had a scripture activity.  Sarah was in California.  Aaron and I enjoyed being almost empty nesters at the baseball game.  It was weird for it to only be us two!  We had a good anniversary.

The next evening I got to drive Matthew to and from his Special Needs Mutual activity.  He is so excited that they have started having them in person again.  While I was doing that Aaron took Noah and Daniel to Lagoon for a few hours.  Everything was all and good until Noah went on a few rides and then was severely regretting his decision to eat a huge McDonald’s dinner that evening--haha!  

Luckily, he was able to keep his dinner down, but it was touch and go there for a bit--at least that is what Aaron said.

Josh had his last zone conference with his current Mission President and Companion.  Josh really loves them and is sad to see the Shumways leave, but is looking forward to meeting the new Mission President and Companion in a few weeks.  Here’s a picture of his zone:

Two weeks ago I had a work inservice.  My boss likes to do some fun activities mixed in with work stuff occasionally.  This time we all got to go and see Maverick (the Top Gun Movie) with popcorn and a drink.  I had just seen it two days before with my family, but it was still good the second time around.  Afterward we ate a catered lunch from Cafe Rio and spent the rest of the afternoon in a conference room learning about two new vaccines we will be starting to administer soon.

Last Monday was a pretty crazy morning!!  Everyone had somewhere they all had to be at roughly all the same time.  Daniel and Sarah were supposed to be at For the Strength of the Youth down in Provo at BYU that morning.  Sarah had just gotten home from Disneyland late Saturday night which left her time to unpack, wash all her clothes to repack and be ready to leave again Monday morning.  Noah was started Weber State Prep in Ogden and Matthew needed to be checking in at Camp Kostopulos down in Emigration Canyon in Salt Lake.  Ugh!!  As we were getting everyone ready for where they needed to be Josh called to chat since it was his P-day.  Everyone got a chance to chat with Josh.  Luckily, Aaron was able to telework that morning to try and help out with all the chaos.  Thankfully, I was able to carpool with another mom to take Noah to WSPrep.  I was able to carpool with another mom to take Daniel and Sarah down to BYU.  I then got to drive Matthew down to Camp K to get him checked in.  That morning it was POURING rain.  I tried to keep Matthew’s stuff dry while we were checking in, but I don’t know how successful I was at it.  Matthew was bouncing off the walls.  This is the first time in two years that he has been able to go to Camp K since it has been shut down for the past two years due to Covid.  He was wired up that’s for sure. AS I was checking in they asked me if there was a goal Matthew would like to work on during that week at Camp K.  That caught me off guard and my mind went blank.  The counselor offered up the goal of getting Matthew to participate in all activities while he was there.  I said sure all the while chuckling to myself because the goal should have been trying to keep Matthew from DOMINATING every activity--haha!  Oh well.  He was excited to be there and I was happy for him.  He is trying to be more independent so he was telling the nurse and tech anything and everything about his life while they were taking his blood pressure--haha!

After checking Matthew in I was getting in my car to drive back home and noticed how misty and pretty the mountains looked that morning:

It was a crazy morning to say the least!!

Noah was a bit nervous to start Weber State Prep.  Weber State Prep is an academic program for kids in grades 6-8 that motivates and prepares high achieving students for careers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) fields.  Prep is held on Weber State University campus from 9am-2:30pm Monday-Thursday for 6 weeks during the summer for 3 years.  Noah applied back in January/February, got his elementary teacher recommendation and was able to get a spot in the program.  Sarah is in her 3rd and final year, but Noah is in his first year.  Noah had to go to the first week without Sarah since she was at FSY.  He was a bit nervous, but seems to be enjoying himself.  They like to get a baseline level on all the students at the beginning so they spent the first day taking pretests.  The next day Noah was awarded a $5 McDonald’s gift card because he was one of only two students that was able to set up and solve a math problem on the pretest.  He was pretty proud of that. They also get to do some occasional field trips as well.  This past week Noah was able to go to the ropes course up on campus.  Here he is on his field trip day with his Prep shirt:

That meant that all the kids were gone during the day all last week.  It was just me and Sophie--and I think she might be broken--haha!  She flipped over on the couch and just stared at me like that for a long time.  What a weird dog.

Last week Aaron got a package in the mail from G&G M.  It was Aaron’s first wood working project in Junior High which was a door stop:

They also sent this picture.  It is a picture of Aaron after almost getting killed in a car accident when he was little. He was at a landfill where the people he was with were unloading the pickup and throwing the stuff away. A large dump truck pulled up next to the pickup. He was sitting in the passenger side and felt the Holy Ghost tell him to move to the drivers side of the truck and sit on his legs. Shortly thereafter, while dumping its load, the dump truck tipped over and landed on the cab of the truck. That little spot that you see still not flattened was where Aaron was sitting. If Aaron had not been sitting on his legs, they would have been cut off since the steering wheel was all the way to the floorboard. Someone took a crowbar, opened the drivers side door, and Aaron hopped out with only a couple of minor scratches. It was the first real spiritual experience of his life. Here is the picture of Aaron next to the flattened truck:

10 years ago in 2012 at the Terry Family Reunion we filled out letters to our future selves to be opened in 2022.  We got our package in the mail with our letters from my uncle Byron this past week.  We waited until all the kids would be home to open them.  Here’s the letter that came with them:

Here’s all our letters in envelopes:

Josh had the fore site to say on his letter that it would be opened by his family since he would be on his mission at that time:

It was interesting to read what we had written to ourselves and to see if we had accomplished some of the goals we had set for ourselves 10 years ago.  Luckily, Daniel’s goals didn’t come to fruition.  He wrote the original letter when he was 6 and set a goal for himself to have a bunch of kids in 10 years--haha!  Sarah and Noah had just colored a picture since they were respectively 3 and 1 years old at the time--haha!  They were fun and a bit entertaining to read.

Sarah and Daniel returned from FSY.  It was fun to see some of the FSY pictures of the kids.  Here’s a few of Sarah’s pictures:

Sarah stayed in the dorms with a few friends:

Attending classes all around campus:

Her company:

I only got a few pictures from Daniel.  Here’s his company called Preach My Gospel:

He did send me a picture of one of his meals.  That is entirely way too much broccoli--haha!

Speaking of Daniel he got asked by one of Aaron’s friends to mow his yard while he would be on a 3 week vacation.  Daniel wasn’t too excited about doing that until he heard that he could use their riding lawn mower.

He was even more excited when he got paid.  Mowing our lawn is part of doing chores.  We do pay Noah, Sarah and Daniel to mow our lawn, but not much--$5 for the front yard and $7.50 for the backyard.  They didn’t mind either because they were happy to get some money for it.  That was until Daniel got paid A LOT more for mowing this guy's yard.  We might be in trouble now because Daniel now knows the going rate of mowing lawns and we don’t pay that.  Some might say we pay slave labor rates--haha!  I kiddingly told Daniel he should pay us a cut just for a finder’s fee for finding him such a sweet gig.  He was not amused.

Last week Daniel and Noah had a dentist visit.  They had no cavities, BUT it is time to start looking for Daniel to get his Wisdom Teeth taken out.  Boo!  Here’s Noah getting worked over:

Noah also had to see the pediatrician since he needed his 7th grade immunizations.  He HATES shots, but did okay.  He even asked to get the shots over with before he even saw the doctor because he didn’t want to worry about them during the visit.  Noah is doing well and finally hit the 5 feet mark in height.

It was Father’s Day this past Sunday.  We are so glad to have Aaron in our lives.  He does so much for our family.  The kids made him breakfast in bed:

Josh did say this about Aaron which was really sweet:

After church we had a Terry family party at my brother Bryan’s house.  It was fun to visit and the cousins had fun hanging out while we were there.  We were glad to celebrate the Fathers in our lives.

We got Sarah’s dance pictures this past week.  I love them:

Speaking of Sarah she has decided she wants to start taking a Pointe ballet class.  I took her down to get her fitted with pointe shoes yesterday.  That was interesting.  I know NOTHING about ballet so it was all new to both of us.  Here’s Sarah trying out different shoes to see which ones fit the best.

Josh is having some interesting experiences.  He has gone on exchanges which has put him using a bike for a day here and a day there.  Unfortunately, Josh has been pretty hard on the bikes the other elders have let him borrow.  He has popped five tires to date either from hitting potholes, crashing, or running over glass or other sharp items.  He also informed us that he got a traffic citation--a red light violation to be exact.  **Sigh** They have traffic cameras set up all over Chicago and this one caught Josh running a red light.  That makes me a bit nervous because that is how he has gotten into his two previous car wrecks 2 and 3 years ago, but I can’t think about that right now since I have absolutely no control over it.  Luckily, with a violation captured by a camera as long as you pay the fine it won’t go on your driving record.  Josh also let us know that with the increased price of food he only had $8 left to last him for groceries for two weeks.  Since he is in a young single adult area, he is not able to take advantage of member meals because YSAs don’t have the money to feed the missionaries.  His current companion doesn’t believe in eating out any fast food or other restaurants so Josh hasn’t been splurging on that.  He hasn’t been frivolous with his money, but his every other money allotment is not going as far as it used to.  BOO!  So needless to say Josh really was expensive for us this week.  We had to send him grocery money AND pay his red light violation in addition to his regular missionary monthly payment.  Oh well I guess he is worth it--haha!  He did send us a picture of him driving around a car full of elders in downtown Chicago.  After seeing this I can’t dwell on his past month's driving record in a car or on a bike because it gives me high anxiety--haha!  He also let us know that a few tornados touched down around the city as well.  That is a bit terrifying, but I just have to trust he will be protected being on the Lord’s errand.  

Here’s the video clip proof of his red light violation. BOO!!! At least I can see there were no cars coming on the other side of the intersection. 

Monday was a Federal Holiday for Aaron--Juneteenth.  Sarah and Noah had to still go to Prep, but we did take Daniel out to lunch that day.  That evening Daniel had to work, so Aaron and I took Sarah and Noah to Lagoon.  It was pretty busy so we didn’t make it on too many rides, but we still had fun being there.  Here’s Sarah and Noah going on the Music Express.  Aaron and I sat this one out since it is a super spinny ride that makes us both sick if we ride it.  It doesn’t seem to bother Sarah and Noah, though:

On the way home we called our personal pizza guy and he fixed us up with a free pizza for dinner.  He even brought it to our car.  What great service--haha!  It was great.

Over the last year Grandma T has compiled a book of life stories she had published.  We all got a book which was pretty cool.  Here’s the cover of the book which shows Grandma T as a little girl:

In our area there has been a life size replica of an ancient tabernacle like that from the Old Testament that has been traveling around.  Aaron and I were out of town when it was our Stakes turn to see it, but we were able to go to Kaysville and see it last Wednesday.  It was interesting to learn about it and walk through the different stations and learn about them.  Here’s what the courtyard looked like:

Here’s the inner room:

I am glad we got the chance to go because it was interesting especially since we are studying the Old Testament this year at church.

It was Daniel’s turn at the doctor yesterday.  He needed a Cross Country physical done, it was time for him just to get a regular physical done anyway.  He got two immunizations--Meningococcal A & B which he wasn’t too happy about, but he survived.  He is 5’9 3/4” tall.  He wants to be 6 feet tall eventually, but I don’t know if that will happen. Oh well he is only 16 so maybe it will.  Since he had to get two shots he insisted we stop for ice cream on the way home.

So far we have been keeping busy.  We had the chance to go and play Pickle Ball among other things.  So far the summer has been great.

Tooth Extractions, Popped/Slashed Tire, Dance Recital, Concerts, Piano Recital, Birthday, Memorial Day, Last of School, Special Olympics

Aaron and I didn’t get any recovery time when we got home from Europe.  Life hadn’t slowed down so we just had to jump back in and try to keep up.  Sunday and Monday evening we sat down with the kids and had them sample all the yummy stuff Aaron and I brought back with us from the Netherlands and Belgium.  The cheese from Amsterdam was so good!!  The chocolate from Belgium was delicious.  We picked up a big sampler pack of chocolates.  We cut each chocolate up in to small pieces so everyone could try it and compare notes.  That was fun until Daniel had an allergic reaction to one of them.  Boo!  He tapped out on the taste testing for the rest of them which was too bad.  We loved tasting and seeing who liked each one the best.

Tuesday, May 17th...I had been dreading this day.  When I started with the orthodontist and braces I was given a few options to fix my overbite.  They could have broken my bottom jaw to pull it forward and realign it OR option two was to pull two teeth from my top teeth and then pull everything back.  I chose the cheaper and less painful option of extracting two adult molars from my top teeth.  I made the appointment with the dentist for the tooth extraction before I left for Europe and tried not to think much about it while I was gone.  The thought of getting teeth pulled made me nervous.  Anyway, the day came two days after I got home from Europe.  I got to the appointment and sat in the chair.  The dentist numbed the areas with a topical agent and then with the syringe.  Then they let everything get good a numb for a few minutes and came back to get to work.  Although it was numb it was still a bit traumatic for me.  I was fully awake during the whole thing.  My gums and half my face was numb so I didn’t feel anything painful, but I could still feel my head move as the dentist started pulling.  I started questioning my decision at that point.  Breaking my jaw wouldn’t have been that bad right?!  Haha!  Anyway, at that point it was too late.  I could hEaR all the pops and cracks as the teeth were loosened and then yanked out--ewwww!!  Afterward I had to treat it like when I had my Wisdom Teeth taken out over 25 years ago--only soft foods, ice packs, try to prevent dry sockets, deal with having swollen chipmunk cheeks, etc.  Afterward I got to come home and try to stop the bleeding.  I really HATE the taste of blood.  It bled/oozed for about three days--YUCK!!  Anyway, I survived it.

My poor mouth after the extractions:

My newly extracted teeth.  I am a bit upset the Tooth Fairy didn’t come--haha!

I looked pretty attractive with my ice packs, right?! Haha!

That afternoon Noah was able to participate in the STEM Olympiad.  They didn’t allow family to watch so I just had to wait for him to come home from school to tell me about it.  The STEM Olympiad is a competition for 4th-6th graders that helps develop STEM based skills.  Noah participated in the Math portion.  Here’s some of the kids that were able to go:

Noah said he enjoyed the STEM Olympiad.

No rest for the weary--later that night Sarah had her last band concert of the year.  I felt well enough to go so we did attend.  It is always fun to listen to the progress the band made throughout the year.  Here’s Sarah with her flute:

Her band was pretty small!

Right after the band concert Sarah and Noah had a piano recital.  We even had to leave the band concert a bit early to make it.  I had to email Sarah’s band teacher to ask permission for Sarah to leave the band concert before it was over so she wouldn’t get in trouble.  We left right after Sarah’s band and the Jazz band had played and made it across town right as the piano recital had started.  Noah performed his recital songs before Sarah and did great.  He did have a bit of stage fright and forgot part of one of his memorized pieces, but once he got the sheet music in front of him he did great on both songs.

Sarah did great even with shaky fingers from being so nervous.  

We were glad we were there as well as G&G T!

Daniel fell asleep in the weirdest position and spot the other day.  We just had to laugh at him.  Speaking of Daniel he was promoted to manager at Little Caesar’s.  It has been a learning curve for him, but he is enjoying the pay raise, though.

The next day Daniel had his last band concert.  He is in the middle of the picture playing his baritone saxophone:

His band:

After the concert:

Later on that week Noah was able to go on his last 6th grade field trip to a Salt Lake Bees game.  Noah loved it.

I also started back to work.  I have been working all the way from North Logan down to South Salt Lake.  The higher gas prices are putting a crimp in my style, though.  Ugh!!

Matthew had an appointment with his psychiatrist a few weeks ago.  He is doing well.  He has lost quite a bit of weight so he will need to start adding high calorie protein bars as snacks to try and gain some weight.  Matthew was also able to compete again in the Special Olympics.  This time it was in Track and Field.  Aaron and I missed the regional meet since we were in Europe at that time.  However, the state meet was the Saturday after we got home and I was able to go.  Matthew competed in Shot Put:

He got a gold medal at the awards ceremony afterward:

Wahoo Matthew!

They had the Mrs. Davis County, Mrs. Weber County and Mrs. Ogden County (I think it was those three counties--I could be wrong, though) giving out the awards.  Matthew wanted to get a picture with them.  His house manager, Wes, got in the picture, too:

Next Matthew ran the 1500 meter (or the mile race).  It’s not quite a mile, but pretty close.  He ran most of it and did great.

Matthew got a silver medal for that race.  He also found some security and the EMS people and took a picture with them, too.  He loves taking pictures with everyone.

I wasn’t able to stay for the last race, but it was the 4x100 relay.  His team did great and earned a bronze medal.  The next day was Sunday and Matthew wore all his medals to our house.  I would only let him wear one medal to church because if he wore all of them they were really loud clanking together when he walked.  He’s pretty proud of all his medals.  Wahoo Matthew:

He will be participating in Special Olympics again doing bowling in a few months.  He is pretty excited about that.

Whenever we leave the house we usually put Sophie in her kennel or just close her inside the bathroom.  She isn’t destructive, but she will occasionally use the bathroom inside if she is not kenneled and we are gone.  No one likes coming home to finding a 'Sophie surprise’.  Don’t get me wrong it doesn’t happen very often, but there is an occasional history of her doing that....Anyway, the other day, however, someone forgot to close the bathroom door.  I came home to find her just laying like this:

Luckily, there were no ’Sophie surprises’ this time--haha!  I guess she was too comfortable to get up.  She is a bit of a lazy dog.

A few weeks ago the youth had an activity where they were able to go on a tour of the outside of the Layton Temple that is currently being built.  I love it when the leaders will send us pictures.  Here’s Noah’s group:

Sarah’s group:

The last week of school was pretty relaxed as it always is.  Noah and Sarah had their field days and enjoyed them.

Noah did complete the NOVA program.  It used to be called DARE, but is now called NOVA.  NOVA stands for Nurturing, Opportunities, Values, and Accountability.  Here’s his certificate:

They didn’t do a graduation program for the graduating 6th graders which made me a bit sad.  Instead they did a walk out or Clap Out where all the graduating 6th graders walked around the outside track while they were cheered on by their families around the edges.  We were glad G&G T were able to join us for Noah’s Clap Out.

The teachers walk around with the sign:

Here’s my cute 6th grade graduate:

G&G T even brought him some balloons and treats to celebrate:

His last elementary teacher--Mrs. Alyson Scales:

We had to get a picture in front of the sign!!

His elementary school did an Upper El where the 5th graders and 6th graders are combined. Only the 6th graders graduated.  His class was pretty big, but here are only the 6th graders.   His graduating 6th grade class:

I won’t have anyone in elementary anymore.  That makes me a bit sad.  I will miss it.  Noah is ready to move on to 7th grade, though.

The first and last day of school pictures.  Josh and Matthew still count.  Matthew is still in school and Josh is in the school of hard knocks being on a mission so I will allow it--haha!  The top row is the first day of school the bottom row is the last day:  (Josh and Matthew’s pictures are from August 2021-May 2022)

I always love to see how much the kids have or have not changed throughout the year.

Friday afternoon G&G Mancil were up in Spanish Fork.  Aaron was able to check Noah out of school an hour early to drive down to have dinner with them.

Friday evening one of Matthew’s friends from high school, Mary, got married and was kind enough to invite Matthew.  He was excited to see her and even asked if she needed him to come along on their honeymoon to help them with road directions.  Mary politely declined the help, but just smiled because that is just Matthew.  Matthew made sure to get his picture with them, though:

That Saturday Aaron and Noah helped get the garden ready.  We were really late to get things started since we didn’t get a chance until the end of May.  However, I think it was a blessing since we had a late frost and when we went to pick up the garden plants, there were a bunch of other people picking up their second round of plants since their first ones died in the frost.  I guess it worked out.  Here’s Aaron and Noah working on the garden:

Saturday evening our family was able to spend some time with the Einzingers.  It was fun to hang out with them for an evening.  The kids liked playing with their friends--at least that is what it sounded like while the adults were playing board games--haha!

That Sunday was my niece, Annika’s, missionary farewell.  She is going to the English speaking Baton Rouge, Louisiana mission.  

It was nice to hear her talk in sacrament meeting and my sister Johanna, too.  Afterward we were able to go to the open house.  The cousins liked hanging out and the adults were able to talk for a bit.

The following Monday was Memorial Day.  It was so cold and rainy.  So cold you could see your breath.  However, we decided to go to Lagoon.  It was NOT busy AT ALL.  I guess no one wanted to go in rainy 40 degree weather.  Although it was freezing it was awesome!  We all layered up and tried our luck:

We rode the ride Cannibal back to back and one time we had the whole entire car to ourselves.  Here’s Sarah, Daniel and Noah riding the Music Express.  Only two other cars were occupied.  They didn’t have to wait for anything.  It was raining pretty hard at this point.

We only stayed for a few hours before we were too cold and wet to function.  When we got home we made some hot chocolate.  Later on that day we spur of the moment decided to celebrate Aaron’s birthday a day early since all of us were already around.  We even picked up Matthew to celebrate with us. I offered to cook whatever he wanted to eat.  When we went to the grocery store to pick up the ingredients we found a killer deal on some steaks.  Aaron changed his mind from what we had originally planned for his dinner to steaks. I felt bad because I don’t know how to cook steaks so that meant Aaron had to cook his own dinner.  I apologized a lot, but he said he didn’t mind.  They were delicious.  Aaron cooked them and then slathered them with a blue cheese butter sauce and it was yummy!!  I also made mashed potatoes to along with them.  Afterward we had some fancy cupcakes for his birthday cake.  However, his cupcake didn’t quite hold enough candles since he is so old--haha!

Man, I even made him light his own candles--I wasn’t a very good wife.  He had to do most of his birthday....good thing he still loves me--haha!

He was able to blow all the candles out:

Since we are a brand new ward we are still getting things up and running.  We didn’t have a missionary board until a few weeks ago.  Then it needed to be decorated.  Since everyone is busy doing all sorts of things Aaron volunteered to take that duty on. That meant it fell into my lap....Anyway, Sarah and I took an afternoon and went shopping for supplies.  I kind of had an idea of what I wanted to do and she helped me pick stuff out.  Later that evening Aaron and I went and put the missionary board together.  Here’s the final product:

Of course I had to get a picture of my favorite missionary’s plaque:

We still had to plan for more plaques since there are quite a few more missionaries getting ready to head out into the field from our ward.  We currently have 7 missionaries currently serving from our ward (two don’t have their plaques finished yet so that is why there are only 5 showing on the board) and a few more filling out paperwork.  That’s a pretty good problem to have!

Sarah had her dance recital the next week.  I really love watching those.  Here’s my cute dancer after getting ready:

During one dance:

Her next dance:

There was a 3rd dance, but I don’t have a picture of that one, though.  Afterward she got loves and treats from Grandma T (Grandpa wasn’t feeling well that day):

And flowers from dad:

The following week Sarah was going to be going to Disneyland with her dance group.  We decided to set her up with a debit card to make things a bit easier and avoid the need to carry a lot of cash.  It was pretty slick and only took a few minutes to set up.  She got her debit card printed a few minutes later.  Here she is all adulting and everything with her new card:

Of course she had to go and try it out to make sure it would work:

It did and now she had some candy as proof--haha!

Sophie is in need of a groom.  However, her new groomer doesn’t have any openings until the end of August.  She will definitely be super fluffy by then.  At least she looks cute--haha!

The kids have discovered the filters option on our FaceTime calls with Josh.  Sigh....oh well at least they have fun with it, right?!  Here’s Daniel’s penguin head filter:

We had to share some of our European spoils with Josh.  We sent him a package with chocolate and cheese.  He sent me this picture to show me he got the package:

Here’s the cheese:

His current companion, who he really likes serving with and is actually my brother in laws nephew, is finishing up his mission soon.  Before he goes home he wanted to spend the last few months getting in shape.  That meant not eating junk food which means Josh isn’t eating junk food.  Well when I sent the package to Josh with the cheese and chocolate I didn’t know if it would get eaten.  Needless to say I didn’t have anything to worry about.  Josh said his companion dove into the cheese and ate a lot of it while Josh took down the chocolate.  So much for eating healthy--haha!  I think they were just trying to get rid of it so it wouldn’t be such a temptation, right?!

Josh also got the chance to change a tire.  He accidentally hit a curb too hard and popped the tire.  Luckily, or unluckily, he knows how to change a tire from vast experience.  It’s a good thing because his companion didn’t know how to change a tire and they were in a sketchy part of Chicago at the time.  So while Josh was changing the tire his companion made a Facebook video about overcoming trials with a good attitude.  

When they took the tire in to be repaired/replaced the tire guy stated it looked like it had been slashed.  It hadn’t, but since the tire guy wrote down it had been slashed that was the story they stuck to.  That way the senior missionary couple wouldn’t get upset at Josh’s great driving skills and why the tire got popped (aka slashed) in the first place--haha!  Oh the adventures of being a missionary....

Noah and I like to watch cooking shows every so often.  The other day Noah surprised me with this yummy and fancy plate of cute up strawberries, apples and grapes just because.  It was pretty thoughtful and totally made my day.  He made sure it was ‘plated’ so it looked really nice.