Lost/Stolen Wallet, Homecoming, Sprinker Issues, Canning, Frightmares, Soccer, Photography

We have been just plugging along these past two weeks.  We did have an unfortunate issue with our sprinkling system.  The main filter cracked and flooded our yard and the neighbor’s yard.  DOH!!  Luckily, our neighbor saw it and let Aaron know.  Aaron along with Noah got to work on fixing it together.  I had to go somewhere and took this picture of them both working on it as I was pulling out of the driveway:

Josh has been getting to know his new Mission President and Companion.  This past week they have had each zone over to their house on different days (they changed up P-days to accomplish this) to do activities together.  Sister Chase will post pictures of the missionaries on Facebook to show us what they have been up to.  It is fun to spot Josh.  In this picture he is the tallest one on the back row:

Playing Frisbee:

Zone Conference last week.  Again he is the tallest one on the back row:

He sent us some pictures from Chicago this week:

He and his companion are both Zone Leaders so that makes things a bit more interesting.  He is definitely learning people skills and how to work with different types of people/missionaries.

He did have some excitement last week.  I was working and got a voicemail message from Josh that was not on his P-day.  DOH!!  As I listened to it he said that he had either lost his wallet or it got stolen, but either way it was gone.  He needed me to cancel his debit card from the bank and to see what needed to be done about getting a new Driver’s License.  You could tell he felt bad in the message.  In the background his companion was saying, “He loves you!” I think to soften the blow--haha!  Unfortunately, I was at work and couldn’t do anything about it right then.  Fortunately, since I had to work last minute, Aaron had taken some time off to take Sarah and Noah to the orthodontist.  I quickly messaged him and told him what happened.  Luckily, after the kids’ appointment he went over to the bank and took care of that.  He then called the DLD (Driver’s License Division) to see how to renew a Driver’s License without being in person.  Luckily, we live in Utah with a ton of serving missionaries so they knew how to replace a license for someone who was not currently in the state.  They sent Josh a temporary license and instructions on how to renew his license, but he only has 30 days to do so.  Josh put it off until this week to renew his license on his P-day.  He is now familiar with how to find and use a notary and how to purchase a money order since you can’t send cash in the mail to pay for the renewed Driver’s License.  Hopefully, this won’t happen again especially since the Utah DLD will NOT renew another license without Josh being there in person.  What a crazy turn of events.  It looks like he is doing well--other than the lost wallet and all--haha!  

We had a fuel rewards bonus at our local grocery store.  As it happened both the van and the Camry were on fumes.  Aaron and I went and filled both of them up using our rewards bonus.  At the end of filling up we had a very hard OCD decision to make when the total sale ended up being $129.99 and the gallons pumped was an exact 33.000.  Do you leave it like that or do you try and get them more equal?! First World problems I guess--Haha!!  Either way it was pretty expensive for gas!!

There was a pretty cool moon the other evening.  It rose early and was reddish I think due to some wildfires.  It looked neat:

The switch to Jr. High has definitely been a bit rough for Noah.  However, he seems to have learned how to navigate the halls and find his classes, but trying to keep track of 8 different classes has been interesting.  There are days he comes home and is exhausted.  When that coincides with Aaron being exhausted, too, you get something like this--haha!

We are starting to get tomatoes from our garden.  I got the first batch two weeks ago:

I made tomato sauce and bottled it.  The next evening I opened two bottles and made it into tomato soup for dinner served alongside grilled cheese sandwiches.  It was pretty good!

 I have been working quite a bit lately.  Flu season is in full swing and it is busy.  I was at a clinic last Saturday.  When it ended I headed out to my car.  I unlocked it and got inside to see something moving out of the corner of my eye.  Then it almost jumped on me:

Yuck!!  After getting over the initial surprise I caught it and released it outside.  That definitely woke me up--haha!

Tuesday evening I had to work an evening shift.  I had made some beef tips with beef gravy and mashed potatoes for Sunday dinner and it was pretty good. I was hungry during my Tuesday shift and was looking forward to eating the leftover Sunday dinner when I got home.  Unfortunately, someone beat me to it and there were no more leftovers when I got home from work.  It was so sad--haha!  I found this meme about it:

Last Friday we went to check out Frightmares at Lagoon.  I actually got Sarah, Noah and Aaron to go through three haunted houses with me which was quite surprising!  They all hate them.  I was missing Josh because he is my haunted house buddy, but he is in Chicago so that wouldn’t work very well.  Anyway, Sarah and Aaron tapped out after the third haunted house, but Noah stayed the course and went through two more with me.  It was great!  Daniel had to work so he didn’t come with us that night.

Afterward we went on some rides.  Amazingly we got there right after it opened Friday evening and we didn’t have to wait very long to go on the rides.  It was awesome!

Sarah and Aaron rode the Skytram from one end of the park to the other.  Noah wanted to ride the White Rollercoaster so we rode it together then walked over to the other side of the park to meet up with Aaron and Sarah.  They had fun on the Skytram.

We rode Cannibal:

Afterward Sarah and I had some sweet windblown hair--haha!

Rattlesnake Rapids--We did get a bit wet which made for a chilly evening:

Sarah was not amused:

It was a great night.

I got a text from Sarah the other morning saying her backpack strap ripped as soon as she got to school and that she needed a replacement.  Doh!

Noah finished up soccer this past week.  We did get his soccer pictures back:

Daniel had a Cross Country meet down in Rose Park early Wednesday morning:

Before the race some of the team members showed their school spirit with some body paint.  Here’s what Daniel’s looked like:

It was a tad chilly that morning so while they were waiting to race the passed the time trying to keep warm:

Here’s Daniel in the group picture:

After the race while he was super sweaty he thought it would be funny to come and give me a big hug--GROSS!!

Daniel was doing some dance moves at work and ended up ripping his pants.  Good thing he had some work out/cross country pants in his car he was able to change into.

We got Sophie a Halloween costume and she HATES it.  She growls when we put it on her and then when we take it off she tries to chew it up.  It is a rodeo guy riding on a saddle that goes around Sophie’s tummy.  It’s funny:

She really does despise it, but it looks cute--haha!

Noah’s last soccer game started at 7 pm, but at 8 pm it was pretty dark.  However, they did great:

We were glad G&G T were able to come and watch Noah play:

Sophie is a snuggler.  Anytime anyone tries napping she is right there with them whether they want her there or not.

Noah gets the chance to teach his first lesson in Young Mens Sunday.  He got paired up with friend to help break it up, but his friend just let him know he wasn’t going to be there on Sunday.  However, they did get together and prepare a lesson before his friend let him know he was going to be out of town.  Noah says he feels confident about teaching Sunday.  I hope it goes well.  Here’s Noah and Jesse preparing the lesson:

Daniel went to Homecoming this past weekend.  For their day date they went to a trampoline park and then went and made lasagna for their dinner that evening.  Then they went home and got ready for the dance.  

Come to find out they never got a photographer to take their dance pictures.  They don’t take pictures at the actual dance anymore like they did when I went to dances eons ago.  That means they have to find one to take their pictures before the dance.  When I found out they weren’t going to have anyone to take their pictures I told him I would do it.  Daniel told me the park they wanted their pictures taken at.  I showed up while they were picking up their dates.  While I was waiting I was experimenting and Aaron happened to be my subject--haha!  I don’t think he was too thrilled about it, but he was a good sport.

It was fun taking and editing their pictures.  Here’s a few of them:

They had a great time at the dance!

I worked a clinic out in Morgan yesterday.  The drive out there was so pretty.  The leaves are starting to change and I loved seeing all the colors.  On the way home Aaron asked me to stop by Bingham Meat’s a pick up a meat bomb from the store for dinner.  I picked up the ‘Beef Powder Keg’ for him to smoke.  We will see how it turns out.

We had a paint night for a Relief Society Activity this past Thursday.  It was pretty fun.  We painted some sunflowers. Here’s mine:

Yesterday the Jr. High had their first dance.  Noah and Sarah both went to it.  I can’t believe Noah is old enough to go to school dances now.  How did that happen?!  He said he and his friend group didn’t dance with anyone.  They passed the time making song requests to the DJ.  One song request was Baby Shark.  I think they were just dorking around--haha!

Last night we took the kids to The Improvables.  It is an improv comedy act that is family friendly.  It was pretty funny.  Here we are waiting for the show to start:

Noah got to be a participant in the show.  It was a game called Pillars.  It is a scene where the actors were telling a story and occasionally would point to the ‘pillars’ or participants (Noah) to help finish their sentences.  It ended up being pretty funny.  Here’s Noah as a pillar: