Monday [4/19]: Today I assisted with homework. Doesn’t happen very often but it did today. I will often help the kids when they have big projects but with the day to day I am typically very uninvolved. Drew was struggling with his math homework which was adding coins. We spent some time explaining the different coins and their value and then when I asked him to do a page from his workbook he went into his typical resistance stance as of late. Lately it seems whenever you ask the kid to do something he digs in his heels and refuses. So today he couldn’t go outside when the neighbors came and asked the kids to play. He moped around while Katie was outside until it was almost time to go to school. I decided to walk with KD down to school since I was due for a shower. I started walking around the track when I got back up to the neighborhood and got a call from Abigail. It was nice to chat with her for a little while as it’s been a while. She has one more final to wrap up and then she will pack up and head home with her roommates.
I would’ve liked to played tennis this afternoon but decided it probably wasn’t a good idea since Justin and I are participating in a fast today. Our stake has challenged each of the wards in the stake to have at least one family fasting for each day for 40 consecutive days. Today was the day that we chose. I was already feeling pretty dehydrated so playing tennis wouldn’t have been the best idea.
By the time I got back to the house and cleaned up it was already time for Jason to get home from school followed by KD. Jason told us he is now allowed to go outside during his lunch break so he’s finally able to get some more interaction with friends and be more active which is great. Carly made crunch wrap supremes tonight for dinner which tasted great after a day of fasting. I open up my email as I got settled into the bonus room to watch the last two episodes of Virgin River and saw the email from the homeowners association announcing the results of the scavenger hunt. I was shocked, but not entirely shocked, that we had the one the grand prize. I was legitimately surprised that the grand prize consisted of a $500 visa gift card. Carly and Jason we’re both downstairs so I immediately told them the news and was excited to tell the rest of the family when they got home from the store. Justin was happy about it of course and also shocked that it was $500. There were two other randomly drawn prizes and each of those teams received $125 gift card so a big difference. People might say that we’re pretty lucky but I honestly believe that it’s just a blessing from the Lord that we he knows the happiness this sort of thing brings to us.
Tuesday [4/20]: I get email notifications from Creative Live who offers online educational courses regularly. It’s been ages since I’ve watched any of their live courses (once they aren’t live you have to pay to watch them). This morning they we’re broadcasting an iPhone video class that sounded interesting so I watched that from 9-12 while editing photos on my computer. With Abigail leaving someone is going to need to step up and create our family videos – I’d prefer it not be me. The course was interesting but I was distracted by my own multi-tasking as well as having JKD at home asking me questions and sneaking around getting on tech (Drew). Drew’s had a rougher couple days not doing the things he’s asked to (eat dinner, practice piano, empty the dishwasher) and not doing the things he shouldn’t (get on the TV, phone or computer without permission). I’m afraid all my kids have reached the age that I can no longer control them and expect compliance. It’s a sad stage of life – ha!
My afternoon was spent catching up on the blog and some time spent studying our next section of CFM. Jason made dinner tonight and got off easy choosing a ceasar salad – though I did have him make some homemade croutons to step it up a notch.
Justin organized an elders quorum hike this evening to Twin Falls and brought KD along. Apparently they were the only kiddos on the hike and only a few other elders joined Justin.
Jason refused to go and instead asked Carly to play tennis with him. I was not invited, but that’s okay. This left me home completely alone which NEVER happens. I wasn’t quite sure what I should do to mark the occasion. I decided, even though I decided yesterday to try to eat better, to enjoy a bowl of ice cream and started a new Netflix series. I was hooked immediately and plowed through four episodes before calling it a night. I don’t sit around watching shows very often, but I do have them playing while I work on my computer or edit photos. Multi-tasking at its finest.
Wednesday [4/21]: Today is our 22nd anniversary. Justin was gone when I got up and surprised me by coming home with Crumbl cookies and a Chick-fil-A breakfast sandwich. I guess he didn’t get the memo that I was going to try to eat more healthy either – ha!
While I was upstairs doing my scripture study he left a package of SweeTart Ropes on my office chair – one of my favorite candies!
Katie and Drew were very excited to go with me to pick up our scavenger hunt prize today. The woman in charge of it had the prizes at a picnic table at the community park. She was talking with another couple when I arrived and as they were leaving they overheard me mention that we were the Hungry Hippo team and they turned around to congratulate us on winning the grand prize. The organizer was very nice and asked us if they did something like this again next year if we would participate to which I of course replied, yes. She also asked us if we had plans for what we’re going to spend the money on and we told her that we were going to spend it as a family and have discussed possibly buying something like an electric scooter or doing a fun family activity together. She seemed happy with our response. We also received a small gift card to a yogurt shop and Starbucks as well as a few candies in a bag. The kids played at the park for a few minutes before we left to head home. As we were leaving we saw a family from our old ward picking up their prize. The organizer informed them that we were the grand prize winner. I guess there was a part of me that was a little bit embarrassed but also of course very happy with it too.
CJ and I had tennis lessons today. It was a great workout today as we worked a lot on singles play and played with the outside court line so we had more court to cover. Justin wanted to go out to dinner tonight for anniversary so I got cleaned up and decided that we should go to Maggiano’s. We talked about going last weekend and ended up not and I was really excited about their mushroom ravioli. It never disappoints! We also took advantage of their $5 takeout meals and bought enough home to feed the family tomorrow. I also had the thought to reach out to the sister missionaries in our ward and ask them if we could bring them a meal of their choosing. Of course they were happy to except and it felt good to deliver them a meal that they could heat up whenever works for them. I’m pretty sure that I mentioned before that I am typically not very comfortable around missionaries but I have a feeling that that will change a bit as we have our own missionary. Especially around sister missionaries. I know how much Abigail would enjoy having someone bring them a meal from a nice restaurant.
Thursday [4/22]: Today flew by I was busy doing all the usual stuff during the day and then picked up Katie from school to go to the library to use their copier for some color copies of our passports.
It sure was nice to have the dinners for Maggiano’s tonight. Justin left around 5pm Utah-bound and made it to the Boise area where he slept in the car for the night. Carly hung out at her friend’s house today and Jason made some interesting Twix cookies.
I finally tackled all the random boxes we’ve had stacked up in the master bedroom for months. Most of the stuff used to be stashed behind the couches in the bonus room before we fixed that up. I also straightened up the garage. I never did do a post on the garage transformation from last year, but I painted and re-organized everything. For the most part we’ve kept it pretty well organized but not everyone is as organized as I would like them to be and often things don’t get put away.
Friday [4/23]: It sounded like everybody was mowing, edging, aerating and otherwise taking care of the yard this morning all before 8am. After a few weeks of gorgeous weather the rain is returning tomorrow. Just in time for Abigail and her roommates to arrive. I hope they get some breaks in the rain and they can do the things that they would like to outdoors.
The tree in our front yard is full of pink blossoms. Jason and Drew have the best view of it from their room. Tricky to get a good picture though from inside.
I spent today getting things cleaned up around the house and checked several things off my to do list. When Jason got done with school CJ and I played tennis. We did some singles drills similar to our lesson this week. Since one of us wasn’t playing at any given time it wasn’t the best workout but I do think we got in a pretty decent practice. CJ walked home when they had had enough and I stayed back a little bit and worked on my serve. Still trying to get a nice natural serve in the proper form. Carly had plans tonight to go to a trampoline place with some mostly-new friends. There was a small part of me that was hesitant because we are so close to getting our vaccinations and it would be such a bummer to have any of us get Covid at this point – she had a great time. The rest of us finished up a few chores at home and then JKD all got some tech time before bed.
Saturday [4/24]: We slowly did our chores today. Some chores became even bigger chores – like having Drew organize the cabinet with the kid dishes in it and suddenly we’re cleaning out kitchen drawers as we look for missing pieces. Can’t complain though any improvement is welcome around here. Carly was babysitting this morning but was able to work on getting her bedroom ready for Abigail and her friends this afternoon. She’s not thrilled to be giving up her room for a week and moving in with Katie. KD and I went for a short walk this evening and CJ watched part of the Harry Potter movie. Nothing exciting. Basically just a packed day getting the house cleaned.
Sunday [4/25]: The kids all had morning meetings today at 9am online. KD attended primary and CJ young men’s/young women’s. I helped KD make some rolo treats this morning so that they would be ready for this evening when Abigail got here with her roommates.
I also finished preparing some sourdough loaves to bake after church. Church was nice. They’ve made some changes to the passing of the sacrament to loosen up some of the prior Covid precautions they’ve been doing such as having the same priesthood holder that delivers the bread/water also picking up the empty cups immediately afterward. The boys can now be within 3 feet of each other instead of 6 feet and are no longer wearing gloves. They also stopped wiping down the pulpit after each person comes up and will now only clean it between wards.
When we got home I had the kids wait outside so I could get a picture of them in front of our beautiful tree in the front yard that has the best spring blossoms. Hopefully I’ll be able to get a picture with Abigail in there as well but I didn’t want to take the chance of the blossoms getting blown off.
This afternoon we ate the pasta salad that Drew had prepared yesterday and changed the sheets on some of the beds so we could be ready for Abigail’s arrival. I also cooked up those sourdough loaves which was so delicious.
We had some rice krispies that needed to be used up so we voted between s’mores rice crispy treats and scotcharoos and scotcharoos won. Jason wanted to make them as well as chocolate chip cookies. Abigail and Justin got home around 7pm, her roommate Indy arrived an hour later with Braydon and then about an hour after that the last two roommates arrived. She has one roommate flying in tomorrow morning who had to work this weekend. We didn’t have much food for them but we certainly had enough treats. Drew was totally wired due to the anticipation of their arrival and the high-energy that they brought into the house so it was difficult to get him to bed. Carly and I ended up catching up on our show while Abigail got settled and cycled through some showers.
We encouraged Abigail to leave as much stuff in Utah at my Mom’s as she could, but she still had plenty to bring home. It stayed downstairs in the living room the whole week while her roommates were here.
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