Temple Day

The youth had a temple trip to the Juarez Temple today. It was part of a ward temple trip as well. Our friends, the Ingrams, wanted to go so I offered to watch Leo. The youth had the 7am session so they met at the church before 6am. I had to send brith certificates with them so they could cross the border both ways. Jason cannot go to the Juarez Temple because it is not allowed by the military. It was also the first time the kids had ever been out of the country. The girls were a little nervous. 

They brought Leo over around 7am. He is just so cute and his vocabulary is really increasing. He was talking up a storm. When his mom said goodbye and that she wanted a hug, he said "Bye" and then went right back to playing. We had a pretty fun time with him. Paige was the only kid home and by the end she was exhausted trying to keep him entertained. He particularly liked the magnetic blocks, Schleich horses, little guitar and being outside. He even brought me a flower.  It was interesting having a toddler in the house after all this time.

Brendan, Eva and Darby came back home around noon. I was expecting them sooner so I was nervous. It turns out that crossing the border back into the US is a huge line. The kids told me some of the things they had seen in Juarez. They have a new appreciation for this country. They hit a huge pothole that shook the car. They saw rundown shacks for homes with no electricity. There are no lanes in the road (which explains some of the El Paso driving) and people at the border are waiting IN THE ROAD to sell you something, ask for a handout or wash your windshield. Brendan was particularly perplexed about the people walking amongst the traffic with their children. 

The temple itself was nice, they said. They love the way they feel when inside the temple. They were the first group to go in and Brendan baptized his sisters along with a few other youth. He got to do some Korean names and he is pleased with how he was able to handle the names. Our youth ended up doing over 300 names, which is amazing! 

 

This Past Week

It has been a busy week and this weekend will just be busier. 

Eva had an orthodontist appointment on Tuesday and got the good news that she will likely be done before summertime. She's pretty excited. Brendan is almost done with his tutoring as part of Mu Alpha Theta requirements. He basically sits in the library and waits to see if anyone comes for math tutoring. No one ever does. 

Our new fridge was delivered on Wednesday. I had to empty the old fridge of all the food. Here is is all over the kitchen.

They could barely get the old fridge out and when they did they scraped the wall. I now need to fix it and paint. 

The delivery guy wasn't able to get the water dispenser to work. He claims that there is a leak in our hookup but I am skeptical. Jason thinks he can fix it. So many seals on other plumbing parts of this house have worn out so he is not surprised. However, until he does, the fridge doesn't have the ability to make ice. Sigh. The new fridge also has a small dent on the door that I didn't see until they left. I may be able to fix that. All in all, a less than positive experience yet again with Lowe's delivery but at least I have a fridge I don't have to defrost the weekly so the fan doesn't make a loud obnoxious buzzing sound. 

Darby had a big project due this week for National History Day. Hers was on the moon landing. She has been working hard on it for a while. Here it is all complete.

The bishop's wife does a zumba class at the church every Thursday morning and I thought I would try it out. I didn't want to but knew it would be good for me. And it ended up being fun. I am not very good and need more strength and practice but I enjoyed it. 

I was asked to present to Eva's YW class on Thursday and help them with indexing and FamilySearch. It went well but the school laptops two of the girls brought wouldn't hook up to the church's internet. Eva was one of those girls and so she just used my device. The other girl had to share and wasn't really excited to be there in the first place so I am not sure she got anything done. But the rest of the group did quite a bit.

Paige went on a date with Jason this week and she requested to go to Tractor Supply Co because they have Schleich toys. She bought three. Brendan found that many could stack on top of each other at once. Silly. 

My anniversary present finally came. I love it. Seriously. I teared up when he gave it to me. it is our wedding song. It now hangs were I walk but it every day. 

Jason had to go to weigh in for NAGA this Friday. The tournament is on Saturday. He needed to stop a few pounds so he didn't eat that day. We arrived early so we wouldn't be in the super long line of last year. Once they opened the doors it went pretty quick and we were able to go out to eat by 6:30. He was ravenous. 

Tomorrow and Sunday we have so much to do. The shortest month (February) is always the busiest but Spring Break is right around the corner. 

Slot Canyon

The kids and Jason had the day off from school and work due to President's Day. We have friends, the Ashby's, who invited us to go on a hike with them. Paige is friends with Ty, the youngest son and Brendan is friends with Josh, the oldest son. Jason and I get along well with the parents Holly and Nathan thought Nathan had to work. She found this hike called Slot Canyon about an hour away in New Mexico that was supposed to be interesting. We were able to bring Stella as well.  It was a 2.5 mile hike with some interesting spots. It started out pretty level and then went uphill. We lost the trail a few times and were glad Jason was with us as he had downloaded the map from an app.

Then we went into the canyons. They were the coolest. some parts got very narrow and you could barely see the sky. 

After that the little kids complained it was "boring". Then we crested a hill and could see all around. It was so pretty! 

There were a few treacherous parts and I let Stella off leash, which she loved! It ended up taking us about 2 hours. It felt nice to get out an explore. 

 

GirlDay 2023

This Saturday was GirlDay, the combined birthday "party" for all our daughters. They get together and decide all the things they want to do on this day. First of all, they wanted donuts for breakfast but Eva wanted to make them. So we had her apple cider donuts in the morning. Then we got ready for the day. Daddy Jason got some cute pictures with the girls. 

Once the store opened up we went to Savers and got toys, books and clothes. After that we went to Urban Air, a sort of indoor amusement park/playground. 

The kids played there for about an hour and a half before wanting lunch. Urban Air has trampolines and rope courses and bumper cars and more. The decided favorite was the ropes course which has a zipline portion. I got a picture of three of the kids whizzing by us. Eva didn't go in it. Her favorite was Gravity Defy, a super trampoline that allows you to jump amazingly high. 

We ordered Jamba Juice for lunch and, after picking that up, went home to play some video games. I had to take Brendan out driving as well. 

Jason grilled burgers for dinner and I prepared all the side dishes and fixings. It was tasty! After cleaning up and having showers, Brendan gave his sisters presents that he picked out himself. He got a book for Eva, earrings for Darby and new monster Schleich for Paige. They were so happy and I could tell he felt good about it. Side note: he likes to wear this topcoat when we are watching a silly movie.

Then we watched Eragon with a Rifftrax, stopping midway for the bundt cake I picked up yesterday. it was cookies and cream flavor with a birthday popper on top. This year they did better with the popper but it was still fairly anticlimactic. Darby and Paige picked up the confetti and just there it in the air for more flair.

We finished the movie and Jason read them the end of their book (the Belgariad series)  before the two youngest went to bed. All in all, I think we carried out their birthday wishes pretty well. It was a fun day. 

YM/YW Chopped

Yesterday the Priests were in charge of the combined YM and YW activity. They had planned another Chopped-type cooking activity. The youth were split up into six groups at different houses, provided with certain essential ingredients, and given a time limit to make a dessert. This year they added a secret ingredient that the youth did not know about. It was bacon.

I was one of the houses that were lending my kitchen. In my group were my kids, the Jones family, and a few other kids that didn't show up. Eva was very excited to be cooking in our own kitchen and already had ideas. We started promptly at 7pm and the Jones' arrived shortly thereafter. 

They decided to make a cookie with glaze and candied bacon. They wanted to use the waffle iron to cook the dough but it was too thick and didn't work well. In hindsight, maybe thinning the batter would've worked. Who knows! They decided to add food coloring to the glaze to pretty it up. Brendan said it needed crunch so we tossed on some sugar puffs cereal. 

At 7:45 we all left to meet at the Stetson's house for tasting and judging. The Bishop and Sister Marshall (the YW president were the judges). In the end, they chose another group for the winner (mini donuts with dipping sauces), and the worst-rated dish (which didn't incorporate the bacon) was "chopped". Our dish ended up being somewhere in the middle. 

The dishes that the youth came up with were very creative and I was impressed. However, there were about fifty people crammed into the Stetson's house and, after a while, I was peopled out. My girls spent most of their time playing with the Stetson's two dogs. We left as soon as the closing prayer was said, bringing some of our cookies home for Jason to try.

 

Annivalentine 2023

It is the 19th anniversary of our wedding today. Before marriage seems a lifetime ago and I guess, technically it is. Being a Tuesday, Jason had to go to work. It was also parent-teacher conference day for Paige so he was going to try to get off early and come to the conference. It was also a bonus that he would come home early on our anniversary. :)

I got a funny Valentine from my sister Amanda and my ministering sister brought me a huge cookie. Brendan even remembered to say "Happy Anniversary" before he left for seminary. It was a pretty good morning. 

Paige came home around noon and her conference was at 2:30. Jason texted that he probably wouldn't make the conference (he got a sick call right before he was to leave) but he would meet us at the book fair afterward. Paige's conference went well. She is "well-behaved, hard-working, funny, and just the right amount of silly". Her teachers love her. The only thing to work on is not starting the work before the teacher is done instructing. Hahaha. We met Daddy Jason at the book fair and Paige ended up getting two books and a secret spy pen.

At home, Jason gave me flowers. He knows I love tulips. And the pink ones look so pretty in the kitchen. He even went to go pick up the high schoolers so I wouldn't have to. I made the kids dinner and we left on our date. 

I had made reservations at a place called The Melting Pot. It is a fondue restaurant and sounded both yummy and fun. It was quite the drive to get there though. I should have thought about the traffic from the Westside to the Eastside when I made the reservation for 6pm.  We had the four-course Valentine's meal starting with cheese fondue and various things to dip in. Then we had a tasty broth where we cooked our meat right at the table. It was so delicious! The dessert we chose was a chocolate cream fondue. We dipped in brownies, marshmallows, strawberries, bananas, and more. The meal was spectacular and we really enjoyed it. One of my top five eating out experiences for sure. 

We exchanged gifts between courses. I knew Jason had been wanting a Benchmade knife for years and I decided to surprise him with one. The look on his face did not disappoint. He was ecstatic! He got me a Willow Tree figurine as a placeholder for the original gift that was tied up in a shipping mishap and will arrive late. It's a pretty one with a girl holding flowers. 

At home, we read scripture with the kids. Paige nearly fell asleep on Jason and it was so cute. I was reminded that this anniversary commemorates the start of my wonderful family. I love them so much. 

Thank you Jason for nineteen wonderful years and for all the blessings that have come from that February 14th years ago. 

 

Busy Weekend

 We had lots going on this weekend. You may have already read about Eva's High Q tournament. She was gone all day. Se also had a YW class presidency meeting on Sunday. Darby had a Valentines party she was invited to on Friday. She had so much fun. Elle Packer (this bishop's daughter) hosted and, since she has no sisters but 5 brothers, it was a chance for her to hang out will her friends without the boys. 

Darby also had a birthday party she went to on Saturday. They did an escape room (and sadly didn't "escape") and then played games back at the house. She was gone all afternoon.

Paige was invited over to Cassidy's Friday evening because Sister Ruth promised her tacos for her birthday but they were out of town last weekend. She came home with more presents. They just love her there. 

Brendan and I did some residential driving practice on Saturday. He is coming along but still needs a ton of practice. I am still nervous the whole time and I am not sure that will ever go away while we live amongst El Paso drivers. After the practice driving I started to look at ways he could practice more. I found a driving simulator video game and we bought a steering wheel controller. I know it will not substitute for real car driving on the road but I am hoping to build up some road skills and muscle memory  (with low stakes if he messes up) on the days I can't take him out. He felt sick on Sunday, came home from church during second hour and fell asleep. Poor guy can't seem to totally kick this cold. 

Jason had jiu jitsu practice on Saturday.  He has another NAGA competition in a few weeks. He also ran up the mountain this weekend because in a month he has the Marin Ultra marathon and he is training. 

Next weekend is GirlDay and the weekend after that is NAGA and a temple trip. February is the shortest month but it is always one of the busiest. 

Eastlake High Q tournament

This is Eva. On the 11th, I had a High Q tournament at Eastlake High School. At around 7:15am, Cole Stetson came to pick me up. After we picked up Josh and Adam, we went to Whataburger and I got a brownie. After that, we drove to Eastlake. It was over 30 minutes away. Once there, we split into 2 teams: Franklin A and Franklin B. I was on Franklin B.

I had a lot of fun! I answered a lot of questions, and I even got power on one of them. (A power is when you answer a question really fast, so you get an extra 5 points.) Franklin B only won one round, so we didn't qualify for the semi-finals, but in the round we won we won by a lot. In that round, I got a full 40. That means that I answered the question right AND all 3 of the bonus questions right. Franklin A went to the semi-finals and got second place!