May 2023

May was the end of track season for Owen. He competed at the JV districts and got another PR on his mile, 5:38. He is hoping that track will help him achieve his ultimate goal of lettering in cross country. He'll have to run a 5k in under 19 minutes to do that, so hopefully all of his hard work will pay off!

I got to go with Owen to his track end of year dinner. Where he was nice enough to let me get this candid photo of him while we were walking out of the building. 

A cold wet May has meant that we have had thick, luscious grass that refuses to slow down. It needed mowed so badly that I attempted to beat a rain storm...Things didn't go too well for me...

We also discovered that a bird had made a nest in my wreath on our front door. Sadly the eggs kept falling out when we would us the door. And after several days of watching we realized that the nest had been abandoned. So my wreath, the eggs, and the nest, had to get put in the trash. 

I was called to jury duty. I had to go to the court house to report for jury duty on the same day as closing statements for the Lori Vallow trial. There were reporters everywhere and a line to get into the courthouse. Family members of the victims were at the courthouse were there passing out remembrance tokens. I was given this bracelet while I waited in line to get inside. 

I finally got inside was there for an hour, until the jurors were called to the court room. As soon as we sat down the judge immediately called my number and informed me that I was dismissed from my service. I think everyone must have wondered why in the world I got kicked out of the court room so quickly. Maybe they thought I was a felon?

Emmie also competed in a local soccer tournament this month. They played so well together and ended up taking second! They even played this intense, violent, potty mouth team from Idaho Falls and handled it like champs. I've never seen little girls swear at parents, fight against members of their own team, and slide tackle in soccer....but it all happened during that game! 

Emmie also got to go to the middle school districts track meet. Every school gets to send their top 3 runners for each event. She competed in the 400, the 4x400, and ran the 200 in the medley relay. She consistently runs the 400 in 1:11-1:12 every time. She's incredibly consistent, but she's also wanting to break that time barrier. She placed 24th in the 400, but that time got her 8th in her school's record book for that race. Her medley team was disqualified when her teammate stepped out of their lane, and their 4x400 team did well but didn't place. And ultimately I think she was just thrilled to be there. 

I got to spend some time with Brooke before the school year ended. And I always love spending time with her. 

And another side note about Emmie. There was a competition for chosing a design for this years band shirt. This is what she created and her design won!

And since I haven't mentioned much about Ainsley, I'll give an update on her and try to remember to take some pictures! Ains has been working at Sierra Trading Post and subbing a bit for piano. She also signed up for an institute class with her cousin Maddie. It is a bonus for Ains because she can transfer it and use it as 2 of her religion credits at BYU. She also got a job cleaning neighborhood pool bathrooms and pool areas. She will have 3 pools she will clean every Monday morning, and then she can sub for other pools to make some extra cash as well. Other than that she has just been helping me in the yard and spending lots of time relaxing at home.

 

April 2023

And just like that it's April....

We kicked off the month with general conference and cinnamon rolls. Owen Bought tickets to a concert with Brighton Flake. So he spent his Sunday afternoon and evening at the concert. The rest of us went to my parents for dinner.

Emmie and John got to go to a father daughter dance put on by the young women. They had swing dance instructors and they had a great time.

Emmie and I went with the youth to a Living Christ presentation. It was one they had done last year as well. They have the gym filled with pictures and information about the last week of Christ's life and then a presentation where live actors depict a painting of the savior. I'm still amazed at how well they do...holding completely still for that long seems impossible to me!

Emmie got some seeds from a young women's lesson and plated them all in little pods. Her little seedlings are doing great!

April meant track season was in full swing. Owen had track meets every Friday and practices for middle school track started. Which essentially means we spent the entire month on the track field or the soccer field. It was awesome to watch the kids progress. I think Owen got a PR every time he raced. It was also a cold spring and summer was slow to make an appearance...which meant that practices and track meets were usually cold! 

This is the most awesome picture of Emmie from track...how cool are those flying braids?!

It was our first Easter without Ainsley. It felt weird. We had fun doing all of the Easter things even though the kids are getting older. And I was grateful that Ainsley was able to go spend Easter at the Dinger's. She had a good time because the Hunsakers were there for their spring break and so she got to hang out with the Georgia cousins for the weekend.

Here is a picture of the dog I rescued from the neighborhood. It was my good deed for the day. My morning was spent coralling him into the yard and then trying to get in touch with his owners. Which was no easy feat, since the phone number on his collar was for an ex-boyfriend who was not interested in helping the situation. 

I finally attempted to fix Emmie's wall. From the electrical problem from a year ago. It did not end well. I need to hire a professional. And now Emmie still has a  hole in her wall. 

Just a random laurel's picture for your viewing pleasure.

The month ended with me driving to Provo to pick up Ains. I left Thursday night and we were back in time for Owen's track meet on Friday. It was fast! And she's home! I can't believe her freshman year is over. Next year she'll be living at the Riviera with her roommate Laura. I hope she loves the Riviera as much as I did!

And then the day after we got home, Owen had prom. His date was his good friend Grace. They just went with the two of them. And they spent their time at the Record Exchange and Barnes and Noble, which is what they do every time they hang out, so it seemed appropriate.

And last but not least here is a random picture from my camera roll. We just liked the perfect zig-zag pattern on Emmie's head.

March 2023

My new monthly creative outlet has been to make a new chalk art drawing for each month. I've actually enjoyed taking the 30 minutes of creative time every month.

John got me this plant for Christmas. I've worked really hard at keeping it alive! It got root rot and so I had to re-pot it. Inside. In the winter. It was gross and messy. I'm still trying to master the watering and figure out what it likes. But it's still alive and green so I haven't failed yet!

I taught 7 classes a day for the entire month of March. Leo was usually right next to me working hard as well. 

The YW planned a "Gentleman's and YW dance. Emmie didn't want to go. But she and John went anyways. I can confirm that a good time was had by all. 

Emmie started having outdoor soccer games during March. The coldest March on record! Every game was miserable and windy, rainy, and sometimes even snowy. Bogus got record snow...100" over the course of the month. So when we got to go to an indoor band concert to support Emmie instead of an outdoor event we welcomed the change of scene. Not to mention that the 7th grade band sounded great! They were practicing songs that they would be performing later for a district competition/event.

I got a very surprising email...I got into the Counseling Program! I  actually literally almost threw up when I read it. My mind had completely moved on and I really didn't think I was going to get in. I was mentally preparing to get re-certified and back in the classroom. After some freaking out, I accepted the acceptance and then made John buy me some old counseling text books so I could start remembering how to read and retain information. The good news is that I'm enjoying the  material that I'm reading, the bad news is that I can't say that I'm retaining much of it. I hope my mind is in better shape by the time I start in August!

Ainsley had a few fun activities this month as well. Her roommate Hannah hosted a murder mystery dinner at her parents house in Sandy. It was 50's themed and these are the costumes that she and her roommate Laura came up with. Ainsley and Laura are going to be roommates next year at the Riviera. They were going to be living with their other roommate Sarah and a friend of Sarah's who will be home from her mission by then. But Sarah is getting married in August. They got contracts at the Riviera so that Sarah's friend could live with them, but now neither of them are. I think it will be a fun place for them to live, so I think it will all be fine. I just think it's kind of funny (and a little sad that their group of 4 dropped to a group of 2).

Alinsley also participated in disaster day again. This times she was a burn victim who died. She looks horrible! (In a good way.)

Owen also started track. He's focusing on running the mile and hoping it will help him letter in cross-country. So far he has had a new PR each track meet. His latest time was 5:47. I have been so impressed with how much he has improved his time! To me that time seems so fast!

 

Emmie has been forced to take on some extra running as well. Her soccer coach wants the girls to run more, so they have to run two miles and submit their times. I've been proud of her. She really doesn't like running, but she has gotten her mile times below 8:00 (almost to the 7:30 mark) and her two mile time is so much faster than is was last year.

For spring break this year we started the break a little early. We dropped off Leo with his new friends the Flakes, and we drove to Logan Utah on Thursday night for a college tour for Owen. We were driving 2 cars down so that we could take Ainsley her new car. So Owen and I drove the acura together and John and Emmie drove the van. It was Junior preview day so he and his friend Logan went. There were a lot of kids there and they gave some good information. Owen's words were, "It looks like fun." so I guess that's a win!

This is the only picture I got. So Lame! And the only reason I took it was because a lady in front of me was. Why am I so horrible at taking pictures!?

While Owen and I were at the preview, Emmie and John did baptisms for the dead at the Logan temple, went to a cheese factory, and then came and met up with us for the end of the tour for icecream and vendors.

Then we hopped in the car and drove to Salt Lake. Ainsley met us there. We just hung out at Steve and Alene's that night with Ains and the kids, oh, and we handed over the scion to Eric. Saturday we made a trip to IKEA (mostly because I had a return) and made a trip to Macy's for a kong cone. The we got together that night with Goob and Lewis, some of their friends, Steph's family, and Conlin and Quinn and her boyfriend for pizza and a game of Blood on the Clocktower. It was fun. Emmie was the town drunk. Which I still think is hilarious. You'll have to google it for more details.

We drove home on Sunday morning because we had to get back to Leo and Owen was leaving for Donnely with Logan's family to go skiing at Tamarack.

Monday was a relaxing day and I worked, then Tuesday (which was also John's birthday) Emmie and I drove up to Bogus for our last day of skiing. The snow was awesome, but we were both not feeling it and we drove home after only skiing for 2 hours. But that gave us enough time to wash John's truck for him for his birthday.....have I mentioned John got a new truck? I can't remember. But our old truck was needing more and more work and it just wasn't worth the repairs. So we found him a new (to us) truck and we are loving it! That evening we met up with my parents and Bailey and Norah (who were in town for the week while Kort and Dan were in Costa Rica) and we ate at 5 guys and then came back to our house for Chip Cookies and just hung out. 

The rest of the week we tried to do a few fun things...which was tricky with cranky teens and the age range. We played Joker and John made us mongolian BBQ one night. Another night we had a "Banana Night". We played banana grams, ate banana splits, and watched Paddington 2, because we couldn't think of a movie that was centered around bananas. And what's more bananas, or crazy, than a talking bear?! The movie was surprisingly good! We also took the girls to Winco one day while Owen was working and they got suppies to make cupcakes and then spend the afternoon baking and decorating. It wasn't the most exciting week, but I think everyone ended up having a good time.