We spent A LOT of time on the soccer field last week.  It was Emmie’s league tournament.  She had games Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday.  They won all of their games except one and that one ended in a tie.  She wanted a medal so badly.  She has received medals in the past but they’ve always just been a participation medal.  When a friend of hers rudely told her that she only had participation medals Emmie really wanted one that was earned. Well…her team played hard and they came in first in their division!  They beat out 11 teams!  They had to score 3 goals during their final game to guarantee victory and when they scored that 3rd goal they were so excited!  I was proud of her and all of her team for working so hard.  They are some tough girls!


Ainsley had  an orchestra concert  this week as well.  It was Halloween themed.  The kids were all in costume and even their director (who looks like a 17 year old but claims to have a college degree) got in on the fun.  He skateboarded in at the beginning dressed as Marty Mcfly.  He had a fog machine for a few of the songs and on top of that the music he selected was great.  Although if you asked Emmie and Owen it was way too long and boring.


Our family also survived what I will call “fly-pocolypse” this last week.  I was driving the girls to and from activities and so I relied on Owen to help me with dinner.  I had dinner prepped and called and gave him my best estimate for cook time.  Unfortunately I didn’t make it clear that my times were estimates and he left the kitchen to watch tv with a pan sizzling away on the stove.  When I drove up to the house Owen was opening doors and the house was Smokey and smelled horribly!  Enter the flies.  The smoke, the smell of food on a warm October day, and the welcoming wide open doors brought soooo many files into our house!  It was insane!  Flies were  all over the ceilings, doors, cupboards, everywhere.  We started swatting and killed at least 20 before we had to leave for Ainsleys concert.  Then I killed more that night.  The next morning.  And to this day I’m wondering if the flies I’m still killing are part of that batch or just random flies that are sneaking in when a door opens.  At least now fly sightings are few and far between.

The kids were out of school on Thursday and Friday for Parent teacher conferences. We filled our 4 day weekend and I’d say we made good use of our time!  Ainsley got a hair cut.  We bought pumpkins.  We went to soccer games.  We carved pumpkins.  The boys got haircuts. Ainsley and Owen went to the temple and did baptisms for the dead.  We put lights outside for Halloween.  We watched Red Sox games.  We went to pizza pie café with Emmie’s soccer team.  I went to a million primary meetings (okay, more like 3 but it felt like a lot!). Ainsley went to a stake dance and even invited a friend over to hang out before the dance! What?!?! Emmie baked and decorated cakes for Halloween with some friends.  Her friends moms are way cooler than me.  I swear we did more but I can’t remember right now! I don’t think any of us ended the weekend feeling rested as all.

As far as parent teacher conferences went they were all helpful!  All of the kids had a very positive report from their teachers.  We got some good insight into some of Ainsley and Owen’s classes and we learned that Emmie has retaken the test that she scored low on previously and improved her score tremendously.  Her Lexile score literally doubled and her IRI scores were significantly higher across the board.  Her teacher is convinced it was just a fluke.  Unfortunately it was a stressful fluke for me!

And with that I think I’ll end our update for the week.  Phew!

The primary program is over!  (For this year anyways.) I wrote the program for our primary this year. Normally I’m not one to over think or worry about things like that.  But this year for some reason I felt more stressed about it.  Our primary has gotten quite a bit smaller in the past few years and so I only had about 50 parts. Almost all of the kids fit on the padded choir seats! It was crazy! In my opinion the length of the program was the only flaw.   I never remembered to time the program when we were practicing so I had no idea how long the program would be. We ended about 10-15 minutes early and the bishop has to fill the time.  But it didn’t seem to bother anyone but me.  The kids gave great talks and most of their parts were pulled from an “I am a Child of God” board we made in primary in January where the kids each shared ways that they knew Heavenly Father loved them.  It made it so that during the program kids weren’t grouped by class…they were grouped by topic.  Which made seating a little tricky, but ultimately it was just fine.  The kids sang 2 songs they loved in particular, “One in a Million” and “I Will Be What I Believe.”  They sang loud and proud and did great!  I’m happy they did so well and that it’s all over and now I can move onto the next thing in primary…planning for next year!

Owen is a man of mystery.  He had a band concert last week and about an hour before the concert he informed us that he had a solo.  Then he mentioned that he actually had two solo’s.  Like it was no big deal.  Then he told us that the reason he had the solos was because he was in jazz band.  We had no idea! Jazz band is an advisory elective.  When Owen’s favorite advisory (analyzing Disney movies) wasn’t available he ended up in jazz band by default.  He then casually informed us that he is the first chair trumpet.  Out of 15.  Not too shabby Owen!  He did really well on his solos (basically different kids came up and did a little improv, like scatting but with instruments). And now I’m left wondering what else my son is involved in that I have no clue about.  Because when I ask about his day I just get told that it was good and he learned. I wish he would use more words!


Ains finished swim team last week as well.  Her last meet was on Tuesday.  She swam in two relays.  She did really well in one of her relays and passed two other swimmers during her length of the race.  And her team never finished last! She’s not going to districts but will have a team banquet next month. I’m proud of her for trying something new! She found something she really enjoyed and that she’ll miss until next season.  And I think she’s in better shape than she’s been in her whole life.  She says she  wants to keep working out.  Which I think is awesome.  In my opinion everyone needs a good physical outlet.

Emmie got invited to play on the all stars team for her league. So she’ll play in a fun game where they compile the best 40 or so girls in her league.  I’m sure it’s also a sales pitch to parents to sign their daughters up for a full competitive league.  But we have no interest in that.  So for Emmie it will just be a fun game. Emmie also earned the “Wanted” award in her class this week.  I think she earned it for completing her work well.  She was more proud of that award than being asked to play on an all star team. John was baffled by this.  Emmie also told me that she retook her IRI test and that her score came way up.  I’m anxious to visit with her teacher during parent teacher conferences next week.  I’ve volunteered in her class but I spend my time in the teachers work room and have very little time to actually talk with her teacher!

We also had a Ward Halloween party on Friday.  There was a chili cook-off and people dressed up.  And that was about it.  Honestly my kids were bored and wanted to go home.  And the party was being cleaned up 30 minutes before it was even supposed to end.  It was kind of a bummer.  I wish they would have had some activities.  But I’ll try not to complain too much for fear of being put in charge of the next ward activity.

John has been busy watching a lot of baseball recently.  His beloved Red Sox are headed to the World Series this year.  He has a friend in our ward that is also a huge Red Sox fan who called one day with a plan to drive to LA and get tickets to see game four in the series.  The plan came to a fast halt however when they looked up tickets and saw that they were going for $700. Crazy!  Who spends that much to go to a baseball game? People in LA I guess?

I’ve been really enjoying my job lately.  I was a little nervous about this year because the head librarian and the full time assistant that I worked with last year (that I really liked) moved on to other positions.  I was a littler nervous that I wouldn’t like my new library friends as much as my old ones.  I’m happy to report that I’ve been blessed with great wen to work with again.  The new head librarian that I work for (Cindee) has some great ideas and is more willing to delegate and projects.  Which I love. Because basically that means I get to work on fun projects and be a little creative.  She also brought me along to a district wide library conference which I really liked.  I learned that there are a lot of learning opportunities for me.  I’d like to take advantage of trainings and certifications that will be available to me through the district.  If nothing else it will keep my knowledge a little more up to date and be good for a resume. I’ve also enjoyed the full time assistant I’ve been working with.  She was an elementary librarian before and is now at the same school as both of her boys.  I think we’ll make a great team.

This past week has been Halloween costume central at our house.  We have a ward Halloween party on the 19th so I’ve felt pressure to have everything done early this year! Ainsley’s costume is a cinch.  She’s being the boy on the movie “Mean Girls” that dresses in a hoodie and sunglasses and says, “she doesn’t even go here.” If you don’t know what I’m talking about go watch the movie.  It’s funny.  Owen is going to be an old mans and use the walker my mom has to get for her knee surgery this last summer.  Emmie is going to be a hippie.  Her costume has proven a little more labor intensive.  This week we’ve fashioned a fringe leather vest.  Sewn bell bottoms.  Which happened to be much trickier than I thought they would be!  And then Ainsley painted a cool hippie flower pattern on her pants.  I’ll have to figure out how to add pictures.  They look super cute.  And I’m dressing up as Emmie and my friend Heather is dressing up as her daughter and Emmie’s BFF Elsie.  Heather and I are dressing up as the girls as soccer players. So we bought shirts the same color as their soccer uniforms, long soccer shorts and socks, and then ironed on the girls names onto the backs of our shirts.  I hope Emmie and Elsie love it and think funny!  We’ve been planning it for months!

Lately I have been exhausted.  Between work, and violin repair, and primary, and soccer, and swim, and piano, and activity days,  and young women’s, and scouts, and trying to get up early to exercise, and trying to keep my house cleaned not filthy, and doing laundry, and keeping food in the cupboards, I’m feeling like I’m drowning and just can’t keep up! This feeling FHA’s reminded me of two conversations.  One with Erin Hansen when she had a high schooler and an elementary student.  She told me that she never slept and was so tired because she was burning the candle at both ends.  I remember thinking that having high schoolers could in no way be as exhausting as having little kids.  I humbly admit that I was wrong.  I might be a different kind of tired.  But I’m more worn out.  Mentally and physically.  And yet in the back of my head I know that I will miss the crazy that I feel right now.  When I interviewed my grandpa Welch a few years ago he was reminiscing about when his kids were younger and he was more involved with the youth and with his ward.  He was remembering how busy he was but also how fond the memories were.  I know that one day I’ll feel the same way.  So even though I feel run down and sleepy all the time, I’m trying to enjoy every minute.  Because I’ll be so sad when it’s all over.

My dad loves Chile  rellano.  Although he hasn’t been able to find amazing ones in Boise. And he turned 60 last month. Therefore (because the man has everything and we didn’t know what else to get him) we took him to a Mexican restaurant (a month late) that claimed to have excellent Chile Rellano.  I’m not sure if we found him a new favorite in Boise…but we did have a lot of fun taking my parents out to dinner in celebration of my dad getting old.  Which also means I’m getting old. Ugh.

This past summer we went camping at Warm Lake with our friends the Flakes.  While we were there we hunted for wild huckleberries.  We found some just outside of our campground.  Brooke had never seen wild huckleberries and picking them on her own was a bit of a life long dream.  Until this camping trip huckleberries had been her unicorn.  Needless to say she was more than thrilled with our find.  Once we found the bushes we picked the little berries forever.  With all of us picking we came home with probably 4-5 cups of berries.  Our plan was to make them into milkshakes.  This last weekend our milkshake dream finally became a reality.  And it was worth the wait.  I might sound crazy, but we made the best huckleberry milkshakes I’ve ever had.  Huckleberry ice cream is kind of a thing in Idaho because of the wild growing berry.  I’m now convinced that everyone else skimps on the berry to ice cream ratio.  And now I’m committed to picking huckleberries yearly, because our homemade shakes were just that good.

And since I feel like this update is more about me than the rest of my family, here is a fun family fact:

Ainsley learned how to snap her fingers…this month.

October 7, 2018

This past week the kids had a 5 day weekend.   I’ve been toying with the idea that our kids were old enough to leave alone overnight so I decided this would be a good time to try an experiment.  Additionally John and I never seem to do much to celebrate our anniversary. December anniversaries are the worst.  I  had the idea to celebrate our anniversary a little early this year with a stay-cation downtown. So after discussing it with the kids and getting their ok, I booked a hotel for our little get away. I’m happy to report it was a success!  John and I pretended we were tourists and wandered around parts of downtown and the north end.  We wandered around downtown for “First Thursday”. Basically a bunch of local businesses have special events to attract people.  It was just ok. We tried a new restaurant, Bitter creek Alehouse.  Which I though was delicious…hello yummy poutine! On Saturday we walked the greenbelt and went to a bagel shop for breakfast. We checked out of our hotel (which we ended up getting for free because of an issue with a broken toilet) and then went to Cash and Carry (a local restaurant supply store).  Which I guess is technically an errand.  But I love going to cash and carry and  I rarely go because it’s not near me. We spent the rest of the day doing odds and ends with the kids. It ended up being a great and relaxing couple of days.

Our 5 day weekend also coincided with General Conference and a soccer tournament that Emmie got invited to participate in.  They essentially took the best players from the best two teams in her league and formed a team to compete in a big tournament.  We told them she could only play on Saturday and they still wanted her so we missed bits of conference on Saturday but were able to watch most of it between her games.  John went to her first game and said she played amazing.  Their team won 5-1.  Ains, my mom, and I took her to her second game because we were going to go to the Women’s conference right afterwards. They played hard but unfortunately the other team just outplayed them.  They ended up losing 4-0.  I was proud of how well Emmie’s newly formed team played together. They had only had one practice before their first game.  Emmie made a couple of fast friends on the team and had fun.  So when all was said and done I think it was a good experience for her.  Plus she got a pin…so Emmie is thrilled.

Speaking of general conference, what an exciting conference this was!  After years and years of rumors of 2 hour church it finally happened! The rumors have been crazy this time around and I wanted to believe it but didn’t want to get my hopes up.  And then somehow it actually happened!  I only have 4 more sharing times to prepare! Ever! But if I’m being honest I think I’d rather give up all of my other primary president responsibilities and keep teaching sharing time.  I actually enjoy teaching, but sometimes finding the time to prepare can be stressful.  I’ve been pondering combining our junior and senior primaries for a while now, but the difficulty of teaching an engaging lesson to a 3 year old and an 11 year old at the same time always made me think it just wouldn’t work.  But with this new change I think it might be perfect for our primary.  If I can find enough classrooms for primary in our building I’m going to make some big changes to our primary next year as well. I’m excited!
Owen has been our neglected child lately. He isn’t involved in any extra curricular a right now and so our time in the evenings is often spent running the girls around and Owen is left behind.  I wish Owen was the kind of person that handled being bored well.  He is not.  Down time for Owen often means Owen is in front of a device or the TV or pestering anyone around him.  I desperately need for him to be busy.  It’s killing me. John was feeling bad about Owen’s current state of being the kid always left behind and decided to take him out for dinner and a movie while the girls and I watched women’s conference.  My dad went along with them and it sounds like they had a great time.  Owen recently got a gift card to a fancy Japanese steakhouse for watching a neighbors’ cat.  So they headed there.  By all accounts the highlight of the night was when the waiter asked John if he wanted soup or salad in a thick accent and John asked, “what’s the difference?” I’m sure that will be something we laugh at for years.

Ainsley has been working hard on a video for their upcoming Young Women in Excellence. I’m sure it will turn out great.  Right now she is busy collecting pictures from members of our ward.  This is completely out of Ainsley’s comfort zone.  I think it’s good for her to be forced to interact with others, but based on the way she is acting she thinks it might kill her. Hopefully when the video finished and she see’s how amazing it turns out she will realize contacting people for pictures wasn’t so bad.