April 2021

Ugh.. the pictures were uploaded in reverse order again. So the first pictures are from the end of the month. Deal with it. 

We met the Archibald ladies and kids at a park in SLC for dinner one day. It was a little hot and chaotic but super fun to see cousins and get talk time in. 

I'm on an organizing kick, and yet can't seem to get it done on my own. Theres always just regular house work that needs my attention or the kids get into it.  I called up a girl from our ward who helps people organize as a side business.  She's SUPER pricey $25 an hour... (and I thought it was only $20 an hour when I decided to call her) Chris ministers to her and I wanted to support her AND get some organizing in. I was hoping she would just do it all by herself but it turns out I really am the one who needs to make alot of the decisions... like what to throw away and what we use most often etc... But she did do a target run and buy some organizers and send me links of organizers She thinks would work etc. I'm really happy with how it turned out! (And writing this months and months later... guess what.. its STILL ORGANIZED... thats when you know it was done right. 

Garden time! We planted some seeds in doors, and planted bulbs out front and back and remulched some of the beds. Thanks to our wonderful neighbor, Keith Tuesher for getting us the mulch. 

Sunday Activity of Nailed It! : Lego style. Gwen had to recreate a rocket launcher, Freddy a toy bucket, Charlie, a golf caddy and Alec a switch controller and kitchen pot. They all did amazing. 

Big happenings this month is Tiff and Mary's Kidney transplant. Tiff donated her left kidney to Mary (who's been on dialysis since the Fall).  Mom and Dad moved here permanently a few weeks ago but have been up at Tiff's almost constantly for the first few weeks to help out. Tiffany can't lift anything over 10 lbs for 2 months (I know what thats like!) and Mary and Tiff each needed their own helper person devoted solely y towards taking care of them and then another helper person for the rest of the kids. I had her kids stay here for a few nights and make Mary a favorite lentil curry for her first real meal. They are both doing and healing so well. Modern medicine is INCREDIBLE.

Grandma Claudia passed away at the beginning of the month inbetween the Saturday sessions of General Conference.  I know she was so ready to move on and she wanted to do it in her own home. She got her desire! It has been hard on Dixie and James the last little bit. Having the end be close, having her memory fade often and having her ornery side come out a little more often than in the past.  During the funeral service, James gave a wonderfully honest and yet still loving talk, and the grandkids same 'I am a Child of God' and Chris, Jess, Thom and I sang a nice quartet...among other contributions. It was a lovely service for a lovely, hardworking, generous matriarch. 

We went mountain biking with the kids on the Pump Track at the head of Provo Canyon. Max was so impressive and fearless on his little balance bike! 

For Tiff's birthday at the end of March we celebrated by going to the Tea Room for brunch at the Grand American Hotel in Salt Lake City. So fancy and fun. 

Easter! Gwen was our winner this year. We did a fun, large Betteridge egg hunt in Herriman in between General Conference Sessions on Sunday. Then we stayed and watched conference together and had a meal after that. 

 

March 2021

So.. Max decided he wanted to not wear diapers anymore. We had tried to potty train him in the late Fall but he wasn't ready so we stopped after a day or two. So when he showed interest (I had been asking him every now and then if he wanted to try again and he always said no) we dove right in. I got potty prizes at the store and printed off a sticker chart and hung timers all over the place to remind us to go or to try.  After a few days he got the hang of it pretty good! Theo was really interested in it all and I was ALMOST tempted to try and potty train him at the same time... but he was too scared to actually sit bottomless on any of the potties.  He just likes to sit on the lid.   Despite Max being pretty awesome at it, there have still been lots of 'fun' messes to clean up on the rare occasions it doesn't go as smoothly as normal.

Charlie and Alec had their Spring Concerts! Because of Covid, we had to get tickets ahead of time and it was Zoomed again for any not able to come. I love seeing how well the boys are doing! I didn't manage to get any of Alec unfortunately. But I really was VERY impressed with the difficulty of the music. Alec did the combined Full Orchestra practices after school once or twice a week for the past few months. Its impressive. 

Chirs was asked to model for some pictures at a new Golf Simulator store in the Riverwoods. Jess and Ryan know the owners and so she, Thom, Chris and their dad were in a fun golf photoshoot. As a 'Thankyou' they were given a free month to this place. Chris tried to capitalize on his free pass and went at least once a week. (usually late at night after the kids were in bed. We made it a date night a few times and I saw in a comfy chair in the back and worked on my laptop. Pretty fun. 

Jordan and Chris helped my dad and mom move the big organ downstairs in their American Fork home. It was pretty tricky and I wasn't optimistic that it would even work but with Jordan and Chris' brains and muscles they did it! Mom was so worried, almost crying,  and I almost felt bad that I was just sitting there, grinning silly, enjoying watching Chris' brains and muscles work. I saw mom tearing up and tried to calm her fears, assuming the tears were for the potential destruction of her organ, but nope!  She was just so scared someone was going to get hurt or break a finger or something.  I guess we're different sometimes. 

St. Patricks Day! I still felt a little bad about the lame Valentines so I made a special effort to celebrate St. Patty's day by making super green zucchini muffins, dying the water green and having green eggs.  I love the way Theo loves his belly button. He often has a finger in it if at all possible. 

I organized the pantry at the end of January but didn't finalize it until this month. I LOVE having things organized. 

We're still going strong with our Family Home Evening initiative this year.  I've converted my Emotional Resilience manual into 43 FHE lessons. Short and sweet, with a journal entry and weekly challenge.  The kids get new badges/pins every chapter and put on jewels for completed journal entries and challenges. Sometimes it goes fairly well, sometimes it feels like no ones listening, and then sometimes its 50/50. 

We love play dates with Aunt Sarah, Hazel and cute baby Graham! Theo REALLY loves babies. 

Freddy advanced from yellow belt to orange belt in karate. He's so agile, flexible and fast. I love watching him do this. We're impressed with all that Karate teaches and have enjoyed Freddy going twice a week all year.

With lots of responsible older kids to babysit, Chris and I have been able to go out on dates almost every week.  We even started taking a kid with us every other time for some one-on-two time with Mom and Dad. The kids have loved it....except.... the older Theo gets the harder he's getting for the big kids to put him to bed. Gwen is usually the soft-hearted one who hears him crying in his crib and will get him, comfort and hold him until we get home. 

Not sure why I took this picture, but its a good reminder for me to share about our scripture study. Its still not ideal since the kids are on screens more often than I think is healthy but it has been getting them to read the scriptures on their own.  To have any screen time the kids have to take care of Important Things first.  Spiritual, physical, mental and social. I'll put a section of verses to read from our Come, Follow Me reading thats week and write a few questions to get them thinking about those verses and then they answer those questions in their journal and we're supposed to review them at the end of the day when we do family prayer. Sometimes we forget.