Monday, February 11

Tuesday, February 12

Wednesday, February 13

Thursday, February 14

Friday, February 15

Saturday, February 16

Sunday, February 17

Jon and Gary fixed the defroster in his truck so Jon could drive to Idaho.

Last Friday I started working on the kids’ bathroom. This is a place I generally avoid because it’s always gross (boys’ bathroom... need I say more?), but I decided that they needed a coatrack for their towels instead of towel bars. That one decision was the start of a major project to redo the whole bathroom, because if I’m going to install a new towel rack I really should paint first if I’m ever going to paint the room....

Friday I painted the trim, Saturday I painted the walls, and Monday I painted the toilet room walls and sanded and painted all the cabinetry! Tuesday morning I got my “reward” of putting on the new hardware (my favorite part) and I managed to rehang all the cabinet doors by myself. (That was really tricky.)

It was extra fun to see my cousin Stacy and her daughter Barbara Grace on the video made by The Church about President Nelson’s visit to Arizona. I wish I could’ve been there!

All 3 boys brought home plenty of candy from school. Adam brought home 2 Valentine cookies -- one from his teacher and the other from his friend Meg Barker (who is the most thoughtful girl on the planet). I gave Mark an extra present of a ribbon loop sewn onto his towel so he can more easily hang his towel on the coat rack.

My next big project started at 9am Friday morning. This time I was attacking the laundry room cabinets. It’s my second-to-last honey oak cabinets in the house. These by far have the most square footage, so I was so tired by the end of the day from working on these. I finished right before 11pm.

Voila! Jon helped me rehang all the cabinet doors. He also drilled bigger holes for the scoop handles for the drawers. The color change makes such a huge difference in the feel of the room. It feels 10,000 times nicer and is so pleasant!

I was released from being stake 11-year old scout advancement specialist.

I love getting to sit by Jon during sacrament meeting. Heavy training of the kids when they were young on how to behave in sacrament meeting has paid off. Besides minor reminders to be reverent and an occasional threat that they’ll have to come sit by us Jon and I get to enjoy sitting next to each other and listening to the speakers.

Jon called Brother Magleby’s Sunday School lesson today “a masterpiece.” I agree. Dave Magleby is so talented at teaching, responding respectfully to every comment, bringing in the most interesting and relevant stories and inviting the spirit. I thoroughly enjoyed it! My favorite part was his experience shortly after transferring from teaching at a University in Virginia to BYU and hosting a highly respected author in the field of political science who wanted to meet with Dallin Oaks who would surely become a Supreme Court Justice (at the time he was a State Supreme Court Justice). When Dallin Oaks was called shortly thereafter to the Quorum of the 12 Apostles this man could not understand and wanted Brother Magleby to “stop this from happening.” Wouldn’t he do much more good as a Supreme Court Justice? Both Russell M. Nelson and Dallin H. Oaks were called to the apostleship at the height of their careers. Brother Magleby likened this to “leaving their nets” the way the apostles did in the time of Christ. It was really cool.

I love how the cabinets turned out! Sorry my picture is over-exposed so the counter looks angelic.... The kids are all super excited about how nice it feels. So am I! Jon called the cabinets “a game changer.” Thank you! I’m super happy with the color. (And sad that I stained the master cabinets dark brown!)

I have the door to the laundry chute painted, but it is missing a hinge. Someday we’ll also get new flooring.

Here is the coat rack that started it all, ha ha. I labeled the kids’ hooks and they have labeled towels. We are working on establishing better habits with how the kids handle their things (like towels and clothes) so hopefully our house can be a house of order!

Jon drove home from Idaho late Monday night arriving around midnight. He and Weston shut down the escape house and were clearing out the office space. He brought home a zombie cutout and put it in the room right outside Natalie’s door. She said that when she saw it in the morning it “freaked her out” and she ran back into her room, slammed the door and started hyperventilating. She knew it wasn’t real, but it startled her so badly! She texted Jon, “If that was you that was not funny.”

She returned the favor by putting the zombie in our shower, which even though I knew it was there, startled me 3 times that day until Jon finally went into that bathroom at night. He was slightly startled, but just laughed.

Then one last prank happened. Jon set it on the stairs from the basement and had me text Natalie asking her to come upstairs (she was watching a TV show in the basement). He took video this time and captured her gasping and then immediately hitting the poster down with a vengeance and chasing down Jon! It was pretty funny.

Rosie’s response to the video was our favorite, “I like how she doesn’t even jump back but immediately punches him. I want to be on Natalie’s team during a zombie apocalypse.”

We are generally a no-pranks family and I’ve even had a “no startling” rule for at least 15 years, but Jon and Natalie have been watching The Walking Dead and this was their thing, so the pranks happened.

Installing a new thermostat required tricky work. They dropped a few small parts into the engine which they had to get creative to pull out, but they did it.

Weston met Jon in Bountiful and they accomplished their mission of dismantling the Idaho Escape House.

I picked up Amy after school and took her to get her driver’s license. The wait wasn’t bad. She is very excited to have her license!

When the boys got home from school I employed their sanding help on the cabinet doors. I had already used the electric sander on the flat surfaces and also sanded the frame in the bathroom. (Andrew threw up Sunday night and Monday so he stayed home from school.)

It was a long day, but I changed the cabinets from their orange honey oak to beautiful blue by midnight: sanding, 2 coats of primer and 2 coats of paint.

Amy thoughtfully wrapped up a present for Andrew: this activity book related to The Mysterious Benedict Society books. She knew he’d be home all day again and thought he would enjoy it.

This is random, but I love my shopping boxes! Almost every checker comments about how nice they are because they stay open with a sturdy bottom and sides. They are the bomb!

I enjoyed relief society: healthy recipes for your Instant Pot (or other pressure cooker). I took home several good ones and made a yummy one the next night for dinner.

Amy got a “yes” for MORP left on our front doorstep.

Tyler, Mark and I went to Andrew’s Honor Band concert at the middle school. After their 2 songs, two more bands played 3 and 4 songs each. Both boys (but especially Mark) were struggling not wanting to stay there so long. It was after 8pm and the conductor would take forever in-between pieces trying to make it super formal. He’d just stand next to his podium and wait... it was forever. So I took the boys home while he was talking. I had time to drive home, get them bathed and drive back before the last 2 numbers had finished. I still waited several minutes before Andrew made it to our meeting spot.

We love watching Andrew perform and enjoy his hobby.

Andrew brought his roller blades to school for the 6th grade annual Valentine’s Day trip to Classic Skating. Tyler and Mark enjoyed their Valentine parties at school. I’m happy that they love to reuse the Valentine boxes we’ve made in the past. Tyler’s tank got a paint job the night before, which made it extra fun for him.

Besides giving the kids their favorite candy for Valentine’s Day, they were super excited about yogurt pretzels for a snack. I also made Mark a hanging loop for his towel so it’s easier for him to hang it on our towel rack.

I spent 2 hours with Sharon Jackson and Jen McGill. Sharon’s brain cancer has progressed and she’s having trouble forming sentences. She can’t read either. We were there to keep her company and make dinner for her family. I had a great time with them! She understands what is going on, but can’t communicate what she wants to, which is super frustrating for her. She had an MRI the next day to find out the status of her tumors.

I love our cozy “personal scripture study” time! These boys are awesome to study with. This is my favorite way to spend time with my kids.

We enjoyed our traditional meal of meatloaf and mashed potatoes for dinner after showing off their big, red wax lips!

Jake stopped boy to take some pictures of my “Jimmy the Valiant” book about my dad for a school project. His t-shirt was funny.

Jon pulled out the washing machine for me so I could reach all the cabinets. Because laundry is a constant need in our house and because I had to empty the entire laundry room into the hallway for this project I knew I had to finish it within the day. I did go shopping and took breaks in-between coats of paint. It was a lot of work!

Adam and Andrew went to the temple with the youth from our ward. I dropped off Andrew and then picked up Adam from school. He changed in the car so I could drop him off at the temple directly. It was lame that although Andrew and 4 other deacons were there on time and could’ve gone straight to the font they were made to wait for everyone else from our ward to arrive so it took forever. I know it’s not all about efficiency, but it’s frustrating for my boys when it takes so much time. They enjoyed it, though, and had ice cream at the Smiths’ house afterward.

Amy babysat for the Shores family and Natalie danced at halftime of Timpview’s basketball game.

While Natalie was at the high school I got a frantic call from her that BYU’s acceptances were out, but she couldn’t log into her account. I tried to help her, but didn’t have any of her login info. People in the background were screaming as they found out they were accepted. She couldn’t hear me because of all the noise and told me she’d call me back.

Grandpa Fish sent Amy some music that his dad had written along with a typed letter from himself that was super neat. He gave her some background about himself and his dad with music and asked if she would work on completing the music. It was super special. When Amy played it I could totally hear my great-grandpa singing on one of the old recordings of him. It was really cool! My favorite was when she tried it out on her violin. It sounded so cool!

Here’s a fun “before” picture from 9 years ago. Woo hoo!

Amy taught 2 of her violin students and her piano student. Quincy filled up his practice jar with puff balls and completed a piano book so he got a special prize at the end of his lesson!

Jon and Andrew worked on some circuits and Arduinos. They’ll be doing this with all the scouts so it was a fun practice.

When Natalie came home from Centerville Jon taught her how to cut the boys’ hair. They only had time to cut Tyler’s hair before she had to leave with Jayne to perform at 4 different houses in our neighborhood. It was excellent practice for her upcoming performance!

The boys don’t get to play video games very often so it’s extra exciting when they do... especially when Jon can play with them.

That night Jon and I had fun at Sue and Weston’s game night. After the other couples left we ended up staying and talking until past midnight! (I had no idea it was that late.) It was fun to see Sue’s latest quilt and get to chat about topics interesting to all of us. They are awesome people!

After church Andrew had a deacons quorum presidency training meeting at our house with Gary Brinton, Wayne Ross and Jon. I am so impressed with the way these men are tutoring these boys in becoming leaders. I feel so blessed that Andrew gets to learn from such amazing men! Andrew takes to all of this really well and is quick to implement what they teach him.

Jon and the girls practiced The Lord’s Prayer with me and then helped with initial experimenting with Teach Me to Walk in the Light.

Andrew got a haircut before church. Adam and Mark were the last two to get their hair cut. Natalie got trained on Adam’s head of hair right before the fireside.

The girls went to a Laurel fireside and we had our family “Third Hour” at home.

Yay for another great week! I’ll say it again: Natalie is going to BYU!!!


Jon and I were talking in the hallway upstairs when I looked down at a text that came from Natalie that said, “I GOT IN!!!” I screamed! I was so, so happy! Natalie said she screamed when she read about her acceptance too. She really deserves this and will be a fabulous asset to BYU! She is awesome!

Natalie

Natalie drove to Centerville for an in-person lesson with Rosalie and a practice with M’Jean. Natalie made it to the next rounds for Sterling Scholar in Music so she will be performing soon for that and Jayne won’t be able to accompany her. Hence the practice with M’Jean.