Monday, September 28

Adam challenged Jon to a game.

Tuesday, September 29

Wednesday, September 30

Thursday, October 1

Friday, October 2

Saturday, October 3
Happy #16 Birthday, Adam!

Sunday, October 4

Sunday night at 9:30 I got an email from Rock Canyon’s principal informing me that Tyler was exposed to someone at school who tested positive for COVID-19 so he has to quarantine for two weeks! I was pretty infuriated. After being limited to 2 days of school per week he was finally going to be able to go 4 days... but instead he will go zero. I do not want to homeschool my kids for very specific reasons. But since he is forced to stay home, I decided that I had to step up my academic involvement and that I might as well step it up for my other kids too. Besides, what are the chances that this will happen to my other kids (especially my older kids) with how many kids they are close to in all their classes at school? It turns out that his entire class is quarantined for the 2 weeks.

Sister Lund and I were up bright and early like normal. We had a great talk on our walk/run together. While she did her scripture study and got dressed, Tyler and I made her an omelette.

The 6:30 wakeup hurt after not being able to sleep last night with lots on my mind. I didn’t fall asleep till after 2am! Ouch.

I was “one of those moms” who went to the elementary school in my yoga pants! Ah! I had to pick up a packet for Tyler from the main office, and Mark was going home after school with a friend, so I drove him. Oh, I made that trip into the school quickly and wore my running visor!  With my mask I hoped no one would recognize me, ha ha! (I just hadn’t done my solo run yet, which I’m free to do as soon as Mark is at school.)

Jon and Weston upgraded their digital ordering software, which went live at Roll Up Crepes. The owner loves it, and so do the customers!

Mark got to scoop out the insides of the first sugar pumpkin that he chose to bake.

I love my overnight recipe for Belgian waffles. Adam loves them too!

Natalie was nervous for her visit with Debbie’s mom Corry who lives in the Netherlands, but she had an absolutely lovely visit with her! Corry took 5 years of English in school, and was able to help Natalie with a few words in English, but she isn’t fluent like Debbie, so it was really good for Natalie! Debbie also taught at the MTC for 18 months, so stuck mostly to the vocabulary missionaries know, which was a good first step for Natalie. Corry gave Natalie a taste for an authentic interaction with a native! Corry was sooooo nice! I’m so grateful for her kindness!

Tyler was awesome about pumping up Mark’s bike before school. Mark noted that this would be the first time he has ever ridden to school alone!

After Mark left, I sent Adam and Andrew to clean their room, and took Tyler with me on my morning run! He ran a good pace, but doesn’t have the endurance I do yet, so we walked in a few uphill parts. I loved it and I think he enjoyed it too!

Tyler made himself a delicious omelette (and gave Natalie a bite of it). It’s hard to see in this picture, but he made a smiley face in it.

I spent my morning in the library with the boys. I had Tyler walk me through all of his assignments, and made sure Adam and Andrew were on task as well. Amazingly, they all finished much faster than they normally do. (Ahem! Monitoring extinguished video game sneaking.) Andrew needed help with his math, and I helped him with most of it, but sent him downstairs to get help from Jon with one problem. I also hopped over to the piano when Andrew was practicing to help him progress.

I spruced up our book rack again with a few more fall books added to the September books.

I set up Tyler with a good book to read, and got some crocheting done while monitoring the three boys.

The boys all finished their schoolwork before lunch. I sent Adam and Andrew out on a mountain bike ride together. Go Team Lund! Adam wanted to do a trail in the canyon, but I asked them to do one close by this time since Mark was going to get home from school soon.

Adam had a cello lesson, and Andrew worked on making a homemade map look old with a few tricks like lemon juice and heat. Tyler helped him and they were both so jazzed about it!

I took Tyler to Spanish Fork for his soccer game which was super fun! The teams were well-matched and we came away with a 4-2 win! Funny: I cleaned out the van for Jon and Adam’s trip to Ogden to pick up the bicycle... and forgot to put my chair and blankets back in! I only had a sweatshirt, so I brought my van window shade to sit on! It worked really well, and though I felt a little funny, it was very effective!

This missionary of mine is on fire! She had the most fabulous day being inspired on multiple occasions. She was able to uplift her entire district with what Elder Wilks called her “hype” during their morning class when everyone seemed down and the teacher asked what was up. Natalie shared a super uplifting message. The devotional she gave in the afternoon was also super inspiring (which came from an analogy I was inspired to give her last week involving her great-great-grandfather’s violins that she plays). She followed promptings to text individual missionaries in her district with compliments and encouragement, which they each needed at that moment. When we went on our walk at night she talked and talked and was completely pumped with excitement and the spirit. I am so happy to see her fulfilling her calling as a missionary so well already!

While I was gone at the game, Jon took the rest of the kids to Springdell to paint pickle ball court lines. It took twice as long as he thought, but the results are fantastic!

Once we got all the other kids off to school, Tyler came on my run with me in his roller blades. It worked great and we both loved it!

Since I needed to wash and dry my hair (which takes me a long time), I left Tyler in the care of the MTC so he wouldn’t be alone. Natalie had offered that on our walk, and was really excited about it! I asked if he wanted to come with me to Costco, but he preferred to stay with Natalie. During her class break, she let him have a snack of Lucky Charms from her cereal dispenser!

Lucky Tyler had extra time on his hands, so I made him do handwriting practice. I have noticed some bad handwriting habits in several of my kids, and really need to fix those! He also did a ton of extra chores around the house along with his regular stuff. He said it was extra hard for him when everyone else went to school without him. Poor guy! Lame situation!

Our youth activity was changed last-minute to 6pm, when Amy was teaching a violin lesson, and I was in the middle of making dinner for our family and for Jen Hansen. Jon took Adam to the priest quorum activity of riding mountain bikes just a few minutes south of here. They even got the bishop to ride in his suit!

Andrew went to the deacon’s quorum activity again, which was a mission prep activity. He came back so excited about the stories he heard from Brother Mocke’s conversion (in South Africa) and Susie Mullen’s conversion (Los Angeles). They played a scripture-finding game, which he loved (and dominated thanks to keywords)! I challenged him to learn the last few groups that he hasn’t yet mastered.

On our evening walk, Natalie pointed out a paraglider near Squaw Peak and then said, “Hey! They dropped something!” I told her, “Yes, that’s a person!” A man in a wing suit dropped down toward Rock Canyon Park and pulled his shoot when he got close to the ground. Holy cow, that was surprising!

Mark walked home from school with Caleb Elder and got to swim in his new pool and hot tub. Mark had an absolute blast! I got to visit with Elizabeth for longer than I anticipated and had such an enjoyable time talking with her! We have kids in the same cello studio, our sons used to play soccer together, we used to take from the same piano teacher, and now our sons are in the same 3rd grade class. I’ve never been able to talk before and just loved my time with her. She lives in the newer development in the 6th ward. That’s where so many of Tyler’s friends live! It was also fun to learn that she and her husband served missions in Poland together!

Our primary presidency came by with treats for our boys and spoke with them for a few minutes. They brought over a book with all the primary kids’ pictures and info sheets they filled out. It is so cute! It was really fun to look through these and see the kids they’d normally get to see at church. I loved how they reached out like this!

I’m a little worried about Mark’s statement that his favorite thing to do in the summer was “Play Secret Hittler” ...if you don’t know about the board game you might assume something pretty bad!

Natalie was so excited about her new breakthroughs in understanding Dutch grammar! She spent a solid hour studying the hard-to-decipher grammar book. Light bulbs went off, and confusing principles became clear. Go Natalie!

Tyler is loving reading Tuesdays at the Castle! I love how he straps his water bottle into a seatbelt so it doesn’t fall or roll around on the floor!

Adam did the last few steps of making chicken pot pie for me, and when I got home, I brought it up to Springdell so they could all eat dinner. I put stuff in the cabin and harvested more produce from the garden, checked on them once more, and then went home to be with Natalie for a bit. She had been dying to talk to me about her amazing day, and I wanted to be sure to get her out of the house.

Since I was making dinner for Jen Hansen, I needed two rotisserie chickens dissected. I put each boy in charge of one half. Adam and Andrew each had peppers to dice as well. I love sharing these tasks with the boys!

I tried to capture how cool the rays of sun were as they came over the mountain.

After getting the boys set with their chores and schoolwork, I took Sister Lund to Walmart with me where she picked up a few treats for her siblings and I bought groceries for the week. Earlier is better at Walmart! Checkout was super swift! In the produce section, a woman passed us and said, “Hi Sisters!” When she rounded the corner I did a fist pump! Woot! Woot! I’m glad I can still pass as a missionary!

I finally replaced the CD player in the library, and after a bit of cello music that I started, I heard the Harry Potter narrative playing. Oh boy! I did stop it so I could read a new book aloud to my 3 oldest boys. I’m hoping that will be fun.

Next, we noticed the medieval club sword fighting by the temple/MTC parking lot again. So unique!

They also added an ordering option at tables from a QR code in The Wash, which is super slick!

Kim McHenry Brinton brought over donuts, chocolate milk, flowers and a thank you note for Jon, Amy and Adam for playing at her dad’s burial. She went on and on about how beautiful the music was, and how accommodating they were. It really meant a lot to her and to her family.

Studying grammar!

I kept postponing baking Mark’s pumpkins because I needed a picture of him with them! He has about 12 more growing, but this is his harvest so far from one pumpkin plant!

I love how healthy and yummy this sweet potato chowder is!

Spectators weren’t allowed at Amy’s cross-country race. I was so grateful to get to watch Timpview Track’s live feed (by Summer this time)! I wished she could’ve heard me cheer her on, but at least I got to see her! Go Amy! She got another PR.

Tyler has been timing himself doing laps around our yard. It takes him about 40 seconds to make 3 laps and he is cruising! We should really get this kid into speed skating!

Tyler chose a bunch of his favorite items to display on his Arrow of Light table at cub scouts. I made a scout slideshow for him on Jon’s laptop. He thought we’d show it to everyone, but the intent was for people to watch it as they walked by the table. He was disappointed about that at the end, so we made sure to watch it at home with our whole family.

An elder I served with and later taught at the MTC with posted about his son who was in the MTC when it closed for the pandemic. Called to England, Mandarin speaking, he spent the last 7 months in the Utah St. George mission. Today, he was in the first group of (5) missionaries to fly back to England. This is pretty miraculous since England is very locked down. It gave me a ray of hope for the future.

Mark was asked to be the caller for the flag ceremony, and he did a great job calling out with full volume! The boy scout next to him prompted him with the words. Tyler presented the pack flag. The rain gutter regatta planned for this night was canceled due to COVID - since you can’t blow your boat without it being a potential danger to those around you. Mark was disappointed about that.

The cub master was late getting back from a funeral, so another leader presented Tyler with his Arrow of Light award. He pinned the pin on me (and I love my pin ribbon!) The pack and troop make the scouts kiss their moms on the cheek loud enough for everyone in the back to hear, so that one was a new one for Tyler!

Tyler was excited about his super cool arrow that two pack leaders make for the cub scouts using a real arrowhead, cool beads and feathers. They didn’t have the blue and yellow feathers to finish the end of it, so we left it there and they brought it to scouts the next week for him.

After the family regrouped at home, Jon challenged everyone to finish cleaning the kitchen before our famous cleaning song was done. Then they all dive into the living room before the song ends. I love seeing Andrew hop over the couch for that!

I helped him finish the job.

He was so excited!

Mark worked hard to clean off the pumpkin seeds for roasting.

Jon and Tyler conspired to make the pumpkin shells into hats.

Mark was brave enough to try it on too.

Two sisters in Natalie’s district made little care packages for each person - homemade caramels, a painting of Christ, and a thoughtful note. Natalie loved it and was touched by their kindness and efforts!

Jon and I took the boys up to Springdell to play pickleball. (Amy was mountain biking with friends and Andrew was with friends too.) Look at that amazing sunset!

Barney joined us there too, and helped Jon chalk lines for the second court.

He got a ham, egg and cheese waffle for his second. I learned that trick from Andrew and Courtenay South. It’s quite the manly twist on waffles!

Amy had the cute idea of displaying pictures of everyone at the birthday age - especially mom and dad. Natalie drew the word “sixteen” for me, and I found the pictures. It is really hard to find pictures of Jon!

Adam’s big present was his new mountain bike, but he also loved the little presents he got including sunglasses, a thread wallet, breath spray (for dates, ha ha) and a new book.

Tyler and Mark chose which treats to set out for when the apostles spoke. They made sure that President Nelson had “the best treat.” If one spoke and we didn’t feel like a sugary treat, they just switched photos!

I really like the updates I made to my packet this year including five ties for President Nelson, because he changes his tie for every session!

The birthday banner of faces was also Amy’s idea. It is my favorite birthday decoration! We love looking at the birthday child throughout the years, especially those cute toddler years! I was happy that we just had family pictures, so I was able to print a good picture for Adam’s 16th (close enough) so he could wear that crown!

General Conference was absolutely amazing! The talks were all so powerful, and I cannot wait to study them in depth over the next 6 months!

We normally have the kids run laps during the songs, but this time Amy challenged Jon to do push ups throughout the entire song. Nice work!

In-between sessions, Amy set up ping pong in the dining room and recruited us all to play Around the World.

I put the boys to work on another batch of tomatoes. Yee haw!

Brandon called and invited us over for games. They had just returned home from Idaho. Natalie and Amy were too nervous about catching COVID, so while we were waiting on the sidewalk outside the Rowberry house, they walked home. Adam taught his cousins how to play Secret Hitler, which was a big hit!

Brandon and Kim taught us how to play Tapped Four, which I really liked! It was fun to catch up and be together again. Brandon had been out of town for about two weeks.

Jon tried out this strap that men in the middle east use for sitting in the sand for hours. He said it worked great! Brandon loves his.


Well, that wraps up our fun-filled week!

After breakfast, Adam and Mark played each other in our favorite Halloween game “Boo Who?”

Jon was nice enough to take Tyler to his soccer game in Orem so I could finish feeding all the kids and get everyone on track with General Conference.

The kids were all super excited about the new pens I got for General Conference: a “vaccine” for the novel coronavirus! The ink is all black, but the colors look super cool. Adam came up with the green being “chimera” from Mission Impossible 2, and the red being the antidote.

Hearing the living prophet speak to us is an immense blessing in our lives! I was moved, motivated and strengthened by all of his messages and the others that were shared as well. I’m also really happy about my new CTR banner!

Jon and Tyler listened to the first few talks on the radio. It was good to have them with us again, though!

After the morning session, a note was doorbell ditched for Adam. The clue was in Morse code, which he quickly deciphered: Bea’s house.

Each clue led him to a different house in the neighborhood. The family joined him on bikes, rollerblades and a skateboard while Natalie and I walked the route.

The second-to-last clue was “Slug Bug Yellow” - which lead them to Meg’s yellow Volkswagen bug. Lastly, Adam was met in Meg’s backyard by silly string and smiles!

Meg asked me ahead of time for Adam’s favorite restaurants and what he orders there. She treated everyone to Cafe Rio, and Adam got his steak burrito!

Talk about amazing friends!

Nick Boden, Adam, Cadence Anderson, Meg Barker and Afton Child
(Josh Rowberry was also invited, but he was out of town.)

After lunch, they played several games that Meg had prepared. Adam came home with a big smile! He had the best time!

I made a batch of blender salsa with our tomatoes and peppers. It was a big hit!

Jon, Natalie, Amy and Tyler played Spikeball in the front yard.

When Mark asked me to read him some Halloween books, Natalie jumped in with an offer to read to him. So special!

She called in Tyler and Mark to share with them the homemade caramels she was given. They loved them!

The look of General Conference was really unique this time. I love what they did with the setting!

My parents sent a cash gift in the mail along with a custom-made card. Adam said, “Somehow I can read Grandpa Heap’s handwriting now.” I told him it’s because he turned 16!

We took everyone up to play pickleball in Springdell. The weather was perfect!

Even Sister Lund played!

Adam got his birthday wish of playing pickleball against Jon. They had fun! Jon got us back in time for the girls to watch the Women’s Session while the boys picked up pizza and watched Korra in the basement. All the talks in the Women’s Session were also amazing!

Adam requested a strawberry cheesecake for his birthday. I was happy to accommodate!

He asked to play video games with his brothers to finish off the evening.

Mark was really cocky, especially when he went up 5-0 against Jon! Jon quickly put him in his place, and they had a great time together!