Monday, February 10

Tuesday, February 11

Wednesday, February 12

Thursday, February 13

Friday, February 14

Saturday, February 15

Sunday, February 16

Jon dropped off Tyler and Mark at school and then took Andrew to Home Depot to buy the microwave for the cabin (which we tried to buy on Saturday). The employees couldn’t find the shipment of them that just came in, so they sold him another one, but it took quite a lot of time, so they didn’t have time to install it before Andrew had to be at school. Andrew was very excited that Jon bought him breakfast at McDonald’s!

Amy went night skiing with Super’s family (Whitney Sheffield) and had a blast even though it was really cold!

The boys and I had an awesome scripture study session and FHE storytime!

Amy skipped her first class to go to the temple with her friend Sedona, so I drove Adam to school. I got to play pickleball for 2 hours with Millie, Peyton and Flori. (Jen was ministering so couldn’t come.) I got groceries and made an extra lasagna for Jon’s ministering family since the wife had surgery. I also made a batch of brown bread (TX Roadhouse copycat recipe).

I had another quilting lesson with Sue where she taught me how to make binding for my little quilt. She also talked me through how to start future quilts. I really love my time with Sue! She is so nice and so knowledgeable about quilting and sewing!

I took Adam to the health department for a second immunization, but it turned out that he had already had his second! Last time I know they told me to come back in 6 months because I put it on my calendar. Adam didn’t mind! He drove home, which was some great driving practice.

Tyler was so excited to get his turn bringing the giant iPad valentine to school! He received the “most technological valentine” award. All the kids said his was the coolest. I’m sure it was! The box/iPad detects when a Valentine is inserted into the slot and displays a message with sound. Tyler loved his Valentine’s Day party! Amy was sad she isn’t interning in his class anymore because it’s more fun than the hospital.

Saturday morning, Jon and I slept in (which we both really needed!) and then drove Tyler and Alec to indoor soccer practice in American Fork. Jon coached the practice and was super effective in teaching the boys some new and needy skills and know-how for futsal and soccer. It was amazing how much the boys improved in one practice! Another dad joined him in the scrimmage as goalies. It was super fun to watch! We gave Henry a ride home as well.

I made lemon buttermilk pancakes for a special Sunday breakfast, which the kids and Jon ate while we had family scripture study. I especially liked the book on the House of Israel from the Red Headed Hostess!

Jon was the only one who had presidency meeting before church. I like getting to go to Sunday School with Jon. This time we went to Brother Graham’s class, and it was great! Gary Brinton texted Jon during class and told him, “If you make a comment, Monica and I will take you guys out to dinner.” So Jon did... and I did... and Jon gave the closing prayer. You could say we are over-achievers!

The boys, Jon and Weston tore apart some pallets for a display wall for Jon and Weston’s next conference.

Cathryn Grover stopped by before her shift at the temple to show me her sacrament quiet book, which she finished and was about to take to her son’s family in DC. I had loaned her my quiet book so she could copy it.

Thursday night, Jon picked up Natalie and took her to Barney’s house where M’Jean, Gary, and Molly met them. They all performed 3 numbers for the SUP - Sons of Utah Pioneers. They had dinner first.

I wouldn’t have minded missing an evening of cub scouts so I could watch Jon and Natalie perform, but I have not been able to get Adam and Andrew to the troop to try it out. Summer scheduling and other plans have been on hold until I knew if the boys wanted to join this troop... and go on their high adventure in June. I am really glad I took them! The experience was not what I had hoped.

This troop is known for doing scouts the right way, and they do, but they also feel a bit superior to other troops. So when my boys came in as newbies... and as eagles at age 15 and 13 they were not treated well or accepted. I had to step in and ask the senior patrol leader to help them know where to go. He didn’t set up Adam and Andrew well at all, and they got lost in the shuffle until I shared my concerns with 2 adults who stepped in and got them in the right patrols. Even though Andrew was confronted by other scouts about being an eagle already and wearing a SPL patch, he was willing to try it again, but Adam had a terrible experience and had no desire to come back. Jon and I decided that this isn’t a good fit for our older boys. Tyler loved visiting the troop and I think he and Mark will be fine since they will move from the pack to the troop and be homegrown members. I was disappointed, but it felt really good to get answers and be able to move on with other plans for our boys.

While the boys were with the troop I was asked to sit in boards of review since they were short on adults. That was an educational experience and a nice window into positive aspects of the troop from another side.

Mark’s class had their Valentine party a day early because one teacher, who had planned most of it, would be absent on Friday. He of course had a blast! I love recycling Valentine boxes!

Thursday morning, Peyton texted our pickleball group to cancel because her daughter was sick. Flori had already noted that she couldn’t play. Millie, Jen H. and I decided to try playing with 3. I started as the solo player... and won the game!!! We rotated being the single player each game. I played solo 3 times and won every time. I also won every game I played. It was super fun and a really good workout when anyone was the single player. I loved it!

I loved the heart stickers for this week’s scripture reading chart! I had a variety, which was great for the boys. Mark chose leopard print hearts every day while Tyler made his do somersaults.

After school, I brought out my extra Montessori objects to see if there were any that would make good neckerchief slides. Jon found the perfect PVC pipe for me and pipe cutter. Mark’s scout leader gave my boys these Christmas slides so I was copying that idea. Unique slides are a real thing in our new pack, and it’s so fun!

The favorites were this scorpion for Mark and the fighter jet for Tyler! We also made the dinosaur skull, two turkeys for Thanksgiving and found tires that’ll work. The boys were really excited to wear these!

Tyler and Mark had a Primary activity playing pickleball at the Mittons’ -- another of their goals!

Jon, Adam and Andrew installed the new microwave in the cabin. When they tried to start it, it wouldn’t start. Jon flipped the breaker and it worked... and the old microwave wasn’t broken. They just needed to flip the breaker switch!

I brought 3 loaves of the yummy brown bread to Relief Society activity for my ministering sisters and a friend (but only one was there).

Relief Society was really fun! Instead of “speed dating” we did “speed friendshipping” where we rotated speaking with different sisters. Hearts on the table had questions on them to keep conversations going. I had a blast!

Late Tuesday night, Jon called me from Northstar inviting me to come play pickleball with him and his 2 buddies he works with there. I was pretty nervous about it, but it was really fun and it was really good practice in playing at the kitchen, etc. It’s a lot different than playing with the ladies!

I was a little late to help in Tyler’s class, so only helped a few minutes. The line for initiatory was long, so I opted to do an endowment session instead, which was full, but I got to sit on the front row, which was nice!

Tyler and Mark were excited to prep their valentines for school! I normally make something homemade-ish, but this year went for 2 boxes of Airheads Valentines. That was nice and easy!

Our oldest YW class was in charge of a dance activity (social category). Sydney started off teaching everyone a line dance. (Amy is on the left on the stage; Adam is right in front of me in the blue sweatshirt.)

Next, Lizzie Moulton taught everyone a folk dance. When she taught our little group of YW last week, we quickly caught on. But in this gym with a mix of rambunctious young men and with it being very hard to hear Lizzie, there was a lot of confusion. The youth were so uncomfortable with having to ever touch hands with someone, especially the youngest two groups. They acted like polar magnets! I helped manage those youth and had to rally a bunch of girls who had escaped.

We ended with the Virginia Reel, which is a fun one, which everyone loved! Overall I’d say the activity was a success, and there were a few valuable lessons learned as well.

I was totally impressed with Josh and Katie Hansen who were such good sports (here they are as the head couple). Line dancing is not their favorite thing, but they were so positive and willing to participate with great attitudes. They are great kids!

Jasmine Jensen coordinated a welcome surprise for our newest young woman: Remi’s older sister. She made a cake, got balloons and I’m not sure what is in the bag, and had the oldest YW all write her notes. She was brought into the YW room for the big surprise.

I loved how nice hers turned out and a few improvements she made - a matching picture activity on one page and embroidered words throughout the book. It was so fun sharing in her accomplishment because it is a lot of work to sew a quiet book. She was also super complimentary. She took pictures of several things in my house as I took pictures of her book, which also was a compliment. She liked our apostle pictures, my menu board, my missionary map and I’m not sure what else she was taking pictures of. We had a really fun talk!

I bit the bullet and decided that Thursday was the day to switch the pack numbers on Tyler’s scout shirt. He is so sentimental and did not want to change them, but I saved the old numbers for him (and made the switch while he was at school). We are officially in a new pack and the old one doesn’t exist anymore, so here we go!

Their performance went well and it was so neat for Natalie to play with them all! I really wanted to be there, but I had to make the unselfish choice to take my boys to scouts. Amy didn’t want to perform, so Jon made her babysit Molly’s kids... which then turned into babysitting Molly’s 2 youngest and all of Barney and Mary’s kids at their house. She kept it together and did a great job despite it being a lot of work. I think next time, though, she’ll choose to perform, ha ha!

Mark’s den worked on a skit for the upcoming pirate-themed pack meeting.

After cub scouts, the boys visited Troop 51. They start and end outside. (I snapped this picture through the window.)

I baked some yummy peanut butter kisses for the kids (and sent a plate home with Weston). These are dangerously delicious!

For the last many years I’ve made heart-shaped brown sugar meatloaf on Valentine’s Day. But Friday is homemade pizza day, so we did a throw-back and made individual heart-shaped pizzas. The kids had lots of fun making them and choosing their toppings!

I was very happy with the pizza I made for Jon - heart-shaped pepperonis and all!

I couldn’t resist giving the girls each a string of heart lights for Valentine’s Day (a week early). When I saw Amy’s in her room, I noticed the battery pack and wondered if Natalie had batteries for hers. (I also knew that if it didn’t have batteries, that she’d be too frugal to buy any.) I was right! She had been stringing her lights on her desk, but without batteries! I had already assembled a care package for her, so added two AA’s! I also gave Amy a little package of goodies.

Friday night we showed two movies at home: Frozen II and Midway. I chose Midway and watched it with Jon, Amy and Adam while the 3 youngest boys watched Frozen II in the basement (which really surprised me that they’d want to watch that!). Midway was a really good movie minus a few swear words. After that, we watched a few minutes of some documentaries about Midway and the end of WWII. Afterward as we talked about war and stuff, I drew the line and said I’d reached my limit for Valentine’s Day on this topic, ha ha! Jon and I watched a show together later which was much more Valentine-y.

Natalie had a super fun weekend getaway to her roommate Mikayla’s house in Draper and their other roommate’s mission farewell. They celebrated “Gal-entine’s Day” together - I love that title! They did all sorts of fun things including with guys, but the only pictures they took were when they were being goofy in Saver’s! Mikayla’s mom gave each of them $20 to spend at Savers - so generous! I’m so happy that Natalie has such good friends!

In other fantastic news, Natalie was awarded full tuition scholarships for Spring-Summer, Fall and Winter semesters! She will be able to defer the Fall/Winter scholarships for her mission... Hallelujah! Way to go, Natalie!

I sewed on more of my quilt binding while I watched the practice.

Jon and the boys also washed down the Ranger really nicely to get it ready to sell!

Amy went ice skating with friends and then night skiing right after that.

Adam really wanted to watch Midway with Gary, so invited him over. Gary drove down (and brought a big tub of popcorn) and watched it with the boys. We felt bad that Jon and I were already committed to a game night with friends, but are glad the boys got that time with Gary!

We had a great time at Game Night with the Hafens, Christensens and Wilkeys.

After second hour, our ward had a linger-longer in the cultural hall. I loved watching Adam, Andrew and Jon set up chairs before 2nd hour. There’s something about men helping like that, that warms my heart!

We had a really enjoyable Sunday afternoon. I gave the kids a little quiz on Joseph Smith and then read a short history about him to fill in the answers they didn’t know. Then I had them do a workbook on Joseph Smith’s First Vision. The kids all approached it differently, but everyone did it. It took probably an hour. I hope it helps them!

P.S. I reserved ordinance work for 23 new family members this week and added 26 people to my calendar for future reserving (for when they turn 110). Keeping track of my time this week, family history was basically a part-time job!


I loved this week!