Parentheticals

Last Sunday the kids went Grandma Julie's house for a sleepover. They had fun and got to play with their cousins. At the park they noticed that some people had damaged the play equipment and sprayed some graffiti. They reported the incident, so hopefully it gets fixed soon. After that they all came over to our house and played more at out house, which was also fun. Since it was president's day Mike was trying to determine if he was supposed to get it off of work, however, earlier the kids asked if Mike got valentines day off of work and he told them that "Valentines day is not a real holiday". Because of this, they said that they have never heard of President's day at all before this year. On Tuesday the kids had a carnival party, and they Gideon chose the theme. It was France themed, and they mostly just ate croissants and played with some neighbor kids. On Friday was Faith's birthday party. Rea and Sara went to the Dalyia's house to celebrate it. The par...

Elsa wants to start out this post by saying that she loves cats, and that Gideon loves penguins. Gideon ran into the room after she said that and told me to erase it, and that I should add that Elsa likes frogs. This is like a feeling of Déjà vu.  This Tuesday we dropped off Jello at his neuter appointment in the morning. He was gone most of the day (Rocket was very sad about this) and in the evening we got him back home. He was famished because they didn't let him eat food all day, so he vigorously attacked his food when we gave him his quarter portion. They said that we could feed him normally on Wednesday. He has been recovering ever since, however, he acts pretty much normal. He only tried to lick the wound one time, and then gave up when we put the cone on him for a little bit. Between plays, play practices, gymnastics, activity dudes, school, and meetings with students, this was a very busy week. On Friday Rea and Sara  stayed up late for their play, Saturday morning Sar...

This week Rea and Sara have been going to play practices every night. It is cool that they are in a play, however, this week has been very busy. Tuesday Sara was asked to try out for the play "Lore of the Rings" which the obt is putting on next. She was a little nervous, but did very well, and had a fun time. On Wednesday Mike went to do service at the cannery. He helped box jars of pasta sauce, and brother Payne was there too. That old guy is an inspiration with his active he is at his age. We also had people come over to look at our house in preparation for the addition, and none of them showed up at the right time. It was frustrating for Mike, since they kept pulling him out of meetings that he was needed for. Either way, they got us out initial architectural drawings, which we asked for changes to, since there were two parts that we wanted changed. Rea and Sara's play had is opening night on Friday, so we all went to see it with Grandpa Mike and Grandma Sheila. They d...

Last Sunday was Aelfric's baptism. Aunt Laurie gave the talk, and Gideon like it so much that he told me, "I want her to speak at MY baptism!" (He really wanted the Kit-Kats she gave out.) The baptism went very smoothly and it was really nice to be there. Especially for Gideon, since he'll be baptized this year (in November). On Wednesday, the Activity Days kids and their families had a meeting about goals and the Children and Youth program. We used to be really good about goals right up until the new Children and Youth program, with its emphasis on goal setting, came out, and then we stopped being good about it. (Actually, the real change was Covid lockdowns, but it makes a funnier story that way.) Anyway, we're trying to start back up, so Mike is paying a nickel to each kid who talks about their goals at dinner. It seems to be working OK. Maybe we'll achieve great things this year! We are getting really close to the opening night of Utahoma! The girls had pr...

I started this week by asking Elsa (Lizzy, Boo, etc) what she wanted to write in the blog, and this is what she came up with: "For team clean I love cleaning up table and benches. My favorite animal is tiger-cats. My favorite color is pink. My favorite toothpaste is very strong toothpaste. I love Dad and Mom. I am wearing a beautiful shirt. I love Jesus." She then told me "Isn't this a beautiful heart? It reminds you you have a heart. If your heart breaks or doesn't break. Its for everyone in our family, And Rea is asleep, so make sure you don't wake her up." She then added "I love cats. Especially pink cats. I like to cuddle with them and play with them. I like to take them on a walk." When this ended, I asked Gideon if he wanted to add anything and he told me "No", but I persisted and he told me the following: "My favorite color is red, My favorite animal is cats, and my favorite Team Clean job is Stairs." Gideon then refu...

Apparently we missed some blog posts recently.  Christmas went well. All the kids enjoyed their presents. We made egg rolls and had Mike's parents over for dinner. The only complaint that anyone has was that we didn't have a white Christmas For the 12 days of Christmas this year we did the following: Day 1: the Tuesday after Christmas we went to the Gateway Lights On! - we actually went to Gallivan Plaza first accidentally. It was really pretty, but after realizing we were in the wrong place we took the train to the Gateway and saw the lights there. We had Panda Express, played in fountain (the kids thought the risk of getting wet was worth it (and no one actually got wet anyway))  One of Mike's Christmas present was a new faucet for our kitchen sink because Mike has hated the faucet we have ever since we moved in. Before going to the light show Mike installed the new faucet and ever since then has been appreciating it every time he turns on the faucet in the kitchen. Day 2...

This week we have been busily trying to get ready for christmas. We have all of the presents that we need and Alison did all of the shopping, so really we're pretty close now. On Wednesday Mike was able to use some volunteer time off to go to The cannery at welfare square and help them can applesauce. He ended up canning about 15,000 pounds of applesauce. It was good, and he appreciates that guys work pays him for it. On Wednesday we all went to the church because the activity dudes and young women (and men) were having a caroling activity. We had a fun time going around and singing and then ate cookies and drink hot taco after. Gideon and Elsa ended up going home early with Alison. Thursday after dropping the kids off at Grandma Julie's house Alison went all over the entire valley to every store that exists in order to buy things in preparation for Christmas. (Alison wants me to add that it was only actually four stores.) Despite having gone everywhere she was still unable to ...