Thursday April 30

This morning I looked in the guest room (where Porter has been sleeping) and he had his journal out and his scriptures.

He's been having some hard times with anxiety.

Yesterday he had a cool experience where he said he was feeling bad, so said a prayer.

Then he had the thought to go look in the scriptures.

He opened it up to a verse in Mosiah 5:1-2.

It talks about the people believing what he (king Benjamin) has told them.

And Porter felt like it was heavenly father telling him that he's prayed about the anxiety he feels before and he's been comforted before, so he needs to continue to believe on the words of H.F. and feel that comfort and stop worrying about all the stuff he worries about.

Anyway.... His journal says it better than I did.

But I just think it was so sweet and I love that he wrote it down ❤️

Dad and Porter had lots to do today.

The roto-rooter guy came today to try and get some roots cleaned out of the irrigation line.

Well, one of the pipes on Billy's end got broken, so port and Brent worked to get that fixed.

Then they spent the rest of the day fixing the Traeger.

When using it last week, it started in fire!!!

So there got that fixed up, but they had to rip it apart.

And Porter was really helpful.

Dad said he's just so smart.

He looks at things from a different angle and the two of them can figure things out together.

They make a great team ❤️

Elsie spends a lot of time upstairs.

She has turned it into a veteranary clinic.

And it is actually pretty cool.

Wednesday April 29

It was day warm today, but it was also really windy... Which made the heat not as bad 😁

When Dad got home, we had a daughter in our front yard.

It wasn't until cassi woke up and told us that she nominated dad for it 😂

Kind of fun.

Dad helped a couple different elderly neighbors today.

The Capalls needed some dirt moved.

Then bubble called us about another neighbor, who called her about another neighbor who had fallen (ya we were confused too).

So we ran over to the Clapsons (couple in their 90s who are still very active in all they do), and she had fallen a bit in the garage and hit her leg on the curb and there was a baseball size bruise there!!!

I don't see stuff like that much, luckily Brent does.

He said that usually the skin is so thin with the old people that it tears open and then it's a real mess ... But here's was just a big ball of blood.

She elevated it and put ice on it.

They are some tough oldies for sure!

And they don't allow for many to help them out!

The reason her neighbor (who called bubble, who called Dad) knew about the fall was because of a water line broken and leaking down locust Grove.

So after we checked on the leg bruise, dad fixed that water line too.

I really didn't do much today except watch him work 😂😂 and make dinner!

That's not true, Elsie had PT, so we did that online and then she had a meeting with her teacher about her packet.

School was a little less terrible today.

Maybe it will get better.

Porter and I also planted some more seeds.

It's fun having him as my garden partner 😊

Elsie and I were the only ones to get in the hot tub tonight.

Everyone else was watching a transformer movie.

Well, Cassi is babysitting..... Which was weird to let happen!

Anyway, Elsie and I played 5 games on Uno.... She won 4 of them.

It was a nice evening 

Tuesday April 28

It was a very nice day again.

School work.

Lunch.

Laundry.

Yard work.

Port hanging out by the side of the road for about 6 hours 😂😂

This evening dad and I had our ARP meeting.

Dad got to join for a little bit before he left for a call.

We talked about Step 12, and it's basic gospel principle of service.

I really enjoyed hearing others testimony and thoughts on the step.

I enjoy this group so much and look forward to when we can meet in person again!!!!

Monday April 27

I got up with Madi before she went to work and we did some stretching/workout.

We are gonna try and start doing that regularly 👍🏻

Home school was again, no fun today.

Maybe it will get better 😂

I dug up and repotted about 10 lilac plants today.

And Porter spent several hours just chatting with Max and Graham by the side of the road.

It's the sweetest thing ❤️

I wonder if they will have "talks" like this once they can run around and play again.

Cassi was a rich start and made some asian dumplings for dinner tonight.

I told her she gets to make dinner from now on when Dad goes to work 😁

Madi came home with a headache and watched Jimmy neutron with Porter for a little bit.

Then I got in the hot tub with the two little ones and we played Uno and watched the sunset.

Sunday April 26

Today was a keeper :)

We had a great morning with our home church.

The conference talk we listened to was from Elder Bednar from October 2012, 'Converted Unto the Lord'.

We had a great discussion afterwards.

Elsie has been reading more and more during our CFM lessons.

(Big thanks to Emmy for reading so much with her the last few months!)

She wanted to conduct CFM portion (as well as the sacrament part) and she did a great job!

She still gets so nervous when she is reading in front of us....but now she kind of laughs and breaths hard instead of breaking into tears!

So that is a big improvement!!!

Yay!

Dad and Port were two peas in a pod moving irrigation water and then bird watching...which turned into bird shooting :)

Inside, Logan to Cassi his favorite pie was Strawberry rhubarb...and our rhubarb is massive right now....

So she made a pie, and it was so yummy!

I think it needs to be a tradition for her to make one every year when the rhubarb starts growing!

We played many rounds of croquet, kids went to the school to play, and Mom and Dad got some quiet time to listen to a book we are trying to read together.

So it worked out perfect for us all!

This evening we shot more guns and the boys got haircuts....except Logan.

Not sure he quite trusts us to cut it yet.....

But we will gain his trust :)

Dad put Port to bed tonight and it was the sweetest thing.

Those boys love all this time they are spending together!

Bummed Dad has to leave to work tomorrow!

That was a fast 4 day!

Saturday April 25

Well, today would have been a perfect wedding day!

The weather was amazing and it was cloudy, so it would have been perfect for pictures 😂

Oh well.

It turned out to be a very productive day.

Got the raspberries wired in. 

We still need to cut the tops off the posts and put the wire on the ends, but for now, it works great 👍🏻

We got started on the water system for the garden.

We couldn't figure out how to make a connection with the hoses, and Porter figured out how to do it.

Pretty smart boy.

Bubble told us a few days ago that she wanted to make a cake for Madi and Logan to celebrate what would have been their wedding day....

So I set up a table and we celebrated after Madi got home from work.

They are just the best.

We love them so much.

We kept a safe distance from eachother, but it was fun to "hang out" for a little bit!

Porter and Elsie played so nice this evening!

I'm so excited for the weather to stay nice and we can spend lots of time outside!!!!!

Friday April 24

Today we worked mostly on raspberries.

And irrigation.

But I'm super excited to get to put together.

And I'm excited to see what it will look like in a few years when it's full of raspberries!!!!

Port helped dad out a lot.

He's usually right by his side and I love it ❤️

Elsie, after another melt down (happening daily) came outside and I connived her to DRIVE THE MULE!!!

She drove it a few feet herself.

Then I put my foot on the gas and she pushed on my foot.

Pretty fun, and kind of a big deal!

Elsie fell on her bike two times today, and laughed both times.

She has started taking her corners too sharp.

The second time she wrecked, she had Porter in her better, so they both got scraped up.

But they had fun 😂

Thursday April 23

Dad got home and he and Porter spent some time talking about Greek history... By choice 😁

Dad got my garden tilled this afternoon over things dried out from the rain we got last night.

The boys dumped the dump truck.

I did some laundry and then we pretty much took it easy the rest of the day.

Ready for a little break I guess.

And home schooling is sucking the life out of me 😂

But we are still trying.

Elsie had a melt down today..... Usually at least one a day.

I just have her take some quiet time in her room with some relaxing music.

I think she's kind of looks forward to it 😊

We all need a little break sometimes!!!

Wednesday April 22

I was not at my best today.

So overwhelmed and grumpy and tired.

Porter was up past 12:30 last night.

Hopefully he sleeps earlier tonight!!!!

I should have been better..... But man, I was just fed up today ☹️

Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

I spent the morning convincing kids to do school work.

Elsie had an online meeting with her teacher.

I went for a run later in the day.

I came back and they were all outside playing.

It was nice all day and we got a little rain this evening.

Elsie has finished reading 6 ivy and bean books with Emmy!

That is so awesome!!!!!

Elsie does not love reading, but since reading with Emmy, she really looks forward to reading!!!

It has been awesome!

And Em is the best to rest with her!!!

Elsie gets easily distracted, so sometimes her chapters take a while to get done 😂

They take turns reading chapters and it has been the greatest!!!

They are starting a Ramona book now.

It has longer chapters and a little bit smaller words.

Elsie is kind of a stinker when it comes to smaller words, but we will see how it goes when she does it with Em ❤️

Port donated his Roman sculpture, it looks pretty cool!

And I ended the night with a Zoom call with my YW.

We have a new girl, so we spent time getting to know her.

It will be fun when we get to meet again!