Sunday January 31

And there goes January!

That went by so fast!!!!

It was a nice Sunday today.

I took some pictures of a sweet family who has one of their sons who only has custody of his kids on Sundays for a few hours, so it was the only time that worked.

I just told them that since it was Sunday, they couldn't pay me 😂😂

Dad and I had a ward mission meeting before sacrament.

Right before church started, I was settling a dispute with Cassi and Porter and when I looked up, dad was gone!

Then bishop started conducting, and that's what Brent was supposed to do today.

So I sent him a text and he told me that he had to leave quick because he got a text from someone in the ward that was in a very bad way.

He spent the next 5 hours with him.

He definitely saved his life.

The special part of the story is that dad and bishop were talking about this certain person this morning after their first meeting.

And then for him to feel like he could reach out to Dad, how can you not believe that we have a living heavenly father that knows is reach individually.

The Lord knew that Brent has real love and respect for this person and knew he could be the one to help him the very best.

I'm grateful that dad is the kind of person that people feel like they can call in their darkest moments.

I'm grateful that he knew just what to say and do.

He said he was completely guided by the spirit all day.

My heart breaks for this family, but I also feel so much hope for them.

Being honest with yourself and realizing you can't do it on your own anymore is the first step ❤️

 

Saturday January 30

Dad didn't find home until later today because he taught tech training.

Here at home, I went to the gym.

The kids worked on Saturday chores.

Cassi had quite a busy day.

She has a meeting for DYW.

Then rugby from 9:30-12.

Then to work from 2-9.

She just got home.

Porter hung out with Cannon and they why to the gym to play basketball for a little while.

I took Elsie to Carley's house and Ajay made a return to Kohl's.

And if I'm at Kohl's, I have to also go to hobby lobby 😁

I finally found a matte and frame for the picture Stacia's gave me for Christmas.

It's looks beautiful!

The title of it is "grace".

Dad came home and we went out to dinner at the Ram.

When we got home Porter washed to get in the hot tub again, so that's what we did.

Elsie opted for a shower instead.

Trying to get to bed early, because dad has an early start to another long Sunday 😊

 

Friday January 29

Today was basically filled with all things homeschool.

I woke up to an email telling me that the kids were accepted to Overture, which is kind of a home base for homeschoolers.

I took that as a sign.

This is what we need to do.

I feel scared, but I feel excited, and I can handle that.

So dio much to figure out.

But I have a lot of different people who I'm talking to and are willing to help me out.

We will get it figured out 

This evening, Cassi was playing to piano and it just made my heart happy.

I love the piano music on my home ❤️

I need to get Porter and Elsie back into it!

Maybe I should learn .......

 

Thursday January 28

Almost done with this quarter of school.

And I think I'm going to pull them out of virtual schoolhouse and do homeschool.

Port would probably be fine to stay ....

But Elsie, she has not learned a single new thing this year.

I know she can do better.

I know she is smarter than what the teachers are doing.

She is not being pushed.

Anyway, I still have a lot to look into and figure out.

I made the boys do something creative today.

Stacia and I talked and we think it would be fun for the boys to set some goals together that they can work on when they hang out, so it's not just playing dumb video games!!!!

Elsie talked with Madi on the phone that and they played a game together.

I'm really missing Madi ❤️

It will be so good to see her in March.

 

Wednesday January 27

Elsie got a lot done today.

Besides school, she and I made cookies for her to take to YW this evening.

And she worked on her art club piece of art.

Her and Madi started an art club back in November, I think.

Elsie had invited a few friends to join and the get prompts and then they all 'turn in' a piece of art.

This prompt was travel.

Elsie wanted to do the mountains on the way to yellowstone (the tetons).

And then she wanted to add a buffalo 😁

I tried her through it, step by step, and she did a fantastic job!!!!

I'm proud of her hard work!

We had the missionaries over this evening.

They can't eat dinner in homes, so they share a message and then take dinner with them.

Then Cassi worked this evening.

Dad, Elsie and Porter had YW/YM, so I got to just hang out at home.

I edited some pictures and changed the kitchen.

😊

 

Tuesday January 26

We got the piano nook all done!

Well, not done.....I still want to put a shelf in there and hang some stuff.

Sometime I'll get that done 😂

Oh, and I installed the light by myself 👍🏻 well, with guidance from dad 😁

But I'm so happy with how it turned out!

I did my grocery shopping today.

Porter good his weight lifting class.

Dad and I had our ARP meeting.

Such a great meeting.

We talked about Step 12 which is all about service save I love it!

I mean, why do through all this crap we do in life if you can't learn from it and help others!

That's what is all about!

Porter is incubating some eggs and dad candlelit them to see if they are growing.

There are a few that haven't been anything, but for sure some are, and that's pretty fun!

Bad news, poor Emmy tested positive for covid.

We will be continually praying for her to get better quick ❤️

 

Monday January 25

Dad got to extend his birthday today with a visit from the neighbors.

Bubble made us subs yummy treats that we are out in the front yard.

I miss just hanging out with all of them ❤️

Port and dad worked on the chicken enclosure, opening the field up to them.

They have started to really last eggs now, which is exciting.

Porter has some in the incubator right now going to hatch some.

We will see how it goes.

They also had to fix the watering system because the heated take got unplugged and the pipes froze and burst in the barn.

But they got it taken care of.

Then we talk dad out for his birthday dinner at the cheesecake factory.

Good times 😁

 

Sunday January 24

Dad got home in time to shower and head to the church.

Porter has a Deacon's presidency meeting.

I had a ward missionary visit.

There was a few minutes that dad could come home to open some birthday gifts.

Porter was so excited about the game can 'he' got for dad 😉

And then Dad and I got to go to the ward missionary meeting together.

It was a great sacrament meeting.

Today after sacrament, the RS got to meet together in the chapel and then the YW got to meet in classes, in person.

Cassi got set apart in her presidency afterwards.

Dad had to stay longer to do more setting apart for people.

But then we got all back home together.

While cooking dinner, we did our Comes Follow Me together.

We had chicken pot pie for dinner.

And birthday cheesecake for dessert 😊

We will do his birthday dinner tomorrow. Wish Madi and Logan were here to celebrate with us too!

Thursday January 21- Saturday January 22

First of all, that is Dad's birthday.

Kind of a bummer that we didn't get to have it with him.

But we will see him tomorrow and celebrate him on Monday.

Okay....I might get fired from my blogging job.

Got a text from Dussy boy.

He's disappointed in me ☹️

But seriously!!!!!

Why am I forgetting to do it!!!

So Thursday-

Got the piano nook painted.

Just waiting for flooring now, and a light.

Elsie and Cassi took a walk in the light snowfall, while jamming to Taylor swift.

Oh, Porter started his kids weight lifting class at the gym.

It will be on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

He's been complaining of his sore muscles ever since 😂

Friday-

Elsie had PT.

Not much else.

We did get invited to dinner by the Morgan's.

They take good care of us.

Kids played some games too.

Saturday-

Like I said, it's dad's birthday today.

I'm bummed I couldn't did anything with him....but I will see him soon.

My friend came over to help me repot and nurse my dad fiddle fig leaf back to life.

I reported several more plants after that too.

Did lots of laundry.

Got a really fun gift from Emmy in the mail today 

She's got us a sun/star with our family theme on it.

Grow in the Lord's pattern.

And I absolutely LOVE it!

Emmy is the BEST!!!

I went and made all my Amazon returns and did a little shopping.

Back at home, fed the kiddos, and got in hot tub.

Now I'm putting laundry away so it's done when dad gets home in the morning 😁

 

Wednesday January 20

Today was a beautiful day.

It was inauguration day!

It was so inspiring watching the people perform.

My favorite was the youth poet laureate, Amanda Gormon.

I was too get her poem in print and memorize it.

It was beautiful!

Cassi and I followed her on instagram she had 150k followers 

Right now, she is up to 2 million!

Good for her.

So impressive!

I love her!!!!

Dad got the trim put up in the nook.

I will paint tomorrow.

Cassi skipped school today for a mental health day.

She has really been struggling.

She ended up taking Porter and Elsie to build-a-bear. 

A fun little day out was good for everyone's heart.

This evening was New Beginnings for the YW.

It was a nice night.

 

Tuesday January 19

I started my small group personal training again today.

Got the mudding/texturing done in the piano nook.

Dad and Porter got the pieces for the trim work.

Maybe we will start that tomorrow.

Elsie and I took a nice walk, it was beautiful outside.

We also danced to Taylor swift while on that walk 😂

This evening, dad and I had our ARP meeting 

The step was step 11, personal revelation.

This was the step we talked about the first time I went to the meeting with Dad.

It's dear to my heart because, it was personal revelation that brought me to the idea of attending with him.

I was praying and looking for a way to heal.

I saw him healing, but I still felt broken.

The thought came, through the spirit, to ask Brent if it would be okay for me to attend with him and if course he agreed.

That was a year and a half ago.

My life has changed so much since then.

So I am so grateful for the time personal revelation plays in my life.

I continue to strive to do things that show me to have the spirit and I try to act as soon as I get a prompting.

Not perfect, but always trying.

Monday January 18

Porter, Cass and Dad went skiing today.

They went with the Edwards and Avery and Cannon.

They had a blast and it was a beautiful day.

Elsie and I hung back here at home.

I did grocery shopping.

She and I took a nice walk... It was sunny outside but with a really cold wind!!!!

I got texture put on the wall.

I think I will do the ceiling tomorrow and then we can get the trim work up and then paint!!!!

Almost done 👍🏻

 

Saturday January 16 - Sunday January 17

 Saturday, I worked on the piano nook.

We got laundry put away, mostly.

Elsie went to Carley's and then later this afternoon we had the Nielsen kids over for a bit.

What's was very excited to have two friends in one day to hang out with.

Last night she had her back seize up...poor girl.

We really need to stretch her and get her moving more!!!!

It was so bothering her this morning 

We went to sacrament, and afterwards the youth were supposed to stay for YM/YW.

Porter and Cass started, but I brought Elsie home so she could treat and get some ibuprofen.

It loosened up a bit for her.

I had Sunday school on zoom.

The rest of the day was just chill.

The kiddos read their come follow me scriptures.

I went and took some family pictures of the Morgan's.

Sydney is leaving back to Hawaii tomorrow for school.

This was the first two days in a row that dad has worked since before Christmas.

I would prefer him home 😂😂

He will be back tomorrow, but he and Cassi and Porter are gonna go skiing.

I have work to get done on the piano nook anyway 😏

Friday January 15

We worked on stuff on the house today.

I want to the gym this morning.

Dad and Porter worked on the piano nook once Port was done with school.

This evening we watched the first two episodes of WandaVision on Disney+.

It's pretty good and we can't wait to watch the next episode!

 

Wednesday January 13 - Thursday January 14

Yes, I didn't blog last night... But for good reason!

We went on a little over night get away for our anniversary and it was the best!

I didn't know anything about what he had planned, just that it would be overnight.

We left home about 3:30 and checked into the suite at hotel 43.

It was so fun and had a great view of the mountains, Capitol and downtown Boise!

I wanted to take some pictures, so we went exploring.

The parking garage for the hotel turned out to be a perfect spot.

Wwe had dinner reservations at Chandlers at 6... So we got dressed nice and went and took some pictures just before going to dinner.

Dinner was amazing!!!!

I got an Ahi tuna fish... That was caught and flown in from Hawaii 24 hours earlier!

It was so so good!!!

Dad got an American waigu.

Amazing isn't a big enough word for it!

It was tender and juicy and so flavorful!

You could almost cut it with your fork!

After our yummy dinner, we went to Trader Joe's and grabbed a bunch of snacks to eat while watching "swords out" in our hotel room.

It was just really such a great night.

Just him and me together.

I sure do love my kids, but I am so thankful for the times it's just him and I ❤️

This morning, we slept in and took our time packing up.

We went to Big City coffee house for our lunch.

I live it there.

It's got the best atmosphere!

And the best treats!

I have eaten so much sugar these last two days 😂😂😂

Back at home, dad got started on the piano nook.

But we were all so real tired.

The little ones got to be so late last night and had early morning school.

I told dad that I didn't want to do anything... It was our anniversary after all!

So after the kids were done with school work, we watched a movie.

Lazy?

Ya.

But I don't care.

We will work tomorrow.

Dad did with on the piano nook while I made wakes for breakfast.

Then we all got in the hot tub.

Everyone got into bed at a good time, so hopefully we are all happy and kind with eachother tomorrow while we work 😁

***

This is what I posted on social media for our anniversary.

I sure love him ❤️:

He's my favorite person.

I've been reflecting on this last year.I

It's been a pretty great year ❤️

I'm grateful for all the 'tools' we have gathered after 21 years of being married. Without them, I'm sure this year would have been MUCH different.

Hard stuff can either make or break you. 

So I'm blessed for the hard stuff that continues to prove us unbreakable!!!

Happy 21 years!

Can't wait for all the rest of them 💗