Sunday February 3

Kind of rough at spots today.

I miss having Dad around.

We have had quite a few Sunday's where I didn't have to do it alone...…

But the day was good.

It was a nice meeting at church.

Fast and Testimony meeting was great.

We talked about being a light to those around us when we were in Sunday School.

After church, Madi and Cassi had a YCL meeting.

The kids had choir.

Elsie was complaining about not wanting to go and that she was starving!

I told her that if she didn't want to fast then eat, but don't sit there and whine if she wanted to fast.

Then she said she didn't want to go to choir.

I told her that they were relying on her being there, but she could choose.

She was getting ready to eat a bagel and I told her I had to leave to take Port to choir.

She started crying and I asked her why.

I guess she decided to go to choir and she decided not to eat.

I was amazed!

For her to go from a complete meltdown, then making a big girl decision like that, I was very proud of her!

Madi dropped Cassi off to choir after their meeting and she had a meeting after that for Laurels.

I went to the church for my Temple recommend interview to renew my recommend.

After choir, Cassi went with Kendyl to make cookies for the boys in the ward they convinced to come to choir with them :)

Back at home we had some grumpy hungry kiddos!

Fast Sunday, with 9 church is a tough one!!!!

But we made it.

They did good.

After some food we had less fighting :)

I am taking Madi's pictures for Sweethearts in a week.

So we wanted to do some light testing....

So we did some more senior pictures.

It was a fun time and we got super muddy, and she got really wet jumping in the puddles!

Of course it was the Super Bowl today.

It isn't as much fun without Dad here.

But Cassi and Porter built their yearly (as of the last 2 years) stadium out of blocks :)

We ate some dinner, made some muddy buddies.....we had some fun talks in the kitchen while making the muddy buddies.

Porter thinks girls are pretty weird!!!!

We wound down with some puzzle time with Porter.

We are excited to have Dad home tomorrow!!!!!

 Elsie drew this picture of our house a couple days ago, and I love it so much I didn't want to forget to get a picture before it gets erased!!!!!

Saturday February 2

I got the stuff I wanted to get done today.

Yay!

I got the basement finished and I got the top coat put on my tables.

I am so glad that Dad remembered to have us take the tables in the shop....because it rained all night and all day!

There was a little break in the rain during the day and Porter went out with the boys to play.

After Madi got home from work, I took Cassi to the store to get her some clothes.

There are way too many fights around here about Cassi wearing Madi's clothes and we are sick of it!!!!

So she got some stuff, hopefully there will be less fighting.
Poor Dad had a bunch of training today out in the rain.
He actually loves it because he was in charge.
He is so good at being in charge of that kind of stuff!
They also had a rescue up in the foothills.

Cassi went to a birthday party this evening.

Madi, Porter and Elsie and I watched Rango here at home and had ice cream.

Porter has been having a hard time feeling 'safe' lately.

Ever since we got home from Arizona...…

He says he is worried about a bad guys breaking in.

He is constantly making sure the doors are locked.

It is hard to talk him down some times....

So all week I have promised him he could sleep in my room when Dad went to work.

I am not sure why he is feeling so unsure.....and uneasy :(

Breaks my heart.

Friday February 1

After getting a workout this morning, I applied the pre-paint primer coat for the cement floor in the basement.

It was a clear coat, but becomes kind of tacky/sticky for the paint to adhere better.

I had to go and shower so I could go to lunch with Heather, for her birthday today :)

So Dad took over and he got the floor painted!

It looks so pretty.

I will be touching up around the edges and doing a second coat tomorrow.....but look how pretty!

We had a cookie Friday today with Madi's friends.

I made a yummy cookie recipe that I got from Bubbles and it was fun to have Madi's friends hang out for a bit.

Dad and I had a date night tonight.

We went to dinner at Goodwood and then we went and saw the movie 'Glass'.

Man, it was pretty good.

We made a stop at Walmart after to pick up some lemon cakes for dessert :)

Madi went to the basketball games and Cassi babysat for the Halls, and she took Elsie and Porter with them so we could go out as well.

It worked out good!

Thursday January 31

I had to take a nap this morning after getting the kiddos off to school!

Then I got up and started cleaning up the floor downstairs.

Hopefully I can start painting it tomorrow!

Dad worked on getting the new Internet line buried.

I left a little after lunch to go do family history with Stacia again.

Remember last week when I added a child because his sister was in the family, and they were on the same record together.

WELL....come to find out neither of them belongs to that family!

So I had to remove them :(

I feel so bad!

Hopefully they will be easy for someone who is looking for them to find now!!!!

But, I am looking into another child that was a hint for the mom.

I will work on him and see if he belongs to the family.

I just want Mary Anne Davis to have all her kids sealed to her!!!!!

I will get this figured out!

It is interesting to have different people I am working with who have different styles of doing family history research!

But I am really enjoying it.

It really just takes time to get it figured out, and time sure flies when you are doing it!

No, I didn't come away with any names to take to the temple.....but I do think that what I am doing is valuable!

And I am excited to learn more!

When I got home, it was time to take Cassi to Rugby.

I ran a few errands then came home.

I met up with Dad at Bubbles house and we are taking about the demo that will happen in the next few weeks.

It will be an exciting remodel!!!!!

We had breakfast for dinner tonight.

I made yummy waffles and burned my poor fingers!!!!

Our waffle iron gets SO HOT!

I went to shut the lid and accidentally touched it with my finger and singed the poor thing!!!!

I think we need a new waffle iron.

That think is dangerous!

Wednesday January 30

Helped in the office.

After I got home. Dad was still at the gym, so I got a workout too.

Then I made my grocery shopping list.

Dad ran to the store to pick up floor paint and door paint for the art room.

I had to stay home while we went because we were waiting for the century link guy to come.

When Dad came home, I left to get the shopping done.

Cassi Had rugby after school.

Madi worked.

Porter had scouts.

Elsie helped get stuff ready at home for the Beehives to come over.

I made some cookies when I got home.

Then we had dinner as a family :)

Beehives came to my house for YW.

Dad took Porter to the used games store, they had fun picking stuff out then came home and played games.

For our Beehive activity, we had the girls pick a word for the year.

It was a fun activity and they all picked awesome words!

Elsie picked BRAVE and I picked FORTIFY.

The big girls want to make one too.....we have a couple extras.

It will be fun to see what words they come up with.

My Beehive advisors ended up hanging longer and we had a little meeting.

So we didn't get the kids into bed until almost 10:00!!!!

I really hope they are not all exhausted tomorrow!

Tuesday January 29

Back home and back to the daily grind :)

Got the kiddos off to school.
Dad and I both got a workout in.

I finally got some stain on my art tables...they are looking really good!

I am excited about them!

I need to get in gear on this art studio going!

I had a meeting today to talk about girls camp.

By that time the day was shot.

Dad spent most of the day working on Tax stuff.

I am thankful he is always so willing to do that stuff for our family!

The news on Gramps....he got sent home.

Sounds like Kay is staying with him for the night.

Still keeping him in our prayers for sure.

The little kiddos had piano today.

We all had family dinner together and then I finished putting stain on the tables.

The whole house smells really bad!

Well, it smells like stain.

I applied it downstairs in the basement, and it kind of wafted through the house!!!!!

I opened the window down there.

Hopefully it airs out soon :)

Monday January 28

We woke up this morning and got ready.

Got to walk with Hannah to the school bus stop.

Then we got all packed and Katie took us to the airport about 9:30.

We waited there for a little while before loading the plane.

I had a window seat and Dad had a middle seat..... knew he would not want to be in the middle of two others, so I switched him.

Lucky I did, I was sitting between two large men...so if Brent was there, that would have been so uncomfortable for everyone!!!!!

We got home a little after 2.

Poor Madi woke up and got the kids ready, but then got a migraine.

Luckily, Eldon picked up Elsie and Cassi and took Elsie to the bus stop and Cassi to school.

Madi went back to bed.

She was still feeling lousy when we got home.

Porter begged for us to pick him up from school when we got home.

So I went and got home after we got unpacked.

Cassi got home and then Elsie not much later.

It was nice to have everyone here at home :)

We got a call from Dussy boy called to tell us that they found Gramps, he had fallen outside.

He had been there for a bit without anyone seeing him, so his body temp was very low.

They took him to the hospital and did some tests.

Looks like his heart had some problems, having a mild heart attack.

We went back and forth with knowing and not knowing what was going on with him.

They are hydrating him and seeing if they need to transfer him tomorrow.

Prayers for Gramps and his comfort would be much appreciated!

We had dinner and then we did our Come Follow Me.

Vern invited us over for a birthday party for Bob....

But then we got there and....it was a surprise party for Brent!

They had us all fooled!

It was a fun night with friends.

Madi and Avery took a little trip to Walmart for temporary tattoos and face masks :)

We had a very fun trip this weekend......and we are very happy to be home!

Sunday January 27 (add journal)

The day got away from us....

We head for home tomorrow.

I will blog later.

Saturday January 26 (add pictures)

We got to Andy and Katie's house about 12:30 last night, or I mean this morning.

Sleeping was a little hard.

I blame me being spoiled with my weighted blanket :)

Couldn't bring that with me.....

We got up this morning and talked and ate and then headed out to take some fun pictures for them.

The kids did good and the day was so nice outside.

We came home and Katie had to leave for a rehearsal because she was singing at a funeral this afternoon.

April showed up with her kiddos.

We all hung out and Andy and Katie left for the funeral and we got to play with the kiddos.

Dad got a nap because he didn't sleep too well either.

Later on April and her kids got ready and we went and shot some pictures of them.

Then we played at the park for a while.

For dinner we went to a fun BBQ place called Rudy's.

Everyone had fun and Hannah and Millie proved their love for pickles!

I won't lie....I ate my fair share as well!

Back at home, I played on the trampoline with the little ones.

Then we had a little FHE type lesson talking about the Come Follow Me lesson this week.

It was fun.

We talked about being missionaries.

How like John's disciples were so excited to meet the Lord and spend time with him, that they went and shared it with their friends!!!!

We should be the same!

Katie had a gift bag and she had Hannah come and look inside.

Then she told her to grab someone else and tell them what was inside and invite them to see.

Then that kept going until everyone in the room saw the picture of Christ inside the bag.

It was a sweet way to teach it to little ones :)

Now we are all heading to bed.

Hopefully I can sleep tonight!

Friday January 25

Just hanging out here at home, waiting for Stacia to come pick us up to take us to the airport.

Dad and Porter are laying Risk to pass the time.

I am not sure how he is gonna be once we leave!

We kept him home from school today.

Still no fever, but I was fine keeping him home.

We got laundry done, stuff packed and cleaned up.

We ran to Fred Meyer and got some stuff.

Porter got the game Risk on sale there :)

He was pretty excited about it!

When we pulled in to the garage, I got a call from Elsie's school saying that she was dancing during their Fun Friday, and knocked a desk over, which ended up falling on the back of her heel.

So I went and picked her up from school.

It will be pretty bruised, but I think she will be fine.

She is avoiding walking on it, but she can.

Hopefully things will go well with that over the time we are gone!!!!!

This evening we had family dinner together...not something we usually get to do on a weekend!!!!

Madi left shortly after to go with friends.

I guess Cassi gets to babysit tonight and Madi gets to babysit tomorrow while Cass goes with friends.

Oh....speaking of Cassi.

After school, she went with friends to Sonic.

She didn't realize it until she got home that she left her retainer at Sonic!!!!!

Dang Cassi!!!!!

We told her that she pays for the $90 replacement.

So Madi ran her back there to try and find it.

You guessed it, she went through the garbage with a Sonic employee and they found it!

I am glad she found it, and hopefully this will be a lesson for her to be more careful!!!!!!

Anyway.

We are excited about the trip and we are hoping all goes well here at home ❤