Valentine Boxes and Cards

For FHE tonight we did a 2 for 1 again by having the kids make their Valentine cards as our activity. We already do so much for the kids, I sometimes resent trying to do even more on Monday nights, but I'm impressed with how committed Corey is to FHE. It's a good thing. So today they made their valentines and got to eat some of the leftover candy, thus activity and dessert both checked off, yay. Peter showing his heart valentines. 

Natalie taking over the gluing of candy onto the hearts~ 

Owen was talking about his box and trying to get ideas of what to do to so it would be a winning box. I could hear the competetiveness in his voice, ugh. I was very very grateful when Natalie saved the day once again and took over helping the boys. She cranked them all out yesterday, and did very high quality too! A milkjug frog prince for Owen - 

Mario World for Daniel, wow!

...and Perry the Platypus for Peter. 

We'll read scriptures in a bit after Corey gets home. He's working a bit late tonight but ok with that since I had FHE taken care of. Owen finished his cards, so he's practicing trumpet now. 

Abi just took K to the store to buy a few more treats. I bought a pack of 84 treats on Saturday at Costco, and I apparently snuck too many of them over the past 3 days so we needed a few more to be able have candy for all of the kids in Owen Daniel and Peter's classes. Abi is so helpful to go get that. She also took the kids to the park and made dinner tonight after they got back. Sigh, I'm going to miss all of her help when she leaves on her mission. She's a life saver.

I was a bit numb this morning, as I'm fighting feelings of regret over how we missed our health insurance payment in October AND all the notices they supposedly sent us in the mail after that. So dumb. I haven't been consumed with worry, but it's there in the back of my head trying to fight it's way forward, and I'm trying to stand in front of it and not let it get by. Things will work out. I went over to my parents house and did the dishes and swept as I felt numb. So I wasn't super helpful, but I was able to share with my dad what happened. That helped me feel better. Then as I was leaving, I thought I'd go to the Select Health Offices in Murray and see if talking to a person in person would help. I said I wanted to speak with someone about getting our insurance re-instated. Then I waited with K for 30 minutes. We played catch with a nail buffer I had in my purse while we waited. 

K was a perfect little angel.

Then a guys with a name badge that said "sales" came up to me, and I thought "drat". It went about as I expected after seeing that. Nothing they can do, it's past the grace period, can't be re-instated. He said even the marketplace can't do anything "that far back". Ugh, so dumb. I feel so frustrated about the lack of communication from Select Health BEFORE they terminated our health insurance, and by their seeming "tied hands" now that it's terminated and we're past the "grace period". So so so stupid. They have their proof that they told us - a digital list of notification letters they sent through the mail. We did not get any of them. It also showed that our new insurance cards were sent in December, and we did get those. That only made me feel/think that everything was on track though. We had no knowledge of our October payment not going though, nor notifications supposedly sent Oct 14, Nov 14, and Dec 14 that our coverage was in jeopardy. The first I was aware of it was this past Thursday. None of that mattered. He can't do anything. He did give me a quote for a short term plan that we can use through December that doesn't cover anything for $750 bucks a month. Boo. Came home, K played starfall and I gave Nicole a call. She took a trip to Ohio last week, and on her way back, 8 hours from home, her van broke down. So she's spend 3 nights in a hotel, the place it was towed to was closed until today. She's rented a uhaul with her stuff and is going to drive that back home and come back for her van next week if they aren't able to get it fixed by tomorrow morning. Everyone is struggling with something. Life is a game of choose your crisis. I also had a meeting yesterday with ladies in our ward discussing some challenges ladies are having. One sister is on her way back after attending a grandson's funeral in Idaho - her 18 yo grandson died by suicide. Another sister's grandbaby was recently stillborn with Gastroschisis, a congenital defect where a baby is born with intestines outside the body through a hole in the abdominal wall. I have also been thinking of the story of the WW2 widow who buried her 4 children - a story I read with the kids a year ago that's been on my mind again recently. Katharine climbed into bed with me this morning, and I thought of that lady. Here I was with my little girl, safe and warm and alive in my arms. "Every ordinary day seems magical". My life is very very good and blessed. Things will work out. 

Abi's Mission Call

Abi opened her mission call tonight! You can watch it here, or scroll down to the end of this post to see where.

This pic below was when her eyes saw where she was going -

And here she is after reading it outloud to all of us -

In the video link above you can see cute Grandpa Wride who showed the emotions that were in her parents and grandparents' hearts - very full with gratitude and amazed at life passing by. Little Abi is going on a mission? Also remembering when we were opening our mission calls. Very exciting!

This morning I worked on getting health insurance from 9-1 and that was when I took a break and when Abi got the notification that her call was here. She stewed about it for a bit wondering when to open it. Tonight we had a church activity from 5:30 - 8:30, so tonight won't work... No, that's not a problem! We'll just do it after. Easy. She wasn't sure... how about tomorrow? No, that is the Sweethearts dance at school so that wouldn't work. And Sunday is the Superbowl (who cares) but maybe people wouldn't come cause of that, so Monday? But if she was going to wait until Monday, might as well wait until Tuesday when her friend Tara gets back from vacation. I was putting joking pressure on her to just open it right now, but Corey's calm advice convinced her to do it tonight. So yay, that was great. I ran to Costco for some cookies to share after her call opening. Then the girls went over to the church to get things ready for the Silent Auction and Dinner. Abi Sophi and Natalie were all serving food there tonight, so they wore the "waitress" outfit of white shirt with black pants. Lily made some sourdough to auction off and also offered some free babysitting to the highest bidder. I don't know what Abi Sophi or Natalie auctioned. Corey stayed home to work, so I took Mel as my dinner date. I wasn't hungry, but ate everything they put before me. The dinner was a salad, then garlic bread, then two pasta, marinara and alfredo, over penne pasta and linguini. Abi done serving, so she came to our table to eat her dinner. Abi was glad that her mission call got her mind distracted from the anxiety she gets from performing. These two have fun together. 

Mel really liked the balsamic vinaigrette that was served with the salad. She was putting it on everything (salad, garlic bread, pasta) and Abi joked for her to put it on her ice cream, and she did. 

Lily was a cook in the kitchen - we saw her briefly when she came out to have some dessert. 

The youth, including Abi, Sophi, and Natalie, each played music for some background music. Abi did a Bolling song, Sophi played Minuet 1, Natalie did Gavotte.

I looked over all the items up to auction, but only did a $20 bid on a sewing machine for Sophi. Then she said she actually didn't want it that much, so we were ok when we were out bid. Mel bid on a used microwave and won it for $15 bucks, yay! I bought a Book of Mormon Chiasmus book for our collection. I brought Owen Daniel Peter and Katharine all over with me. The kids had fun in the primary room doing activities (they had free babysitting) and I was very impressed with all the youth and their leaders did for this activity. It was a super cute night. Good job leaders and youth! I didn't help clean up after it was done. I went home with Abi, Sophi and Katharine, and left Mel to gather up the rest of the kids. I had texted family earlier, and my parent's had just pulled up when we got home from the church. Grandparents and cousins, most of the youth and leaders, the bishop and Abi's school friends all came over to our house for Abi's call opening. We had a full house!

Wes and Hyrum called after to tell Abi congratulations. We were gathered for scriptures, but family gospel conversations were postponed cause we were talking to them. They  missed the lifestream, they are in Reno for some construction competition with BYUI. Wes said he misses not talking to us every week on p-day, so we're gonna just start doing family calls for fun, but on Sunday. We kept talking, and the kids on our end eventually started to give in to their tired-ness.

Hyrum and Wes wanted to get in on the family snuggle time, but they only had each other, haha.

So, for the reveal - Abi has been called to serve in the:

Panama Panama City Mission!

She begins the Missionary Training on July 29. She will be here for Park City! Fun! We will all be learning a lot about Panama for these next few months. Here is a brief history of the Church in Panama. After visitor left, Christian introduced Abi to the song Panama by Van Halen, so that can be her new theme song. Something fun, another neighbor texted us a song that she heard a song and to her it sounded like it was saying "Abi Wride" in the chorus - Right Next To You by Layup. The chorus says "I'll be right, I'll be right next to you!" but our family will sing "Abi Wride! Abi Wride next to you!" haha. Congratulations Abi! We are so excited for you!

My First Loaf of Sourdough

I would like to present my very first loaf of sourdough, fresh out of the oven at 9:45 am this morning. 

Didn't I do a good job?!?! That is a pretty loaf. Lily was proud and said it looked "SO GOOD!" I promptly started another loaf of dough by myself and I cooked that one tonight. It turned out good, not as pretty though. For the second loaf I cut a heart into the top, but not deep enough I think. So that's been fun! And I'm proud of myself. I also learned how to feed the starter. The only con of having fresh bread is that I want to eat it. So I just need to time it so it is coming out of the oven when everyone is here so they can eat it and I don't eat too much myself. 

Corey and I went climbing this morning at 6:30. We were able to go early but also late (6:30 vs. 6am) cause Abi was home for B day and she got the boys off to school. Well, not Daniel. Today he stayed home. He said he had a sore throat. I think they are taking advantage of me. Lily also said she didn't feel great, so I went and picked her up at 1, but mostly I said ok to getting her so I could go get an ice cream for myself at the Macey's by Skyline. I already used the coupon at the 94th Macey's this week. I also told myself that, if I went to get Lily, I could go by the mall on the way home and get shoes. The exact same kind I just returned on Monday night (Adidas Handball Spezial in Night Indigo, Pale blue, and Cloud White), cause I'm pretty sure the "store" I bought them from online was a scam. This morning I spent some time trying to figure out what is going on. It's been two weeks since I ordered and no update on their delivery. I emailed their only contact email yesterday and it came back as non deliverable. Their "Faherty Carmel dot com" website has disappeared as well - "No longer exists". So I've disputed the charge with the credit union as a "non receipt of goods" so hopefully that will be refunded. I looked for other places online that had the shoes for a good price, but couldn't find anything, so I decided to just go pay mall prices and know what I'm getting and get it now. After getting back from that, it was the regular after school day of little boys going to play with friends and girls making themselves some food. 

Around 4:30 I called Abi to come upstairs to discuss a text she had sent me. She sent a text at 12:30 saying she had a $1384.93 bill from IHC that is due Feb 24th. That was for her well visit last month. Umm, yeah, that's supposed to be 100% covered. So we called IHC so we could get it figured out, the guy who took our call at IHC said it was declined and said to call our insurance. So I called insurance, and that was when I learned that we no longer have health insurance. I was told that our coverage ended October 31st for non payment. What? What?!?! How??? How can they just terminate our insurance? And us not be notified or aware of this?!?!? They said they sent us letters. I check the mail, we have not received anything. They said they sent me emails as well, I see nothing there either, what in the world, for real???? They terminated our insurance, we can't reinstate it, it's too late, AND the open enrollment period for the marketplace is now past! And ALL THIS was on my radar in December, and I called our broker to make sure we were good to go, cause I wanted to avoid this exact situation we now find ourselves in! Ugh... but here we are. It's February, open enrollment has passed, and we do not have health insurance. I asked about what options they have for us, and we can get a short term plan for $700 a month that doesn't cover anything (well visits, immunizations, etc), but will help us if something major happens. I am mad at myself, I'm mad at Select Health, and I'm also not very pleased that Corey's employer doesn't offer health insurance. (He's self employed) Ok, I'm going to try and be strong. I need to be the person I hope I would be in a situation like this. I will submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord. This sucks, I'm going to try not to cry anymore about it, I will try and face this challenge with optimism.

"In my ninety-plus years, I have learned a secret. I have learned that when good men and good women face challenges with optimism, things will always work out! Truly, things always work out! Despite how difficult circumstances may look at the moment, those who have faith and move forward with a happy spirit will find that things always work out."

And yay I learned how to make sourdough. :)

Mel's Pancakes

I slept in until 6:15 cause I stayed up until midnight blogging (finished October, yay). Corey left early for work when he took carpool. I checked in on each teenage daughter ALSN before they headed off to school, then at 8am checked on O&D as well. Peter was coughing yesterday quite a bit, and so today he stayed home with my blessing. Owen was making pancakes for his siblings, and Mel took over after he left for school. She made Peter a dinosaur pancake and a shark pancake! Nice shark!

Mel made Katharine a princess pancake and a unicorn one. Just another morning with the magic of Mel. Oh, she also taught Peter some songs on the piano - the Knuckle Song, Mary had a little lamb, and Hot Cross Buns. She taught Katharine how to play and sing Hot Cross Buns too! With the kids in Melodie's care, I was able to go on an "early" ride to the ruins. I had to go at the beginning of the day when it was cold enough for the trail snow to be hard. It was a little slick/slushy at the top, as the sunlight was shining on the trail up there. I guess I might need to leave home when it's 40 degrees. It was 45 when I started at 11:30, 50 when I got back home. The high today was 52! Feels like we're already in spring but we skipped most of the winter part. 

When I got back, Peter and Katharine were playing in my room. Peter worked on paper air planes from a Usborne book he got for his birthday. Katharine was playing with the graduation tassels that I have hanging up on a little board. Peter was talking to her or teasing her about something, and I laughed when I heard her protest "Stop! I'm trying to focus here!" hahaha

I plugged away at the blog and guess what - I have finished January! I did pretty good staying mostly caught up on that last month, and had one more post to do today. Woo go me. One last "go me" that I'll brag about - I made my first sourdough dough tonight! I'll be cooking it in the morning. Yay. I think Lily was glad that I was finally ready to learn. I'm excited! It wasn't hard, I just haven't had the mental capacity to do one more thing, but maybe since I'm catching up on the blog, I'm feeling like I can do it now. At 9:30 pm, ASNK just went to the store for something, 10pm now and Corey just got home. Time for scriptures.

Temple Tuesday

It's Temple Tuesday. I went to the Jordan River 5am initiatories, Corey went to the Draper 7am session. The Jordan River looked very pretty with the moon behind ~

Then after the temple I went to Millcreek to Boulder, then sit in the sauna, and I was back to help get kids out the door at 8. I set an alarm to remind me to help Peter dress like a dalmatian for the 101st day of school. We were in a bit of a rush trying to get that done in 20 minutes, so I didn't get a pic, but Abi got this after he got home. 

And here are some photos that his teacher shared. Peter is a sweet boy. "101 days of school!"

Peter is a sweet boy. 

When he got home, he was excited to show me this new game, and we played it together. 

Only he couldn't find the blue cards, so we just used face cards. When K saw me drawing on Peter, she wanted to be a dalmatian too. I did her with markers and not as much black electrical tape.

Then she wanted to play starfall, so I let her do that while I cleaned up and got dressed. And this little girl has had an issue the past few days where she is too into the game to listen to her body, until it's too late and she stars to run to the bathroom but pees herself, so she did that today for the 3rd time so far this week! I was tired after an early morning, so I layed down around 1 and K came and found me and took a nap with me at 2. I woke up and snuck away, and a bit later she woke up but I didn't know where she had gone. Around 5 we all looked together and found that she had gone to Abi's bed. Abi said "Aww, I feel so loved!" 

K slept from like 2 until 5:30! The laundry room still clean, today I paid rent and utilities, yay, and then Abi took all the kids to the park while I made curried potatoes and cauliflower for dinner, which was a hit. They were still gone after dinner was done and ready, so I blogged a bit and made progress on October! I am so close to being done.

During scriptures tonight, Corey shared a thought about how at temple you receive a little bit at a time. That is how it is with the project Corey is working on too. We trust that God is leading Corey on, here a little and there a little. I shared a thought about how there are these glass bowls in different areas of the temple. Pretty open vessels. Maybe they represent how we should be - how we should have open hearts that are ready to receive. They are not full, but are open and ready to receive what God will give. Christian shared how in the scriptures we are given different commandments when it comes to our crosses - we are commanded to "take up" our cross, and "to bear" our cross. Pondering what differences are implied there? And now it's late, I didn't want to stop working until the last post was finished so I persevered and I just finished October right before midnight, yaaaay. Next goal: finish November before this week is over! There are only 4 posts left to do for Nov. December I'll give myself the rest of Feb to finish maybe cause I'm missing most of the month.

Where's Waldo FHE

Corey and I didn't have a plan for FHE tonight, again. (Note to self: set an alarm for Friday and plan FHE on date night). Corey looked at some groupon coupons: Obstacle Ninja Warrior? Uptown Jungle? Kangaroo Zoo? Classic Skating ...in Orem. Ugh, none of those sounded good to me. How about games at home? How about service and we clean in the basement! Sophi said we should go to the mall, cause she wanted me to return my shoes for the right size. I ordered some red gazelles and they arrived yesterday, and I ordered size 7 but they feel like 8 or 9... they are just way too big. Then Corey said we could play Where's Waldo at the mall! It was an activity Corey participated in three years ago, he felt yes this is the activity and it will be fun. It was already 7:00 and the stores at the mall would be closing at 8. Not a lot of time, but Corey said "We're going! We need a head start so don't leave yet, LILY! SOPHI!" They hurried out together to go hide in plain sight at the mall. I got the rest of the kids ready, got my shoes to return, and we headed out soon. Corey wasn't ready yet, so I returned my shoes first: Journeys to return my Spezials (the ones I ordered online are still in transit) and then to Footlocker to see if they had a size 6 red gazelle. They didn't so I just returned them. While I was in Footlocker, ANODP went off to start looking for Corey, Lily, and Sophi. By this time it was 7:55 and stores were getting ready to close. Katharine and I soon joined the kids in walking around and looking for their father and sisters. One lap, no luck. I text Corey "Fashion Place, right?" I was pretty sure we clarified on Fashion Place, not Southtown. He didn't reply, but we kept walking around. On our second lap, the protests began: 

Daniel: "This is boring. This is dumb."
Peter: "My legs are tired. My tummy hurts."
Katharine: "Hold me."

Abi was doing great, I didn't hear complaints from her or Natalie & Owen, though Owen kept asking if he could have a Mammoth hat. When we first walked into the mall over by the food court, the first store on our left immediately caught Owen's eye and with a gasp and a "Woah...." and he walked right in.  

Owen had never seen so many sports hats!! I shared the photo with his college siblings. Joseph said that was where he had gone to get a football hat for Owen for Christmas, and we told him no cause "$39" or whatever obscene amount the hats cost in there was a rip off. We stand by that. But I'm sure Owen would have loved it. Wes said he liked the Mammoth jerseys. Looks like we still have hockey fans in our house. So, I'm done walking with Katharine. Abi takes her on her shoulders. The rest of the kids are done too. It is past 8. Everything is closed and most people are gone. Security guards were walking around, probably to make sure people clear out? Do we need to leave? There were still some people - employees going home perhaps? I'm not sure our crew fit that category of mall employees though. I texted Corey that I thought the kids were done. Then Natalie said she saw Sophi and ran ahead. The person she said was Sophi was walking with what looked like a broken ankle or a bad handicap. Natalie second guessed herself and stopped and didn't approach the person with full gusto or certainty, but followed and watched. Soon they were sure, yes it was her, and then they saw Lily too. They were all laughing and I was too - Sophi had me fooled. I hadn't seen Lily before she took off her disguise. But where was Corey? Then the girls start laughing, and I turn to see a strange character walking towards the exit...

Oh my goodness... is that my husband? He was walking in a very zesty style too... we were all laughing. Daniel cautiously approached the man. 

And he broke character, we found him. Everyone was laughing and smiling. Abi took her signature .5 photo of her old man.

Haha his hat still has the tag. Complaints of irritation and boredom and "this stupid activity" were gone. Corey Lily and Sophi started to take off parts of their costumes, but I had them put them back on and resume their character types for a photo. 

Oh my gosh so funny. We walk out to the cars to head home. 

These three went by Savers and did some very rushed disguise shopping before coming to the mall.! I'm impressed, they must have been super fast there!

The kids are excited for the next round of Where's Waldo.

Other things that we did today~ Abi stayed home a little sick, but she took carpool for us. The boys got up quietly which was nice of them, since Katharine slept with Daniel last night. 

She slept until around 10, Abi printed up coloring pages for Katharine, and K has a good collection on her bedroom wall. 

"It's just my collection!" - Ariel

She especially likes the ones that her big sisters color for her. Current favorite is Barbie colored to be Elena of Avalor.

The kids have been on a coloring kick since Friday. Corey and I were going to go on a ride together early, but then he got a late start to his work day and so we didn't leave until 2. By then it was 48 degrees and the trail was all good except for at the very top, where the trail is on the north side of the canyon, it was a little slushy/slick. But we made it to the ruins in 1:05, that's a decent time. I made rice for dinner, Abi cooked chicken and vegetables, then it was FHE. Owen is watching a football highlight with Corey right now, but I'm heading to bed cause I'm going to the temple early in the morning. 

Wedding Gifts

Tonight I went up to Bountiful for Mel and Christian's grand opening of their wedding presents that had piled up from their Amazon registry. It was Christmas morning again, but only presents for the newlyweds. First they went through cards, then wrapped gifts and gifts in bags, and then they got ready to go through the Amazon boxes. 

They got a system going where Amiee opened boxes and handed them over, Christian opened and read the names, Mel and I took notes on their spreadsheet of who gave what so they can send out thank you notes, and Eric broke down the boxes and collected the trash. 

It was fun to be at their house again. Their dog Yumi is really cute and sweet and she wanted my attention which was new to me. She and I were tight all evening. Owen Daniel Peter and Katharine all came with me, and they hardly said hi to Mel and Christian when we got there, they just took off their shoes and went straight down to the basement to play with Rachel and Amelia. They were playing games and running around. Later Rachel was making the kids stuff on their 3D printer - a little spinning helicopter thing, and some small brachiosaurus' for Peter and Katharine.

The kids did come up near the end to play with Mel and Christian. 

So we just got back from that. Corey stayed home to work, Abi stayed home - she's still feeling sick. Though she also cleaned the house, which was nice to come home to. Lily Sophi and Natalie all had a "wine night" with some neighborhood friends. They drank sparkling apple cider, but they used fancy goblets, so they called it a wine night and had a fancy dinner for themselves. They had a charcuterie night a month or so ago, and they're trying to get together once a month for a dinner. I'll update later with a pic of that if they send me one.

Peter got two gifts today. Earlier today I took him to the store to buy something with his Christmas cash ($20) and birthday cash ($10) that he got from Grandpa Wayne last month. He chose two Spiderman Legos.

This morning I woke up to use the bathroom, and when I came out, an almost full moon was right in our bedroom window and it made me jump. Wow! 

I went into the bathroom groggy, but then I was wide awake and went downstairs to stare at the moon as it set over the valley. I went back to bed, but it was nice to have that moment of quiet before the day began. I liked this quote that I read later today in Simple Abundance. 

"Year by year the complexities of this spinning world grow more bewildering and so each year we need all the more to seek peace and comfort in the youthful simplicities." 

- Women's Home Companion, Dec 1935

We are at the end of January, and I just wrote out my gratitude for this last day of the month. I did it every day! I remember having a great January last year as I focused on Gratitude and simplicity, and then February got the best of me and my momentum slowed down. I'm hoping to keep it going more this year! I'm reading the Book of Mormon and looking for references to gratitude in there, and so far that has been a wonderful experience too. 

And I'm finding insights on gratitude in the podcasts I listen to (minute 25:05) where he shares a quote by President Eyring's talk "Remeberance and Gratitude") -  and the magazine articles I study as well! I hope to keep this going all year and to learn and gain more insights about and develop more gratitude.