Finished December

Hello. Happy Monday. We had a nice weekend with a full house - Joseph and Eliza were here on Saturday and for church yesterday. Eliza headed back home yesterday evening, I think we'll see her next on the night before the wedding! Ethan and Bella are in the Dominican Republic visiting Ethan's mission. Mel is down at BYU for FSY, Hyrum is doing a combination of Mel and Ethan by visiting his mission in San Diego where he will be a counselor for FSY for the next two weeks, fun!

Abi, Lily and Sophi got back from their week of fun at FSY (A&L) and Oakcrest (Sophi) and we enjoyed one day with them, aaaaaand they're gone again. They left this morning for Young Women Camp. Their amazing leaders are taking them on rafting trip down the Colorado River, going from Cisco to Moab. Doesn't that sound amazing?? Wow. They will be back Saturday. Just non stop fun for the kids around here! I think they'll enjoy rafting even though it will be a lot of work. They LOVED FSY, and that's just a big coed non stop fun party. Here is Abi's group - 

I should have them tell me about their week so I can document it. But I told them to write it in their own journals though, so maybe that's good enough. I can't record everything for everyone. But I do try to do a record of our family, even if it's not a hundredth part of what goes on around here. We're getting the highlights I think. And yesterday I did a good thing in the family documentation department: I finished blogging December! I finished Christmas and a few other things that I was kinda stuck on that last week of 2023. And with that, I have now finished 2023, yay! It only took me six months, ugh. So given the rate I'm going, I'll be blogging missed days of this month of June in December. Time just doesn't pause for me to catch up. But I'm glad that I do eventually catch up. I just have a goal to do five posts for each week. I've been pretty good at doing that for the past 12 years. Not bad, go me. 

Something that helped me blog yesterday was that I did very low key meals - aka nuts and a cheeseball with crackers. I'd like to always do low key meals. It was easier last week to do that with the older kids gone, esp with all the baking the girls do... they're always making desserts! Well, Natalie had to fill in for them today and she had a friend over and wanted to bake something, but alas, we are out of butter. But never fear, your mother knows how to make desserts for vegans - so I found them a snicker doodle recipe that used coconut oil. They turned out quite good actually! 

She made those with her friend Hadley, who came over for a playdate from 1-3. We had a nice visit with with Wes, he has dr appt today for his endoscopy consultation. He hasn't had any problems for a few weeks cause he hasn't been eating much meat (Another plus for some of us around here for going vegan or atleast vegetarian.) What else from yesterday and today... Corey and I rode up LCC this morning, didn't get much in techy, and handle bar hit a tree and I fell, hurt my left knee. One good and new thing though - I recently got Corey hooked up with a music subscription on his phone. We are sharing an itunes plan. (The kids were telling me to change to spotify, but they cost the same, and I don't want to remake my playlists.) I was ok to make him one though. My downhill playlist isn't that long. Don't Sweat the Technique has been a favorite for a while. We found that one from the ski video of "The Ultimate Run", and there's another song on that video that I had to search and we just added that to both of our - called Mapache by Cari Cari - it's my new favorite. SO fun for the downhill!!! So today he had more fun and now he's a believer in music. I was surprised and a little repulsed that he's been listening to podcasts while he does Techy!?!? 

Had an RS meeting right after we got home. Then spent time going over catering stuff again for the wedding lunch. For FHE tonight, Corey had the kids all play a street hockey game with him. 

He promised Daniel we'd do it for FHE, so it was good. 

Fun to watch them play. And a few more things from yesterday - Wayne came over and we had pistachios out (which the boys were throwing at each other and making a mess with) and we watched the new episodes of the Chosen. When that was close to finishing, I got out a green onion cheeseball with tomato basil Wheat Thin crackers, which we had one other time when Wayne was over, and I remembered that he liked that, so sweet, that's what we did. Oh and a Greek salad cause that's easy. I was even able to feed the kids all by myself and Corey took a nap upstairs, so another point for being a good wife and letting my husband have a break (he is feeling a little sick - says he has a sinus infection). That's 3 points for: children fed, hubby nap, and finished blogging 2023. The kids got the ipad and watched a few kid history videos before scriptures and I didn't stop them. I've been reading a Near Death Experience book by Joyce B. Hunt that Wayne gave me for my birthday - it is not exactly the book at that link - different cover and is an updated version from March 2024. I think he got it at some conference he went to. It's given me a lot to think about. Page 86 - "each of my adversities carried with it a seed of opportunity for growth and improvement. But I needed faith to recognize and continue with patience until the growth was realized. That was the challenge - to persist and look for the good". Trying to persist and look for the good with Corey's work project. Also I like how she was asked by the Lord "What did you do with what you have" (page 75) and when she started to give excuses he stopped her "In life, what did you do with what you did have, not what you did not have?" It's not about comparing with anyone else and any excuses or justifications we have won't stand up. It's just us and  our agency used in OUR circumstances = what we DO. I think I'm doing pretty good but want to do better at making sure my children feel loved and to be sure that I don't make them feel sad over things that are not important (re-read this post today, I'm doing better at not freaking out I think? I hope I have made improvements in the past 12 years). Things she said did make me feel good about keeping a blog (page 119).