June Misc

Nathan stayed in Provo for the summer, working full time with his campus job (cybersecurity).  He really enjoys his job and being around a lot of college students.  He still has a couple of roommates there for the summer, although his good friend Devan isn't there for the summer.  Nathan sees my sister Alison and her family occasionally since they live about an hour away.  My niece Hailey, daughter of my sister Ashley, came out for a visit one week in June.  Nathan did a campus tour with Hailey and one of the campus tour guides.  They were chatting and found out that the tour guide served her mission in Paraguay with Jared for a little bit.  Sister Dalling (in the blue shirt) said she loved Elder Simms! 😊  We were joking with Nathan that he should have got her phone number.

Weston has been doing summer running with the cross country team.  I don't have a picture of him running, but I have pics with both Owen and Savannah who ran with me a few times while Weston was running with the team.  We've done some 4-5 mile jogs.  I'm still amazed that the kids come back to running.  Neither Owen nor Savannah really enjoyed our early morning runs back when they were in elementary school, but now both of them ask me to wake them up some mornings to run with me.  I think maybe it's just the social part of it they like, and it's an easy jog for them.  I'm running about 9.5-10 minute miles now, so it's just an easy pace.  

I've been playing volleyball on Tuesday nights at church with Owen for the past year.  It's been really fun.  However, the third week of June, I broke my finger while playing. It wasn't even a hard hit that did it.  I was the setter at the time, and the ball just hit off my finger completely wrong.  I instantly felt some pain but thought I jammed it. I even played nearly one more game until sitting it out for the night.  The next few days, it didn't get any better, looked a little off, and caused pain in even trying to pull socks on.  By Friday, I got it checked out and the x-ray showed that I had broken a little bone in that last joint of my finger.  The next Monday, I went in to figure out the treatment plan.  Luckily I didn't need surgery, but I did have to wear a splint for 2 months.  The splint looks a little cheap to me.  Alex said it looks like stuff he'd find in the recycle bin... I hope the splint works.  It's a little daunting to me that my recovery relies on my ability to replace and wear this splint every day.  I've gotten used to replacing the tape every day on my own with one hand.  It's been a little frustrating not being able to do everything that I used to be able to do with 2 normally functioning hands.  I didn't realize how much I needed all my fingers and joints for grip.  

It didn't stop me from painting Savannah's room and my bedroom.  Savannah wanted a different color in her room.  The ceiling in my bedroom was peeling and needed re-painted.  It had been 14 years since we had painted my bedroom, so I decided to refresh the whole room.  I went from a light cream to a darker color (sage green) for my walls. Savannah went from bright turquoise to a light gray.  Both of them turned out nice.  We painted Savannah's room the day after she got back from girls camp.  Savannah did most of the main painting while I did all the cutting in / trim work. We painted my bedroom after our San Diego trip.  Savannah also did quite a bit of moving the furniture and things in and out of the room.  We did this all while Alex was gone (and didn't tell him what we were doing), so it was a surprise for him when he got back.  He doesn't care though - just happy that he didn't have to do any of the work!  

I didn't quite finish getting everything back together in my room but I took a picture of one side of it. I did end up doing some extra work that I didn't plan on.  I had planned on putting up some pictures that Alex and I had found a little while back once we got a headboard for our bed in place. However, once I painted the room a different color, the paintings didn't look as good with the new green paint color. It did look great with the yellow walls in the dining room.  I decided to take down our England pictures (from 8 years ago).  It wasn't an easy switch.  The paint behind the pictures had faded and I could see the outline of where each frame had been.  It couldn't be wiped down - it needed a paint touch-up.  I headed to the garage to see if I had that paint.  The can was there, with some paint in it, but it had rusted through and was completely unusable.  So then I had to make a trip to Home Depot to see if they still had that same paint color.  They did, and I came home with a little bit of paint to touch up that wall.  

It was a lot of work, but we like the results.  In between the projects, I watched a lot of World Cup soccer.  The first game I watched was USA vs Paraguay.  I recorded some of the pre-game ceremony for Jared.  That game was 4-1, which was disappointing for Paraguay.  I did root for Paraguay in this tournament, as I knew Jared would be as well.  He ended up getting to watch 2 Paraguay games, with an exciting win against Germany that went to penalty kicks.  I really enjoyed watching as many games as I could - some great games were played!  Alex and the kids didn't enjoy giving up the TV for all the soccer games... but they allowed me to watch. 

 

May Misc / End of School

 The youth went on a temple trip to tour the Yorba Linda Temple in May.  

One of the youth activities was a beach bonfire.

Savannah enjoyed hanging out with friends, a bike to the beach with me, shopping, and Chick-Fil-A.

Almost all of us got to chat with Jared on Memorial Day.

Savannah likes taking selfies.  Alex made a short trip to visit and help his parents. The only picture I saw from that was him mowing.  Weston found and carried out a lizard that made it into the house.

Nathan took a hike with friends in Utah.

We wandered around and enjoyed the chalk art.

Weston's cross country buddies convinced him to get a buzz cut (and they did the hair cut at school).  We went to graduation to support our friend Becca (and a few other friends).  Owen sang the National Anthem with the choir.  Weston started practicing driving - scary!!  He enjoyed hanging out with friends doing a nerf war.  I got one dinner outing with friends.

I enjoyed reading the yearbook entries.  Owen had a nice note from one of his teachers, which said, "I'm so impressed with how you live according to your convictions.  Many others could learn from your example.  Continue to be a bright star and shine brightly!"  The seminary teachers had good things to say as well.  Weston had 100% attendance.  He was described as quiet, humble, and knowing the scriptures.  His comments are deep and meaningful, and he was good at expressing gratitude.  Owen got the selfless service award for always being willing to help.  He (and Weston) set up the tables and chairs for the seminary rooms on Sunday.  

We went out for lunch on the last day of school.  

April Activities

We had a lot of stuff going on in April. The kids had spring break the first week, followed by Easter. The second weekend was Brad Wilcox events - one night for the young single adults (18-35) and the next night for the youth (11-18).  I helped plan and advertise the YSA night, since part of my job involves that age group.  I made several cookies to contribute towards dessert for both nights.  I helped with clean up on both nights, picking up tiny pieces of popped balloons from the youth dance that followed the devotional.  Alex and Owen put up and took down all the lights for the dance.

Brad Wilcox is a religion professor at BYU and a well-known motivational speaker for our church. He was also in the Young Men's General presidency for 2 years (2023-2025).  Nathan took one of his classes last semester and loved it.  I loved his messages about grace, merits, and mercy (same message both nights).  He also was very personable - he greeted and talked to as many people as possible.  Owen was the chorister for the youth night.  After the closing song, Owen headed over to give Brother Wilcox a hug.  It was the biggest bear hug I've seen.  He grabbed Owen and held on tight!  This was the weekend that Weston was in New Orleans, so he missed out.

We had swimming, volleyball, and track meets (later posts). I also had my first Activity Days night, which involves activities twice a month for girls 8-11 years old.  I got called as an Activity Days leader in March, but I didn't have my first activity until April because of track and Spring Break. (I'm also still a youth Sunday School teacher - doubling up on callings.)  It was a little bit of a rough introduction. I thought our activity was already planned and organized - a pinewood derby.  They had made cars at a previous activity.  I checked in with the other girl's activity day leader the day before the pinewood derby to see if there was anything I could help with.  She said, "I'm not in charge of it. Check with the Primary president."  When I did that, I got the same response, except it was "I'm not in charge of it. Check with the other activity days leaders."  There are 4 leaders - 2 for the boys and 2 for the girls.  When I mentioned that I had already checked in with an activity day leader and directed to her, she sent out a group chat, asking how everything was going for the pinewood derby.  No one had done ANYTHING except announce that it was happening (with dinner before the pinewood derby).  No one arranged for the cars track to be set up, for the computer program to be organized, for tables and chairs to be set up, for plates and utensils, etc.  It was the day before and no one had organized anything.  When I asked about awards, I got the response, "Good idea!"   Oh boy... what's a race without any prizes or awards?  Guess who made awards??  I put together some certificates that I could fill in and attached Kit Kat bars to them.  I found some printable paper ribbons online that I could make to attach to some soda bottles.  I had things that day before all the way until 9:30pm, so I didn't get started until about 9:45pm on making the awards.  Owen and I helped set up the track, tables, and chairs after volleyball that night with one of the boys' leaders.  Luckily, it was a potluck dinner, so everyone brought food to share.  The other girl's activity leader took care of the tablecloths, plates, and utensils. It actually turned out to be a successful activity, but I wasn't sure if we were going to pull it off. 

Guess what stopped working in March and April?  The used washer and used fridge that we bought back in September last year... The dryer still worked, but we couldn't get an installment for a new washer without also replacing the dryer, so we bought a new set at Home Depot.  The fridge also wasn't working well, so we bought a new fridge too.  Sigh... We got through 6 months on the cheap used appliances.  The fridge is nothing fancy, because we were limited to options due to the space. We do have functional appliances again. 

There were lots of baby showers in April and May.  I made it to 4 of the 5 baby showers. One of the pregnant moms was not in this photo of 4 moms (the one in the pink dress in another photo).  She actually had her baby 3 days after this photo was taken of the other ladies.  Four baby girls and 1 baby boy on the way!  Savannah came with me to 2 of the showers to see all the cute stuff. 

Just some other random photos - a nice walk one evening, Kai, a date night, the temple, Savannah biking during her spring break since she was bored, Savannah's friends, and a youth activity.  They did a fun night where the youth chatted and got to know the older folks in our ward.  They only had a couple minutes with each person and then moved to the next seat, until they had chatted with everyone.

I don't have any pictures, but Alex, Savannah, and Weston went to a service project - an annual project packing meals that go to Ecuador and Uganda.

The fourth weekend in April, we got a visit from Nathan!  He was in between terms, so he and his roommate made the drive home.  His roommate Devan stayed with us a couple nights and then joined his family later in the week when they got into town.  Most of us were still busy with work, school, and all the normal stuff, so we didn't get to hang out with Nathan very much.  We did watch Owen's volleyball game, played 4-person volleyball, went out to eat, played some games, watched a Thunder basketball game on TV, had some good food and apple pie, watched a movie, planned Jared's BYU classes for the fall, went to an event to celebrate our friend Julie, and went to church. Nathan sang in our ward choir without having practiced (we were short on singers).  He also replaced our broken screen doors while he was here.  He visited me at work a couple days (coming for "waffle Wednesday"), did a little shopping on his own, took the dog for a walk, and went to the beach. Hopefully he had a decent week.  The highlight may have been playing Ticket to Ride Asia, which is played in teams. Nathan and Weston finally beat Owen and me (previously unbeaten in our team Asia games).  They had a depressing first game but then had sweet redemption when they smoked us in the second game!  Savannah and Alex are usually teammates for this game and should have won the first game, if not for one mistake at the end.  It's a pretty fun game, but the challenge is you can't communicate with your teammate during the game.  Some people (ahem... Weston!) are not the most observant players as to what's going on!  Ha ha.  They still won by a lot the second round.

February

Alex got home from New Zealand just in time for dinner on Valentine's Day.  We had roast, potatoes, carrots, rolls, jello with strawberries and whipped cream, lemonade raspberry sherbet drinks, and chocolate pie.  I gave the kids some of their favorite candy.  Alex brought back a pearl necklace that he gave to me.  

I taught youth Sunday School on the 15th, which was on Noah's ark.  I thought it would be nice to take treats that also coordinated with the lesson theme.  I found some cool looking rainbow jello cookies online and thought they'd be fun.  However... they didn't turn out anything like the online photos!  We had a good laugh about it.  Nailed it... I made some other cookies but let them try the rainbow ones if they wanted to.  The jello gave them a tangy flavor, which reminded me of Nerds candy or those sugar straws.  

I went to an activity with the church ladies, a "Galentines" dinner, which was fun.

Owen, Weston, and Savannah went to a church dance on the 7th of February.  It was Savannah's first dance (since she needed to be turning 14 this year to go).  She had her brothers watching her closely.  They snapped a couple pictures of her.    

The random photos:  Savannah made pie and Weston had "a little bit" of ice cream with it.  He also was being silly with his glasses.  I made cinnamon rolls, eggs, and bacon for a birthday breakfast for one of our friends, Becca, who comes over on Tuesday and Thursday mornings after seminary.  Owen did "valograms" one day at school, singing in small groups with other members of the choir.  They sang to people who had been gifted a song and treat, paid for by family or friends.  In this photo, they sang to one of the teachers.

Alex and I got our monthly temple visit in.  I helped decorate and make a cake for an Institute night celebrating 100 years of the program.  We had pizza and salad, along with cake, and listened to a broadcast of Elder Kearon (Quorum of the 12) and his wife.

I've been enjoying my Saturday morning jogs along the coast. I've been jogging about 4-5 miles (walking a little bit).  I took a few pics one morning.

Nathan has been having fun, enjoying sports and a little more social this semester.  His roommate Devan posted an Instagram photo with them and a group of girls.  I don't know what a Roblox Meet up is... I think they were just going out for dinner / ice cream though. We spotted Nathan at a BYU volleyball game and a basketball game.  He had pretty good seats for a couple games, thanks to one of his friends inviting him to use one of their "VIP" seats.

Birthdays and January Misc

Alex and the boys got back from their camping trip on Saturday evening, just in time to celebrate Nathan's birthday.  He actually was back at college on his birthday, so we celebrated early.  We had dinner, cake, and opened presents on Saturday night (3rd).  Sunday was fast Sunday, so we didn't eat breakfast.  Nathan, Owen, and Alex participated in ordaining Weston to the office of a priest right after sacrament meeting.  Nathan then took Alex to the airport for a work trip to Brazil.  I made birthday breakfast for Nathan on Monday morning (the 5th), right before he headed out to drive back to BYU. 

Nathan and his friend Devan (also his new roommate) caravanned most of the way back to Provo. We chatted with Jared on Monday while Nathan was driving.  Nathan stayed a night with my aunt and uncle on Monday night and then went the rest of the way on Tuesday.  He started classes again on Wednesday.   

Savannah kicked off the new year with a church activity with the young women making vision boards for the year. 

Unfortunately, one of our older friends passed away in January, so we attended his funeral. It was interesting to hear more about his life from his sons and close friends.  John was assigned to be our home teacher and did that faithfully for several years.  One memorable story about John was one day when he knocked on the door and asked to borrow our car for a little bit.  I handed off the keys, with no questions, and he returned them a little bit later that day.  It wasn't until either that evening or the next day when we realized he had replaced our cracked windshield on the car.  That was so kind of him, and he didn't expect anything in return.  It was just a thoughtful and quiet act of service that he did for us, simply by recognizing a need and taking care of it.   

We had Savannah's friend party in January, which was pizza and a movie.  We had trouble choosing a movie to watch but finally decided on the first Now You See Me movie.  If it was up to Savannah, she would have invited 20 friends, but I only let her invite about 10 friends.  I wasn't very good about taking photos that evening.  I think they probably got enough sugar - cake and ice cream, soda, and candy, along with pizza and popcorn.  

Owen, Savannah, and I went to a USA vs Chile women's soccer game the end of January.  USA won 5-0!

Joshua Tree

Alex and a couple other dads took Weston, Nathan, and a few boys to Joshua Tree National Park and Amboy Crater to ring in the new year. They enjoyed camping for a couple nights and didn't even get rained on (they made it between rain storms).   

 

Nathan's book

I spent most of October and November working on a nearly 400-page book about Nathan's childhood, with written history and pictures from 18 years. I gave the book to Nathan for Christmas, and it was my favorite gift to give this year.

Here's a look at some of the pages: