Road home collection

Ben recently coordinated a donation service project with nearby youth to collect needed items for the Road Home (a homeless shelter in our area).

He took his car to make collections from porches and made several trips to drop off donations in our garage. In the end he filled Todd’s truck to the brim with needed items. 

We were so grateful for the generosity of people in our neighborhood. Ben was thrilled with the support and we were all on cloud 9 last night knowing that the Road Home residents would receive needed items.

Hooray for the happiness that service brings!

 

Poster, letters and dinner

Ben had a lot of homework the other night so he asked us to make a poster to respond to his sweethearts date. I did the lettering and the kids helped me color it. It turned out great and we had fun doing it!

We received a letter from the kids' bus driver in England. It was wonderful to hear from him. We all sat down on Sunday afternoon and wrote him back. Today I mailed our letters along with a copy of the Book of Mormon.

Our Sunday dinner was delicious! Chicken enchiladas, rice, salad and homemade guacamole. The best part was that we had enough for dinner on Monday night too!

Creativity and construction

Luke is getting really good playing the trumpet. I love it when I hear our kids playing music together!

I also love it when our kids are creative. Sara built a marble roller coaster. Impressive!

Mary helped Todd install reading lights in the girls bedroom. Their room is coming along!

 

Luke and his buddies hanging out at our house. (Notice the girls beds in the family room?- Yep! Things are kind of a mess again as we are back in construction mode while the girls bedroom is being remodeled).

22 years on January 22

Our 22nd anniversary was on a Friday. Todd and I woke up early and went to the gym together. Then, Todd went to work and I did my usual chores- laundry, dishes, helping kids, etc... All day I thought about our wedding day and what a wonderful occasion it was. I remember I couldn't stop smiling. 

That evening when Todd got off work our celebrations started.

Michael called from his mission in Washington to wish us a happy anniversary during his dinner break. His sweet smile always melts my heart.

We decided to go out to dinner when Todd got off work. I called Texas Roadhouse at 6:00pm to be added to their wait list. We texted the prompt when we arrived in the parking lot and then we waited in our car until our table was ready at 7:50pm! Limited seating due to COVID means longer wait times but it was worth it.

This was our first time at a restaurant since the COVID pandemic started. It was strange to see plastic barriers between the booths and one side of our booth blocked off. This means that we sat next to each other instead of across from each other. It was cozy.

That night after our dinner and after Ben returned home from work, we played games together. Tammie gave us a game basket for Christmas and so we played some of our new games; Pit and Beat the Parents. My heart is happy when we're having fun together. I am so blessed to be married to my best friend for 22 years. We are blessed with a beautiful family and I am so grateful.

COVID update

Bingham High is doing online learning again this week. This year has been very unpredictable. Of course it would be with a pandemic. Through it all, I am grateful everyday that I am home with my children. I feel so blessed to have my dream job of a stay-at-home mom so that when schools close or my kids need me, I'm here. I am grateful to Todd for working hard so that I can be home where I love to be.

 

I opened our mud room drawer the other day and I was amazed with how the family masks have overtaken the drawer. I remember back in April when this pandemic was becoming a reality, I thought, "I should make some masks in case we need them." I had no idea that masks would become part of our lives and that we would need to wear them every time we stepped outside of our house. Our kids wear masks everyday to school and our mask collection is growing. Masks are the new accessory for some of our kids-they like to match masks with the clothes.

Ben's talk in church

We attend Sacrament meeting in person every third week. On the Sundays we don't attend in person, we watch Sacrament meeting via YouTube TV.  Sunday School, Relief Society, and youth lessons are taught via Zoom every week. Last week our Primary started a monthly Zoom call and our little Sara was excited about that.

Ben was asked to speak in church on Sunday. When he stood up and introduced himself with his deep voice I was brought to tears. My little boy isn't little anymore. He is an amazing young man. He prepared an incredible talk that made me cry even more. I am so blessed to be his momma. Ben and his 4 siblings are a light and joy in my life for which I will forever be grateful.

Girls bedroom and emojis

 

Todd has finished the white paint in the girls bedroom. Now we're waiting for Wade's schedule to open up so he can do the woodwork in the girls bedroom. The captains beds are coming along as well. Todd painted the footboards. Now he's working on the headboards. We're getting excited for this project to finally be done so the girls can move back into their bedroom!

Sara loves emojis! She has filled our closet door with amazing emoji artwork.

I couldn't resist this picture of our sweet girl in her emoji pajamas.

Trainer and art class

Michael became a trainer to Elder Oakeson. Michael is a great missionary and we look forward to Mondays when we can talk to him.

Luke finished his first semester art class by making this really cool car. Art was added to his schedule last minute after some other classes had to be shuffled. Turns out he really likes art and he's really good at it.

First week of January

 I started an online class in 2021 called Story 52. It is taught by Stacy Julian (one of my favorite people ever). I took her 20 in 20 class last year and I was able to complete 14 projects in 2020. I am so grateful that I am starting to figure out what to do with some of my photos and how to be more organized with my memory keeping. 

Story 52 works by drawing cards each week that tell what kind of Story to tell and how to tell it. I'm already working on my second story. By the end of the year I hope to have 52 stories told. It is a lofty goal but I am excited about it!

I also signed up for another of Stacy's online classes called Photo Freedom. It starts at the end of this week. Photo Freedom will help me organize both digital and printed pictures. I will be busy this year with both of my classes, but I am looking forward to the results!

The kids went back to school and dance this week. It was sad to be done with the Holiday break but good to see friends again.

Sara has taken an interest in cooking. She made scrambled eggs and wrote down the recipe for future use.

We started work on the girls bedroom this week. Mary and Sara were ready to see the yellow paint covered up. We've been working on projects since we started the shed in September. As soon as the shed was finished, Todd started refurbishing captains beds for the girls. I think we will take a break from projects for a while after the girls bedroom is finished.

Sara loves emoji's. We ordered emoji bracelets for her to sell at class store next week.

Sara loves creating emojis and hanging them on our closet door. She's a great artist.

Playing school with my sweet Sara as the teacher.

The kids have been playing hide and seek a lot lately. They love it except when Nana sniffs them out and gives away their hiding places.

Ben got asked to Sweethearts dance. She put 1 letter of her name on each ding dong and we had to try and unscramble the letters. After a few minutes of trying, we checked the doorbell camera and thankfully Ben recognized who it was. Otherwise, we may have still been guessing!

New Years Day 2021

 New Years Day we slept in and had a big breakfast together.

We spent the rest of the day doing projects around the house, talking to Michael on his p-day, watching Nutcracker on TV with the girls, and Ben went to work.

Todd made this frame for me to put next to our pantry. It holds a poster that I change every week that goes along with our family scripture study from our Come Follow Me lesson. This year we are studying the Doctrine and Covenants together.

I love the poster reminder by our pantry but I also love the frame that Todd made for us.

Here's the poster for this week. Very inspiring.

Over the holiday weekend, we watched a lot of Dr. Pol and Sara did Todd's hair.

Happy New Year! 2021!