Thursday, February 29, 2024

February

The first Saturday in February Taylor and Brynn were up for the week visiting.  They went to Elizabeth's so we went over to see them and their twins, Olivia and Emma.

Jacob brought over his Switch to play with Christian.  

They were also celebrating Christian and Ryan's birthdays.  It was fun to see the babies and Ryan and Taylor!
That morning I bought strawberries and made jam.  The next day, Sunday, was our 18th anniversary and Jason bought me Sees candy and tulips. 
That night, Saturday, we went out to dinner to Zao's and then walked around the mall.  Jacob had Jaxon over so we wanted to give them a little more time parent free. :)


We opened the last box of orange
sticks from Christmas.  Jacob wanted
to make sure he got these 2!  



Rory and Kay Hardy, Annalee Hobbs, Todd
Combe, Ella Halterman and Grandpa,
Trent and Travis Ferguson



Rylie Ashing, Zury Manuel, Zildy Corser, 
Ada Corser, Dustin Jackson, Shep and Pearl
Jackson, Jim Ward





















Pinewood Derby painting for Activity Day!
Tina Memmott, Shane Eller and Kids, Cameron Memmott

Saturday, the 11th, we celebrated Chinese New Year's at Jared's.  Emma and Abby invited roommates and friends to come up and celebrate.  

Valentine's Day.  I made some "tarts" that were
pretty good.  

 Janette and a guy she is dating, Jared Xia.  She is going with him to Taiwan to visit some family this summer.  He is from California and really nice.





We had Catheys over for movies.  First time 
seeing them since New Year's.

Monday through Thursday Marcia and I walk in the mall (it is closer to her work).  Doing this everyday, for over 2 years....you get to know others walking the mall.  

There is Mike, the guy who is hard of hearing and always tells us, "the extra mile is never crowded."  Gaylynn and Carolee who walk against walking "traffic"....2 Christmases ago they passed out little boxes of candy just before Christmas.  Stephen, the mall security guard.  Luann and Alice....Luann's husband grew up in Redmond, UT--where Marcia's mom grew up and they knew each other.  Then there are David and Donna Bailey, this coupe in the picture.  They have been married 63 years and come everyday...even last year on the snowiest day, when no one else went out...they drove to the mall to walk.  

His 85th birthday was on February 25.  When we walk we chat sometimes and over 2 years you get to know people.  On February 20th and 21st it was Luann's 82nd and Alice's 85th birthdays.  Marcia and I decided to get them all a little something.  I got a bundlet cake for David and Marcia put together a candy bar with a cute note on top for Luann and Alice.  We gave the gifts to each of them and they were so surprised.  It was so fun to cause the surprise.  We all know each other, but not well so something like this was a true surprise and super fun for us!



On the last Sunday of the month we had everyone over for a dessert night.  It was fun to get together and visit.  Less stressful than doing a dinner (at least for me).  Kids played games while the rest of us visited.  
On February 29th it was Inez's official birthday.  So Lisa, Inez, Birthe and I all went out to lunch to celebrate our birthdays.  It was fun to get together and visit.  Can't believe it has been over 40 years since I met them!

















Wednesday, January 31, 2024

January


Happy 2024!

New Year's Day...I got up, went to the gym and then Jason wanted to hike to the suspension bridge.  Not too hard, but got exercise in for the day!  
















Our first school holiday was a Friday grading day and Monday Civil Rights day.  Nathan and Elizabeth's dog, Minnie, was older and had gotten a tumor.  They had to put her down, so Jacob and I took over a treat.  Jacob played video games for a while with Christian while I visited.  

The following Friday morning I had my colonoscopy.  I had to prep all day on Thursday (not eat anything, just drink) and that evening I started the laxative prep with Gatorade.  Ugh!
Friday morning got up and tried to finish the rest of the prep.  Jason took me in, they put me to sleep and got it done.  Seems to have gone well.  Nothing they were worried about.   
















After school I had Jacob do a major job for me to earn some money.  We took everything off the top of the cupboards, he washed it, we put the fake leaves in the bathtub to soak.  He scrubbed the top of the cupboards, washed some of the walls and ceiling.  It was a lot of work.  

Saturday morning Jason held the vacuum while Jacob tired to vacuum up the rest of the gunk.  We put the leaves back up and all done.  


Saturday night the Ahyous came over for dinner.  I should have taken a picture, but I did take a picture of dessert.  :)














On Sunday, January 9, Jacob was ordained a Priest and on the 21st he blessed the Sacrament for the first time.  So amazing to think he is old enough to do this!  He did a great job!!


About every 6 months I go to Costco and buy a 40 lb. of chicken.  I pull it out, dump it in the sink, cut it up, put in bags, and then Seal-a-Meal them.  I put them in dinner portions so I can just pull out when I need to use for dinner and it is all ready to go.  During the 6 months it is wonderful to have them to pull out, but I really hate this prep day!  So I bought myself a reward.  A LARGE container of Peanut M&Ms.  I love them!  



On Sunday January 28th the Church had a world wide devotional.  They went to Nate Ridge's home to watch it and had ice cream afterwards.  They had a good turn out.

Clockwise from bottom left:
Claire Petty, Kora Spillett, Mark Pettey, Halie Pettey, Olivia Spilker?, Erin Pettey, Lilly Labram, Cami Ferguson, Aubrey Ferguson, Ashley Ferguson.
On Floor in front of Ashley: Kaylee Taylor, Graham Cutler
Couch: 2 girls...??  Lindsey Forbes
Chairs: boy, Sam Watson, Mia Watson, Cory Isileli, in front of Cory...Labram's older daughter),  Presli Forbes, Brook Ridge. Jackson Ward.
Behind Couch: Scott Spilker, Cole Spillett, (kids behine Cole and beside ?) Seth Watson.
Standing: Christopher Light, Rich Cutler, Tyson Forbes, Sam Smith, Nate Ridge, Luke Ridge, Grant Combe (behind Grant and beside him ?), Bishop Watson, Jacob

The last week of the month the YM/YW did a combined activity and went ice skating.  




Sunday, December 31, 2023

December

 Ah December....Jason left on a work trip the Monday (the 28th) after Thanksgiving to Houston.  Things were plugging along until I got sick that Thursday and Jacob had to fend for himself as far as food went.  I guided him through cooking eggs and bagels (getting the timing right) for himself.  He heated up tomato soup for me.  He put it in a bowl, heated it in microwave and brought it up to me.  He told me he knew it wasn't right and I asked him if he checked to see if he needed to add water.  He did.  He went back down and added water and tried again.  It was OK, but I need to teach him how to heat up soup.  It was a bit lumpy--but he was trying.  

 


















Since I was achy, low grade fever, not wanting to eat I thought I should get checked for the flu.  I called my Dr. office, but the morning appointments were full and they don't work in the afternoons.  UGH!  The medical system is screwed up!  

I went to Instacare and they tested me.  Everything came back negative--which is good...meant I was not spreading anything dangerous.  Just had a bad cold.  

The inability to function much lasted through Sunday.  On Saturday Randy took Jacob over to Jared and Stephanie's where he played games with Lilly, Grace and Robbie.  He also brought some groceries over for us.  That helped so much!







The weekend Jason was in Houston he went to see the Kennedy Space Center.
















Our ward is helping with some refugee families.  We, along with 3 other families have been collecting items to take to them.  Gloves, socks, clothes, blankets, coats, etc.  

Socks for the kids


















The rest of the week was spent getting Jacob through school.  He does fine academically, but gets frustrated at times, but any extra work.  

Saturday morning I went to breakfast with friends.  In the picture, starting at bottom left and going clockwise, Margaret Pearson, Haeli Hanseen Steinmann Herndon, Le Ann Stamos, Judy Seiders, Me, Shanae Richardson.  It was fun to visit and catch up.

Saturday night was our friend annual Christmas party--Elroy's Christmas party.  Not all could come, but it was fun to see everyone.  
Llyod received this beard
Those who came:  Clark White, Dianne Hammon, Tina Ackerman, Lori Harward, Llyody and Sherry Jones, Chris and Paul Sorensen (they hosted), Elroy and Becky Vogler, Margaret Pearson, and us.  
Apparently Paul has 2 of them himself

On to the rest of the month.


We had our last Activity Day of the year.  We combine the boys and girls and did cookie decorating.  Afterwards we watched a video Stephanie Eldredge put together of pictures from all of the activities during the year.  It was really fun.

The Saturday before break began we went to the
gym.  Jason lifted a weight wrong and hurt
his back.  Marcia invited us over to their
hot tub to see if it might help.

Jennifer Fisher does a Christmas open house
every year.  I went over and it was fun to see
people.  This is Lisa Hansen and Jana Evans.
I haven't see Lisa for at least 8 years.  Jana for
probably 15 years.  It was fun to catch up.

The leg room at the concert was
tight!!

On Monday, the 20th, we had the opportunity
to go see Eclipse 6...an acapella group.  The
Cutler's, in our ward, had 2 extra tickets.  I 
took Jacob.  It was fun, but I miss seeing 
Voice Male.  




The first official day(Dec 19) break started we went over to Cathey's to play games and watch a movie.
The week before Christmas was spent getting ready, Jason took Jacob out driving and they went to Randy's to see Steve, Hannah and Meilin, who were in town for Christmas.  


Christmas eve was on a Sunday this year and I invited my family to come.  Erick spent it with Adrienne's family, but we had Joy, Matthew, Ryan, Gayle (Matthew's mom) and Jessica (Matthew's niece) over for dinner.  

After dinner we passed out the pipes and did Christmas carols...each of us had a note and we played as Ryan directed us.

Christmas morning.  This year some of the magic faded for Jacob as he knew most of what he was going to get.  We had to ask him, as we wouldn't have known what to get. 😜


















Jacob's PS4 VR heads

For Jacob this was the year of clothes.
He received a jacket, socks, a
church shirt, sweats and PJ's. 






After opening our gifts we went to Randy and MarySue's.  I didn't get many pictures at their house.  Josh and Irina were in England, Jenny and Jacob were in Houston.  Steve and Hannah came up for a couple of weeks.  Janette was here for Christmas and then went to Florida to meet Josh and Irina and headed out on a cruise.  Most of the pictures I took were of the games we played.  

Move the Oreo from your forehead to your mouth, Cups and Yes/No.  It as fun.

After Christmas we hung out, Jacob played video games, we met the Cathey's at the library on Friday and they came over later to play our new game--No Your Ma's Jong.  The kids hung out in the basement and played. 

















Sunday was New Year's Eve.  We went to Cathey's, played games and watched a movie.  We rang in the New Year with Fat Boy's mini ice cream sandwiches.  We then headed home and tried to talk Jacob into not staying up to just watch TV by himself.  We need to figure out something for next year, as we realize his 15/16 year old inclination is to stay up.  😕  Our 59/54 year old inclination is to go to bed!  We managed to get to bed around 1:30 a.m.