The Rest of March

My birthday was on a Sunday this year so we did my dinner on Saturday.  Jacob wanted McDonalds and I voted for Texas Roadhouse.  It was so good!

Sunday Karen came over for dinner and brought a delicious trifle.  Jason made beef with broccoli for dinner and it was a beautiful afternoon.  Randy and MarySue came over before dinner and visited with us outside.

Getting ready to open gifts

Opening clothes that I had purchased the week before.  :)

That week we ran out of chicken in the freezer.  I usually go, about every 6 months, to Costco and buy a 40 lb. box.  Then I spend 3 hours cutting, trimming, bagging and sealing it for the freezer.  I hate the day I have to do it, but love that I can pull out chicken to use for dinner and be able to use it!

For my birthday Julie Spilker dropped of some Crumbl Cookies.  They were so good and she was so kind to do it!!

I went shopping again for clothes--mainly jeans.  In general I hate to clothes shop, but I really hate shopping for jeans.  This time, when I went, I found some shirts I liked along with one pair of jeans I thought were OK.  

 

Easter candy!  Bought it early.  BIG mistake!!  It was so good and tempting I ate a bag of it before Easter even got here.  I even tried hiding it well, but didn't work.

                                    

Jacob likes my pumpkin pie.  Here he is on March 14, Pie day eating a, still warm, pumpkin pie.

Going through some old pictures Mom gave me.  This is from a Primary program (I'm pretty sure) when I was little.  Sitting beside me is Tom Oniki.  

Got together with the Julies and Teresa for a brunch.  Went to Teresa's house and had green toast and other green items.  Had a good visit with them.  It had been a long time since we'd gotten together. 

My boys working on math

                 

These flowers all make me happy.  I love it when they bloom!  The beds they sit in need a bit of work!

Both Jason and I were vaccinated in this month.  Amazing to have the vaccine and know that the end might be in sight!

Ahhh...time for another round of "How ugly can the birthday cake look!"  My cakes taste good, but getting them frosted and to stay together, when they are more than 1 level is hard. 

For Jacob's birthday we let him have 2 friends over and 2 separate Friday nights to play video games, have pizza and celebrate.  The first Friday night was Elias.  They had a fun time!

The next morning was Jacob's birthday breakfast since it is too hard to do on a weekday.  He had his Swedish pancakes with syrup and fruit while getting to watch TV. 

 

         Tuesday was Jacob's day.  He awoke and opened a pkg of mints, Lucky Charms, and a guitar music book.                               

                                      

That night for dinner he chose McDonald's.  

After dinner we opened presents.  He received shorts, a pair of sweats, a stand for his computer, a new iPhone screen cover, new sheets, and a wireless keyboard. 

His new Mandelorian sheets.  They are cute,
but maybe a little young for him. 

                                                                                                                                          

I saw this meme and thought it was so funny!

Will you decide what I'm going to eat
every night for the rest of my life?

Joy threw a virtual baby shower through Zoom for Amy.  Here we are at the end visiting. 

A huge cargo ship got stuck in the Suez canal.  If you put it upright it is taller than the Empire State building.  The wind moved it into the bank and it took several days to get it unstuck.  

They couldn't unload it because that would be like a giant game of Jenga.  It would possibly cause it to capsize.  

This is a darling quilt I found online.  I bought the pattern and need to buy the Dr. Sesus blocks.  I love the colors and hope I can find similar.  

Here is the Friday after his birthday with Jaxon.  Once
again, pizza, video games and fun.  

Jacob got a new style.

This is the hallway bathroom.  The sink has come off the counter.  We tried to buy a solid surface with the sink integrated, but it is a minimum of $750 dollars because our sink is not standard size.  It is about 2" longer.  Same problem as our main floor sink.  Even if we redo the vanity we then need to redo the floor because the tile is place right up to the bottom of the vanity--not under it.  So if we went standard, we'd have 2" of uncovered floor.  It all just starts to pile up and you end up redoing the bathroom.  We probably should.

BBQ night at Jared's.  We had a cake for Jacob that Karen brought.  It was fun to visit and roast hotdogs and marshmallows.  Most of our families, those over 16 have been vaccinated so we are beginning to hang out a little bit again.  We are still masked, but it is fun to see everyone again!

 

February

Our anniversary was on February 4th.  15 years!  

He doesn't go out very much and asked me to go and buy the flowers for the day.  ;)

Our attempts at taking a picture. Jason feels like he can't just smile on command.

   

That weekend was the super bowl.  We usually go over to Kenner's, but with Covid we did our own little party.  Chicken, meatballs and a lemon meringue pie!

We began our 2nd hour church classes back at the end of October.  We use Zoom and the teachers do a good job.  We usually have about 30 sisters sign on.  In this picture there is me, Karlena Gonzalez, Melody Bennett (the teacher) and Muthu Alletto.

Chocolate covered bananas anyone?

Valentines Day fell on Sunday this year.  I bought some fruit and made some chocolate dipping sauce and we had fun!

We tried, strawberries, clementines, and bananas,

Flower Jason bought me for Valentine's Day.

                                          

                                               
                                        
My big right toe has been bothering me lately.  Don't know if it is arthritis or what.  

Covid vaccines have been happening now since January.  They began with the 70+ age group, teachers, medical workers and first responders.  Mid month they expanded the groups eligible for a vaccine to 65+.  

As of today, February 20, 2021 there have been:

366,034 cases of Covid

2,158,136 people have been tested

3,690,090 tests reported

14,421 hospitalizations

1842 deaths

598,434 vaccines administered

Jacob, Tyson Forbes, Henry Cutler, Avery & 
Wade Roper, Rich Cutler, Lucus Anderson, Bishop 
Watson, Holis Carlson, Harrision Halterman,
Ashton Bennett, ?, Ian Groscost, Seth Watson,
Noah Forbes

Last weekend of February the Young Men went down to Bishop Watson's cabin in Brian Head.  They arrived and hiked/snowshoed about a mile to the cabin.  That night some went outside to play.  Jacob stayed in because someone had taken his gloves by accident.  

Enjoying a little dinner

E

Vaccinations began in January for 70+.  Mid February it was lowered to 65+.  About that time this picture came out to let those of us from the 80's that our turn was next.  😅

A week before my birthday I went clothes shopping.
The brown pants on the left are what started it.  
Marcia had a pair and they were cute.  I went to try
and buy a pair and, in the process, found these $5 
t-shirts and the other pants.  Without being able to try
them on in store, I ended up going back and forth
6 times to get sizes and then return.  In the end I 
never got any.  Just didn't fit right.  

             

So Jacob asked to make cookies one Sunday
night.  I told him if he helped we could make
them.  He helped and they turned out 
delicious!

I love this picture of Jacob doing dishes!                           
And then the finished cookies!😋

                                     

January

    

New Year's Day!  I got home from walking and started cleaning up Christmas.  In putting some things away I found an old purse and was cleaning it out.  There was this old JCPenny gift card.  

The receipt was barely readable, but if figured out I had made a purchase with the card in 2001 from the Cottonwood mall (that mall was torn down in 2008).  There was a balance of $3.67.  I called the redemption number to check if the balance was still on it.  Nope.  😅

               

After getting Christmas put away and cleaning a bathroom, Jacob wanted to play with Jaxon at his house or ours.  We called and they invited us over to play games while Jacob played with Jaxon.  We all wore masks and had a fun time.  We played Banana Grams.  

First day back at school on Monday, the 4th.  The week before Christmas break Jacob and a partner had an assignment due.  They had to do an annotated bibliography and the original submission was a low grade.

Jacob made changes and resubmitted to the teacher and his partner (we don't know if he and the partner got credit for the changes made).  

It was returned with a slightly higher grade, but he needed to work on it again.  So the last Friday of school, before the break, Jacob made more changes and resubmitted it to just the teacher.  

On the 4th it came back regraded.  I was notified by email and went in to look at the grade.  I laughed at the title Jacob gave the final submission!  "ugh.  I spent so long on this docx."  That is hilarious!

I have always walked in the morning, but with Covid I have walked much more with Marcia and Sherrie.  These trees are such a mess!  They drop berries, but usually, by this time of year, they are not on the sidewalk anymore due to snow.  They get shoveled off.  

Not true this year.  No snow, no shoveling so we tread lightly!

We try to do a family walk on Sunday afternoons.  Usually it is just me and Jason, but sometimes we can talk Jacob into it.  

Under my bathroom sink I have 3 products I use on my hair...de-tangler, mouse, and hair spray.  I am always careful to not pick up the hair spray when I want to comb out my wet hair with the de-tangler.  One Sunday morning I was in a hurry and sprayed my wet hair with hair spray!  Had to dunk my head in the shower again to wash it out.  This was after my makeup was on.  Worked, but what a pain!

Sunrise while taking Jacob to school

Janette is in the San Francisco/Oakland mission. They do temple ground tours via Zoom and one night gave the tour to the family. 

                                                                                                                 

Every year when the Young Women turn 14 they can begin ministering.  Most choose to be partners with their mom.   This year we had a large group of girls who wanted to minister which meant I had to break up their mom's former companionship and put that sister with someone else.  Not all those sisters fit together so I decided to call all the companionships and ask how it was going.  It took about 2 weeks to get a hold of them and I did speak with about 90% of them.  That enabled me to move people around more easily and it also recommitted some of them to ministering.  

After calling to check on the companionships I then texted every companionship (even if nothing had changed) their assignment.  It was a lot of work, but worth it.  

I really like my calling most of the time.  I love the women in our ward, and while I'm not buddies with anyone, I enjoy interacting with them.  Everyone has an interesting story and is trying their best (most of the time).  😊

Jacob waiting for me to pick him up after school.
Love how he rigs everything to carry!

We went geo cashing with Catheys.  

In my opinion it was nice to be out, but

geo cashing is just OK.  😏 Addie kept finding the geo cashes.  She was good.