March

The first Saturday of March, the grandson of a couple in our ward, Gaylynn and Thurl Jacobsen, was baptized.  He came over last summer one time to play video games with Jacob.  He is very shy and it went OK, but will take more interaction to get comfortable. 

Julie Wiggins came to the baptism too.  

March began with MANY days off of school.  End of February we had Parent Teacher Conf. and the comp day for it was Friday, March 3rd.

Monday, the 6th, was a remote learning day and Tuesday, the 7th was a "school day", but not spent in school.  The Juniors come in the morning to take the ACT test.  The afternoon was for student who wanted to come in and work on anything with the teachers.

The 7th was also my birthday.  59 years old!  Mom, Heidi and Joy came up, brought lunch to my house and we headed to the temple.  We had lunch when we got home.  Jason worked from home so there was someone to "watch" Jacob.  We had a good time.  

After they left Jaxon came over to hang out with Jacob for a few hours.  They had a good time together.  

Friday, March 10 Jacob went with the Esports team to an all day State Esports tournament at the U.  The opening speaker was Doug Bowser from Nintendo.  Jacob had brought his 3DS and had  him sign it.  Jacob seemed to enjoy the day and Alta won!

The next day, Saturday, we went on a hike to the suspension bridge with Catheys.  This winter just keeps on giving with the snow and the trial up to the bridge was snow covered.  Not impossible to traverse, but not fun for me.  I got to this point and did not want to continue up the trail to the bridge, so I stayed and waited for them to come down.  

I have done the bridge before, but we were able to drive up a little farther--which made it easier for me.  

The middle of March Jason was gone to Houston.  He came back on the weekend in between, but was gone both weeks.  That weekend in between, the 19th,  was Carter Safsten's mission farewell.  He is going to the Tennessee, Knoxville, mission. 

He gave a great talk and explained part of his journey in deciding to serve a mission.  After we went to Mom's for dinner.  It was fun. 

Thursday, March 23rd, Jacob turned 15!  He awoke to a candy bar board and a box of Lucky Charms.  Nothing but healthy stuff around here!!

Here is the snowy day he had for his bday. 
Just keeps on coming

Afterschool he opened a gift from Grandma Safsten.  Slippers and $20.  Loved those!

He also opened a card from us telling him he could pick out a  new iPad cover.  He also got some shorts for summer and we went to McDonalds for dinner

Friday morning I went to the mall to walk and in the space of about 1 hour it snowed about 2 inches!  

Friday night Bridger invited Jacob to join his family for dinner at Chuck-a-Rama.  Bridger is 1 day younger than Jacob.  He had a fun time seeing him.

Saturday morning we had Swedish pancakes.  Usually this breakfast is too hard to do on a school day so we do it on a Saturday so he can enjoy it.  

Finally Jason got home on Saturday afternoon.  As he arrived Jacob was headed out to have lunch with Karen.  Jason took me to pick up my car from our repair guy.  My speedometer is not working quite right.  On a cold start it doesn't work until the car has warmed up.  Because the car is so old there is not a lot that can be done, so for now I'm waiting to see if warm weather will keep the problem from happening.  

Once Jacob got home we opened more presents.  A iPad screen protector and $$ for a new game that is coming out in May.  Around 6:30 Itai came over for cake and ice cream and to play some video games.  Jacob had a fun time.  

Please note that once again the cake is "beautiful!"  😅

In March of 2020 we were supposed to go to the Desert Star Theater to see James Blonde.  Covid hit and we they gave us a rain check. 

Fast forward 3 years and we finally tried to go on March 31st to see Back from the Future.

To begin with this playhouse does spoofs on famous movies etc., but as we sat through the first act it was pretty bad.  I have gone before, but that was before we were even married.  Some of the actors forgot their lines, the lines were poorly written, but we were getting through it.  

We ordered pizza, which was pretty good and had watched the first act.  We were sitting during intermission and the fire alarm went off.  Everyone looked around, but they told us it was a false alarm and we didn't need to leave.  

The alarm went off again and they turned it off again.  

Then, toward the back of the theater, water started to drizzle through the ceiling.  At first it was just one corner at the back and then the ceiling started to drizzle all through the theater.  So we got up and went out into the lobby where they asked us to move outside.  

We went outside and by the time we got out there were 3 fire trucks and an ambulance.  The ambulance had someone on the gurney and were loading them in. 

Turns out there are apartments over the theater and apparently a small fire had started up there.  They sent us home and they offered us a repeat show...we are going in May.   

February

Happy 17th anniversary to us!  We went to Costco and later that day Jason brought be flowers and we went to dinner at Fajita Grill in Union Square.  We thought it was good.  

On Tuesday, February 7th, I went to the Draper Temple after their 2 week closure.  I did an endowment and it was the first day of changes made to the presentation.  I really liked it and how it was so closely tied to Jesus Christ.  I know it always had been, but the way they explained things...just really good.

The following Saturday, February 11, the scouts did Scouting for Food at Smiths grocery store.  I took Jacob for his shift at 9 a.m.  Here he is with Ben.

After I took Jacob home, I went to MarySue's house for Galantines. She served lunch: sliders, salad, veggie pizza, fruit pizza, pineapple.  It was all so good.  Afterwards we played games. 

Limbo...Janette and Mylee were good!

She had a big flamingo set on a table and we sat on the couch across from it and threw plastic blown up balls...trying to make baskets.

She had cups on the table that we each had a turn going over and choosing one.  Whatever was in the cup was the prize you won. 

Fooling around afterward

Joy, Heidi, Matthew, Susan, Mom, Gayle

On Monday, the 13th, Joy had us over for a Galantines lunch.  She had planned it for Gayle and Mom.  Susan, Matthew's sister was in town and able to come too.  It was fun to see her.

Joy's lunch was great and the surprise was she planned a singing telegram for Matthew.  Was he surprised and embarrassed!  He was also a good sport to dance around with Cupid and be sung to. 

Cupid arriving.  He thought it was for Joy.

After the Galantine's Day lunch at Joy's, I came came home and Jacob wasn't feeling well.  Jason had gone to pick him up after school since I was  not around.  He was home sick with a fever Tuesday-Thursday.  Finally went to school on Friday, but still did not feel 100%.  

On late Wednesday he began to say his ear hurt, but it was not in sever pain and didn't hurt all the time.  

On Saturday we decided to take him in to get it checked out and he had an ear infection.  He only had one when he was a baby so I hadn't really considered that.  The Dr. sent in a prescription for amoxicillin and he began taking it on Saturday night.  

We haven't needed amoxicillin in a long time and when I saw the dose she had prescribed I was surprised.  He took 2/500 mg tablets 2x a day for 5 days.  I am used to a lower dosage for 10 days.  I texted our friend Brenda, who is a pharmacist, and asked her.  She said that the last few years they had moved to higher doses for shorter time.  He definitely felt better by Sunday morning.  His ear is still a bit clogged, but getting better.  

Wednesday, the 22nd, we woke up to a TON of snow.  We probably received 14".  It took several hours to begin to clear it and we had to go out twice.  Thankful for the snow, but a lot of work to clear it.  

While Jason was clearing the driveway I walked across the grass to do the walk way.  I sunk into the snow up to my knees.  

Snow has been coming and coming this winter and we need it.  Hopefully we won't flood in the spring.  

On the 28th I got together with Lisa Dew, Inez Kern and Birthe Champenios for our birthday lunch.  Had fun visiting with them!  Celebrating 59!

Later that afternoon we had Parent Teacher conf. for Jacob.  Saw all of his teachers and thing, overall, seem to be going well.  Jacob does well in his classes--as long as he reads ALL the instructions.  :)

January

Happy New Year!  2023!

It was snowing as we left Cathey's house and continued all night.  We woke up to about 6" of snow.

It was heavy and wet...even with a snow blower it was a lot of work!

Lovely pano of my face and dental work

The first Friday of January I went in to get the implant screw for my new tooth.  Implants are such a long process!  They pulled the tooth in September, then it needed to heal.  Now they put the screw in and again it needs to heal.  I'll go back in May to see if it is healed and ready for the new crown.  While the process take a lot of time, the actual procedures are less painful than getting a filling or root canal.  

Carolyn and Richie Franklin's kids,
Brand and Kristiana's kids along with Jacob

Sunday, January 8th, we went to Jen Fisher's for our annual Friendsgiving dinner.  We ususally do it the Sunday before Thanksgiving, but last November Brad and Kristianna couldn't come and our family got Covid.  So we planned it for January.  

It was fun to see everyone and visit.  

Kristianna, Brad, Me, Jason, Jennifer,

Richie, Carolyn, Clark, and Gina

On Martin Luther King day Kristina was in town.  She was flying out the following day with Brook, Emily, and Erin to New York to see Phantom of the Opera.  

We met at Heidi's for lunch and had a fun time visiting.

On my way down to Heidi's I stopped by Amy's to see new baby Lucy.  She is so cute!  Looks a lot like Tanner.  

Our class

I follow a woman on Instagram who makes cakes.  Cakes by Courtney.  She is very good and shows you exactly how to make straight sides, smooth frosting finishes, and tasty cakes from scratch.  

I always thought it would be fun to take a class and, as a Christmas present, signed up for a class in January.  Hot Chocolate Cake.

Orson Gygi is the store where the classes are held.  They pre-made the cakes so they are ready to decorate when we arrive.  Courtney did a demo on making the cake, showed us how to frost it, put it in the freezer between steps, the drip technique for the chocolate etc.  It was fun.  My sides were not completely smooth (part of that was due to the buttercream/marshmallow frosting...with the marshmallow added it made it more difficult to smooth), but it was fun to do and tasted delicious!

I was able to get together with our old Relief Society presidency for dinner.  It was fun to get together and visit.  Kristin is having her second baby at the end of March.  I sure like these sisters!

Home from camp

 Jacob came home from school on Thursday (the 19th) and was bored.  Said he didn't have anything to do.  The following day was the scout Klondike camp out. He had decided earlier that he wasn't going to go.  The scouts usually camp Friday - Sunday.  I have a hard time with the Sunday stay over.  It means Jacob misses church 1x a month, but that morning I received an email that they were only staying until Saturday afternoon.  I asked Jacob if he wanted to go and he did.  So the next afternoon we walked over to Scout Master Mike's home (just around the block from us) and Jacob went camping.  He returned home on Saturday and said he had a good time.  

           

Josh came into town on the 17th.  He is here for a week and we all got together on Sunday for dinner at Jared and Stephanie's.  It was fun to visit with him and afterward we celebrated Juliet's 1st birthday.