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| Since Holly is bald we tried some new do's with a fun app! |
This week has been kind of nice for me since I only worked most of Monday and then had the rest of the week off. Whew! That's so unusual!
Dallas and Kayla and kids arrived Monday afternoon so I got off by 2 p.m.
As soon as we opened the garage DJ ran right to the Mustang and scaled it and jumped in! Ellie thought that looked cool and wasn't far behind. We let them play for a minute.
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| Holly's hair was disagreeable... so she fixed it! 🤣 |
It was REALLY fun to feed the ducks with the kids! They LOVED it! We took a loaf of bread and used the whole thing. They were pretty good at breaking off little pieces and throwing them at the ducks. The ducks flocked to us and honked and hollered.
Dallas requested calzones for dinner and we let the kids help role out the dough. They are a little young for that but enjoyed it for sure!
DJ and Ellie didn't get a lot of time in the office but every time the door was left open they were right on the piano and playing their hearts out! It was pretty cute.
Tuesday we went to the Children's Museum -- it's been a long time since you've been there -- but you probably remember...room after room of fun things they can play with and play on. Buttons to push. Stages to perform on. A little log to ride down the hill on.
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| Jack and Aaron enjoying a game |
Funny story...Dallas put DJ on the little log and sent him down the hill. Well, he didn't hold on so about half way down he fell backward and toppled off. Not to be stopped, he tried it again. This time he held out and came all the way down...pretty darn fast actually. I guess I should have stopped him but there was a bumper pad at the end -- so, you know, I figured -- that's what it's there for! So he slammed pretty hard into the padded wall. Oof! Seems like he went down another time and fell off again. Needless to say...I still think he LOVED it! 
On Tuesday afternoon everyone was pretty chill. DJ and I went and fed the ducks again and the kids had naps. We went and picked up Angelica's for dinner and DJ and Dallas humored me and put on sombreros.
We tried to get the pool warmed up for a swim but since it was probably 45 degrees at night and maybe 60 during the day it took longer than expected. No swimming on Tuesday. We went to the hot tub after the baby's bedtime.
Wednesday morning Bryce met Dallas at house of jump and the kids played for a couple of hours. Kayla and I stayed home and worked on our Thanksgiving craft, cleaned up the house a little, prepped some food. It was nice. Kayla is having morning sickness and doesn't enjoy food too much right now -- but as long as we weren't eating she was good!
Kayla wanted to do pedicures so on Wednesday afternoon Marlee, me and Kayla went and got a pedicure. It was Marlee's first and my first in like 15 years. While we did pedicures Bryce, Dad and Dallas entertained the kids and got dinner ready.
Thanksgiving morning was busy with food prep. Kayla did WAY more than her share but seemed to really enjoy making her first turkey and her mom's stuffing recipe and rolls. It was fun having everyone just hanging out. Some helped with cutting potatoes or whatever. Others chased babies. Some just chatted. Football was on the TV or course. Becca made a cute veggie tray to look like a turkey.
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| DJ and Ellie heading home. Bye bye lil cuties!!!! Gigi will miss you!!! |
The pool finally warmed up and we were able to get a swim in!!! The weather was sunny and maybe 60 -- so cold if you are out of the water but I had it heated to about 89 and that was heavenly! Babies and your siblings loved it. Pregnant girls didn't swim.
Thursday evening we all went to Laura's house and had dessert. She had a fire going in the backyard and cornhole. And lots of delicious desserts.
Dallas and Kayla headed home by 7 p.m. or so. Holly and Erik too.
Friday we spent the morning with AJ and Becca. We played pickleball together. Then Becca and I worked on her project. (We were so busy we never had "project hour"...we just worked on it throughout the whole week until they were all done. B&M decided not to make one).
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| Marlee and Andy enjoying the campfire |
We went to lunch with Wendy and Michael, Ben and Laura, Gpa, AJ & Becca at Pepper's Cantina down in bloomington. B&M joined us late but they didn't want to eat. Marlee's pregnant belly is tempermental so they ate before coming. It was fun.
We got a swim in and the water was even warmer -- 96. And man was that nice! Like getting in a bathtub. And the hot tub was 102. So toasty and wonderful!
We played a couple of games - Marlee had a new one - So Clover! It is a word association game. It is a little abstract -- and challenging -- and fun. The scoring is weird and one or two rounds was plenty. We also played play nine and Qwix. (We actually had two different game nights -- so this is meshing into one right here!)
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| Holly and DJ, Erik, Bryce and lil Thomas |
AJ & Becca had Luke and Sadie over and they went outside and enjoyed our hot pool and hot tub for a couple of hours. We stayed in (figured the kids didn't want their mommy and daddy there. )
)Saturday morning at 5:15 a.m. AJ and Becca headed home. AJ is gung-ho for selling houses right now and had a customer that was in for the weekend that wanted to see some homes. So he ran up to Lehi area and showed houses Saturday afternoon. He is not afraid of hard work and doing hard things for sure!
He also moved into his new house last week. Is coaching 9th grade boys basketball. Working as a psychologist. I dunno where that boy gets his energy! He is toying with quitting his day job at some point and just selling homes. If he does that he would move to Cedar or St. George. He wants to be down here so much!
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| Parker, Maddie, Wendy, Gpa and Laura enjoying the firepit |
Saturday morning we woke to a quiet house with all the kiddies gone home. So what did I do?! I called Holly to see if she wanted to come play with me! And SHE DID!!!! (with us...Dad was here too! haha)
She came down and went swimming with us. Had meats and cheese for lunch. Made cookies. Decorated the Christmas tree/house. She really llikes her shaved head but for fun we found a program and tried on some wigs virtually. I even found some old wigs that I had and she took those home. I don't think she will spend much time in them tho...they itchy!!!! She genuinely seemed to really enjoy her "Holly Day!" with just her and mom and Dad. That's pretty rare for her to get all the attention all the time. (Well except when she lived with us and it was TOO much mom and dad ALL the time! 
But it was fun to see her and she raided the pantry and headed up the hill to get Erik from work at 9 p.m.
But it was fun to see her and she raided the pantry and headed up the hill to get Erik from work at 9 p.m. So, back to the grind next week! It sure was fun to not have to do anything but have lots to do anyway!
Next step...figure out Christmas! 
Do you get to call home on your birthday? And Christmas?
Today was a typical Sunday - walked to church for 7:30 ward council meeting, sacrament with my fink babies. (Paul started crying because he didn't want baby potato head and he got taken out and never came back into the meeting). The other two were perfect angels. Dad's been saying the kids are too noisy...maybe Paul is the whole problem!???
E&D are in SLC for 10 days and Randy and Kay are buys. So dinner tonight is just me and dad and Gpa. We're going to have ham bone soup (fed that to Holly yesterday as well...but there is a LOT of leftover!) and homemade bread. Gpa is excited -- he loves that! Reminds him of Gma.
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| Babies are worn out! |
(you likely don't need this now but it seems like a need in most people's lives.)
Our lesson today in Church was of course the story of Jonah and the whale. (Come follow me if you are doing that) - We talked about the story of Jonah and how he didn't want to do what the Lord wanted him to (Go teach the wicked people of Ninevah). In all fairness, they were pretty wicked and it wasn't unheard of for them to kill people if they didn't agree with their opinions. So I totally understand his hesitation!
He gets on a boat and the sea gets super uneasy and tosses the boat. The other boaters wake up Jonah and he admits God is mad at him so they toss him over into the ocean. Whale eats him up. Now..at this point...he's probably thinking, well shoot -- I can go serve the Lord -- it's better than dying in the belly of a stinky old whale?! Right?! (Think about that next time you don't feel like working!)
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| Holly and Erik get the counter again. (but so did Mom so it was ok!!!) |
And he goes to the people...and not only is he protected (not killed for his preaching) but they BELIEVE him and make a mighty change. How cool is that?!
But that's not the lesson I was going to share...there were a lot of questions asked in our lesson today that centered around...basically, why? Why would you preach the gospel? Why would you share it with others? What benefit would you have from this?
Answer...there are so many times in your life (and will be as you continue this adventure of life) where you will take the time to befriend, teach, love people into the gospel. You will find that these and other people you interact with at church will be there for you in your trials. You will be inspired to serve and love them and in turn they will serve and love you. It is a beautiful thing.
I know that some of my kids have rejected this notion at this time -- but I hope that some day (soon would be cool) they realize that there is a whole community of people that can love and support and help them in their journey of life. Church requires hard things but the rewards are larger than the work required.
I love you and am so proud of you for all the hard things you are doing. I know that you are gaining so much education in life, religion, language etc that will assist you with your future in ways you may never fully realize. You are amazing! And I love it that you love your new area and your new comp!!! What a blessing. I hope that you two can make this December a special one!!!!
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| Aj, Becca, McKayla, Ellie, DJ, Dallas, GPa and Andy enjoying Turkey Day Feast |
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| Becca made the veggies look like a Turkey.Gobble gobble! |
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| The pit master wins again! |
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| Erik and Holly |
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| DJ pumping air |
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| DJ and Ellie making pizzas |
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| Mi Amigos!!! Big D and little Dj! |
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| How do I keep getting myself into messes? Dj gets in a predicament again! |
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| Oh yeah, this was worth the climb!!!! |
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| No, no no!!!! 🤣 |
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| St. George Museum fun |
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| DJ took a wild ride, flew off his log and loved it and did it again! |
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| Anytime the office is open, the maestro gets busy! Go DJ! |
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| DJ making pizza |
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| That is a big push, Bryce!!!! 😳 Don't worry, he loved it! |
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| Feeding the ducks! |
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| Wee!!!! |
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| We're outta here! |
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| Move over sista, I got this! |
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| Over the top! |
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| Who needs a door? |
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