2022 – Terry Family Shenanigans

Our Home

I decided to make a post with the progress on our house. I take a picture of the house the first day of each month and then we will have a finished house at the end. Hopefully it flies by and before we know it we have our finished forever house.

A few years ago, a neighborhood a little south of our house at the time caught our attention. It had a little bigger lots and space and it was quiet and peaceful. We talked about buying a house there and kept our eye out for any that went up for sale in that neighborhood. We went through one- it was a very nice house, but I didn’t love the layout. Ryan loved it, especially the backyard. It was a little out of our budget too. We put a pin in it for awhile. Then when COVID started we decided we wouldn’t mind having a little more space and looked again. Not many houses go up for sale in the neighborhood, there are only a dozen or so houses in the whole neighborhood. We heard that they might be developing more lots behind the houses already there. In December 2021 they put about a dozen more lots up for sale. We had never really planned on building a house but since there were now open lots in the area that we wanted to live we thought it was a good option. So in January 2022 we decided to do it. We then had to pick a lot, find the builder, arrange financing, and decide on the plans we wanted. In May of 2022 we signed the papers and it was time to start building.

The first order of business was to get permits and things in order with the city and county…it took a while. A long while. June. July. August long while. Finally in September the permits and everything were in order and we started digging.

October-Foundation walls poured, backfill on walls, temporary driveway placed.

November 2022-Basement plumbing put in, basement floor poured, walls water proofed, more backfill done.

December 2022-More back fill, garage floors poured, getting staged to frame.

January-February 2023- Framing finally started. Lots of snow, rain, and freezing weather made it go slower then we hoped.

March 2023- finished up framing. Small delay from a roof mishap. Roof started and ready for windows.

April- Roof put on, lower windows installed, framing finished, HVAC and cabinet drawings started.

Inside house pictures from April.

May- rest of windows installed, front porch poured, HVAC, plumbing, and electrical installed, temporary doors installed. Picked out tile and flooring.

June- inspections for plumbing electrical and gas were done so not much happened while we waited on that. They put the piers in for the back deck, and started on insulation once inspections were passed. I picked out some furniture for the living room and decided on tile and lighting.

July-August Inspections, and finishing plumbing and electrical seemed to take FOREVER. There were a few little things done while we waited on that. I think our builders were focused on other things to be honest. It was a very frustrating slow process. Towards the end of August things started picking up again. They put the stucco on the outside and got the house prepped for painting. Doors were hung. I picked out all the tile, stone, floors, paint, plumbing and anything else we needed to decide on while we ‘waited’ for whatever we were waiting for.

September-October Cabinets got installed, outside was painted, deck installed, drywall and mudding done, countertops installed, interior painting done, tile for kitchen and baths done, flooring started. Back patio and part of driveway and sidewalk poured. Found out the masonry was on strike and they can’t get any stone right now so still waiting for stone to be installed.

October-December 2023

Stucco, stone, and painting on the outside was done. Final grading, deck installed, fireplace stone done. There were a lot of things accomplished in November but the hoped for move in date of something in November was a little ambitious. Weather, holidays, and the universe testing my patience, slowed things down enough that we decided to shoot for December. Flooring, touchups, lighting installed, carpet, finish work like doors, hardware and lots of little things you don’t even think about were done. The house was pretty much done shortly after Thanksgiving. At the beginning of December we did an initial walk through and made a list of things that needed to be done, touched up or were missed. They got most of that done and then started the final clean ups. It was the middle of winter so we got temporary occupancy until we have some landscaping in. We told them we would not sod or plant grass in December. The city was cool with that, the loan company was kind of turds about it. It all got figured out and we started to move into our house on December 18, the movers brought the last of everything on December 23rd. Just a little over a week shy of when we decided to start this whole process and picked out lot out in January 2022. It has been a hectic two years. I don’t know if we would do it again😜 but we did it once! We love it and hope it will be a good home for us for a very long time!

Here are some pictures from the last month or so of everything starting to come together.

As I mentioned since it was the middle of winter we couldn’t do much yard work. They had to dig up the back yard about a month after we moved in to replace one of the septic tanks. We were really glad we didn’t have sprinklers and grass already installed. That would have been maddening. My sister Sherri put an awesome plan together for us though to show what we are going to start working on in the spring. It will take a few years but we are thinking something pretty close to this. We have a lot of work ahead of us!

This last picture is the first of many I will take of the sunrise from our deck at our house. That is one of my favorite things about our new house. The sunrise and sunsets are amazing!

December

As most Decembers are, ours was pretty busy. I did a poor job of documenting it with photos. I can still write about it.

We did a lot of our usual traditions. We drove around and looked at lights while listening to Christmas music and drinking hot chocolate.

We did some service-this year most of us were able to help with the local Christmas Bureau. They set up a giant store basically for people that need a little extra help and then they can come shop at the store- but it doesn’t cost money. We helped man the store while people were shopping and take it down and store everything left when it was over. Allison enjoyed helping people pick out a coat if they needed one.

Ryan and I went to a White Elephant party. All of us went to the ward Christmas party. It was a lot of fun. Yummy food, good music, lots of visiting. There was a photo area and we had full intentions of taking a family photo but we couldn’t locate all of us at the same time to take it and missed our chance. Matthew got one with his buddies though.

I didn’t think about leaving out some puzzles from storage for Christmas. We usually have a puzzle out to work on most of December. We were able to borrow a few from Grandma and we got a new one to work on too. Lots of Christmas music, hot chocolate, Christmas movies, wrapping, buying, gifting. We decorated a ginger bread house. We made and decorated sugar cookies. Our elf Bubbit sent his cousin and reindeer so we found them each morning too. It was a nice month, I think we all enjoyed the family time and celebrating Christmas together.

Christmas Eve was supposed to be at Grandma and Grandpa Terry’s house with a big dinner and then reading the story together, singing, and hanging out while we played games. Becky and her family came from Idaho and brought Covid and RSV with them so we stayed away for a few days. So we ended up doing all the things I said but we did them with just our family at Ross and Lauren’s house. We did go over later on Christmas day and we had a family dinner the day after Christmas with everyone.

Christmas Day we were up and ready to open presents by seven. We opened everything and had breakfast and checked out our new gifts. Emilee got her roller skates, Allison got lots and lots of squishmallows, and Matthew got his air soft gun. Then we went to church. It was just sacrament meeting and it was a really nice service. There was lots of music which I love. Then we had a the rest of the day to eat junk food and play with the new toys and games.

Between Christmas and New Years we had an artic wind blow in. It was -5 degrees for about a week. Gross. We played with cousins a lot. Emilee really wanted to see the new movie called Puss and Boots so we all went to that together. We went to Urban Air one day and let the kids all get their energy out on the trampolines. My sister Sherri and her family came to visit about mid week. We found some space to squeeze them in while they were here. Matthew moved to the basement. He had snacks, a fridge and a TV down there so we didn’t see him to often. One day was warm enough we went to the park down the street to play. We caught up on the movies we hadn’t had a chance to see. Sherri and I got our nails done and went shopping together. It was a fun visit.

We also turned Allison’s grumpy picture into a meme.

For New Years Eve Sherri and I got some things to play some games with the kids. Ryan made some BBQ and we had lots of snacks to munch on. We played the games we did and then the kids played while we watched a movie. When it was almost midnight we busted out the glow sticks and celebrated the new year. Matthew is now old enough to go out with his own friends and do his own thing so we didn’t get to enjoy his company New Years Eve. He went to a Stake Dance with his friends, then to Twisted Sugar to eat to much sugar, then to Campbell’s house to finish the evening.

2022 was a pretty good year- hopefully we keep that trend going in 2023.

It is always a little crazy to look back over the past year and realize how much happened in a year. Some of it we expected some of it we didn’t. The highlights for me are usually the trips and family events we do. Ryan and I had our 20th anniversary trip to Europe. We decided to buy a lot and build a house. We went to Branson a few times, one of them a Terry family reunion with boating and Silver Dollar City. A sister trip to Texas. Countless activities with the kids- gymnastic meets, wrestling matches, horse riding lessons, baseball games, concerts. The kids all spent some time in Florida with Grandma and Grandpa Jones. I went to Utah for my Grandma’s funeral. Then we decided to sell the house and move into a rental while they build our new one. It was quite a year. I am grateful we were able to do all those things and more. We are very blessed.

Orchestra Christmas Concert

We got to go watch Allison play her cello in the school concert before Christmas. This is the second year she has played and she is pretty good. Imagine how good she would be if she practiced!! It was nice to hear her play. Grandma and Grandpa were able to come watch too. Enjoy!

News From The North Pole

Our Elf Bubbit usually shows up around the 10th of December. This week Emilee found a letter from him hiding in one of the stockings. It looks like we will have some antics from his cousin this year and a visit from his Hershey Kiss Pooping Reindeer.

My Awesome Husband

Ryan has been working at his company now for almost 11 years. He is the first employee they hired and him and the two owners have now grown to 40 employees. For the past year he has been expanding his role and wearing two hats. He has done his regular job in business development but has been helping new business development people learn their roles and the business. The owner and him have been working out the details for a bit and last week he made it official and made Ryan the VP of Business Development! He has several jobs that he is going to finish he has already gotten started but then he will transition to the new position full time. He is pretty excited about it. I am proud of his hard work and his drive to improve and develop his career and provide for his family. He is a good man, I am a lucky lady. He took Allison Christmas shopping this afternoon and went hitting with Matthew at the batting cages. He tickled and wrestled around with Emilee and took me out on a date last night after the ward Christmas party. I love that he loves his family and purposefully spends time with us together and individually. I know he enjoys his job but has been stressed and extra busy at work the past few months. He leaves it at the door when he gets home and lets all of us know he loves us and likes to be with us and spend time with us. I have been feeling extra appreciative of him lately.

This is a screen shot of an email I was sent through linked in. 😊

Thanksgiving

This year was a quieter Thanksgiving. It was a great Thanksgiving. We switch off families each year, it was my families turn. Sometimes we have a get together sometimes we don’t. Everyone ended up doing their own thing this year. We stayed here in Olathe. Roger and Rhonda were here too so we ate with them. Roger did the turkey, Rhonda did the rolls and pies, I did the rest of the sides. It was a delicious meal followed by good visiting, naps, games, and leftovers. The rest of the weekend was low key too. It isn’t very often that we have nothing going on and can just relax and enjoy hanging out together. We played games, did a little Christmas shopping, put up Christmas decorations, and made some holiday treats.

Allison and I were making hot chocolate mixing spoons to hand out to people. She found a mold for teeth while we were doing it and made some pretty realistic looking chocolate dentures.

As usual once Thanksgiving is here the holiday season takes off and there are parties, events, service opportunities, and holiday traditions to do almost every night. It is a wonderful time of year.

Emilee Hits Double Digits

The youngest child in our family had her golden birthday, which is also her first double digit birthday this year. Ten years old! So crazy to think she has been with us for 10 years. I remember her first night with us. She joined us a little before 5 in the morning and didn’t make a peep. I was very worried but the doctors assured me she was fine and healthy. Then she snuggled into a ball and slept on my stomach where she spent the first nine months of her life, just now on the outside instead of inside.

She wanted to have a party with some friends for her 10th birthday. With the move from our home to our rental I was a little off the ball and didn’t get something booked in time for her birthday. We managed to figure something out though. She invited her besties Reese, Cambrie, Millie, and Jovee to have pizza followed by laser tag and a ropes course up in the air at Main Event. Matthew and his girlfriend Campbell came with me to help supervise and make sure everyone was having fun. After that we all piled into the car and came back to our house. We had ice cream cake, opened presents and played games until it was time for pick up. It was a successful 10th birthday.

She wanted to wear dangly earrings for her birthday.

Shortly after her birthday Emilee had her first piano recital. She has been playing for about a year now. She goes through periods of willingness and enthusiasm to play. I am encouraging her to stick with it long enough to get to the point she really gets it and can play things on her own. I think she will really like it. She had been planning on playing a song from Wicked for her recital. I guess her teacher had told her to switch songs the last week to one she was more comfortable with. I didn’t know though so I had her practice the Wicked song and she never practiced the original. So she played it for the first time in over a week at her recital. 🤦‍♀️ She still did fine and it was a good experience for her. She is learning she can do hard things. She is now playing Christmas music which has re-excited her to play more. I think if I can get her through one more year she will be hooked and realize it is fun.

November was also Emilee’s 4th grade musical performance. She has never been a fan of these yearly performances. Matthew was fine with whatever was assigned to him. Allison always wanted the biggest part and went all out on her costume. Emilee tries to tell me she is sick the day of everyone. She always turns down a speaking part and will not dress up. Since she is tall she is usually on the back row. This year she was next to a very enthusiastic boy that was all in for all the song actions. Emilee tried to melt into the person on the other side of her and looked like she was wishing to be anywhere but where she was at. Since she didn’t want a speaking part her teacher had her play the xylophone for one of the songs. She did her best to look miserable the whole time. When she saw me recording her she couldn’t help a little smile sneak out. Such a funny girl.

Allison Wraps Up Wrestling

Allison ended up deciding she liked wrestling. It is a really quick and intense season but she liked it. She won her very first match of the season then had a bit of a rough patch then finished the season by winning her weight division in her last match. She is planning on wrestling next year too.

As she was finishing wrestling she was also getting ready for her first gymnastic meet of the season. The season always starts off with the Chalk Up Meet. She started off pretty good. Her scores were Beam: 8.4 Floor: 8.8 Bars: 8.05 Vault: 8.8.

Allison is going to try out for the play next semester. I am so impressed and proud that she is willing to try so many different things. She is our social little butterfly. She is a good friend too. One of her friends had to put her dog down so Allison and another friend in their group got a little gift for her and surprised her by dropping it off with a little song and dance they made up. They did a good job cheering her up.

She doesn’t like to draw attention to it but Allison has a big loving heart. I was watching her the other day. She is a beautiful, caring, loving, talented, artistic, smart girl. She is becoming a kind young women. I am excited to see how she continues to grow and develop and what she decides to do with her life. She has a bright future ahead of her.

Something We Never Expected

This is the third year of doing the Primary Program for Sacrament meeting. The first year was COVID and we just did a video. The last two years have been more traditional versions. The kids learn the songs all year and we help them come up with their parts about a month before the program. We practice everyone’s parts and singing together the two weeks before we do it for the whole congregation. We had a Saturday practice the day before this year as well. The kids were doing great and excited to show their parents and the people they invited.

Once it was time to start the kids came up front and found their spots and things were going along great. About 15 minutes in I noticed a rustling of noise starting and kids seemed to be losing their focus a bit. I was trying to figure out what was going on and I saw one of the boys point at something. I look up to where he is pointing and there are two baby mice running along the ledge of the light facet around the room. Once one of them noticed it took about 20 seconds for word to spread to all the kids on the stage. Our music leader was able to get there attention and the teachers up with the kids on the stand helped them refocus. We continued on with their program.

The mice were not done exploring though. They were jumping and skipping along the edge. The audience also started to notice and we lost several of them because they ran out crying. One of the mice got a little to crazy and fell from the ledge right down the wall. He was at the back of the room and started working his way up the pews on the floor. We lost a few more audience members. I was in the very front row and could tell my Sunbeam class teacher was not ok with a mouse getting anywhere near her. She was sitting by her husband and he was trying to help her relax. At one point when the people right behind me gave a little jump indicating the mouse had reached their pew she stood up to exit. Her husband put his arm around her shoulder and helped her stay in her seat. The mouse then moved up past me and was headed towards the ramp to get up on the stand. The poor Sunbeam teacher was at the top of the ramp and I new if it got any closer to her she lose her composure completely and no amount of coaxing from her husband or myself would calm her down. So I stood up and walked over to the baby mouse-his ears were bigger than his body- and kicked him under the door. I was very grateful he went out the door instead of up my leg. By this time a few people had gotten a bucket or two and were waiting for it to come out in the hall to catch it. I am now known as the legendary primary president that saved the primary program by literally booting a mouse out the door. Apparently I did it very calmly and people were impressed. I was just glad it was not a snake.

When we are getting ready to do a program, I try and think of all the different situations that could come up and how to handle them so I am prepared for anything 80 kids from 3-11 might throw at me. I never thought of mice showing up and running around. Once the mouse was out of the room, things settled down a little and the kids finished their program and did a great job. Afterwards when we talked about it they thought it was so great they sang and said their parts so well that even the mice came to watch.

Last But Not Least

Emilee has been keeping busy with her activities too. She is still doing piano. She wants to be done with it but I told her she had to get through the lesson book she is on first. She has a recital coming up and she is going to play a song from Wicked that she has been learning.

She is still taking riding lessons and loves it. One of the horses she rides is called Marilyn. She is a shorter horse so when she canters she gets moving pretty good.

She played volleyball this Fall and it was hit or miss if she liked it. Once she was there I think she liked it, getting her there was usually a chore. Especially when it was early on a Saturday.

She loves going to Primary Activity Days. They had a daddy-daughter activity a while ago. They both had a lot of fun building this tower together. It was a contest to see who could build the biggest sturdiest tower in a certain amount of time. They were the winners. Dad’s engineering heart was so proud.

Always Trying Something New

One of the things I admire about Allison is she is willing to try new things. If she sees something that interests her she jumps right in and gives it a try. At the end of last year she mentioned that she wanted to try wrestling next year. When it came time to sign up she was all over it. No one in our family wrestles and knows much about wrestling. It is a really fast intense season. About 6 weeks long. It takes a lot of time and energy and she says she is really liking it. When we watch her at her meets we have no idea what is going on as far as points but we still cheer her on and we know if she pins someone or she gets pinned that is the match. We learn a little more each time. The video of her wrestling starts after two rounds that had already timed out. Both the girls were getting pretty tired. Allison won the battle of grit. This is her first pin in a match.

Allison went to the Fall dance at school with a few of her friends this year. There wasn’t a lot of dancing but there was a lot of socializing. She thought it was great.

She is continuing with the Orchestra this year as well. The middle school went to the high school and they did a joint concert together for Halloween. They could dress up if they wanted. They are getting good enough now that it is really enjoyable to listen to them play. In the video Alison is right in the center of the screen. She is the second on in on her row.

For one of her Young Women Activities we went to the Garmin building and the girls got to fly a flight simulator. Allison crashed when it was her turn.

While We Were Moving

Of course while we were getting ready to sell our house and move into the rental, the rest of life continued on. Each of the kids had a busy Fall.

Matthew played Fall Ball. He had a fun season and he and his team participated in several fun tournaments and even one of placed in the finals for a few of them. Several of their tournaments were on college fields, including KU. The boys thought it was pretty cool to play on a D1 field.

As baseball was slowing down in October, Matthew filled his time with other activities. He turned 16. I am a pretty lucky momma. He is a good son. He is becoming a good man too. Things were a little chaotic on his birthday but he made the most of it. Most of his desires focused around the food he wanted to eat. He had smoothies, chic-fil-a, and sushi and for his cake- as always a Cookie Cake. He spent some time hanging out with Campbell and sometime hanging out with his buddies. He asked the family if we would go to Top Golf for his birthday. We all went and had a good time. Emilee and Matthew were pretty good golfers. Allison and I have some work to do. Anyone that asked what he wanted was told fishing stuff. He got several mystery tackle boxes and he loved it. Grandma texted him thinking it was me asking about his present. He sent me a screen shot and thought it was pretty funny. Grandma messed with him a little and gave him gummy worms and fish as a tackle box before she gave him the real one. He thought it was pretty funny.

Matthew took Campbell to Homecoming. There was a group of them going together and the day of all the other boys changed their minds. Matthew was a good sport about it. They took pictures before and then went to the football game. After the game they went to the dance and then played games at one of the girls house afterwards. I am very appreciative that Matthew finds good friends to hang out with. Campbell does too. He has found the groups that don’t want to drink and party. They have fun and enjoy each others company.

Watching the HS football game with our friends Margarita and Jeff.

Saving the best for last. We were all hanging out in the living room one night and I noticed that Matthew kept admiring himself in the mirror and pretty pumped about his muscles. I was able to get a short video of it without him noticing.

We Made A Big Decision

I have mentioned before that we found some land and decided to build a house earlier this year. We were planning on living in our house until the new house was built and then sell. The market for selling houses has been crazy high and houses sell fast the past few months. We have been watching it and it hasn’t started to go down but it has definitely plateaued. That started making us nervous that by the time we were ready to sell our house next Spring our Fall the market would have dropped and we wouldn’t make as much equity as we wanted to. We talked about it with our realtor and thought about it for a few weeks. We decided we would regret it if we didn’t at least try and sell it this Fall and get what we want. If we didn’t get our asking price we wouldn’t sell and could try again in the Spring. If prices drop we at least tried. If we got what we were asking then we make a nice profit and finances are a little easier for the next year.

So September 6th we officially decided to put our house on the market ASAP. Pictures were scheduled to be taken on the 14th and it would list on the 16th. I immediately started ‘staging’ the house. We got a storage unit and packed all the clutter and things we won’t need for awhile away. About the second day into my week to prepare I got sick. It ended up being COVID. The first time I have had COVID to my knowledge. I would say my symptoms-flu like- were moderate. I didn’t really have time to be sick so I would clean, pack, and organize until I had to rest for bit then lay down for 20-30 minutes until I could work some more. It was pretty miserable. My family helped a little but Ryan was traveling a lot, the kids were at school and had after school activities so most of it was left to me. I got it done and pictures were taken and turned out great. We went live with our listing on a Friday. We had three showings schedule for that day. The night before Emilee said she wasn’t feeling well so she stayed home. She was much better Friday but I kept her home just in case. Friday when I was going through and making sure the house was ready to show to the people coming in less than an hour, I went into Matthew’s room and found him still in bed. He said he was sick. He had caught COVID from me like Emilee did. I told him he had to get up and we could go sleep at Grandpa’s for the day. He said he couldn’t move and he would just lay their quietly while people walk through. He was disappointed that was not an option. The two sicko’s and I made it to Grandma’s house. They were put in bed and confined to the basement. We got two good offers Friday. When one of the offers heard we had gotten another offer, they countered their own offer and raised it to an even better offer. We decided to accept it and took the house of the market and cancelled the rest of our showings that weekend. Keeping a house ‘show ready’ with three kids and a big picture not detail oriented husband is not easy. It was a huge blessing to sell it so quickly. I can’t imagine having to do it for weeks or months.

It was mid September when we sold it. We had until November 1st to move out. I had looked at a few apartments and houses to rent in anticipation of selling our house. Ryan and I went and looked at a few of them that same weekend. We wanted to stay fairly close to were we were at and pay less than our current mortgage. We were a little concerned when we saw the first few in the price range we wanted to stay. We ended up finding one that was three miles from our old house and had just had a lot of updates and you could tell the owners take good care of it. We applied to rent and by the middle of the following week we were approved and could move in October 1st.

I have cropped these photos many times and they still keep the black around them. I can’t figure out how to get rid of it. I wanted to put some of the pictures from our house in here to help us remember.

We decided to stay in our home as long as possible. When I wasn’t working or doing the usual kids activities or maintaining our own house, laundry and meals I spent the rest of my time cleaning the rental and taking car loads of things over. It was helpful to have more time to go through everything and really get rid of things that we didn’t need or box things up in storage that we can live without for a year. We had some friends help us load the smaller items and boxes in a U-haul a week before the movers came and brought the bigger furniture and heavy items. Ryan was traveling a lot for work so most of it I did on my own. It was very stressful and I was exhausted non-stop. I wanted to enjoy the last few weeks in our house too. I did my best to remind myself to not be grumpy when I was tired and help the kids enjoy their last month too. It was a good house for us. Despite the builder ripping out the staircase the day before we moved in and taking a year to fix things that were screwed up on or never finished in the first place, it was a great home for us. We lived there 7 1/2 years. Lots of memories and growing up with our kids happened there. We put a lot of work into it. We didn’t think we would ever move so we made it our forever home.

All of our belongings were moved in on Friday October 28th and we started sleeping at the rental then. I also had the Primary Sacrament Program to practice and do that weekend so we didn’t get much unpacking done. Ryan had the idea to eat one last family dinner together at the house on Saturday night. It was a really nice evening. Allison and I got Subway and everyone else got sushi. We met at the house and had a nice meal together. Ryan had told everyone to think of some of their favorite memories to share with each other. Once we started sharing we started remembering more and more things. We talked about Christmas mornings, nerf gun games we played, Easter egg hunts, things that got broken (some that Ryan and I knew about, some we didn’t), funny moments-Allison ‘accidentally’ calling 911. Allison evacuating the family including the guinea pigs when the fire alarm went off. Dad responding to a question of Emilee’s over the Alexa and farting, Alexa catching it and announcing his answer and his fart to the whole house. Matthew hiding under his bathroom sink in the cabinet for over an hour and the rest of us not being able to find him. We had a really nice night reminiscing and remembering the good times and memories we made together.

We still owned the house until November first so we decided to do one more of the traditions we had started in our home. Each year for Halloween since we moved in the McDonald family has come over on Halloween to celebrate with us. We have pizza and witch’s brew (home made root beer with dry ice) for dinner. Then the kids get in their costumes, we leave a bowl of candy on the porch and we go trick or treating. The past couple years Ross and Lauren have joined us as well. Over the years we have had 2-3 groups that form based on how fast they move between houses. This year the older girls went on their own. The dads followed the faster group of middle aged kids, and the moms went with Linnea the youngest. She makes it around the little block of streets and then is done. We can then go home and hand out any candy that is left and warm up and relax at the house until the other groups make it back. As they trickle in there is a giant candy swap in the living room. Sometimes we play a game, or sometimes we just visit until its time to go home.

There was no furniture (or kitchen supplies) in the house this year so we ate pizza but bought root beer instead of making it. The empty living room was loved by all of the kids because they could really spread out for the candy swap. It was a fun night and a good way to have our last night in that house. When we loaded the last few things into the car to leave for the last time Ryan and I walked through the house one more time and turned off the lights for the last time. It was a little sad but we are excited to start the next adventure in our lives.

Somehow on google maps our house pulls up as Matthew Terry’s house. I am sure it will get changed at some point but I took a picture for nostalgia purposes.

We have 11 months left on the lease at our rental. They are pouring the foundation for our new house any day now. Hopefully between now and then we have a finished house to move into. We hope it will be our last move- EVER and we want to make it so that it will fit our lives from now, until we are empty nesters, until are kids come visit with their own families and until we are old and want to just stay at home, until we don’t need a home anymore.

We Have A Third Driver!

We have been keeping an eye out for a good car for Matthew to use. Right now a used car is worth a lot more than it actually is worth so it is hard to find a decent reliable car for a decent price. Kenny said he would find us one, he is a mechanic so he knows a lot more about cars than we do. He found us one and Ryan and I decided to make a weekend of it to go out to Florida and bring it home. We flew out on Labor Day weekend. We spent a few hours in Tampa and had lunch with my parents and the French’s. Then we began our trek home.

Halfway through its final drive from Florida to Kansas, unbeknownst to us, it would never complete a drive again without some mechanical issues.

It felt like we were in college again, going on a trip and not knowing if we would make it in our 2011 well used Hyundai Sonata. About 20 minutes into our drive the check engine light came on. We called Kenny and he said if it wasn’t flashing and it seemed to be driving ok then we could keep going. So we did. The first night we stopped in Atlanta Georgia. The next day we drove a couple hours to Nashville Tennessee. Ryan had been there for work before and thought it was a fun place. I have wanted to go but never been. Once we got there we checked into a hotel right across from the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum. We spent the rest of the day exploring Nashville.

We went through the museum which was ok. I like country music but I am not a crazy fan of anyone in particular. We also went on a tour of Studio C. It is one of the original recording studios from the 1940’s. It was pretty cool. Hundreds of singers had recorded there over the years. Including Elvis Presley. The last part of the tour was in a room that he recorded a lot of his hits in. They told us about a typical recording session with him and his band. There was a broken cabinet that Elvis kicked one night and a panel came off. The piano was original too. I thought is was a cool tour. The rest of the evening we wandered around and did a little shopping. I wanted to find some cowboy boots but didn’t have any luck. It is a very friendly town. Of course at night there is endless live music to listen to. It was pretty awesome. It was all kinds of music too, not just country. There was a lot of talent.

The next morning we drove the rest of the way home. We dropped the car off at the mechanic we use to figure out why the engine light was on. I scheduled a detail for it because it was pretty gross inside and we looked forward to having a third car and driver to get people all the places we seem to need to go.

Fast forward six weeks and we found ourselves trading the Sonata in for a newer car that actually works. After getting it back from the mechanic, we found ourselves in a very frustrating and irritating cycle of getting the car from the mechanic, paying a couple hundred dollars to fix something then bringing it home to have it break again within two days and be taken in for another week to be fixed. It would randomly die sometimes. One of those times Matthew was backing out of our driveway and it died. He had no power steering or breaks and our driveway is a hill so he continued to roll when died. He rolled right into our neighbors nanny’s car. That was kind of the last straw for me. It is stressful enough to put your son who has basically no driving experience in a car and send him off on his own. To send him in a car I didn’t trust and proved many times it could create dangerous situations was nerve racking. On top of that, we were in the process of selling our house (more on that later) and by November 1st Matthew would be the girls and his ride to and from school so we had to have a working reliable safe car for him.

The car Matthew rolled into when his died unexpectedly. It looks like it isn’t that bad but that stupid dent cost more than $5000 to fix.

I decided to go through a dealership. I know I pay more money that way but if something goes crazy wrong I know where to go and have some sort of warranty and accountability with it, unlike a private seller. After some research I found a 2015 Honda Accord. They were willing to take the Sonata for more then a few other car places had offered me for it so that was nice. I did not want to sell it privately or have it sitting around reminding me how stupid it was, I didn’t have the time or patience for that. Two birds with one stone. We didn’t tell Matthew because we didn’t know if we were actually going to find a car or not. It was a nice surprise for him. He loves it and it has been so helpful for him to be able to get himself places and sometimes the girls. Game changer.

The new car. Matthew said he will probably name it but he hasn’t decided on one yet.

How To Make A Dollar…by Allison Terry

The other day when I was making dinner Allison came home and gave me a hug then asked if I could break a $5 bill for her. I found my purse and gave her the requested 4 one dollar bills and 4 quarters. She then put $2.50 on the counter and told me that was my share then started to head outside. I told her to come back and explain when she was talking about. She said that she had sold a bag of chocolate chips to someone at school for $5. Since the bag only cost $3 (I do remember her asking me how much I spent on a bag of chocolate chips a day or so previously) she had made $2 and since she used my chocolate chips she split the money with me.

This girl and her ways of coming up with how to make a dollar continue to amaze me. Between her work ethic, drive, creativity, and love of money she will take care of herself just fine. She has already run a successful slime and key chain business. Also her dog walking business. She is currently trying to convince the gym she does gymnastics at to hire her to help do odd jobs around the gym. Meanwhile, Matthew asked two companies for an application, doesn’t fill them out or turn them in and acts like he has done all he possibly can to get a job but there aren’t any available.

Anyway, back to my share of the chocolate chip profit. I told her that I love her ability to come up with ways to make money but while she did make a two dollar profit, as she did not buy the chips in the first place, instead of my share being $2.50 it would actually be $4. She was not as excited about that but followed the math. I told her I would split it with her this time but to stop selling my groceries. Funny girl.

First Day of School 2022

As is always does, Summer eventually came to an end. Emilee and Allison started school on a Wednesday. Matthew started the next day.

Emilee is in 4th Grade

Allison is in 7th Grade.

Matthew is in 10th Grade.

Last Week of Summer

After the reunion we had a week left before school started. We got all the school supplies, clothes, shoes, did back to school nights, and enjoyed the last few days of Summer Vacation. Since we had just done an amusement park in Branson for our annual cousins trip to World’s of Fun we went to a creek and played for the day instead. Matthew brought his fishing stuff, he caught one fish and four sticks, and lost three lures-including a frog. He does that a lot. They made up a few games- one of them ended up in losing Jovee’s water shoe. It is a fun little spot they like to play.

Ryan is having to try a little harder to make sure he still beats Matthew when they play basketball.

The next two pictures are demonstrating the difference between Matthew and Allison preparing to go to school. This is Allison’s locker that she organized three times and still had a back pack full of stuff to bring the next day. Matthew grabbed a handful of pencils from Allison’s stack and ripped the pages out of a notebook that he used last year.

We went to Arkansas for the weekend. Ryan’s biological family invited us to come visit. His brother David and his wife moved from Utah to Arkansas in April. Now two of the four siblings live there and his mom lives about two hours from them.

We stayed at David’s house. They have a swimming pool and the kids loved being able to swim basically anytime they wanted. We got there about 8:30 Friday night. They were in the pool within five minutes. Saturday we played games and swam. That night the adults went to dinner then they set up an outdoor movie for everyone to watch. Jen had all kinds of movie treats, my kids were very impressed. Emilee thought it was so cool to swim, eat cotton candy and watch a movie outside, all at the same time. Ryan taught everyone a new game and his brother David a few new games. Matthew learned the card game hand and foot and really liked it. It was a fun weekend. It was nice to see them and get to know them better. We went to church with them on Sunday and then came home.

A friend of mine sent me this picture of our boys getting ready to do the sacrament on a Sunday. These three are quite a group. They are all good kids and I am glad he has a good friend group to hang out with.

August Kick Off- Terry Reunion

The first thing that happened in August was we got Allison back from Grandma. We were heading to a family reunion in Branson Missouri the next day so there was a lot of family here to welcome her home. It was great to have her back. She and Grandma Jana made some hats for babies at the hospital while she was there. She made one for her newest cousin Kaden. He loved it and it fit perfectly. She got home later in the evening on Tuesday, so Wednesday morning we woke her up with donuts and candles and sang her happy birthday in person.

Leah made a cute welcome sign for Allison.

Then we were off to Branson for a Terry Family Reunion. People came and stayed a few days before and after but Branson was the official reunion part. Ryan arranged a place for everyone to stay and organized a day of boating for everyone. Ross organized and planned the food and did most of the cooking. Wednesday everyone left Kansas on their own schedule and then we all met at Lamberts for dinner.

Becky, Rachelle and Roger and Rhonda went to an aquarium on the way down. Our family and Ross’ and Nadia went on a tour of the Fantastic Caverns. Then we meandered around a giant Bass Pro store until it was time for dinner.

Lambert’s is a fun restaurant for a family dinner. They have really good rolls that they bring out fresh from the oven. If you want one you raise your hand and they toss it across the room to you. It was a good kick off to the reunion.

Matthew, Leah, Chloe. Kiara, Allison, Chole, Dalion, Alex, Ethan (Nadia is taking the pictures)

The next day was our boating day. Ross, Lauren, Ryan and I made a pancake breakfast. It was a little rainy in the morning but it cleared up pretty quick. We all headed to Table Rock Lake and spent the day riding in the boats, swimming in the water, and tubing. Everyone got lots of sun and had tons of fun. Grandpa, Ryan and Ross were the drivers for the day. We played all day, the cousins had a blast with each other.

After a day on the lake Ross and Ryan made dinner for everyone and then we hung out and visited, played games, and watched old home videos that Roger brought. It was also Chole’s birthday that day so we sang happy birthday to her and had cake and ice cream.

The next day was Silver Dollar City. Despite everyone arriving over a period of an hour and fifteen minutes we took a group picture and then the older kids went off on their own and the rest of us divided into groups based on our sense of adventure. The lines were not bad at all, we were able to go on any of the rides we wanted, even multiple times. The Lee’s left and headed home around lunch time. Grandma and Grandpa went home after pictures, and the rest of us spent the day and left that evening. The weather was pretty good and there were lots of water rides to keep us cool.

Here are pictures from before and after the trip to Branson of people having fun together.

Matthew and Allison’s Turn

A few weeks after Emilee got back it was Matthew and Allison’s turn to go to grandma and grandpa Jones’. They flew out together. Matthew is old enough that he can be her companion. This was also Matthew’s first time going. He only stayed a week because he had baseball. He had a very fun time. He told me to book him a trip to Grandma’s for next Summer when he got home.

Some of the highlights he has mentioned is how good grandma’s baking is. Her ginger snap and chocolate chip cookies were definitely a favorite. Being able to walk out the door and go fishing was a fun perk. Beating Sherri at pickle ball has been mentioned a few times. The beach, aquarium, zoo, lots of swimming, games, and movies. Grandma kept him busy. He was very happy to get out of Kansas and have a fun trip for the Summer. They also watched some home videos and Matthew sent this one to me. I remember filming this. Cute little stinker.

There was a tussle over who got the bed. It is a queen bed and could have been easily shared. Matthew suggested he have it for the week he was there and Allison have it for the week she stayed after he left. She said, “That is fair but that’s not how it’s going to go.” They shared the bed the first night, then Allison was demoted to the air mattress.

Just arriving at Grandma’s from the airport.

When he came back grandma was able to walk him to the shuttle then he was on his own. He found security and made it through (he did have his fishing pliers confiscated) then made it to the gate. Then it poured rain for a few hours and delayed his flight but he made it home. I picked him up in the passenger pick up area. He was pretty proud of himself for flying half way across the country all by himself.

Allison stayed to have one more week with Grandma after Matthew left. She was excited to upgrade back to the bed from the air mattress. Last Summer when she was there Grandma got her hooked on the Hallmark Mystery Channel so she was excited to catch up on that with her. She was there over her birthday this year. Grandma made her a chocolate cake. Matthew took a few gifts for her in his suitcase from us and left them for her to open. She had one to open when she got home too. They went bowling and swimming at Sherri’s for her birthday. Grandma made her a chocolate cake.

To Grandma’s House We Go

This Summer all of the kids asked if they could go visit Grandma and Grandpa Jones in Florida for part of their Summer break. Allison has been going for a few years, then Emilee started going, then Matthew said he wanted in on the fun.

Emilee was the first to go this year. They like to go one at a time so they have Grandma to themselves. We left the house to catch her flight at 5 in the morning. Right before she got on the plane she was feeling a little nervous but she did great. She had her backpack with her favorite stuffed animals in it and an iPad to keep her busy for the two hour flight. Grandma was waiting for her as soon as she got off the plane. They got home and Grandma was surprised to find that half of her suitcase was full of stuffed animals too! After I packed her clothes I told her she could fill the rest of the space with whatever she wanted. She went with a pair of goggles and about 10 stuffed animals packed with loving care so they weren’t squishing each other.

Aubry spent the night at Grandma’s with Emilee the first night.

First night and Grandma and Grandpa’s house in Florida.

Emilee was there almost two weeks and she had a great time. Grandma took her to the zoo, the aquarium, the beach, and there was lots of swimming at Grandma’s pool or Aunt Sherri’s house. There was movie nights with popcorn and a fun July 4th celebration with lots of fireworks of course.

Emilee said grandma had lots of good food like chicken nuggets, and spaghetti and chocolate chip pancakes almost every morning. She said she had a great time. I love that she gets to make special memories with them.

Uncle Kenny and Aubry were going on a road trip to Idaho so instead of flying home Emilee hitched a ride with them. It took a little longer than flying but after two days of driving they made it to our house. Emilee said the first thing she wanted to do when she woke up the next morning was call Grandma and tell her she made it safely.

The Next Big Adventure

Ryan and I have had our eye on some houses with a little more land around them just south of us for the last few years. It is a small neighborhood and the houses don’t go up for sale very often. We put on offer on one about a year ago but that was when bidding wars were ridiculous and houses were selling for way more then they were worth. We ended up passing on it after our bid for 20% more than asking price got out bid. This past winter they developer opened up a dozen or so more lots. After much debating and praying and thinking and more debating we decided to buy a lot and build a house.

It took several months to get the financing process, find a builder and make a plan for the house but we now have it all done. We are finally ready to move to the next step. My plan is to take a picture each month and hopefully show a significant amount of progress. If things stay on schedule (they won’t) and supply chains don’t change to drastically (they will) our builder is planning on being done in 12-14 months from July 2022.

It is exciting and stressful.

Here is the first picture. We have a three acre corner lot. If you look closely you can see the flags marking the outline of the house. Once the permits and septic system is designed they can start digging.

Summer 2022 Baseball

The Summer of 2022 is one of the hottest ones on record for Kansas. We spent most of the weekends sizzling in the heat, going through a ridiculous amount of sunscreen, ice, water, and sunflower seeds watching Matthew play baseball. Despite the heat, I enjoy a good baseball game.

Amateur’s Athletic Union

Allison’s gymnastic team qualified to participate in the AAU National competition this year! She was pretty excited! It changes locations every year, this year it was in Springfield, Illinois-home of Abraham Lincoln.

It was a quick trip but we had a fun time together. After I finished work on Thursday Allison and I drove to Springfield. It was about a 5 hour drive. We ate lots of snacks and sang songs at the top of our lungs to pass the time. The last hour of the drive we saw thousands of fire flies along the road. A lot of them hit the car window too. We new it was a fire fly because the smear they made on the window glowed just like they did for about a minute after it got squashed on the window.

We made it to our hotel and got settled in. Allison had a little excitement to burn off so we explored the hotel and then she bounced all over the bed for a bit. We had to be at the convention center by 7:45 the next morning. We woke up early and made it to breakfast. They had potato squares which are one of Allison’s favorite so she took that as a good sign for the day.

We got to the convention center and once we found her coach and team mate I went and found a good seat. She did a great job! I enjoy watching her compete.

She is the Missouri Valley group when they announce where people are from.

Her scores for her events were;

Bars:8.825

Beam:8.8

Vault:8.65

Floor 9.15.

For her division she ended up placing 10th overall and took 7th on the floor. She messed up a little bit on the last run of her floor routine so she was surprised at her score a little bit. That is why you always show confidence!

After her competition and awards we headed back home. Allison spotted a Pizza Ranch Buffet- one of her favorites- so we stopped there for lunch on our way home. It was good but put me in a carb coma so I had to pull over and take a 30 minute cat nap. Allison took embarrassing videos and pictures of me while I slept.

Sister Trip 2022-San Antonio, Texas

It has been to long since Sherri, DeAnna and I had one of our Sister Trips. We met in Florida a year or so ago but before that it was San Francisco. We try and pick a place that none of us have been before so we can expand our travel. We had one planned in April of 2020 to New York but COVID ruined that one. It has been tricky between one of us being pregnant or nursing but 2 of 3 of us are done with that phase of our lives for sure, so our trips should be able to get a little more regular.

We all flew to San Antonio on a Friday. My plane actually went to Tampa for a layover so Sherri and I flew the last part of my flight together. DeAnna got there first and picked us up. Sherri had found a nice hotel on the River Walk so we headed there first and checked in. We chatted for a few hours in our hotel then headed out to find dinner and explore. It was a great weekend. It always goes by to fast

We ate lots of yummy food and between relaxing at the pool, pedicures and visiting in our hotel we got a lot of fun activities in.

River Walk. As I mentioned, our hotel was right on the River Walk so we wandered around and explored that in the evenings. We did a boat tour, sampled lots of the ice cream, and ate at some great restaurants. Every trip we go on someone ends up having the same shoes or shirt or something as another person. You can see that DeAnna and I ended up bringing the same shirt this time.

We all have the pants Sherri is wearing but she is the only one that wore them on the trip.

We went to the Natural Bridge Caverns. It was probably one of the biggest caves I have ever been in. It was the hottest cave I have ever been in too. Texas is just a different level of hot. Later this same night we went to Chicken and Pickle per DeAnna’s request. Of course their indoor courts were booked so we had the privilege of playing pickle ball outside for 30 minutes. Sherri and I played on a team against DeAnna. She still beat us. We were all drenched in sweat when we were done.

Of course we went to the Alamo while we were there too.

We always finish our trip with a selfie at the airport.

Smile and Laugh

This picture showed up on my camera from somewhere. It must be a memory stored somewhere on my phone. It made me smile. I love these sweet girls.

These next two pictures got me to laugh pretty good when I saw them. Sherri sent me the popcorn one while we were in San Antonio Texas. We all could relate. It was hot! The other one I saw on the wall at my kids doctor office when we were there for their annual checkups.

Summer Kick Off

We started our Summer off with a Friday night Royals game. The Royals didn’t win but the night was still fun. We had cotton candy and peanuts. Allison was determined to get on the jumbotron and danced crazy enough that she caught their attention and her wish came true. When she saw herself she was a little panicked and froze but she was on it. She said she is more prepared for next time and won’t freeze up. They had a cool fireworks show after the game and the kids fell asleep on the way home in the car. A night of fun and a sugar crash made it to hard to keep their eyelids open.

On our way to the game we were jamming out to some careoke. Sweet Baby James came on and it reminded me of the time I filmed Allison and Matthew singing it in the car when they were younger (Emilee was to young to sing with them). I decided to recreate it so I had the kids sing it again, Emilee joined in this time.

Original video 2018:

2022 version:

The first weekend of Summer (Memorial Day weekend) we went to Lake of the Ozarks. A friend of dad’s from work had been inviting us to come stay at their cabin for quite awhile. We made the most of it but it was a little bit of an awkward weekend. They are really nice but what was discussed as far as activities and expectations was not what happened. They told us not to bring anything, I brought some food anyways because I felt bad for adding 5 mouths to feed for two days. It was good that I did though because they didn’t have any food. His wife disappeared most of the time and I was left to make the food. Ryan offered to rent a tube or two to pull the kids behind the boat, he said he had one he could borrow so not to worry about it. There never was a tube or anything else. We just drove around the lake for hours at a time looking at houses. We were all bored to death but the kids did a good job at staying positive. All the beds were well used and no sheets were washed between people sleeping on them. Not the greatest weekend. Matthew did do a little fishing and had some success. They swam in the lake a bit, and there was a pool they played in a bit but not to much because the water was only 60 degrees. We have a family trip to Table Rock lake planned in August, there will be lots of tubing, snacks, swimming and fun to be had.

When we got back from the lake the girls had Girl Scout camp and Matthew had Youth Conference in Nauvoo Illinois. Great experiences for them all. After that Emilee had horse camp and two volleyball camps. Allison had a kayak trip with her Girl Scout Troop and her first Young Women camp with church. Matthew had High Adventure in South Dakota with church and a Regional Flag football tournament in Wisconsin at the Green Bay Packers practice stadium. Add swimming at the pool, play dates, sleepovers, baseball games, gymnastics, riding lessons, and a fun day at Lake Olathe swim beach with the cousins and we have had some busy first weeks of Summer. July will be a little slower.

Father’s Day was on Ryan’s birthday this year. We had a yummy dinner at Grandpa and Grandma’s house with Ross and Lauren’s family. Usually Lauren and I let them play a game on their own but since it was a special day we played too. Emilee and Jovee made a scavenger hunt/game/competition up for their dad’s and grandpa. They had to throw a ball as far as they could with their left hand, fold a bird with origami, draw a picture, do the most pushups (they all tied with one on that one) and race around the house. It was pretty cute.

Father’s Day 2022 (Notice the bow ties for dad’s and crown for Grandpa)

A little side story. Matthew has been playing on a team with some boys for flag football. The coach for this team is Chad. He and his family are friend of ours. His son Tyson is also on the team. The event they went to in Wisconsin was a regional event, if they won they would go to the National event (last year they actually went to Nationals and won). So Matthew has been playing with them for a few months and they qualified for Regionals. Ryan said Matthew was to old for his team so he wouldn’t be able to play. A few weeks later, he tells me that Chad got it figured out and Matthew could now play. Plans were made and Ryan, Matthew, Chad, and Tyson head up to Wisconsin together. When they get there and it is time to check in, Ryan and Chad tell Matthew that he is going to go by Trey Something and his birthday is August 9, 2008. Apparently when they said they had worked it out, Chad and Ryan meant they had signed Matthew up as a kid from their team that couldn’t come and is almost two years younger.😒 Liar One and Liar Two justified this to themselves because even though Matthew is older than the cut of date, he is by far the smallest on the field. 🤦‍♀️ By the time they get to the front and the lady asks Matthew his name and bday. He says his name but can not remember the birthday so he says August then starts stammering trying to remember. Ryan had gone to the car to get something and was no where to be found. Chad sees Matthew struggling so he goes up to the lady and pulls Matthew aside and proceeds to whisper to her that Matthew is ‘a little slow’ and looks up his info on his list. He calls him over and tells him his bday, the lady smiles at Matthew and says, “Can you repeat that to me honey?” Matthew (who unlike Ryan and Chad is not a liar and if he tries to lie you can spot it a mile away) awkwardly repeats the date. The lady who takes his lying awkwardness as ‘slowness’ says, “Thank you sweetheart, you are all checked in.” while patting him on the shoulder. 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Meanwhile…

Back at home while Ryan and I were on our trip, the kids were getting ready to wrap up the school year. When we got home there was a week and a half left of school.

When we travel somewhere in the car my rule is the oldest kid gets the front seat. Ryan tried to say first come first serve but they can argue over who said it first, who got there first, who wanted to get there first-ridiculous. So the rule is oldest rides in front. While we were gone Emilee decided to see what she could get away with and asked Grandpa if she could sit in the front on the way to church. He said yes and Allison was not happy about it. She was even less happy about it when grandpa risked making an enemy of Allison for life and tole her my rule wasn’t his rule so Emilee got the front because she asked. To make matters worse Allison was mortified to see that Emilee was wearing socks with her church shoes. Sounds like it was a fun Sunday morning in Kansas.

We were in Europe for Mother’s Day. Our realtor put a clever sign in our yard to tell me Happy Mother’s Day and get a little free advertising. Roger and Rhonda and the kids thought I had one an actual voting contest and were so impressed (especially the kids because they didn’t even vote). I got a good chuckle out of their misunderstanding, I didn’t correct them either.

Allison had her 6th grade field trip. Pre-Covid it was a ski trip, now it is a trip to Main Event for some bowling, zip lines, and video gaming.

Matthew had to cook a well balanced meal for his family for his FACTS class. He made everyone spaghetti, broccoli and a green salad. I heard it was delicious.

The day we got back Allison had her final orchestra concert. She went back and forth but has decided to play the cello again for 7th grade. She is pretty good at it when she applies herself on a regular basis. Imagine that.

Emilee and her friend Reese made swaps to trade with people at Girl Scout camp that was right after school got out. I also caught her sleeping next to dad when she was supposed to go to bed. Ryan loves it. Matthew was done with school when she had her award ceremony for 3rd grade so he went with Ryan to see her. She loved having them both there but specifically asked to have a picture with just Matthew. She got the ‘Zookeeper’ award because she loves animals.

Matthew also came with me to Allison’s award ceremony. She got a lot of math and honor roll awards for her grades! She finished 6th grade with high marks and flying colors! Good job Allison. I have a picture but it won’t upload. 🙁

Allison sent this picture of her tithing slip to me to make sure she filled it out correctly. It made me smile when I saw what she wrote under currency. 🙂

This last picture is a box that Allison made for the family to use. When she finished it she placed it on a counter in the kitchen. I thought it best to act like I didn’t see it. If you have known Allison for longer than two minutes you know one thing she doesn’t like is suggestions. Especially from me or her dad…or Matthew and Emilee. So I ignored it. A few days later the family was making dinner together in the kitchen. I was getting annoyed at asking one of them (not Allison) to do something for the third time. Allison said she had something just for this situation. She grabs her suggestion box and says I should put a suggestion in the box about better ways for people to listen. I said maybe later. I didn’t point out there were 10 piles and tasks within eye sight that I had asked her to do. She kept pointing it out, so I took the bait when I asked her to do something AGAIN and said, “Allison, I SUGGEST you do the job I just asked you to do.” As expected I got an evil glare. Ryan said something along the same lines a few minutes later. Then it was my turn again shortly after that. She then grabbed her suggestion box, threw it on the ground, stomped it into oblivion and stormed out of the room while angrily telling us, “You have lost the suggestion box privilege, you don’t know how to even use a suggestion box right. I can’t do anything nice for you people.” This all happened within 5 minutes of her suggesting we use the suggestion box. Which is 5 minutes less than I thought it would take to go over like a box of rocks in a swimming pool.

20th Anniversary

Ryan and I hit our 20th wedding anniversary this year. For our 10th anniversary we did a Caribbean cruise and we decided on that trip that for our 20th we wanted to do a European cruise and see Greece. About 2 years ago we booked it. We were planning to leave from Venice and see Greece, France, Rome and Barcelona. About two months before our cruise they emailed us and told us that our boat was being relocated to the Caribbean. We were welcome to stay on the cruise but it would not be in Europe obviously. We decided to cancel and Ryan did the research and planned out the trip for us instead. It was a lot more work and research for him. I didn’t do much, he did it all, and he did an amazing job. He had our flights, taxis and any other transportation we needed booked and ready to go for each place we went.

We already had a flight to Venice so we kept it and that was our first stop for a few days. Then we went to Santorini Greece, Mykonos Greece, and finished in Athens Greece. We were gone for 12 days. Ryan’s parents watched the kids for us. It was an amazing trip. It was both of our first time in Europe. We ate wonderful food, saw amazing places, met great people, stayed at beautiful hotels, and had an experience of a lifetime. It was incredible.

I decided to make a photo book on Shutterfly to show the pictures better so I wrote the details of our trip in that too. I will still include a few of my favorite pictures here in my blog though. So the short version here is we had a great time and we are excited to plan another trip to Europe sometime to see more of it!

Horses, Gymnastics, and Baseballs

We switched Emilee to a new barn for her riding lessons in March. She seems to be really liking the new place. She has been progressing a lot. For the school talent show at the end of the year she asked me to take a video of her at her riding lesson to show for the talent show.

Emilee also played volleyball again this Spring. She asked to do it and was excited to go to practices and games. For all other sports besides horse riding we have had to make her ‘just try it’ and she has been very glad when it is over. She did great this season, her last game she served the maximum times (5) and scored then they have to give the ball to the other team. She was pretty excited about that.

Allison had her AAU gymnastics meet in Manhattan Kansas. She did really well. The team ended up qualifying to go to the National AAU meet in Illinois in July. She is pretty excited about it. Ryan and I are happy for her that she enjoys gymnastics and she is doing well at it and continuing to improve.

https://youtube.com/shorts/4zZTG2EJAEI

https://youtube.com/shorts/-m4L6Av-82M

Matthew just finished up his Freshman year on the baseball team. He was a really good bat this season. He played mostly 2nd or short when he was on defense. He did a good job and his coach seemed pleased with him. There last game of the season was rained out which was a bummer. He is looking forward to his season with his club team over the Summer.

There was a YM basketball tournament for our Stake. The boys all had a great time. Matthew loved it. Our ward had two teams. The team Matthew was on ended up making it to the final game and winning the tournament. Matthew was given the MVP award for giving all out effort all the time. They even let them cut the net down which was pretty fun for them.

I have some talented children. I love watching all my kids in their activities. I am glad they are taking the opportunities to improve themselves and work hard at something they enjoy.

Easter

We had a nice Easter this year. Easter is always nice. It is a peaceful quiet weekend. The weather was pretty cold this year, even though Easter was in mid April. We had our traditional ham and cheesy potato meal. Roger and Rhonda came over and Steve and his kids to eat with us and spend the afternoon visiting.

Conversations with Allison

Allison: I took a kiwi to school today for my snack.

Mom: That is a healthy snack. Was is hard to eat?

Allison: No, I got a plastic knife from the cafeteria to cut it when I ate it. I didn’t want it to get smashed in my backpack so I carried it around in my hand all morning.

Mom: (silently grateful she had the foresight to not take a real knife no school) Maybe next time cut it up first then you can leave it in a container in your locker or backpack. (Already know she is going to tell me she doesn’t care about “doing it the easy way”)

Allison: I don’t care if I have to cut it at school. People kept asking me what it was. Who doesn’t know what a kiwi is?! I put it on my desk in science and I had a bunch of people convinced it was a baby coconut. Then Mr. Hines comes over and tells everyone, “That is a kiwi, baby coconuts are not a thing. It has a sticker on it that says KIWI.” Then he walked off.

Mom: So now everyone knows what a kiwi is.

Allison: No. When he walked away, I told them kiwi is Spanish for baby coconut. Pretty sure at least three people believed me

Mom: 🤦🏻‍♀️

Another day…

Allison: Mom, do you know what a walk up song is? Like in baseball when the batter walks up he picks the song?

Mom: Yes, I know what a walk up song is.

Allison: Well, they don’t have those in gymnastics so I decided I wanted one for when I walk into my classes at school. The past couple days I have played one for most of my classes when I walk in.

Mom: Oh…ok. So what song do play?

Allison: The Imperial March. Darth Vadar’s theme song.

Then proceeds to laugh her head off.🤦‍♀️

This next picture is from a while ago, I came across it in my pictures the other day. Allison is known to leave various types of notes on her door depending on her mood. I will leave it up to the reader to guess her mood for this one.

Spot The Difference

Can you see what is different in the picture? A few weeks ago I went in for my regular eye check up and over the last few months I have started having occasional floaters in my left eye. So he dilated just my left eye. I have had both my eyes done before but never one. It was a little weird, and it freaked people out too.

I also learned that I now have a mole in the back of my left eye. I didn’t know that you could get moles in your eye but just like on the rest of your body they can develop over time. It is not the cause of my floaters (the kind I have are just caused from aging) just something he saw when he was looking. Getting older is just a bucket of fun. He did say that most people have to get readers when they turn 40 and my eyesight is just as good as it was last year, so it is nice to be bucking that trend for now.

A New Friend

Allison has been lobbying for a friend for Peanut for the last year or so. She has done lots of research on why they need a friend and pleaded her case many times. She even wrote a report titled, Why We Should Get Another Guinea Pig, and sent it to Ryan. A few weeks ago she got lucky and the stars aligned when she asked an we had a moment of weakness so we went to the store and she picked out a friend for Peanut.

He is a cute little bugger. Over the course of a week he had many names but she finally settled on Milo. He was only a few months old so he is pretty small. Peanut seemed to like him right away. They got along pretty well from the start. It has been about a month since we got him and they are buddies for life now. Now Emilee thinks she needs one too.

April Fools

We all survived Allison’s favorite day of the year without to much damage. She pulled a few pranks on everyone but Matthew seemed to be the focus of most of her pranks.

She did the usual tape over the faucets, saran wrap across doorways, and creepy pictures strategically placed around the house to startle you when you least expect it.

Matthew said he woke up to Allison sneaking around his room at 4 in the morning. He didn’t care enough to worry to much about it then. When he turned his fan on and confetti flew everywhere he thought that was it. When he got to school he turned on his laptop and found this waiting for him.

She is a funny girl. I know I am forgetting a few of her pranks too. A few days later, I was cleaning out the fridge and found one that she attempted but then forgot about. I was grateful that she at least put the stapler in a bag first before submerging it in Jello.

Grandma’s Funeral

I was able to go out to Utah for my Grandma’s funeral. It was a really nice weekend. My parents and Sherri were able to come as well and we all stayed with DeAnna. Friday evening there was a viewing. Except for my brother I think all of my extended family was there. My cousins Erin, Lisa, and Melissa made photo boards and displays of her life. Grandma looked very nice. A lot of my dad’s cousins and aunt and uncles were there too. After the viewing a lot of us practiced a song, Come Unto Me, written by Grandma to sing the next day at her funeral. My Grandpa sat on a chair by Grandma and talked with people as they came to see her. When he got there he put his hand on her chest and looked at her for a while then said, “Well Dear, you are cold and dead.” I think he was just being matter of fact, not funny or morbid.

Great Aunt Elain, mom and Lynette (Elain’s daughter)

The next morning we had the family prayer before the funeral. All seven of her children spoke at the service. They did a great job. The whole family sang her song, Families are Fun to Belong To. Some of us sang her song, Come Unto Me, and the closing song was a recording of her playing Danny Boy on her trumpet. She was an amazing woman. So kind, talented, and loving. My aunt Mary said that heaven had one of its best trumpeters back and she was probably already playing with the angels. I think she is too.

It was pretty chilly so the graveside service at the cemetery was brief. After my dad dedicated the grave, Grandpa was ready to go. There was a very nice lunch at the church. Her daughters sang another song of hers, To Mother. After the luncheon some people went home, a lot of us went to Grandpa’s house and visited and hung out together. He was exhausted and it had been a busy few weeks for him since Grandma had passed away so eventually he took a little nap. We had popcorn with raisins in it as a snack- one of his favorites. It was a very nice weekend. I enjoyed seeing family that I haven’t seen for a few years. Grandma will be greatly missed. She lived a great life and left an amazing legacy. There is an empty spot now that she isn’t with us physically anymore.

Annie Joy

My sweet Grandma-Annie Joy Pinegar Jones passed away last night in her sleep. She was one of the kindest, sweetest people. She celebrated her 90th birthday just two days before she passed away. She has been in a lot of pain and not wanted to eat the past year but she still loved to have company and did her best to visit.

The last time I saw her was last April. She struggled with her memory sometimes but she knew who I was most of the time and we had a good visit. I have many special memories of her throughout my life. She was an amazing musician. She was my first piano teacher. I was practicing on her piano one day and I missed a note and was struggling to figure it out. From the kitchen she said, “Move your 4th finger on your left hand down two white keys.” She did that more than once. She had a beautiful singing voice too. She played the piano and her trumpet all over the world. I could listen to her play for hours. She usually played one or both when we had a family gathering, reunion, or a family home evening. One of the songs that will always remind me of her is “Danny Boy”. She wrote many songs too, we have a little blue book of sweet songs she wrote for her kids and grandkids to use for Family Home Evenings. “Families Are Fun To Belong To” is now in its fourth generation of being sung in Jones families across the country.

My dad went to see her two weeks ago. She didn’t want to take a picture because she is to old but she smiled and was a good sport.

When I was really young we lived pretty close to them and saw them often. She had sleepovers with the grandchildren. She didn’t really enjoy cooking but she always made sure you had something to eat when you came over. The first thing she said after giving you a hug was, “Are you hungry?” It didn’t really matter what your answer was, she would make you eat something. Their home grown grape juice and canned peaches with a piece of toast was always a favorite of mine. Cold cereal is a staple at their house and I have carried that tradition on in mine.

One time, I wanted to go swimming with my aunt and her friends and was disappointed I didn’t get to go. Grandma found a swimsuit for me and pinned it to fit me and had grandpa put a sprinkler on a tarp on their back yard hill so I could slide down it. Then I sunned on a blanket with Grandpa. Her and my grandpa had more family gatherings then I could ever count at their house. My cousins and I spent many hours doing our makeup in her bathroom and then showing everyone how we did. I remember making cookies with her and deciding to try my hand at juggling the eggs. Of course it being my first attempt ever at juggling it was a complete disaster. She had a very surprised look on her face when I explained what I had been attempting to do, but she was patient and told me to practice with grandpas tennis balls outside instead of eggs.

When I was older we lived farther away and didn’t see them as much but they came to visit us and we spent many fun Summer vacations at their house. They often put together family reunions for everyone to come to and see each other. She always sent a card for my birthday and Christmas.

She served missions for our church in Jerusalem, and Washington DC with my grandpa. She walked with her best friend every morning for decades. She was always happy and concerned with taking care of everyone and making sure you were comfortable. She had a sweet laugh. Her Christmas tree was usually flocked and always seemed huge in my memory. I don’t remember her ever being angry but I remember her talking about something one of her grandkids had done and calling them, “a little shit”. I still laugh at that memory. Sundays she always had curlers in her hair, and played beautiful music. She thought she was being a bad grandma if you helped with dishes or did any cleaning. She wanted us to play and enjoy ourselves at her house. She was self conscious about her hair and how thin it got but I thought she always looked beautiful. She had classic, timeless beauty.

I am her name sake. I have always felt special and proud to be named after her. The first words that pop into my head when I think of her are; joy, family, kind, patient, consistent, constant, loving, music, family history, caring, sweet, and strong testimony of the Savior. I will miss her. I know she is in Heaven, having sweet reunions with her past family and friends. She is probably playing a trumpet too. I love you Grandma Jones.

Brave Pants

When I was young I spent many years begging to get my ears pierced. My mom didn’t mind but my dad wanted to convince me to never have them pierced. His mom never did, and it was something he told me over and over he admired about her. He also asked me why I wanted to put more holes in my head. When I was around 4th or 5th grade I made the deal to practice my piano, say my prayers and read my scriptures every day for a year and then I could get my ears pierced. I don’t know if they made me do it for the whole year but I did it for a long time and then I got my ears pierced. At some point along the way I also remember telling my grandma that she was making it harder for me to get my ears pierced. When she asked what I meant I explained my dads thoughts that she was somehow making a moral stand to not get her ears pierced. She replied, “For Heaven’s sake, I’ve just never done it. I have no moral concerns for having or not having pierced ears!” I was quite delighted with her response. My dad tried to convince her otherwise and she would not agree. I am not positive but I think she eventually did get her ears pierced.

Anyways, with my girls every now and then I’ve asked them if they are interested in getting their ears pierced. They both have not had any interest in it. Out of the blue the other day Emilee came up to me and said she had a dream that I took her to get her ears pierced so she wanted to do it now. I told her we could plan on it sometime to see if she forgot about it or if she was serious. She continued to bring it up several times a day for a few weeks so this past Saturday I took her to get them done. When we were walking into the store I asked her if she had her “brave pants” on. She looked down at her pants and said, “No! I have my gingerbread pants on!” LOL! She picked topaz studs for her birthstone color for her studs to wear while her ears heal and handled it like a champ when she had it done. Apparently, her gingerbread pants will also work as “brave pants”.

Silly Emilee

Every week I have to delete dozens and dozens of pictures and videos that Emilee makes with my phone. She makes goofy videos and pulls silly faces at herself and entertains herself forever with it. For posterity sake I thought I would include one of her latest videos in the family blog. Allison is pretending to knock so Emilee will go answer the door in the back ground. Emilee incorporates it into her video when she cackles, “You can’t trick me!”

Allison The Busy Bee

Allison has had a lot going on this month. She just finished a big project for school and did the presentation. They did a wax museum and she presented the gymnast Gabby Douglas. This was the same project I helped edit. She did a great job presenting and making her poster.

She went to the zoo with the McDonald family a bit ago. Lori sent me some cute pictures.

This last picture made me smile. This is a very Allison thing to do. We went to the dentist the other morning and while we were waiting for her to go back I looked down at her leg and noticed she had turned to of the moles on her leg into a smiley face.

Our church has a Bishop Youth Discussion (BYD) about once a month for the teenagers in the ward. They have different topics each month. This past month was the first one that Allison and Matthew had gone to together. They leader guiding the discussion had several of the youth come up front. He told each of them to write something down on a piece of paper that someone else would have to do. Of course they all wrote down something silly or embarrassing for whoever ended up with their paper to do. Allison was one of the kids selected and on her paper she wrote, “Confess your love to Matthew Terry.” Once everyone had written something down, their papers were collected and they read a scripture. Neither one of my stinkers can remember what the scripture was but the message was-treat people the way you want to be treated and don’t ask others to do things that you wouldn’t be willing to do yourself. The leader then returned each of the notes to the person that had written it and told them they got to do whatever they had put on it. Honestly, I couldn’t have picked a much better object lesson for Allison to participate it. Someone recorded it for me and sent me the video. I will admit it brought me some smug satisfaction. Allison (and Matthew) were good sports.

Tickled My Funny Bone

The other day when I was wasting time on the internet watching funny videos I came across that joke. It comes from one of first You Tube videos that ever went viral-the guy sang the song “Maya He, Mayo Ho, Maya Ahah”. That is probably not the actual name of the song but is how it is remembered. It made me chuckle. I decided to try it on a few people. It did not work so well for me. These are some of the responses I got.

Spring Break

We stayed home this year for Spring Break. We are toying with the idea of building a house and have some things going to see what we could get approved for on a loan so we didn’t want to do anything to extravagant. To help add a little bit of fun to the week, I agreed to watch our friends dog Po. He is a Berna-doodle, at least 100lbs, a fluff ball, and very playful. They had a lot of fun with him.

Matthew took him to the dog park a few times and he slept with him at night. Emilee fed him and took him on a few walks. Allison catered to his every need and whim. She barely left his side. They all played with him and had a good time. He is a pretty smart dog. He knew how to play hide-n-seek so they played that for hours.

They were hoping it would change my mind about wanting a dog but I told them from the start that wasn’t going to happen and this was just for a week. I thought he was a very good dog but he made everything smell like a dog, scratched my floors and required a lot of work that I don’t have energy for.

He brought a lot of fun to our Spring Break, and now when we see him at our friends he is very excited to see us. We fit some other fun stuff in for our Spring Break too. Emilee did horse camp, we saw several movies together, had lots of play dates, went to lunch together, the zoo, and stayed up to late and slept in to long. It was great.

The last part of the break Ryan went on his 15th annual March madness trip with his BFF Mike and Sam.

We Work Better Separately

Allison was given the assignment of writing a paper on Gabby Douglas for school. In class they switched papers and peer edited it for each other. They were given a specific form with items to check and give feed back on the paper they edited. Allison was sick this week and wasn’t able to get her paper edited, so her teacher suggested she have a parent edit it and fill out the review form. Ryan was out of town so she asked if I would edit it for her. In hind sight I should have had Matthew do it but I wasn’t smart enough to come up with that at the time. Allison has a lot of amazing strengths and talents. She is a very smart girl. She has been working really hard on her moodiness and responding to emotions on the same level as the person she is talking with (instead of always responding with a 10).

In general we have been getting along a lot better. So much better that I completely forgot that one of Allison’s many strengths is not taking constructive criticism well. Especially from her mother.

She left me in my room with her computer and the review sheet and I started editing. I followed the review sheet and highlighted, noted and marked whatever it told me to do. After about 5 minutes had passed Allison returned to get her paper. I told her I wasn’t done yet. She left and came back 5 minutes later. I still wasn’t done. She looked over my shoulder and asked what could be taking so long. When she saw that I had actually made edits to her paper (that she apparently thought was unimprovable) she show cased another one of her talents. She is pretty incredible at quick thinking and has a quick wit to match. Unfortunately, she sometimes uses this ability to ring someone up and down on a level that makes you feel like it was scripted for a movie if she feels wronged. Looking back now it was comical, at the time not so much. She was truly flabbergasted that I could have found anything wrong with her paper beyond an accidental grammar error. Allison also has an incredible way of pushing my buttons and one of my weaknesses is that I let her. We both started arguing and ended with me telling her to edit her own paper, her taking her computer and storming out and yelling, “All you had to do was put your name on the editing sheet-THAT IS IT- three seconds to do something and you screwed it all up!”

A few hours later she came and found me and with the enormous amount of grit and determination Allison has coursing through every cell in her body she swallowed her pride and told me, “I changed some of the things back and ignored most of your suggestions. BUT you actually did have some good corrections that I kept. Thank you for editing my paper. Oh, and sorry for yelling at you.”

I picked my jaw up off the floor and gave her a hug. Not to long ago this would have gone a totally different way and been dragged out for days. While I could have tweaked her apology a little, the fact that she apologized on her own without any prompting is a big step. Huge steps have been made.

Irony

According to my children, I am an obsessive compulsive cleaner. According to me my children are messy lazy slobs. Of course we both disagree with each others perspectives of the other, but as I love to tell them I am the mom, the adult, the owner of the house, and maker of the rules so for now they have to do it my way. This opinion of each other leads to a constant debate in our home, as I am sure it happens in many homes, when a chore is given between “I did do (fill in job requested)!” and “You did not do (fill in job requested) well.” A simple task that if done immediately and correctly would take 5-10 minutes can be dragged out for hours. It is truly exhausting.

The other day when they were doing some of their jobs, several of them needed to use the vacuum. I was doing some things of my own and also needed to use the vacuum. As all of us used it and passed it around I noticed this;

According to our usual MO’s the loosely wrapped cord would be my kids doing, and the neatly wrapped cord would be mine. However, many years ago I decided it was annoying to wrap and unwrap the cord every time I used the vacuum that I keep in the closet and never look at. I started wrapping it as shown in exhibit A. A little bit messy but that is the way I prefer it. Such a slacker, I know. You would think my children-that cut every corner they can when doing their chores-would be all for wrapping the cord this way. Honestly, I’m surprised that it gets wrapped up in any way at all but all three of my children- every single one of them- neatly rolls the cord up as soon as they are done using the vacuum. They don’t put it away of course but they wrap the cord and tuck it in all nice and neat. AND IT DRIVES ME CRAZY. I will say nothing though. I am not willing to find out what happens if I suggest my kids do something less… thorough. All my ‘harping and nagging’ over the years has taken root in their heads to wrap the vacuum cord. I can only hope that one day it will spread to throwing their trash away, or putting their dirty dishes in the dishwasher with out being told. Maybe it will spontaneously pop into their heads one day to put their dirty socks in the laundry bin instead of leaving it wherever they take them off. That hope keeps me from telling them, they don’t have to wrap the vacuum cord. That is irony at its finest for you.

Things That Made Me Smile

These two besties are just like sisters. Reese and Emilee were due within a few days of each other but Emilee came early so they are two weeks apart. They have been besties since then. They went to pre-school together but are in different school districts. They see each other at church and church activities and take riding lessons together and squeeze in as much play time as they can in between. They both love horses and talk about them for hours when they play. They both have similar interests in clothes (they grab the first thing they touch in the drawer regardless of if it matches or not) hairstyles (brush it just long enough to get it in a pony tail) and sense of adventure (they always climb, run, jump or fling themselves in, up, or down whatever they can). They are both the youngest and are often left hanging out together on Friday or Saturday nights while everyone else is off doing things with friends and their parents go out to dinner together. They are easy to have together and fun to watch. This picture is from the other day when they were at our house and decided they would practice putting ponytails in each others hair.

Allison has a very witty sense of humor that catches me off guard sometimes. She loves to make people laugh when she isn’t being a grump she is fun to joke around with. A few months ago I got a little to attached to a stupid farm game on my phone. The kids took notice and gave me a hard time about spending my time on something else besides them. Allison is also a very crafty and artistic person. She started making funny stories or pictures with stick figures. I am not very artistically gifted so I was impressed at how funny and detailed she could be with just stick figure drawings. One morning I found this funny little picture left for me next to my sink in the bathroom. It made me chuckle.

As mentioned a little earlier in this post, Emilee doesn’t concern herself to much with looks when getting dressed. Her first priority is comfort. Last week she attempted to add a functionality component to her Sunday outfit. Luckily her dad caught her before getting to church. When he asked her why she was wearing what she was wearing, she logically explained, “I put my clothes on that I want to wear after church under my church clothes so I can change faster when I get home.” When the look on her dads face looked like it was heading towards “I don’t think so” she quickly added, “And it keeps me warm.” He told her to trade her socks and pants for tights and get in the car to go.

Emilee is making the blog a lot this week. Another quirk of Emilee’s is her love of popcorn. Emilee is a ridiculously picky eater and has a HUGE sweet tooth so popcorn is one of her more healthy choices of snack. It also falls into the category of easy and fast for her to make by herself. Over time her love of popcorn has gotten to the point that she will eat nothing else if we don’t monitor or limit her popcorn intake. She eats all of the popcorn too, kernels included. I don’t know how she hasn’t cracked half her teeth chomping the un-popped corn. This popcorn trait is inherited from her dad. He likes his burned, she will eat it burned but prefers it not. Anyway, I digress. Most days when Ryan gets home Emilee has done her chores and home work and whatever else she needs to get done so she has popped herself a bag of popcorn and is sitting down to enjoy it while watching a show. He of course wants to have some and reaches for a handful. She turns into the equivalent of a dog that has possessive food issues. It got to the point that it was causing contentions between the two of them and we had to talk with Emilee about realizing there is plenty of popcorn to share. So far she doesn’t agree there is enough. So, the other day we were watching a movie together. Emilee popped some popcorn and came to snuggle me. A bit into the movie I told her thanks for sharing her popcorn with me and she was doing a good job at sharing. We continued watching and eating. I happened to glance over and realized that Emilee had been mining our popcorn the whole time! She had taken out all the butter pieces and put them in a separate pile on the other side of me so she could eat them after she ate what she left in the bowl ‘to share’ with me. Little stinker!

March Madness Gymnastic Meet

Allison had her second to last meet for this season, this month. She had her best meet yet! She placed first in her division on bar and floor, second on vault, third on beam. She won 1st place All Around for her division.

It was really fun to watch her and see her excitement at doing well. She puts a lot of time and effort into gymnastics and it is fun to see her enjoying it. She has one last meet at the end of this month. It is in Manhattan Kansas and it is a big event with multiple areas for each event happening at the same time. She is pretty excited.

The Valentine Box

It was recently the fun time of year when all (now most in a post COVID world) elementary students carry on the decades old tradition of decorating a box with as much hearts, glitter, pink and frilly decorations as they can and make a Valentine’s for each class member to exchange and put in each others box. For some brief back ground- Matthew made his first box in kindergarten and after that year decided a plastic grocery sack was good enough for his remaining elementary years. Allison let me help her make her box in kindergarten and then told me my help was no longer needed in the following years. She came up with a bigger and more elaborate design each year for her box. It never resembled a box or anything to do with Valentine’s other than having a slot to put the Valentine’s cards in. By third grade her reputation preceded her and the teachers gave her specific size limits on her box. Emilee has always gone the more traditional route and decorated a shoe box in the before mentioned way. She is the last kiddo that still makes a Valentine’s box for school in our house.

This year during one of our many days off of school in February she had a burst of creativity and brought me a drawing of what she wanted to do for her box the next week. We gathered the supplies she needed and she was excited and thrilled to make her picture come to life by making her box all by herself. She did a great job. She was very proud of it and it sat on the side table in the kitchen for the few days before it was time to take it to school.

They were told to bring it in sometime in the two days before the party. She had a bunch of other things to take the school the first day they could bring them in so she planned to take it the second day. The morning she was supposed to take it I reminded her not to forget it. She said, “No, I think I will just have people set the Valentine on my desk.” I of course asked her what she meant and she started to tear up. Come to find out, almost everyone else had brought their boxes in the day before and after seeing them Emilee thought hers wasn’t good enough. She said that most of the other boxes were, “more neat looking” than hers. Meaning-they were made by adults not kids, or ordered on the internet and ‘professionally’ made. Grrr, I was pretty annoyed. This isn’t the first time one of my kids has been embarrassed of something they did on their own because other kids parents do the assignments for them. It is a soap box of mine. Stupid parents. We talked about how her box was perfect the way it was and how awesome it was that she did it all by herself (because 1-she wanted to and had a great time doing it and 2- THOSE ARE THE DIRECTIONS-not have your parents make your box). I told her I loved her box and she should be proud of it. She told me,” You are just saying that because you are my mom so you have to like it.” Allison then chimed in and said that one of the reasons she made her boxes the way she did is so they would be unique and represent something she liked and told Emilee, “I love the way you did your box. The see through part is cool.” Allison’s words carried a lot more weight than mine. The silver lining of having sisters that fight more than it seems like they get along is that when one of them gives you a compliment you believe it because you know they have no problem insulting you. It was a sweet moment. I appreciated Allison helping her sister.

She took her box to school and was happy to report that her friend Millie told her is was an awesome box. I was helping at the party the next day and had the chance to see all the boxes myself. There were many boxes there that were clearly made by an adult or straight up bought on some bougie valentine website. It was ridiculous. I was happy to see the few that were home made by kids and made sure to tell each of them I loved their creativity. She still has her box sitting on her dresser and I will leave it there as long as she wants to instead of chucking it after a few weeks like I normally would.

Firsts

In our church the year you turn twelve you graduate primary and move to the youth program. Allison started Young Women’s. Each class has a presidency to help plan and run the activities. She is the secretary for her class right now. Allison loves growing up and being in charge of things so she is loving it. Most of their activities are on Tuesday night and she has gymnastics that night, so for now she won’t be able to go to a lot of them. She is still enjoying planning and going to the ones that aren’t on Tuesday’s.

The year they turn twelve is also the year they are old enough to go to the temple and do baptisms. She was able to go for the first time last week. It is fun to see her growing up and getting more responsibilities.

Matthew is turning 16 this year so he moves up to the Priest Quorum in our church. That means one of his new responsibilities is to bless the sacrament on Sunday. He did it for the first time a few weeks ago and his dad and grandpa did it with him. It was cool to see three generations blessing the sacrament together.

Allison’s Art Work

Allison’s Adventures

Allison is doing really well in school. Her goal it to work on her time management which makes me very happy. She is a person that evaluates herself and while she might not admit a mistake or shortfall, she makes a conscious effort to change or develop habits that she wants to work on.

In one of her classes they are making a large marble chute on a board. She asked me if I new which one was hers. All but one of them was contained to the board they were given to attach it to. One of them had extensions all over and was only on the board when she wanted to cross over to the other side. I guessed the least contained design and was right. Allison doesn’t like to be contained and that applies to all aspects of her life.

When I took some things into Emilee’s room the other day I found this note on the bathroom door that they share. It has been a while since I have found an Allison note. It made me chuckle. I especially love the ‘probably’ in parenthesis under “I WILL”. The two of them are working out some boundary/sharing issues with their shared bathroom.

Allison had another gymnastic meet this month. Her team took 1st place. She got her personal best in two events. She got a 9.3 on her floor and vault routine. She is progressing in all of her events and doing well. It is fun to watch her improve.

Boys vs Girls Communication

While I was at work the other day on a Thursday afternoon, I got a text from Lisa, she is Matthew’s friend Campbell’s mom. She asked me if I was ok with the schedule for Saturday for pictures and hanging out before and after the dance. Apparently that weekend-in two days, there was a high school dance that Matthew and Campbell were attending with a group of her friends. I told her I was glad she had reached out because I had no idea there was a dance coming up. After her text, I texted Matthew and asked him if he was going to a dance this weekend that he hadn’t mentioned to me yet. He said, “Yep.”

I am finding that Matthew will answer my questions if I ask him very specific questions multiple times. He isn’t much on details. Luckily Lisa and Campbell are, so they fill me in and tell me what is going on. He made it to all the places he needed to be to eat, take pictures, and dance. Campbell told me the dance was more fun this time because people actually danced.

Matthew also had parent teacher conferences. His communication continued to be brief for that as well. His entire presentation had fewer words than Emilee’s or Allison’s had on one page. Between his teacher and I we were able to drag enough information to know what we needed to know. I took a few snap shots of some of his artwork. I am not sure what the stick figure one is, when I asked he said, “An assignment.” 🙂

Emilee’s Events

Emilee had to find a new place to ride horses. The barn she was riding at had a few of their horses pass away and the owner wanted to take some time off from teaching. It took a bit of time to find a new place. Part of the issue was that she only wanted to ride with Reese so we had a find a place that had room for both of them. We finally found a place that wasn’t to much farther away. It seems a little more organized and stream lined than the last barn. Hopefully they will continue to progress in there riding.

While she waited for me to find a new barn for her, she filled her time with playing with her horses at home. She is pretty cute. This heard of horses, barbies and random other stuffed animals can be found around the house in various stages of their daily trek from the fireplace to the office and and back to the fireplace. They always travel together in a pack and they seem to have a fairly organized rotation for taking turns riding on all the different horses. If you are lucky you will catch a little bit of conversation between all of the animals but if they know you are around they move pretty quietly. I love her imagination.

She has also become one of her primary teachers helpers with her baby on Sundays. She loves holding her. The babies name is Maddie and as you can see she is fond of Emilee too.

February is usually parent teacher conferences. For the winter conference they have the students come with their parents and talk with them about what they are doing and learning. Along with her grades (that were very good!) I was sent home with a few of Emilee’s self portraits. One of them was her before she got glasses and the other was after she got them. She has done much better in school and seems to feel more confident going now that she can see. Imagine that. She reads a lot without being asked too. I asked her how she read the board to know what to do. She said, “I just guessed.” I’m glad we figured it out so she can work and learn at her full capacity. Poor girl! She looks pretty cute with her glasses I think!

All three of my kids needed glasses when we went in for this years annual eye check up. Apparently we didn’t eat enough carrots last year. Matthew and Allison only need their glasses in certain situations, Emilee needs hers all the time.

January 2022

This January was a typical January. Not a lot going on. A good month to rest after all the holidays and re-group and plan for the upcoming year. It is a long slow month. I don’t mind though.

Ryan’s work did there usual January Christmas party for the company and their spouses. This year was a little different though because it was also the 10 year anniversary of the company starting. Ryan has been with them since they started so he made a little party planning committee and they put together a fun night for everyone. It was at a hotel in Lawrence Kansas. They had meetings Thursday and Friday and then Friday evening all the spouses came and joined for the party. They had a dinner followed by a casino night. They gave you fake money to play with and you won tickets with your money that you could bid on a bunch of prizes at the end. They did a good job. It was a fun night. Everyone stayed the night in the hotel and went home the next morning. I am glad he works at a company he enjoys and works with good people.

That is about the only event worth reporting in January. February came with a couple good snow storms this year. Ryan’s parents went to Idaho for a while to see Becky and her new baby boy Kaden. We took care of their house for them while they were gone. Ryan told the kids to go over and shovel his driveway. I am a sucker and they talked me into driving them over. Then they found his snow blower and asked if they could use that. I pulled it out and it was easy enough to use so I started using it and told them to shovel. At some point the new phone in my pocket that was less than two weeks old wiggled its way out of my pocket and fell on the ground. The snow hid it and the next time I came around I snow blowed it right up. I thought I had hit a heavy part of snow for a second and then didn’t think much about it. Matthew was standing at the top of the drive way in front of me and noticed a black object flying through the air land at his feet. He looked to see what it was and picked up my phone. It was no longer straight but had a nice arch to it. The phone did not survive its run through the snow blower. The case however came out with barely a scratch on it. I was pretty annoyed. I got to spend three hours of my day to go buy a second new phone. I got the special one for the price of two deal this time.

Fire Alarms and Cocoa

All the Christmas stuff is put away. We have had a few snow flurries, the new year is underway and the long month of January is about half over.

Last week after the kids had started back at school about the time that both Ryan and I were headed home from work last week the girls called him. He answered the phone and Allison said, “Dad, the fire alarms are going off in our house. There is a weird smell. I took Peanut and Emilee and we are walking to Grandma’s house. I made Matthew come with us but he is a jerk and wouldn’t bring the crabs.”

Ryan asked if he could talk to Matthew. He didn’t see or smell any smoke so he didn’t think there was a fire but he was going with the girls to grandma’s because the alarms were going off and obviously really loud. He also confirmed that the crabs were on their own if the house was on fire.

Ryan decided to not have them call 911 because he was only a few minutes away from the house and hoped/assumed at 15 years old Matthew was somewhat capable of knowing if there was a fire in the house. He told them to go to Grandpa’s house until I came and got them just in case it was a carbon monoxide leak or a fire.

Roger and Ryan went over to check the house. The alarms would go off for a minute or two and then stop for a bit then start again. As far as they could figure there had been a short or something that set the furnace room alarm off. No smoke, no gas, and the battery was still good. Weird. I will take weird over a fire any day. As far as the weird smell Allison smelled, we think it was the smell of something that burned in the dishwasher on the heat cycle. It washed them while we were all at work and school and when Emilee opened it after school to empty it, the kitchen had a little bit of that weird burning smell.

Ryan called me and told me what happened so I went to get the kids. I was glad to see all three fire trucks at the station by our house when I drove by and no pillar of smoke coming from the direction of my house. When I got to Grandma’s house Matthew was playing a game, she had already gotten a snack and a craft out for the girls to work on, and Peanut was in his temporary home (a box from Grandma’s garage) with several towels to snuggle in. Allison was still annoyed at Matthew for abandoning the crabs and not feeling bad about it at all. When dad and Grandpa gave us the all clear we went back home and had some hot cocoa.

The take aways from our exciting evening were:

We are really glad we have Grandma and Grandpa close by. When in doubt, go to Grandma and Grandpa’s house.
In an emergency Allison will take charge and make sure everyone is safe including the pets.
Matthew will assist Allison in saving human beings but is out when it comes to pets-especially crabs (unless we get a dog). Matthew is also happy to let Allison run the show.

As I am typing the last few sentences, it reminds me of the time the kids came home from school and there was some ‘strange men people’ according to Allison that were climbing around on our roof. I have probably blogged this story before but I will review it again.

At this point in time Grandma and Grandpa didn’t live in Kansas yet. When Allison got off the bus and saw the unexpected people on our roof she later told us she couldn’t recall any conversations about people coming over to fix something and was unaware of any roof issues that our house had so she was immediately suspicious and told Matthew they should all stand by the mail box until dad or I got home. Matthew looked around for a second then said, “No thanks, it is cold.” He then crossed the road and entered the house through the garage like any other day. 🤦‍♀️Emilee followed him because, “It was cold.” 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ They left Allison at the mailbox. As they were closing the garage Allison ran across the street and ran into the garage. Matthew and Emilee went inside dropped their stuff all over the floor and got a snack and went on with their usual after school routine. Allison grabbed the phone and a BAT from the garage and walked out the front door and stood in the middle of the front yard to stare down the strange men while she called Ryan to tell him what the situation was.

Ryan was actually surprised and didn’t know why people would be on our roof either he told Allison to get herself back in the house and lock the door and he talked with her while he came home immediately. A few minutes later she said they were putting their ladders away and leaving. She sat by the front door looking out the window with her bat in case they decided to come back until Ryan got home.

Turns out, it was a Christmas light company that puts lights on your house for you. They had gotten the wrong address and put lights on our house by mistake. They figured it out eventually when whoever’s house they were supposed to put the lights on never got them. A few days later when we got home they were gone.

I think Allison was 8 or 9 when this happened. We recommended that in the future instead of going home they go to a neighbors house if someone is at our house unexpectedly. We know that Allison will take charge and let us know if something isn’t right.