Yard Work, Photos

We spent quite a  bit of time in the yard on Saturday thatching, raking, cleaning up trash, cleaning out the shed, and sweeping off the walkways and patio. James took stuff to D.I. and I took a load of stuff to the dump, then went to IFA to get the year's fertilizer. I put the humate and round 1 of fertilizer down yesterday and we turned the sprinklers on to get in a good watering. We should have a green yard within the week! I always dread setting everything up, but it's usually not a big deal.

I got everything done with the photos that I intended to. It was a great source of frustration to do the Google Photos accounts for my parents. I had to keep verifying with a code every time I wanted to do something, and that was annoying. It also took a while to get everything uploaded, and I still don't have all of Mom's stuff since she's not tech savvy and I'm far away. I did share all of the old Phenix photos with both of them and created self-updating albums on my dad's account for each married sibling. There weren't as many photos of us as I'd hoped, but oh well. I've done my research on doing slides, and I think I'm going to go for it. I learned that the slide to digital converter also does negatives, but I don't know if I want to go there.

Pros:

1. Negatives make better quality pictures.

2. There may be pictures that I didn't have loose copies of or aren't in scrapbooks. (Unlikely, though. Most negatives were with stacks of pictures from the same time period.)

Cons:

1. Negatives tend to degrade over time, so I might go to a lot of work for nothing.

2. The color might be off, and I'd have to learn how to fix it.

3. They'd need to be cleaned off first.

4. They're fairly disorganized because I didn't think I'd use them for anything. (But they are all in one bag, more or less.)

5. I'd have to scan all of them that are on one strip and then delete the bad ones, which in my experience, is 80% of them. Having done all the digital photos, I don't think it would be worth the effort.

When I'm in NC in June, I'll get my dad's slides from his mission and convert them. Then, in July, I will get Rex's and do those. I'm pretty excited to see all the mission pictures from Argentina and Italy.

If the slides turn out well, maybe I will charge to do them for people in my ward. I dunno.

Busy, Photos

Honestly, I wasn't excited for this week at all. James had parent/teacher conferences, Kenny a doctor's appointment and eye appointment, Joseph an orthodontist appointment, and all of us stake conference. I know I shouldn't grumble about extra church meetings, but I was this weekend. I made a point to go to all 3 meetings, though, and I was both humbled and inspired by the messages given. I'm grateful that I've been able to do many good things with my time at home, and I know that my next step is to study Spanish in preparation for our trip to Ecuador.

But first, pictures. Here's a boring recap of what I've done thus far since I've now spent 155 hours on it for the Heads:

*Sorted loose photos and envelopes by month/year and scanned from 1954 - 2008 (2 huge boxes!)

*Scanned photos from older scrapbooks that weren't in the loose ones

*Uploaded all the scanned photos to Google Photos (mine, Melodie's)

*Consolidated 200 GB of stuff on a hard drive, sorted by month and year and uploaded those photos, mostly from 2008 - 2016, and backed up to her other hard drive

*Cleaned up Google Photos for Melodie from 2017 - present day

*Named faces on Google Photos

*Created self-updating albums for my family, Sam's family, and Anna (Melodie's account)

*Made a comprehensive Shutterfly book of James's childhood since such a scrapbook has never been in existence

*Made albums for future FHE's which include all 4 of our parents' childhoods and early marriage

*Made an album for James of historical sites and museums

*Made an album of the extended Head family and shared it to the FB group

What's next?

*Make note of which photos in the later albums (1988 and on) I didn't have loose pictures for. In July, I'll get the albums out and take pictures of them on my phone. I have books for 4/7 of these albums, so that helps a lot. I don't think there will be very many, but I don't want to miss anything important.

*Put Grandpa Head's book in order in a binder.

*Get my parents to download Google Photos and upload all their pictures to the accounts. Add those to my Phenix family album.

Maybe?

*Look into getting a device to convert slides to digital and do my dad's and Rex's photos (mostly from the mission, I believe).

Spring Break: Rexburg and D.C. Trip

We had an uneventful drive to Rexburg on Friday (the 29th). Saturday, we dyed eggs and did a hunt for plastic eggs filled with candy.  Jesse and I went to the Thai place for lunch with Melodie for our birthdays. We also enjoyed a "Jerusalem dinner" of gyro meat, bulgur pilaf, flatbread, olives, and grapes. I've been in NC some years for Easter, so I've missed that tradition. It's both delicious and fun.

Easter Sunday, we attended church and had a delicious dinner afterward, the usual. I contributed by making the funeral potatoes the night before and deviling the eggs Sunday morning. I was still feeling a bit sick, but I took a quick nap and felt better afterward. I still wasn't too sure about how I'd feel on the D.C. trip.

James and I left on Monday for our D.C. trip. We spent the day in Salt Lake getting lunch at a German deli, browsing IKEA and a few other stores, and trying Raising Cane's for dinner. Our flight didn't leave till 10:50 P.M., and we arrived in D.C. Tuesday morning around 9 with a layover in Boston. We'd been hoping for a little sleep, but I think we each got an hour. Luckily, there were movies to enjoy during the long (and short) flights.

Tuesday morning, we headed straight into D.C. on the metro. We carried only backpacks since we knew we'd be walking around all day with all of our belongings. We started with the Museum of Natural History, got sandwiches at Potbelly's, and did a part of the American History museum as well. By the time things closed, we were pretty exhausted and got on the metro to head to our hotel in Alexandria. We got pizza for dinner at &Pizza, then relaxed for a little bit and crashed for the night. I went to bed at 8 P.M. Eastern, which would be 6 P.M. Mountain, then slept for about 11 hours. Haha. I guess I was tired.

Wednesday, we got an early start but unfortunately got soaked in the rain. We started at the Museum of African American History and Culture and finished the American History museum before lunch at a Peruvian-Chinese-Japanese place downtown. I absolutely loved the fusion food. We went to both buildings of the art museum after lunch and then dragged our tired bodies to Chinatown for a delicious dinner. It was well worth the extra steps. At the hotel, we strategized for the next day since we found out we needed tickets for a couple of places.

Thursday, I watched like a hawk and snagged tickets for both Air & Space and the Library of Congress. We spent the morning at Air & Space, got lunch in Eastern Market, and then headed to the Capitol for a tour. It was absolutely gorgeous, as was the Library of Congress. We got a little lost in there! On the way to find dinner, we bumped into the outside part of the botanic gardens. It was Potbelly's again, but a couple of disinterested teens didn't give us the best service. Oh well.

Friday, we rented scooters and saw the monuments and memorials. After a delicious lunch at the Hamilton, we reluctantly headed to the airport to make the long journey home. I found some delicious Korean food in the Boston airport as my final "fun" meal of the journey. We got back to Salt Lake fairly late and finally got checked in to our hotel at midnight. Kenny turned 12 without us!

Saturday, we drove to Rexburg while listening to Conference, watched Conference with Lars and Emily, and watched even more Conference with eating breaks during and in between.

Sunday, we listened to all of Conference in the car as we headed home. It was a bummer to be in the car again, but we had a good trip and got things unpacked that night. AM radio didn't let us down, so we didn't miss anything either!

It's been an okay week so far. The trip was so amazingly fun that it's been hard to get back to "real life". Everyone is still slightly sick, but that awful illness is almost gone. I had all the stamina I needed to do a lot of stuff in D.C. We walked 80,000 steps from Monday - Friday!

I'm now working on the 3rd and final round of Head photos. They are from the second box and range from 2000 back to the 60's when my in-laws were kids. My plan is the scan all the photos back to 1988, then make James's photo book, then tackle all the photos (plus about 10 scrapbooks) from before then. I don't know how long this round will take, but I'd guess another 50 hours. There are more pictures than I thought, but that has been true the past few times too. James's family took a lot more pictures than my family ever did.

I know it's only Tuesday, but I'm going to publish this so I can work on the other blog on Thursday.

Still Sick, My 36th Birthday

Well, I did not get better by my birthday. Though I tried to spend the weekend resting, the cold ramped up in intensity by Monday. I've felt absolutely horrible with one symptom or another since then. It seems like they keep trading off; one thing gets better but another gets worse. Since Monday, I've had a horrible cough, extreme fatigue, headache, and overall malaise. I had a few good nights of sleep, but last night I coughed a lot and kept waking up. I'm glad to be at home where I can rest. I've tried to do the bare minimum, but that's easier said than done. We're leaving for Rexburg tomorrow, and James and I will be in D.C. for a good chunk of that, so I really need to get better!

My birthday was all right. I'm glad we celebrated Sunday since I didn't feel horrible yet. I made devil's food cake, and Joseph made cookie dough ice cream. I got books and chocolate, both of which I've worked on this week. One big indicator that I'm not feeling well is the lack of appetite. That only happens with the worst of illnesses.

I've been this level of tired before, when I was pregnant with Samantha. Obviously I wasn't coughing a lot, but dang, I don't know how I survived that. I know I'll be doing a lot better in a few days. I already am, or at least I feel like I'm over the worst of it. This cold is like the one I had last year after NC, but I haven't lost my voice to that degree.

Time for a nap. I'm glad the kids can pack their own stuff now.

Rexburg, Sick, Pressure

James and Katie had a good trip to Rexburg, but it wasn't restful for anyone. This week has been a bit of a drag since everyone has a little bit of a cold. Naturally, that means headaches and fatigue for me, plus a sore (though mostly just scratchy) throat. It's a good week to be sick since we're not traveling, and I don't have any projects I'm working on yet. (I'm still excited about Phase 3 of the Head photos because it means I can finally make James's epic photo book.)

Over the weekend, we watched several movies: the Eras Tour, Wonka, PotC, and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I had a RS brunch and broadcast Saturday and Sunday and kept busy during the days so only the evenings got lonely. I think this is the worst cold I've had all winter, and it's the first one that has progressed beyond headache/fatigue. I'm getting impatient because I want to be all better by Monday (my birthday). Though I haven't had a big project to work on, I've still been busy with my regular stuff. I'm also making a Holy Week book so we can study and sing about Easter all week long. I've been meaning to do it for a few years, ever since I made a Christmas Advent book, but I've never gotten around to it until now.

I keep getting the questions about when I'll start working. Here's the thing: I still have no idea. I know because of the photos project that I only have a part-time number of hours to spare in a week, maybe 15-20. It takes a lot of time and energy to take care of a house, husband, 5 children, and myself. I've been volunteering in Samantha's class once a week for 2 hours, and I don't feel particularly excited to go start teaching. I'm an introvert. Having hours at home alone has been amazing for my level of patience when the kids get home. They deserve a happy mom who isn't stressed out from being around other people's kids all day. Because of various projects this year, all the spare time I've had has been spent on canning, family history, and taking care of sick children in between. I've had very few instances of getting bored, even though I've had 4-7 hours alone every day.

Our neighbor mowed his grass already, and that's another kind of peer pressure I don't enjoy. We don't need to water till it gets to 70 degrees, and we're not there yet. It still makes me feel a little bad this his yard is so perfect. Yeah, we have grass, and we spend a fair amount of time maintaining it, but we don't go all out like he does. And yeah, that's a silly thing to feel pressure over, but it happens every year.

I resent feeling rushed in any way. I have my own timelines for things. I can be decisive about things when I need to be, but thinking too far ahead has only led to more anxiety, which I don't need. Today, I'm staying home with my children and not mowing or watering my lawn, and I will not feel bad about it.

Chill

I've had a fairly relaxing few days, or at least I've tried to. Since Saturday, I've read 4 books and done 0 projects. The time change on Sunday was a bit rough, and I didn't feel my best, but it turned out to be a minor cold and PMS on top of regular old fatigue.

It's nice to have nothing to report. A few of us have a minor cold and I have a presidency meeting soon, but that's about it for this week. James and Katie will be leaving for Rexburg tomorrow, but there should be enough going on during the weekend to keep me busy.

Photos

The photos project is almost finished! What I have left today is to sort through a few videos, add the new photos to my PC from 2009 and later, and double check to make everything is on the right drive. Not counting 2ish hours today, I spent a total of 100 hours on the project and ended up with an album of 6, 253 items. There is another album with 128 that don't have dates yet because they're very old. All the photos for the Phenix family and Head family are sorted by year, month (when possible), correctly dated, uploaded to Google Photos, and saved to the correct locations, depending on the family.

Well, it's a day later, and that didn't work out like I expected. I asked Melodie about putting everything on her Google Photos account, and she gave me her password, so I found myself with more work than I anticipated. I cleaned up random older stuff, added all the stuff I'd scanned, and then sorted through the years 2016-2023 since I hadn't seen most of them before. I also downloaded those photos to the external hard drives. Rather than sort them into months, I left them in zip folders. On Google Photos, I created a self-updating album for my household so when any photos of us are taken, we'll get them automatically. I added all those photos to my own account, computer, and external hard drive. We ended up with at least 1,000 new photos.

I stressed myself out a little too much yesterday, but I've found the end of the project for now, or at least for the next week until James goes to Rexburg. Melodie has some scrapbooks she wants me to scan and another box to sort through when I visit next, but I think there won't be a lot of new stuff to add. I kept up on my house and family for the most part, but yesterday did not have a good balance. I hate it when I get close to finishing something but it ends up taking longer than expected.

Next week, my plan is to sort through the videos of my kids from Melodie, edit where needed, and get them up on YouTube. I also have a pile of books I haven't looked at, so I'll work on those in my spare time instead of anything relating to pictures. This has been a great project, but at least for now, I'm tired!

Anna's Visit

Anna arrived Friday afternoon, and we had a wonderful time with her here. We did a little shopping at thrift stores, had delicious food, watched Abbott Elementary, played board games, and went to see Emma: the Musical. All were fun, but I especially loved Emma in musical form. 

Not all of my Saturday was great. It started off with a long wait at Walmart to get a new battery for the van, which cost almost twice as much as a few years ago when we last bought one for the Yukon. Both Katie and Samantha had birthday parties that overlapped, which I didn't realize at first, so it was stressful to arrange drop off and pickup. I stayed with Samantha at hers but regretted it because I didn't know anyone. I didn't feel comfortable leaving her with a bunch of strangers since she's too little for a phone. It was cold and dark at the black light place too. I was so glad to get home.

Anna left on Sunday after lunch. The girls cried. We love our Auntie Anna.

The kids didn't have school Monday, so I met James for lunch at the Thai place. It was delicious even though it took a while to get our food. 

Tuesday was Samantha's first full day of school. She loves it so far. I volunteer on Tuesdays, so my first whole day alone was yesterday. It was kind of weird, but I don't hate it so far. It helps that for my first day, I had a new stash of truffles and some leftover pad Thai.

I got right in to the second round of Head photos starting on Sunday. So far, I consolidated all the digital photos from memory cards, flash drives, CD's, and external hard drives onto the biggest and best external hard drive. Next, I took everything out of folders, some 6 layers deep, and put them into folders by year. I also sorted the physical photos by year and put them in bags. There are only digital photos from 2019 back to 2009, but there are both from 2008-2000 and the just physical photos before that, some going back to the 60's. For each year, I create folders for the months. Then, I delete the duplicates and bad photos, fix dates as needed, and back them up to Google Photos and the other hard drive. Once I get to 2008, I'll also scan the photos that aren't already in digital format. All of those need date adjustments, of course. Everything from 2008 and before will also go on my computer's hard drive. I haven't decided yet if I'll include any from later years. I've already made scrapbooks for 2009 and on, so there isn't a big reason to include photos from later, but there are a few cute ones in there I might download just so they'll pop up on my screensaver. Everything goes into the Head family album too. There are currently over 3,000 pictures in there! I love this project, even though it can be tedious and takes a lot of time. I'm going to make James a really nice Shutterfly book of his life before we got married. I can't wait.

Long Weekend

We didn't have school on Friday or Monday due to the end of the tri and President's Day. James had wanted to go to Salt Lake for a day, but Kenny was still kind of sick on Friday. We instead stayed home and got the rest we needed after getting through that nasty illness. It got a little boring at times, but it was worth it to stay at home. James and I went on several dates: to a movie, to lunch in Roosevelt at a fun diner, and to dinner when I was feeling sad and grumpy. We figured it was still a lot cheaper than taking a trip to Salt Lake with the whole family.

This week has been a lot less busy, and everyone went to school except for today. Katie never ended up getting sick, and I'd promised her a mental health day. I think she's been a little bored, but that's okay. I don't want to encourage her to stay home because it's fun. I've tried to put her to work too.

We've had some snow, rain, and hail over the past few days, but the cows are back, so spring is coming! I can't wait! I'm also excited for Anna's visit, another Monday off (for the kids, though not James), and then full-day school for Samantha starting on Tuesday. I won't miss walking to the bus stop. I'm also getting a ton of photos, both physical and digital, from Anna that I'll be working on for an undetermined amount of time in the coming weeks. I still can't believe how fast this year has gone. I thought I was going to be bored, and that's hilarious to think about now.

More Stomach Bug, Valentine's Day

There's not a whole lot to report about this week except that more of us got sick. To recap, it all started with Katie (maybe?) who complained about her stomach hurting for about 4 days 2 weeks ago. Maybe it's 3 weeks now. I thought it was because she had a mean sub at school. Then, Samantha got sick for a few days, followed by Lewis. We had a Saturday where no one seemed sick, but then Sunday Lewis threw up again and then Joseph came down with it later in the day. Joseph missed Monday this week, then on Tuesday, it was my turn to get sick. Thankfully, it was short-lived, but it was not very fun while it lasted. Kenny started getting sick on Tuesday as well, so he's been home for the past few days. He had attempted going to school but threw up soon after getting there, so I went and picked him up after finding out the van wouldn't start, so I had to take the Yukon. Ugh.

We don't have school tomorrow or Monday, so that's a huge blessing. The bug, though short-lived for me, really wiped me out. I'm feeling normal now except for some lingering fatigue.  I've cleaned up more bodily fluids in the past 2 weeks than I have in years. I could definitely never be a nurse. Only James and Katie escaped without any real symptoms. I really hope they don't come down with it too. I don't think I can handle doing any more laundry.

Despite the sickness, we had a fun Valentine's Day. James got us all goodies, and I made some sugar cookies with pink frosting. The stake primary pres and Sis. Hall both stopped by with goodies when I was lying on the couch feeling terrible. It made my day.

I managed to get a few small things done, like cleaning my keyboard and learning a song I bought a few months ago. I also finished a couple of books and almost finished my pile from Christmas. I'm not going to run out any time soon because I have a whole bunch of recommendations from the book party I went to in January. I also caught up on my blog (mostly). After Anna comes next week, I won't have as much down time because I'll be getting a bunch of pictures to sort through. I'm so excited!

Lewis's 7th Birthday, Stomach Bug

Lewis's birthday was great. He loved his presents, and the cake and ice cream recipes I somewhat invented both came out great. We watched Jurassic World together after dinner. Unfortunately, the fun ended when Samantha threw up in her bed and I found it the next morning. I'd been hoping for some peaceful reading time before everyone woke up. I got it all cleaned up. She felt completely fine all day, so we did Sunday as normal with no one staying home.

Things were fine on Monday too, and we did a playdate, but Samantha threw up that night in her bed again. I'd told Katie I would deep clean the room, and I did, but the number of biohazards was more than I expected. Yuck. I hate being a nurse.

Samantha stayed home Tuesday and Wednesday and finally went to school today. I've not slept well because our blanket is too warm and I've been stressed. This morning, the boys informed me that Lewis threw up several times during the night and their lightbulb burned out. James graciously got the laundry into the wash while I made breakfast. Lewis is starting to perk up a bit. I hope the saltines and Gatorade stay down. I canceled everything I had for this week, and I'm going to have James take Lewis to his well check (ha). The number of times a kid has gotten sick right before a well check is crazy.

I'm glad I'm not working on anything big this week. It's been rough. I had some time to read and blog, but the extra laundry, sanitizing, etc. is stressing me out. Even though this winter has been warm and dry (relatively), I'm still ready for it to be over so we can be completely healthy. We have been pretty lucky this year, but I'm still not enjoying this week.

Science Fair and Bowl, KitchenAid, Sewing

The science fair went well for Joseph and Kenny on Thursday. We'd had an awful morning on Wednesday, but Thursday was completely different and went very smoothly. I went to the awards ceremony in the afternoon, and Joseph won a community prize!

Friday, Joseph left in the afternoon for the science bowl in SLC. They did all right, but it's a pretty new competition, so they didn't really know what they were up against. We had a game night, but I didn't love it. One guy brought his child, so that meant my children stayed up till 10 to play. Everyone was super grouchy the next morning too.

Kenny and I took the KitchenAid apart on Saturday morning. We couldn't find what was wrong with it, which is what I figured, but it was nice to see that the insides were truly shot. Actually, the gears were fine, but everything was covered in thick, black grease and dust. The grease starts off white, from what I understand. Either way, I went online and ordered a new (refurbished) one that happened to be on sale. It should arrive soon.

I finished 2 T-shirt quilts this week, one for Katie and one for Kenny. All I have left are a few scraps and repairs, which shouldn't take too long. I'll have more photos (both physical and digital) at the end of February when Anna comes to visit. My laminator came, so I can also work on updating my recipe cards and blog. It's been way too long since I even posted a recipe.

I'm currently making Almond Joy ice cream for Lewis's birthday tomorrow. I can't believe that kid is going to be 7.

Samantha and I finally got to do some play dates this week! School is going to change things, but she really wants to go full day. That will give me a chance to work on those photos all day if I want, uninterrupted. I won't deny that it's going to be lonely, though.

Photos, Sewing, Busy, Gloomy

I finished the photos! That giant box shrank down to half the size once I got rid of the bad pictures and organized everything really well. Everything is dated except for about 20 pictures, and I shared the album with the family on Google Photos.

My next project has been working on sewing a few quilts out of scraps from Grandma Lee. I spent Friday cutting squares, then Saturday making a few small blankets. I'll be able to make 2 patchwork quilts, twin size, and 1 more small blanket for a total of 6 blankets/quilts. I had just enough squares to plan out the 2 patchwork quilts with only 2 left over.

Saturday, I attended a murder mystery party that was Italian-themed. It was delicious and fun. I still have a pile of books to read from Christmas, but I'm working on them.

It's been a pretty busy week with the orthodontist, a parent-teacher conference, activities for Katie and YM for the boys, and now the science fair. I took everyone with me and dropped the boys off at the Conference Center this morning, then took the littles to school. I'll go back this afternoon with Samantha to see the projects and the awards ceremony.

Once I'm done with the sewing, I'm going to organize my recipes and catch up on the blog. It's been a while. I also ordered a little laminator so I can have nicer recipe cards. The card protectors have proven to be flimsy over the years. On the subject of cooking, my KitchenAid mixer currently isn't working. I replaced the motor brushes, but that wasn't it. There's a short in it somewhere, so I'm going to take it apart on Saturday and see if I can fix it. I give myself a 50/50 chance.

I had a couple of gloomy days this week. It's been cloudy for a week now, and the past 3 playdates have been cancelled due to illness (though not ours, so I'm grateful for that). I also had a bad morning yesterday and send a kid to school crying (though that really wasn't my fault.) The sun came out and she returned home happy, so everything is good again. I also finished Stormlight 4. I can't wait for the 5th one to come out this year!

Samantha wants to go to school full day during the 3rd trimester, and that was always my plan, but it's sneaking up pretty fast. I've got my work cut out for me, though. There are more photos to come, miscellaneous ones from another box, and then digital ones from SD cards. I have no idea how much time those will take up, but I won't get them till March when James makes a short trip to Rexburg for a comedy show with his sister. I am really glad I took on the project. I had never before seen any pictures of James for a good chunk of his life. I feel like I know his family better, too.

Photos, Party, Winter

It was another busy week with lots of picture organizing and scanning. I'm currently done with everything from 1980 and on. There aren't a lot of pictures left, just some random ones from my in-laws' childhoods and then a small pile that I couldn't sort before, but now I can make educated guesses on where they belong. I also spent some time on my family's photos doing a little cleaning up on the dates and putting them together into one big album. Phew. It's been an awesome project, but I'll also be glad when I'm done and can share it with everyone.

Samantha went to Navy's birthday party on Saturday, and I stayed with her since she was a bit nervous. She had a great time, and I got to hold the babies. It was also great to visit with Makenzie since it had been a while, like 2 months, thanks to sickness and holidays. We haven't had a lot of play dates recently, which is a bummer, but I've also been able to work really hard on these photos.

The past week has been wintering hardcore. We've had a few inches of snow, lots of clouds, subzero temps, and even some wind. It's been so much better than last winter, but I'll still be ready when it's over.

James and I played a couple rounds of the new game he got for Christmas, Robinson Crusoe. It's pretty fun so far, even though setup is intense and it takes a while. I love cooperative games because they feel more like real life to me. Maybe that's silly, but I don't care.

Pictures

Not too much stands out from this week except for working on the Heads' pictures. I started on them last Friday, I think, and spent about 7 hours organizing them into years. We set up a table in the living room for me to work and have the scanner next to the computer. Usually it's in my room to keep it from the kids. For each year, I look at the backs of the photos and see if I can sort them into months. It helps that many of them are in envelopes. For the loose ones with no ID, I've used context clues or had James help me figure them out. I've had to make a few adjustments along the way, but so far I've scanned from 2004 back to 1995. I should be able to scan them all by the end of next week, I'm thinking. They are all going into an album on Google Photos, which I'll then share with the family. I love that Google Photos makes it so easy to change the dates and identify faces. I hope it never goes away!

We finally got some snow, just a couple inches. Too bad it's not good snowman snow. It's only our second real storm this season, but I'm not going to complain after last year. :)

Christmas Break, New Year

We had a smooth drive to Rexburg in the Yukon with a short stop to see Samantha Foote and give her some elk meat. That evening, Samantha (Head) had a little bit of a fever, but she was fine when she woke up on Christmas Eve.

We had the longest Christmas Eve ever. We went to church, which had a really nice program. At 2ish, a bunch of relatives came over (47 total!) to do the Nativity in the barn. It felt very authentic to sit on bales of straw and have a few loose goats running around. It was great to see the family as well, even though it was cold. We had a couple of hours with not as many people, then some came back for Christmas Eve dinner, clam chowder, plus snowballs for dessert. Once the kids finally went to bed, I set out all the presents, feeling grateful that I didn't have any more wrapping to do.

Christmas morning wasn't too bad. I think the kids really liked their presents. I'm glad I had them make Amazon wish lists. The younger 3 kids went ice skating in the afternoon while James and I (mostly I) cooked dinner: prime rib roast, mashed potatoes, and green beans. All turned out excellent.

I can't remember specific days on the rest of the week. We went to Green Canyon, celebrated Jacob's birthday with pizza and cheesecake, went to the temple and lunch with the family, and played lots of board games. I aimed for 1 a day. I'm not competitive like some of the others in the family. I much prefer fun, party games or cooperative games, so I have my limits. I did a lot of reading in Stormlight 3, and if I hadn't been so busy since we got back, I would've finished by now. A couple of kids threw up, Joseph got a swollen finger from a hangnail infection, and he broke a couple of brackets on his braces. All are better and fixed now, though, except for a lingering cough in the younger kids.

We had an uneventful drive home on Saturday, the 30th. Panda Express was a huge hit, only 4 bucks more than McDonald's, tastier, and everyone loved it. That put me in a good mood. I regretted not doing any laundry while we were gone, but I've caught up on that.

We had a relaxing NYE just reading and hanging out till 11:30, when I got really tired and went to bed. Only Joseph and Kenny stayed up. Everyone was a bit cranky on Monday, but we got Christmas taken down and put away. During school, I finished the rest of the decluttering and caught up on some family history stuff that I'd been putting off. I even made a photo book for our entire 2023, which took me 3 hours and I won't buy until Shutterfly does unlimited pages. I love the quality of their products, but the regular prices are outrageous.

I have a presidency meeting today. I think I'm all caught up on new things for the new year. The next Sunday will be a bit chaotic with getting everyone to their new classes, but it'll be good. I feel a lot better about it than I did a year ago, but it's not nothing. This calling has been incredibly stressful, even when it's not.

I have the scanner in the living room. Next project up: Head family photos! I honestly have no idea how long it's going to take me to sort and scan them, but I'm excited.