February

Trips and Activities

FHE at Ashley Nature Park

Staycation over the long weekend, which included breakfast at McDonald's, swimming at the rec center, Chinese for lunch, and thrifting at D.I. and 5 Below, plus a few movies at home

Baptisms with the kids at the temple, once with just Joseph, Kenny, and Katie; the other time including Rex, Jacob, James, Joseph R., Anna, and Charlotte, who were visiting for Lewis's baptism

Treasure hunt and fossil hunting with the cousins

Birthdays 

Lewis turned 8! We had blueberry ice cream and coconut poke cake.

Our new nephew, Benjamin, was born to Sam and Jesse.

Weather

sometimes in the 60s, sometimes snowy and slushy

Sickness

mild

Repairs

the microwave. It had stopped spinning, so I found the part online and had it fixed in 5 minutes. I was so excited that it was so easy.

Projects

tons of sewing, thanks to Teri's fabric stash

3 baby quilts, one for my new nephew, one for Cherissa's baby, and one to donate

scripture bag for Lewis

2 minky quilts, one for each of my girls

new stockings for everyone in the family

3 pairs of shorts each for Lewis and Samantha

matching Easter/spring skirts for the girls

I also spent many hours organizing the stash. I have many projects cut out and ready to go. I just need to spend the time sewing them together!

January

Ah, January, my least favorite month.

Trips and Activities

We returned from Rexburg the day after New Year's in one piece.

I went to a book swap party with some friends (childhood-themed.)

That's it for the month, so maybe that's why it's been boring.

Birthdays and Holidays

Our NYD in Rexburg was fun and relaxing. I made the black-eyed peas that we ate with the Lees. I also dipped chocolates, something I'm good at and enjoy. :)

James turned 37! He got fancy cheeses again for the 3rd time in a row. I think that birthday tradition needs to stay forever. I also made him boiled peanuts, German chocolate cake, and brown butter almond brittle ice cream, plus a steak dinner. We spread out the goodies over a weekend.

Weather

We had a few cold days (below zero) but NO snow to speak of. Surprisingly, my old town in Florida got 8 inches!

Sickness

Though I didn't take them in, I'm 90% sure that Lewis and Samantha had the flu a week apart from each other. No one else had fevers, but we all experienced some level of tiredness, headache, etc.

Repairs

Waiting on a part for the stupid microwave. It stopped spinning a few weeks ago, and the first part I ordered was damaged in transit and had to get returned. It should be an easy fix. I was bummed when it burned a hole in my rice bag.

Projects

Setting things up for the new year in Primary was a little busy, as expected, but it's gone well.

the annual cleaning out of things (Konmari method)

made and canned orange marmalade, turkey and gravy dinner

made 2024's photo book, the longest one I've ever done

miscellaneous 3-D prints

I got a whole bunch of fabric from my neighbor. I've made 2 rice bags from that and spent a ton of time organizing and planning my next projects. From previous materials, I made a T-shirt quilt for Samantha.

December

Trips and Activities

I had dinner with my presidency at the Chinese place. (Sis. Hall paid. :)) Then, we saw Wicked.

Rexburg after Christmas (Dec. 26th to Jan. 2nd)

first time eating at Sushi Time, the AYCE place in Idaho Falls. It was scrumptious.

ice skating for a few lucky kids. The roads were too icy to take the big van up to Victor that day.

movies new (The Wild Robot) and old with the family during the week in Rexburg

swimming at Green Canyon a few days after Christmas

Birthdays and Holidays

our first voluntary Christmas at home. I kept things simple and had the most relaxing Christmas Day in 15+ years.

Jacob's birthday: We went to War of the Rohirrim and ate Big Jud's at the Lees'.

New Year's Eve/Day: also very chill. The Lees came over for the traditional black-eyed peas, rice, cornbread, and greens.

Weather

unseasonably warm, but we had a dusting of snow on Christmas morning, which felt special

lots of snow in Rexburg, so the kids played outside a lot and made a snow fort. I didn't like seeing 8 wrecks on our drive there the day after Christmas.

Sickness

Lucky me, I had Covid during the 2nd week of December. Thankfully, I had finished all my Christmas preparations early so I could read the new Sanderson book and recover. Mission accomplished.

Repairs

rock chip, new back brake pads and rotors, and a new tire for the van. Ouch.

Projects

I made a minimal number of baked goods (whole wheat bread, banana bread) and handed them out to my presidency and ministering families.

November

Trips and Activities

It was a busy month for Primary. We did our Presentation and Temple and Priesthood Preparation meeting. Both went well, but I'm still glad they're over. I've been subbing music since the music leader had a baby.

Devin brought all the old pumpkins from his garden, and we shot them out in Coal Mine Basin.

Saw The Best Christmas Pageant Ever with the kids for FHE. Awesome movie.

We traveled to Rexburg for Thanksgiving.

Birthdays and Holidays

I went to brunch with my friend Ashley for her birthday. It was a lot of fun. I don't get to do stuff like that very often.

For our Thanksgiving, we enjoyed lots of family time (meals, games, shopping, etc.). I saw Wicked twice, once with Anna and once with the whole family. I LOVE IT! We did a Zoom call with the Lee grandparents to learn more about their lives, and it was really interesting. It was a really nice, relaxing break.

Weather

Cold, a little snowy, but nothing too crazy yet. They kids built their first snowman and had fun playing in it once, but it's almost gone now.

Sickness

Mild, 1 day of church missed for James

Working on figuring out some tummy troubles I've had, triggered by certain foods

Repairs and Projects

Girls' room: new dressers, which Kenny helped me put together. I also spent 3 1/2 hours deep cleaning the room.

Boys' room: new shelves, shoe organizer. They deep cleaned their room, and I helped with the closet.

Living room: I moved all the craft supplies into Samantha's old dresser into the living room. James also found the perfect craft table at D.I. It's so nice to find things, and the girls' room has stayed 80% cleaner since it isn't crammed with all this stuff. I built a coat rack by the front door so we'd actually have room for all our winter stuff. We sorted through all of that too.

In total, I think we donated 6 bags of stuff to D.I. and threw away 3 bags of trash.

October

Well, I'm using a new format now and only posting once a month. I think this will simplify my life a bit. I didn't miss blogging for the past month, but I still want to have a record of our day-to-day stuff, just more concise.

Trips and Activities

General Conference: We made our "Munchies" mix and enjoyed the talks. James took the younger 2 kids to see the salmon spawning.

Esports competition: James and Joseph were gone for a Friday, and their team did well. Joseph placed 2nd in his bracket.

Fall Break in Rexburg: We enjoyed a trip to Bear World, watched Big Joseph in a band thing, and saw Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat. James helped Angie on her tiny house.

Grand Ball: This was for Samantha. We all dressed up and got to meet Cinderella at her school.

Holidays and Birthdays

Katie turned 11! She got her ears pierced and has been enjoying her knitting machine. I think she's made 15 hats already.

Halloween: The Trunk or Treat was a success, and the kids got tons of candy. We had the right amount of treats, pizza, and hot chocolate.

Katie finished up basketball, which she had been doing since September. I think she liked it okay, but not as well as tennis.

James took a random day off. He took wildlife pictures, and then we went out for lunch. It was a much-needed break from life.

Weather

Beautiful, no complaints here.

Sickness

Minor, 1 day missed for Katie and 1 for James

Repairs and Projects

a pipe under the house, which just needed some glue

canning, lots of it

another shelf for the boys' room

a small blanket for Katie for Christmas, made from scraps she got at a yard sale

FanX, Painting

James ended up staying home last Thursday due to illness, but he and Joseph felt fine and went to FanX on Friday and Saturday. While they were gone, I painted the master bathroom, including the cabinets. It was a busy, exhausting weekend thanks to that project, but I'm so glad it's done. Kenny helped me give the bathroom a good scrubbing on Saturday after we put all the cabinet doors back on. Now that it's been a week, I appreciate the new paint more. It's nice not to be covered in paint, climbing up and down the ladder, or dealing with all the clutter in my room from the bathroom cupboards. It was completely worth the effort.

This week, I did a ton of canning: 6 quarts of winter squash and 17 pints of salsa. I also fixed the toilet in my bathroom, which needed a new fill valve. It was ridiculously easy, and I wish I'd done it sooner. The toilet has been making noise every since we got back from Ecuador. I also went to a basketball game for Katie. She did well, and I should've paid more attention.

Homecoming, Projects

James had a lot of work to catch up on, so I took the kids to the carnival alone. We enjoyed the games and free meals from the food trucks. It was a pleasant day, and I'm glad I got to spend it with the kids.

On Friday, James took the younger kids to the Homecoming parade. Katie and Kenny both had parties to go to. I canned tomatoes that the Binghams brought over.

Saturday, we went to a shrimp boil with the Warburtons and several other families. It was so delicious and lots of fun, even though I ate too much and had a stomachache afterward. James took Katie and Samantha to Homecoming until 8:30, and the boys and I watched Thor.

I still felt crummy Sunday morning (stomach cramps), so I stayed home from church to rest. I started feeling better by the end of the day, thankfully.

I had a busy Monday prepping the master bathroom for painting. James fixed our water heater, which took all afternoon, and we're all grateful.

Tuesday morning, I had a presidency meeting. It went well, and I got a lot of stuff done for Primary.

Wednesday afternoon, I had a random idea to build another shelf in the laundry room. It turned out great (less than 1 inch of clearance for the washing machine lid) and perfectly fits some storage bins I got cheap a few weeks ago. I spent an hour on the shed cleaning and organizing. Today, I spent 4 hours organizing all the small tools and supplies into the bins. They are neatly labeled, and I even got rid of a bunch of stuff we didn't need anymore. There were lots of duplicates and trash. It should be a lot less frustrating to do projects now.

I want to change the way I do this blog. I feel like I don't WANT to do it as often, but I don't want to give it up entirely either. I'm going to switch to once a month and cover just the highlights. I need to figure out what those will be, but the goal is to simplify my life.