Amelia's First Temple Trip

We kicked off this week with much healthier kids. All the kids went to school on Monday with no fevers, coughs, or sniffles. Amelia still had a headache but all in all we kicked the flu out the door. Or so I thought! Amelia threw up in the hallway at school on Tuesday. She was quite embarrassed she did not grab the trashcan when her tummy went wild. She got another day at home on Tuesday but after her episode seemed just fine the rest of the day. Josie and Evelyn had a measure of post-sick attitude, lots of whining this week from our household.

Sunday's gospel lesson was terrible. The kids were all jerks. Amelia was over the top grouchy, snapping at everyone. Phillip and Everett playing stupid games and jokes on each other. Evelyn crying because I would not pay attention to her. I was quite excited about the lesson after listening to the podcast from Meridian Magazine. Instead everyone went to bed at 7 pm, sent to bed for being stinkers. I locked myself in the closet to calm down. Hoping this week goes better.

Monday evening the school had a fundraiser at Peter Piper's Pizza. We ate gross pizza, decent wings, and sipped some root beer for dinner. The kids completely enjoyed playing arcade games before and after dinner. I earned the most tickets! Yasss! That skeeball game sure kicked out the tickets. Justin joined us halfway through the night. He seemed to enjoy following Josie about as she flitted from game to game. We brought along Chloe and her brother Ronald since they were at our house for piano lessons after school.

I worked on cutting out some patterns for dresses this week. After I cleaned the garage I made space for my sewing center to come out and play until the weather turns hotter. I am so excited about these spring dresses. I was finally able to pick up my camera and lens on Tuesday. Tempe Camera had both items to properly calibrate the lens to my camera. The lens is working better but is still giving me grief. I sort of hate it, wish I never dropped my old lens. Thursday I had a newborn session for a little one born in my ward. She is a darling, wide-awake baby. She wriggled out of 6 swaddles, an unheard of feat! So many cute babies that day, Gabi and Aspen also came for 6 mth old photos. The kids were home when Gabi came by. Phillip was about to drive me crazy, he was trying to help capture Gabi's attention but ended up distracting us all. He would not stay away! My blood pressure was way too high by the time I got what I needed.

Tuesday our FHE was focused on baptism and repentance. I covered 10 cans with new paper labels, like "You teased your sister and made her cry." Everett wore a backpack and the kids read the label then deposited the can into the pack. We talked about how if there was no repentance then Everett would have to carry around those cans plus all the new sins he committed for the rest of his life. Using the atonement we repented of the sins and emptied the backpack. I thought that was a fun, visual activity for this week's lesson.

Friday I photographed Statton and Mady's wedding. I was at the Gilbert Temple from 9:30-12:30 for the ceremony and family photos. Josie played at the Payne's house that morning. She was not happy when I picked her up, sad I was gone for so long. Shortly after the kids arrived home from school I was off again to photograph the reception. Josie was not happy I left so soon, she was a bawling, hot mess when I took off. I hear the kids eventually headed over to the Godard's for a bit to calm her down. The reception site was breathtakingly gorgeous. There was a Victorian-styled home, an opened reception hall, and an outdoors area carefully manicured with plants and flowers. I loved capturing all the details and unposed nature of the reception. The stress of the posed wedding arrangements is huge. I stress about equipment failure and the fact that my personality is not loud and bossy. Made it through another wedding.

Amelia needed to get her stuff ready to leave early the next morning for an all day temple trip. Due to miscommunication and lack of communication she was not ready before bed so the next morning was chaos. Her recommend was lost, she did not have a dress, change of underwear, and such. We sure missed her all Saturday. The youth went to Gila and Tucson temples in one day! She had 10 family names to do, 5 at each temple. Sunday she bore her testimony about her sweet experience. She was nervous but once in the temple she felt peaceful. The youth rode in a fancy bus to both locations. She sat next to Stella Packard. They slept alot! Ha ha.

At home we headed out early so Phillip could help pick up food for the Scout food drive. We rode our bikes over to the location and helped out. We only picked up three bags of food for our entire stretch of route. Back at home I left to get some grocery shopping done. Afterward we put food away and had lunch. After lunch we stripped the fruit from the lime tree, it was already starting to flower for this coming fruit season. The boys made a game out of stabbing the fruit with sticks and throwing limes at each other! Our yard was dotted with brightly colored fruit for a while. Phillip also buried some sticks in the soft grass ends up, I was reminded of booby traps soldiers laid in Vietnam. Our yard looks much better after some attention. Justin gave the kids motorcycle rides around the oval! Even Josie got a ride around our street. I got a fun ride as well, for the first time I might mention. He left for a longer solo ride. The kids and I went to Target to find Valentine's Day stuff for school. Phillip, Everett, and Evelyn all spent a portion of their allowance on games and toys. Evelyn saved her money for three months to buy an LOL #hairgoals. She was quite disappointed that her newest doll did NOT have hair, excited that her doll was a rare one. Phillip loaded up the cart with $100 in Legos. Problem was he only had $50 to spend. It was excruciating for him to put it all back except one Lego set and three blind bags toys. He loves to spend money and hates to work for it.