Stars and Snow

President’s Day! We started the day right, putting the loft area back to rights. It gets a lot of play and recreational use so gets quite cluttered. It was clean for only a day or so before it went right back to clutter. At least the clutter is newly arranged. I photographed tiny Zeyn (pronounced Zane) between 11-2 with his parents Ari and Dzevad. Ari and Dzevad both came to America as little children fleeing the Bosnian conflict in 1993. Dzevad lost his father during the war, Zeyn’s middle name is his Grandfather’s name! Baby Zayn was the sleepiest little guy, won the most relaxed fingers award too. The most challenging part was to stop taking photos. The rest of our day went quickly with clean up and piano lessons. Amelia is making enormous strides with piano! One of her elective credits is piano lab where she practices for an hour 2-3 times per week at school. Phillip punched Justin on Sunday with his piano skills! He was playing the piano in the Primary room, Justin thought it was Amelia playing, NOPE! Phillip learned how to play a very smooth arpeggio sequence that he loves to play around with. Everett is also making strides, he has a difficult time with syncopation but is slowly training his hands to do different rhythms. Dang kid also lies about practicing, he can’t fool me, had to drop and give me 20 for lying. 

All the girls got haircuts this week. I went short again with 4 inches off the length, it is much easier to keep styled. Justin did not notice my hair until Friday! Amelia went with a blunt shoulder length. The little girls opted for trims. The boys also got handsome haircuts, they were quite shaggy. Phillip walks around with a comb in his pocket, slicking his hair down like a 1950’s greaser. Phillip managed to cut his earlobe with his safety razor, that takes talent. He had a cute bandaid on his lobe since the plain ones were too large. I love that he cares about his appearance. Carson however made me gag with his enormous body stink, he wore his funk like a badge! Claimed he had not bathed in 6 days…smelled like a trash compactor too. 

Evelyn met with her provider, Stephanie Lee, at Meridian Advanced Psychiatry to check on her progress with the Dextroamphetamine. Evelyn was very excited to share that her teacher emailed me praising Evelyn on her excellent work the week she started medication! She feels much calmer and more confident at school. Hooray! 

Utah got slammed with 20+ inches of snow. We got blasted with wind, yippee. During MCO on Thursday it was hailing over us but we could see the clear sunset to the East. That was quite a spectacle. With Ash Wednesday the prior day the chapel was arranged in circular form around a heavy wooden cross . We had quite a time figuring out how to fit the kids in such a way so everyone had a front view of the professor. Jenn jokingly (?) said next year I could be the youth choirs coordinator. That would be fun to be with Phillip and Everett. The kids started memorizing and learning “I’m so Blessed!” With Christina. They knocked it out of the park. This semester we made it to the 4th largest choir. Arizona tops the list with over 1,100 youth. Utah South is next with 396, then Dallas at 330, then Idaho with 323! We are very pleased to not be at the bottom of the 7 locales. Excellent work Idaho. When the YSC were finished rehearsing it was snowing, sleeting, and terribly cold. Just five minutes later it was sunny and 5 degrees warmer. 

Justin filed the QR4 Thursday afternoon. That means work will slow down to breakneck speed instead of warp speed. He worked from home on Friday just to enjoy the home setting, he missed the comforts of home. He was so exhausted after getting sick last month and working long hours. He deserved that very long nap Saturday. The kids went to Oliver's 8th birthday party on Saturday. Evelyn helped Sara decorate the house. We got Oliver a Nano bug set and some miscellaneous cool boy stuff. I needed to jot down to Walmart for a curtain rod, all the girls went to browse around. We made time to attend the temple for the 4:30 session. As I made name reservations I noticed a blip at the top of my screen saying my recommend was expired. In my brain, my first thought was no way, I just went to the temple with my kids and it was not expired. Well, it was expired. Eventually, the Temple President met with me and called President Hansen who extended my recommend for a day. He said, "this Sister needs to be in the temple today, allow her in with the strict instruction to renew her recommend tomorrow!" I hear this situation rarely happens, most folks are turned away to get a renewal. I'm grateful President Hansen made an exception to let us go, it was hard to attend the temple together lately with Justin's work schedule. Boy! Was it worth the effort. I love the changes to the endowment. The gospel is clearly laid out, the plan of salvation crystal clear. The spirit was so strong my eyes had trouble staying clear of tears. 

Amelia and Phillip attended the dance, Phillip was slightly coerced. His decision was bed at 8 with no audio book or attend the dance. The next day Brother Finch told us that Phillip scratched Jayden with a push pin because Jayden claimed to have no feeling in his hand. Jayden pushed Phillip to scratch his hand, Phillip jumped like a little sheep. Those two?! The sky was crystal clear and Amelia wanted to try night photography. We stopped home for my camera then drove out a few miles where the ambient light was low. That was fun to freeze our fingers off while experimenting with long exposures. She learned how to paint with light for fun captures. Mars was vividly red to the naked eye. Makes me want a decent telescope or monoscope again. 

Josie had a night of terrors. She saw an episode Oliver watched about a scary game called Five Nights of Freddy. She was literally shaking like a leaf. After an hour snuggling in my bed she was still awake and trembling. We headed back to her bed where she said a prayer. I told her to pretend Freddy is wearing a tutu and his teeth fall out. She imagined Ellie and Jellybeans were her personal protectors. I made her a den of blankets and stuffed toys to keep her safe. She finally fell asleep feeling safe and sound. I do not understand how some folks are drawn to the horror genre, freaks me out.