Emma and Josh's Wedding; President's Day

Last week we drove down to Brigham City for Josh and Emma’s wedding. We got to have Mia for the weekend and spend some time with the Calls. Justin found a cute AirBnB near the North Ogden Smith and Edwards store. The drive down was quite gnarly with thick fog until we got to Tremonton. The fog was so thick you could barely see a car length’s ahead. We stopped once for some sandwiches at Subway. Amelia and Clare got to the house first! Our hearts jumped when we saw her bouncing the driveway as we pulled in. Gosh, we miss that goofy girl. Nighty-night Bibble Poo, nighty-night Dizzy poo! We made a new jingle for Roz when we leave on trips. Sing it to the Bluey Flying Saucer tune

Six weird Call in a zooming Rozum

Started on a trip one day

They swerved left and right

So they wouldn’t miss a sight

And now they’re on their way. 

Justin is right in the throes of busy year-end madness. He had to do some work Friday before the wedding. Amelia and I left for the temple around 9 am to stop at Walmart, we both forgot slips. She dropped me off at the BC temple around 10 where I met up with Raquel, Emma, and Josh for some wedding/couples photos. We had a lovely time galavanting about taking cute photos before they got married. It was cold but not unbearable, bonus was the sun coming out making the day a gorgeous sunny day. Amelia grabbed breakfast for everyone else at the Airbnb on her way back to get them. Justin forgot to grab my temple recommend when Amelia dropped him off. I had to wait outside for 20 minutes while she made her way back and parked. I made it to the waiting room with a few minutes to spare. The best part is seeing how many of my nieces are able to join us now, Ellie, Renee, and Anna all attended the sealing. The BC temple is so gorgeous inside, decorated in sage and cream tones. As we sat in the sealing room parts of the Come Follow Me lessons about Genesis, Moses, and Abraham settled in my mind. The huge chandelier hanging over the altar suddenly seemed a representation of Kolob, attached to a square coffer reminded me of the temple drawings of Moses’ tabernacle. Emma and Josh created a new family unit underneath the representation of heaven. The boys connected with Elijah, Anson, and Gary in the waiting room! They had a fine time playing games and jostling each other about like no time had passed. Josh’s aunt volunteered to take temple photos once Emma and Josh left the temple as a wedding gift. She used her phone to take photos?! Emma’s eyes were huge once she realized that is what was going on. They had no idea. I tried to take a few photos with my camera but also did not want to step on any toes. Awkward. At least we took some photos beforehand. We enjoyed a family dinner at a chapel down the street of soup, salad, and cookies. That was it! Simple, easy, covenant focused, and done! It was fun this time to sit and visit with Charity, Kenny, Spenser, Laura, Raquel, and Scot plus their kids. Good thing feelings can heal over time. No one brought up messy issues or drama. 

Amelia noticed a rock shop on Main Street in BC, we stopped for a while just to check out the town. The rock shop was closed (bummer), we kept on walking to the Hallmark store. So many cute things, like the gnome nativity set. Geeze, that was darling. Evelyn spotted a Small World blanket! Yes ma’am! Justin was in a generous mood, he let the kids all pick out a stuffy. No surprise Phillip chose a talking food item, the Kool-aide man. Josie settled on a friend for Nugget the Koala, a turtle now named Stubby (both with stubby legs). Evelyn found a capybara, Everett a pretzel with mustard and Amelia got Ernie and Bert. Yay! We spent the rest of the day down at Charity’s home lounging on her bed, the floor, or the couch in her bedroom. It was a joyful noise for a few hours. Libby and Cole taught us how to play Azul, super fun game by the way. Reagan, Libby, and I talked crochet for a bit. We left around 9 pm to head back to the airbnb. 

Saturday we headed back home. First things first…we checked out Smith and Edwards. I’ve seen the store for years upon years but never went inside. It was a thrifters and gadget head’s dream. We found a treasure trove of schleich figures, added a curly-haired pig, baby llama, fluffy chicken, and several more horses. I got my mom a handful of fancy heirloom seeds to try out this summer and a write on anything pen and pad of paper for my dad. I think we spent about $20 on fancy sodas in glass bottles. So fun. We met Mom and Dad, Jared, Jeffrey, and Jeremy’s crew at a nearby Chik-fil-a for lunch. We took over a corner of the restaurant while the kids played in the play area. Phillip caught my eye several times as he made some huge gesture while entertaining the little gnomes. It was time to head home. Amelia went with Grandma and Grandpa for a short visit with Lia. I hear Jared drove her down Sunday afternoon. She caught a ride-share back to Rexburg with a guy whose fiancee lives in Eagle Mountain Monday evening. We headed back into the gray dismal inversion that covered the lower section of Idaho. Yay. We got home with enough time for me to pick up a grocery order from Walmart and shop for the fruits and veggies. Everett was craving CupBop. Instead of spending $100 at the restaurant I made CupBop at home! It was delicious. 

Monday my goal was to get the rest of Christmas put away and rearrange the music room. The girl’s got instrument hangers for Christmas, the current arrangement did not allow for extra wall space. I moved the piano to the south wall and arranged the rest around the piano. It took the rest of Monday to pack away the decorations, clean up the mess, get the room arranged, and the Valentine decorations out. I skipped winter this year…there is no winter. My bulbs are already starting to push up from the ground. I love how the space looks now. Nice and fresh. 

Tuesday we had strings lessons. Evelyn got two more songs to learn for the contest, Amazing Grace and Old Joe Clark. Josie struggles to hold her instrument properly, she wings out her fingers making it difficult to play quickly. She also flattens her thumb and moves it too far forward so her notes are flat. Emma added a velcro dot as a tactile reminder to keep her thumb in place. There was a lot of nit-picking about her hands and notes, Josie held up really well and took the adjustments with grace. It’s hard to get that much correction at one time. We learned that Eliza got her mission call! She is opening it Friday evening. 

I am working with my students in a program called CodeHop, basically it teaches sequential and algorithmic thinking. After 4 weeks of lessons, students are finally catching on to what is expected of them during these lessons. It is quite frustrating when students are talking, out of their seats, and being little nerd bonkers. I do feel that after a couple more lessons students could code a scene or story in scratch for their literary showcase in February. I am excited to help students work on something they are also working on in class. This school week was another strange one with school on Friday. I am not surprised that 30% (or more) of students were absent and 15 teachers were also absent. It felt like a strange week. I wish the district would just keep Friday as a no-contact day, it’s too hard on parents to keep track of the random 4 Fridays we have school. 

Phillip is in the process of choosing which classes to take next school year. The District changed the amount of electives students can take AND when they can take them. From what I hear, students can only take seminary during open periods (which 9th, 10th graders do not have open periods). I was quite concerned about that development. The school principal is a stake president, he was not even aware these changes were coming down the pipes until it was announced during an assembly. I called Brother Lochridge and he was just as concerned about the apparent changes. He said that seminary is also reduced to only 3 possible periods in the morning when most students have their core classes. I hope the district is aware of the explosion of angry parents they will have on hand if this is not quickly changed. I never thought a dinky school district in Idaho would turn so liberal in just 2 years. 

We drove out Friday evening to watch Eliza open her call. She is going to serve in Phoenix, Arizona! Emma is quite happy that she can take both her guitar and violin. I can see her doing a lot of amazing work with her instruments. Right before she opened her call someone asked her what the worst combination would be. Eliza replied, Japanese or a really hard language. She got her wish, English speaking and stateside! 

Saturday morning I went to the temple with my RS friends. I was almost late arriving because I could not find my recommend. I had it for the sealing but somewhere between the temple and coming home my recommend disappeared. Dang it. As I waited in line I heard there was another RS ward at the same session. The endowment room was filled with all ladies and one row of gentlemen! I sat on the boys side since I was so late, late but made it in time. Phew. The rest of the day I spent getting groceries. I stopped at Deseret Book to get some garments, I got two of the new tops to try out! The top is quite comfy! Josie enjoyed an all-day playdate with Melody. They got to go to Hobby Lobby, dollar store, Fred Meyer, Melody’s grandma’s home, and some other fun activities. Everett is not feeling well at all. He came down with a viral cough and runny nose again. He’s held down the couch for a couple days now. I am working on editing Emma’s wedding photos. 

AMELIA GOT HER MISSION CALL SUBMITTED! She met with the Stake President for a 30 minutes interview for her mission and temple recommend this morning. The papers are in and now it’s just waiting for that email! I cannot wait!