Doughnuts and Garages

Phillip and I finished the great garage project. We literally touched each and every item in the garage. We either chucked the item, sorted it, found it a place, or donated the item. Phillip worked on sorting the camping gear and tools mostly on his own. In the end we emptied 8 totes of stuff! Not too shabby. Each item has a spot that is not piled on top of another item. Phillip 3D printed scooter wheel holders to make a scooter parking station. The garage is still packed BUT the piles and excess are gone. What a relief. Phillip earned his drum head set for dedicating countless hours on the garage project. 

Tyson from Honorable K9 came to our home Tuesday for the first out of 4 training sessions with Wally and Eve. Eve did really well learning to heel and sit using treats and a special pronged collar (Herm Sprenger). We could not even get the collar on Wally. He bit me three times as I attempted to remove the collar since it was attached by one prong. I earned quite a lovely bruise on my arm. Tyson witnessed Eve’s obnoxious behavior toward Wally. Once the collar was finally on Wally he went berserk. It took me two days to finally get the collar on Wally without him attacking me. He still has no idea how to sit. I wonder if Wally is a mentally challenged dog. We have our work cut out for us. 

Wednesday I borrowed a pressure washer from our neighbor. When we cleaned last week I smelled the TV room rug, it was nasty. Phillip rolled it up and shoved it into the garage until we could manage it. It was a family event cleaning the rug with special enzyme soap and the pressure washer. Since we had the tool on hand I also pressure washed the front stoop area. Phillip and Everett pressured washed the garbage cans that desperately needed attention. Evelyn accompanied me to donate items to Goodwill. We had a fun time thrifting for an hour, she found some really cute shirts. 

Josie begged for doughnuts for a few weeks now. She never got up early enough for a run to the doughnut store UNITL Thursday. She popped out of bed bushy-tailed and bright-eyed. What else could a mom do except go on a doughnut run. Excellent idea. In between the garage and other projects I helped Everett get his room in order. All of Amelia’s belongings were shoved into a corner of his room when she moved home. I emptied the closet and filled her totes with clothes, shoes, and condensing the extra boxes of stuff out in the room area. Everett now has his space back and room to maneuver without Amelia’s stuff taking up the room. 

Justin and I took Everett out for his birthday dinner two months after the fact. LOL, he’s a patient soul. Everett chose a newer Indian restaurant in Nampa called Red Fort. The food was divine. He is still talking about it. We ordered him a mango lassi, he is not keen on mango flavors but we promised he would love the lassi. The look of bliss was evident, it was delicious. He ordered shrimp masala and garlic naan with a samosa for appetizer. I tortured him with a photo session after dinner. He burped the entire time making for some hilarious outtakes. 

The 3 older kids needed to be at the church by 6 am to help at the Ironman competition. Our youth earned money for their camps this summer by helping at this event. Phillip, Everett, and Evelyn were at the biking station handing out water bottles, gels, and bananas for competitors until 1 pm. Evelyn said her arm is rather tired this morning! They were out in the sun for a good 7 hours. I went to the temple for the first time this summer (blush, I know…) and had a lovely time. I stopped at Walmart and then Lowes for wood and organizers for garage stuff. Phillip put the finishing touches on the garage, it’s done. He added two shelves to a shelf that had space for more shelves. With the extra two shelves we were able to put away the last few items without a home. Josie went to a Pioneer Day Stake activity all dressed up as a pioneer girl. The stake leaders were thrilled she came all decked out. Josie was so excited when we arrived to pick her up. She told us all about her adventures making butter, playing a cow chips game, making a marble pouch, tugging a handcart, and other fun activities. She begged me to play marbles with her after dinner. Playing marbles is not as easy as it seems. Sara and I went out for ice cream, a besties date if you will. We went to Stella’s for ice cream cones. We got double scoops in dipped waffle cones. The dipped cones were not so delicious, we ended up snapping off the dipped part. Cute little Daisy from school was also at the ice cream store. She snuck in 5-6 hugs! What a sweetheart. Once our cones were licked down to cone level we resorted to walking around and chatting. Sara tried to drink the last dredges of cream, the cream revolted and ran down her shirt instead. She was a sticky mess that a bathroom run did not help out much. Thanks for skipping around town with me Sara, we need a repeat. 

Today I taught the RS lesson on Elder Matswagothata talk entitled He Knows You by Name. What a talk. We talked about our names, meanings of our names, what names we would give ourselves if we always had to wear a name tag, and what it means to wear Christ’s name. So good. We are blessed.