Jared and Whynky's Wedding, Back to Work, Legal to Drive

What a weekend! The Lances gathered, 43 strong, and now we’re 44! Our two stalwart missions, Jacob and Amelia, were sorely missed. We gladly welcomed Whynky into our family just as Jared was welcomed into the Jacobs family. 

I was back to work early Monday morning with a staff meeting. We have two new teachers this year, a 5th grade teacher and a 1st grade teacher. Besides several new faces, including a new FASE classroom, many teachers were shuffled around and teaching new grades this year. I worked on unpacking my classroom after the meeting. My Flashforge 3D printer is now at school and named Miss Bennet. I saw that the Bambu Lab printer I really wanted was on sale again so sent Mr Obert another email. He approved me to get with Brooke and get it ordered! Hooray! It worked out so here we go with a year of 3D printing. Yay! I had two bulletin boards that were looking shabby or outdated; Evelyn helped me remove the boards and prep the area for new paper and border. I ended up filling the larger board with Computer Lab Rules and Procedures. Designing that took me a few hours of computer work. 

Phillip is a legal driver! Yippee! He didn’t have band camp Tuesday morning until 10:30 am and I was scheduled to work at 1 pm. It was a fortuitous chance to get his license! He drove me once again out to the Murphy DMV for the last step to get his license. What a relief! Now he can take himself to Marching band and even drive to school. So proud of him! 

Evelyn topped off my birthday with the best card ever showing the Duolingo Owl saying that I reached my 39th year streak. What a silly goose. I had a lovely birthday pedicure, green base and wedding color dots! Paula met me at Dips for a birthday treat. I worked from 11:30 until 8 pm on my birthday. It was also Reagan’s open house from 5-7 pm. It was fun to see my cute friends coming back to find their new classrooms and meet their teachers. Josie does have Mrs Hodges again this year. She is thrilled Stella Hadfield is in her class this year. I mostly stayed in my lab stapling papers on the new bulletin board. The kids sat me in the hot seat for devotional, plopped a blanket wrapped parcel in my lap! It was the cute Autumn Lego scene complete with a gnome and snail. It’s soooo cute. Evelyn went to Lake Lowell for a stake YW paddle boarding activity. She had a fun time out on the water with Aria. The kids spent the day getting the van ready and packing for our weekend trip to Utah. 

Thursday morning was another staff meeting with everyone learning about accommodating IEPs and 504s from Maddie and then other nuts and bolts everyone needed to hear. I rushed around stuffing things away into bins before the chaos starts on Monday. It’s very hard to believe that this is our family’s last year with an elementary student. Our kids are growing too fast. Phillip went to the first half of band camp while I was at work. Justin was off getting new front tires for Rozz. Her front passenger tire was nearly bald on one side. I requested higher quality tires hoping to keep the tires in better condition. We threw all our stuff into the van once Justin got home with the van. We kenneled our dork dogs with Tyler because Eve is being a complete punk-nut-turd-knuckle. She’s out of her mind crazy when it comes to Wally. She ignores Wally’s cues when he wants to retreat. Tyler even said he wasn’t sure we would be able to successfully keep them together without separating them at all times. He witnessed Eve attack Wally without provocation. We can try an e-collar but that will take 6-8 weeks of intense and consistent training. I am unsure we can provide that for her. Currently, we are in discussions to rehome Eve. I feel pretty darn god about that. 

We started our journey down around 2:30 pm…I forgot my purse at home. My purse was left several other times over the weekend. At least it wasn’t my underwear, it was my purse and my swimsuit. We stayed with Mom and Dad because the wedding was at the Taylorsville temple. I wanted to be close to the action with my photo stuff. Evelyn and Hannah had a birthday gift exchange. Evelyn was very, very excited to give Hannah her gift. She chose a sling bag and filled it with mascara, eye shadow, lip gloss, bow, candy, Nee-doh, and a root beer! She and I walked by the toy section while some employees were restocking shelves. I noticed an empty box of nee-dots and asked if all of them were gone already? The employee had one left on the shelf, Evelyn gleefully snatched the last nee-doh squishy for Hannah! I do not know why that squishy toy is so popular, it crazy how folks will buy 20-30 at a time just to resell for more money. Evelyn stayed at the Suapaia’s the entire weekend! My tooth crown popped off my back tooth right before bed. It felt so weird, a gaping, pokey hole that zinged whenever I took a breath. 

Friday morning Justin and I drove the boys down to James and Miekka’s home so they could stay the night with Everett Lance. We went to watch the new Spiderman movie with Seth, Lia, Everett, Emmie, Penny, and Charlie. The movie was really good! Tom Holland is sooooo hot…right Lia? Lia and Emmie were giggling most of the movie over Tom’s cuteness, or maybe it was over something else. Cute cousins. Mom’s dentist re-glued my tooth crown back onto my tooth. Phew. Jana arranged a fun afternoon of swimming at the Taylorsville outdoor pool. The air quality was in the yellow by the afternoon so we avoided the indoor pool chlorine fest. It was a scorcher outside! Jana’s shade tent was a blessing, along with her cooler of otter pops. Jared and Seth kept all the kids entertained with all kinds of antics. Jared was swarmed by nieces and nephews wanting a ride or to be thrown. Whynky chose a winner! Mom and Dad fed the troop with 11 Costco pizzas and salads. John was wilijng to make Hannah’s favorite juice, he got a gold star following directions for proper juice assembly from Hannah. Penny stayed the night with Hannah and Evelyn for a complete girl party. Josie was reticent to stay, she wanted to sleep on the floor with Justin and I. Joe and Kat were at Jana’s house resting while the kids swam. Jeff also joined us for dinner. Lots of conversations floating around as everyone visited here and there. I heard Phillip and Everett L were outside swinging together on the Suapaia’s swing set. It survived so it must be tough! Jeremy’s little gnomes walked around draped in dress ups. Misha is up on his feet walking like a super hero. Jeremy and Jared’s antics Friday night over “What’s in the bins?” brotherly teasing banter brought back so many memories. 

Honky pig played a role in early morning shenanigans waking of Jared and softly wresting him outside. I heard that squirt guns and spidey underwear were part of the action. The boys went on a stroll with Jared as his last morning as a single guy. Breakfast burritos were consumed as part of the ritual. Josie and I had a mission to find cream puffs to recreate the scene from James and Miekka’s wedding where he fell asleep behind the stage curtain soggy cream puff clutched in his hand. The wedding was not until 3 pm so we had a slow morning napping, showering, and even working on stuff. I worked on my first week slideshow, bin labels, and a Kahoot game. Uncle Rudy gave Phillip and Everett each a pair of Oakley sunglasses from his collection. The boys are thrilled. By the time 2 pm rolled around it was GO time! Jared looked uber classy in his wedding suit, especially wearing an apron while he snarfed down some lunch. Joe and Kat stayed with Hannah and Rachel. Jeffrey, Seth, Jacob, Phillip, Lia, Emmie, Penny and the Everetts stayed at Grandma’s house during the temple sealing since it was so hot outside. 

The sealing was beautiful. Jared had lots of funny expressions on his face! We witnessed the creation of a new eternal family unit. Brother Jacobs was feeling quite sad to lose Whynky after only 2 years of having her live with them. Jared will take good care of her, if NOT there’s at least 13 people to take Jared down. Ha ha. I love our Jared boy. I pray that one day Joe, Kat, and Jeff will choose to join us in the temple. Our family isn’t complete without them. It was very hot outside so family photos were bare minimum. We got a few funny ones Jared requested. My favorite photo he requested was the cream puff photo. After everyone left we walked around taking some wedding photos. Whykny has a spicy side that is starting to show. She is a smart lady. The reception was a lot of fun. The Jacobs family did an exceptional job celebrating Whynky and Jared. They had a fun photo guest book, thumb print tree, yummy food, and lots of tables for folks to visit. Sister Call got permission to call during the reception for 20 minutes to see everyone. Phillip and Everett’s wedding ties match the pillows on Grandma’s couch, that was very exciting. I was busy taking photos of the reception so did not get to visit that much. Uncle Jonathon took some photos with me in it at the temple and some candids at the temple and reception. His camera set up is top-notch. He even printed a large scale photo from after the wedding that was at the reception! Drooling over his printer and camera gear. I rarely saw the girls or Everett, they were running the halls with cousins. Josie would skip past with Ksenia in tow, then I’d glimpse Evelyn with Nadia, and so on. Josie sort of wants a baby to love on. It’s tough being the caboose. Everett said his legs are sore today because he was chasing the littles for hours. I loved what Sister Jacobs did for the happy couple’s exit…she made fairy wands for everyone! James and family decorated Jared’s car with some fun artwork. I added a gnarly Trogdor the Burninator, he was a very sad character. We have a video/photo of Jared turning red from laughter as James and Miekka drove away, the cans on the back were too much for his little self. Can’t send Jared off without tin cans on attached to the back of their car! I had a moment after they drove away. Turned around to see all the people I love most in the world smiling and enjoying the moment as the sun set on this most excellent day. I love our family, we are blessed beyond belief. We helped clean up a little then headed to Grandma’s house. The house was in disarray so we all spent an hour cleaning up the dinner mess so Mom and Dad wouldn’t need to work the next day. The boys and I had a challenge zapping our feet with the foot zapper, seeing who could take the highest level without squealing. 

We’re home now. We stopped at BonChon, had to get some fried chicken before leaving the valley. Everett ordered 6 super spicy chicken legs, ate it all. My mouth burned after one bite. We drove by our first home in Balmoral. It looks run down and sad, the memories are happy and full. We picked up the pups before heading home. Tyler said the dogs were nut cases, couldn’t even get a leash on Wally without him trying to bite. That’s a decision for next week. We unpacked and got backpacks ready, lunches packed, and are enjoying some downtime before the first day of school tomorrow morning. Bring on the next chapter. Let’s GO! BTW, Kat’s farewell hug is still lingering, she gives the best hugs.