2023 :: week 11

March 12

Anthony and I taught our youth class this Sunday. This week the topic was gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon. At one point in the lesson we had the kids divide into small groups and find scriptures in that testified of Christ. Class attendance is up this year (about 25-30 kids per class). I let Tony do most of the prep work for this class because I spoke in Sacrament Meeting after being asked on Wednesday night.

March 13

I didn't plan much out of the ordinary for Spring Break and I was already paying for by way of "I'm boreds," and "there's nothing to dos," by Monday afternoon. I took the kids to the library to pick up some books and DVDs and while we were there Will helped Elliott and Miles fill out their brackets. It was hard to tell who was having more fun filling out the brackets, Will or the younger boys?

March 14

One of my goals for the week was to check off a few longstanding items on my to-do list. A few weeks ago we set up Lauren's new book shelf, and she had been patiently waiting for us to build the drawers that went inside. I started this cross-stitch of the Salt Lake Temple around Christmas and needed to stitch the French knots that would be the flowers on the bottom. There was a lot of water build up on the glass in our sauna and so I deep cleaned the sauna seats, floor and glass. I also applied another coat of RainX to keep the glass clear longer. Mikey requested a letter M shirt based off  Alphabet Lore on Youtube. I used freezer paper stenciling and patience to get it done. Each task took less than 90 minutes, and I felt so good after getting them accomplished by the end of the week I have some positive momentum towards more time consuming projects I've been putting off around the house. 

March 15

A few years ago my mom started taking the kids on a one-on-one birthday shopping trip for their birthdays. This past year she was out of commission, but lately has been feeling good enough to get out of the house more. Wednesday after her OT appointment we met up at Target for Elliott, Lauren and Will to do their 2022 birthday shopping trips. Squishmallows, sports cards, and Lego Sets were purchased, along with a book and pack of gum each.

March 16

Thursday we got together with the Diggins family for the first time in almost a year! Carrie made us pancakes for lunch and her and I chatted for a few hours while the kids played. We only scratched the surface of things to talk about. 

March 17

Lauren had been asking all week if we could decorate sugar cookies. I was more focused on getting jobs done than starting something new, and finally got around to it Friday. When the Ules came over Lauren and Daphne went through out cookie cutters and had a lot of fun decorating the various shapes. The littlest brothers saw how much fun their sisters were having and decided they wanted to decorate too. Friday marked Miles' first official playdate with Gabriel and they did awesome. Elliott and Nicholas played at the Ules and were happy to partake of the freshly decorated cookies when Jolie came to swap kids.

March 18

The John boys watched a lot of basketball this weekend. The first weekend of March madness has so many basketball games and now that Will and Elliott are invested in their brackets basketball is on even when TJ isn't home. This week Anthony worked a few evenings (including Saturday) working with SMEs to work on item writing for tests.