Week 13

Lucky number 13! It was a good week.

Monday I took Lily to get her stuff out of her locker. She was in there for awhile and I started to get worried she couldn't get her shelves out or something but turns out she was busy writing and leaving a note in her friend's locker so that they could get in touch. Then we went to Target to get some gatorade and goggles so we could hit the beach with our friends. It was a perfectly pleasant day and the kids had a fantastic time kayaking, swimming and playing in the sand, with only some arguing. We stayed until 5:30 pm, came home and took showers, had leftovers and a nice family home evening. Curtis taught the lesson and I was so impressed with how well thought out it was and spiritually mature. I also talked with my parents for a bit because it was their 58th wedding anniversary. I really love my parents and appreciate them and the example of a good marriage they set for me.

Tuesday was I did my zoom gym class, then it turned into a serious cleaning day. I also ironed, taught three piano lessons, then my girls had dance and then I had a Relief Society activity where we played Jeopardy. I was super into it (I always host and never get to play!) and it was so fun. Later I felt a bit self-conscious and thought maybe I was a bit too competitive but I'm trying to train myself not to feel that way. I am who I am and I I don't always want to worry afterwards how people think of me or if I should have acted differently. I was fun and kind (except I did make fun of Michelle and Sarah for losing but that is pretty normal behavior for me :)  and why do I always question myself? I really just don't want to live that way anymore. I think most of my friends know I can get competitive anyways and so it wasn't a big surprise to them.

Wednesday we got all our work done in the morning and then went to the park to play with the Ainas and Rays for a bit. It was hot but nice to get out for a few hours. Lily and Josh had youth activities that night where they listened to Nathan talk about his mission.

Thursday I made a grocery list, had a ministering interview, made bread, taught three more piano lessons and Lily had dance. We watched an episode of the baking show after dinner then the big kids and I watched more Harry Potter while Josh had bishopric meeting. We finished the fourth one and started the fifth.

Friday Curtis and I went for a bike ride, I did some weeding in my flower garden, I went and picked up our groceries and went into BJs for meat. We had a quick dinner and watched Star Wars, well all of us except Emma who decided to watch her own show on the computer. We started finished the fourth and moved right on into the fifth one. Then later Josh and I watched the new-ish Jumangi that came out a few years ago. I had recorded it on TV and thought it would be fun and we are really running low on interesting shows to watch together so we gave it a try. I thought it was quite funny and enjoyed laughing out loud a lot.

The sunset as we were coming home over the bridge

Saturday we ended up going to my sister's house 2.5 hours north of here. I was nervous to go when she invited us and it did feel like a long time in the car, but the kids had a great day and it was nice to see family. My two nieces and nephew and his wife are all there right now so they all just were in the pool together almost all day. We ate and talked and the kids swam for probably six hours straight. They were all very tired in the car on the way home but of course none of them fell asleep so we got home and put them all right in bed at 9pm. It was nice to get out and see that the rest of the world is not normal but still there.

Today we watched my nephew in Michigan give a talk before he leaves on his mission. He is starting the virtual MTC in just two weeks and he was supposed to go to Paris but not quite sure where he will go in mid-August when he is done with the MTC until it is safe to go to France. He is such a good kid and I'm so proud of him. He was just five when my brother-in-law died but he has always been a sweet, quiet, kind kid. He got done in time for Lily and Josh to attend the youth class for our ward and then we had primary. We played charades again and the kids love it while being surprisingly bad at it. Josh had to work really hard to get them to guess I Will Be Valient and even then I had to play a bit of the melody before they got it. We had a nice sacrament meeting where we talked about preparing for a mission. I loved serving a mission. It was so hard and lots of days were rough but it changed me forever and I'm so grateful. We talked about taking care of our bodies to be healthy, learning the gospel and especially knowing the scriptures, saving money, being friendly and learning to talk to people and be a good listener and also being obedient to the commadments while keeping our covenants. We closed with singing We'll Bring the World His Truth which always reminds me of the MTC and singing with thousands of other missionaries as we got ready to take the gospel to all the world.

I'm taking dinner to a new family in our ward tonight and then we start week 14. Our pool opened yesterday and word on the street is that everything went well so I'm excited to go there this week. Hopefully another beach day and it is the last week of school! Also, all my flowers outside are so pretty!