Week 35

 What a week. It was busy and had some good moments and a few really frustrating ones. I suppose that is normal. Monday Brandon was supposed to go to school but they cancelled all in-person learning this week because of the increased covid numbers so that was a bummer for me. Thankfully he is pretty happy to go or to stay home so that makes it easier to manage. I had a ministering interview with Michelle, did laundry, helped a lot with school stuff, taught piano and got a bunch of random spaces cleaned.

Tuesday was a really busy day. I was teaching how to make rolls for a Relief Society meeting that night and so I made one batch in the afternoon so we could have them for dinner and I could show the finished product. Then I had piano lessons, school of course, then I made a nice dinner and watched Chelsea's kids so she could take her oldest to an appointment, made another batch of rolls, helped Lily plan a last minute youth activity, then taught the class. I think it went pretty well and while only a couple of sisters were actually making rolls with me, they all seemed to turn out and be happy with them. Josh even nerded out and taught a bit about bread science and mom came too to answer questions so that all helped it be a success. 

The only picture I took all week!

Wednesday was a lovely day. It was pouring rain so it was relaxing and I didn't feel like we needed to go do anything fun, kind of like a snow day where you just feel cozy and lazy. No school for the kids and no work for Josh meant we had a nice breakfast and did some cleaning and just relaxed. Our family has moved on from the baking show to HGTV and any good house renovating show. The kids like Fixer to Fabulous the best so we watched a couple of those. Josh made effort to really spend time with the kids and not do any work or church stuff so that was nice. That evening was a youth activity that Lily ended up being in charge of and their original plan had been to do something outside so the pouring rain meant they needed a new plan. I suggested having veterans from our ward share a bit about their experience and Lily and Abby got to work inviting people and it ended up being a great activity. Abby asked the one woman veteran in the ward to share and then her grandpa and Addie's grandpa and they were all great. Lily asked two members of the ward and then Josh's brother, who made a video since he couldn't make it. He had a tough time in the Army and in Iraq and was happy to get out so he doesn't have the most patriotic experience but I think an important way of honoring veterans is recognizing how hard it is and letting them have a voice. It would have been better if he could have been there live but his effort for Lily was sweet and appreciated. Each person had a very different and unique experience and it made me proud of the awesome people in our ward family and of our country, despite all of its problems. 

Thursday morning we did school all morning and then I taught piano all afternoon. Then when we took Lily to dance we went and ran a bunch of errands. We hit up the post office, the bank and then the library and thank goodness we did because that's when I found out they were closing on Friday. So disappointing! With the huge surge in cases, it feels like we're back to square one on all of this. I'm glad we squeaked in one last visit for awhile. Then we went to BJs and the frozen section was half empty and there were signs all over about limiting toilet paper purchases. It kind of feels like April again, except I'm not nearly as stressed, just annoyed. We met with the missionaries that night and they are some good ones. I really am impressed with them and wish I had friends they could teach. 

Friday Josh was home and spent all day fixing one of our three water issues. Lots of digging and dirt and effort was involved. I helped the kids with school (meaning I make sure they do it and help Brandon navigate through his stuff) and taught piano and went for a bike ride. When I took Lily to dance I went alone to Bath and Body Works to use my coupons and I got a bunch of soap and hand sanitizer and had fun with all the Christmas scents. Then dinner and when I went to go get Lily we did a grocery pick up at Walmart where I had to wait 35 minutes for our groceries. That was pretty annoying and then they didn't have very basic things like bananas and mozarella cheese. I am so bad at waiting and had to finally go get an employee to find my order. But Josh and I had a fun date night watching some of the Mandalorian and some Pixar short documentaries with popcorn and milkshakes. Someday we'll get out on a date again but we're doing the best we can at home for now. 

Today we ended up helping the Elys move all afternoon. I was going to stay home with the younger kids while Josh went and helped this morning but then they decided they wanted to go help too so we all ended up going but we didn't get there until lunch time. We worked for almost four hours and got a lot done. Moving is the worst and I couldn't help but feel stressed with stuff not packed and dirty refrigerators and all the work they have to do but thankfully it isn't my problem this time and we did what we could to help. We have been in our house almost five years and it is going to be a long time before I feel like moving again. The kids played outside with neighbor friends for a bit when we got home (Shawn gave Curtis his rip stick, which was what Curtis was saving his money up to buy, and he was so happy and spent an hour outside riding it) and then we had dinner and watched more HGTV. We had a good discussion for our scripture study about personal revelation tonight and there was a moment where I thought, hey, these kids are turning out all right. 

My cute niece that I have never met. Emma took this while face timing with my sister-in-law