Life update: This is the last week of school. I think everyone is ready, and I don't have that sad feeling that I usually get the last couple weeks of school. It's been a good year for the most part. Everyone has had good teachers and been pretty happy.
Our summer is going to be pretty full with camps and youth conference, and maybe a trip or two.
Anders is starting marching band with the HS, which will keep him very busy starting in July. They get to march in the Rose Parade in January, which is like the biggest deal for marching bands. Pretty cool! And pretty friggin' expensive! He's a full on teenager now. It's scary, fun, shockingly frustrating, but also delightful every now and then.
Addie is going to girls camp this year. I can't believe it! She loves YW and has a good little crop of Beehive friends. She's decided to join orchestra for 7th grade, and got to pick up her viola the other day. Another kid in jr. high! Whaaaa?
Aani is a wacky kid who likes to complain about piano lessons, and has a new physical ailment complaint almost every day. I signed her up to be in a play this summer, so that will keep her occupied and distracted from all of her infirmities, haha. I'm very curious to see how having Addie in the jr. high will affect Aani. She and Addie have always had the same interests and related to each other on almost everything. I'm wondering if there will be a separation as far as that goes.
Nils is all kinds of occupied with oh so many things. Work is going well, he just got a nice little promotion, which is great. He says he can never leave this job, there are just too many good things about it. We don't get free vacations or bonuses, but the benefits are very nice. And only 40 hours a week. This leaves him enough time to focus on YouTube, which is turning into quite the side hustle. We're in the middle of organizing our thoughts and ideas on a rebranding effort with all of that. Neither of us anticipate YouTube replacing Nils' full time employment (because benefits and a salary are so fun!), but with the kids being older and in school, it leaves time for me help out. We've still got a lot of work to do with it, but we both feel good about the direction it's going.
Nils serves on the high council for church (YM is his assignment), which seems to be a feast or famine as far as busyness. Right now it's quite feast like, with a youth conference to help plan and execute, speaking assignments, and all the meetings for all the things.
As for me, I've spent the school year toiling over how best to spend my time and efforts. I can't deny the constant feeling that I need to be home when the kids are home, and that I need to be available to them. Even though they're getting older, they're still young. Anyway, I'm feeling pretty happy with the way things are shaping up with our little side hustle as far as being fulfilled during school hours, and also being available to the kids.
I'm serving in the Primary presidency, and it's actually quite fun. We have a top notch presidency, and those kids have wormed their way into my heart. I sure love teaching them during sharing time, and hearing their testimonies. Jr. primary is a circus every week (70 kids, ages 3-6), but Sr. primary (also 70 kids, ages 7-12) is just a blast. I think I've learned more about callings and attitude more than any other calling. I'm very thankful for the experience, and so thankful for the best primary teachers ever, as well as activity days and cub scout leaders. Unsung heroes!
That's it for the life update, so here are the random photos from my phone:
Aani got her cast off. She was back to doing handstands in no time. Thank goodness for those healthy little healing bones! And, love her outfit! :)
A couple years ago, I planted some flower bulbs in this weird part of our yard that is super rocky. I had to use a pickaxe to plant them. We got a few bloomers this spring. Hooray!
The marching band had a clothing drive to earn money, so we felt like DI for about 6 weeks as we collected clothing from everyone we could. Happy to have the garage back!
Don't ya just hate it when a place you really like to eat changes their menu? We used to love this place. We ordered lettuce wraps, because who doesn't love lettuce wraps? They were so gross, but we were hungry, so we ate all of the grossness. Nils was angry.
Addie's class performed 2 Shakespeare plays: MacBeth and Much Ado About Nothing. They performed them back to back, so really, huge parenting points to us for attending and staying through both. It got dicey there toward the end.
Just had to document this numbers phenomenon that was happening one day in the swagger wagon.
Nils and I went downtown for our anniversary last month. We ate at the Cheesecake Factory and ordered whatever the heck we wanted! Fried macaroni and cheese? Si, por favor! We had this lovely view of 100 south, with heaters right behind us. It was kind of perfect. 17 years. Crazy.
Nils orders a lot of parts and random things from China. Something came in this bag, and it made my life. Best slogan ever.
Car selfie of us trying to figure out where to eat. We're the worst at finding places to eat. I hate paying for food that isn't as good as what you can make at home.
Ava on May the 4th. She's holding a Darth Tater light saber. :)
And, the dog cruising down Redwood, with the wind blowing through her hair.
