Life Update and Random Phone Pics

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. 

Ava is a girly girl who loves to play with friends, do her own hair, play with her dolls, and still loves a good snuggle. First grade has been such fun for her, with an amazing teacher. She has gone from reading below grade level to reading at a second grade level. She's made lots of good little friends, several of whom live pretty close to us, so that's fantastic.

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.

The next morning we hiked The Living Room trail in SLC. I was fully expecting a leisurely 1 mile trail. Not so. It was 2 miles up and 2 miles down, and the up is quite steep, which is fine; I just wasn't emotionally prepared for it. We made it, and enjoyed the views, and next time I won't laugh at the people wearing their workout gear on the trail. Jeans weren't ideal for this experience.

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.

Spring Break! Turns out I'm a Cute Mom.

We teamed up with Kevin (my bro) and Tonya's family for spring break. It was muy fun! Everything is better with cousins! We went to Moab and had some fun adventures. The first stop was at Milt's for donut burgers. You buy donuts at the grocery store, and the Milt's crew grills them up and turns them into hamburger buns. (This is not required- you can just order normal hamburgers, too.) It was definitely not my favorite, but it was worth a try. Anders loved it, and wants to eat all hamburgers this way for the rest of his life. 

Next stop was Arches Nat'l Park. This is one of my favorite places. It never disappoints, even after going several times. The last time we were there was when Addie was about 18 months old, so we needed to show the children. We hiked up to Delicate Arch, which takes most of your time and energy. It's spectacular, but now that the kids have seen it, we'll do different parts of the park next time we go.

We ran into our friends, the Geralds. This is Anders' good friend Isaiah. What are the chances?

They can't not be annoying.

 Cute Mom Story: As we were hiking up to the Delicate Arch, I was catching up to some of the kids, and this lady stopped and said to me, "Hey, I don't know if anyone has told you this, but you're a cute mom!" I was shocked! I said, "Thank you, that's so nice of you!" The kids asked me what she said, and I told them she said I was a cute mom. Another lady walking past heard me say that to the kids, and she said "You ARE a cute mom!" I said thanks! A lady who was walking by us said, "I wonder how many people are going to say you're a cute mom." So I pointed to myself and yelled, "CUTE MOM ALERT!" Another lady walking past us said, "How do I become a cute mom?" I said, "You ARE a cute mom!" Anyway, it was a whole thing that went on for like a minute straight, and the kids were laughing a lot. So thanks to that random lady who went out of her way to say something nice, we had a good old laugh and it brightened my day.

Bottle flipping at Delicate Arch. Whhhyyy??

We stayed at the Lazy Lizard Hostel, in Gramma's House to be specific. If you ever go to Moab, and have really low standards of where you sleep, this hostel is where it's at! It's just a special experience that can't be explained. It's clean and cheap, but that's about it! I didn't take any pictures, but you can Google it if you're dying to know.

The next day we went to Hole N' The Rock, where we had the rudest tour guide ever. If you decide to go there, and Judy is giving the tours, walk away, folks! She was horrid! It's funny now, though. In between bossing everyone around non stop and making us feel like we in trouble the whole time, she did manage to squeeze in that her other job is being a psychic medium. She oughtta know that this blog post includes her!

After that, we made a trip to Goblin Valley. Wowza, this place is off the chizzang! This picture is super crappy, sorry, and does it no justice. It's awesome there. The only problem is that you lose your children in about 3 seconds and just have to believe that they'll find their way back to you. Fortunately, ours did, and they had cousins to get lost with. We would have loved to have spent more time there- it's a day by itself.

Back home, and the Vander Werffs parked their camper trailer at our house to test out all the hook ups before they head to New York with it in the summer. We spent the next day at the Tulip Festival, which is always delightful.

Giant checkers.

Cute Aani

Cute Kevin. I feel like I might be related to him?

As we were leaving the Tulip Festival, a trolley was parked outside. Aani said, "There are three things I've never been on: a plane, a train, and a trolley." ??? Anyway, Fun Uncle Kevin took pity on her poor soul and asked the trolley driver if he'd take us on a spin. He did, so now Aani can check that item off her list. Thank goodness!

Yay for cousins and fun aunts and uncles! We had an awesome spring break!

Esspensive March

Hi. The theme for this month has been "we're too poor." 3 things broke this month: my laptop, the kids' Chromebook, and Aani's elbow. Nils fixed the Chromebook situation because he's a genius, so it's a toss-up between the new laptop and Aani's elbow as to which one will cost more. Also, taxes...let's just say we didn't get a refund.

Anyway, Aani's elbow: She broke it playing on the monkey bars at school. Classic! Her teacher (bless her) dealt with the trauma of her screaming and being hysterical. By the time I got to the school, Aani was totally calm. I really wondered if she was hurt that bad, because I'm such a nice mom.

Off to the Insta Care we went, and sure enough, she broke her humerus. It was sad and painful for a couple of hours, but once they put that splint on her and she had an ibuprofen, she perked right up. And, she hasn't been hating the attention.

Sad girl waiting at the Insta Care

Less sad girl with her splint and some medicine. And, I got a letter board, so that's fun. :)

Getting the cast a few days later. We sprang for the waterproof variety. Totally worth the extra $40, if I say so myself.

Fancy, green, and pre-signatures.

In other news, my mom has apparently taken it upon herself to teach my 14-year old how to drive??

Addie had her first temple trip this month. She's a good egg, that one.

Maybe April will be less poor?

Spiral Jetty and that Salty, Salty Lake

I've been wanting to go to the Spiral Jetty for awhile now. It was on my list when we did the summer of Utah randomness, but we never made it up there. It's about 3 hours away, and I didn't know if it would be worth the drive on a hot, summer day. Life has seemed pretty busy, crazy, and little bit stressful lately, so we decided to take a spontaneous road trip overnight on Friday. We told the kids we were all going to dinner, and they thought that was weird at 4:00 in the afternoon. Anyway, they weren't super jazzed to learn where we were going, because most parents surprise their children with trips to Disneyland. Ha.

We spent the night in Brigham City, watched some cable TV in the hotel room, swam, ate, and yesterday headed out to the desolate wilderness to see Spiral Jetty. I packed coordinating clothes just in case a photo opportunity presented itself, and boy howdy, did it ever. The jetty itself is pretty cool. It's just weird and different, and so very far away from all the things. The Great Salt Lake, however, is spectacular. Also weird and different and so far away from things. It's such a crazy, awesome landscape out there. We walked around the jetty, which only takes a few minutes. Right now, the lake is about 1/2 mile out from the jetty, so the ground is dry and salty. We walked to the edge of the water, and the kids had to get in and play and splash, and dig in the salty sand.

The weather was true perfection at 64 degrees! We lucked out. The day couldn't have been more perfect. Our whole family enjoyed it out there, which is really saying something. These days, enjoyment for everyone is difficult to come by. After a tiny bit of coercion, we got this cool family pic. Everyone was a salty mess by the end, but it was totally worth it.

Snowshoeing!

We went snowshoeing last weekend with Anders, Addie, and GrandPar. We're such outdoor enthusiasts, I tell ya. It was fun! We went up to Solitude, where they have nordic trails for snowshoeing and x-country skiing. Next time I'd like to try x-country skiing.

Aani and Ava hung out with Nana and had a grand time.

January Whomping

January is the busiest month of the dang yearzzle. We've had almost as much snow as we've had birthdays. But first, here is Aani eating a turkey drumstick on Christmas at Nana and Grandpar's house.

We went to Comedy Sportz on NYE. It was the perfect family activity. We all loved it.

Anders got to bust his behind with scouts before the new year started. The scouting requirements changed Jan. 1 for rank advancements that he was quite close on, so we stuffed in all that he had left into about 2 weeks. HE LOVED IT. (Sarcasm font). Knots, rescue swimming, 5 mile hikes with dad in the snow using a compass, first aid...so much fun. Tomorrow is the court of honor where he'll receive his tenderfoot, second class, and first class rank advancements, and 4 more merit badges. Scouting is a pain. He will get his Eagle. Oh yes, he will.

Hikin' with Daddio

The boy turned 14! What the?? He had a party with a bunch of well-behaved boys who gave him things, like a Donald Trump Chia Pet.

The next day he got an after-party migraine.

Then Addie turned 12! What the??

She had a party with a bunch of unruly children. Less kids next time.

Then I turned 39! What the?? So old. Nils and I went skiing the day before my b-day, and it was amazing and heavenly. We loved it so much! We hadn't been skiing since before we had kids, so we weren't sure what to expect. It came back right away, and we decided we have to do it more. It's so esspensive, though.

The next day on my actual birthday, I was pretty beat from all the skiing. Basically, all I did all day was lounge around, and then I ate this hamburger. Well, half of it. Thanks for taking me skiing, Nils, and buying me this big hamburger. It was fun.

Ava decided to make her own fortunes. She cut open candies and wrote fortunes for all of them, and gave them to each of us. This kid is a crack up. We would be so bored without her.