March Tings

This month has been a real kick in the teeth, but I don't really want to talk about it... so I'm going to talk about all the other things. 

We had an amazing lady in our ward pass away. She was 91 and fit as a fiddle. She died suddenly and it was a real shocker, even though she was 91. We were able to put on a nice funeral luncheon for her family and friends, and I think it turned out great. Thanks to Sandi, Carol, Jackie, and all the people who brought food and helped with all the things. The best of the best!

We took a trip to IKEA, and got ice cream at the end. Looks like someone needs more practice making ice cream cones. We had a nice li'l chuckle. 

Swim banquet: Carol, Amber, Dayna and I set up and decorated, and got the coaches gifts. It was some work, but the children are worth it. Amber did the most work and she's just all around amazing. 

Seniors

Got to go see Brian Regan with Sandi and Doug. I laughed a lot. Sometimes when things are hard in life, I laugh extra hard at comedians. We saw Jim Gaffigan with Sandi and Doug several years ago, and I remember a similar experience of laughing way too much after a rough week. 

Funny youth announcement about the spaghetti dinner fundraiser. Aani is 3rd from the left. 

Aani (I think) laying in my mom's entry...probably waiting to go home. 

Nils was a "rando" ward member when the youth played "Where's Waldo" at Target, trying to find ward members who didn't look like themselves. 

Nilsy Nils was asked to speak in stake conference. The kids stayed home and watched on Zoom, which is nice cuz they were able to take pictures of him. He did a real good job. His topic was on how the Holy Ghost is the real source of truth, not social media. 

Aani got a job at McDonald's! She's been desperately wanting a job for months now, but since she's not 16 yet it's been a little tricky. McDonald's hires 15 year olds, and they seem to pay more than lots of other places. This is a girl with lots of tabs open on the laptop of things she wants to buy, so she's gotta earn them dollas. Cutest McDonald's employee ever! 

After about 18 1/2 years, our washing machine stopped spinning. We've had the same washer and dryer for all that time, which I feel is an impressive feat. Nils had repaired them both multiple times over the years. The dryer took about 2 1/2 hours to dry a load of laundry, so getting all the laundry done has been taking quite a long time. When the washing machine stopped spinning, I was OVER IT. I ordered a new set, nothing fancy, and am hopeful and curious to see how long they last. So far I'm enjoying their newness. 

This picture is of all our clothes in the dryer at the laundromat- they have the biggest dryers ever there! Going to the laundromat once was enough for me! Ain't nobody got time for that- especially since the nearest one is in American Fork. 

Summary of all the people: 

Anders is home and it's been hard. I hope I have a happy update next time I post. 

Addie is working at the indoor pool again, as well as teaching lifeguard classes. This has been keeping her really busy. She's interviewing as head guard for the summer. She's also going to graduate high school in a couple of months. She's also hoping to graduate from MTECH in a couple of months and be a medical coder. It's a 2 year program, and she's been trying to speed run it and get it done in 9 months. She's super stressed out about being an adult and how she's going to provide for herself. She keeps saying she doesn't think she can work a 9-5 job, but is often working and going to school for 12 hours a day. So...she's already doing it. 

Aani: See above McDonald's picture

Ava: In the midst of tennis season, but it's been a little hit and miss because winter will not end. If it snows or rains and the courts are wet, they have to cancel. That's happened a lot. 

Nils: Still rocking the YouTubes, works hard, is on a soda fast for 6 months total and has about 2 months to go. He hates it and says he doesn't feel any different or better, he just wants soda more. Always wheeling and dealing and looking for ways to earn mo' $$. We just purchased a camper trailer with our neighbor and fellow wheeler/dealer Dave. The plan is to rent it out over the summer, and then use it when we want to. 

Katrina: I don't even know, ya'll. Just trying to keep it together and not have a public meltdown. It's fine. 

The Boy Cometh Home...and Disneyland

Oh heeeeyyyy! 

A couple things: 

Anders is coming home in 3 days. He's been struggling a lot emotionally, more than is normal or acceptable. He knows Denmark is the mission for him. He loves his mission president, loves the people, loves the food, loves his ward, etc. etc., but he has bouts of depression that can't be solved with external factors. We let Pres. Mattsson, the mission president, know that we thought he needed some help. That set the wheels in motion. He talked with a counselor, and a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist said he has ADHD, and his depression is a symptom of that. He needs to come home so we can figure out a plan with medicine that will help him. His mission president is amazing in all the ways- the perfect guy for Anders. He's funny, he's direct, he's lenient, he loves his missionaries like crazy. He told Anders that if he doesn't come back to the mission, he'll hunt him down and kill him. 😂 We're hoping he's home for one transfer, but it could be 2. We'll see! 

Oh, how we love President and Sister Mattsson! 

In other news, at the beginning of February, we were all jonesing for a trip to Disneyland. None of us understand why this keeps happening to us. We keep going back, and we get so excited about it. Then we go and we have all the fun, but we're so exhausted and feel like we're going to die and vow to never return. 

At this point, we recognize the pattern, and we figure we can just plan on an annual trip and we are accepting that reality. We all sat down together to sync our calendars, and found 6 days where no one had anything pressing. It was the following week, so we made it happen. 

We CRACKED the Disneyland code! We figured it out this trip and did ALL the things, without the crazy crowds. It was awesome and we feel like we won! It was pretty cold the whole time we were there, and we went the weekend/week before President's Day, so we avoided that insanity. We bought the Lightning Lane passes, which is another way Disney squeezes you dry... but it was totally worth it. We hardly waited in any lines and it was fabulous.

Unbeknownst to us, the hotel I booked was about 2 miles away from Disneyland. We didn't realize that until we got there, since there are 2 hotels by the same name on the same road, and ours was the far away one. I was so bummed. We like to stay close to the park so we can walk there and not have to deal with parking. Wellllll, Anaheim has a bus that picks up close to all the hotels, and drops you off at the park entrance. When you're done for the day/night, it picks you up right at the entrance, and drops you off at your hotel. We absolutely loved it. 

We ate all the treats, rode every ride, some multiple times. Space Mountain is our absolute favorite, and we were able to ride it 3 times! We also took advantage of single rider lines as much as possible- that's the best part of having older kids at Disneyland! We were able to ride the Cars ride 2 times in a row that way. We are becoming such Disneyland nerds. It's like a challenge/mission to conquer the park and do all the things.

On our first day, my energy tank totally ran out. Around 6:00 pm, I felt like I couldn't do one more thing or take one more step. I've been exhausted at Disneyland before and felt depleted, but this was another level. I needed to eat! I ate dinner and within 15 minutes I was good to go again. It was so weird. I don't know how people don't eat and can still function. Katrina need food!

Driving through Victorville on our way there, and the sunset was 👌.

The Nemo ride was open for the first time ever since we've gone! It's cute. 

Gotta make our droids! 

Beignets! 

We rode Mr. Toad's Wild Ride for the first time ever as well! We were able to do so many things.

Nils tried taking a nap, but a Disneyland employee told him he couldn't lay on the ground, he had to find a bench to take a nap on. Haha!

I had to get my gluten free cupcake at Sprinkles in Downtown Disney- the girls were soooo tired. We all were, but I had just had my cheeseburger and was rejuvenated. :) 

Nils' heaven

We're Disney victims and are fine with it now. Take our money! 

After we had planned this trip, Nils was invited to go to YouTube headquarters the day we were scheduled to drive home. He has been part of a beta program with them, and they wanted to have him and others go there to talk and answer questions about their experience with it. SO, he flew out early early from LAX on Wednesday morning to San Francisco, spent the day at YouTube, and flew back home on Thursday. 

I drove home, and Addie helped me out for a couple of hours by driving from St. George to Fillmore. We made it, and Nils had a good day at the place that pays for our lives. 

Randoms: 

Nils and the girls went to Youth Conference at the beginning of February in Bryce Canyon. Addie gave a devotional and amused everyone. Nils took pictures of everyone cross-country skiing, and got mega sunburned. They had fun and were tired. I was home by myself for like 36 hours, and was so lonesome! 

Sometimes you make a milkshake and you just gotta go for it. 

Nils, Doug, and Dave (our neighbors/Melting Pot friends) bought a wall printer and have been experimenting with it and trying to fine tune it. The hope is to get some business. The little boy in this picture is Doug's son! And, I grew up in the same ward as Doug in Orem. So many coincidences. :) 

Anyhoo, Doug and his wife Sandi have volunteered to use one of their walls to print on, over and over, so Doug gets to do a lot of painting over them. 

We went to JCW's with Doug and Sandi on Saturday, and the kid at the register typed my name as Kachena, so that's what they're calling me now. 

Had a waffle brunch/ministering check-in yesterday, and it was a success! Nils captured this from the Wyze Cam. 

Anders and his zone were able to go to Lego House, which is in their area. He made this picture of Jesus out of Legos. We talked today, and he told me he bought a new Lego set that he's bringing home. This kid loves Legos. 

I think that's it. Another crazy, crazy month in the books. Thanks for reading! Go get yourself a snack! 

All Things January

Let's just get into it, shall we? Anders, he who consumes our stress and our prayers. Spoiler: he made it to Denmark, now we just gotta get him to stay there. 

He injured his wrist on December 30, as previously mentioned in the last post. He was told at the InstaCare that it was sprained- no breaks showed on the x-ray. Two weeks later, he still didn't have full motion so he went to the MTC doctor, who ordered an MRI. The MRI showed a broken bone and torn ligaments, and he was told he may need surgery. This was on a Friday, and he was scheduled to fly to Denmark on Monday. They canceled his travel plans and told him he would come home if he needed surgery. This set him on a spiral of just wanting to bag the mission and come home. 

Long story short, we prayed and asked everyone we know to pray for a miracle. His district left Monday for Denmark, and Tuesday he met with a hand surgeon. The surgeon put him in a cast and told him he wouldn't need surgery. On Tuesday at 4:00 pm, he was told he was flying to Denmark the next day. This was totally a miracle that we had prayed for for 5 days. Anders wasn't thrilled, but we were! 

He's been there for nearly 2 weeks now and is having a hard time adjusting to life as a missionary, so we continue to pray for a miracle that his heart will soften and he'll see the reasons he's doing this. He likes Denmark, he just says being a missionary is really hard. 

Pics from the MTC:

He really doesn't want to lose his patriotism while living in a foreign land.

Cousin Oakley, who's now serving in Italy. They had about 2 weeks of overlap in the MTC. 

Anyway... 

Earlier in the month, we hit 100,000,000 views on the YouTubes, so we went out to dinner to celebrate. We tried the Blue Lemon in SLC and it was pretty crappy. But, we walked through Nordstrom to get to Blue Lemon, and stopped to play "How Much Does it Cost?" You place your wagers and then turn the shoe/purse over to see the price tag. I think the highest we saw was around $450 for some sneakers. 

The employees were nice enough to steer us to the most expensive shoes and humor our game. 

We had birthday mania. I sent Anders a package with gifts, and ordered Krispy Kreme donuts for him and his district. 

For Addie's birthday, we took her to breakfast, and Barnes and Noble at night. She's a tough one to please, obviously. One of her gifts was a heart shaped bundt pan, which she used to make me a birthday cake. Awwww. 

I wanted to go to Sam's Club, so the night before my birthday we did just that. I just haven't been there in like 15 years and wanted to check it out. It wasn't super exciting (shocking), but their food court is on another level from Costco, so there's that. How did we get to be so classy? 

On my actual birthday, I wanted to go on a nice long walk. It's been so freaking cold for like 3 months, so outdoor walks haven't been happening. My birthday outdoor temp was actually in the 40's, so we were able to make my dreams come true. Later that evening, we and the Griffins and Marriotts went to the Melting Pot and had all the good times. 

Bananas foster fondue is the best thing evvvvveerrrrr.

In exciting news, we were able to purchase a bit of earth. It's in Fairview, about an hour and a half southeast-ish in the mountains. We split it with the Griffins, and went a couple weeks ago to check it out. Everything is buried in about 9 feet of snow right now, so we snowmobiled up to the property and around the area. It's an acre lot, and we hope to eventually build a cabin of sorts and have a nice retreat to go to in the warmer months. 

We've wanted to do something like this for so long and this opportunity popped up suddenly- and going in with another couple makes it much more palatable money wise. Should be some fun adventures ahead! 

Addie and Aani had their last swim meet of the season- maybe forever. Addie's graduating so she's for sure done, and Aani's just kind of over it and wants to do something else next year. We shall see. 

Nils built a replica of the Saratoga Springs Temple for our ward. We'll do temple related activities and earn a stick for each one. We'll cover the temple in our sticks and hope to have it completed by the dedication in August. :) Good old NilsyNils, coming in clutch 24/7. 

Aani got herself some curlers and looks like such a cute li'l old lady. 

I've been discharged from physical therapy. Now I just gotta do my exercises at home like a good patient. 

Sound advice:

Things are good and busy. The girls are all doing well, looking forward to spring activities like tennis, plays, working, etc. Lots of business opportunities are presenting themselves as well. We hired 2 hosts for our 3D printing channel and are going to have a meet-up with them in a couple of weeks to get things rolling. 

We've had all the snow and cold weather for months now. We're thankful, but also getting a little gray sky fatigue. We need a warm sunny vacation ASAP, but we have no time for that sort of nonsense. One day!