I Think It Presents Itself When You Finish -Nils

Welcome, welcome. Just in case you're wondering, my title strategy is to ask whoever is near me what I should name the post, and then I type the first thing they say. I'm running out of ideas after 1,000 years of blogging. 

Alright, let's just get into the happenings for the month. 

Nils and Anders have started finishing the basement in the rental house. We have big plans for this project, and not just renting it out. Videos and course content will be made. We're still figuring all of this out, but we feel like we're on a good trajectory, and this will help us make an important transition. We'd like to start a new channel (I know, I know) that entails bigger projects, and not in the DIY realm. This is a ways out, but it's what we're working toward. 

Addie is in her final couple of weeks of AEMT school, then the outdoor pool season will commence soon after. She's gotta get everything ready for the summer season, which takes a lot of time before it starts. She knits and crochets like crazy in her spare time. Perhaps she'll start work as an AEMT in the fall, and then pursue paramedic school next year. She went to a cadaver lab today, and just got finished telling me all about it. She thought it was super interesting, and wasn't grossed out by anything (the smell being the exception). I think that's amazing. 

Aani is very busy, working most days at Swig, and most nights at cosmetology school. It's a lot for this chica. High school graduation is approaching quickly for her. She's been going to all the dances and trying to have a social life, but she's busier than the average bear and sometimes it's hard. She's rocking school and loving all she's learning. 

Ava started spring tennis season a couple of weeks ago. She's been really busy with band festivals for the last 6 weeks or so, having a festival like once a week is seems. She continues to be a good sport about most everything, and is generally just a good kid. She just got hired as a lifeguard at the outdoor pool, so this summer will be a busy one for her. 

Framing begins: 

Addie teaches primary, and one of the kids in her class sits in front of us during sacrament meeting. He is usually very fascinated by her crocheting projects, so this last Sunday, he brought his own yarn and needle project so he could sit by her and craft together. Pretty freaking cute if you ask me. Aani asked him to smile, this is the face he pulled. We love this picture so much. 

Band concert for Ava. She had a solo and crushed it. 

Last weekend Ava brought home one of those robot babies from school. It was horrible. It cried all the time, and needed to fed, burped and changed basically non-stop. We named it Li'l Karen, because it really acted like a Karen. 

Li'l Karen was activated for about 49 hours. After it turned off, Ava was able to show her true feelings for it. 

Nils did a thing. He's only been flipped off once. Boy this thing is divisive. 

He and Anders wrapped it last week. 

Pre being wrapped. 

First drive home.

Just Aani giving neighborhood boys haircuts. Breaking hearts and cutting hair. 

This last week Nils and I spent a couple of days at an intensive workshop of sorts for YouTube and the business. We are part of a small coaching/mentoring group that will meet every quarter for 2 days, digging deep to strategize and learn. Anyhoo- we went to a very nice house that had a pool with speakers that allow you to hear music or a podcast without distortion under water, so Nils had to stick his head in for the experience. He said there was no difference from hearing outside the water to inside the water. How is it possible? 

Throwback photo of the century, when Ava had to kiss the mannequins at Old Navy. What a cutie pie. I would love to squish her again. 

In April, we're going on a big huge trip to Japan. It's gonna be crazy times, I just know it. I'll likely write before we leave. 

In the meantime, please try to behave yourselves. C-ya L8ter 🐊! 

I Can't Believe it's the Last Day of February. -Ava

Well, well, well. Another February in the books. This month has consisted of a lot of researching, batch filming/editing videos, a li'l trip to SoCal and Disneyland, and other normal life things. The goal is to get videos all done through June so we can work on finishing the basement in our rental house full time. Content strategy included, of course. 

Pics are in random order, sorry! I don't have the patience to sort them, and stinky Blogger makes it difficult. 20 years of blogging here, folks.  

We managed to get some nice family pictures on the beach at Crystal Cove. It was quite lovely, not windy, good sunset lighting, somewhat cooperative participants. Hallelujah! 
 

The Buzz Lightyear ride got stuck and a I kept shooting one target and getting lots of points. It was fun.

Super Bowl at Kevin and Tonya's included a light show with 4 Teslas, except our Tesla is apparently too old, so it wouldn't sync up with the other ones. Kinda funny. It started doing its own thing when the other 3 were all done. 

The Tesla owners coordinating the big light show. :) 

Aani and her Sweetheart's Date. It was a fun night. 

Book club snacks. I'm in a book rut; not loving anything at the moment. :(

We had a baby sprinkle for one of the YW leaders in our class whose baby is coming soon! The girls decorated these onesies, and we wrote fun messages on diapers. We also all wrote down baby names from A-Z, and that was pretty entertaining. 

We went to Balboa Park in San Diego for a few hours. Nils has been doing push ups every day this year, so he got his in for the day while there. 

Ava wasn't too sure about this sculpture. 

Aani's been doing hair like crazy! She colored Ava's hair again, did my highlights, and has been taking clients! 

Cosmetology school things:

Valentine's Day in Disneyland. A genuinely great day to go there. 

Sis beach pics. 

Tacos at Taco Land in Anaheim. They were yummy.

Aani went to Anaheim AGAIN this week for a hair convention, so Disneyland twice in 2 weeks. What a life. 

Found this scary mural at a sad outdoor mall in Anaheim. Man face, toddler body. And Aani. 

Fun fact about our family and Disneyland: We all love Space Mountain, except Nils. Space Mountain is the destination of choice. It's the music, the darkness, the cool lighting. Nils says it makes him queasy, but he goes on it anyway and doesn't understand why we all love it so much. 

We've all had sickness this month, nothing major, just lots of colds, sore throats, achey bodies, congestion, coughs, etc. Time to be done with all of that. 

March will be (hopefully) full of basement planning/construction/email campaign going. We also have a big trip coming up in April and need to plan it. 😳 More details to come!

Happy March to ya. 

Who Knows Until You Write It

☝ (I asked Nils what the title should be and that's what he said) ☝

Hello. It's 2025. We became a couple in January of 1997. We got engaged on January 3, 2000. WE'VE BEEN A COUPLE FOR 28 YEARS! (A couple of dummies!) 

We celebrated New Year's Eve by taking the girls to The Melting Pot. We had fun, ate a lot of yummies, and got home a few minutes before midnight. 

Addie was thumbs-downing the fact that Aani was taking a selfie. 

Anders went on a trip with some friends to Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Mexico. They were gone for 4 days and visited 5 national parks, traveled through 5 states, and crossed the border into Mexico. They cray cray. 

Nils and I had a training in the Dominican Republic for a few days. It was a long travel day getting there and a long travel day getting home (12 hours of flying, no direct flights bleh), but we had a good time with friends and colleagues while there. We learned good things. It was pretty warm and the beach was lovely. The resort we stayed at was mediocre in many ways, so that was unfortunate. Food: Meh. Service: Pretty bad. Key Cards: Never worked. Had to go get new key cards literally every time we wanted to get into our room. Will not be returning.

Greg and NataLee, our YouTube BFFs.

A sample of our key card collection. 

For my birthday, Nils and I went to 13 Costcos. I'll just copy my Facebook post here because I'm lazy.

In honor of my birthday today, Nils and I decided to celebrate my 47 years of life, as well as our deep and abiding love of Costco, by visiting 13 Costcos in Utah in one day. From Spanish Fork to Logan and every Costco in between, we took a lap around each store, and ordered one item from the food court from each store. We ate everything on the menu today. Here are some totals for your amusement:

Miles driven: 298

Hours spent: 10

Calories consumed: 8,220 (6,000 of those by Nils, who championed this challenge).

Weight difference from this morning to tonight: 6.2 lb increase

Steps taken: 12,940 (K) 12,653 (N)- Nils says this is because of my short legs.

Potty breaks (only allowed in Costco, which worked out well since that's literally the only place we went today): 5 me, 4 him

Menu items eaten: 13

Drinks drunk: 6

Matching coats worn: 2

Hours of Radiohead played: 6

And, last but certainly not least,

Total $ spent at the Costco Food Court today: $44.15!

'Twas a jolly day indeed.

I believe this picture is from the 13th Costco. We sat down to try and eat one more ice cream and Nils had to eat the cookie. It was a little rough. We were tired and kind of delirious. 

This was Nils' tum tum at the end of the day. He was a champ and ate most of the food, since I can eat very little off the food court menu.

BISHOP'S BASH:

Our ward has had a tradition called the Bishop's Holiday Bash that Nils inherited. It's morphed into a 2 day activity for the youth, and in years past has been a sleepover somewhere. The youth all look forward to it and expect it. Long story short: How do you entertain 69 youth for 2 days without blowing the entire budget? Finding somewhere to spend the night has gotten prohibitively expensive. We also couldn't use the church on Friday night for any activity. This was a quandary. 

Here's what we came up with: 

Friday night: We split the kids into 3 age groups and had a progressive Dinner between 3 houses. White elephant gift exchange at the last house after dessert. 

Saturday: Photo/video scavenger hunt around town for a couple of hours, then Costco pizza and leftover salad and dessert from the night before. Watch the slideshow from the scavenger hunt, play games, basketball, etc. 

'Twas a success, and we got it done for about $500. Not too shabby. Enjoy some pictures from this event. 

This was a different event, a youth broadcast, and we had the oldest kids at our house to watch. 

There's a lot going on all the time.

The same night as the BHB, Ava was performing with the All-State Band in downtown SLC at Abravanel Hall. We rushed from the BHB to that, and it was actually quite an enjoyable concert. Not only did the kids sound amazing, but the acoustics in that venue are top notch!  

We don't know this kid, but he kept standing up after his solos and he would cheese it for a really long time and it made us laugh. 

Aani went to Senior Ball with her friend Jace. 

This is normal now. How did we get here? Weren't they all babies last week? 

These 2 got acai bowls together while Nils and I were in the DR, and sent us a picture to prove they were still alive and well. 

AND...

Addie passed her EMT exam! She was very nervous and it was a hard exam. This is the picture she sent me when she got the email saying she had passed. She starts AEMT school next week! 

Pip has had a couple of scary seizure-like episodes in the last few months. She had one last Saturday, so we took her to the vet. It turns out that she has heart disease. Her heart is enlarged, and her aorta is huge. She also has a partially collapsed trachea. In spite of all of this, she acts like nothing is wrong 99.9% of the time, and is as perky as ever. Her passion for chasing birds is stronger than ever.

The heart disease is causing syncopic episodes, which looks like a seizure and is very scary. She basically looks like she dies and goes totally limp. It's awful. 

She will be on 3 medications for the rest of her life, however long that may be. She's 12. We've always been convinced she will live forever.

Okay, it's time for our Friday night date night, so I'm gonna wrap up. Thanks for reading. Time to get Nils a burger.