Yes trip part 2

We slept in and then headed to Denny’s for breakfast. Adi had never been, and our server was awesome. 

We returned some things that didn’t work out and found a few more things. We killed some time at TJ Max before our Escape Room. These chairs were actually really comfy. 

Adi really wanted to do an Escape Room, and she picked the hardest one - difficulty 9/10. It was called Cabin Fever and it was really cute. The power had gone out at a camp and we needed to try to get the electricity back on. The problem was that it was dark so we had to use the flashlight on my phone and of course we only had 1. We had to figure our Morse code, then that opened a lock on a menu box, which correlated to a camp menu on the wall, and each food item had a number on it. We organized the food into each meal, added the numbers, and that gave us another code that opened the cabin. Only there were extra foods in there so that was confusing trying to figure out where everything went. We found a switchboard and cables, and also a case with a combination lock on it, and also 3 gingerbread men and adi discovered a black light flashlight and found numbers on the backs of them. That’s as far as we got when our time ran out. It turns out the tree, a log, a post, and a lacrosse stick had initials carved in them which we were supposed to count the alphabet numbers for the switchboard, then that would have dropped the last gingerbread man under the bed, and then we could have put the gingerbread numbers into the lock and opened the case and turned on the lights. I feel like now that we’ve done 2 escape rooms, we could totally figure it out if we do it again. 

It was tough!

We had about an hour left before we needed to head home, so we got our toes done. 

While we were there, Frankie fb kid messengered me this picture. Adi laughed and laughed because she’d taken this pic of herself inside the escape room, and since my iPad and phone are linked, it showed up on my iPad and Frankie saw it. 

This was one of the best pedicures! We had the best 2 days. I remember years ago a counselor telling Matt and I that we needed to bond our teens to us so that they know they’re not alone and where to turn to, and I feel like this trip did just that. We talked and shared funny stories and just had the best time. And now Frankie and Delaney can’t wait to turn 13. 

We hit rain several times on our way home, and the temperature dropped from 90° to 70° within an hour. Because of the rain, it ended up taking a really long time, so we didn’t have time to stop home before heading to the church for adi’s activity. After that we met up at Gravelle’s for a little campfire and s’mores, and ended up staying till midnight. The kids were all playing nicely and it’s just nice to be with people again. I will miss these lazy days and long nights when everyone is back to school and responsibilities. 

Finally, this beautiful boy. 

We miss this perfect little gerber baby!

Yes trip

I love spending one-on-one time with my kids but haven’t done it in a really long time. Adi is turning 13 next week, so we surprised her with a little getaway. I woke her up Tuesday morning and told her to get dressed and get brekkie because we were going on an adventure! That’s when she told me she was fasting for the people in Congo. A volcano erupted there a few days ago and I had showed them videos the night before since they are fascinated with natural disasters and our girl with the heart of gold fasted for them. 💕 I told her in the car what I had planned and that this was her yes trip and we could do (pretty much) whatever she wanted. 

First stop - the Charlotte Hall library! This cute bookworm loves any library and she knew right where to go. 

We stopped off for gas station treats which we super rarely do and we were intrigued by these Herr’s mystery flavor chips. 

My plan was to go to the mall at Arundel Mills and let her shop for summer clothes. We didn’t buy clothes last year and when we got out our summer wardrobe I found I didn’t have any summer hand-me-downs in her size, which was a surprising bummer. We saw this and had to get a picture. 

She is such an easy girl to love. She is fun and easy to shop with, tried things on with no complaints, spoke up when she didn’t love something, just all around sweetheart. We checked out the cool Bass Pro Shop fish and picked up a shirt for Matt for Father’s Day. I don’t think he’s we ever read my blog, so that’s safe to write here. 

The movies that are out right now are pretty slim pickings, but we found one that looked cute - Dream Horse. I enjoyed it and teared up several times, and Adi said she liked it. That theater is Egyptian style and so fun!

We had the hardest time finding swimsuits! We saw maybe 10 total adult swimsuits, it was so bizarre. We found a few at Carter’s where she can fit into their size 14’s, but when we got to the hotel they were a little snug. Long torso problems. We found new shoes, shirts, dress, shorts, pajamas and one swimsuit. It was such a fun day!

I reserved our room using our Choice hotel membership which is in Matt’s name, so they had to call him to make sure we could check in since he wasn’t there (🙄) and he hung up on them. 😂 He thought it was a telemarketer, so I had to call him and then he felt sheepish. It was kind of funny. The saltwater pool was supposed to be heated and I told myself I was going to be the fun mom and get in and swim with Adi, but the water was not actually heated and then she assured me she would love to swim alone and I chickened out. My fun momming has its limits. 

Adi took a shower and then tried on everything she hadn’t been able to try on at the mall. We’ll be returning some swimsuits and a shirt, but otherwise everything was great! I picked up dinner at Chick-fil-A and she enjoyed our cute room. We bought a bunch of snacks and wanted to watch a movie in our room but my old phone is lame and it wouldn’t pair to the tv to do screen mirroring. We found Guardians of the Galaxy on the tv, and that is always fun. And then she read her new book. So grateful to be this cute girls mom and for this fun time with her. She’s the best little middle/oldest child!

Meanwhile back in the 301, papa checked in on the girls and those lucky ladies got taken out to lunch. Not sure why she’s so pensive here, but I hear she enjoyed her Mac and cheese. 

And a froggy. Papa reports that bis Reuben wasn’t all that good, which is not surprising at all given that I’ve eaten reubens with him at what feels like dozens of places and he’s only liked one. Spoiler alert - I don’t think he actually likes reubens. 🤷‍♀️

He also checked in on and walked our inherited dog, which isn’t really a favor for me but does make overall family life easier so that was nice. It was a wonderful day all around.

New new new

Lexi and boys are not feeling well. I FaceTimed her yesterday and she felt so sick and was so overwhelmed she started to cry. That’s when it’s the hardest to be so far away. Thankfully (and adorably) Emmi stops crying when we FaceTime, so that was nice. Cade has had to work, so she took the crew to the doctor today. Poor Em’s throat looked worse than Lu’s. Thankfully they’re getting medicine and hopefully will be on the up and up soon. 

Amy sent us some clothes Quinn had either outgrown or decided she didn’t like. That means usually Frankie can find some clothes that fit her too. We didn’t buy any new clothes last year, like, none, so she was pretty stoked. She wore these pjs every chance she could for 3 days. 

And both Delaney and Frankie were sporting new Quinn clothes on Saturday when we went to a park concert with papa. 

We kept the Aina girls one day for dinner and drove them home to let the girls meet Ezra. 

He’s pretty cuddly and sweet and super popular. 

Matt built a shelf for our kayaks and our free space in the shed has doubled. I want to put his shelf on bricks to make it higher and let the girls park their bikes underneath to free up some space in our garage. 

After years of hemming and hawing, we finally ordered a Sleep Number bed. The girls love trying all the settings. 

The jury is still out on the bed. One time i asked for mattress recommendations someone commented that SN’s feel like overpriced air mattresses, and I can’t get that out of my head. I don’t hate it, but I’m not sure if I love it either. It hasn’t even been a week, so we’ll see how it goes. 

One thing I know I love is Mediterranean food. I went to Mezah once and have been dreaming of it ever since. So I decided to try to recreate it. I made pickled carrots and onions, roasted chickpeas, corn salsa, Israeli couscous, chickpea salad, Lebanese cabbage salad, tzatziki, 

and a couple dressings. I happily ate a big salad  every day, and I think i ate so much lemon and vinegar that I gave myself an upset stomach. Planning to do this again for sure. 

We’re so close to being done with school, and though I don’t feel this way this year, I am ready to be done. 

Change

Things in our covid world are changing fast and furious. The CDC announced people that are vaccinated don’t need to wear masks indoors or out and many states, ours included,

have lifted their mask mandates.

There are plenty of vaccines so anyone that is willing can get one. Our sweet little Adi (her preferred new spelling - which I remember to use about half the time) is one of the newest vaccinated 12 year olds. It was a difficult decision to make, but one we feel mostly good about, and we want to do our part to end this awful pandemic. 

It was cool because one of our neighbors was the shot giver, so Adi got some special treatment. It’s always nice to know and trust your poker. 

And then a family from church pulled up right next to us to get their daughters vaccinated too, so we also got to park and wait next to them. After our waiting period we got ice cream for dinner at Bruesters. She said it hurt worse than she thought it would and she went to bed with a bit of a headache. Prayers for an easy night. 

We’ve also had a gas shortage problem on the east coast. I’m actually not totally sure what happened, I’m behind on my news podcasts, but a pipeline was hacked into and shut down and everyone lost their darn marbles. 

Most of our gas stations were empty because everyone got scared and filled up. After the year we’ve had, I don’t blame people too much, but I wish we could all just be cool. 

😂 - and also space car drivers. 

At least we live in Southern Maryland, so we’re set. 

We’re fine, not worried, just being cautious and not doing any extra driving. 

Delaney woke up in the middle of the night with a sore throat, and when it persisted along with a headache, I took her to the dr. Strep test was negative, so we’re gonna have her do an at home covid test tomorrow. Tonight she was sick too. We’ve had a good long healthy run, and now that’s done. 
I gave blood today. As I finished I started to feel hot and lightheaded. I sat and drank some juice and ate a donut and really didn’t feel well, so they had me lay down and gave me a cold towel and water bottle. I felt a little ridiculous, but I really didn’t feel well. All good now though. 

We got to talk to Christian yesterday. He was able to go to church and took a friend along. He said there were only about 8 guys there, so now he’s giving a talk next week. Heavenly Father has a plan for our boy, and I’m praying he’s on that path. His voice was hoarse from yelling, but he sounded good and it was so nice to talk to him. I miss that boy and have been so worried for him. We check his troop fb page and try to find him, but unfortunately they all look alike in their head to toe camo, including masks. 

In sad news, Carolee is in the hospital. I get to be her ministering sister, so I go see her weekly, and she’s been looking so good. But cancer is a roller coaster, and she was nauseous and dizzy all weekend, so she was admitted. Last time I was there I got Mike’s number, so I’ve been checking in with him too. 

In other sad news, we found out one of our favorite missionaries passed away last week. Elder Cox was such a good missionary. He wanted to serve and he connected with so many people here. Sadly he struggled with mental illness and took his life. I’m grateful to know this life is not the end, and our Savior knows our hearts. He is our advocate and our brother, and I just know Levi knows how very loved he was and is. 

Adi played a beautiful solo at church yesterday. She played Reverence is Love which is one of my favorites. Then Bishop Darrow gave a lovely talk. He talked about the rabbit effect from Elder Stevenson’s GC talk. I stayed for the LP Sacrament Meeting to see their RSP give a beautiful talk. The speaker before her talked about Elder Stevenson’s talk and the rabbit effect. And a few weeks ago I visited the RSP in the DC Branch, and I was able to give a talk in their sacrament meeting. One of the things I talked about was the rabbit effect from Elder Stevenson’s talk. A forever theme in my life - we need each other. We have a lot of loved ones and friends that are struggling right now, and they need us. And in the immortal words of Bill Withers, it won’t be long till I’m gonna need somebody to lean on. Love God, love people. If we’re doing that, we’re doing okay.  

A good day and he’s arrived

Jeanne texted me yesterday to let me know Christian has arrived for basic training. Yay for progression! We are praying hard for our boy to find his way and achieve success in the military. He’s awesome and we are praying that his leaders will see his worth. 

Last week I found out i was invited to attend an in person Area Council training at the Stake Center by the temple. I have asked Pres. Boyd to meet with the Stake RSP’s in our Area, so I was super excited. Since I would be driving up anyway, I reached out to our stake yw and primary presidents to see if they’d want to meet in person for lunch and by some miracle, everyone was available. We met at a tiny local place called Dream Weaver and had the best lunch and conversation. We each have 5 kids, 4 girls and 1 boy, we’ve each felt some opposition in our callings, and we are each on the same page in wanting to serve together in unity. 

Grace brought her mom with her. Her mom suffers from Alzheimer’s but is the sweetest little lady. She started off asking who I was and letting me know she’d pray for me and then asked if I knew who her daddy was. It turns out her daddy was no other than Ezra Taft Benson. Which makes our stake primary Pres his granddaughter. Bananas, right? Sister Parker told us the same few stories over and over, but mostly she was just sweet and smiley. And she winked a lot. I’ve always planned to be a winking old lady. I wonder what age I can start to pull that off. I’m all over it. 

After our long lunch and then lingering chat in the parking lot I headed to ikea. And then on to the chapel. We have 5 stakes in our coordinating council and we met in the high council room with Elder Calderwood's secretary brother Wheatley. Most of them already knew each other, but we all made introductions and shared ideas. The hour and a half flew by. After that we were invited into the RS room with our stake presidents, mission Pres and wife, temple Pres, and Elder Calderwood, our area 70. We had a zoom call with YSA leaders and then watched a training video with them, and then did the same for adults. We got done at 10, but it was such a wonderful day that it didn’t feel long at all. I listened to BYU Women’s conference and the drive home was smooth and easy. 

While I was away Matt washed the JGG and the space car. Alli was off, so she made pizza and everyone watched a movie. 

adi's cute hand is almost 100% back to normal. she was able to play piano and write today, thank goodness. 

I’ve been documenting every day to share with the allergist. 

Johnna came over to do piano with her and then i walked tenkor. As May goes, we are all pretty schooled out. And it was chilly today so we wrapped up. 

Matt got home early and he worked with Frankie while I worked with Adi. Math had us all like 😩. 

Adi sat with me for a Zoom youth conference meeting. Elizabeth invited me so I could get to know some of the youth better to better counsel our relief society leaders in ways to include them in missionary and temple and family history councils. It was very well done and Adi is always good company. 

We decided to work on President Nelson’s talk about faith, so we had a family council about that tonight too. And we got some happy mail. I got a framed picture of these sweet brothers for Mother’s Day. Love, love, love. 

And the Army goes rolling along

Last Monday we dropped bubba off for his 10 day quarantine before basic training. Everyone met over here and we took some pictures before we left.  

They already miss their bubba. 

While I was getting ready my dad took some shots of Frenchie. 

This girl is awesome. 

And I love my dads new screen saver. 

Our first stop on our drop off tour was to see his recruiter. He had nothing but nice things to say about our boy. He took pictures and gave us some Army swag. 

On our way to Baltimore we grabbed lunch at Chick-fil-A. Christian had to check in at 3:30, so we hung out outside and watched all the recruits going in to begin their new lives. We saw some goodbyes and noted how sometimes the recruits went in alone and sometimes mom or dad walked in with them. After about an hour he was done checking in and we had till 9:30 to hang out. We decided to walk around the Inner Harbor to kill some time. 

It’s so beautiful down there and it was such a pretty night. A tad cool, so I borrowed my dads jacket, but overall just an awesome night. We decided on Cheesecake Factory for dinner, and it looked super dead, so I figured there’d be no problem. But then, duh, duh, duuuuh. They had a 45 minute wait. I am still scratching my head at that one and sad we missed out on one of my favorite restaurants. We ended up with Shake Shack, which is another favorite so it ended up working out. And then it was time to take bubba back to the hotel. 

We hung out in their nice lobby near the fireplace and visited until it was almost time for him to go. Papa said goodbye first. 

Then me. I gave him a hug and we both cried. I love this boy and wish he knew his worth. He’s always lacked some confidence, and it makes me sad. He’s such a good guy, generous and kind and he wants to serve. We’re so proud of him. 

We took a few more pictures and then I left for he and Jeanne to say goodbye. 

I went outside and sat on the bench and had a good little cry. And then I was done. He’s wanted this for so long and it really is time for him to move on and start a career. He’ll be amazing and it’s hard to be sad over a good thing. And then Chris and Jeanne came back out! But by that point I was ok. He walked us to our car and we said goodbye again. 

Then Jeanne got to drive an hour and a half with her boyfriends mom and grandpa. Lucky her! It actually went by really fast and we happily chatted the whole way home. The next day we got to watch him be sworn in again. He was able to enlist as en E3 because of his Eagle Scout award. He’s welcome.  

We talked to him Tuesday but then didn’t hear from him again till Sunday. We’d hoped he’d have his phone during quarantine, but sadly he didn’t. 

The girls have been making fancy ice with flavors and food coloring. 

Emmett got to paint one day. Cutest artist. 

I got to take the girls to see Breighanna play softball. I love baseball and the girls are sweet and fun, so we had a good night. 

Matt and I ran the photo booth and Brian’s couples shower on Friday. We never did get a picture together so that was dumb, but we had a good time. We stayed in our little photo booth room right at the front of the building, and watched all the mingling and small talk. I was feeling like I haven’t missed that. Our little room where people had to come to us and we perfect and we got to visit with lots of friends. 



This is the best meme I’ve seen in awhile. 😂

We got to FaceTime with Christian on Sunday. We had to leave SS early but it was totally worth it. He cried at first and my momma heart broke. He said how much he misses us and that was so sweet. This boy put us through the ringer in middle school and I wondered if he’d ever be sweet again, but I had nothing to worry about. He’s awesome. 

Cade and Lexi got to join in and I forgot to have everyone pose for a picture, but here we are. He goes to bed at 8, wakes up at 3, and is bored out of his mind. He’s so ready to start actually training, which should be happening today, incidentally. We love and miss him and can’t wait to get to talk to him again. 

Adi got a bee sting on her palm on Saturday. She was reading in the grass and put her hand down and got stung. It didn’t start to swell till Sunday morning, just like last time. Poor girl. 

Sunday evening we met up at the wharf for a photo shoot. Adi got this pretty shot. 

Papa was the official photog and Matt came along for moral support. 

Chelsea had been talking about making these cute shirts for months and finally did it. 

She asked us to model with all our awesome girls and we were only too happy to oblige. 

So impressed and proud of these strong, brave, kind, and compassionate girls. I’m lucky to be their mom. 

The littler girls assured each other that all the moms are vaccinated and it was all ok. 

You can just feel the trouble. 

Adi has been holding her hand like this since Sunday. I’ve been peeling all her oranges and tying all her shoes since. 

By Tuesday after we’d tried all the home remedies we could find and consulted with aunt Sara and tried all her nurse remedies, I finally took her to the dr. 

She was impressed with all we’d done and with the still swollen Adi hand. She gave us a prescription for prednisone (Adi has been loving telling people she’s on steroids), an epi pen (just in case), and a referral to an allergist. 

We’re on day 2 on the roids and while her hand looks better, it’s not as good as I’d have hoped. Praying tomorrow she wakes up with a normal hand!

Tonight’s blogging brought to you by church activity driving. I always appreciated any time the big kids got rides to church and now it’s my turn. We’ve got only big kids now and I’m happy to drive the jolly green giant to bless other families like we were blessed.