Week 55

 Dear Scott,

It was great having my parents visit for a few days.  It was a good excuse to clean, and then to relax!  (They had offered to help with projects, but most of my projects will take longer than they had!)  They took us to Rosa's Cafe on Tuesday.  We had wanted to go to the pool, since it is still open, but we had a cold front and some rain come through, so we opted for a walk instead.  The seniors (meaning Emma) took the SAT at school on Wednesday, so the underclassmen (meaning Gracie) got to stay home and have a catch-up day, so Gracie and I drove Grandma and Grandpa to the airport that day, and stopped at MOD Pizza for lunch on the way home.

They have about two and a half more weeks left of their assignment as Temple President and Matron before they head back to Utah.  They actually have their release letter already, but will serve until the new president is set apart.

I had my preschool Rodeo Party on Thursday.  I really like my class this year (have I mentioned that?), but I do have to modify some things for my allergy kids.  I usually have them make butter with biscuits for this party, but we made Pigs in a Blanket instead.  They were pretty well received.

That's Kailyn, Adam, Luke, Mckynlee, CiCi, Penny, and Eleanor

On Friday after school, the sun was out, so Dad took the kids to the pool.  I had a suspicion that I'd be too cold, so I didn't go until later, and they were all standing in the water shivering, just about to get out.  Hopefully we'll get another good day there, but we may be done for the season!  We came home and watched the first episode of the new season of "The Great British Bake Show."  Evening well spent.

On Saturday, Gracie got up early to make fudge.  She and Emma are in a culinary class, but because of Covid, they can't eat any food they make in class, so the teacher demonstrates how to do it, and they do it at home and take pictures of the process to submit to their teacher.  This really means that we get to eat the food instead of it staying at school, so we do not mind this adjustment at all!  Gracie then went babysitting, and the rest of us went to tour the new Collin College campus, which was having an open house and giving out all sorts of free things.  It really is a nice school, and Emma is probably going to attend there next year.  Tessa was interested in the vet tech program, the music program (including jazz and woodwind ensemble), the science lab and the ballet studio.  She has a healthy interest in life.  After we came home, Emma made her fudge, and that is actually a lot of fudge to have, but we are up for the challenge.  (Our neighbors will be getting some...)

This morning on my walk I was enjoying the sun shining down through the clouds.  I've been on this walk hundreds of times over the years we've lived here, and I've seen the sun shine through the clouds thousands of other mornings, but I still feel grateful to be able to pause and see it.  It's like I see God's hand reaching through the clouds to bless us and to say, "Here's a new day for you--enjoy!"

We love you, Scott!  We miss having you here, but we're grateful for the experiences you're having.  We love to see your smiles in your pictures!  I hope your week is amazing.

Love,

Mom

Week 54

 Dear Scott,

Grandma and Grandpa Danielson are in town this weekend, and they brought cooler weather with them.  Hooray!  It only made it up to 70 degrees today.

This week was pretty standard.  Dad and I helped the Metcalfs with cleaning and loading their truck before their move.  It helped me realize that I haven't scrubbed our own walls and doors and baseboards for a while...  

We picked up Tessa's new glasses, and she loves them.

 

The weekend was a little more eventful.  Dad, Emma, and Gracie went to a Venturing day event with their crew, and had a great time horseback riding, canoeing, throwing axes, and doing archery. 

Caytie, Tessa, Benson, and I went to help out at a garage sale to raise money for a lady in need.  The girls got service hours for their troop for helping, and they all got donuts and sodas, too, so they were happy to be there.  We spent a good portion of the day cleaning, too.

On Sunday we were able to go to church, and in the afternoon, we went to the Danielsons for dinner and to visit with my parents, who had arrived the day before.  They will be coming to our house this evening for a couple days.  Our area received some new guidelines about how and when we can meet for church and other meetings, but I haven't been given the details yet.  I'm excited to hear what they are!

We read 3 Nephi 11 together for our "Come, Follow Me" time last night.  I love that chapter--it's one I read so often with investigators on my mission.  We talked about how blessed we are to have this record of Jesus Christ's visit to another part of the world, and wondered about other visits to other sheep He may have made.  We're still working on memorizing The Living Christ.  We have three paragraphs left, so we're on track to finish by the end of the year.  None of us can do it on our own, but we can do it pretty well as a group.

We hope things are going well for you!  You are doing great things and we are happy to see you grow and learn.

Love,

Mom

Week 53

 Dear Scott,

We hear news reports about fires in Oregon, California, and the other states around there.  We're glad you're safe so far, and pray for those in the paths of the fires.  If you do end up getting evacuated, though, it would just fit in with the pattern of your mission so far, with riots (in two places), a pandemic, and now a natural disaster.  Just hang on--you have another year to make it through!

I took Emma to her endocrinology appointment.  Her normal doctor was "not available," and they don't know when she will be available again...strange.  We hope all is well and that she'll be back again, because the new doctor had us wait an extra 40 minutes for a 10 minute visit.  I also took Benson back to the dermatologist to get his wart frozen again, because it is super stubborn, and to get my stitches removed--yay!

On Friday after school we got everything packed up and headed out to a camporee at Camp Constantin (west of Fort Worth).  It was a beautiful weekend for camping.  Emma decided to stay home because she had a date on Saturday, and a lot of homework, but the rest of us went.  (I went to be the female leader, and Benson went so he wouldn't be alone at home.  We had our three girls and three others, and another dad, and another mom [Mrs. Gholson!] came last minute.)  We got there late due to bad traffic, and set up the tents (and used the latrines!) in the dark.

The next morning we woke up early to get the swim test done.  The sun came up as we were waiting, and it was lovely!  Once we had breakfast and got the test done, we started rotations, which included paddle sports, sailing (though it wasn't windy enough to take the boats out), archery, rifle shooting, swimming (including jumping on the blob), and power boats.  Our girls were the last ones to get on the boat to go tubing, and as soon as they pulled out, they pulled right back in due to an emergency, when the camp buddy tag system failed and they thought someone was missing.  Thankfully it was resolved and no one was actually missing, but our troop had to come back at the end of the day to get their boat ride, and again were the very last ones, but they had a really good time on the tubes and came back with huge grins, even though we were late for dinner because of it.  We ended the day with a campfire-less campfire ceremony (thanks to a burn ban), and they went to sleep pretty quickly once we were back at our campsite.  They were one of maybe two girl troops, though there were some co-ed crews with older girls.  No one seemed to have any problems with having girls around.

On Sunday morning, I woke up super early to drive back home to be in time for in-person church, as I had been asked to play a musical number and was leading a Zoom Relief Society lesson after that.  I had driven about two hours and the gas light came on just before I entered Dallas.  I was about to pull off the freeway to get gas when I realized my wallet was still in the Expedition, instead of in Dad's car with me.  Boo!  Since I don't believe gas stations take Venmo yet, I really didn't have a way to pay for any gas.  I started praying!!  The car said I had about a 45 mile range of gas left, and I figured I'd just get as close to home as I could, and thought about who might be available to pick me up after I ran out of gas.  I took the toll roads to get home a little faster, and ended up making a wrong turn after getting off, which about pushed me over the edge (I was super tired!), but I pressed on and made it home--with three miles worth of gas left.  Prayers were answered!!!  I got cleaned up and Emma and I headed to church in the other car.  Church was really nice. The musical number went fine.  We came home and we did the RS Zoom lesson (this is the first one we were authorized to do), and it went really well.  We talked about President Nelson's "Hear Him" talk, which is full of amazing promises when we make the effort.  Then the rest of the family came home, and after they came home and napped and were fed, we had the sacrament together.

Today we are surrounded by laundry and camping gear, but it should all be sorted out by tonight.  Should be! ☺  We look forward to talking with you!  Thank you for all your efforts to serve and bless the lives of those around you.  We love you!!!

Love, 

Mom

Week 52

 Dear Scott,

One year!  You made it!  I hope you and your companion enjoyed the cake--with strawberry action! ☺

We seem to be back into our routine again.  Seminary, school, pet care, evening chores, piano lessons and practice, etc.  Mondays have shopping and laundry, Tuesdays have preschool and the girls scouts (they worked on physical fitness, and got their run in just before it started raining), Thursdays have preschool and Cub Scouts (they made tic tac toe boards by drilling and sanding wood blocks, with colored golf tees as the pieces), and Friday often has doctor visits--this one had a visit to the eye doctor for Tessa.  It is official: 7.5/8 Ropers with vision correction.  Tessa is a bit nearsighted, which is sometimes hard in school, so we ordered glasses for her.  She is SO excited!  (I'm needing to wear my glasses more often, but I still count myself as half a point...)

On Saturday, we took a trip to the Stonebriar Mall to pick up Dad's birthday gift.  (I had ordered it online, but it was out of stock, so he looked it up and found it at a store!)  The mall was pretty busy, but stores were limiting people inside (they had lines outside their doors if it was too full) and everyone was masked.  Everyone, that is, except the mask vendor!  (We tried to be sneaky and take a picture of him in the background of our picture!) 

On the way home we stopped by a park by the lake we would be going to on Monday to show Dad where it was.  We had to take a minute to relax...

Tessa was at a friend's birthday party.  She did surprise us later when Dad was sewing on merit badge patches, and she asked to sew her own on. She really hasn't sewn much on a sewing machine before, but she actually did a good job.  Then she asked to sew more, so I let her hem Benson's pants-into-shorts, which is the most common kind of sewing we do around here.

Sunday was pretty quiet--we had church at home, and chatted with my parents online for a bit.

Monday was Labor Day, and we went with the Passeys and the Shahans to the lake to swim and have lunch.  I took no pictures, so I know it will be difficult to believe that we were actually there, but we were!  Dad tried to get his boat ready, but the motor just wouldn't run right, so we just used the raft and kayak.  It was a really nice day to float around in the water.  This lake spot is still new, so not many people know about it.  It's also kind of muddy, but that's part of the fun.

Today is Dad's birthday!  We "surprised" him with the new Lego AT-AT.  He got some credit from work for food delivery, so we had Italian delivered to us for lunch, but he's been pretty busy working otherwise.  We'll be having chicken broccoli casserole tonight, but he broke tradition and asked for CHOCOLATE cake this year.  I have that cooling on the counter right now.

In preschool I have two kids with milk allergies.  (It's an interesting class--I have seven kids, and three are left handed, one is color blind, and two have major allergies!)  We did a color mixing activity in milk, not thinking it was a problem because they didn't eat it, but his mom noticed he was itching and had some bumps on his skin when she picked him up.  I felt bad--I didn't know he was that sensitive!  Also, there are major fires around the country, and one is really close to your Aunt Shauna's home.  They were put on pre-evacuation status last night.  So far today is going all right.  It's very windy, but rain is predicted.

Well, I have a cake to go decorate!  I hope you have an amazing day!  We love you!!!

Love,

Mom