Jonny's 15th Birthday

I can't believe my baby is 15! We had so much fun celebrating Jonny's birthday! He was especially glad that Emily is here. 
Today, Emily and I went to get pedicures and then we picked up the cake. Emily asked Jonny if he wanted to go somewhere and do something but he didn't seem to want to so they just stayed home and played games together. I think they played some board games and maybe some Mario Kart. I helped Dad order some treats for Andrew at the MTC. He's sending him two dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts, one original and one assorted, and four Monsters. We went to dinner at Osaka even though we were just there last week. That was the first thing Jonny suggested and Michael and Daniel and I said we were just there last week but then he wouldn't say anywhere else he wanted to go. So I decided let's just make a reservation and take him there anyway so that's what we did. When he got home from school, I asked him what he would rather go to: Osaka, Oasis Bay, or Texas Roadhouse and he said Osaka so that's what we did. When we sat down, it was funny because there was a family right next to us at the next table who were clearly out with their missionary. I'm guessing he leaves tomorrow. We did our new trick of getting no veggies and double rice so that was awesome. Michael had the veggies, though.

We had to stop at the Apple Store on the way home because Daniel had gone there yesterday to get the battery replaced but it wasn't working. They said he could bring it back in the next five days and they will give him a new battery because apparently, they gave him a dud. We read scriptures in the car. When we got home, Jonny opened his presents and we had cake. They spelled Birthday wrong, without the H, and it didn't look good but it didn't matter because it was just for our family. However, I did call Safeway about it and they did a replacement for us for his party on Friday.

Jonny still had homework, unfortunately, so Emily and I watched Name That Tune and the 1% Club. We decided we really like the 1% Club and we'll have to watch it again.

ANOTHER Surprise visit from Emily

Emily's classes were canceled, so we snuck in another visit! She arrived on Monday and we surprised everyone! I thought it would be nice for her to be down here for Jonny's birthday, and she had had a rough weekend and wanted to come home. 

August 12, Monday

Emily's flight arrived at 11:30 AM today. I picked her up and we went to Panera. Then we went home and pretty soon it was time for Daniel to get home. He was pretty surprised to see her. We kept it a secret from everybody. 

They played backgammon and then Mario Kart together. Daniel left for swim practice. Jonny came home and was so happy to see her, as we expected. Surprisingly, when he was done hugging her, he came over to me and said, "more importantly." Meaning he was grateful to me for making it happen. That was so sweet. 

I finished the laundry and did a bunch of chores while Emily and Jonny played Rummikub and a trivia game on the PS5. I made chicken tenderloins and fries and zucchini for dinner. Daniel had gone to the Apple Store after practice and had to go back later to pick up his phone so Emily went with him. It was a good thing she went because they needed an adult to sign for it. They changed out the battery for him. I spent the rest of the night on a chat with Mint Mobile trying to get Jonny's phone number moved from Tracfone to Mint Mobile and then switching the phone. It was way more complicated than they made it sound. Eventually, I had to get off the chat so we could read scriptures. We read scriptures and prayer then Michael went to bed.  Emily and I watched AGT and then we got ready for bed.

Erin and Rich's Wedding

I was honored that Erin asked me to be her escort for her wedding. The Phoenix temple is so beautiful! It was a lovely wedding. 

We wanted to be at the temple by 11:30 AM. We left at 10:38 AM and got there at 11:43 AM. Erin had just arrived. They led me to the bride’s room and she was just about to get her dress on. I helped her with her dress a little bit. I did her make up. She'd had her hair done by a friend. I made her make up super simple but it looked really nice. I basically put on the same things I wear but pretty muted. I didn't put an upper eyeliner on her or foundation but I did most of the rest of it. By 12:30 PM, she had to go do the veil ceremony. The assistant walked me to the waiting room where everybody else was. Reid and Jackie Stinnett were there. So was Martin and his wife, Evelyn's son. I didn't know anybody else. They eventually let us into the sealing room. Betsy and Geoff came which was nice. It was a beautiful ceremony. I hope Jim and Carol were able to be there; I'm sure they were. The sealer said something nice about Rich's mom who is deceased, but he didn't mention Jim and Carol but after the sealing when he had them stand in front of the mirror and he had Michael and I stand with them and Rich's dad, Rich brought up that Jim and Carol are also among the angels watching them. There were quite a few people there. They had a bit of a receiving line with everybody so I waited out in the hall so I could go back to the bride’s room with Erin. That's when I introduced myself to Rich's dad. He said thank you for having such a nice sister-in-law. I told him I can't take credit but you're welcome. I helped Erin get situated and we gathered all of her things. They sent me outside to tell everybody they were ready to come out so they all started gathering and the photographer told everybody to line up in two lines and then Rich and Erin came out.

We stood around while they got some pictures taken. We were in a couple. Rich and Erin started walking around the temple to get pictures taken and Michael and I weren't sure what to do because we wanted to go home and get the boys but we didn't want to just leave and we were watching some of their stuff. Eventually, I found them and we put their stuff in Rich's car and then we came back and handed him the keys and said our goodbyes and left. We got home to pick up the boys a little after 3:30 PM. We wanted to leave by 4 PM because I had asked when they wanted us at the reception and Rich said 5 PM but I told him I wasn't sure if we could make it by that early but I told him we would do our best and aim for 5:15 PM. It turned out they didn't really do much for pictures anyway so it worked out fine. We got there just a little before 5:30 PM. When we got there, Rich and Erin were just starting the receiving line. Their decorations were so cool! They had so many pretty Disney decorations. A lady in Rich's ward collects Disney snow globes and so those were the centerpieces for each table. We got in the receiving line so we could have a turn to take a picture with them since the boys weren't in the pictures earlier. 

They started dinner at 6 PM. Steve was there and he sat with us. We had a fun time. After dinner, Erin and Rich had their first song and then they sat down at their table. They had asked if one of the boys would help them out and Daniel said he would. His job was to go get a plate with spaghetti and a meatball on it. I went with him to make sure he did it right. I told him to carry it like a waiter and he did. He brought it to them and they did the Lady and the Tramp thing. He was so proud of himself. He said, "I didn't mess it up!" It was pretty cute.

We did some dancing and line dancing. We even got the boys to get up with us but Jonny wouldn't dance very much. A couple of people introduced themselves to us. I told Michael we should walk around and meet everybody in Rich's family. As we started doing that, we noticed his kids were leaving out the side door so we went out there to say hi and catch them and meet them before they left. There were five of his kids and they were very nice. One of Rich's boys said, "It's our cousins!" That was sweet. We met Laney, Susanna, Timothy, Andrew, and Daniel. Daniel is the one who just returned from his mission to Korea. I had spoken to Timothy at the temple while we were standing around waiting for Richard and Erin to get their pictures taken. I talked to him for a little while. He loves international travel and is studying international relations. He was pretty interested in Nathaniel being in the graduate program for linguistics. His brother Andrew also came up and said hello. Apparently, Andrew was child number five, which makes him the middle child. I said our Andrew is the middle child, also. Anyway, that was the conversation we had at the temple and we talked to them all in the hallway for a little bit before they left. They were going to a young single adult activity. We also went up to the table where some of Rich's siblings were sitting. His brother James and his wife Laura had introduced themselves to us at the temple and his sister Christine had come up and introduced herself and then we also met John and his wife and Christine's husband Eric. Eventually they started karaoke. They only had a few numbers scheduled so I signed us up to sing Living on a Prayer as The Mays. I got Michael and the boys and Steve to all go up there and Erin joined in. That was pretty fun. I jumped up when they started singing Summer Nights from Grease. Some of the singles friends were up there and I joined them. The last song of the night was Bohemian Rhapsody. Michael even got up to join that without me prompting him. The boys joined him and I talked Steve into doing it too so I could get a picture and some video. 

Then Erin and Rich had their final dance of the night. Then we stood around for a few minutes and said our goodbyes. Michael drove us home. We got home at about 10:30 PM. It was a wonderful day, but Michael and I are so exhausted!

Emily's Dancesport Competition

Emily has loved her dance classes and competitions at BYU, and I have loved watching her! I'm so sad that I couldn't be there in person this time, since it was the same weekend as Erin's wedding. I was able to watch her fabulous Samba on video, thankfully. And she and I made up for it with a fantastic trip to Cancun!

 

Andrew has left for his mission!

August 7, Wednesday

It’s hard to believe that it was exactly six years ago that we dropped off Nathaniel at the Sky Harbor airport! I got up this morning at 4:40 AM so that I would have time to get myself ready for the day and help Andrew finish up the packing. I had told him that I would put all of his pants and his suitcoat and his shirts in the suitcase for him so they didn't get wrinkled all night. He had a handful of things that he needed to remember this morning like his retainer and his alarm clock. We were ready to go around 6 AM, like we planned. We stopped at the Circle K on Val Vista and Germann and Michael, Andrew, and Jonny ran in quickly to get sodas and Andrew got a Monster. We were doing pretty well but we hit some traffic on the 101. There were at least three fender benders that we passed today. It was a little after 7 AM when we got to the airport. Michael said it took us a full hour so that was a bummer. He dropped us off at the elevators in the parking garage and Andrew and Jonny and I went to check the bags. That went pretty quickly because we were able to go to priority since he has a first-class ticket (it was cheaper to upgrade to business class since he was checking two bags, and it was such a small plane that business class was actually first class). We barely had to wait at all. His suitcases were 51 pounds and 53 pounds which wasn't a big deal today because he had up to 70 pounds but it might be a big deal when he travels to Australia so he'll just have to be careful about that. There will be a few things that will be used up at the Provo MTC so that's good. By the time we got the bags checked, Michael and Daniel had caught up with us and so we went straight to security. I had my big selfie stick so we took a few pictures and they would've been fine but I started taking pictures of Andrew and the boys and a nice lady came up and offered to take the picture so I gratefully took her up on that. We got some nice pictures of the whole family. 

There were already two other families there saying goodbye to the missionaries. He didn't have much time so we had to start saying our goodbyes. I could tell that it hit him and he was trying to hold back tears. I told him it was OK and he could cry if he needed to and he shouldn't be ashamed of doing that. Andrew started crying and Michael gave him a nice long hug. Michael was already crying and then I started crying. I gave him a big hug I had to let go because I was on my toes and couldn’t hold it much longer. I think I gave him at least four more additional hugs. Daniel was pretty stoic but they had a nice hug. Jonny couldn't hold back his tears. He acts like nothing bothers him but I know how much he looks up to Andrew so it didn't surprise me that he got emotional. When we were all done with the hugs and I got my final hug, it was time for him to walk over to security. It was a little bit easier this time because I know that I can talk to him on Friday. The line was longer than I had ever seen but we stood there and waited as he got through the line. Once he got through where he had to show his ID, he was through security pretty quickly. It was hard to see him because he was so far away but I could tell it was him. He turned and looked at us and waved. I had asked him to do that and he didn't believe me that we'd be able to see him and I told him I wasn't sure but asked him if he could try and he did. He waved to us and headed off to his gate. I stood there for quite a while, just like I did with Nathaniel. It was like I was stuck in place and I couldn't leave. I knew he would be OK; I wasn't worried about him getting where he needed to go. I just had a hard time walking away. Like, the act of me walking away is officially saying goodbye and admitting that he's gone. It was so hard. Michael and the boys were patient with me and let me stand there for a little while. I have no idea how long it was. It must've been at least 10 minutes. Once the family with the sister missionary started walking over to security, I knew I couldn't stand there and watch them do that so we left. Andrew had hoped to go to McDonald's for breakfast but the gate was changed so I told him he could go to Wendy's because that should be near his gate, but later he told me that the line was too long and he didn't have time so he just got some pretzels and a soda and went to the plane. We drove the boys to school. We had told Daniel that we would stop at McDonald's on the way so we stopped at the one on Gilbert and Germann and got him two sausage Mc Griddles. Nobody else wanted anything. Then we took them to school. Michael dropped us off and I went into sign in the boys. Jonny's been dealing with a cold so I was concerned that maybe he needed to go home and rest but he wanted to go to school so that's what we did. Daniel considered going home to get his car first but he ended up just getting a ride home with Carson so that worked out. Michael took me home. It's hard to look at Andrew’s empty room. I straightened up a few things and then I went to take a nap. I set my alarm for 11:15 AM. His flight was supposed to get in at 10:48 AM our time so I figured by 11:15 AM he would probably be at least to baggage claim. It turns out his flight got in early and he got his bags right away and they made it to Provo by about 11:50 AM so that worked out great. They met Audrey at Brick Oven for lunch. I'm so glad he got to go there because that's what he wanted. He loves their pasta bar. In the pictures, he had a plate of fettuccine alfredo so that was pretty cute. 

Audrey went back home and Nathaniel and Emily took him to the MTC. Audrey hadn't gone to the airport because they were worried about the space and she had work anyway. It turns out they couldn't have fit his two checked bags, his carry-on, and four people in the Corolla so it's just as well. I had asked Emily if she could try to get a picture at the MTC drop off but I knew that it might be hectic but they did get one and I was grateful for that. It's basically like dropping him off in a parking garage. The people try and open the back for you to get out the luggage and it all seems very rushed so I'm glad we didn't go. This worked out great so he could have time with them. We could tell in the pictures that Emily had been crying and she admitted she had. 

They forgot to text or call me so I called them around 11:40 AM and talked to them on speakerphone for a little bit and got the scoop. Apparently, there were many missionaries on the flight, and a lot of them were going home. Andrew was a little embarrassed about being in first class but nobody made fun of him. He said it was a little awkward because when he got off the plane all those missionaries were greeted by their families and he thought to himself, well, that will be me in two years. I told him that I knew he would have a great experience at the MTC and that he would be an amazing missionary, as I had already told him many times. I talked to Emily again after they dropped him off and she told me how everything went and that it was all good. It's weird because I can actually see his schedule still because I had a tab of it open on my computer when he was showing it to me. He got there at MTC pretty close to 2 PM so he would've had almost 2 hours to get settled in. I'll have to find out how it all went. I didn't do a whole lot today. I set up my to-do list like that on purpose so I didn't have to be stressed about accomplishing a lot of things. 

Here is Andrew with his companion, Elder Kjar

We will miss him like crazy, but there is no where else I would want him to be!

Final Preparations for Andrew's Mission

August 4, Sunday

I've been so busy that I haven't been dwelling on the fact that Andrew is about to leave. But I was sitting at church today and gave me time to think about it. It's our last Sunday with him. I put my arm around him during Sacrament meeting today and laid my head on his shoulder for a little bit. I was just so sad thinking about him being gone. When we got home, he told me I almost made him cry. It will be so hard but he's ready. After church, we stayed around and talked to people a little bit so he could say his goodbyes.

There was so much to do today. This morning, I had Daniel put butter for cookies for his friend in a bowl to soften, Rhodes cinnamon rolls on the counter because I know Andrew likes them, and meatballs in the crockpot. When we got home, the boys had some meatballs and leftovers. Daniel went to Gathering Israel. Andrew, Michael, and I watched the MTC devotional on Zoom. It lasted an hour. They gave him a little virtual tour of the MTC and talked about where they're going to live and where they're going to eat and where they're going to have their lessons and they can go to the temple a few times. He is pretty excited about it. After that, I made some homemade alfredo sauce for him for dinner. Daniel made cookies for his friend Rhyas as a thank you to his dad for helping with the tire. I helped him quite a bit but he did a good job. I told him that he's ready to make them on his own but he said he enjoys making them with me so that was nice. We ate and then we set up a video call with the Utah kids. Andrew told me what to use and I sent it up all by myself. We used the cord from the PS5 and my laptop. We made the call on Messenger. Unfortunately, my laptop got drained of battery power very quickly. I'll have to make sure it's plugged in next time. We were on with them for a little over half an hour and then it went blank and my computer shut off. We finished the conversation for a few minutes on my phone and then said our goodbyes. Then we cleaned up. Daniel took the cookies to his friend and I did a couple things on the computer. We had family home evening. Andrew wanted to do an abbreviated FHE so that we could play a game together later. He really wanted to play all the phases of Phase 10. He also told us that he wants to go to Osaka tomorrow night so that's what we're going to do. Anyway, earlier when we were getting ready for dinner, I talked to the boys about a few things on my list to get those done. FHE was still kind of long. Andrew gave a great lesson. His topic was how small and simple things can bring great things to pass. He did an object lesson with some lemons and asked what would happen if he cut up the lemons and planted the seeds and talked about how to plant seeds spiritually, like showing kindness and smiling at someone to brighten their day can make a huge difference, especially if they're struggling or they're depressed and how it can change their whole day. He also talked about listening to the Spirit and we can't force it. I made the comment that some of the ways we can invite the Spirit is by saying our prayers or reading our scriptures or going to the temple. Michael made some great comments about the fruit of the tree of life. We can partake of the fruit more than once. He pointed out that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that he can then be the word of God by delivering it to the people. He also said that sometimes we only act on a prompting and we don't know what the outcome will be and that we should follow Elder Bednar's advice and just be a good boy or a good girl and go what we know we're supposed to do. I made the comment that sometimes we don't get to hear the rest of the story, but that we need to act on promptings and trust that we did what the Lord asked us to do. I reminded everyone of the story that Elder Bednar told about giving the money to President Packer and saving his wife in Germany. Elder Bednar didn't learn until many years later what had happened so he almost didn't get to hear the rest of the story but this time he did. I also talked to the boys about the Hear Him video that they showed in the MTC devotional where Elder Bednar says that we hear the Lord in our head and we feel him in our hearts. I talked to the boys about the Book of Mormon timeline and told Andrew he could take it with him on his mission if he wanted to. I asked if anyone wanted to bear their testimony and nobody did so I did. I told everybody how I'm going to miss Andrew but that I'm so glad he has chosen to go and I told the boys I know that the Lord lives and loves all of them and that we will be blessed for reading the Book of Mormon every day as a family. We had a family prayer and played Phase 10. It was already pretty late so we played for about half an hour and we will pick it up tomorrow.

 

August 6, Tuesday

It's 10:30 PM and we just finished all our chores getting Andrew ready for his mission. It's kind of a miracle that we finished everything we needed to do right on time. I spent yesterday doing a lot of chores and laundry. We had made sure that we had almost everything on the packing list. We were waiting for a few more deliveries and Andrew needed to gather a few more things and do some laundry but otherwise we were doing pretty well. 

Yesterday, he started packing one of his suitcases. He finished his home MTC at 5:30 PM. He wanted to go to Osaka one more time so we did. Our reservation was at 6 PM. We're all mad at ourselves because it turns out that all along, we could've been asking them for no vegetables and extra rice and it was amazing. We got double the amount of rice for no more cost and everybody was happy. Michael is the only one who got vegetables.

Then we came home and we read scriptures and we played some more of Phase 10. Today he and I spent all day working on getting him packed. He finished packing an entire suitcase this morning. It was 51 pounds so we had to move a few things around. Michael went to serve at the temple this morning. When he came home, he told Andrew that Brother Jones had said he was one of the nicest young men he's met who worked in the temple. Brother Arrington asked Michael to give him a hug for him. 

Andrew and I left to run a few errands and Michael stayed home to get some rest. We stopped at the temple so I could take a picture of Andrew wearing his suit with his tag and holding the Australian flag. It was pretty sunny but we took a few pictures where it was shaded.

We went to Deseret Book to return and exchange some temple clothing and Andrew bought a book to give to Finnegan when he sees him at the MTC.  He lost his CTR ring so he looked at them and they had the exact same one so we got it for him and he was pretty happy about that. I had thought about doing that for him for his birthday but I'm glad we found it. Then we went to Costa Vida so he could have his steak tacos that he loves and I had a sweet pork taco like I always do. Then we went to Swig so he could get his favorite soda. Then we went home. We kept working on our chores and he did his laundry. He got everything almost packed. He recorded what suitcase he put everything in so I could make him three separate packing lists for the three suitcases. His friend Ava came over and they talked for a little while. She's going to go to NAU. I know she's going to miss him. He was excited because she had said that he could give her a Book of Mormon but he forgot about it so as soon as she walked out the door I said, “Andrew, I thought you were going to give her a Book of Mormon,” and he said, “Oh, that's right!” So, I ran and got one for him and he took it to her. He felt bad that he forgot. We did a few more chores and Daniel went to pick up food at Canes. After we ate and cleaned up, we read Alma chapter 40. We had a family prayer and then we played the rest of our Phase 10 game. Andrew wanted to go through all 10 phases and it took us three nights to do it. We finally got it done. Michael won and we all had fun. Andrew and I finished getting organized and I made his packing lists. It's pretty amazing that we finished when we did because it could've been a lot worse and I'm glad we weren't up till midnight. We worked very hard getting things done every day so he would be ready. Before we all went to bed, Michael gave Andrew a blessing of comfort. Andrew is feeling worried, especially about his health because of his wrist and his stomach. Michael gave him a beautiful blessing. It was actually pretty long and he said a lot of wonderful things to Andrew. He blessed him that he could overcome any challenges that he faces of any kind. I asked the boys if they wanted a blessing and neither of them did. Andrew gave me a big hug after his blessing. Normally he gives me half of a hug or he doesn't even wrap his arms around me, he just puts them on my shoulders but this time it was a real hug. He is so tall that I was straining my neck and I couldn't hold it much longer. Normally, I like to wait until the boys let go but had to pull away this time. He feels ready and excited to go but I can tell that he's also sad to leave, which is all normal. I will miss him so much it scares me. 

Sara's Baptism

Today we went to Sara's baptism. Andrew's class went until 10:30 AM but they let him out a couple minutes early so we left right at 10:30 and got there right at 11 AM when it started. Betsy had asked me to be the chorister and for Michael to say the opening prayer. Betsy gave the talk about the Holy Ghost and said it was because Sara wanted her to. She talked about how the dress was special because Betsy had worn it and so had me and Emily. She got a little emotional about that. After the baptism, we got a big picture with everyone and then I took a picture of Andrew with the Akers and then we said our goodbyes and left. I'm so glad we were all able to go!