Sunday, March 31, 2019

Spring time and saying goodbye

It is spring! I love all of the new leaves on the trees and the blooming bulbs. The daffodils are almost all finished blooming, the freesia is midway through and the irises and amaryllis are just getting started. Our vines are getting super thick and lush on the front porch.



This is our new to us, 2012 Prius. Yes, it is white like our 2010 Prius, but we got an amazing deal on it, so we were not picky. There is also a bunny in our yard. There are bunnies EVERYWHERE in our neighborhood right now.


I have to wait all year for these blossoms, but it is worth it. I love my bulbs!



Sunday evening, we went to Josh Jensen's home for his open house. It is hard to say goodbye to friends who are going on missions. We are happy to have them serve, we just miss them. Most of Sara's best friends are on missions, and a few are married. We miss them!

Josh is now part of that group. We will miss analyzing the world with him, jamming and talking nerdy music stuff, temple trips, driving back and forth between Surprise and Gilbert, and seeing his smiling face at choir, especially concert week. 

It's funny how someone can come into your life and be such a big influence, in such a short amount of time. He has been a close friend to our family for a little over a year now, but his influence has been tremendous. We have all seen how when you put your mind to something and work for it, you can achieve anything. Josh is so driven, yet super fun and loving. Over the last week, all of these kids have shared with me how much they love Josh and will miss him. We know he will be an awesome missionary to the people of Thailand!





The final jam session.






Love you, Josh!



When we got home from Josh's, Sara had to finish her art project. We got home at about 1 am. I stayed up with her until about 2:15, but then had to get some sleep. She went to bed when it was finished at a little after 4:00 am.

It had to have an atmospheric background. Her teacher said hers was the best background of the class.


Here she is right before I went to bed.



The assignment was to create a combination of painting and collage from magazine cut outs. She title hers: "It's All in Your Head." It represents how we often dwell on what we think others say about us or how they judge us, when in reality, most people are thinking about themselves and are worried about what others think of them. Those views and judgments are really just in our heads.



It was strange not to see Josh at choir this week. He was missed. We love his sweet sister Izzy and are excited to have her join the gang.

Isabelle Hunsaker, Rachel Smith, Tommy Lundquist, Averi Jordan, Andrew, Josh Jordan, Noah
Daniel, Kendall Fechter, Sara, Izzy Jensen, Heidi, Lilli, and Laney



Saturday, we went to Lucy Jordan's baptism. She is such a spunky, loving and adorable little girl! We loved sharing this special day with her.



Of course there was some jamming on the piano after the baptism.



We had a relaxing Saturday afternoon. Jacob spent the day with us, as he does most weekends. Sara at some point said he had to carry her like a princess, so this is what he did. She squirmed and said something like, "My father, the king, with have your head for this. Put me down." 
It was pretty funny. He is a lot of fun.



Freddy and Sarah went to a concert. The band was The National Parks. They had a ton of fun!


Freddy and Sarah




Logan, Hallie, Freddy, Lauren, Hayden, Ellie





Sam and Vivi are happy and are getting settled into married life. They love each other so much! 
It makes my heart smile!!!



Sunday morning, Dad, Sara, Jacob and I drove out to Mesa to hear Vivi and Sam speak in sacrament meeting. They did a beautiful job speaking on sincere prayer and priesthood power. They both have passion and conviction when it comes to the gospel of Jesus Christ.  We loved every second!

  

When we got home we ate lunch and played some games. Dad tried to help work out some of the knots in my shoulders. It was painful, but wonderful.

  



Jacob worked on Sara's knots. School is brutal. We never seem to get much time to catch our breath. We love it though, and we love having our shoulders rubbed.



Josh and Leigh are getting close to having their baby, little Sammy. We can hardly wait to meet him!



They went and visited a farm this last week. Apparently, the best place to get ice cream is at a dairy farm. They said is was amazing! Leigh loves the snickerdoodle and Josh loves the dark chocolate almond. I think we need to make a trip to the farm when we come visit.



Josh practicing with their friend's baby, Austin.



Here is Leigh's cute baby bump at 36 weeks.


Sunday, March 24, 2019

The kids spring break!

Tim called super late last Sunday, so I was the only one to get to talk with him. It was wonderful to have one on one time. I love my missionary!



Laney and Susanna have been sick on and off over the last two weeks. Sunday night Laney got super sick, fever of 105°. This continued for days. We did fit in a few games of Banana Grams, when she was super medicated and could sit up.

This round of Banana Grams was just Mom, Dad and Zanna.


We did one big one together after several regular rounds.



Tuesday night we had our Come Follow Me lesson with all the friends that were over. It was super awesome! They all had great things to share.

Sick Laney, Sara, Dad, Andrew, Brylee Cuthbertson, Kensie and Kyli Summers, Kendall Fechter, Averi Jordan, Susanna, Nick Summers, Daniel, Tori, Morgan Woerner, Noah



Wednesday, Josh and his cute sister-in-law, Kara Sasaki, released their intro video to their You Tube channel. They want to bring more happiness into the world with uplifting and inspiring stories, narrated by Josh and illustrated by Kara. Their first story is coming out soon!



Josh and Kara

Wednesday evening, Susanna joined Laney in the crazy high fever thing. Laney still was super sick and now Susie was miserable too.

Friday morning, I made doctor's appointments for them both. I was pretty sure they had the flu. High, high fevers, that lasted for days and days, congestion, coughing, chills and aches, head aches, misery. The doc tested them and they both had the flu. Laney was past the window for Tamiflu (medication) and it was moving to her lungs, so she got antibiotics to prevent pneumonia. Susanna got Tamiflu, since she was still in the first 48 hours. They are both improving now.


Friday, early morning, Freddy and Sarah went for a sunrise hike in the White Tank mountains. 
They are adorable!






We went with Gavin and Cadie's crew to play at their new house, IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD!!!! They are moving in around June 1st.




 Josh Jensen created a photography workshop. He had me help film it and he used Sara as a model as he shared his thoughts and methods. It is pretty awesome and we were honored to get to be part of it.









Saturday, Richard and I met Jacob's parents, Amy and Larry, for lunch, with Jacob and Sara. They are super great people. We had a great time chatting and getting to know each other.

Sara met the rest of his family that evening, at Jacob's cousin's wedding reception. They were all crazy excited to finally meet her. Sara had a great time.

Rich and I went on a double date with Melissa and Jason Jordan. We went to see The Duttons, a family of musicians that winter over in Mesa, but have their own theater and show in Branson, Missouri. We had a fabulous time!



We have been shopping for a third car, another Prius. On our drive home with the Jordans, Papa called and said we should swing by his house to pick up our new car. He had found and purchased a 2012 white Prius for us. (We are paying him for it, he just snatched it up for us before someone else did.) I will post pictures next week, I don't have any and it is currently not home.

Laney and I had a midnight round of Banana Grams. We love to play word games together!




Sunday, we went to Josh Jensen's ward for his farewell talk. He is off to the MTC on Wednesday and then on to Thailand for two years. We will miss him!!

We had a whole row of MCO boys!




I am sad that this time in our lives is coming to an end, but I know these kiddos will do amazing things in the world!

Sara, Freddy, Miles, Josh, Andrew, Noah, Josh, Daniel


Susanna and Laney couldn't go because they are still recovering, but they had fun playing make believe with their Daddy, The Reign of King and Queen Hippydoo.



Jacob went with us to Josh's farewell talk and then came home with us to play. He is such a sweetheart and so much fun! These are not great pics, but you get the idea.









Happy Sabbath!