Our Family in the 5 Weeks...
COVID UPDATE: Total Cases in Idaho are now 47,927 with 508 deaths. Total cases in the USA are currently 7.75 Million with 214K deaths and total cases in the world is 37.3 Million and 1.05 Million deaths. The schooling still seems to be a mess and the hybrid model isn't quite working out so well and parents are protesting and I'm just so glad I'm removed from that scene! Masks are still mandating BUT in the past weeks, Walmart (and other stores) have taken DOWN their blocked entrances and removed the stickers dictating what way to enter the isles. We've even started back to Wednesday night youth activities. We had our first Join YM/YW activity in September - but it certainly looked different that in the past.... It was held outdoors (an Ice Crean "Anti" Social") where the leaders dished up some ice cream to masked and socially distanced youth. We'll see how things proceed moving forward.
* We celebrated TWO birthdays! Nathan turned the BIG 14 and Dad turned 46! Nathan requested a German Chocolate Cake and so Aubrie baked one for him. German Chocolate is dad's favorite cake and so he requested it too! Aubrie stepped up and baked his as well - complete with her homemade chocolate buttercream frosting! It was kind of fun that for Nathan's Birthday, August brought over a Marco's uniform and was like "Happy Birthday! Here's your new work uniform! See you at your first shift on Thursday!"... All 4 boys now work at Marco's.
* We had a fun visit from Aunt Kathryn, Leo and Ezra! They made the 10 hour trip down and spent most of a week with us (M-F)... It was pretty low-key but we still had a great time visiting, chatting about Homeschooling, Doing some of our lessons together, taking the kids to the Park, attempting to play Volleyball, kids playing together, Kathryn taking her daily run and a quick trip to the Thrift Store! The kids also spent time playing the video game/app Among Us and before they left, Lexi had crocheted Leo's Among Us character to look just his avatar in the game! It turned out absolutely adorable and I think Leo was quite pleased.
* Since we finished updating the kitchen this summer, the Pantry was the obvious next project to tackle! It was bright YELLOW, not very organized - and was the sore thumb blatantly out of place in our otherwise beautiful kitchen (aka: the door always had to be closed!) Mom and the girls took a weekend and whipped that baby back into shape! It got repainted white, new shelf liners, an accent shelf, new cannisters and containers and most importantly - a new organizational system! It turned out awesome!
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* The last several weeks have been FILLED WITH CREATIVITY!! Baking, Drawing, Painting, Sewing and Crocheting! Both girls have spent HOURS learning new skills - particularly in reading patterns. Aubrie taught herself how to read a pattern and has since sewn 2 pairs of pajama pants (a pair for her and a pair for Seth!) and is currently working on a full dress! Lexi has learned how to read Crochet patterns and has crafted several CAT SWEATERS! Yes, you read that right - CAT SWEATERS! and CAT BEANIES! Dad posted one of them onto Facebook and she got a paying order for 2 cat sweaters. Here's some of the girls' latest projects!
* It's becoming Duck Hunting Season! Dad and the girls were able to go on an "early bird" hunt for kids and veterans. They were invited to go with Andy Odom (who has a boat) and new the "best" place to go! Sadly, they got skunked but had fun being together. Another weekend, dad and August went out scouting for the "perfect place" and had some quality father-son time. There was also working with Maggie and getting her comfortable with the gun shots so dad, Seth and the girls headed out to the desert for some clay pigeon shooting. They all had a great time but were saddened by how much trash and debris that people had been dumping (illegally) in the desert! You can see the how awful it is from thie pictures below. And then of course just getting some more practice in by taking Nathan shooting at the Indoor Range.
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* We can't believe that Henry is now SIX MONTHS OLD! He is such a sweet little thing and of course we couldn't let this milestone pass without documenting it with a photoshoot! Here are some of the favorites!
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* (from dad) On Tuesday, October 6, 2020, my best friend, Bill Belau gave me the news that Eddie Van Halen had just died.
To my recollection, my first time I became aware of Van Halen was sometime around 1984 or 1985. My cousin Jenny had her bedroom walls and door plastered with posters of the band. Not long after that, I bought my first VH cassette - Diver Down. Still one of my favorites in the discography. I can still remember my childhood friend David Neslund and I sitting in my room, cranking Intruder, when my Dad came in and yelled, “Turn that crap off! It sounds like horses being castrated!” High praise indeed! Another buddy, Brian Johnson owned 1984. We played it non-stop at his trailer.
It was around this time that I decided that I wanted to play guitar. I begged Mom to get me an electric guitar for my birthday. The only choice was obvious - a cheap Eddie Van Halen knockoff from the Sears catalog. The amp that came with it only had a clean channel and no distortion and so I wasn’t able to wail away on it like I had hoped. It sure looked cool, though. I had a large EVH poster on my wall and I would pretend to play along with my own guitar while blasting Panama.
Diamond David Lee Roth ended up leaving the band and in came the Van Hagar era. 5150 is still one of my favorite albums of all time. There’s a lot of debate amongst fans over which Van Halen era was best. While I love both, I’ve always enjoyed Sammy and those albums more. Van Hagar > Van Halen.
OU812 was a great follow up and then by my senior year, the phenomenal For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge came out. Right at first, I was a little unsure if I liked the synthesizers being replaced by piano but it quickly grew on me and was in heavy rotation for several years along with Live: Right Here, Right Now. Eventually I would get all of the albums.
In 1995, Scott Marshall and I had the amazing experience of seeing them play at The Gorge for the Balance tour. It was the final tour before Sammy left. I ended up getting a $200+ speeding ticket while on the way there. Washington State Troopers don’t play around. Shandy was not impressed.
I never could quite get into VHIII. It just wasn’t the same with Gary Cherone on vocals. I watched as There were rumors of Dave or Sammy returning. I was very disappointed when Michael Anthony was unceremoniously dumped after decades in the band. Dave returned but it wasn’t really the same. I still held out hope that one day Eddie and Sammy could patch things up (seemed like Eddie was more of the barrier on that one) and that Mike would come back, too. I even held out hope that there would be a reunion tour with both Dave and Sammy. Sadly, the world will never get a Van Hagar reunion or anything of the sort.
Eddie was a hero of mine growing up and Van Halen has always been a big part of my musical life. I knew he had been battling cancer for a few years (not surprising as he was a chain smoker for most of his life) but I had no idea he was terminal. It came as quite the shock when I heard the news from Bill. Rest in Peace.
* The rest of the month was filled with schooling, watching movies together, Seth and Ben starting their college classes, snuggles with baby Henry, DND campaigns between the brothers and just trying to have a joy filled life!
* Dad got a new calling - he is now the Elder's Quorum President. He's gotten counselors called and their Presidency is already in action!
* Dad has been able to exercise his Priesthood authority and give a few blessings to the kids over the past month. It's so wonderful to have access to blessings at any time! He'll also be giving all of the kids (and mom!) Father's Blessings for "Back To School"... we've been a little late on them this year but we are all eager to receive them!
* General Conference! Yay! My TWO favorite weekends of the year! Due to the Pandemic, it was 100% virtual (like it was in April). And just like in April, I decided to take notes in Question Form so that I could have points to ponder and questions to ask over the next 6 months. Some of those questions are:
1. What efforts can I do to prepare myself and my home for the Second Coming of the Lord?
2. What physical and spiritual preparedness do I need to focus on?
3. In what area am I procrastinating for the 2nd Coming?
4. How can I press forward in Faith in Christ?
5. What level of effort am I willing to invite into my life to become more like the Savior?
6. How can I be better at "deeply seeing" others - the way God's see them?
7. How can I be more of a "Zion People"?
8. Am I living up to my Temple Recommend?
9. Who are my enemies? How do I learn to love them?
10. What change can I offer the Savior for all He has done for me?
11. Christ is patient with me - How can I be more patient with others?
12. What role do I have in ushering in the 2nd Coming?
13. In what ways can I make my home the First Defense against the Advesary?
14. Am I accessing the full depth of the Temple Endowment?
15. What are some unimportant tasks and distractions that I can eliminate from my life?
16. Are my thoughts and will aligned with God?
17. How can I be a better angel on this side of the veil?
18. Am I letting God Prevail in my life?
19. Am I securely on the Covenant Path?
20. Is our Home Centered Learning where I want it to be?
Anyway, those are some of the questions that came to my heart throughout all of the sessions of Conference! I particularly enjoyed the Women's Session on Saturday night - especially Sister Craven's talk about Change and President Nelson's talk where he "urged us to be Temporally prepared" but moreso than that - he shared how he is more concerned with our Spiritual and Mental Preparedness. He then gave us 3 things we can do to help in this area:
1. Create areas to be safe
2. prepare our minds to be faithful to God
3. Never Stop (preparing)
Overall it was a really uplifting weekend and we got to spend lots of time together as a family being engaged in Spiritual things :)
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