September 20th - October 3rd

In Our Family The Past TWO Weeks...

* Covid is back on the rise.... I realized I hadn't been updating with any Covid news the past several months - and that's because it had been going well! The world opened back up, masks were taken off, schools and shops were back in full swing and we even got to back to church (at first with LOTS of restrictions and only for Sacrament meeting... but as the months went by, the restrictions were lifted one by one and it was almost like life was "back to normal") Then, a new variant of the Covid-19 virus hit the US (in the spring of this year) which is twice as infectious as the original virus and as much as 60% more transmittable. It's also infecting much younger people.  This summer (I think the beginning of August??) our Prophet strongly encouraged everyone who could, to get the Covid Vaccine and wear masks again.  We have taken the Prophets words to heart and have gotten vaccinated and also wear masks whenever we are at church or at the Temple. This new Delta Variant virus has brought up our numbers of infected and overall cases. As of today, here's how the numbers look:

        - Total Idaho cases: 260K                - Total Idaho deaths: 3,000

        - Total US cases: 43.6 Million        - Total US deaths: 701K

        - Worldwide cases: 220 Million      - Total Worldwide cases: 4.5 Million

* Volleyball games and practices for the girls. In fact, the season has now officially ended! Lexi's team went undefeated! and Aubrie's team had a great few last games and even won some of their matches - yay! One of the teams that they played had a 3rd team and so our coach asked if some of our girls could stay and play against them - this made it possible for both Aubrie and Lexi to be on the same team! That was fun to watch! The girls had fun but are already anticipating the Rugby season to start back up in February!

* Dad turned 47 on Tuesday, Sept 21st! We had a fun time spoiling him with gifts and cards and our love! He thought it would be fun to take the whole family out to dinner and so that's just what we did! Everyone (we were missing Seth up at College and August had to work...) but the rest of us (including McKendra, Henry, Natalie and Grandma & Grandpa Vogt) met up at The Cheesecake Factory for a night of yummy food and good conversation! Afterwards, we came back to the house where he opened up his gifts.

* Dad and the girls have been going to the local High School girls' Rugby games. They really enjoy this and it's always a bonus when they see a girl that was on their team last year!

* BRACES! What?! Our local dentist has been wanting us to get a consult with an Orthodontist for almost 2 years now! Ooops! Well, with Covid being a thing for the past 18 months - I'm using that as our biggest "excuse"... I knew their next cleaning appointment was going to be here in October and so figured I'd better at least get some consultations set! We met with 2 local (and both HIGHLY recommended Orthodontists - Bridgetower and Howell) and ultimately decided to proceed forward with Howell... Surprisingly, once we decided to go with them, they were ready to put the braces on pretty much the next day! Their treatment plan is identical to each other - they both have a cross-bite that needs to be fixed (this will take an Expander for about 10 months to "expand" their upper jaws to fit properly over their lower jaw). They will wear that at the same time as the braces are on (and braces should be on for roughly 21 months). The girls were both actually pretty excited to get them on (who knows why!? haha) but that quickly vanished by the end of the first day when they were both in lots of mouth pain - boo! They've been doing Ibuprofen and Tylenol (alternating every 2 hours) to keep on top of the pain. At the writing of this, it's been 4 full days and they say that the pain is definitely lessening.

* Henry turned 18 months old on Sept 25th! He's such a doll and is saying more and more words these days. McKendra took some really cute pictures of him in their yard and sent them to us.

* Seth came home for the weekend from Rexburg and that's been fun to have him back in the house! Within minutes of walking in, he grabbed his Marco's shirt and went to cover Ben's shift (as Ben was having issues with a bad ear-ache -- and after calling Tele-doc, they diagnosed an Ear Infection and sent over some antibiotics). Seth also worked a few hours on Saturday and was able to get a little bit of cash back into his pockets!

* Dad is taking some MUCH NEEDED time off from work! His last day was Sept. 29th and he won't go back until October 11th! Xylem has been doing a huge project that has run dad into the ground so this is both a physical and mental break from that! He's been able to sleep in, relax in front of the TV, go the BSU game, attend the temple and go to they gym and his Trainer. We're all looking forward to another full week with him home!

* Mom and dad were able to get an appointment at the Meridian Temple to do some Initiatories. It was great to be back inside together!

* August was able to sneak away from work for a bit and attend the BSU vs Nevada game with dad! Sadly, they didn't play well and we lost - but dad and August sure had fun together! 

SPIRITUALLY SPEAKING...

* (Written by Lexi)... So for about a month or two I've gotten in two situations where my best friend Lauren has ghosted me and won't even look at my texts for about a week or two. I have some other friends but Lauren is my only true best friend and this last week I had done something that upset her and she didn't tell me and instead hasn't talked to me for a while and I'd only found out yesterday what it was and I felt so bad because in this situation I'd hurt her feelings but she over reacted about it... and it made me so sad that my only best friend won't talk to me. It was late, and I'd gone on my knees to say my personal prayer for the night but I just couldn't seem to pray at the moment because I was so sad and was crying and after a bit Aubrie noticed that I was crying and told Ben about it and Ben wanted me to come and talk to him, but everything anyone said just seemed to make me more sad and at that point just Ben, Nathan, Aubrie, and I were the only ones awake and they were trying to help me but couldn't. Eventually dad woke up from us talking and came in to see what was going on and why we were all still up. He comes and sees that I'm crying and comes to hold me and in a bit he went to tuck Aubrie and I in, in our room, and I told him what happened and he tried to give me advice but it seemed like nothing helped. I just wanted my friend back and I wished that she would communicate more but he gave us hugs and went to bed because it was really late and I just couldn't stop crying but I knew I had to go to bed so I kneeled to say my prayer and I thanked heavenly father for all of my blessings and then told him how I was feeling and the thought came to me, have dad give you a blessing to comfort you and to hear some things you needed to hear. Earlier this month we got our back to school blessings and dad asked, what are some things you need help with or hope for this school year, and I said to do good with school, and to be a good friend, and I had been struggling making friends and finding someone I could talk to no matter what and that was always there for me and this is what that part of my blessing said: "Father in heaven knows your heart and knows your desire for friendship and knows your desire to have a true best friend." I finished my prayer and went to mom and dad's room and mom was asleep but dad was not yet so I said, " hey dad? Can I get a blessing?" And he got up and I sat on their bed and in my blessing it said heavenly father knows your heart, which was very familiar and I remembered that it was in a previous blessing I'd got and then it said "there is a perfect friend waiting for you" and that is an amazing promise to know that It's not, I won't ever have another best friend, it's now that there's someone out there that's also waiting for a best friend that is perfect for me. I was able to fall asleep easily after that and I'm so grateful for Ben and Aubrie who comforted me and dad who stood up till 3am to make sure I was ok and gave me a blessing right away when I asked, and I'd like to bear my testimony that heavenly father really does know your heart, and has a plan for you and is always there with you, I say these these things in the name of Jesus Christ amen.

***************************************************

* Two Words - GENERAL CONFERENCE! One of my favorite weekends of the year! 10 hours of uplifting, inspiring and spiritually edifying talks!! Continuing on with taking notes in the form of questions to later take to the Lord during my personal scripture study, here are some of those questions that the speakers inspired me to ask:

* What positive or negative habits are a part of my life? How can I course correct or keep the course?

* What landmarks help evaluate my life?

* Is there something keeping me from letting the Lord be the author of my story?

* What could I do if I had more faith in Christ?

* Is there contention in my life that I need to let go of?

* Do I need to change my priorities?

* What can I do to foster unity? in my family? in my YW class?

* What works of righteousness will help me/you to have personal peace?

* How is my personal spiritual foundation?

* How can I help strengthen my children's foundation?

* What reinforcements do my/children's foundation need?

* How can I better call upon the angels to help in my life?

* How have my trials refined me?

* What struggles could I apply the 1% Marginal Gain improvement to?

* What are the distractions in my life?

* How can I focus more on the Savior?

* How can I better make time for the Lord each day?