It felt great to change children's lives

Lori made us an appointment at feed my starving children on Monday.  I asked Hallee if she liked it and she said, "Yes, it felt great to change children's lives."

Before we went there we went to the Henhouse for an early lunch. We were crunched for time so we had to eat outside because the wait was long.  I sat in my car to cool off for a minute, but then it wasn't terrible in the shade.

We got two orders of the giant pancakes.  They are so big and so good!

It was so fun to have so much time to visit with my siblings.  

We had enough to form three groups at feed my starving children.  

I love that the kids can help.  Each package gets a scoop of vitamins, vegetables, rice and soy.  Someone weighs it to make sure it is the right weight and then someone seals the bag.  After we have filled 36 bags we pack them into a box and they are ready to be shipped off. 

These guys got in a great rhythm going and packed 22 boxes!

I'm so glad there are so many great charities that help people in need.  It feels great to be a part of helping children who don't have enough to eat.  They said it takes $88 to feed a child for a year so we donated $88 and bought a couple of things from the store to help out.  They said they pray over all of their shipments and believe God blesses their work and helps get the food to where it needs to be. 

Someone was always in the pool when we were home.  Tiff and Paul were always so nice to let me kids swim with them when I didn't want to get in the pool.

The teenagers had fun swimming at night and watching a movie. 

Matt and Lori were so nice to house us all.  I had the guest room with my littles.  The girls were in the loft, Tiff and her family were in Cody's room, Mel was in the extra bedroom and the boys slept on a mattress downstairs. 

The kids had fun playing games together.

Lori is a saint and let the kids do tie dye shirts. 

I didn't get a picture of the teenagers in their shirts, but these little ones sure looked cute.  They all love their shirts. 

It's always fun to hear the cousins laughing and having fun together.

Tuesday was my birthday and Keith was so sweet and had presents here for me.  My favorite gift was a coupon to go to Mexico!  I'm planning on going to Rocky Point with Matt sometime soon and I told Keith that was all I wanted for my birthday. The kids wrote sweet notes and everyone fussed over me.  It was a great day!

Keith asked Lori to pick up some flowers and a cheesecake for me.  He really is the best.  I appreciate the thoughtfulness so much.

The adults went to Freddy's that night for dinner.  Everyone left early Wednesday morning.  The house sure seemed quiet and empty with everyone gone.  It was so fun to have this time together.  Hopefully no one else gets Covid!

Vacation Time

Hallee and Wyatt have been drawing a lot lately.  Wyatt has learned how to draw people and taught Hallee. 

I've been ordering a lot of things online and Wyatt always finds fun things to do with the boxes.  I'm not sure Jackson enjoyed it, but Wyatt sure had fun.

Back in April or May we booked flights to Arizona.  Mel and her girls wanted to do go down and wanted us to come too.  I was proud of myself for being decisive and just booking the tickets, but I ended up having to change them a million times. Last Friday me, Caitlyn, Wyatt and Hallee flew to Mesa from the Provo Airport.

My kids were excited to fly again.  They were really excited to have their cousins on the same flight.  Mel and her girls and Tiff and Paul and their kids were on our flight.

We all had fun in the pool on Saturday. 

One of the changes we made to the flights was to cancel the flight for Keith and Jonah once we decided to send Jonah to EFY.  Cody and Jonah finished EFY Saturday morning so Keith picked them up and they drove up to Mesa.  They got here around 5 PM on Saturday.  I was excited to see Jonah after not seeing him for a week.

Keith stayed until Sunday night and then flew home to work.  We were glad to have him with us for Father's day.

We hate it when Keith can't travel with us.  I wish we didn't have to worry about things like jobs and money!

Cody and Jonah were exhausted from EFY.  On Monday afternoon Jonah kept saying he was cold and he felt warm.  I gave him some ibuprofen and he slept a lot and slept in until Tuesday morning.  When he woke up, his fever was gone and he said he sweat a ton during the night.  A couple of times a year Jonah gets a fever for a couple of days with no other symptoms. Since he was feeling better on Tuesday I figured that is what it was.  I knew he was exhausted from EFY, over heated because it was so hot here and he hadn't been drinking enough water, so I figured all of that played into him getting a fever and not feeling well.  He was okay on Tuesday and flew home early Wednesday morning with Tiff and Mel so he could go to Young Men's camp.  Keith called me Thursday and said Jonah wasn't acting right and he said he was really tired and had a headache.  He also said he couldn't smell, so I got an appointment for him to get tested for Covid.  We were all so disappointed when it came back positive. I'm still in Arizona with the other kids and Keith and Jonah are home.  Obviously, Jonah didn't get to go to his camp and he has just been laying around and resting.  Keith is doing a great job taking care of him and things around the house.  Keith and Jonah were supposed to fly back down on Monday and we were all going to go to Mexico with Matt and Lori.  I had to cancel their flight and we really don't know what to do at this point. We are just kind of waiting to see how Jonah feels and see if anyone else gets sick.  I feel terrible that we exposed the family to Covid.  I'm praying nobody else gets it.  I hate that everyone has to stress about it now.  I was so worried last summer about Covid ruining our plans, but I really wasn't thinking that would happen this summer.  I'm guessing Jonah got it at EFY.  I'm kicking myself for not getting him vaccinated, I was going to have him get it when we got home from Mexico. Jonah isn't feeling awful, but he is really tired, has had shortness of breath and headaches.  Hopefully he will start feeling better soon.

We all had fun in the pool on Saturday and Sunday.

It think the kids could stay in the pool all day.

Keith got in the pool with Wyatt and Hallee on Sunday.  

We made eggs benedict for lunch on Father's Day.  

Lori had a fun game where the dads were behind a sheet and answered questions with a voice changer and we had to guess which dad said what.  The kids thought it was so fun.

The kids wanted a turn to do it too.  It was a lot of fun.

Even the teenagers wanted a turn.

Saturday morning we went to a swap meet and Wyatt found this hat that he wanted to buy.  We decided it would be a great gift for Keith, so we got him one too.  We were all sad to say goodbye to Keith Sunday night.

Jonah EFY

I asked Jonah to write about his EFY experience. 

 

This was when I first checked into EFY and got into my room. I was so excited to start the week long adventure! (And a week to myself). Cody did end up showing up late past check-in, since his flight was delayed. Thankfully, he didn't miss anything. The first day ended up being a blast!

 Here was my group! We bonded so well. We would always say that we were strangers 1st day, friends 2nd day, best friends 3rd day, and family 4th day! Which is totally true. We are still texting on a big group chat to this day. I still love them all, and I hope I can hangout with them very soon. 

Here's the boys!! Man I love these guys. We were super tight by the 2nd or third day, and for the rest of the time, we were brothers. I love how positive they were, and how fun and enthusiastic they were. I really hope we see each other again soon, and get the family reunion going!

Here are my counselors, David and Sarah! I didn't know Sarah crazy well, but she was awesome, and definitely knew how to invite the spirit really quick. She is someone I look up to. David on the other hand, is one of my favorite people ever. He knew how to make each lesson fun and spiritual at the same time, that's really hard to do. He was like an older brother to me, and I will never ever forget him. I hope I keep in touch with him forever! These are my pictures with them, I loved how they did the lip bite with me!

Here are a couple more pictures of David. These really show how fun David was. He never failed to put a smile on anyone's face, no matter the circumstances. He strengthened my testimony more in one week, than I have my whole life. He was just what I needed, and I'm sure that's the same for everyone else who's ever met him. 

Here are a couple more pictures from the experience! The first picture is when I stole Cody's phone and took selfies on it. The second one is when my friend Rable picked me up and I did a model pose. The last one is just a really good one with me and Cody. Again, I'm so glad I was able to go! The people I met, the testimony I've gained, the lessons I've learned, are all memories I will forever cherish! Special thanks to my parents for paying for it ;)

On Thursday they do a very spiritual day and they have the kids dress up. Jonah said they had a devotional with Brother and Sister Cheng (they were the session directors that week), they sang the EFY medley (Jonah's whole group joined the choir) while they played a slideshow of Christ and then they ended with a testimony meeting.  Jonah sent me this text at the end of the night: "OK, I just finished the fireside and choir performance. And at the end, we sang an amazing song all together, and boy, I couldn't take it.  I broke down crying because the spirit was SO STRONG.  We then went and did a testimony meeting with our group, and I bore mine, and I could tell that my testimony has increased so much, it's mind blowing.  As of right now, I'm still shaken at the warm feeling I felt.  I really testify that Heavenly Father is really there.  Jesus atoned for all of our sins.  I also know that if we engage ourselves, and put in the work,  Jesus will do the rest.  Love you mom!"  I told him that I was happy for him that he had such a wonderful experience and he replied, "Me too! It's such a warm feeling, I never fully knew I had so much of the gospel in me til now."

I'm so grateful that Caitlyn and Jonah were both able to have this experience and that they chose to make it such an impact full week and learn and grow so much.

Hikes and play dates

Mel wanted to hike to some hot springs in Spanish Fork Canyon.  Caitlyn and I were going to go, but she had terrible blisters from EFY and I have been having headaches and stomach issues almost every day, so we decided not to go.  Tiff offered to take Wyatt with her and Rockwell.  They were going really early so Wyatt spent the night.  He was so excited to get a sleepover and a hike!

The hike was five miles.  

Unfortunately, the signs were misleading and they ended up hiking 11 miles!

Tiff and Mel said that Wyatt did awesome.

Wyatt said the top part of the springs was really hot!

Luckily it was cooler when they went farther down because I'm sure they were all hot from hiking.

Wyatt loved swimming in the water.

Wyatt said the hike was super fun, but really long!

Logan had a soccer camp at BYU that day, so Emilee dropped Kenzee off to play for the day.  Hallee was thrilled.  They play so well together.

I took them to Lowes to jump.  

It was so great for Hallee to have a friend to play with all day! They had so much fun and all I had to do was feed them!

The day before Hallee and I went to the dollar store and got some activities and treats for them.  There aren't many girls in the neighborhood so Hallee doesn't have friends nearby to play with, so I tried to make it a fun, special day for her.