19-years-old

 

Well here we are again, another year has flown by.  Caitlyn is in her last year of her teens, that is crazy. She is a few weeks away from finishing her first year of college.  This year has been a wild one for Caitlyn.  She has had some of her highest highs and some of her lowest lows. 

Her break up, mixed in with leaving her job (where she feels at home and successful) and moving away from home made for the perfect storm and some very scary, dark times for Caitlyn. She couldn't sleep and had constant panic attacks and was depressed on top of all of that.  Poor girl, it was so hard to send her away knowing how much she was struggling. 

Caitlyn is a fighter and she fought through all of that and kept going when she didn't want to.  She went to lots of doctors and counselors until we found a good fit and that is so hard to do when you are struggling.  I'm so proud of her for sticking with her plan to go to SUU, even though it would have been so much easier to stay home and work and stay where she was comfortable. Anxiety tries to stop you from doing normal every day things, but it really tries to stop you from doing anything scary or new.  I'm so impressed with Caitlyn's desire and ability to do the hard things even when she is overcome with anxiety. 

She has had a lot of hard times at college, but she has had a lot of great times too.  She has made great friends and had a lot of fun experiencing new things.  She loves being on her own and she loves having roommates who are always up for an adventure. 

Caitlyn is so good at being there for other people.  She has a lot of friends that call her when they are struggling. They know that she will be there for them anytime. I worry sometimes because I don't want her to take on everyone's problems, but that is where she thrives. She is so empathetic and kind and wants everyone to feel loved.  She is so good at seeing a need in someone and filling that need.  She doesn't have to be asked, she just does it because she loves people. 

College has been a lot harder for Caitlyn than she expected.  She has always been a great student and willing to work hard, but she has some hard classes and has quizzes or tests every week. All of the memorization in Medical Anatomy has her wanting to switch her major a lot! She loves the class and thinks it's very interesting, but she hates all of the memorization. 

Caitlyn is hilarious.  She loves to laugh and have fun.  People love to be around her because she makes everything fun.  She has a great sense of humor and will laugh at everyone's jokes. She always has a funny comment to add in and it's usually in a funny accent. 

Caitlyn loves to give compliments.  She gives very genuine compliments that make people feel so loved.  She has been so sweet to me and sends me quotes all the time about good moms and tells me how grateful she is for me. That means so much to me. 

Caitlyn is trying to find a balance of not stressing over everything and pushing herself.  I told her that is a life long struggle.  She is very wise for her age and always has great insights and thoughts. 

Caitlyn loves to go for drives and sing along to her music. I'm so glad she bought my parents car, she loves her car!  She loves escape rooms and axe throwing.  She loves to shop and buy cute clothes and decorations for her room. She is excited for summer break, but sad to leave her friends.  Especially Anna, she is going on a mission this summer so she won't be back in the Fall.  Caitlyn is going to miss her so much.  She is excited to go back to work at Chick-Fil-A this summer.  She loves the job and the people there so much. 

Caitlyn is just a beautiful person inside and out, she radiates kindness and acceptance.  It's so fun to watch her create a beautiful life for herself. We love you Caitlyn and we are so grateful to be your parents. 

Life Lately

Jonah ran for Senior class vice president.  He was going to run for president, but his friend Ellen, lost the SBO president election so he said he would drop out so she could run.  I could tell he was disappointed, but he said it was fine. Apparently he really wanted to speak at graduation and the senior class president gets to. Jonah is a very loyal, caring friend.  He always has been, he will do anything for his friends and he is always there for them.  He took Ellen a treat after she lost the election. His friend Allison was going to run for vice president when Jonah was going to run for president.  At the last minute she couldn't run because she had an F, so she called Jonah and told him that he should run and brought the paperwork over to him.

It was fun to see his friend post about voting for him on Instagram. Sawyer did him dirty, she posted this picture from when he got his wisdom teeth out, ha! Jonah made it through the first round and it was down to him and one other girl. He didn't think he would win because he said she has a lot of friends.  He told me that he was fine if she won though because she would be good for the school. I thought that was a really great attitude to have.  He loves his friends and he loves Provo High! The day he was supposed to find out he came home and I asked him and he told me he lost.  He seemed a little disappointed, but okay. Four hours later he was leaving for La Crosse practice and he casually says, "Oh yeah, I actually won the election." I was so confused.  I asked him why he told me he lost and he said, "I must have forgot."  He always has a smirk so it's so hard to tell when he is joking.  So I am pretty sure he won the election, but he likes to keep me guessing!

Jonah had his first La Crosse game a couple of weeks ago.  He is not a fan of the polo shirt they wear for game days. He doesn't love the crew neck sweatshirt either, but I thought he looked great. 

Keith and I have never been so cold in our lives.  The first game was out by the point of the mountain and not only was it freezing, but there was a freezing wind.  It's hard because they are evening games, so the sun has gone down and it is freezing!

They knew going into this game that it would be a blow out. La Crosse is still pretty new at Provo and they only won a couple of games last year.  They lost big time, but they seemed to find their groove in the second half.  The other team scored 14 points in the first half, but they only scored 2 in the second half.  We went down to talk to Jonah after the game.  He was so excited, he loved his first game.  He got a lot of playing time and he made a lot of good plays. 

I will do a post with the pictures I've taken during the games.  Jonah got his first goal during their second game.  He had an awesome long shot! Last week they got their first win at Jordan High School.  Mel came and watched the game with me. I loved having her there and so did Jonah. Jonah asked to come out near the end of the game and we could tell he was in pain.  He tried to play through it, but he couldn't.  The next day at practice his back was still killing him, he said he couldn't move without pain. He went to the trainer and they said he strained his muscle and the only way to fix it is to rest.  He was so disappointed not to play in his game Friday night. Hopefully he will be able to feel better soon.

Hallee made fake nails out of straws. 

Hallee got to go on a field trip to the Aquarium.  Nicole sent me pictures of the girls.

Caitlyn came home for Spring Break at the end of February.  Anna stayed at our house the first night and Caitlyn took her to the airport early the next morning.  Blakely decided to stay over too so they could all go shopping and to The Wash that night. Jacqui, Cait's friend from high school came over and joined them too. I had fun visiting with them and I loved seeing Jacqui, I really like her. 

We loved having Caitlyn home. She worked all week, but we still got some quality time with her.  Hallee and Caitlyn love to do their nails together.  I thought I was so clever when they said they were out of white paint and I gave Caitlyn her birthday present early.  Turns out they figured I got her some and were dropping hints for me to give it to them. 

It worked out great that we had dentist appointments scheduled while Caitlyn was here. We also were able to get her a passport card.

After we did that Caitlyn told me that she wanted to take me out for crepes, she is always so generous. It was fun to have that time with her.

I saw this picture on Instagram.  Here is Jonah and his friends at the basketball game. I love seeing him enjoy high school so much. 

Keith and I went and watched Tessa's gymnastic meet one night.  We loved watching her.  She is so good at every event and so fun to watch. Hallee had already showered and was in her pajamas so she didn't want to go.  Jonah texted me when he got home and said he was taking Hallee to get a shake.  She sure loved that attention from Jonah and the shake!

Wyatt had a battle a couple of weekends ago.  He did great and we loved watching him.

I loved just watching the kids play and have fun together Sunday after dinner while Caitlyn was home. Of course it was when it was time to do dishes, but still it was so fun to see.

Me and Wyatt went to Rockwell's championship volley ball game a couple of weeks ago. It was so exciting and so fun to watch.  I didn't realize volleyball was so fun to watch.  Rockwell did great! 

Caitlyn came home for a quick weekend trip for her friends wedding. Caitlyn has been craving eggs benedict so I made it for her before she went home on Saturday.  Her birthday is on Easter this year, so I told her this could be her birthday dinner.  

We were all pretty happy to have eggs benedict. 

I have been walking every day.  One morning I tried to beat the snow and I ended up in the snow storm.  Spring weather is crazy, warm and beautiful one day and snowing the next. 

Hallee and I have started walking to school together on the days she doesn't have choir.  It's nice because then Jonah can take the car to school and I just stay and walk at the park after I drop her off.  Hallee loves it and is always very chatty in the morning, so it's been great.

The weather was amazing so we enjoyed playing in the back yard after dinner one Sunday.

Jonah wanted us to play La Crosse with him. I don't have a picture of me playing with him, but he was impressed with my skills! It was fun to pass the ball back and forth.

We had fun just sitting on the deck and enjoying the great weather.

Hallee bought a hula hoop and has had fun doing that.

They kept trying to get Jackson to jump through the hoop, he was not a fan.

Wyatt was outside playing with us and had been fine all weekend and then Sunday night he came in and told me he didn't feel good. He was burning up and said he was achy all over.  I got him ibuprofen and got him to bed.  He ended up throwing up a few times and having a fever and being really sick for three days.  Poor kid, he seems to get hit hard with illnesses. Jackson took good care of him and slept with him and laid with him during the day. 

I was surprised when Hallee came home from school and my parents were with her.  They were driving home from Sandy's and Hallee was crossing right in front of them so they offered her a ride.  That was a fun surprise for all of us.

Thursday, Wyatt finally went back to school and I was thinking how nice it was to be back in my routines and have everyone back to school and work.  A few hours later Keith called.  He had been laid off again! Are you kidding me? Who hires someone and lays them off three weeks later? We definitely had some concerns about this company when he started working there.  Keith was surprised by how much they didn't know or do.  They had a chief technology director, but Keith was the one that had to learn the software and teach it to them.  They thought he would need weeks to learn it and he learned it in a couple of days.  He sat with the one sales agent they had and Keith showed him a bunch of stuff and helped him with his sales calls (he would tell them he would call them back later on every call).  At one point Nick, the agent, took off his glasses looked at Keith and said, "Can I ask you something?  Are you some kind of genius."  Keith is very smart, but the things they were impressed with seemed pretty basic. Keith was at a chamber of commerce meeting networking for the company while they were having a meeting and doing the company wide layoffs.  The company has been through a lot of changes and the latest thing they were selling was tax solutions to small business.  They made a lot of money of the ERC (employee retention credit.) That ended in January and they were hoping to use that money to operate while they got some new products up and running. The problem came when the IRS stopped all payments for the ERC credit because they had so much fraud with that credit. When the company got word that they wouldn't get payments for six months they knew they didn't have enough money to keep operating. Keith's boss felt so bad and was so complimentary of Keith.  He was also out of a job along with everyone else, so there wasn't anything he could do. Keith said he dreaded calling and giving me the news.  It was not what either one of us was expecting. I told him that it felt like we were getting punked! They gave him two weeks severance and his boss pushed for him to get the bonus they promised him for the first couple of months.  It is overwhelming and so disheartening to be here again. The job search seems slower this time around.  There aren't as many positions to apply for and he hasn't heard back from anything all week.  It is hard to stay positive. When I texted the family Lori responded and said, "I'm a silver lining kinda gal. I think this job was just a place holder job, cause the right job would leave you out of work too long. So now the right job will come along and be a perfect fit! I'm a believer in Miracles and I know it will be soon for you guys." That was super helpful, Lori always knows just what to say.  The night Keith lost his job we had a temple appointment. While I was waiting for my session I read this in 2 Nephi, "For behold, I am God; and I am a God of miracles; and I will show unto the world that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and I work not among the children of men save it be according to their faith." That hit me hard and reminded me of what Lori said, it brought me the peace I needed that day. It's been a lot harder to be positive this time around, but we are trying.  I do believe that Heavenly Father will help us through this.  We have been blessed already with Keith's last check being more than we were planning.  We think they might have given him a bonus on that check and he will get one in the severance check as well.  That is definitely a miracle that we needed!

Jonah really wanted a new suit for prom.  He has been picking up shifts and working hard to earn money to buy a suit.  We went to Men's Warehouse to see what we could find.  Suits are crazy expensive so we looked at the clearance section.  They had this suit and it fit him right off the rack. The guy said we were lucky because they just put those out on clearance. It was perfect, he loved it and it looked great on him.  I think he was proud of himself for setting a goal and making it happen.

Wyatt made this cool robot in robotics.  It moves with syringes of water.  It is really cool.

Wyatt's hair is getting curly.  It was really noticeable when his hair was long and he needed a haircut.

I love the curls, he said he doesn't like them. He sure is a good looking kid.