19 March 2023
VOLUME 11 – NUMBER 495
Mom snuggling baby Charlie
This week I got to come out to Utah for a company training trip in Park City. A couple months ago we thought it would be a good idea if I brought Charlie with me to meet the Utah family for the first time. I added her as a lap rider to my ticket and we made the trip out on Tuesday. We had a 6:00am flight, so that meant we had to wake up at 2:50am.
Charlie did an awesome job, but on our second flight after our layover, she exploded through her diaper. I had a change of clothes, but we were sitting in the middle seat. I had to wake up the lady sitting in the aisle seat to get back to the bathroom to get Charlie changed.
Braden at company retreat
It was awesome for Charlie to meet the fam! I got to Utah at 11:00am on Tuesday. Since my first event for work was a welcome dinner at 7:00pm, I got to spend the afternoon with the family in West Jordan. Endia, London, and Ashton came up and we got to catch up. We also played Acquire and Gang Beasts. It was hard to be in Utah, so close to the family and not be able to see them much while I was there.
My work training ended up being really great! I had worked with pretty much everyone virtually, but this was the first time meeting everyone in person.
Since this is a new industry for me, and I have no experience in IT compliance, it was awesome to hear other new employees who were still learning and in the same boat as me. I left feeling like I wasn't as much of an imposter at this company as I thought before!
Ellie and her birthday cupcake
I decided to not go to this month's region dance, because of my experience last region dance. I just created my March Madness bracket, and well... It's not as great as it could be. I expected a lot of upsets, but I was incorrect.
There were a few major upsets, just not where I expected them. The team I have chosen to win March Madness is…Kansas State! Woo-hoo! Okay, so I don't really have much faith in them.
After we locked in our brackets, Braden taught us some valuable information, including past winners, where they were on the map, etc. And Kansas State was in none of those categories, so, yeah, lets go Kansas State!
Caleb in church
I got to meet baby Charlie! She is so adorable and I’m excited for the whole family to be out here this summer!
It was also great to be able to go to the temple with the family this week. On the way home we were also able to be with Yarima to see their friend Emerson be baptized.
Cougar really enjoyed the Spanish and it reminded him a lot of his mission on California. It was a great week to spend time with family!
London with Charlie
On Sunday, we went to church, and we listened to the people giving talks during sacrament meeting.
Then we went to class, and my teachers said that on Friday the young women are going to babysit all of the primary at the church, so that their parents can go on dates. I got a bag of treats, a ball, a notebook, and some pens.
Dad singing to Charlie
I've been doing really good in school recently, I am ahead in my Spanish class, and I am also doing good in math, surprisingly.
I am also almost caught up in ASL. I hope that I can get all of my classes caught up so that I can have a spring break.
Taste testing for Luis and Emma
Several weeks ago, we were very excited to hear that Luis and Emma Grappendorf are getting married. We have been working with Luis to help with the reception dinner. He and Emma asked us if we would be willing to help with the desserts.
So we asked London if she would be willing to help us provide an informal taste testing for Luis and Emma, so they could see what types of things we could provide. London jumped in and did all the work.
On Sunday, we really enjoyed having Luis and Emma over for a couple hours. they tried out all of London’s options and everything was so good, they couldn’t choose between them!
We also had a great time catching up a little with them. It was a great visit, and we are excited for their upcoming wedding!
Taste testing for Luis and Emma
This week, Dad started teaching in Sunday school. He had an amazing lesson about the king of candy, bread on stop signs, horses pulling semi trucks, and what yokes are.
I really enjoyed it. I also had to say the sacrament prayer twice today because we ran out of water on the water trays.
Mom also dropped the bomb that she's gonna be teaching Isaac, Hazel, and I how to play the organ for prelude. I am so nervous about it because my piano skills aren't the best, and now I need to learn the organ!
It'll be fine though, because I can do hard things—at least that's what Mom says!
Boys working on special effects
Today is St. Patricks day and I didn't even know until after scripture studies when Quinn said "Today is St. Patricks Day!" So I wore a green shirt that Isaac gave me. Then Braden came over and the boy's did a poker game.
The next day Isaac and Monte showed Braden the short movie clip that they made. It was Obi-Wan vs. Darth Vader and they made it from footage they shot at the church, and lots of special effects. It was really cool!
Donuts for Ellie’s birthday breakfast
This week for school it's our spring break. I have been trying to get more ahead so I could finish early this year. Most of my classes are really ahead. For work I really like the new routes.
On Saturday we had a region dance. The theme was western and southern. A lot of people did dress up. I danced with Riley and a kid named Tyler, but he was 14, and he was super surprised when I told him I was 16.
Also, I tried to roundhouse kick Veidi (or pretened to) and instead I flipped over and fell on my face. I have never been so embarrassed! I really hurt my elbow and my left leg. I was laughing and crying at the same time, because It hurt so bad!
Grandma and baby Charlie
Well, we went to class for church, and we got to say some songs. My teacher kept teaching class. Then we umm... got some chocolate, and I got to eat my treats from Primary. Troy got all the stuff, and some lucky stuff.
Oh yeah, I took a nap. Then I woke up and London, Ashton, Luis, and Emma were here. I got to taste some delicious foods that London made for me.
I also got to eat a homemade mac and cheese that Mom had made for me. As always, I have to go to bed now.
Donuts for Ellie’s birthday breakfast
Charlie and Braden came. Charlie was so cute! She was so happy and really smiley. We went to youth night and we delivered blankets, bottles of hand sanitizer, and cards to the elderly women.
On Thursday we went to stake sports, and a lot of Youth from our ward were there. They did volleyball and basketball and I did basketball because I am not a huge fan of volleyball.
For basketball we did a few rounds of Tornado. Then we made teams. I am not really good, but it was fun going and doing sports. I was also surprised at how many people were there.
Me, Gloria, Monte, and Isaac went to the regional dance. It was fun. I like spending time with friends. One funny thing that happened there was that Gloria tried to kick me in the face, but she was joking around and tried to see if I would duck. She kicked to high and lost her balance and she fell on her face!
We were all saying, “Are you okay?” and we were all laughing, but then she ended up getting a burn. Other than that it was pretty fun.
Mom and Dad doing tummy time
Braden was here this week, and we got to hang out with him most of the day on Tuesday. It’s going to be so awesome when he and Brooke and their family come out for the summer.
One of the highlights of my week was getting to go to Emerson’s baptism! Yarima let us know that he was getting baptized and so we got to go to that. There was a little boy in front of us that dropped his coin on the ground, so he asked me to pick it up for him. While handing it back to him I pulled out the magic tricks and made it disappear!
I was pretty impressed with my skills that first one, but was running out of disappearing ideas, as he asked me throughout the service to make it disappear again!
Recent converts Joaquin and Kevin