26 March 2023
VOLUME 11 – NUMBER 496
Ellie’s birthday party
Last Saturday Ellie turned three! Brooke and I can't believe that it's been three years already since she was born. We started the day off getting donuts for breakfast from Dunkin' Donuts. Later on we went to the park, had birthday cupcakes, and opened presents.
We love Ellie so much! It is both happy and sad to see her growing up so fast. We look back on baby pictures of her and miss our little baby. But, we also love seeing her grow learn how to talk and interact with us. She makes us laugh every day. Happy Birthday Ellie!
Ellie with friends at her birthday party
This week we did stake sports again. They are doing this fun thing where half of the gym is basketball, and the other half is volleyball. This week I ended up playing more volleyball than basketball, because I didn't have the shoes for basketball, and I didn't want to injure my ankle again. So to solve that problem for next week, I ordered some D.O.N. Issue #4 basketball shoes!
When we played volleyball, we mostly hung out with Herbert and Hazel. They are honestly super good at volleyball, but I like trash-talking with them, when in reality, they could definitely smoke me at any position of the court.
Also, in my attempt to not hurt my ankle playing basketball, I ended up tweaking it while playing volleyball! After a minute of sitting on the side line, I got back up and went through one rotation of volleyball, then went over and played a small one on one basketball game with Hazel.
It was fun, and I definitely wasn't on my "A" game today, so naturally she did better than me. It was a fun night and I can't wait till youth basketball starts, so I can get back into playing basketball.
Monte’s new basketball shoes
I was able to do a lot of school this week, and I am close to getting all of my classes caught up. My favorite class right now is probably language arts, because I just finished a huge essay, and now everything is pretty easy, and I'm cruising through it. The nice thing is that it was my farthest class behind, and now its almost caught up.
Octopus decoration for Ellie’s birthday party
This week I have been trying to focus on school. A lot of my classes are so close to being done.
On Monday, Riley asked me out a at work right before we left. It was a double date with Elizabeth and Aiden.
On Friday after work we went to Aiden's house for the date. The first thing we did was make pizza dough. After the dough was ready, we put on our toppings. Riley's and my pizza tasted so good! We had stuffed crust, and put garlic salt on the edges.
While Elizabeth and Aiden were making the sugar cookies, Riley and I played Gang Beasts. It was so fun playing it because most of time I jumped off and died. Riley won most of the rounds we played.
Once the cookies were done, we walked around the neighborhood and went to Falcon Ridge Elementary to talk. Riley and I went to the playground and talked about what we want to do after we graduate.
After 30 minutes we went back to Aiden's and watched a show. At 10:50pm we started to go home. We really had enjoyable time with each other. Thank you Mom and Dad for letting me go.
Misha, Max, Mable, Ollie, Isha
This Sunday was fun, and a little bit hard. It was fast Sunday, so that's why it was a little hard, but Grandma and Grandpa came over, which made it really fun.
Mom and Grandma made lunch, but I didn't really get to eat much of it, since I basically slept through lunch. Eventually I got up to go eat, and I got to eat my half eaten enchilada (Dad ate the other half before I could get to it!). I also got to eat a few Pop Tart's along with lunch, which was good. Grandma made a Broccoli salad kind of thing, and it was pretty good.
Endia and Cougar also came over this Sunday. They talked a lot about Dad's work, and their upcoming vacation to New Mexico to go see some national parks. Troy and I set up yogurt and granola for dinner. We cut the strawberries, put everything in the bowls, and then we ate!
After dinner, we decided to play Pandemic with Endia and Cougar, because the last like five times we had lost! I know, kind of embarrassing, but we were destined to win this round.
We said that we would play every round like it was the last one... well, you can guess how it turned out. We LOST, again! So humiliating!
Cookies from Ellie’s birthday party
On Sunday Grandpa Lin and Grandma Sharon came over and brought some Lucky Charms cereal, since Grandma has a tradition of bring Lucky Charms on St. Patricks Day.
They also went to church with us and then when we came home and we made a puzzle for the third hour of church. It was a picture Dad made of a city of Moroni. He had the puzzle for a long time, and we finally did it, but it was kind of hard.
We ate some yummy enchiladas and then Endia and Cougar came over and brought some cookies. I played Monopoly Deal with Cougar then we ate granola and yogurt. We played a round of Pandemic and lost. Then they left and we went to bed.
Dad with young men in the 5th Ward
Jenny and I received callings in the 5th Ward recently, and I can’t remember if we’ve mentioned it yet. Jenny was called to be the music coordinator and Primary pianist, and I have been called as a youth Sunday School teacher. I’ve taught once so far, and my children said it went pretty well.
Unofficially, I have also been given an assignment to work with the young men, and this week I was asked to prepare an activity/lesson. Hermano Curtis asked me to help the young men memorize Section 13 of the Doctrine and Covenants (which is just one verse).
That was a little bit of a challenge for my first young mens lesson. After all, scripture memorization can be a little intimidating. So I took our FabFab Vocab game that I created on Excel late last year, and tweaked it so that it could list out the scripture in 15 different segments.
At the activity, each young man erased one segment each turn, and if they could recite the scripture with the new segment missing, they got to pick from a pile of delicious treats. I had asked the youth during my first Sunday School lesson to tell me what each thought the “King of Candy” was, which had nothing to do with the lesson, but was a sneaky way of doing treat reconnoissance!
The group of young men was small, but I think they really had a fun time. The dad of one of the young men approached me the next Sunday, and mentioned that his son has really enjoyed both of my lessons!
One more cool thing that happened this week. When Lin and Sharon were at our house on Sunday, Endia and Cougar were also there, and Endia got a chance to show Grandpa and Grandma her children’s book about Artie Gardner (Sharon’s mom). It was cool to see how much they liked it!
Lin and Sharon reading Endia’s book
It was so nice to see my parents this week! Even with all the snow we’ve been having, they still braved the roads to get here, all the way from Montana! They spent Sunday with us, and went to church in the 5th Ward—all in Spanish!
I also wanted to share a little bit about what I am learning in some training that I am going through at work. The course is called TBRI, which stands for Trust-Based Relational Intervention. It’s a therapy that helps children and families who have undergone trauma.
It is interesting that years ago, when we adopted Troy, Quinn, and Joanna, I had the impression that we should buy a trampoline, but at the time we could not afford it.
As I have been going through this training, I’ve learned that trampolines work really well to help heal young brains that have experienced trauma. The physical activity, the rhythmic jumping, and any interaction with others while they are jumping activates their deep muscle tissues, and stimulates parts of their brain that have limited development due to trauma.
So, I decided to follow through with my initial prompting, and use some of our dog training money to buy a small trampoline. And it is working great! All of our children now use it when they are feeling “dis-regulated,” and it helps them get back to a more balanced place. It also helps work out some of their wiggles, as Nacho Libre would say!
Joanna jumping on therapeutic trampoline
This week for our young women’s service activity, we were babysitting Primary-age children at the church. The only three kids we had to watch were Joanna, Quinn, and the young women leader's kid named Mateo.
So we had to keep them entertain them from 6:00 to 8:00pm, and it was really fun. We did a lot of games and it was also good because Quinn and Joanna got really tired running around.
Caleb and Elder Miranda with Joaquin
Week got news of transfers and I'll be here in Los Sauces for at least another six weeks with my companion Elder Miranda! It's crazy! We will have been companions for at least six months. I also love the people here in this town.
Last week, we baptized Jose Quiroz! An 86-year-old man. His baptismal service was awesome and simple. Because he is in a wheelchair, both me and Elder Miranda dressed in white, and went down in the font to help baptize him.
Also last week we had a meeting with the entire Concepción Sur and Concepción missions. It was pretty cool to see more than 400 missionaries all gathered together. Elder Godoy of the Seventy came in place of Elder Stevenson of the 12, but it was still an awesome meeting.
Caleb and Elder Miranda at Jose’s baptism
I love being a district leader! My first district will definitely be one I won't forget. I love the opportunities it has given me and the responsibilities I've had to take on.
I was doing some of my language study and I watched a video in gospel library about a man that goes out to the woods in the winter to collect fire wood. Because of the snow, his truck gets stuck.
He prays and ends up deciding to fill up his truck with the wood while he waits for help, which never comes. But once his truck is loaded he tries again. And the weight of the wood ends up giving him the traction necessary to escape.
I don't think I've been stranded by any means out here, but I love the responsibilities that I've been able to accept and take on with all my heart, which have helped me take the next step in my personal progress.
Caleb having fun with his district
On Friday, Joanna, Veidi, and I went to the church. We were there because for the young women's activity, they were going to babysit us so that the parents could go on a date night.
We played duck, duck, goose. I felt really happy when I was playing with the other kids. We also played magic chairs, It's a game when they stop the music everybody has to sit down. Then whoever couldn't sit is out.
After every round, we'd take a chair out. We played hide n' seek in the dark, and me and Joanna were it. It was really scary, but it was also really fun. I liked the activity so much!
Medusa in a diaper
This week has been a heavier school week for me. When I say “heavier” it really is not much—I just studied for more hours this week than I typically do!
I’ve got a couple exams that I had to take, and these are the last ones before my final two exams. This semester has been the quickest one for me so far, which school wise is awesome, but for work, it is going by too fast!
Also, I got to go shopping this week since I got paid, and that has been really nice to update my wardrobe and such. I keep thinking that I just bought myself all these clothes, but then realize it has been almost two years for a lot of them, and since I wear them all for any activity whether it’s just casual wear or exercise, that has taken a toll on them. So I decided to set aside exercise clothes and casual wear, and now have enough shirts to do that.
Ellis with friend at birthday party
Umm, so I woke up early and Mom said, "Joanna!" Then you know, I ate breakfast, I ate cereal. Mom said that we went to church, and I gave Grandma and Grandpa a hug. I love mommy's parents, and I love mommy for ever and ever.
I went to my class, and then I went to my other class. Then I found my mommy and daddy, and I will always love them. We went home and ate some yummy food, and we ate yogurt.
I played some cards with Endia and Cougar, and they are good. Then you know, umm, I went to bed—sleepy night night! then Veidi went to bed, and everybody else went to bed.
I was going to scare Veidi, but I didn't because I feel like she probably didn't want me to scare her. I asked Isaac to scare Veidi, but he scared me. I told mommy.
Whenever I lay down, I cough, and whenever I go to sleep, I cough. I tell my mommy and daddy that I love you so much!
Caleb on preparation day