14 January 2024
VOLUME 12 – NUMBER 538
Jenny holding Owen
It’s been so nice to have three weeks off from school. This week I started teaching my second semester of classes. It’s a relief to have gone through everything once, and I feel like I understand my material a lot better now, so I have more confidence going into this next semester.
I do have a little more work to do on my grammar sections of the course, so I think by the end of Winter semester (in April), I will finally have a solid course, and teaching should be much easier. I have spent a lot of time working on my BYU course material over the past four months.
It’s also been a bit scary on the MyPack Dog training side of things. We had a rough fourth quarter when our trainings and boardings dropped significantly. December ended up being a good month, but in January we’re back to not having a lot of business. We’ve had to look into loans, and selling off our mini van as options for supplementing our income.
In and attempt to look on the bright side of things, I remember back to the early days of Lumin Publishing, our first business. Not only did we have no money, but we also incurred signifiant amounts of debt—at least MyPack has stayed debt free. Starting a business is difficult, and it usually takes a while for things to get going. We have faith that things will pick up. We just have to hang in there.
Caleb holding Owen
Cougar started school this week, so he was gone more than he has been. It was really nice that he was able to be with Owen and me so much while I have been recovering from my C-section.
Even though I have been recovering, I have felt so good. Not being pregnant any more definitely has its perks—the best one being baby Owen. I find that I spend so much of my time just looking at him.
I was able to capture a lot of his cute moments and faces that I get to see all the time in a quick impromptu photo shoot. He is quite an expressive baby!
Owen
This week weather has been crazy. It has been snowing most of the days. One of the days it was snowing bad we had to leave work early before the snow got really bad.
I also had a terrifying experience at work this week. I was vacuuming my last room, and my vacuum started acting up and wasn’t working very well, so I stopped and turned it up.
I started vacuuming again, and out of the corner of my eye I could see this super bright orange light. I turned and noticed that the vacuum was on fire! I threw it off my back, unplugged it, and ran to get someone. Later on, when we were getting ready to leave, I was still so shaky and scared and my side was super warm.
Riley came over on Wednesday so we could watch Harry Potter 6. It's been almost a year since we started watching the Harry Potter series with him (he had never seen them before).
Owen is super cute, I love holding him. Every time I hold him he’s super smiley.
Isaac holding Owen for first time (last week)
This week Riley came to our house. We watched the 6th Harry Potter movie because he has never seen any of the movies.
I also finished a painting, and then I hung it up on my wall. I am really excited to do more painting and hang them up.
With school starting I’m excited for third grade. I only had three classes—a lot of language arts. One time I got to listen to an audio book. The audio book was called…I don’t know, but it was about a kid going over a hill and getting a big pot for his mom. Then he thought bears were on Hemlock Hill. Oh, the book is called Bears on Hemlock Mountain.
Kai’s cooking class project
I've begun my final semester of high school. I'm only taking four classes this year, and I'm pretty sure that it will be an easy year for me. I'm actually super excited to take some of these classes!
Just one more semester and then I'm graduated! It's super weird to think that in just a few short months, I'll be graduating, and moving on with the next stage in my life!
Kai’s cooking class project
School started and I feel great! I am getting ahead in all my classes, and it is also a new year so I feel prepared. I did a lot of school.
It will be Ashton’s and Luis's birthdays sometime this month. and tomorrow is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which means we get the day off. I can't wait!
Mom and Joanna holding Owen (last week)
As you may notice from all the pictures, I can’t get enough of Owen. I just love holding him. We are so grateful that everything worked out after the initial stress of his hospital stay.
Last week Caleb asked me to shave his head, since he was losing his hair. He and his brothers all got really short crew cuts, but since he’s losing even more hair, and it’s coming out in patches, he asked for a complete bald shaving this week. Dad and I helped shave all his hair off. Now his head is shiny!
Mom shaving Caleb’s head
Since my last chemo infusion on January 4, I felt pretty bad until last Friday. Ashton, London, Endia, and Cougar all came up Friday night and we had a lot of fun!
It was kind of a boost because I was barely starting to come out of the effects of the chemo and with them coming it pretty much completely pulled me out. Thank you!
Family playing Clue Conspiracy
Classes started again this week, and I decided to arrange my schedule so I have evening classes. I’m taking MCOM 320 (management communications), the same class that Dad teaches, and physical science.
I am looking forward to this semester. In no way am I gifted at science, but the things we learned even this week are so intriguing to me.
Dad helping to shave Caleb’s head