18 February 2024
VOLUME 12 – NUMBER 543
Brooke and Ellie with Valentine’s pizzas
As Ellie has gotten older, something I have wanted to do is start our own family traditions with each holiday. Valentine’s Day isn’t usually a holiday I would go out of my way to celebrate, but as I’ve gotten older, I’ve loved any excuse to use those smaller holidays and make them special and stand out from regular days.
I cut out hearts and wrote down things I love about the girls and Braden, then taped them onto their bedroom doors. Even though the girls can’t read, I thought it would be a fun tradition to do every year.
For dinner, Ellie and I made homemade pizza shaped as hearts. They were kind of ugly—ha ha!—but at least Ellie thought it was pretty cool!
Valentine’s card from Ellie and Charlie
Me, Monte, and Gloria went to the region dance. Dances are fun because I can see my friends and to talk to people.
We also had early-morning temple trip with the ward. It is fun getting to do baptisms for others.
When Veidi, Isaac, and Kai went to the Zimmermans to hang out, and Monte and Gloria went to the region dance, me, Caleb, Quinn, and Joanna played Switch.
We were playing Mariokart 8. Caleb kept winning until it came to battles, and then it was more of an even fight.
Gloria holding Owen
Happy birthday Endia! A group from the house at West Jordan came down to Springville to celebrate.
We had everyone make their own personal home-made pizza, played some social games, and had root beer floats. We love whenever family gets together to celebrate, and Endia you are worth celebrating!
I'm starting to get the hang of things at Discovery Ranch. It is not the easiest job, but it is very rewarding.
Cougar and Owen working on school
We whittled the scholarship applicants down to 16 finalists this week, and now we’ve organized a committee to review them. Then the finalists will come in person for interviews. It has been kind of exciting to be a part of this!
Other than that, I just had cleaning checks this week, which is always nice in many ways because it forces everyone to clean. Me and my roommate Tyler spent hours cleaning the bathrooms and they look great!
James and Israel’s party (02/03/2024)
I like to help others, and I like to help make pizza, and I love going to the park! I love games and parties and I like to help with the dogs. I love Panda Express! I also like to play with Legos and Lego Wars, but Nerf wars are even better.
Happy birthday Endia! It was so fun to come down to your home to celebrate. Everyone had fun making pizzas, and it was great to get together, but my favorite part was…holding Owen!
Owen and his panda friend
I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before, but several months ago, while the 5th Ward youth were planning activities for this year, Isaac and Monte suggested that the young men go on a river trip.
On Sunday, the ward held a meeting with youth and parents to discuss the camp activities for the year. Isaac and I took some time to explain the young mens river trip. To help youth and parents visualize the river trip better, we brought in one of our rafts, and set it up in the room.
Our only problem? We made the young women jealous! Now they want to go on a river trip too!
Caleb and Gloria cooking
Celebrating Endia's birthday was a lot of fun. We played a game that I learned on my mission. I don't know the name of it, and It’s hard to explain.
Basically, you have several categories. Each category has two options for example city/country. Then a letter is randomly picked and each person has to fill out each category with something that starts with the selected letter.
We played for a couple hours until about 11:30pm, and then we headed home. I love you Endia! Happy birthday!
Caleb holding Owen