26 January 2025
VOLUME 13 – NUMBER 592
Monte with his mission call
Well, this has been a crazy week for me. I started my first shift at the temple as an ordinance worker. I love it there, and it has provided me with a great opportunity to prepare for my upcoming mission.
Speaking of my mission, as I walked out of the temple and switched my phone off of “do not disturb mode,” a text message from an unknown number appeared on my home screen. I opened it up, and it told me that my mission call had arrived and was ready to be opened through the mission portal.
A lot of emotions went through my head, but it was perfect timing because I had wanted to go to the temple to open it alone, and I was already at the temple. I decided to call Mom and let her know that I had it. I then hung up, so that I could read my call alone.
Children at family dinner
The spirit that I felt while reading my call was unreal. I will be serving in the Mexico, Cancún mission. I will be teaching in the Spanish language, and I will start home MTC on May 26.
I then called Mom and Dad immediately to read my call to them. Later that night, the family got into a Zoom call as I read it to them. I also read my call again on Saturday to the rest of my friends.
I am so happy for the opportunity that I have to serve the Lord, and be his tool in gathering Israel.
Brigham and Sophia eating
Monte, congratulations on your mission call! I am so excited for you to have this opportunity to serve as a full-time missionary. During a mission, you are able to leave all other things behind and completely focus on Christ and preaching His gospel. You and the people you reach will be blessed immensely through your effort and tireless service. Being a missionary is truly joyous.
On Wednesday, while I was driving home from the gym, I unexpectedly got a call from work. Without any formal interview, they asked if I would accept a promotion as a supervisor, starting on Thursday.
I said yes, and I've already done a few shifts supervising. I am really grateful for these kind of opportunities, they get me out of my comfort zone, and they always help me grow.
Children playing games at family dinner
This week we came back from California. I do miss the weather and the views. On the way back home we got onto a Facetime call and listened to Monte's mission call opening.
I got really emotional when he stated to read it. I'm going to really miss him, Monte has always been my "twin," and it's going to be hard to see him go. I have gotten really close to him and talk about almost everything. I feel like it’s going to be hard the first few months that he is gone.
Mateo, Israel, James, Joanna
Monte decided to serve the Lord, and I'm really happy that he is learning Spanish. He will be an amazing missionary, and he will be doing the Lord's work to bring people closer to the Savior. Monte is a really amazing older brother to me.
On Saturday we had a family dinner. I asked Jen if I could do her hair, and she said yes. I really do enjoy doing hair and learning new hair ideas. Jen's hair turned out really good.
The family dinner was also really good. I always have fun playing games with everyone and just sitting around talking.
Gloria doing Jen’s hair
We have a new system for our doggie duties which I think has been going pretty good. It looks really cool, and it explains everything perfectly. It also tells me when I need to do it to get it flipped over to green.
If I get a perfect day, which means I have to get all of my dog chore magnets flipped from red to green, then I earn a “Top Dog” and move up one space on the board. I have to get $25 “Top Dogs” to get my paycheck, which Dad said will be at least $100. I haven't gotten a paycheck, but I hope to get one soon.
We also had a family dinner on Sunday, which was delicious. We had sausage, French toast with fruit and whipped cream, orange juice, and chocolate milk. It was so fun, because we all just got to hang out and play games.
MyPack Doggie Duty chart
Monte got his mission call, and we were guessing were he is going. That night after he found out, he decided to say where he is going to go. We were so excited! We had a Zoom call for family that couldn’t be here, and Monte shared his call. He will serve in Mexico.
This week, I did a full week of work, working 48 hours of work. It was really hard, but the pay is great, so it’s worth it.
I’ve also been listening to my audiobook, and that keeps me alert and engaged during the day. I finished the second book of my series on Thursday, and it was so good! Now I’m on the next one, and it’s 55 hours long, so it should last me about a week or so.
Natalie, Gloria, Mom doing nails
Monte got his mission call! I am happy and sad that he is leaving. I am happy that he is going to go and do the Lord's work, and I am sad that I am losing my talking buddy, driving buddy, and sports buddy, but congratulations, Monte!
Me and Monte went to stake sports, and it was super fun doing Nine-Square. Nash Horner also went, and he kept getting me out every time I got in, so I said that I was going to get him out.
I tried and failed the first few times, but then I finally got him out, and that is when our Nine-Square rivalry begun. Now, every time we go to stake sports, we get each other out.
This weekend I went alone to the region dance, but I had some friends there, so that was fun. This 14-year-old girl named Kate was there for her first time, so she asked if she could stick with me. I said yes, so she did. I had a fun time I only danced with one guy, because there were not a lot of slow songs.
Children at family dinner
Over the weekend of last week through the beginning of this week, some of us took a trip to California.
On the trip, there was a running joke that I would go tell Caleb or Isaac to change every time my clothes matched theirs, so we didn’t look like high school girls trying to twin.
One morning on our way to the beach, Isaac had on his purple swimsuit and a white shirt, and I was wearing the same, so we looked like twinners. We went in to Walmart, and I was giving him a hard time about it.
Children blowing bubbles
At some point, Isaac stopped to get a pair of sunglasses. I realized I also needed some, and also knew I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to keep the twinning going, so I bought an almost identical pair. Then we walked out to the car pretending to be annoyed that we both chose the same glasses. It was pretty great!
The rest of California was so fun! It’s definitely one of my favorite vacation spots. We had such good food, and milkshakes. Gloria went on a spitball spree in BJ’s—Ha ha! We dug some super deep holes on the beach, which caught the attention of everyone around us.
We spent most evenings watching The Haunting of Hill House. We also got our swimsuits bleached by the hot tub at the complex we were at. Mine went from purple to white!
Joanna learning to read
When I went to Endia's with Mom to spend the day, Ellie and Charlie also came with us. Charlie got a bloody nose in the car while she was asleep.
Then we played with doll horseys, where we put dolls on horsies and said, “Yee haw!” We also had cowboy hats. We also played with musical notes with drums.
Then we watched Bluey. My favorite episode was Butterflies. I like the song that Bingo sang when she was sad, because Bluey and her friend ran away from Bingo.
For lunch, I ate egg salad sandwiches and candy. Then we drove home and ate pizza in the car on the way home.
Mom singing to children
As I mentioned last week, we finally got started on shooting Apples 4 Apples videos, but wait just a minute. Right when I thought we were finally up and running, another MyPack project popped up.
To make a very long and complicated story much shorter, I have begun to realize that I need to do something different with the CRM software that I use to manage all our contacts and clients, so that I can automate a lot of the repetitive emails and texts that I send out each day.
Because of a couple malfunctions in the current system, I have started the process of deciding whether or not to stay with HubSpot, our current CRM, or to switch over to Monday.com, which Ashton know very well and has enjoyed using at his job.
This is probably a necessary and valuable process that will allow me to automate most of my administrative and sales workload, but it is a little frustrating to have to pause on the other things I am trying to do, in order to get this done.
New setup in front room