Current Condition of the Addition and Construction Loan

This coming April it' will be 2 years that we started this project. The past year we haven't done a whole lot to it. Why? Well Jesse was burnt out from working on it so hard and then going right into Fire Academy, and we kinda ran out of money. 

Since June, we have been trying to get things together for a construction loan. And there have been many road blocks, hurtles and loop holes to jump through to get things approved. We are only a few steps away from final approval and we can get the funding we need to finish up the house. I had to take pictures of the addition to send to the bank and they needed them so quick that I didn't have time to tidy it up. The addition has become a "catch-all" of the things that we don't have a place for right now. 

Plus coming up the stairs from the new garage into the wall to side step up to the landing and into the blanket, we are real classy right now. 

But man it's going to be so amazing when it's done.  I sit in there sometimes and try to envision what it's going to look and feel like cooking in my new kitchen. 

I love the vaulted ceilings. They are going to be a pain to paint, but it'll be worth it. 

Hike with Murphy

I love when I can get the opportunity to take Murphy on a hike. I usually take him on a walk or run around our neighborhood. But on Tuesday's while Fynn is at preschool for 2hrs I can sometimes slip away to the mountains with Murphy. 

It's nothing special, but it's something that I enjoy. And Murphy LOVES it. I can let him off leash and he'll stay close but he's able to run up and back while we work our way up the mountain. 

This view though. Awww. So pretty. 

Sunshine, Snow and this pup. Mmmmm It makes me happy. 

Deacon's Quorum Presidency

Today Ryker was set apart as a 2nd councilor in the Deacon's Quorum Presidency. It's his first ever calling so I had to make a note of it. 

During the little meeting that they had together I learned that these Young Men do receive certain priesthood keys along with these callings. I had never realized that because the Young Woman class presidencies don't obviously get Priesthood Keys. So I thought it was pretty cool that Ryker gets to already exercise some of the Aaronic Priesthood Keys with this new calling. 

In the setting apart blessing Brother Jon Ammons bestowed the keys to Ryker and gave him a blessing along with it. The few things that I caught  He said...

"Heavenly Father is proud of you for following Jesus Christ"

"...with the power that he desires to give you as you enter a new phase of life."

"...be observant of your quorum and their needs."

" you will be stretched, lifted and empowered."

"...unique brotherhood with being apart of the presidency."

"...share your testimony frequently with friends and the quorum."

"...Be a Light!"

Left to Right: Kai Jones (Secretary), Brandon Miller (1st Councilor), Peter Jean-Baptiste (President) and Ryker (2nd Councilor)

Axe Throwing Date Night

Last week Jesse asks me if I would be interested in going Axe throwing with the Jenkins. I had seen on Instagram several times from other people doing it and I was curious about it.  So I said yes. 

Tonight we went on that date. Dinner first and then Axe Throwing. At first when I walked in I was excited, but a had an anxious feeling come over me about it. For some reason the amount of people that were there made me feel nervous. I had never done this before and the thought of them all being there watching me try figure it out made me really nervous. But after a few throws I had to get over that. And I did get over it. By the end I was way into it and feeling competitive. 

It really was such a fun date night. Like bowling we kept track of different of points as we played. But there were several versions of games. The first game we just played on our own adding up as many points as possible. Which was a good way to get the hang of throwing the axe. Which I ended up winning. What? Beginners Luck maybe?

Our next game we had to get...
B
44
333
2222

We each took our turn throwing for those specific numbers and marking them off as we threw our turns. I tied with Kris. Haha

I was surprised how well I was doing.

And this happened....

...even Jesse got the axe to stick in backwards. 

I was very proud every time I hit the bullseye. 

The last game we played Jesse and Kris teamed up and I was with Keya. The game was that one of the teammates had to throw at the target and the second teammate had to hit the exact same number ater that. I ended up being the second teammate because I had been doing so well on the other 2 games. And I choked. We didn't do very good. But I just told Jesse that I was letting him win the last game so he wouldn't feel bad about himself when we were leaving. Haha

Ryker's First Temple Visit

Since the boys were out of school Monday and Tuesday this week and Davis County school was out Friday and Monday, we decided to take advantage of Tuesday being slower at the temple. The first of the year it's especially busy because all the new Young Men and Young Women who just moved into the program and received their temple recommends for the first time are really excited to go. So it makes for waits up to 2 to 3 hours before being able to get to the font. It's a good problem to have. But it's hard to find that time right now. So I was so happy to get this opportunity to take Ryker and know that the rest of Bountiful students would be in school while we went to the temple. 

The night before, Jesse set Ryker up a Family Search Account so he could search for family names that could be taken to the temple for baptisms and confirmations. I really enjoyed watching the excitement that came from Ryker discovering how far back he could search in his family line. I think he got back to 300 AD. Crazy. But he did fin 9 names that he could take to the temple the next morning. 

When we arrived to the baptistery in the temple we were one of only a few people. We came in just right after a small group of youth (about 10) that came together. I was actually curious how they were all there on a school day. Which I later found out in the girls locker room that they also went to a Charter school.

Before that I was waiting at the font for Ryker and Jesse to change and get dressed. The temple workers invited me to be a witness. Which is a recent change in our church. Woman are now able to be witnesses at baptisms and sealing ceremonies. So I thought how neat it was that I could do this on the day that Ryker was doing baptisms for the dead for the first time.

The font felt peaceful. I had a couple of moments that I felt choked up and thought when Ryker gets in the water I expected to bawl my eyes out. But I kept it together and soaked up the peace that I felt. And how normal it felt to have my son in the temple.

It's just so cool to have him be at an age to go to the temple now! I loved seeing the look on his face when we first walked into the temple. He even quietly  said "whoa" really quietly and reverently in pure awe. And even the look he gave me when he came out of the dressing room into the font area, he gave me this silent look of "Yay, I finally get to do this."

Ya know, when I was his age we didn't get personal temple recommends. We only could go when our youth group was going. Which I think was 2x a year. But now a days, all the youth have their own recommends that they can go anytime they want. And as many times as they want. So when we got home Ryker looked at me and told me that he wants to go EVERY week. Haha. I love that. I just need to figure out how to make that happen. 

It's also so great to have Jesse there baptizing Ryker in behalf of these family name that we brought. So grateful to have a husband that is loves the gospel as much as I do. 

I asked Ryker to record of few of his thoughts and feelings about his first time going to the temple. So here he is....

"When I first when into the temple I thought that it was so amazing. Right when I walked through the door the spirit just hit me. When I went down stairs, I thought it was so cool because I have never been that far inside the temple. When I got into the font it was so warm. I remember that it wasn't as warm as my real baptism font and I thought it was also kinda funny how quickly I got baptized nine times. It was such a great experience."

Earaches, No Sleep and God!

The last week has felt like a blur. All of the days seemed to run together and it went by so slow. So let me try and put this together. 

On Monday I stopped by Vitality to get some probiotics that I was out of. While I was there I picked up some Ear Support Oil to help Fynn get through this earaches.  He definitely liked them in his ears. So it was good to have another holistic remedy to add to the rest of the routine we did.  I knew what this week was going to look like after enduring it with Cyrus. So it was good to have more options to help us get through. It was still very rough though.  It was another torturous this week. About every 3 hours Fynn was ready for Motrin or Tylenol.  And in between he had a tough time getting settled into comfort. Especially at night.

Every 15-20 minutes Fynn would just cry out or moan in pain. It was just enough time to dose off to sleep, just to be woken up again. A true form of torture. With him being in our room to keep a close eye on him we were up most the night helping him. Going to the Gym wasn't an option that week at all. I had no energy to do that. I wish I could paint a better picture about how miserable Fynn, Jesse and I were that whole week. 

He would start on the couch in our room, but eventually end up in our bed. Which wasn't too bad when Jesse was on duty. But when he was home, the three of us didn't fit very well in our queen bed. I often thought 'How did Joseph Smith's family do it?'

I think by Wednesday I text my brother to come help Jesse give Fynn a priesthood blessing of healing. I jokingly said to Jesse "I need you to call upon all the powers of heaven to heal my baby." He laughed and said "OK"

When Tyson arrived Fynn had fallen asleep on Jesse's chest. So he transferred him to my lap so they could perform the anointing and blessing. That woke Fynn up just enough that he was squirming in my lap and feeling very unsettled under the hands on his head. He was moaning a little bit too. I kept trying to comfort him as best I could.

I can't remember exactly how Jesse worded it, but at one point of the blessing he mentioned that if it be God's will to heal this child. Also that it might be a time for faith and testimony building for us. I was also uttering a silent prayer in my mind. I knew God could heal Fynn. I don't doubt it. I pleaded with him to take it away from Fynn. (Which this wasn't the first time that week that I had pleaded for this to be taken away from Fynn)

Jesse was still saying the blessing and all of a sudden Fynn went totally calm in my lap and fell asleep like he'd been drugged or something. So much that I had to hold his head up for Tyson and Jesse to continue on with the blessing. "Is he healed?"... I wondered.

They finished the blessing and Fynn just slept in my arms. I didn't dare move. I wasn't sure exactly what happened, but something did.

Tyson left and  we got ready for bed.

Fynn still had a rough night that night. Maybe not as bad as previous nights had been. During one of the times I was up in the night trying to fall back asleep I was praying and pondering about all this. I was asking God to take this away. Part of me was wondering why the blessing didn't work the way that I wanted. And as I'm pondering about all this I had a very clear scripture come to my mind. And it had been from my Book of Mormon Study last week. And it was 1 Nephi 1:1. Where Nephi tells us that he experienced many afflictions, but he was highly favored of the Lord. And it was right then that I realized that this afflictions wasn't going to go away and I was highly favored of the Lord.  He wasn't going to take it away from us, he was going to help us through it.

It's that tipping point during affliction. Which way am I going to lean? And I choose God. And I learned a lesson this week. Choosing God doesn't take away the pain and affliction. Choosing God he will give you the strength to get through it. And that's exactly what happened. Looking back over the past almost month with all the sickness that we have had with the boys and the sleepless night we had. I'm talking every single night we got 3 hrs is we were lucky. I was still able to do everything that I needed to do. God really was there for me. I really made sure to get my scripture study in too. I made time for the essential things. Which is one of my 2020 goals. My personal scripture study needed to happen each week. And so far I am already seeing the blessings from it. 

By Friday, Fynn finally made a turn around. He was up playing and smiling. He needed pain meds very little throughout the day and night. It was refreshing to see him playing with Murphy.

He started out in his own room that night, but eventually ended up in my room. Jesse was on duty that night so I sent him this picture of Fynn. He came down kinda crying and got settled on the couch and fell back asleep almost instantly.

While I was at work on Saturday, Jesse took Murphy on a hike and he took Fynn with him. And after our long week, well long almost month to see this boy (and all my boys) smiling and feeling well. I feel grateful. 

Conferring and Ordaining

Yesterday was a big day for our family. Especially for Ryker. Jesse conferred the Aaronic Priesthood upon him and ordained him to the office of a Deacon. The new adjustments in the church now the young men and women who will be turning 12 in that year get to go into the program right in Jan. So that means Ryker is now in the YOUNG MEN program. What the what? I was just saying (what felt like a few months ago) that Ryker was halfway to a mission. He was 9! And here we are on the doorstep of 12 years old and he's only 6 years away from a mission. And yesterday was just so special. His first steps into the Priesthood! He is a Young Man! And it's hard to believe that I have a son old enough for this?

For the blessing and ordination we had several people there to support him. Our Bishop did say he thinks it's the biggest crowd he has had in his office for such an ordaining. Maybe it was overkill, but Ryker being the first grandson on both sides of the family, it's an exciting thing for everyone. Ryker sets a great example for his brothers and cousins following after him.

The blessing was so tender. I love Jesse's ability to tap into the spirit and speak with such heart felt words. He told Ryker that the Priesthood helps...

"feel the Savior's love...

"its given to men to serve...

"it provides a shield against the evil...

"it's the Power of God and it comes directly from the Savior....be confident in that."

Ryker was reminded...

"your desire to be righteous is a blessing...

"be confident knowing you are a Son of God...have a strong testimony about that."

When Jesse was all finished and Ryker stood up to shake hands with the men circled around him. I had a sense that he grew up in that moment. He felt older. More mature. Taller. He was now numbered among the Priesthood brethren. It's almost like I had a glimpse into the future. I saw him standing up as a missionary shaking hands with the brethren around him and embracing in that manly bond. It was neat!

Then I looked at Jesse and oh I wanted to burst into tears because his eyes were red and they were filled with tears. I can't imagine what it must have been like for him as a Father to confer the Priesthood upon his son. 

From One Boy to the Next

Last I wrote I was talking about Cy and his earaches. By Tuesday morning last week I couldn't do it anymore. I had done everything in my power to get Cyrus all the home remedies that I knew and it just hung on. So I took him into Urgent Care. They looked at his ears and prescribed Amoxicillin for 10 days. Ugh. 

Well it's been almost a week since he started the antibiotics and I don't feel like it's really helped him improve all that much. He finally went to school on Friday, but he is unable to really hear with either ear. I went into the school to talk to his teachers to let them know that he's a bit hard of hearing. 

Friday, Jesse went back on duty so Heidi came out to watch the boys. Fynn seemed ok, but a little whiny about his ear. By the afternoon Heidi called me and told me he was miserable. She did all the steps for helping him get comfortable. She also had offered that morning to take the boys over to her house that night to sleep over. But then I was feeling so guilty that Fynn was feeling sick. But she still did and had them all the next day as well. 

It felt really good to be able to sleep through the night, but I had mama guilt that Mike and Heidi were taking care of them for me. But it did give me time to prepare and study for my combined YW lesson. 

By today Fynn is still pretty miserable. I don't feel like I am going to get him on an antibiotic since it doesn't seem to have help Cy much. And especially since Fynn has some bad history with antibiotics. I'll try and keep him comfortable in the mean time. Hopefully we can get through it faster than Cy has. Ugh. Buckle down for another week of no sleep. Yay.  

Oh honestly

For a week now I have not had one night of sleep that I got more than 2-3 hrs of sleep at a time. Cyrus would wake up on the dot about every 3 hrs needing pain relief again for his ear and then I would spend a bout a half hour getting him calm down. Tuesday morning(which feels like 5 days ago instead of 2) I woke up and finally decided that I needed to take him to Urgent Care. I had done everything in my power to get him better and it just wasn't happening. I feel defeated because he was put on an antibiotic. I avoid doing antibiotics until I have to and even then I still have the hardest time with giving them to my boys. Especially after Fynn's H.S.P. flare up back in 2018. I think I have PTSD from it.

So last night when I got home from the Young Women Activity Jesse was reading to Fynn upstairs and Cy was laying on the couch in my room reading a book. Everyone seemed happy. I was feeling really good yesterday considering my hard week. (Unlike the day before where I was feeling exhausted, emotional and grumpy).  I was talking with Jesse while we waited for Ryker to get home from his first Young Men activity(Yes, I can't believe it, Ryker is in YMs now)! Cy was settled in bed after him telling us he couldn't fall asleep. And not kidding, Fynn comes downstairs complaining that his ear is hurting.

At first I thought there is no way he could possibly be hurting. He is known to fake a cough just to get medicine or cough drops. Big brother has been getting alot of attention with his double earache, so he's gotta be faking this.

Well turns out he wasn't. He was up throughout the night crying about it in my room. I think Jesse and I are tired and around 2 am we were arguing about the dumbest stuff. Ugh.

I woke up and still went to the gym hoping to get a boost to get me through my work day and get the grumpy out of me. It kinda helped.

I am looking at the rest of my week hoping I can come out of it ok. Haha. And now that Fynn is showing signs of this earache thing I am praying to God that it's not nearly as bad as Cy's because I am terrified to ever put that kid on an antibiotic ever again.

I'm working today, Friday and Saturday. Saturday night I have a baby shower for my sister-in-law Tayler. Sunday we have church at 9am. I'm teaching the combined YW lesson. Ryker is getting ordained a deacon and receiving the Aaronic priesthood at 11:20am. I also have a mandatory YM/YW leadership training meeting at 2pm to go over all the new changes that are happening with the youth program in The Church! Then there is a Stake YM/YW Fireside that night at 6pm. I will need to go and so will Ryker. Phew.

I realized on Monday night all that Sunday was entailing. And I was supposed to celebrate mine and my niece's birthday on Sunday too. And not sure how to make that fit in. We decided to just meet right after Ryker's ordination and then I could leave before I need to be to my training meeting.

Needless to say, Sunday is packed with alot of stuff. And I hope I can be spiritually ready to teach the lesson and Ryker's ordination will be spiritual as well.

Coming out of Winter Break with no steam

The past few nights and days have been sickness galore. And it's hit my oldest 2 boys the hardest. Today is Monday. The past 3 nights I have been up throughout the night with Cy and his aching ear. I have been doing all the home remedies that I know. Heat, cold, ear candling, essentials oils diffused, put in his ear and topically around his ear, colloidal silver, Tylenol, Ibuprofen, Chiropractor adjustments, priesthood blessing, decongestant, ear pills etc. 

On Saturday I went to work for only a few hours. Jesse went on duty as well so I just let them stay home and nap and watch a movie. As I was leaving I saw them passed out on the couch and Murphy just watching over them protecting them. 

Ryker has had more of a flu like cold and he was aching and tired. He perked up yesterday and went back to school today, still a little stuffed up , but ok for school. But Cy is still so miserable. His ears are just not giving up on this. He'll be ok for awhile and settle into a comfortable state, and then he'll wake up crying and in alot of pain. I've had moments begging God to just let Cy heal and get better. 

Last night as we were going bed I had him all settled on our chase lounge, but it just wasn't helping him. So I brought him onto my bed and snuggled with him and watch Peter Pan on my phone. He fell asleep eventually. And around 4 ish he woke up hurting. I gave him some pain reliever. And then tried to keep on top of the pain.  The rest of the day has felt the same. Not improving much. By this evening he had a moment of just pure pain. I couldn't calm him until I put him in the shower. It calmed him a little bit.

I text my brother to come over and help Jesse give Cy a blessing of healing. We looked up the Urgent Care that is under our new insurance. That we have had for a year and haven't had to use yet, so I have no idea where to go. Thankfully one of my clients helped me and recommended the Farmington UofU Urgent Care.

Cy has settled down again and I think we are going to wait until the morning to take him into the Dr. And I just pray by that point he will be more on the mend. Prayers. Lots of prayers. 

Annual New Years Sledding Day

Well, we tried to keep with our tradition of sledding on New Years Day. We didn't have that much snow. So what do you call sledding without snow? Grassing? Icing? Not sure. 

Heidi was planning on her cousin, Tony (and his family) over, so we were trying to meet at a neutral sledding area for everyone. So Heidi picked Flat Iron Mesa. The hill was amazing but the snow was lacking this year. 

I think if we would have stayed in Bountiful we could have had a little more snowy of a hill. But we went out south to accommodate Tony. But at the last minute he said he needed to take a nap. haha

But it didn't stop alot of people from sledding. When we got there we saw so several people on the hill still going for it. So we did too. We noticed a sign that said "NO SLEDDING PERMITTED" and yet there were so many people sledding. I had to get a picture of the boys with their sleds and that sign because I thought it was funny.

Ryker!

Cyrus!

Fynn!

Murphy!

Mike and Heidi were tending their friends dog, Buddy. So Murphy had a friend to play with. There were several other dogs there too and the 2 of them were having a big ole party. They ran all over that hill. We were all commenting how amazing it is the dogs can run back up the hill just as fast as they ran down it. 

I swear this little dude grew up that day. I kept looking at him thinking how big he looked. Maybe it's because he's wearing Cy's jacket (since we forgot to bring Fynn's). 

Ryker was a champ going down that hill over and over again. As we were walking back to the truck I was giggling over the fact that he was not covered in snow, he was covered in grass instead. GRASS. In January! 

We went back to Mike and Heidi's for dinner and meet up with Tony and his family! Which they are the coolest, nicest family around. We all had the nicest conversations and were super enjoyable. 

After they said goodbye, the boys wanted to play games for a bit because all the adult talking bored them to tears. haha. They played for a bit. Dad went to bed early and I was finalizing up the blog for 2019. Around 11pm we headed home. Just pooped!