Thursday,
August 29th was a big day because it was the day we picked Miles up
from the airport. He brought some snacks from Taiwan for us to enjoy and
the kids were super excited to meet him. It was a whirlwind of an application process to host a Chinese Intern this school year. Steve and I have talked about it before but the timing just never felt right. Earlier this summer I emailed expressing interest in hosting and never heard back from anyone and assumed that was that. Then the Friday before school started the neighborhood was posting a text saying there was an immediate need to host an intern. I called the district employee who was grateful for our interest and forwarded me the application and said, he flies in on Sunday. WHOA! ok. Anyway, long story shorter they wanted to wait to approve our application so he ended up changing his flight and that gave us a little extra time to prepare the guest bedroom upstairs for Miles. We bought a small desk off of KSL and put a recliner in there so he could have some comfortable personal space. I have been excited and anxious about the experience ever since our approval.
He went to school with the boys on Friday August 30th. He will be working at the elementary school with them and was excited to learn that there is 1 teacher and another intern from Taiwan.
Also we have had a bat leaving his droppings on our patio for over a year. Steve hung a bat box on the side of the house hoping to encourage him to live in it and not do his business on our front porch. I've never seen the bat until now. I walked out and looked up and there he was. I showed the boys and they said, "Can we call him Jerry?" Uh what? I'm hoping he won't be around long enough to have a name. I bought an ultrasonic machine to try and encourage him to move on. I really don't mind him, except the droppings on my front porch. 😱
We then had a long weekend so we decided to take Miles up to Snowbasin Saturday after Marcus and I attended his friend Max's baptism. We had a lovely afternoon there. Ellie graced us with her presence to go to Snowbasin. She came home but decided to stay at the Phelps home since she was dog sitting for them while they were at a bike race in Manti. Even after they came back she stayed there and went biking with them etc. Letting her spread her wings and experience independence.
We wanted to go paddle boarding at Causey on Labor Day, Monday September 2nd because we heard the salmon were out. But when we got there at 10:30am it was a zoo. Like I have never seen that many people there in all of my times combined and it was still early morning so we decided to head back down and paddle board at Adams Reservoir. Everyone still had fun so I think it was a win.
We are trying to get back into school routines. Lila
has to catch the bus at 7am M,T,Th,F on late start Wednesday it is 9am
and the boys don't have to be to school until 8:55 so we have almost 2
hours in between kids. Steve and I have been trying to workout at 7am
and Lila has been doing it with us on Wednesdays. I've also been trying
to make the mornings meaningful for the boys and am hoping to do some
extra learning curriculum with them. I thought about doing The Story of
the World which I did with the girls but I think with our Chinese Intern
we may do some extra Chinese learning (fingers crossed it works out).
Andrew has started in a little orchestra group with one the Vivace Camp
directors that lives in Kaysville. He is excited about this, so much
so he was not too bummed when he found out VEX would overlap with that
time and he could not do VEX this year. He is doing a Mark Rober class
online so he thinks that is good for his coding skills as a matter of
fact when my new fridge was delivered he asked Steve, "Where do you think the photodiode is located to detect someone coming near to turn on the light?" Smart kid! Both the boys brought home testing results and are testing above end of year bench marks at the beginning of the year which is good and a little tricky because some times Marcus finds himself in trouble with too much time on his hands or other things. This week was a little rough for Marcus. He had an incident at school and I was not super thrilled with how they handled it. He had some consequences at home and we have been working really hard to help him understand how important it is that he works hard and is true in all things. I'm starting to see a little light that maybe we might be getting through. Every night I pray that I will know how to help him without squashing his personality. . .parenting is not for the faint of heart.
I guess with all the excitement our main fridge was feeling neglected and decided to give up the ghost. I noticed a little extra frost on in the freezer when I was making dinner then Steve noticed the extra soft frozen bananas. . .So we scrambled to put everything in the fridge downstairs. Then Wednesday morning I called a couple of repair guys who confirmed that it was probably the compressor and we would be better off to buy a new fridge. So I began looking online, many stores were still having Labor Day sales. Steve and I ran up to RC Willey to look at a couple but I was worried about the size of the one we were considering so I started looking for a middle size fridge and found an LG that we really liked. It is similar to our old fridge but it has more cubic space yet it is smaller than our old fridge and it makes 4 types of ice. The only problem wasn't it wouldn't be delivered for almost 2 weeks. It did however come with a small mini fridge that was delivered the following Monday so we plugged it in upstairs and used it for condiments and milk so we weren't going up and down the stairs quite as often. I was so happy to get the fridge delivered on Sept 16th and get my kitchen back up and running. It was also a good teaching moment to talk to our kids about the importance of saving for a rainy day so you have the funds to cover when such misfortunes happen.
That Friday, September 6th we decided to do the Skull Crack Canyon hike to see the salmon. Everyone was a little reluctant to make the drive out there again and worried about the length of the hike but they were so excited to see the bright red salmon. It was a beautiful evening we had good timing again where we were in the shade of the mountain most of the time. It was a lovely evening.
Miles is a real trooper. He said hiking in Taiwan is not like it is in Utah, they still have paved paths and steps so he was surprised by the dirt road. The boys kept asking how many miles we had left and it kept confusing Miles because he kept hearing his name, I didn't even put it together until he said that. He is also easy going and willing to try all sorts of foods and is encouraging to the boys.
We had another pretty regular school week. I took Lila in for a retainer check over her lunch period and everything is looking well there. I took Miles and Julie to a meeting in Farmington on my way to play pickleball. Steve and I have been doing a few more leagues and really enjoying it. I was a little frustrated with how the last league ended because I had stayed up in the top court playing with bunch of men and Steve did not play well in the game I played with him causing my overall ranking to drop quite a bit but he still managed to get third and received a little pickleball medallion. Oh well it's all for fun. He's convinced me to try a 4.0 league next round so we'll see how that goes. Marcus has started flag football and loves it. One evening he even said, "When I join the NFL I'm going to play for the 49ers." WHAT?! I guess he is more serious about football then I realized. The boys love going outside and throwing the ball around together, seriously so nice! At one of his games a boy on his team said, "My Chinese teacher is here." To which Marcus replied, "Where?" I laughed and told him he was talking about Miles who enjoys going with us to activities.
Thursday, September 12th was Miles's 26th birthday. We hung up a birthday banner and bought him a Heritage shirt as a present. We then took him and Julie the other intern out to dinner and then back home for Black Forest Cheesecake (and I just realized the group picture is on his phone, I'm going to have to ask him to send me a copy).
I've also been volunteering every Friday since school started for one thing or another. Friday, Sept 13th was for the Husky Dash. I signed up to tally laps during my boys running times. Marcus was a trooper and was running the whole time. He got 5 laps but was disappointed because last year he got 6. His class did come out 5 minutes late, I told him that and that if he is behaving well his class would get to their activities faster. Andrew decided it was more of a social event and walked the laps with his friends. It was fun to see all the kids from the neighborhood and cheer them on.
Lila worked the grill at the Layton High Football game that night to help fundraiser for her dance team. I was going to work it with her but the teacher ended up getting enough girls. Lila had fun and even said one of her friends came over and visited with her for a while. I hope she is recognizing her friendships and the fun opportunities she has. Ellie brought Porter over right before I had to leave to take Lila to the grill. She wanted to give the boys a chance to say goodbye as he starts the home MTC Monday, Sept 16th. She decided to stay at the Phelps house again. I'm really trying not to take it personally that she
spends every minute she can at Porter's house, we only clothed her, fed
her, and help her with her college funds. . .really really I know she
was ready to spread her wings but it stings a little. Anyway, while Lila was working the grill Steve managed to pour epoxy on a section of the countertops in the office and it turned out pretty great! We learned a few things but overall so happy with it!
Saturday we didn't have too much going on and Miles was spending the day with the other two Taiwan teachers so Steve decided to dig up our irrigation line that has had a rock stuck in it since the spring when Steve turned it on. Of course the rock that went down was the perfect size rock jamming the whole and not budging a bit when we tried to use duct tape to get it out or JB weld or the shop vac. So Steve was a trooper and dug for hours out there. He had to get almost 6 feet down and that dirt was like cement, not easy.
Lila and I were both having an emotional day and I was feeling overwhelmed with life and I read this article in The Liahona about how the Lord will come to us. I said a prayer just before leaving to take Lila to a birthday party just praying that I know this to be true but I was feeling like that woman just not having strength to do one more thing. I was so grateful when I got home to find our dear neighbor who came over and helped Steve with the last little bit and for a few other tender mercies I needed to know that the Lord is with me and I can do all things with His help.
Lila had fun at the birthday party and got a ride home with a friend when she walked in she said, "I think Jerry is having a party too." So Steve went out and snapped this picture.
Um. . .maybe the ultrasonic noise maker is attracting them. I really don't want to cause them harm but I may have to call in some professional help soon. Jerry. . .you trouble maker. I feel a little like Tom in Tom and Jerry. 😂