When Cal-Ranch moved to a knew location here in town they had great sales and Erika also found a coupon to go with the sales. With her skillful spending logic she purchased a pump action BB gun. She was so excited to show it to the boys!
Erika also built herself a new headboard. Bring out the scrap wood and staple gun! Nothing seems to intimidate her. Daymia was equal to the task having built her own headboard a couple of weeks prior to this.
Once her headboard was all finished and set up the more girly side of Erika came through as she posed for a picture.
To bring even more balance to her life, Erika has become a Jamberry consultant. She was invited to a couple of parties, loved the product, loved the parties and is having so much fun meeting knew people, hosting online parties and earning free product to keep her new habit in check.
~~~~~~~~
During the washer/dryer switch off with her wet laundry Erika stood in front of me with her hands on her hips, a scowl on her face and whined, "how can my laundry smell like home when you do that?" She was not happy that the fabric softener sheets were a different brand (aka...what was on sale).
Derek ASKS to go to dentist! And more . . .
Email from Derek:
Woe is me! Okay, it is official. I need a dentist appointment, like ASAP. My teeth are absolutely killing me. I think it very well might be my wisdom teeth on the top and bottom of my left side. It's getting bad enough to give me sharp headaches and even ibuprofen isn't working anymore. Last night I woke up at 3 in more tooth pain than I've ever felt and couldn't sleep for 2 hours because of it. So if you could set me up an appointment that would be so awesome and I can make it work.
What we thought was painful wisdom teeth ended up being 2 root canals, 2 crowns, 4 cavities AND wisdom teeth. His last cleaning and dental work was done eight months ago! The poor kid has inherited the Edwards teeth. Being on constant antibiotics until he was age four didn't help and neither do Peach Rings and Gummy Worms!
During the three days that he was home he changed all the batteries in the smoke detectors, built the ramp for the duck race, helped me set up the "farm" for Hyrum's birthday party, hauled 24 bags of water softener salt down to the basement, and had a Nerf war with Nathan and Hyrum.
The 4-wheeler was only used once for moving snow this winter (I can handle winters like that!) so Derek make up for all the time is sat neglected in the garage by giving the boys rides around the neighborhood and down to the river.
As soon as Hyrum got home from school he walked confidently in the door and told Derek that he had some plans to build a desk but nobody in the house knew how to help him. Hyrum's enthusiasm bubbled over as the two of them walked back to the shed to build. With a little help from Nathan and Brock and an hour of focused cutting and drilling, they had a desk built.
Justin and Co.
Levi and Team Falcon
Levi spent weeks, days and many late night hours coding and creating a website for the Business Professional of America competition in Boise. At times he was frustrated working with so many personalities but together they pulled it off and received 1st place.
"Every member of the team managed to place in a competition at the event. EITC students were competing against other post-secondary students from Boise State University, Idaho State University, College of Southern Idaho and the College of Western Idaho. All 12 EITC students won more than a dozen awards, including the state championship in team web design." eastidahonews.com
Our Missionary Jeweler
As I was tucking Nathan into bed one night he shared with me an experience from school. He had previously told me about Alan when his family moved to Rexburg from Texas. Shortly after Alan and Nathan became friends, Kim moved in. The three boys became recess friends. During recess one day Alan asked Nathan about his CTR ring. Nathan was surprised that he didn't know what it was so explained it to him. "I told him it stood for Choose The Right but that my primary teacher also told us that if you want to go backwards it can stand for Return To Christ." Alan asked questions about primary and as Nathan explained it, "we talk about church a lot now".
He continued the story by explaining that Alan would frequently point out Nathan's ring and told him how cool it was and a couple of days later Nathan felt like he should give the ring to Alan. So he did. I fought tears as I listened to my little missionary explain how he felt prompted and that he couldn't stop smiling after he followed the prompting. He finished by asking if he could buy another ring to give to Kim because he didn't have one either and he felt bad giving a ring to Alan but not Kim. Kim received a ring two days later.
On our date that weekend I surprised Nathan by taking him to Deseret Book to get him a silver CTR ring. Initially he wanted to get the style that looked just like Levi's first CTR ring (which sits in my jewelry box) but after considering it he decided he wanted to have the full shield with color.
.jpg)
He has since asked to buy 2 more rings for twin sisters McKay and Kennedy because they have lost theirs since receiving them in primary at the first of the year. I chuckled when he added with embarrassed eyes and cheeks blushing, "and because I like them."
Healthy Woman: A Sister Weekend
Our nights' entertainment consisted of a trip to DI, where we found treasures of books, wall hangings for Max's room and a bookshelf for my new office; a delicious home-made salad for dinner and the delightful movie, "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel."
The next day we attended the Healthy Woman Expo. It was touching and inspiring to listen to Stephanie Nielson as our guest speaker. Her strength, struggles and faith were very uplifting. Kara surprised me with Stephanie's book "Heaven Is Here". At the Expo we were treated to lunch, given free items from the many booths (perfect souvenirs to take home to the Littles) and attended a scarf-tying class and a doTERRA class.
Later that day, Kate joined us to watch the equally delightful "Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel." Afterwards we stood in the theater talking for an hour or so until reluctantly parting ways. I absolutely love spending time with my sisters!
