Grammie, Jichan, and Sendai

This week has been full of family, and we love it! ❤

Joshua was helping Emma with her big move, so we got to spend some time with Ben. He was patient while I finished some yard work, but after I got cleaned up, he was more than ready to "do something more fun" 😃. It was just a little after lunch time, so I asked if he would like to get something to eat, and he didn't hesitate to suggest IHOP. I couldn't remember the last time I had been there so that's where we went, and I have to say that I had a delicious omelet filled with spinach, mushrooms, and diced tomatoes.

Ben, on the other hand, had 2 chicken strips, 2 eggs, and 4 slices of bacon, and he ate every bite!

He also loved dipping his bacon into maple syrup - does anyone else do that? It was new to me 😀. After we ate he asked if we could go to the mall to look for a new astronaut t-shirt. I told him we would probably have better luck at Old Navy - but we didn't - so he asked again if we could go to the mall. Once we got there, he made a beeline for Baskin Robbins. So he got a little ice cream, and a small toy from the toy store, and then we headed back to the house where Angella had stopped on her way home from working in Denver. We weren't home for more than 5 minutes when he pulled out the Rummikub game and we taught Angella how to play. Josh and Emma stopped by to pick him up shortly after, and it was so nice to visit with them for a few minutes also. A great way to start the week, and yes, I went to bed early that night -

TIP OF THE WEEK ~

Also came from Ben - As I was finishing the yard work, Kim called so I sat down on the steps in the garage to talk to her, and Ben opened the door so he could lean over my shoulder and see Kim. She was trying to decide the best way to dye her white dress pink, and Ben very seriously told her the best way to dye her dress pink would be to put it into the washing machine with a red shirt, and just like that, it would come out pink! 😂 Thanks, Ben - I think we have probably all done that before (by mistake, of course).

I LOVE 8-YEAR-OLDS!

Sayre has been learning Spanish on Duolingo. Hoping he can teach me some when he is here in a couple of weeks.

AND - he invented "brulunchder." Brunch is a combination of Breakfast and Lunch. Sayer made his own meal and it had food from every meal - therefore, brulunchder. Wouldn't it be great if we could just cook and eat once a day????

Thursday, Angella and I went to the Temple. We had the nicest time - no traffic going or coming home, just a relaxed time to be there - to focus and ponder on those things that are most important to us. Paul had gone with some friends and we just happened to be in the same session, so I got a Celestial Room hug from him. I am so happy that he likes to be there too -

Lily was my partner on Friday. She went with me to help clean out Helma's bedroom closets. Wow! The majority of her clothes we left hanging because they are really high quality (though maybe a little outdated) and Donna wants to take them to a consignment shop. In spite of that, we still filled up two huge leaf and lawn sized bags with sweaters, shirts, more sweaters, fuzzy pants and tops, and bathrobes. We filled up another bag with shoes. Donna's boys loaded them in the back of our car, and Lily and I took them to a Catholic thrift store that uses their profits to support retired nuns. After we dropped the clothes off, we had to do a little shopping of course. We both came home with some fun things and stopped at Dutch Bros for a lemonade (one energy, and one not) and might just make a repeat of it this coming week. Actually, Lily was a great help in sorting and bagging up the clothes, and Donna needs all of the help she can get. She has such a hard time breathing here and the sooner they can get the house cleaned out, the sooner she can moved back to Tennessee, and a lower elevation.

Adam brought his crew over yesterday, and they worked so hard pulling weeks, putting down some weed barrier, and covering it with mulch. Thanks so Paul who spent time during the Summer with his friends working in the landscape business. They all worked so hard, and even Jake didn't stop after hauling bags of mulch to the backyard.