New Year, New Resolutions - 2021

 

Here are some highlights from this year thus far.

We used our stimulus money to buy a new fridge. Our old one was having problems. 

We also got a new set of couches while were at it. The ones in the middle are the old ones we sold.

Jackson turned 9 at the end of January. I guess Court got all of the pictures. He invited some friends over and they had a movie night with popcorn and their choice of candy. He had a great time.

Xander also had a birthday at the end of February. He did the same thing for his party. He loved it as well. Below is a picture of a gift he got. He fell asleep holding it. I thought it was a fun picture.

Court had a conference for Optavia in Dallas. My parents came up to watch the kids so she and I could go together. It was a lot of fun. One day I found the headquarters for Meat Church. This guy sells BBQ seasonings and other BBQ stuff. He also makes YouTube videos for smoking meats and other things. I like to watch his videos to get ideas of things I can do on my Traeger.

We tried some Tex Mex. 

We even had some close friends drive over from Houston to hang out with us. It was so good seeing them again. 

Here is Court looking gorgeous and confident!

 

This is Livie all dressed up for church! She is such a cutie. She also has her sass. We love her.

This must be Sunday night game night. Playing some Jenga. We love to try do games every Sunday night as a family. We like games like, Jenga, Uno Attack, Exploding Kittens, Dominoes and Throw Burrito Throw.

Here is Xander and I twinning. This is his favorite shirt. He was so excited when he realized I had the same one. Just hadn't worn it in a while.

Xander had a field trip to the local pizza place. We were all lucky to go too. We all got to make our own pizzas. So delicious. 

Sometimes, I wear clothes or do my hair in such a way to see if I can make Courtney squirm. Tucking in button-up shirts and parting my hair is one such way.

We got to attend the birthday of friend of ours at Nicklemania. The kids loved that.

It is funny, when I look at Courtney's photos I realize we have done lots of fun things this year. She does a lot better job of catching it all. Here is everyone when we went to clean the church one Saturday morning.

Here the kids are looking great all dressed up for church.

A big milestone this year, this little cutie potty trained! We officially do not have diapers in the house anymore. She was such a rock star and picked it up faster than her brothers. We are so proud of her.

As to resolutions, I am not big on making resolutions. For some reason, this year I made a ton. I started a journal. I want to blog regularly again. I'm trying to read scriptures every day. I want to read the whole Doctrine and Covenants this year along with the Come Follow Me curriculum. With temples being closed I made it a goal to index (take images of documents with important information and digitize them) 1000 records this year. So far it has been going well. 

Part of me wonders if this was to prepare me for a new calling in church. I was called to serve as the ward executive secretary. This means I keep the bishoprics schedules for them. I set up all appointments and participate in bishopric meetings and ward council meetings. This calling will stretch me for sure.

Five Year Review - Part 3

     There are two more things I can think of that happened over the past 5 years that were big. The first was that we finished the basement! The second was Courtney and I decided to get healthy and we lost a lot of weight.

    We have been trying to finish the basement for a while after moving into our new house. We were able to frame the whole basement in almost one day 2 or 3 years ago. I invited a ton of people over had everything ready and we went to work. I bought doughnuts and pizza etc to keep people motivated. The funny thing was I had no idea what I was doing. My buddy Brandon, would ask things like "how big are your doors?" or "how big is your tub ?" I had no idea that mattered. that was the only reason we didn't finish everything that day. I had to figure those things out. Plus we had to break out the concrete to move the drain for the tub anyways. It was nice having him and Orey, who knew what they were doing and had the tools., to help. They made it a success.

    Every time after that we attempted to work on the basement more something big would come up and suck all of our money away. Cars would need repairing. Surgeries happened. Finally, at the end of 2019 we just decided to take out a home equity line of credit (HELOC) to just suck it up and get it all done. Brandon helped me move the tub drain. Courtney and I finished the framing. My neighbor who is a retired plumber gave me some pointers and I was able to get that whipped out. I did learn, do not cut into the main water line when the hardware stores are closed. I miscalculated something and spent extra time reworking things so I could turn the water back on before morning. Luckily, I managed to work it out. My dad set aside 3 days to come help get the rough electrical done. Unfortunately, on day 2 he got really sick and spent the next 2 days in bed. Just before he left, he came to the basement and sat and explained to me what needed to happen. I was able to get the rough electrical done, with many calls to him to answer the things I forgot or that we didn't go over together. It was fun to learn about circuits and wiring. 

    Around this time the pandemic hit. While for many the pandemic was terrible and a huge burden. Some lost jobs, others lost lives or family or friends. For us it was a blessing. I got to work from home. I spent more time with my family. We saved money on gas. I took less vacation and sick leave, because I could keep an eye on kids when Courtney ran errands etc. It was a great blessing for us. On top of all of this, when it was slow at work I could sneak down to the basement and work on it. We paid for insulation to be installed. Had our 4-way inspection. Paid to have drywall installed, inspected, mudded, taped and textured. That may have been the most expensive part but it was worth having it all done in 10 days. Courtney and I painted everything, including trim and doors. That was fun but also required a lot of late nights. We paid to have the trim, closet shelving and doors installed. Then I went through and finished electrical. We paid to have carpets and flooring installed. At this point it felt done. It was usable! It was amazing. On the down side I had lost all motivation to keep working on it, so I paid someone to finish the bathroom. 

    It is done now! we love having the extra space. The front room on the main level became an office and all of the toys went downstairs, out of sight. I spent some money and got a home theater set up with surround sound downstairs and I love it. I sneak down there when I can just to enjoy it. It has been a blessing to have the extra space during this pandemic.

    Around the same time as the basement all started, end of 2019, Courtney decided she wanted to get healthy and lose weight. We lost about 30 lbs each once before, after Xander was born, but had since gained it back. Courtney had some friends who were getting into this thing called Optavia. She asked about it and decided to give it a try. I, being supportive of her, decided to do it with her. Well, it worked! She, ultimately, lost about 70 lbs and I lost about 60 lbs! She enjoyed it so much she decided to coach others with Optavia and has been doing that since. She has helped many others lose lots of weight and she loves it. Our goal is to maintain the weight loss and stay healthy for us and the kids! Pretty exciting.

This is probably the past part for the 5 year in review. Posts going forward should present time. See you next time!

Five Year Review - Part 2

     Another big event that happened over the past 5 years was Jackson turning 8 years old. Anyone familiar with our church knows that 8 is a big age. Jackson made the decision to be baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

    It was such a neat experience for all of us. He is our oldest. That means he is the first of our kids that I was able to baptize. He was super excited leading up to it. He got to watch some of his other friends be baptized which only added to the excitement for his special day. He got to choose the program for his big day like who said the prayers, who spoke, which songs we sang and who would be the witnesses.

    He asked that his Grandpa speak about baptism and his Papa to speak about the gift of the Holy Ghost. Lots of friends and family came. We were super lucky that this happened when it did. Shortly after his baptism, the pandemic broke out. For some getting baptized, no one could come to their baptism except those performing the ordinance and immediate family. After the ordinance was performed I, along with other family members who hold the priesthood, laid our hands on his head and gave him the gift of the Holy Ghost.

    Jackson is and has always been a sweet kid. He is everyone's friend. He is kind. He is a great older brother. It makes me happy to see the young man he is becoming. His mom likes to point out that soon he will be taller than her.