May Miscellany

 (published 1/24/24)

Liza got braces on her top teeth!

Malachi was hanging out with us that day, and Luke stayed home from school
because of allergies, so the two of them played together during Liza's appointment.

We're making an effort to do more service as a family this year but it was tricky

finding places where we could serve as a family. After driving along this stretch of road

over and over again taking Jack to and from work and seeing it covered with trash,

I recognized our opportunity.

Cat helped make one of my dreams come true:
she invited her friends over to help with a cookie blind taste test!

There are so many cookie places around us that it only makes sense that we

come up with a definitive answer to the age old question: Which cookie is best??

Cookie Graveyard. RIP Delicious Cookies.
The overall winner was Crumbl, which actually surprised me.
Now we know!

Luke heard a loud noise one night when Ben was out of town

and came into my room. I didn't hear the loud noise, but a short time

later I heard a knocking sound. I didn't think anything of it, and went to bed.

The next day, Jack was walking to school and sent me a picture of the fence on the side

of our backyard. I went to look at it myself and our neighbor met me outside and told

me the whole story. His dogs started barking around 3am so he checked the footage

on the security camera he has mounted on his garage and saw that a car had pulled up along

our fence and a man (teenager?) had gotten out and rammed our fence with his shoulder.

That was the loud noise Luke heard (his room is the only one with a window facing that

part of the yard). Our neighbor called the police and they came over, which was the

knocking I heard. Nobody was ever caught, and the owners of the house (or insurance?)

repaired the fence. But the whole thing was just crazy to me.

Ben and Luke designed swords out of PVC.
They bought and cut the materials and put them together in no time.

I could see the boys playing with the swords through the family room window.

And the office window.

Robert opened his mission call - he's going to the Poland Warsaw Mission,
beginning his training with home MTC then Provo MTC in October.

Jack saw the movie Devotion, and was soon devoted to the book.

Temple time at the Provo City Center Temple

One night while Ben was out of town I had a sleepover with Cat and Luke.

Fun with PVC

Cookin' up some mac-n-cheese.

Cat helped me put this front porch swinging bench together.
You can't really see it in the picture so you'll just have to trust me.

Sunday evening spa night

Jack helped me gather plants and supplies for our
flower beds and a small vegetable garden.

Liza planted the little fairy garden by herself.

I loved the new Little Mermaid movie!