Practice What You Preach

The beginning of August Nichole and Jr. went off to FSY (For the Strength of Youth conference) at BYU. Jeremy went to a county fair in Downey, Idaho, then when he came back he was doing balloons at the Utah County Fair (which meant he could sleep at home both nights of that fair. Yay!).

We were also studying Job that week for scripture study so we got to put into practice what we taught the boys. Continue to turn to the Lord in trials and you'll be better off in the end and recognize blessings in the midst of trials.

We started off strong. Monday, Jeremy was at work, Nichole and Jr. were getting ready for FSY, and Lucky said, "I feel sick," then threw up. Sigh. I'm sure it was from the heat. I mentioned it has been a hot Summer. Someone was going to let the younger boys play at their house while I took the older kids to FSY so I had to cancel that. I was able to find someone to come over and be an older person here while Jr. Jr. took care of Jet and Lucky rested (Lucky helped, too, because it didn't take long for him to feel better since he wasn't actually sick, just a bit dehydrated probably). That was really appreciated since it took longer than I thought to check them in and get them to their housing, say goodbye, etc.

And I forgot to take a picture of Nichole before I left but I got a picture of Jr.

The first night, Jet was calling out, "Goodnight," to his siblings, even the ones who weren't there. That little guy is so cute.

While Jeremy and the older kids were gone, we did some work and play, work and play. Jr. Jr. wrote down things to work on (dishes, cleaning our rooms, etc.) and some fun things to do (video games, eating treats, etc.), made them into strips, and picked them out of a bag. Work and play.

We also celebrated some holidays. 

Wednesday, August 3, was Grab Some Nuts Day. We opened our container of mixed nuts. Yumm. Jeremy said he ate peanuts that day while he was in Idaho.

It was also National Watermelon Day. I didn't eat watermelon but I watched the Studio C sketch, "Cool Guy Can't Eat Fruit Casually." That's what it's called on YouTube.

 

One of the days that week, a friend stopped by to say Hi then she came back a few minutes later and brought us pizza. What a sweetheart. 

Jeremy got to see his friend, Dan, again. They were at the fair convention together back in November and he was at the juggling BBQ in June. Dan was manning a photo booth at the fair in Idaho.

Jeremy also built a large sasquatch scene out of balloons. He managed to get a bald eagle and mountain bluebird in there. Love those birds.

 

Friday, August 5, was Work Like a Dog Day. I thought that meant we'd get a lot done at home. Nope. Here's where we got to look at our blessings again amidst trials. Jeremy was headed down to Spanish Fork when the car engine light went on and the car made sputtering sounds. He was only a few minutes from home so I took Jet away from eating his breakfast (luckily we had snacks in the van), woke Jr. Jr. up, and packed the boys in the van to go pick Jeremy up and get him to the fair on time. Then we came back to get the car to the mechanic who couldn't look at it until Monday. At least it didn't happen in Idaho.

Fast forward a few hours and I was taking one child to the ER while the other two went to a football game and a parade with friends. I cannot thank them enough for taking the boys last minute and entertaining them for 5 hours.

Recognizing blessings again, it wasn't as bad as it could be and only needed a few stitches and he was such a trooper at the hospital. He was totally fine. After the initial hurt, he was running around like normal and in a good mood (including in the waiting room of the ER. Sigh). He got to play with cars and one of the people there drew a track for him on paper for him to race the cars on. She later drew a dinosaur for him when she found out he likes dinosaurs.

My wonderful husband was so patient about getting picked up an hour late from the fair because we picked up the boys first before going to get him.

 

Saturday morning, August 6, I picked up Nichole and Jr. from FSY and made sure to get a picture of Nichole. They both had a good time. Jr. said it was like a spiritual UVU Prep.

I was able to take Jeremy down to his fair and pick him up no problem. We even wiggled our toes in the van on the way to celebrate Wiggle Your Toes Day (the kids wiggled their toes later).

That night we celebrated National Root Beer Float Day as things calmed down a bit after the long week.

We really did have the opportunity to look on the bright side of things that week. There were definite challenges but blessings as well.

By the way, the car is fine, and Jet is healing nicely.