Opportunity to serve

 So we had the opportunity to serve today. This is rare because of Covid. Or just because we don't look hard enough. Either way. We had the opportunity to serve the members of our ward/stake by cleaning the building after one of our limited Sacrament meetings. Tammy had a zoom to be on with her family, so it was only going to be the kids and I. Isabella's first request when I told her we were going was "can we leave Hunter behind". I told her he would be able to help and it would be easier if he was with us rather than disrupting Mom's zoom. On the way to the church Victoria asked why we are cleaning the church. I told her so we could serve the members of our Ward. She then added that Jesus likes when we help others. Yes he does. I was amazed that none of the kids complained about going to help so I said so. I guess I missed Victoria's first point because she said "I was complaining when I asked why we were going to clean". Hmm. Hunter by the way was helpful. Tori and him made a great team. 

New Years Resolutions

 I decided to make some New Year's resolutions. I don't know how well I will keep them, but one of them is to journal every day. I have had a lot of fun reading the stories about my oldest 2 children and know the younger 2 will be just as fun. 

Last year was a wild year for sure. Hopefully when I read this post years from now it will be a distant memory.  Currently there is a pandemic. There a mask mandates in almost every state and things to do are limited. 

Here is to a new year and new resolutions. 

Cooking Dinner

New tradition just started. I had a great time cooking with Isabella today. We picked out a recipe on youtube and it turned out great. We made a couple mistakes and dropped an egg on the floor but it was a lot of fun. Victoria also was a big help mixing some of the dry ingredients. She gave a resounding approval with"I love this chicken". We will have to continue this weekly.

Bedtime reading

Bedtime has sure changed from when the bigs were little. It used to be easy. A book was chosen. A book was read. Hugs and kisses and good night. Not so simple anymore. Victoria and I used to lay on her bed and watch a church video. Recently we ran out of videos and I thought it might be better to read to her like I did with Bryce and Isabella. Hunter likes to join in. I will select a book and start reading. He will run and get another book and give it to me. I will start to read his book and he will lay down and steal it from me and "read" the book. All the while Victoria is getting another book. With her selection in hand I will start to read hers until she realizes that there are no pictures. Then Hunter finishes his book and grabs another and the cycle repeats. I love the movie Groundhog Day but I don't enjoy living it at bedtime. 

Lesson on Consistency

So It's a shame I learn this lesson every year but never seem to get any better. Consistency is key in learning anything and it also helps when trying to remember experiences. If I consistently practiced bass I would be boss right now. If I kept practicing Spanish I could speak fluently. If I ... I know I could list a dozen other things. One I am very sad about is not continuing to write on this blog.  I missed out on writing about several hilarious stories, that I hope I can remember so I can record them in the future.

My kids are funny. I have four of them now and a dog. If you ask my wife, she may say I have four kids but she has five. I will not challenge that right now. Since it has been awhile I feel I need to introduce my family so I can remember who they are when I am old and gray. Wait that was last week. How about when my memory fades. Shoot that was a month ago. I will just introduce them because. Isabella is the oldest. She was my perfect daughter until she turned into a raging Hulk monster that is triggered at the slightest cause. Bryce is the second and he is a crazy maniac but lovable monster. I used to think we would never be invited over to anyone's house for a second time once they got the Bryceover. Jeremiah was next but he lives in heaven. Victoria was next and she is a handful times two. She is an uber Princess and stole all of nicknames I had for Isabella, like Princess, Sweety, and then settled on Sugar Sweety. Last, but not least, is Hunter. He will not be ignored and he runs the house.

More to come.....

Camping but not

I was never a big camping fan when I was a kid but I thought that would change when I had kids. I think it is a great opportunity to get closer as a family. I figured if I made a big deal about how fun it could be they would like it and then I would as well. To prepare for this I added camping equipment to our wedding registry. It's actually the only thing I contributed to our registry, and we got it from my family. Yay. However, I think we have used the tent three times but never made it through the night. Now don't get me wrong my kids LOVE to camp we just alter it a little. We camp inside (me and the kids, Tammy gets the bed to herself), with a movie and snacks. In my brilliance or my wife's I'm not sure, when we camp I bring down the kids mattresses and we camp on them. Now this may seem like a great idea but when you put two twin mattresses and have three bodies one of those bodies (me) sleeps in the middle right in the crack. One day we will venture outdoors again but for now my kids love the way we camp. Bryce always tells me its a "great idea".

Pollen and the Importance of Bees

Isabella, like many others, is not a bee fan. When she sees one she will run the other direction. As we were trying to leave the other day there was a bee blocking our exit. I thought this would be the prime opportunity to educate Isabella on the importance of bees. I told her bees are important they pollinate the flowers. If we didn't have bees the flowers would die. Isabella "I'm allergic to pollen"