March 3, 2018

Another year has passed without me writing.  I'm determined to have something of a family journal, so even if I only write once a year, I'm giving it a shot!  Each of us in the family want to tell what happened for us during the previous week.  Here goes:

Jacob has been busy working at the Barber Shop.  On February 1st, he bought the shop he was working at, Mr. B's, Gentleman's Grooming Lounge.  Now it is just Gentleman's Grooming Lounge.  It has taken a lot of work to get things changed over and running the way he wants it to, and he still has a lot left to do, but Jacob is happy to have his own shop again.  Soon we will have to take pictures to post!  The owner took several of the little knick-knacks and other things from the shop (he told us he was going to) so Jacob and I have had fun shopping for fun little things to fill in spaces.  It's finally starting to come together!

In addition to that, Jacob has been working on one of the houses that we recently bought for a rental.  We got two houses a block away from SUU.  One is pretty nice and has recently been remodeled- it is currently rented out until August.  The other one is a lot older and more run down.  The plan is to actually tear it down in the future and build a bigger apartment there.  Jacob is working on fixing tons of little things in there-lights, outlets, new countertops, toilet, bathroom vanity, etc.  He put a for rent sign out front but had to take it down one day later.  He was getting so many phone calls from people wanting to pay a deposit, sight unseen, just because they wanted to be so close to the school.  I think we have found some good renters, now he just needs to finish the work on it so they can move in.

I would say that most days lately I feel like a taxi driver, except that nobody pays me.  In the mornings I take Makayla and Kelli to school then an hour later I drop Laney off on my way to school.  As soon as I finish, I pick Kelli and Makayla up, run Makayla across town to SUU for practices, then go home for a few minutes.  Depending on the day, I pick Kelli and Laney up from 4H, Activity Days, or wherever else they are.  Then it's time to pick Makayla up again.  It keeps me running, but I'm so thankful that my girls have the opportunity to participate in so many things.  I've also been doing a lot in Young Women's with Personal Progress.  We just finished our big program for the year, now it's time to start working with the girls individually to help them.  I love my calling!

Last week Makayla started playing water polo for the Canyon View Club (it's not a school sponsored sport, so they just have clubs that conveniently are divided by the school boundaries).  She enjoys the challenge of it and always pushes herself to be better.  Even though she is in great shape from being on the swim team, water polo is completely different.  I know she will be great at it.  Makayla wants to try to be the goalie (I'm never going to remember this.  For years she kept trying to make me remember that it's a soccer "keeper," not a goalie.  Now I have to get used to her being a "goalie," not a keeper)!

Kelli enjoys going to 4H after school twice a week.  They get to play fun games, have help with homework, and eat yummy treats.  They also have some sort of lesson for the day.  Recently they did a cooking section, so she got to make mini pot pies and homemade pizza.  She and Laney were also finally able to attend Activity Days for the first time in our ward.  They had one activity in December, but Kelli had an orchestra concert and couldn't go.  In January they didn't have any (I think they were getting new leaders) and in February they cancelled but didn't tell us.  They were excited to finally go, because they love Activity Days.  Kelli has a love/hate relationship with the snow lately.  She likes looking at it because it's pretty and we sure need it, but she is tired of winter and is ready for warm weather again.

Laney did really good on her math test this week.  She was worried about it because she didn't feel like she knew things very well.  Usually she gets 100% on every test and assignment in class, so I'm not sure why she was worried.  She was pretty proud when she got her test back though!  Laney usually goes to 4H after school once a week, but since we didn't have school on Monday, it was cancelled.

This week we also helped the Martins move their things out of Cedar Academy, a private school they had.  They will be moving up north before too long.  We are sad to see them go, as we love doing things with them.