Puzzles, Surprises and Sunday Happenings

I worked on my puzzle I got for Christmas here and there during the week after Christmas and finished it on Sunday the 3rd while watching The Chosen. We are hooked and love that series and can't wait for season 2! Thank you Laverne for introducing it to us! I love having this puzzle mat so that I can move my puzzle around while I'm working on it, especially if I'm on the kitchen table and we need to eat. All I have to do is roll it up and move it. I still have it rolled up right now even though it's been finished for over a week now. I haven't decided whether to put it away and do it again at a later time or glue it and maybe hang it up somewhere. My dad has been doing a lot of puzzles lately so I guess that's where I get my love of doing puzzles. I used to love it when we would have family get togethers for Thanksgiving or Christmas or even at the cabin during the summer where a bunch of us would be working on puzzles. I remember the most difficult puzzle we had ever done at my grandma's house was a butterfly shape and the pieces were not normal shapes. It was hard!

Trying to take a selfie was not easy but here I am with my 1000 piece puzzle. Nobody helped until the very end when I had maybe 20 pieces left. Figures, ha ha!

On Monday January 4th it was the last day of the kid's break from school so I took that opportunity to have them help me take down Christmas decorations inside the house. I had the ladder leaning against a wall at one point and our little guy Cocoa decided to climb it. He is definitely more active than Sage and always wanting to play or climb. We love him!

Kids started school again on Tuesday the 5th but still online. However, we did learn at the end of last week that they will be returning to school starting on the 19th. Charlotte will be going 5 days a week but the older kids will return to the hybrid schedule, 2 days at school and 2 at home with Wednesday as a catching up day and day to get help from teachers. I'm so happy that Charlotte will be going 5 days a week now. Elementary students really need to be there in person. They are behind on where they should be. My kids do better when they are at the schools versus online.

Last Saturday was the birthday of Nikki's best friend Angie. Angie and her mom had to leave to Washington on Thursday to attend a funeral of some family members on Friday. They were returning on Saturday. I got the idea that it would be fun and nice for them to sneak into their house (since Nikki had their garage code from helping them with packages) and surprise Angie for her birthday by decorating. First, Nikki and I had to do some shopping. She found a couple gifts at Hobby Lobby and then we went to the dollar store to get balloons and other decorations. It turned out great and she was definitely surprised. Angie said she would never be able to top that for Nikki's birthday. It was fun helping her!

Nikki drew faces on all of the balloons too.

We basically hung balloons and streamers everywhere plus a birthday banner and the purple pom pom garland.

Last week I pulled out some clothes that Charlotte had finally grown into and I am so excited that she gets to wear the koala Australian shirt we had bought for Nikki when Curtis and I took our trip to Australia back in 2012!

Sunday was a big day for Jack. He was conferred the Aaronic Priesthood and was ordained to be a deacon. We did it before church and Curtis was able to be the one ordaining him since he's in the bishopric. Bishop Lyman also stood in. Both Curtis's parents and my parents as well as my grandma came to be a part of it. We found a big empty classroom to do it in. Jack said he was a little nervous before passing the sacrament but that it was actually fun so he enjoyed it. It's a neat feeling to see both of my boys passing the sacrament. Our ward still has the option to watch a broadcast of the meeting from home for those who are not comfortable or can't come to the building. It was great to see so many people attending in person again even though we're spread out. It was about 140 people.

Us with Curtis's parents and Jack. The girls stayed at home and Garrett was preparing the sacrament. I drove home and picked up the girls afterwards since we had our sacrament meeting right after.

Grandma, Laverne, me, Jack, Curtis and my dad

This was the picture I got at home because I didn't get any at the church. I borrowed the above pictures from Laverne's blog. Thanks Laverne!

Alice wanted to be in the picture with her pretty purple dress.

And then by herself.

After church I had my relief society lesson through zoom at 1:00. I ended up using my phone this time because I restarted my computer and it was taking forever. I actually figured out how to view everyone else on the phone. I can't see everyone at the same time but I can swipe the phone and see at least 4 people on the screen at a time. It was a good lesson and part of it was about preparedness and we were told that our stake is going to talk more about food storage again in the next several months since we haven't in a long time. And we were all painfully reminded about being prepared last spring when the pandemic hit and everyone went crazy on stocking up so that many things were running out including of course toilet paper!

Anyway, then Garrett wanted to watch some Little House on the Prairie. We finished watching season 6. Later that night after we ate dinner we all watched The Chosen again. It was the first time Nikki had finished watching the series but the second time for Curtis, Garrett and me. We all love it!