Today was Gray's first time passing the sacrament. Since it was his first time, Joey passed with him. I loved watching him take it so seriously. I cannot believe that he is old enough to be a deacon. Where has the time gone. He is growing up to be such an amazing young man.
When Luke goes on his mission, the BMW will be Harlee's car. Luke was gone on his klondike camping trip so we decided that would be a perfect time to let Har practice. We went and drove around the church parking lot until she was ready. Once she felt comfortable we ventured out on the road. She turned left out of the parking lot, mastered the round about, and then drove home. She did a great job. She is super cautious and safe. She will for sure be ready when her driving test comes around.
This morning Harlee went to take her permit test. She was a little nervous but had studied and felt ready. She had three chances to take the test but only two per day. So the first test she took she got 38 out of 50. She needed 40 to pass. She was a little nervous as she sat down to take the next test and I sat their praying for her. Besides being bugged by a creepy old man that sat next to her, she was able to concentrate and pass. She got 43 out of 50! Great job Har. Know we will start the one year of practice until she can get her license.
Happy Anniversary to us! I cannot believe that it has been 20 years married to my best friend. Sometimes it feels like yesterday that we got married and other times I cannot remember a life without him. As part of my gift to him, I made a playlist with songs that reminded me of the last 20 years. For each year, I wrote a little summary and chose 3 songs that reminded me of that specific year. It was so fun to work on this and have the memories come flooding back. I am so blessed to be married to Joey. He is such an example to me. He is an amazing provider for our family. He makes me laugh harder than anyone especially when he is laughing even harder at his own jokes. He is the best dad to our five blessings. I am truly the luckiest!
Since we will be celebrating 20 years of marriage next week we decided to get away to celebrate. We had thought about taking a big trip but decided that we will take Luke on a big trip since he graduates this year. We still wanted to get away for a few days and decided to go to Texas. We were both so stressed with work so it was nice to take a few days to relax together. We left Thursday afternoon and arrived in Fort Worth around 7pm. We picked up the rental car and went to Chuy's for dinner. I was so excited. I had dreamt about this place since we went in Nashville. After dinner we went to our hotel which happens to share a parking lot with Chuys. This may or may not have driven my decision to make the reservation at this particular hotel. After a good night's sleep we woke up ready for our first full day in Texas. I had a work call and then went to work out for a bit while Joey got a little work done. We met Cory, Holly, and Smith at Chuy's for lunch. I was so excited to see them. It was so fun to catch up and try to get Smith to love me. After lunch we went to their house. Their home is so beautiful. We spent the afternoon chatting and going to the biggest gas station convenience store we had ever seen called Buckee's. We then we back to our hotel to change and then met Cory and Holly at BJ's restaurant for dinner. It was nice to have a kid free dinner. They are so fun to be with and we really enjoyed our visit. Saturday we slept in until about 8:30am. Once we were ready for the day, we stopped for some drinks and snacks before making the drive to Waco. It was so freezing which was crazy since Friday the weather was in the low 70's. The drive was about 1.5 hours but it was so nice to just have this time to visit with Joey. When we arrived in Waco we went to Magnolia and the Silos. It was such a cool place. We shopped at the Magnolia store and then we went to the bakery for some treats. After that, we went to one more store to get a little gift to bring home for Har. We decided to then go get some lunch. We went to a place called On the Border. We had gone to this restaurant in San Diego a few years ago but unfortunately it was so not good. Thankfully we had saved our bakery treats to eat after. We drove back to Fort Worth and took a little nap. We woke up and went to a place called Grub Kitchen and Bar. The food was super good which made up for the lunch we didn't love. We loved the food but I loved the company even more. It was so nice to have unlimited time to just talk and be together. After dinner, Joey being Joey, suggested we went and took a few treats to Holly who was home with Smith while Cory was away at a work conference. We took them over and visited with her for a little while. It was so fun to chat and Smith warmed up to us. Love that cute boy. After the visit we went back to the hotel to get ready for an early flight. It was a quick trip but so much fun. I feel so lucky to have this time to spend alone with Joey. I love being with him and making these memories together.
Where has the time gone? I seriously cannot believe that Harlee is 15. She is really becoming such an amazing young woman. She is so fun to be around and I look forward to when she comes home everyday to share with me the drama that happened at school. She is so beautiful inside and out. She is kind to everyone and just a joy to be around. We celebrated with her favorite one pot ziti and donuts and ice cream for dessert. She got some new clothes, perfume, and a new ring. Harlee, I hope you feel special today and always know how much we all love you.
Harlee decided to give me a gift for her birthday. Instead of a party, she asked if we could spend the day before her birthday together. I was so excited to have the day to spend with her. We got up and grabbed breakfast at Corner Bakery where we shared a panini breakfast sandwich. After breakfast we went to Sanctuary spa where we got facials. It was kind of amazing! We changed into robes and spent a few minutes in the sauna to open our pores. Then we enjoyed an hour long facial. I was a little mad that I had waited 45 years to have a facial done. We will definitely need to do that again. After the facials, we went to Olive Garden for lunch. We had a very nice but kind of creepy waiter that asked for us to sit in a booth in his section. During lunch Harlee downloaded Instagram- she was so excited. We looked at it together as we waited for our food. I mentioned to the waiter that it was Har's birthday so I wanted to order some of the donuts. He said he wanted to use his own money to buy Harlee his favorite dessert. He brought us a piece of chocolate mousse cake and sang to Harlee. So nice of him. After our lunch we went back to the mall to shop around and get Harlee some perfume for part of her birthday gift. After the mall we went to At Home to get some decor fot the new shelves in the basement. We are trying to get the basement updated a little. Then we went to buy donuts for her birthday celebration tomorrow before going to Target. We got Harlee a few things and then went to Hobby Lobby. It was kind of the perfect day! I am beyond lucky to have Harlee in my life. She is truly a gift. I feel so lucky that she still likes me and wants to hang out with me. I am definitely the winner in this scenario. Love you Har!
I had hoped to give these special socks to the kids with their Christmas jammies but they were not delivered until yesterday. I had special socks made for everyone except for Joey since he is not the biggest Ike fan. The socks have Ike's face all over them. They were all so excited to get these socks and they all wore them to school the next day. Cutest socks ever!
What a great year! We are so thankful for all of the blessings that came our way. Here is a little update on everyone...
Luke- This year Luke started his senior year of high school. He also started a new job at the new junior high school. He works from 3-7pm M-F, comes home to eat dinner, and then runs to the gym to work out for a couple of hours. So proud of him. He takes care of his responsibilities and he has put his health as a priority. Luke has two different groups of friends that he hangs out with: His OG friends: Tyson, PJ, and Calab and his second group Trace, Kaden, and Max. I love that he has good friends and he is enjoying his last year of high school. He is the second counselor in the Priest Quorum.
Harlee- Harlee started her last year of junior high school this year. She is going to the new middle school called Viewpoint and she is in the 9th grade. She has many friends and often hangs out with boys and girls which has taken a minute to get used to. Her closest friends are Nicci and Audrey and they hang out all of the time. Har is still doing dance at Showcase and is a beautiful dancer. Harlee is such a good girl and is always willing to help. I feel so blessed to not only be her mom but also her friend.
Nash- Nash started junior high school this year and goes to Viewpoint Middle School. It is so fun that him and Har get to go to school together. Nash is an amazing student and got straight A's the first two terms. Not only does he gets A's but he really tries to get 100% in each of his classes. He served this year as the Deacon Quorum president and worked super hard to do his best at his calling. He has really good friends that he loves to hang out with: Tanner, Tracen, Dillan, and Gabriel. He also loves hanging out with Gray and Tag. Nash is still doing swim and is beating all of his prior times. Hard work pays off.
Gray- Gray is in the 6th grade and is doing amazing in the 6th grade. He is so bright and scores way higher than the norm on all of his testing. He continues to look after Tag and walks to and home from school with him each day. He is such a good brother to Tag. Gray also finished primary and will move to Deacons next year. He is still swimming and is super fast. He goes daily with minimal complaint. He is often hanging out with friends. He two closest friends are Sam and Easton. They are usually together as often as they can be. Gray loves to tease and has such a fun personality.
Tag- Tag is in the 4th grade this year and is doing well. We have a good schedule going and he is getting his work done with minimal complaining. He loves to watch YouTube and can tell you everything that he learns on there. He is so bright! He loves riding on the electric scooter and loves the freedom of going on a ride by himself. I am trying to get used to letting him have a little freedom. He is still going to ABI and learning many amazing skills. Tag is a tell it like it is kind of kid and I love the honesty. He has no filter. Tag is such a blessing in our family.
Joey and Jamie- This was a great year for both of us. Joey and I were called to be the building coordinators and we are in charge of cleaning the building every three months. Joey's job is still crazy and he is working so many hours. He sometimes goes into work around 2am to make sure he can get things done. My work was a lot less stressful this year but still had it's moments. I am still so grateful for the blessings that come from my work. We have continued our Saturday lunch dates and rarely miss a Saturday. I cherish this time to focus on each other. We have started Friday salad nights at Village Baker and then we come home to watch music on YouTube. Such a perfect way to end a crazy work week. We will celebrate 20 years of marriage in a few weeks and I still fall more in love with him every day. We are so blessed to have each other and our beautiful family.
Nash has been thinking about getting his patriarchal blessing for a little while now. Harlee told him of how they did a devotional at HXP b...
