Quotes of the Week

Our Heavenly Father's goal in parenting is not to have His children do what is right; it is to have His children choose to do what is right.
--Dale G. Renlund

If our youth are too underwhelmed by God's work, they are more likely to be overwhelmed by the world. These are really special spirits, and they can do things of significance if given a chance. 
--Neal A. Maxwell

The Lord is preparing His Church and His people, those who bear His name, to receive Him. As part of our preparations for His coming, He will lift each of us so we may rise to spiritual challenges and opportunities unlike any seen in the history of this world.
--Henry B. Eyring

Claire's Leprechaun Trap; Under the Eves Water Problem; Reading Wynne; Handyman Glen; Everyday Hero

St. Patrick's Day came and went without any fanfare around here. We didn't even bother to wear any green. I didn't even cook any green food. At least I had put up St. Patrick's Day decorations.

Claire made a leprechaun trap out of a green Lucky Charms box. Cute! 

I laughed when I saw what she wrote on the popsicle sticks, "Please wear a mask and social distance. Thank you." Definitely a sign of the times we have been living in the past year.

It appears Claire, Logan and their dog Ollie were all wearing green.

Natalie, Emma and Laurie got home from Florida and then the whole family went to Mall of America in Minneapolis. 

Jacob couldn't see the big draw. He disappointedly reported it's literally just a mall to which his sister replied, "What did you think it was...? The name could not be clearer. 

Having seen firsthand Wynne's love of reading--she has been reading for literally years--this photo and Abe's caption made me laugh. "Splash pad 'fun' for Wynne." 

What little 5-year-old would not want to read every word of this (or any) historic plaque?

Wynne is instilling her love of reading in her new baby brother.

Magnus is adorably attentive to baby Monty.

Father Abe looks very attentive to baby Monty as well.

Baked orange chicken was a new recipe of the week. Not only was it very yummy, but I cooked the rice to perfection as well. Let me take a moment to pat myself on the back for this big win!

Another new dish I fixed was crock pot saucy pork chops. Glen let me smother all the onions over my meat. He's not a fan of onions. He liked this recipe, but it wasn't my favorite.

Now let's go to the outside of the house where we are experiencing a big disaster.

Our house is leaking at the point under the soffit that should be the driest place on the house.

Glen has been talking to our homeowners' insurance company, talking with roofers, talking with solar panelists (is that the correct word?) as we are trying to figure out what exactly is the problem and how exactly we are going to get it fixed and if we want to get solar panels.

When the roofers put the roof on the new house, they put the drip edge over the tar paper instead of under it. The problem is on the north and west sides of the house when snow melts and then freezes, it creates an ice dam. The ice dam doesn't melt, so water gets under the shingles which drips down under the soffits. 

Also, our rain gutters have never been stellar. Two different times we have gotten different people to come out and attempt to fix them, but they still drip in places they shouldn't and there are always drips down the side of the house from that problem.

Look at this handyman! He can do so many home improvement projects! This time it was replacing the light above the mirror.

The old light was hung with the sconces going down. When we changed out the flat mirror to the framed mirror, I didn't like that the sconces were hanging over the mirror frame. I like the new one with the sconces going up.

Glen also got hooks attached to a wall in the garage so he could get the yard tools up off the ground. 

Our little Madison had gotten sick and had to get a Covid test. Rebecca had tended some children a week and a half earlier and the next day the mother reported she had Covid; hence the necessity for getting tested. Thankfully, Madison's test came back negative.

She spent a couple of days on the couch when she was recovering from her sore throat, fever, cough and runny nose. 

Madison made this drawing during singing time when the Primary song leader had the children draw the whole armor of God with her as they sang. Madison added these words to hers:

Birthday boy Spencer sure looks handsome and happy to be 10!

Kade is outside riding his bike while Ben tries out his new scooter. Ben picked up the scooter tip from Abe because it's hard to keep up walking with a child on a bike and it's hard to bike slow enough to keep up with a child on a bike. A scooter is the perfect solution.

Abe's family enjoyed some backyard train fun. It was nice of that family to let Abe's family ride the homemade railroad vehicles.

Love the lawn chair on the locomotive for the engineer to sit in.

These little train cars required arm power to get them moving around the track. 

I cherish each one of the photos we get to see of little Monty. He is such a beautiful baby.

Abe's family is spending a week at Hilton Head. How fun!! We have such fond family memories of renting bikes and riding for hours on the hard-packed sand beaches. Abe is trying to make newer, better memories there. 

He was vomiting his guts up the time our family was there. It was over a Thanksgiving when Dad and Mom were living in the south and they joined us there for a few days. We ate Thanksgiving dinner at a hotel, which seemed pretty different than our usual home-cooked meal. But, it was fun for something different to do.

Abe's children are adventuresome eaters. Newland loves sushi, shrimp and here they are eating oysters. YUM????????

Abe was not raised to be a connoisseur of good food. We are strictly meat and potatoes kind of people. Here's proof. Glen had to run a work errand in West Valley and invited me to go along with him. 

We were hungry and decided to stop somewhere. Glen chose Dickey's Barbeque Pit where he ordered a 2-meat plate with double French fries. See! Meat and potatoes!

One of our missionaries, Kelsey Wells, stopped by for a visit on Sunday. 

The Judicial system has their eye on me. I got another notification telling me I am prequalified for jury service based on my previous answers to their short questionnaire. 

I thought it was interesting to learn I am part of a Criminal Jury Trial Pilot Program as they are starting up in-person juries again after suspending trials due to Covid.

If I am called for jury duty, I will take part in a virtual jury selection which will be conducted by Webex videoconferencing. 

I was informed about the safety protocols that will be in place, including everyone in the courtroom taking a rapid response Covid test the first day of trial. All jurors will receive their own PPE kit (mask, gloves, wipes and hand sanitizer). Each juror will be assigned a room for use when not in the courtroom. That is the only place we are allowed to remove our masks. 

The courtrooms have been reconfigured to ensure no one is within six feet of any other person. They have also minimized the number of people who can be in the courtroom at any time and will be enforcing strict protocols for cleaning and disinfecting.

I am happy to know they are being extra vigilant in keeping everything clean and safe. I would be super nervous if I wasn't vaccinated, but now that we're getting our second vaccine this weekend, I feel much better about going out amongst people.

Here's a cute little story to end this blog post. 

Remember Sarah's boys and their love of the garbage trucks going through their neighborhood each week?

Remember Lincoln's recycle truck Halloween costume that was the talk of the neighborhood?

Remember the trash man who thought his costume was so cute that he wanted a picture of Lincoln?

The boys have been watching the trash trucks from their bedroom window lately instead of sitting in wait for them on the driveway. 

This past trash day, the garbage man knocked on their door and, as Sarah worded it, "delivered this to his number one fan." 

How sweet was that??!!?? What a heart-warming story!!! That garbage man is the definition of an everyday hero.

Quotes of the Week

 From time to time, God powerfully and very personally assures each of us that He knows us and loves us and that He is blessing us specifically and openly. Then, in our moments of difficulty, the Savior brings these experiences back into our mind.
--Neil L. Andersen

The truths of the Book of Mormon have the power to heal, comfort, restore, succor, strengthen, console and cheer our souls.
--Russell M. Nelson

Dear sisters, we rely on the moral force you bring to the world, to marriage, to family, to the Church. We rely on blessings you bring down from heaven by your prayers and faith. We pray for your security, welfare, and happiness and for your influence to be sustained.
D. Todd Christofferson

Natalie's Book; Patience; Fine Dining; Putting on the Armor of God; Spencer's and Abe's Birthdays

Natalie wrote a book! What an accomplishment!! Jacob sent a video of her at the computer getting ready to click the "publish" button. 

It was cute seeing her excited smile and then the look of satisfaction when she sat back looking at the screen showing her published book--which is now available for purchase on Amazon.

It was fun to see the social media post announcing her published book. Way to go, Natalie!!

The Young Women in Natalie's ward were so nice to acknowledge her recent accomplishment.

I have now received my shipment of Natalie's book to share with others.

Natalie published her book just in time for spring break. She, Emma and Laurie spent a few days in Florida. How fun for them!!

Sweet photo of Natalie on the beach enjoying the sunset--one of the things she mentions in her book as something that makes her extremely happy. 

I had to laugh at the story Rebecca told when she shared this photo. Brooke's friends could not believe she had never eaten a macaroon, so they bought one so Brooke could try it out. 

Rebecca said she doesn't get the hype about macaroons. She can buy a whole pack of Oreos for the price of that one macaroon. She would prefer Oreos any day!

Sarah had her boys do the marshmallow test that Elder Uchtdorf shared in one of his talks. Sarah gave her boys two marshmallows and told them if they have patience and wait for 15 minutes to eat the marshmallows, they would get two more marshmallows.

The boys all got a book to read while they were waiting "patiently" until the time was up. They all earned their reward.

Eli was the most tempted to indulge in instant gratification, but held out so he could receive his reward for enduring patiently. Great object lesson!!

There is something about Kade's eyes that make me feel like I can never get enough of looking at his cute face.

Here's the happy Kade we know and love!!

It's been a while since we've seen the little boys in person and when Haley posted this photo of Levi, I told her he looks all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. She confirmed he is much more alert and interactive now.

Former Elder Chris Nolasco was anxious to stop by and introduce his special girlfriend, Stephanie, to us. It is always fun and interesting to hear the love stories of our missionaries. Stephanie is a very sweet girl and it looks like they are a great match for each other.

Our ongoing Tuesday morning zoom class with Carol Pope hosting continues to be the midweek highlight for me. We usually have a dozen or so women on the call. I love them all and enjoy so much hearing their comments about what they have learned from the pre-assigned talks.

Glen had a little something different going on last week. It was his annual team meeting. In following along with the "Top Secret" "Secret Agent" theme going on, an evidence box was delivered to our home. 

The contents were used or consumed during their zoom meeting--which lasted one full day and half of the next day. Glen had a turn, along with one of his colleagues, to team teach during a segment of the second day's meeting.

I finally got around to making a baked beans recipe I had eaten a couple of times on the mission. Sister McClellan was always my hero whenever she would bring this bean dish to our Family Home Evening potluck dinner we hosted every six weeks for the senior missionaries. 

In my opinion, it could be a meal all on its own with the three different beans, bacon and hamburger that make up the yummy dish. 

There were quite a few women who joined in on the special zoom meeting sponsored by the Relief Society. They had arranged for Jan's son, Will Evans (who lives in Jan and Bill's basement), to cook something for us. 

He chose to cook tomato soup (not Campbell's--not from a can!). He used died tomatoes, tomato paste, basil, seasonings and lots of butter and cream.

He also showed us how to make a Parisian-inspired grilled sandwich. It has ham and a fancy cheese sauce with a fried egg on top. It is called croque monsieur without the egg and with the egg it is called croque madame. 

Here's a good way to remember which is which. From the internet I learned, "the delicious egg on the croque madam symbolizes a woman's hat." 

The evening class was fun, Will was delightful, and it gave me something to do while Glen was having a very long work zoom meeting.

We awoke one morning to a very cold main floor. This is the second time the basement unit has stopped working. Thankfully, we had warm air on the upper floor of the house. 

The furnace guy came and discovered it was a problem with a nasty, gunky filter in the humidifier, which caused the filter to leak and it ruined a valve going into the furnace. 

As a reminder, the humidifier in the upstairs unit was what was giving us fits not too long ago causing a water problem on all three levels of the house. 

After two trips over here to try and figure out that problem, it was determined the humidifier was not level, causing the leaking water. We haven't had any water issues since they leveled it.

Now here are are having problems with the basement furnace humidifier. We learned we need to change the filter more often and we are wondering if the humidifiers are even worth it with all the trouble we have been having with them. 

By that afternoon, the furnace was warming the main floor, and that made us happy to feel warm air blowing once again.

Glen needed to make a trip to Provo and invited me to go along with him. After running his errand, we went to one of our favorite restaurants--La Jolla Groves. 

It feels like a fancy, elegant restaurant and always makes for a lovely dining experience. We practically had the whole place to ourselves. There was a group of people at one corner table, and then when we were almost finished eating, another couple had entered the restaurant. 

With the fancy food, it reminded me of being on a cruise. I suggested we pretend we were on an Alaskan cruise as we were sitting there eating an elegant meal and looking out the window at the majestic mountains. 

Glen even started rocking back and forth to simulate the motion of the ocean. It was "almost" like being there.

I was so happy to hear Sarah's family got to go on a fun outdoorsy adventure to Valley of Fire. I know she loves to get the boys out in nature and have a break from being homebound.

The time change every six months is enough to drive us all crazy!!! 

There was one time when we were living in Georgia when Glen was out of town and I got the children all dressed in their Sunday clothes and headed off to church and we were actually on time!! 

Until...I noticed there were not any cars in the church parking lot. WEIRD!! And then it dawned on me that I hadn't switched the clocks. UGH!!! 

Glen had a meeting on Sunday and wasn't able to go to church with me, but never fear!! Our smart phones and smart bedside radios change the time by themselves. I will never show up to church an hour early or an hour late again!!

In the Excell household, it was Eli's turn to give the lesson. I love when the children share their Come Follow Me successes. This week's lesson was about putting on the whole armor of God to be able to withstand the evil day.

The Goldens were putting on their aluminum foil armor to make their point.

I'm sure the dragon head was another great armor idea.

Spencer had a birthday! He is now 10 years old! We stopped by their home just as the children were getting home from school so we could wish him a happy birthday.

We watched him open his presents. There were rollerblades in the big box. That means he can now join the ranks of his rollerblading cousins--Newland and Carson.

Spencer also got a new bike. It was a great birthday for him!

The next day was Abe's birthday. Klarissa put up the following sweet post the night before his birthday.

Happy birthday to Abe!! We learned he went to the beach with the family. How nice for him to be able to spend his birthday with the five people who are most special to him.