Las Vegas

 I took Courtney to Las Vegas to go school shopping.  Things were so cheap with amazing sales so we made off like bandits. And since the time change is in our favor, we didn't have to go down so early in the morning so that was a plus!

We went to the South Outlet Mall and things were 50-75% off regular prices.  I think they are just trying to lure people into the mall to spend money.  It worked for us but, I will admit, it was nice not to have so many people in the mall.  The day started off kind of slow and Courtney didn't see anything she liked.  We wandered around for about 30 minutes before something caught her eye.  It was off to the races after that.  She was able to find a bunch of stuff that she really liked and we got everything on her back-to-school shopping list.

The only store that had a crowd was the Nike store.  We had to stand in line to get in (I think it was 20 minutes but Courtney "swears" it was only 5).  They had armed policemen at the door watching people.  I kind of felt like I was back in Guat. But Courtney found some awesome deals on Nike stuff that she wanted.  So it was a plus.  I tried to get her to buy this shirt, but she just rolled her eyes and moved on.

We decided that we should have gone to Vegas mission shopping for Ethan's suits after we saw these beauties.  And they were on mega sale so we could have saved a lot of money.

When we were finished shopping, had eaten at Cheesecake Factory, and we were ready to go home, we decided to drive by our old house...what a sad experience.  When we left this house it was fixed up.  There was a cut lawn in front with a tree in the center.  We had flowers planted next to the house and there wasn't tin foil in the windows and cars all over the side lawn.  I was so sad to see the state the little house was in now.  We spent so much time fixing it up and making it a cute house and now the poor thing is just abused.  It was sad.  And then....

we looked across the street and saw this...

Wow!!  I have no words for it.  Our neighborhood looked really sad and run down.  They say that neighborhoods have a lifespan, just as people do.  They are new with young families, then they get older and the families move on, then they are filled with rentals and people don't take care of them because they don't own them, and then the neighborhood dies.  It's sad to see.

I took Courtney up to see the Las Vegas Temple while we were there.  The gates were locked, obviously, but there were people outside taking pictures.  It was still pretty to look at.

We drove home in time for dinner.  It was a fun day and we got a lot done!

Success Academy Diploma

 It's been months but they finally sent Ethan's diploma from Success Academy.  I don't know why it took so long, but that's okay because we have it now.  Courtney wanted to model it and pretend like it was hers.

Eyelashes

So Courtney has long eyelashes.  When she was in kindergarten I had to put mascara on her for a dance performance.  She put her glasses on right afterward and then blinked...and there were big stripes of black down her glasses.  Her eyelashes were so long that they hit on the lenses when she put her glasses on.  And that's how it's always been.  Crazy!

She ran out of mascara the other day so we ran to the store to get some more.  We decided to grab her a new kind called "Falsies Lash Lift."  It promised that, if you used it, people would think you were wearing fake eyelashes. 

Courtney went immediately into her bathroom to try it.  What do you think? Can you tell which eye has the Falsie mascara on it and which one doesn't?

This eye has the Falsie mascara...

This one does not.

Courtney was pretty happy with the results.

She made the team!!

Soccer tryouts were stressful this year. There were a lot of freshmen trying out and that made everyone nervous. Courtney has worked really hard all summer and we were optimistic that she wouldn’t have any problems making the team. But you never know.

Monday was a rough day because it was juggle day. She had worked on them all summer long and had gotten over 50 juggles (the requirement). But in tryouts she was only able to do 30 in the allotted time. She was upset but the other days went well and she felt better.

The coach said he would post the team on the website around 11:00 but by around 9:30, the team roster was posted and...she made it!! What a huge relief.

It’s a huge team this year but that is due to some rule changes. There will no longer be ties in soccer. If there is no winner after 2 overtime periods it will then go to a face off where it’s one person against the goalie. So they are developing their goalies more. But this was also the most girls the coach had ever had to cut before in his 20 years of coaching.

Courtney woke up to this sign on our house. The seniors had put them up overnight. I thought that was fun!




And she got her old number again! 


The season is still going on. The girls are still temperature checked before each practice and will be before each game. But the season, so far, is still on.

Great job, Courtney!!

Ethan gets to call home on Tuesday (p day) and on Saturday (because of Covid). So we got a call today and he looked so good and happy!

He told us about the trip to Colorado (the plane had engine trouble so they were delayed while it was checked out), his companion, his area, what he has been eating (he had a TV dinner for the first time and wasn’t sure what to think of it), and what he has been up to (visiting members and finding people to teach). 

They are living in an apartment with another companionship until they get one of their own (the area was split so now there are 2 sets of missionaries in it) so he hasn’t unpacked or anything. He is living out of his suitcase right now. 

Courtney showed him the rooms Bryan painted (Ethan was glad he wasn’t here for those) and then we got to chat. It was fun to see him and he was so happy. 

We love Elder Pack!

Mission Map

This is a map of Ethan's mission.

Ahhgee

When Ethan was born he was given a little stuffed animal, a bear. When Ethan would cry, if we would give him the bear, Ethan would stop crying. And his cry sounded like he was saying “ahh gee.” So we named the bear Ahhgee. 

Ethan had pictures with Ahhgee when he was a baby and he has kept it in his room all his life. I made him a pillow with a pocket to put books in but Ethan put his bear in it. So when Ethan left on his mission, we put Ahhgee On the couch in Ethan’s normal video game playing spot. 

Painting, painting, painting

Bryan took the week off (except last Monday) and has been working on the house, painting Courtney’s room, painting the new office, and all kinds of stuff. 

The blue wall in Ethan’s room is now white. That’s crazy! 

Courtney was so excited to get in the big room but we need to figure out how to decorate it now. 






The blue wall moved to Courtney old room, the new office. It’s a bit darker than we thought it would be and Bryan wasn’t too sure about it for a while, but he is feeling better about it now. He has it all painted and we are waiting for it to dry before moving things in.




When it’s done, I will post pics.

Changing rooms

Courtney has been so antsy to get her hands on Ethan’s bedroom. Having him do the MTC at home delayed it for 3 weeks and that was hard for her.

About 15 minutes after we got home from the airport, she started moving in. Ethan had left clothes and things so we finished packing his room up and then started moving her in.

Bryan and Courtney spent Wednesday painting the room white and then we will finish getting her switched.  We are turning her old room into the office and the goal is to have a room finished in the basement for Ethan when he gets back. 🤞🏻

Courtney is excited to have the bigger room.

Ethan flying to his mission

July 21, 2020

In true Ethan fashion, he didn’t pack until Tuesday morning. We did a load of laundry and he packed and we still had a ton of time before his 1:10 flight from St George. 

We played games, ate breakfast, talked, and waited to go to the airport. When it was finally time, we loaded up and drove out.

Bryan dropped us off at the front and I took the airport picture while Bryan parked the car.

Ethan went in and got himself all checked in. Thanks for the suitcase scale we borrowed from Grandma and Grandpa Oman, his suitcases were under the weight requirement and he had no problems. He had his ticket for St George to Salt Lake and another for Salt Lake to Denver.

Then we had to wait. We took pictures, chatted and got ready to say goodbye.


A nice woman took a family pic for us. And then we had to give final hugs and say goodbye. This was tough but he is going to be an amazing missionary and he is so ready and prepared to go.


Ethan went through security. I think he would be glad he only had to do it once because he had to take off his belt, shoes and suit coat, he also had to open his bag for his phone charger. Then he had to go through the scanner and do everything in reverse to get dressed again. It took a while.

Then he gave them his ticket and loaded on the plane.  We went to the observation deck to watch his plane take off. There were 2 sister missionaries on the same flight going to Slat Lake to catch their connecting flights. So he wasn’t the only missionary.


His plane left 7 minutes late but, when we got home we checked his progress, and it landed in Salt Lake City 20 minutes ahead of schedule. So he got there before we got home.

We watched until his plane was far from sight then we headed home. 

Here is a timelapse of Ethan's plane that one of the sister missionary's mom gave me:

We watched the progress of his plane. He landed in Salt Lake and then was supposed to fly out at around 3:15 pm for Denver. But as we watched it became apparent that his plan wasn’t going anywhere. Finally, about 90 minutes behind schedule, it took off and they were in their way. There were a bunch of missionaries on the plane. Ethan’s travel plans included 10 missionaries and we don’t know how many more were going to Denver as a stop and continuing on. 

We got an email at 10:55 pm that night from Ethan saying he had made it, was with his companion, and would be heading out to his area on Wednesday. 

Yeah! Here to the start of his adventure.

Last Sunday before Ethan leaves

July 19, 2020

Church today was a time for Ethan to say goodbye to some people in the ward. It started out as a usual Covid-style sacrament meeting. Ethan had to bless because we only have half the priesthood there and everyone sang quietly because masks muffled their voices. 

After the sacrament was over, the counselor in the bishopric who was presiding (Brother Hintze) stood and said that the planned speakers that day...the missionaries serving in our area...hadn’t shown up. But lucky for our ward, we had 2 missionaries doing home MTC who would be leaving that week. So he called on them to speak to us. 

Ethan started by saying that since doing home MTC he has found that he isn’t as nervous to get up and speak in front of people. Teaching investigators online has gotten him more comfortable. He then shared a bit about his experience and shared that he had challenged himself to read the entire Book of Mormon during his MTC experience. He finished in 10 days and had a strong testimony that reading each day is important to our testimonies. He challenged everyone to read, even if it is a little bit, each day. 

After church, we got the three of the missionaries who would leave that week, together for pictures. It was bittersweet to watch them say goodbye.

Here are the three missionaries and one future missionary (Jared is putting his papers in soon). They have all grown up together. Ethan and Daisy are going to the same mission, so that’s fun. Duncan has been reassigned to Kansas until he can get to Botswana. 

The missionaries: Elder Richey, Sister Hurt, and Elder Pack.


Their final hug goodbye with Jared, Duncan and Ethan. It was cute to see.


Brother Hintze has been amazing for these boys. He was one who pushed them to finish their Eagle, going so far as having PPIs with them each Sunday to monitor their progress (ie, make sure they were doing something each week and not slacking off). He’s a great example to them.


After Church, Monte (whose last name group goes on to church on the opposite Sunday as us) came over to say goodbye. This was Ethan’s hardest goodbye, I think. Ethan practically lived at the Evans’s house. I think we probably owe them a bunch in grocery money for feeding him so often. 🤣 Ethan loves hanging out with Monte. 

Before Monte left, I had to take a picture and, in true teenage boy fashion, I got a sarcastic photo. But it’s them. 😁

Fires

It has been crazy in Washington County the last couple of days. We have had quite a few fires that have started. One of them was over by Washington city and the other is up by Veyo. 

When Bryan and I went on our walk the other morning we could see the red of the flames over the mountain. And the air has been very smoky. The fires aren’t near our house, but we can see them pretty clearly and see the smoke.

They have a little bit of the fire contained this morning and you can’t see the flames from our house, but the haze and the smoke made it a very pretty sunrise.

Last tooth standing

Courtney pulled out her very last baby tooth!! This tooth has been in the way of her braces and hasn’t wanted to come out. It broke in October and part of it came out but the rest of it was still hanging on. I keep bugging her about wiggling it because I didn’t want to involve the dentist and have it extracted. 

I was nagging her about it and she told me that it was really loose. I told her to pull it but she didn’t want to do that. I told her to ask Ethan to pull it but she didn’t want to do that either. About five minutes later she turned to me and said “It’s out.”

The other tooth has already erupted and the crown is completely in so she doesn’t have much of a hole. But this means the orthodontist will have an easier time moving her teeth. He hasn’t been able to get things to move because that tooth has been in the way.

If you’re wondering, are tooth fairy is an instant payer. 🤣

Scholarship

There is a program called Acceleration that helps athletes get faster and stronger. They try to reduce injuries in young athletes by strengthening the muscles that support their joints. Courtney has participated in it for a couple of summers. This year, the soccer team isn’t doing it so she hasn’t been training with them. However, she applied for their scholarship program. They choose one female and one male athlete from each high school and give them a $350 voucher for training.

I got a call a couple weeks ago saying that Courtney has been chosen for the scholarship!  We went by to pick up the plaque and the certificate. She is too busy to do it right now so she will do it during the off season(she isn’t going to play basketball this year so she will do it during that season...unless she does swim team). 

Quote

Courtney and I had to run an errand at a basketball facility called Nets on Fire. It’s a huge place where hey do basketball training and have tournaments. As we walked down the stairs we saw this quote on the wall. 

I don’t think the people who own the gym aren’t LDS but they know a good quote when they see it. 

HERO project

The University of Utah is doing a random study in southern Utah to find out how many people have been exposed to Covid and how at risk our area really is. We received a letter asking us to participate. They wanted blood tests taken to look for antibodies and then there was an option to do the nose swab to look for asymptomatic active cases. The test schedule didn’t fit into Ethan’s MTC schedule and someone had to stay home to be his companion so Bryan and I participated.

We filled out an online questionnaire and then took our letter to the testing place. They verified our info and had us pull around to a tent where they took our blood. I’m fine with blood tests but I was really nervous about the nose swab and wasn’t sure if I was going to do it. The blood test went quick with a lady taking Bryan’s sample while a man took mine. 

We then pulled up to the next tent. Bryan told me he would go first and I could watch him and decide. Seriously! After watching him be swabbed (let me rephrase that, after watching the woman shove the swab into his brain and stir it around for a while before taking it back out) I decided I wasn’t having that done. She was not gentle at all. I felt so bad for him.

After Bryan dried his eyes, which started watering because of the swab, we drove to the last tent and got our gift cards. I honestly think they should have given Bryan more money for going through the swab but I’m not in charge.

We ended up with $40 for our time. They told us that Bryan would get a call if his test was positive and he didn’t get a call. He was kind of bummed because he wants to just get it over with and move on with life. We are waiting for our antibody results but those will be negative, I believe. I had the antibody test before and it was negative, so unless I got Covid between mid-June to mid-July and didn’t have symptoms, I don’t think the results will change.

Baby Blues

Between Zits and Baby Blues, our life is memorialized in comics!  I heard Bryan laugh this morning and knew a comic had tickled his funny bone.  It was this one.

Ethan’s pj shirt

We have a couple in our ward who own an embroidery/vinyl cutting/jack of all trades business. They brought Elder Pack his pj shirt. I love it!

Home MTC

Courtney got things ready for the home MTC.