Ugly car seat covers

I ordered some custom car seat covers for the car because we want it to last and look nice for a long time. When I ordered them I was told that they wouldn’t be here until September but I thought that would be fine. Courtney and I were walking around Walmart on Saturday and she fell in love with these ugly seat covers. We went home, I called the company to cancel our order, and then Bryan drove back to Walmart with Courtney to buy them. They were a lot cheaper than what we had ordered so I was fine with it and Courtney was thrilled. Now we will see how steady they are. 

Talking to Ethan

We get to talk to Ethan on Saturdays and that is when he is the most talkative.  It's fun to hear his stories and see how chatty he is.  Bryan says I can't steal Ethan's thunder and tell stories he may want to share in letters so I am just going to write a few things down here and then if he doesn't talk about them in his letter on Tuesday, I will put them on his blog also.

On Saturday, the elders did a split with the other elders in their apartment.  So Ethan went with a different missionary to work.  He said it was nice to see the other part of the area that is on the other side of the freeway.  There is a frisbee golf course that is next to a pond.  They went there in the morning to do a companionship study.  There is a group of boys who dives for frisbees that have missed the hold that is next to the pond.  They get the frisbees out of the pond, clean them up, and then sell them at the park.  That is something Ethan would have done if it were possible when he was younger.  So he bought one of the frisbees from the kids. He was pretty excited about that.

There are also 4 fires around where he is and he said that the smoke was really cool to see in the sky.  They hadn't been able to smell it until Saturday but he said they now could smell the smoke. Their plan for one day last week was to go and help a family with service but then they were called and told that the sheriff had told people not to go up there because they may have to evacuate.  So they had to find something else to do that day.

He has had some experiences with a guy who really hopes the missionaries keep looking for the truth.  It really ticks Ethan off because the guy is condescending and makes it sound like these young missionaries have no idea what the truth is and that he does.  So we have had some good discussions with Ethan about agency and how without it, the entire purpose of life is gone.  If we aren't here to make choices and learn, then there is no reason for us to be here.

Ethan has also become the cookie elder.  He made some cookies for the elders last week and mixed up the teaspoon with the tablespoon.  He still ate them (of course) but the cookies were kind of salty.  Haha!  And he didn't know how to form the cookies without a cookie scoop (curse modern kitchen gadgets).  But he made the cookies again and was more attentive to things.  He said he scooped them better, made sure the butter wasn't frozen and did the measurements correctly.  He made 4 dozen and the cookies lasted 2 days.  So he said they turned out perfectly.  

That's about it.  We talked for quite a while.  Courtney showed him her ice maker, the car, and apologized to him for making fun of his driving.  She complained that she was a slow driver and now she is the slow driver and completely understands.

It's fun to see how happy he is and how well he is doing.  They have people they are teaching and the work is progressing.

Best present

Courtney’s best friend, Sammie, brought over Courtney’s birthday gift. It was so cool! She got photos of them and made a collage.

And then she gave Courtney her soccer number in wood. The 1 has a soccer ball that has been cut down the center. It is really cool.


Courtney immediately hung them up and I think it looks awesome.

Friday at Success Academy

They had a bit of orientation at Success Academy on Friday. Courtney and Hayley (her friend in our ward who is also doing it) went over together. They played games, took a tour of campus, learned more about what they would be doing, and other stuff. They have another orientation on Monday and then they start into classes on Tuesday. 

The District has a new early out every Friday schedule which threw Success off because the morning cohort would have to miss one class at their boundary high school each Friday. In order to avoid that, they have adjusted the Friday schedule so they only do one virtual online lecture each Friday at 2 pm and they don’t even go into Success on Friday. I’m hoping it works out ok. Courtney will get to sleep in and do homework Friday before going to SCHS.

First day of school

Courtney actually has 2 first days of school. Thursday was the first day at Snow Canyon High School and then Friday will be the first day at Success Academy. 

SCHS has sophomore orientation where they talked to the kids about expectations, had their school picture taken, etc. Courtney said it was “super boring”. At lunch, she came home because she didn’t have class again for a while. She went back for her 2 classes she has on A day. World civ is going to be “easy” and seminary is full of kids older than her so she isn’t too thrilled. But she survived

I got a text midway through the day asking when I was going to leave work. I told her 3:30 and she asked if she could just come hang out with me and not ride the bus home. I told her sure. Her motives were not to have quality time with me! She wanted to drive home. So we drove home. See the perma-grin? She did a great.


It was a successful first day.

Birthday present

After Courtney’s soccer game she was able to open her gift from us. 

“Is it a washing machine?!”  “No, it’s a counter top ice maker!”










She was so excited and loves it saying that it is the best gift ever. She loves ice and there are many times when our ice maker can’t keep up with Courtney. We have ice trays she puts in the freezer but this is so much better. It makes ice in 8 minutes. She is in heaven!!

Face shields

The Washington County School District bought face shields for all the admin and secretaries in the schools. They bought half face shields for the secretaries. The teachers were all given full face shields but they kept digging up and it was a pain so a bunch ordered their own half face shields.

They look like the old head gear from braces and they feel dumb but at least we can breathe. We used those last week for the first week of school and it was nice. We had a few students that had panic attacks because of the masks. When the counselors talked to them and explained that they can use face shields it calmed them down and parents were excited for the option.

Friday, the governor of Utah decided that schools can’t allow face shields without a mask underneath. I’m wondering how the school district is going to respond because we have already set a precedence with the shields. So next week is going to be very interesting.