The Pollard Place: April 2018

I seriously don’t know how time is flying so quickly! I cannot believe that it is April already! Let’s talk about the house for a minute. I feel like I haven’t really addressed what has been going on in a while, if ever, so it’s time for an update! So, this house is going to be great! One day haha. But for now, it just seems like it is one issue after another. What was supposed to be a quick three month rehab has turned into seven or eight months. The budget has been doubled, and the stress has been quadrupled. It seems that everything that could have gone wrong did. First we found out that the plumbing had to all be redone. Then, we found out that the electrical was totally unsafe and so that had to all be redone. Then, we found out that they had taken out a load bearing wall in the basement and had replaced it with two 2x4s for a beam. Yep. This last one was the surprise for the month of April. My poor, sweet Rusty has been working his tail off to get everything ready and this last set back has been really hard on all of us. Not only is it more work, more money, and more time, but it is such a morale killer. We felt like we were so close and then this came out of nowhere and it just really stinks. There is so much going on right now. Rusty is working hard on the house, trying to put together a deal for a storage unit complex, working, figuring out some tax issues and some title issues with the house, and then has his calling and his family. I have this new job, my calling, my job as a mom and cooking the meals and cleaning the house, planning this Peru trip, and trying to stay sane with the house in upheaval. We are both really stressed out right now and what we need is a fun weekend away but we don’t have the time or the money to do it haha. So, here we are! But truly, the upstairs is looking SO GOOD! It’s going to be awesome once we get up there.

One night we were just so stressed and done. So I went and bought some nerf guns and came home and gave one to Rusty and took one. We hid and got each other and laughed our heads off, and then had some target practice. Even just a ten minute break was so good for us!

Ok, enough about that. This month the weather started to get really nice some days, which we tried to take advantage of, and then it would come back and snow a couple of inches! What in the world Utah?! But we did have a really nice day out at Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point with Bryndee, Brayden, and Kade. Henry loved feeding the goats, seeing the “llama llamas”, riding the pony and calling the baby goats “kids.” Adeline loved chewing on some toys.

Another day we went to the Museum of Natural Curiosity and when we got there I was so confused because the line was all the way out the door and to the parking lot! I had never seen it like that before. When we finally got in I asked what was going on and they said that it was Spring Break. Ah! There were so many kids that I felt claustrophobic haha. But we ended up playing with some things that we had never seen before, like this little cave of fear with creepy cockroaches and a place to stick your hand in that felt like they were crawling on you haha. I swear, I have been to this place a lot of times and I still come away on some days having done things that were completely new.

On the weekend that we found out that the downstairs ceiling was sagging, I took the kids to my parents for Friday night and Saturday to be out of the way so they could work. It’s so nice to have them so close, and it makes situations like this so much better. We got to go have dinner with them, Jessica, and Aaron, catch up on a lot of sleep for this tired mama, and then play out on the farm! Henry had a great time feeding the calves and cows, and later we both got to ride horses and play with the calves again. Mom and I made some freezer meals to take home because I’m a little bit stressed (she’s the best) and we just talked and relaxed. It was great! Oh, and Adeline had her first chocolate cake. :)

Somebody loves chocolate like her Daddy!

Henry got to go out and feed the cows with Uncle Brent. Of course, he had his cowboy hat on!

Grandma brought Henry his first piggy bank

VIPKid is going well! This month it really took off, and I am so grateful! Sometimes it takes people a really long time to get classes so I opened up a lot hoping that they would get filled. The first two weeks (in March) I only got a handful, and then starting in April every slot I had opened was filled! It has been a ton of fun, and a lot of work. It is so exhausting to get up with Della and night and then get up to teach and then stay up after that because the kids are awake, but I enjoy it so much!

Primary is going well! I taught two Sharing Time lessons this month, and I still get nervous every time. But when I'm up there it just feels natural and exciting. I miss teaching! We currently have 9 callings that need to be filled, which is totally stressing me out. I am just praying that we have some really awesome people move into the ward that we can put to work! I started trying to tackle this whole scouting world, and it is crazy. It’s like a different language and the people are so excited and gung ho about it that I feel like I’m in a cult haha. Weird scouts.

We all got so sick this month- except for Rusty. We had fevers, terrible coughs, and runny noses. It completely wiped me out- I haven't been sick like that for a long time. Of course that was my busiest week with VIPKid, so I was so short on sleep. I was going to bed at 8:00 and still waking up completely worn out. Luckily Rusty stayed home one day so I just slept, and then a week later Kyle and Bryndee took the kids so I could sleep for a few hours while Rusty worked on the house. They are the best.

Rusty and I got to go on a little date this month. We haven't been able to do much because of the house; not even stay home dates. We skipped our Month Country Date too. But Rusty's work paid for everyone to go see the new Avengers movie, so Kyle watched Henry and we took Della with us. Then we went and got a yummy cookie and smoothie from Sodalicious and then picked up some Cafe Rio to take home to Kyle and the boys.

The Tulip Festival was going on at Thanksgiving Point so we decided to go. It was pretty last minute, because I thought you had to pay to get in. But with our memberships we got in for free! I was talking to someone and they mentioned that the next week it was supposed to be rainy, so we went on a Friday afternoon. It was almost 90 degrees! I am getting so excited for summer. But I need some shorts haha. It was HOT! We saw some really beautiful flowers, got a yummy frozen lemonade and cookie, and enjoyed being outside.

After the Tulip Festival Rusty finally took a night off of working on the house and we went and got some gyros, hummus and greek salad from a little Greek truck and went up to our favorite lookout point. We used to go here when we lived here before and this was our first time since we moved back. We backed the car up and ate our dinner in the trunk. It was so fun! I love my little family.

Playgroups are going well! With the good weather we went to the All Together Playground once, and the other times we went to people's houses. I had to cancel the week we were sick. When we went to the park we packed a little picnic. Yay for Spring!

One Thursday Rusty stayed home from work and took a break from working on the house so that we could pack a little picnic and go up the canyon to my favorite park, Big Springs. We ate, played tag, played in the creek, and then walked on the trail for a little bit. It is something so small, but we have been so stressed out lately that this was a huge break for us. It was wonderful!

The Learn and Plays were really fun this month. We went to two. One we read The Hungry Caterpillar and we got to take home a real caterpillar! Another one, we read I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean and got to make little ocean bags and whales to take home. Shockingly, the caterpillar is still alive! He is getting bigger, and I think we might get to watch him become a butterfly!

Something really exciting happened this month! My Grandma Jessie turned 100 this month! Holy cow! We went to Logan to celebrate her birthday. She is so sweet. She said that her secret is to "Just go to bed, and get up the next morning. I guess the getting up part is important." Haha. She is so cute. We talked about funny memories like how she picked my grandpa up from the train station and told him that they were getting married, or how she asked him to put a horn on her side of the car because he kept honking at girls so she wanted a chance to honk at the boys haha. She is a funny lady.

We also got to see Angie and Josiah and their kids! It was so great to see them, and Henry absolutely loved it. We went back to my parents' house to spend more time with them.

Rusty's work also set up a bowling night! We got there late, but we still got to go bowling for a little bit. It was obvious that it had been a long time for both Rusty and I haha, but all three of us got a strike! Woo hoo! Henry loved bowling so much. In fact, he wanted to do it while it was Rusty's turn so he sneaked up behind him and got his ball. He rolled it down the neighbor's lane, and it got stuck in the gutter haha. Then when they raised the bumpers it got really stuck and made some bad sounds. On the way back home Henry was so upset about the bowling ball. He does not like getting in trouble, even when it's something little like "Henry you need to wait for your turn." He kept saying that the ball was stuck, and that it said, "Nu nu nu" haha. Poor little guy.

Henry's Highlights

Henry is talking so much! He has some key phrases that he uses all of the time. "Oh, that will make me sad!" "Is that a good idea?" or "That's a good idea!" But he pronounces good idea like "goodea". "Fisk": fix. BBQ sauce: "broccoli sauce". When he gets excited about something he yells, "LET'S DO THAT!" And if he really liked something and wants to do it again he says, "LET'S DO THAT ALL THE TIME!" I got some nerf guns, and he says "poke" instead of shoot. "Do you want to poke guns with me?"
Loves PJ Masks and Octonots and Sesame Street
Calls Adeline Della Bella Girl
Loves making tunnels in the couch. EVERY DAY. He also talks about monsters all of the time
He calls shooting "poking"
He is having a hard time sharing, showing some attitude
Still very shy
His rainboots got holes in them. Got him some light up sandals
He loves to tell Pon a Times and sing songs. "Sweet dreams"
Never
I can do it by myself
Why
Imagination: wants to use a really big net to catch the moon. Saw a castle in the clouds.
He saw the whipping cream and yelled, "CAN I NINK IT?!"