Goodbye Larsens

I had the pleasure of joining a few members of our Stake for a little farewell surprise party for Elder and Sister Larsen before they head home to Washington State.  These two have done a phenomenal job over the past two (plus) years running the welcome center at the Pittsburgh Temple site as it's been being built.  We've stopped by many times and they know so much about the work crews and have so many great stories to tell.  They even shared the gospel with the cleaning lady who worked for them and she joined the Church and has now been through the temple!  They will be sorely missed and we all feel so very blessed by their service here the past few years.  We hope to see them again at the open house and dedication.  We presented them with a scrapbook full of photos and hundreds of thank you cards from members of our Stake.  We had a little luncheon with some goodies and food before giving them hugs and wishing them the best of luck as they head home.  We LOVE you Larsens!! (a sad/funny detail from my day. I made some extra delicious cookies to bring to the party that I was pretty pleased with.  I was scrambling to get out the door to be there in time, it was 100 day so I'd already pulled off some old men costumes and got everyone out the door to school.  After getting Keaton and I ready to go I set the cookies on top of the van while I buckled him in.  Silly me forgot all about the cookies and pulled the van out of the garage only to have them fly off the roof onto the road as I was beginning to drive.  By some small miracle only a few were ruined and I was able to salvage the rest and grab a few extra I had saved at home and still managed to make it in the nick of time, but boy was that the last thing I was hoping for that morning!)

 

They're wrapping up work on the pedestrian bridge and then things will be mostly done!  

Our little surprise party crew!

100th Day of School

It’s the 100th Day of School today! And if you’ve been around a while you know how much we love to dress up for that! This year even the Jr. High encouraged them to dress up, so I managed to convince Braddock, but he insisted he be a fat, old, man. I think he nailed it! 👴🏼🤣 Now I’m just crossing my fingers Bridger doesn’t get himself into trouble with that cane!

Priesthood Power

It was a special weekend at our house. The real reason my parents came out was to be here for Braddock's ordination, but it just so happens that Tanner and Landon would both be moving offices in the Priesthood too so it was extra cool.  Brett Hill was nice enough to come over to our place Saturday night to do the ordinations at our home so the boys would be ready and able to perform their duties at Church while Mom and Dad were here.  Tanner was ordained a Priest and got to bless the sacrament. Landon was ordained a Teacher and helped to prepare the sacrament. And Braddock was ordained a Deacon and passed the sacrament. I’m so grateful for these boys and their desire to follow the Savior and serve where they can.

 

Science Center

We also used our new membership from Janna for Christmas and went to the Carnegie Science Center which is always a hit with my science obsessed family. Braddock was incredible on the human yo yo and we wore Keaton right out!

Pittsburgh Temple

We ran out to the Pittsburgh Temple site to show my Mom and Dad the progress while the boys were at school! We’re getting SO excited for its completion some time this year! 🤞 They're working on the pedestrian bridge and this next week is the last week the Welcome Center will be open.  We're definitely getting closer.

Red Robin.........Yum

We hit up Red Robin and it was delicious! It was Keaton’s first real restaurant experience and he did awesome.  The boys were really well behaved even when we had a long wait for food.  And we'll all be dreaming about their yummy lemonades for weeks to come!  Thanks Mom and Dad!

A "Snow Day"

These days when the weather is bad we don't get a "snow day" we get a "virtual day."  So when school was called off everyone got to stay home to do school and Dean worked from home too.  It made for a slow morning and Braddock and Bridger had pounded out most of their packets the day before so they would be able to enjoy the day instead of doing school work.  Tanner and Landon fixed delicious breakfast sandwiches.  Bridger made a fort for Keaton to play in.  Braddock got in a little Oculus time.  And Keaton relished in the fact that everyone was home and he could get more attention than just boring, old, Mom.  Everyone finished up in time to throw on our snow clothes and drive out to Raccoon Creek State Park for sledding.  By time we got there the snow was picking up and the roads were a little scary.  We walked across the dam to get to our favorite sledding spot and the wind and snow proved to be too much for poor Keaton.  Dean took one for the team and took him back to the warm van for the rest of the time.  The boys and I still had a blast sledding despite the wind and snow.  Sledding will forever be a favorite family activity.  Everyone gets involved and we have so much fun together.  Once it started to get dark and we knew we'd have a snowy, slick, drive home, we high tailed it out of there before dusk hit.  

This past weekend Tanner and Landon took it upon themselves to make the “world’s most delicious” breakfast sandwiches. They pan fried the bacon, hash browns, and hot sausage. Then carefully placed it all on a brioche bun. They were nice enough to share with the rest of us, but somehow Dean wasn’t around and missed out. So as a complete surprise Tanner got up early (he already gets up extra early on school days for an early morning scripture course before school) to use the last of the ingredients to make Dean a breakfast sandwich. And there wasn’t enough for both of them, so he went to all the effort of cooking it for Dean and then just ate cereal himself. Teenagers get a bad rap, but this kid is alright in my book! 🥓🍳🧀🥯

Keaton's been cruising around with his new walker.

Braddock's eyelashes were covered in snowflakes.

I hope these boys always remember sledding together.