Ryan & Erinn's Family: February 2019

In February, Connor and Evan participated in the points-based Pasadena Junior Festival. They both did a great job!

Winner's Concert

One evening after work, Ryan decided we would go on a hike up in the mountains. The sun was already setting, but he was persistent, so we drove up into the canyon and got out at a trailhead to a short waterfall hike. It was already almost dark, and very wet, but we did it anyway, using our phones to see where we were stepping. I think we heard the waterfall, maybe?

I started teaching the adult Sunday school class ("Come, Follow Me") on the New Testament. This was the first time I've taught grown-ups, and I was really nervous, but I fell in love with the New Testament and appreciated being forced to study all week to keep up with the lessons. We also started our "Scripture Class" on Sundays at home, as another part of the new Come Follow Me curriculum. For the first half of the year, at least, we used a subscription box that my friend had created and was selling. It had scripture quotes and a short lesson, and a related activity for each week, which was a lot of fun for the kids.

Scripture Class Activity

Ryan took the kids on a few fun outings, including a BYU volleyball game and driving up the mountains to find snow, which was ultimately unsuccessful because the road was closed. They sledded on dirt instead.

Evan turned nine years old! He had a strawberry Porto's cake, and got a couple of video games, clothes, cards, and his own set of scriptures (he had finished his Book of Mormon challenge!) He got to eat at Souplantation for his birthday dinner.

Fancy Scriptures

Elise continued adjusting to Young Women's. One Sunday evening, they had New Beginnings, which involved a cute devotional message and treats.

The temperature was really chilly this month for Los Angeles. It didn't help that our school building had no heat - I would feel numb after teaching and grading papers for 3-4 hours. Luckily, Celeste's nursery class had a space heater. She and I had a ritual of visiting the fountain and all the plants on the way to the parking garage

Morning Temperature

In School Temperature (I think.)

I had wanted to start a family history photo-wall for a long time, so I finally decided to just do it, pretty or not. We added to it in the months following, and it's fun to see the faces of the people who got us here or contributed to our lives as we know it.

We continued the process of applying to Saint Monica Academy for Connor. In their office they have a framed article about how a group of Catholic homeschool parents decided to create their own school. It was pretty neat to see how far they've come.

We had a ton of rain, and I came home from teaching one afternoon to see this cool little waterfall and mini-delta of mud in our front yard. It was actually quite pretty.

The river in our backyard.

Gutter Waterfall

Macaroon and Winter were continuing to use separate living spaces, and I was getting sick of it. I scoured the internet and started the process of "bonding" the bunnies, which was nowhere near as easy as you'd think. They would get along for awhile, then attack each other. I think it took 2-3 months for them to truly make friends and be able to live together in peace.

Ryan ordered an egg mcmuffin machine, which cooks the egg, warms the (pre-cooked) bacon, and toasts the english muffin all at once. The kids probably ate 20 of those things each before it lost its novelty. We still use it once in awhile, though.