Bacon Bits: February 2020

The twins are home!!!

The Gore girls got home from their mission on Wednesday night! They served in different missions in Guatemala, but left and came home on the same flights!! They made the cutest signs!!

Look at that happy mama face with her two beautiful return missionaries! I love these 3 so much!

Getting closer...

I don't know if Zach will catch Greg, but he is getting closer! It will be interesting to see if he has passed Andrew by the time he comes home...

Greg went to Chicago for the day to get an expedited passport and stopped at this little bakery to pick up some treats. We went there the last time we were in Chicago, so we knew it would be good. It's always fun to bring home a little treat!

What will Zach do?

Zach hasn't had a haircut since Andrew left for school, so over 6 months now, but is thinking about cutting it. I think he will keep the top long, so we were searching for pictures and found these of River Phoenix. I think Zach may go for something like this, but we will see!

A quick project

Jeanette asked me to do a quick vinyl project to commemorate her and Matt's first date. I guess they carved their initials on a stump (just like in the cartoons) while they were on a hike.

This time she put them on a thermos to take on a hike. Happy dating anniversary!

Puppy love

So many bananas!

Greg had left over bananas from a youth activity and brought them home. This would be a lot of banana bread, so we had to figure something else out.

We mixed 50/50 peanut butter and chocolate, dipped the bananas, topped them and froze them. They were really good, but SO cold! Greg could hardly eat them! I didn't love the texture when they were thawing - a little slimy - so I ate mine fast. I actually mixed some new chocolate/peanut butter up and then dipped fresh bananas and that was my favorite. It was a fun way to use up the excess!

Just like the restaurants make!

We have been trying to make french fries that taste like 5 Guys and I think we have come pretty close! You soak them and then double fry them...so yummy!

New passport photos

Greg needed to renew his passport and the new rules say you can't wear glasses and you can't smile with teeth. If you wear glasses, it makes for a picture that doesn't really look much like you look in real life. We took quite a few before he settled on this one.

This was our second choice...they didn't say anything about eyes being crossed!

Bill's black light party

Bill turned 40 and Sarah threw him a black light party. It was a lot of fun! I helped them get ready during the day and then came back for the festivities. We had some fun painting Sarah's face!

Ava helped weave these ribbons into my hair for the party. They had a great glow to them!

It's always fun to celebrate with friends, but this was an extra fun idea! Happy birthday Bill!

Living the life

Look at these pictures. Andrew is living the life and I love it.

Presidency night out

The YW Presidency and our husbands got together for dinner out. We spend so much time together at church, and sometimes outside of church, but it's fun to go out with no other purpose than to enjoy each other's company. I work with a great group of women who really pour their hearts into their callings. It's a huge blessing to work with friends!

Shoes, shoes, and more shoes

We took the youth to do a service project at a place that collects shoes and then either redistributes them or has them ground up for other purposes. Last year they were able to place 50,000 pairs of shoes out of this little location! We had 60 people in their small office space, it was packed, but we got so much done the night we were there. I think we will definitely go back again since it was a simple, but fun project.

Gleaners

We went with the Sanchez family to volunteer at Gleaners. They are a massive food bank that is in our area. The church works with them quite frequently too, so we were familiar with them. They have a family night once a month, so it's really fun to all be able to go together.

We sorted through these massive bins of food that had been donated from grocery stores or food collection sites. Everything has to be checked for expiration dates and then sorted and put in the right place in the warehouse.

It was a great night spent with friends, doing some good.

Cake Bake

We are lucky in our area that we have Cake Bake. It's a super high end cake shop that has consistently has cakes that make Oprah's favorite things lists. I actually prefer their cheesecake to their cakes, but it is a fun, girly place to go for a special occasion. A friend took me there recently and I had to take a picture of the case...it's a beautiful display!

Minty treats!

We got these cute tins printed for the YW's birthdays this year. I'm really excited with how they turned out and will definitely keep them in mind the next time I need another cute take away gift for a group!

Retroactive graduation

Since Andrew graduated a year early from highschool, he only completed 3 years of Seminary. They told him he could submit either Institute or religion classes to get the final year's credit. He took 2 classes during his first semester of college and then submitted them and just got this diploma in the mail. It's official, he's a seminary graduate!

Gaga ball

The YW wanted to play gaga ball for an activity and I had seen pictures from Cannon Bunkall where they flipped the tables like this to make a ring. We don't have many long tables at our building, so we had to pull some classroom tables, but it all worked out.

I have no idea how many rounds we played, but it was a lot! The girls had a great time, worked up quite a sweat, and laughed a lot.

I love these girls!

The bottom left

They sent out this set of pictures from the Missionary Readiness Conference and Zach is in the picture on the bottom left. Kind of fun to see him at the activity.

Just Mercy

We went to go see 'Just Mercy' and it is so good! It's gut wrenching and so unbelievably hard to imagine that it's happening in the United States, but totally worth seeing. I highly recommend it!

Skiing

Andrew sent this awesome picture when he went skiing for the first time at Sundance. It's pretty awesome. I'm so glad he gets to do fun things like this and can enjoy the incredible Utah skiing!

Wisdom teeth recovery

Andrew did really well with getting his wisdom teeth out. He sent me this picture the day after his teeth were out, it looks like he is at the movies!

Here he is a day or two after surgery. He doesn't have too much swelling and looks pretty good. I'm so glad that Beth and Rick were there to take care of him, and I'm so glad he did so well!

The dawn of a new day

Our ward is doing its first YW high adventure this year and I am in charge of planning it. We are headed to Bluesprings Caverns Cave to go on an underground boat ride, then we get out and explore where the boats can't go. Then, we will spend the night in the cave. It should be really fun. The next day we are doing a high ropes course and going zip lining. Let the adventure begin!

Lunch with the ladies

We had a great lunch with Jeanette to celebrate her 40th birthday! She was really surprised, so that was extra fun! Happy birthday Jeanette!!

Is everything really better with bacon?

Bacon Air Freshener - Your car and/or house will smell like bacon heaven. If you know your bacon lover lives with a vegetarian this is a must have.

Bacon Bandages - If your Bacon lover is like me and is accident prone they will love you forever if you got them some of these. Unfortunately they do not smell or taste like bacon.

Bacon Wallet - It’s a wallet that looks like bacon. Do I need to say anything else?

Bacon Lunch Box - If your Bacon lover is a worker bee then get him/her this. They will be the envy of all the other bees in the hive.

Out of the mouths of babes...

This is a change for this area, but here is a conversation that my kids wanted documented:

Me: What are some good games to play?

Andrew: (Some shooting game)

Zach: Fortnite

Ava: Halo

(All kids laughing because they know how much I dislike those kinds of games)

Me: You guys are the worst children!

Zach: I'm gonna quote you on that!

It's been a long time again since adding to this, but I am happy to add this one! The song 'One Way or Another' was on the radio. The lyrics say, "one way or another, I'm gonna find ya', I'm gonna get ya', get ya', get ya', get ya'..." We were singing along and then Zach said, "I don't understand why Ghandi would sing this." It was so funny to me - I could barely tell him that it was Blondie who sings the song - not Ghandi! The thought of it being Ghandi has brought me a lot of joy though!!

It's been a very long time since I added something to this line - that's what happens when your kids get bigger. But the other day Ava had a priceless conversation with me...She has been studying the solar system at school and had a big project due. She has been really interested in everything and has been coming home and sharing all kinds of facts. She came home and was so excited to tell me about a dwarf planet. She said, "can you believe there is really a dwarf planet?" I acknowledged her interest and she said, "I was talking to my friends and we just can't believe that there is actually a planet with dwarfs living on it!". I was so amused...so amused. I explained to her that it wasn't that kind of dwarf...she was a little bummed out, but it definitely made more sense to her. I loved having an "out of the mouths of babes" moment!

I was in the kitchen making cookies with the kids and was talking to Ava. She asked me if I had big parties when I was a kid. I told her that I didn't, but that I always wished I could have a big party with all of my friends. I told her that I dreamed about growing up and having parties with all of the people I cared about and having great treats and doing fun things at the parties...She looked up at me and said, "all of your dreams have come true"! It was so cute to me...and all I could do was look at her and agree.

Ava was cutting snow flakes out of paper yesterday and then putting glitter glue on them. She was very proud of what she had done and was showing them to me. I told her how much I liked them and she said, "I could teach you how to make it - and, I think you could do it because you are pretty crafty". It's good to have the confidence of my 5 year old!

Ava gave me a mother's day card from school and on it was written (in the teacher's handwriting) "I like my mom because she gives me agates". I read it and didn't really understand the reference, but we do live near the lake and everyone is always searching for agates...I thought it was maybe just something someone else said. This week she came downstairs and asked me if I would make her an "egglette". I didn't know what she meant and she said it again, "egglette". I finally caught on and asked her if she meant an omelet. "Yes!" Then she said, "I call them egglettes, just like I did on your mother's day card." She likes me because I make her omelets...now that's my girl!!

Yesterday I was doing some bead work and Ava came and asked me if she could help me. I told her that it was kind of hard and I wasn't sure if she could help with this kind of project. She quickly told me that she could if I would just let her try. I agreed and she excitedly told me, "Thank you Mom, I've been waiting for years for you to teach me how to do this!"

I was talking to the kids yesterday and was trying to explain that Greg and someone were having trouble seeing eye to eye on the future direction of the company. Zach said, "yeah, like he said (Greg) that they should make a machine with two cranes on it and then the other guy interrupted and said, no, we should make a machine with tank wheels on it".

Today Andrew came up to Greg and was rubbing his shoulders and said, "Why are you so dense Mr. Bacon?". I looked at Andrew and said, "I think you mean tense - dense means that you aren't very smart". Andrew laughed so hard that he literally fell over!

Yesterday I was telling Ava a story and I mentioned Beth. Ava asked who Beth was and I told her that Beth is my sister and her aunt. She looked at me with her eyes wide and said, "you have a sister who is an ant??". Not that kind of ant...

Ava just got upset with Zach and told him, "I don't like you anymore". I had her go to time out and then after she got out, I asked her to apologize to Zach. She did. She said, "Zach, I'm sorry that I don't like you anymore". Nice.

Last night we were eating some cheese and crackers and Andrew asked Greg and I if we liked goat cheese and maggot bread. At first I thought he was being gross, but then realized he was totally serious...so I asked again...thinking I misunderstood. Nope, the question was about goat cheese and maggot bread. He followed up his question by informing us that it was french...that's when Greg figured out he meant "baguette" bread...there is a little difference between goat cheese and maggot bread and goat cheese and baguette bread!

The kids were playing in the toy room in the basement and Ava was bothering the boys and wouldn't stop. I called her upstairs and told her that if she didn't stop, she wouldn't be able to go back down and play. She looked at me and with tears in her eyes said, "but I will miss the basement - and all of my toys". I had to assure her that I meant she couldn't go back down right now...but that it wasn't a permanent punishment!

Today Zach was looking through a toy magazine and saw something he thought was a hand held video game. He commented that he wanted it and I told him it was only for school programs and he said, "I want any kind of a video game even if it is good for my brain!"

When we went to the alpine coaster, Ava said that riding the coaster made her stomach "have the wiggles"...what a great description!

Zach came home from the 3rd day of 1st grade and said, "Tests are a lot more fun than they seem like they are going to be - especially when you show your mom and she's really proud of you"...he's cute.

Today the kids were telling stories about places we have been and they were wondering if Ava had been born for one of the vacations. I said, no, that Ava had still been in heaven with Heavenly Father. Then Ava said, "then I turned into an alien. That's why I would live in outer space." Hmmm, guess we need a little more explanation on that concept!

When we pulled up at the Taco Bell drive thru, there is a new ad campaign with a girl who lost weight eating Taco Bell (the Jared of Taco Bell). When Zach saw her he said, "look at that hot fashion girl with a taco". I had to ask twice just to make sure that's what he said...it was. I guess in his eyes, Taco Bell had been good to her!

Tonight as the family was playing t-ball, Ava was holding the bat and was very proud to tell us that she was, "choking on it" instead of choking up. She also was happy to be wearing her baseball "mitten". Baseball lingo is still relatively new!

The other day at ECFE they were getting ready for the big transportation night and asked the kids what they would like to ride on. Ava said, "a cloud". One of the other little boys told her that it sounded scary. The teacher asked her if she thought it would be scary and how would she get up on the cloud. Ava said, "you would need a very, very tall ladder and you would have to be very careful and have someone hold it". OSHA would be proud.

On the night before Easter I was putting the kids to bed and Zach was so excited about the next morning. He was asking about eggs and the hunt and I told him that Easter was really about Jesus and the resurrection. We had a little chat and then as I turned the lights out and walked out, Zach said, "Jesus on the cross". I said, "what did you say?". He said, "Jesus on the cross". When I asked him why he was saying that, he said, "you know, like how you say Merry Christmas or Happy Birthday". Not exactly the same...let's try Happy Easter!

We were talking to the kids about college and working really hard so that you can get into a good school and Zach said, "I'm going to work really, really hard - like I'm going to try to always color in the lines."

Andrew told Ava that she looked pretty yesterday morning and Ava told Andrew, "You look cool - like rock and roll". Where in the world did she get that one?

Tonight Ava was telling us that her Daddy's name was "Daddy". I asked her what his other name was and she said, "Greg". I asked her what my name was and she said, "Momma". I asked her what my other name was and she just sat there and thought about it. I tried to give her a hint by saying, "Saaannnd", and she proudly said, "Sandbox". Close, very close.

I was eating breakfast and Zach was standing in the doorway talking to me. When we were done he said, "Mom, I know you love me. I'll be in the other room if you need me." He smiled and walked out...it really warmed my heart! This morning I was dancing for Ava while she was eating breakfast (she is usually very happy to have me twirling and shaking). When I turned around and did a little "rump shaking", Ava said, "No, not your booty - not your booty - it scares me". Lovely.

Today Ava came into the room and was whispering and said, "Do you hear that? What is it? It's a musk ox, the baby Moses and Swiper the Fox"! I thought it was quite the trio!

When Ava wants to put her money in her bank, she calls it the "piggy bank ride" like a piggy back ride...very cute!

The other morning Ava was in her bed yelling for Andrew - this is what she said, "Andrew...come here...right now...because...right now...Andrew...please". I thought it was so cute that she tried every tactic she knew - with no response from Andrew in between.

Ava just wrote on the wall with a marker and when I tried to get her to say, "I will not draw on the walls", she said, "I will be nice" instead. It did kind of warm my heart - which she needed in that moment!

I was frustrated today and said to Zach, "How many times do I have to tell you something before you'll do it?" and Zach very correctly answered, "2 times".

Andrew was telling us how excited he was to ride his favorite ride again, "Zach Smith". It took us a minute to realize that he was talking about the "Aerosmith" roller coaster - Zach Smith is our home teacher!

After waking up from a nap on vacation and trying to remember something, Zach said, "That nap made my brain not so smart".

This afternoon Ava was in a "no" mode - answering "no" to any and every question - "are you daddy's girl?", "are you pretty?", "do you love shoes?"...you get the idea. When I asked her if she liked ice cream, she said, "n" and then quickly realized what she was about to do! She happily said, "ICE CREAM" instead! If there was ever any doubt that she is a Bacon - there is the proof!!

This morning Zach was under Ava's bed and was pretending to wonder if he should come out. He kept saying, "is the ghost clear?" - I tried to tell him that the saying is, "is the coast clear?", but that didn't make any sense to him and so he decided to stick with "is the ghost clear?". I guess if there was a ghost in the room, you would wonder if you should come out and maybe it would be pertinent information to find out if he was clear as well...

Tonight I noticed that Zach had eaten all of the food on his dinner plate and I asked him if he wanted more. He said, "no" and so I asked him if he was full. He said, "no, but I'm saving my apple-tight for doughnuts".

Zach just said to Andrew, "Let's play a game of allergic, jumping shoes!" What???

After Andrew was showing me his wiggly front tooth and telling me how excited he was to lose it, he said, "but I am hoping that my sweet tooth is a permanent tooth"!

This has been happening for quite a while and it makes me smile every time. When Zach says prayers, he says, "Thank us" instead of "Thank you". So he is always asking God to thank us for everything - food, our family, our house, nice weather - you name it! I know his intention, but it still makes me smile.

Tonight Andrew said, "Mom, what exactly did you mean when you said "No more"?"

Last night Greg and I were talking to Andrew about his personality and Zach said, "Can you please stop talking about Andrew now and start talking about me?" We thought it was a good showing of his personality!

Zach has been really interested in the concept that Heavenly Father knows everything. Today he asked me, "How does He know everything?" I told him it was because he created everything and so he knows everything about those things. Then Zach said, "He must be very, very, very, very tired from all of that work".

Greg was having a father/son interview with Andrew and asked him about girls. Andrew said, "They're okay. Sometimes they are nice, sometimes they barely will talk to you. Sometimes they are bossy, sometimes they just want to hang out with other girls and sometimes they will play with you and have fun." After thinking for a moment, he summed it up by saying, "I just think they have lots of feelings." Wise beyond his years...

During Zach's interview, Greg asked him what he could do to make Zach happier and Zach said, "Get me a toy that I would like for Christmas or my birthday or if I could eat some Halloween candy right now". He also told Greg that he loved Greg so much that he would even let him keep his red Lightening McQueen - for anyone who knows Zach, you know that is some major love!

Today Andrew and Zachary were supposed to be cleaning the toy room and after about a half hour I went down to see if there had been any progress. When I found out there hadn't been much, I asked what happened and Zach said, "the t.v. annoyed me too much and made me play instead". He obviously meant "distracted", but I got the message loud and clear!

We were at Greg's grandma's 99th birthday party today (at a nursing home) and Zach announced that he didn't want to get really, really old because he wouldn't look like a normal person anymore - is that politically correct?

Zach was talking about someone being excited and saying, "Yeah", and said that "it was the different kind of yeah, not the Book of Mormon yea".

Zach was talking to his stuffed animals about something and told them that if they wanted more information they could go to http://www.com/!

Zach saw a picture of Jesus and we were talking about it. I asked him if he knew that Jesus is our older brother and he said, "Yeah, and he is super, dooper old - like 15 or something".

Andrew was watching part of 'America's Got Talent' when the male Brittney Spears impersonator came on. He was a little confused to find out that it was a man and also that he was lipsyncing. Afterwards he said, "if the guy isn't really the girl and he isn't really singing, then it doesn't seem like he really has any talent".

Andrew and Zach were playing with pretend cell phones and A asked Z who he should call. Z said, "Littlefoot" (the dinosaur from Land Before Time) and A said, "He can't hold a phone, he's a dinosaur - AND, he's prehistoric - they didn't even have phones back then". Ahhh the boundaries of make believe!

This morning Zach was arguing with me that today was not a "church day" and after a while I told him that he didn't know everything. He looked at me with a "duh" look on his face and said, "yes I do". Nice!

Zach was playing castle and he said, "I am the king, mommy is the queen, Andrew is a knight, Ava is the princess and daddy is the joker". Greg and I laughed pretty hard.

I ran a bath for the boys this morning and Andrew thought it was too hot. I told him to just sit down in it and his body would get used to it. When he sat down he said, "my tummy is telling me it's still too hot".

Zachary was telling Greg and me that Mexican jumping beans jumped because there were little caterpillars inside that made them move (something he saw on PBS??) and asked if he could have some. I told him that I didn't know where to get them and he said, "Well it isn't far away, we just have to go to Mexico".

I was explaining the concept of a decision being "black and white" to Andrew and I asked him if he knew what grey was (thinking he might know it was the mixture of the two) and he said, "Yeah, I think it is the color of the tips of seagull's wings".

Andrew woke up in the night to go to the bathroom and I asked him if he was dreaming that he had to go to the bathroom and he said, "No, my brain was just concentrating on sleeping".

I was just telling Zachary to get down from the back of the couch so that he didn't fall backwards and get hurt - the possibility of more staples came up and Cortney asked him, "Wouldn't that be terrible?" and Zach said, "Yeah, but you might get a surprise at the end"(the nurse gave him a teddy bear because he was so brave) - so much for a lesson learned!

A Very Brief History of Our Time

This is where it all started for us - Saturn of Orem (Christina always gets credit for "Greg and Sandy" because she brought me to the dealership to help her buy a car and that is how I got my job there). Greg and I met in August of 1997 at work and eventually found ourselves in a long distance relationship with romantic rendezvous in Winnamucca. Yes, we know we may be the first ones to find Winnamucca romantic. We got married in September of 1999 and I moved to Sacramento. We had so much fun living and playing in California. In September of 2001 we welcomed Andrew into our lives. A few short months later we found ourselves transferring to Detroit for work. Detroit brought many wonderful changes in our lives including Zach in June of 2004. In 2006 Greg finished his MBA and made the decision to leave GM. Off to Utah! We spent two great years there and even fulfilled our "1 child per state" precident with the addition of Ava in March of 2007. One month ago we transferred to Duluth - the headquarters for Greg's work. It's been quite the whirlwind, but we wouldn't change any of our experiences.

We have been so blessed to find wonderful friends everywhere we have lived and we hope this blog helps us to keep in touch.

Bacon Bits