Thursday, May 10, 2018

Happy May

I am enjoying listening to the music from “Les Mis” in anticipation to go see it performed this Saturday.  Last fall Ruth saw an advertisement for the play to come here and asked if she could go to it. I said I would take her if she read the book first. It took her some time to get into it but she finally started reading some from it every week. In her French class they talked about the story and watched the movie in class. So that helped give a push to finish the book. I thought it was great she read the unabridged version and enjoyed the story. This Saturday we will go see the play together. I think she will enjoy the play better for understanding the story from reading the book. I bought the tickets last January so I made sure I could fulfill my part of the bargain. Neal was my back up date for it. I am excited to go see it again, I went to it when it was playing in Salt Lake City about 16 years ago.

Caleb has had fun with birthday parties. He went to one for his friend Xan at Gravity Park. It was a fun place with trampolines and foam pits. Caleb loved it. Then he went to a party for a friend from school, Max, at a park. I stayed with him for part of that and enjoyed visiting with some of the mom’s who were there. Tomorrow Caleb will go to a party for Leah, a friend from church, at an art studio. He loves going to parties and is happy that friends invite him to parties that aren’t on Sunday.

The Saturday of Max’s party things were busy. Neal and Andrew were on a boy scout camp out. They went to the Bad Lands in New Mexico. They did some back packing into the area and Andrew had a good experience carrying everything he needed in his own pack. Andrew is the troop historian and was asked to take pictures of the outing. So we got a lot of pictures of that adventure.


Andrew and his friends




Neal and his long stride


Andrew is in the green stripe shirt on the left,
Neal is the tall one in the back

That Saturday at noon Spencer had a Primary party. His teachers wanted to do something fun for the kids. They had pizza and watched the movie “The Princess Bride.” When I went to pick up Spencer the movie was at the end so I let him finish it and was talking to the teachers and their wives. I said they had picked a fun movie to watch and that everyone seems to enjoy it. Then one of the men said he had heard that when the movie first came out it wasn’t very popular when it was in the theater. I then said “yes, I remember seeing it in the theater and didn’t really like it. I hadn’t expected the comedy in it and was disappointed in it.”  Then they said “you saw it in the theater when it was new?” One of the ladies said “It came out in 1987.” I said “yes, and I was in high school.” When I realized it was quiet and they were all looking at me funny I realized that none of them had even been born when the movie was first out! I laughed and said “I guess I am just showing my age.” It was kind of funny. Spencer had fun at the party.

Another event of the same Saturday was I went to a Bridal shower for a sister in our ward. Well, her fiancé is in our ward, I enjoyed getting to know her better and visiting with other women there.

That afternoon I took Spencer and Caleb to the church for the baptism of Caleb’s friends Seth and Charlie. Neal and Andrew had just returned from camping and attended the baptism too. (Ruth was at work). After the service we went to both the familes homes for food and visiting. Both families had invited us over. It made for a busy evening. It was a busy day! I am thankful that not all days are so busy.

After we were home at the end of the day I was tired from the busy day and got a phone call from missionaries calling to confirm a dinner appointment for Sunday. I was confused because we haven’t had missionaries in our ward for about six months and I wondered how I was asked to feed them. I told them I would be happy to feed time and set the time. I asked Neal about it and he said that the previous Sunday he had signed up to feed the new missionaries assigned to our ward. They also cover another ward in our Stake. It was nice to have them over Sunday evening and have them in our home. I had missed having missionaries over.

Last week was the elementary school book fair. I enjoyed helping with it. I went in before school for three days and helped with the rush first thing in the morning before school started. I enjoy being of help. Yesterday I went to a reception thing for volunteers at the school in appreciation to our work. I enjoyed visiting with the teachers and other volunteers. I am glad that I can be a part of a good school.

Tuesday evening I went to Book Club. I enjoyed visiting with the women about our book this month. We read “The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio.” It was an interesting story of how a woman would enter contests from companies and actually win. It was set in the 50’s and 60’s when contests took some skill and not just luck. She had to write slogans and poems for contests. We had a good discussion about families and how society has changed. It was a nice evening.

Thursday Ruth and Andrew had fun meeting with the youth at the local mall for a scavenger hunt. They had to go find things and take pictures to show they had found it. It sounded like lots of fun.

On Friday I planted my garden. I bought some tomatoes and peppers and planted lots of seeds. I probably over planted my space. I like so many things and I have a small space so it is hard to choose what to plant. After school Spencer asked if I had planted green onions and I said no. He was disappointed and since I had some seeds we went out and found a little spot he could plant some. I hope that things can grow. Things are so dry. We are in a bad drought since we didn’t get any snow pack in the mountains this winter. And we have had very little rain this spring. It is getting hot too. We have had highs close to 90 the last few days.


The roses are starting to bloom. The yard smells great. 


The front patio area, I planted flowers in the pots. Some of the small
 crepe myrtles aren't doing very well.



The garden



I like all the colors of roses in the yard



Friday after school we went to the state fair grounds to see an elementary school art show that Spencer had work displayed in. He forgot to give me the paper with the information on it and we just made it to go see the art show. It ran all of April and we went to it the last week end it was out. I am glad we went. I enjoyed looking at the children’s art work. Spencer did a nice job with his too. There were about 15 kids from each elementary school that had something on display, so this was a special thing for Spencer to be chosen. I have artistic kids, Andrew had work in the same art show two years ago.




Last Saturday Spencer went on a hike with his Webelos group. This was his last requirement to finish to get his Webelos and Arrow of Light ranks. For his Webelos rank he had to go on a hike and for Arrow of Light he had to help plan an activity. He helped to plan this and did a good job. There are five boys who turn 10 in the next month so they were all invited to join in on the hike. Spencer enjoyed being with a larger group of boys.


Spencer and his den, he is in the red on the right





Saturday morning Neal and Andrew went mountain biking. Andrew needed one more long ride to finish his biking merit badge. They rode for 22 miles on a rough biking trail south of us. When they came home Neal looked so tired and Andrew acted like he had just gone for a ride in a park. Andrew likes doing things like that. I do have to say that Neal has also had a cold this week and that drained his energy more than normal. By evening Andrew was very tired and ready for an early bed time.

Last week end was our Stake Conference. I enjoyed our Saturday evening meeting. We had some excellent talks on ministering and examples of how people helped or received help. Sunday we had a good meeting too. They had some youth get up and talk about seminary and studying the Book of Mormon this year. I think Ruth was happy she hadn’t been asked. She enjoyed going to seminary this year though. It is over for the year. I believe she misses seeing her friends every morning.

Tuesday evening was Andrew’s band concert. Ruth and I attended it and enjoyed the music. The teachers get so much out of the kids. I am amazed at how well the middle school band sounds. Neal took Caleb and Spencer to an activity at the elementary school. They were doing a biking activity and Caleb really wanted to go. This was Caleb’s first school biking event because he wasn’t a good enough bike rider for the previous ones. Caleb was happy that he did the entire six mile ride with the group.


The cadet and concert bands were combined, so it makes it look huge. 
The trombones are on the left, back row. Andrew is 4th from the end.

Well, I think I remembered things. As you can see our lives are rather busy right now. School is almost over for the year. Andrew had a big smile on his face as he left for school this morning and said “Only 10 more days.” We have a busy summer already getting planned too.

At the end of April my uncle Randy passed away. He had been in the hospital in a coma for a few days. On April 26th my mom talked to me on the phone about how he was doing. They live by Waco Texas and he was in the Waco hospital. My aunt doesn’t drive and my cousin, who she lives with, was busy during the day with work and family. My aunt didn’t have a way to get to the hospital. My mom asked me if I knew anyone that might help her, seeing that I had lived in Waco for nine years, although it has been almost four years since we left. (My cousin, his family and his parents moved there two years ago.) I thought of my friend Shelley. I contacted Shelley and said my aunt who lives in her ward needed help. Shelley immediately stepped up and helped. Shelley took my aunt to the hospital the morning of April 27th and Aunt Jane had a time with Randy and said her good byes. He died later that day. Shelley told me how sweet it was to be there to help and how much it blessed her life. I am thankful for friends and church members who always are willing to step up and help others. Life is precious.


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