Parties and Fun

Jena had a busy week of partying.  Tuesday was Young Womens which she loves, Wednesday she attend a Halloween party for the Utah Down Syndrome Foundation which was put on by a Mutual Group in Centerville, Thursday we went to see "My Fair Lady" at the Hale Theater (awesome), and Friday we had a Special Olympics team Halloween Party...................and Saturday we stayed home and clean the house!  Excwpt for me who spent the morning at our Stake RS Meeting which included me doing a part of a presentation on "Meaningful Family Traditions which bind a family together". (Actually I did come home and do the yard and house cleaning stuff.  We had had our carpets cleaned on Friday and the house was still in disaray and there were some things I wanted to do before putting everything back.  You know how it is.) Whew........We (at least Gary and I) took long Sunday naps today.

Tosha took a quick jaunt to Moab at the beginning of the week and sent me some amazing pictures.

Climbing

Clouds are such a bonus of living on this earth

Amazing view of the river

In addition to the parties Jena had, I also had my "good bye" party at work as I am officially "in the process" of quitting.  What that means is that except for a few things that I am going to finish up over the next few months, I am no longer working at LDS Family Services.  I will finish two home studies and complete the supervision for my families who got babies and will be finalizing over the next five months (so they will not have to change caseworkers).  So I will technically remain on the payroll to finish those things up.  "Any whatever else I can get her to do", quote from my boss, Tammy.

I have loved working at LDS Family Services.  It has been a very rewarding opportunities and I will always be grateful for all that I learned and the great people who I got to work with.  My life has been touched so many times as I have been a small part in someone else's life as they deal with what life and choices have dealt them.  Those young women and young men that I was able to rub shoulders with at a particular time in their lives have been great examples to me of the power of atonement and of change.  The adoptive couples who I have worked with are also examples of dealing with life and its twists and turns.

People have asked me what I am planning to do with all of my free time........no worries, I have a long list of things that I need and want to do--more than a lifetime of things.  The challenge is choosing the right and best things for that list to do.  And after a week or two it might seem like I have more time (still writing a home study and some supervisions this week), but then life will fill up and I will wonder how I ever managed to be away for 20 hours a week on average.  That's life................

Enjoy trick or treating tomorrow.

Pack Meetings and Pinewood Derby Races

but not on the same day.  Thursday night Gary and I were busy with Pack Meeting where the core value was "compassion".  We did a service scavenger hunt for our activity.  Our cub master wrote a darling script based around a trial to see if we could "convict" our cub scouts as "true scouts."  I was "Judge Judy" (of course), and Gary played the defense attorney pleading guilty on behalf of his clients (the scouts) and presenting evidence in their behalf.  They were all convicted and sentenced to 15 minutes of community services which is when they headed to our neighborhood to try to rake leaves and perform other acts of service.

'Judge" Judy
purple robe was all the DI had

Gary interviewing the mothers of the boys getting their arrow of lights.

Pictures taken by our court photographer for the evening, Jena.

On Saturday night, we did the beta testing on our new pinewood derby track with the High Priest Group in our ward.  They organized a yummy potato bar and salad dinner and we provided the track.  We ended up with 24 cars in the races and everything went great.  I have to say that I am looking forward to a relatively smooth race in Pack Meeting this coming January.  Computer timing and racing heats are a BIG improvement over stop watches and chalkboard.

The Senior Pinewood Derby
Some new cars were constructed but other borrowed from other high priests, sons, or grandsons.

Starting gates

Finish line--that is our car on lane one--"Daddy/Daughter" from a pinewood derby race
with Jessica over 15 years ago.

Our open class had these two very different competitors--

Every car raced on each of the tracks and then the winner was the one with the lowest average time.  All of those races were completed in about an hour.  It was a fun evening...and no tears were observed nor did anyone run out of the gym.  Two trademarks of a good pinewood derby race.

We are now planning pinewood derby races for our family reunions next summer.  Let the race begin.

Tosha earned her 2nd star

at Cracker Barrell.  She sent me a text with a picture, but I don't know how to change it from my phone to the blog so she took this other one at home to "recreate" the moment.  They pass off certain tests and requirements to earn different levels.  They will get more tables or longer hours or other things as they achieve different levels.  She isn't happy on slow days when she doesn't get many tips but some days are great.  I think overall she enjoys it.

Fall Games 2011

On the 14th and 15th of this month, Special Olympics held their Fall Games at the University of Utah swim pool.  Jena swam the 25 meter back stroke and the 25 m. free style.  She came in second and first.  For the first time, she also swam a relay and they came in first place after the first team was disqualified for taking off too soon on one of the laps.  No pictures because I had the camera in the bag on the pool deck but was busy coaching in a different area.

Basketball was the next morning so for the first time, we stayed down in Salt Lake overnight.  It was a nice little getaway.  Jena did well also in basketball skills.

If you are missing

the post about my brother Mike...I realized that I had published it on the wrong blog.  It was meant for my extended family blog.

I will catch up this blog when there is a spare minute that is not 2:00 a.m. like it is right now.

The Rain Change in Action

I know that seeing pictures of the rain chain isn't as exciting as being here in person.  After all you miss the freshness of the air which comes with a Utah fall rain and the great sounds of the water as it flows through the copper funnels.  It rained so hard for about 10 minutes on Tuesday that it actually was too much for the rain chain to handle and water spit out off the top and then a cascade of rain overflew the gutter on the front of the deck.  On a few moments it was like being under a waterfall (that's when I thought to go grab the camera but it had stopped by the time I got back.).  Amazing sight and sounds to share with Gary.

View from the deck where we were dry.

See the rain............

Gary had begun to cut out the path where we are going to have cement poured.  We had debated about this piece of sidewalk before we had done the other cement work earlier in the summer and decided against it.  However as we continue developing our (mostly my) plans for the back yard, we agreed we wanted it so made the arrangements.  Unfortunately the rain has prevented it from being poured.  Hopefully tomorrow!

Our new "skinny" pine tree
We removed our three beautiful aspen trees which had provided great shade for our deck for the past 12 years.  I love the sound of the wind in aspen trees and have missed them.  However I will not miss the swallow roots and the little saplings that pop up all over the yard. (When we bought them the nursery man said these were the type that didn't do that.  Oh well.)  In their place, we extended the deck and plant this tree.  It is not supposed to get wide just tall.  The goal is that it will provide a green view once again through our dining room window when it gets a bit bigger.

Busy week for me as I worked everyday (at my paying job that is.)  We were busy getting ready for Education classes which were Friday and Saturday,  adjusting to a new manager (who is great), being involved in an adoption placement (their first child...very sweet.) preparing for an audit this upcoming week, and the regular work and meetings.  Glad it is done although this will be another busy week as we finish up everything for the audit.

First weekend of October

which of course, brings Conference weekend.  It was a nice change from the usual routine of life and to be reminded of the real purpose of life.  As has been said before,  we are in the second act of a three act play.  Sometimes we act or feel like this is the only act.  Yet the climax isn't until the final act.

We did have a couple of other things going this weekend.  On Saturday we headed up to Logan for Jena's Area Games at Utah State for swimming.  No pictures of her swimming as I was asked to help with coaching on the deck.  It was a fun morning and Jena came home with two bronzes and one silver.  This is her first time to swim three races in one day in the "big pool".  It still makes her a bit nervous to be swimming in the deep pools used for races.

New team swim suits

Free style metals--the two on the right are also from Jena's team

Sunday after conference, we headed up Weber Canyon, over Trapper's Loop and across Ogden Valley to see Gary's sister Vonette and their family.  On the way, we enjoyed some fall colors.

Two trains at the mouth of the Weber Canyon--
great scene for train lovers like Gary and I.

I was trying to get a picture of the engine before it went out of sight
and actually caught the engine of train and the end of the other.

Over Trapper's Loop

Scenes around Vonette's yard

My niece, Krystal, playing chase with their dog

Good weekend all around.............even got my bathrooms cleaned on Saturday evening.