Benefits of education

Jena has been to her theater class three times so far.  We took her with us and Gary's mom to the Hale Theater on Thursday to see "The Importance of Being Earnest".  As we sat down before the show, Jena turned to me and said, "The set designer did a good job making the floor."  The floor of the stage had been painted to look like a marble floor with a rug.  I tried hard to not laugh.  It surprised me that she would comment about it that way.  The value of a mainstreamed education...................

Funny how things work out......

A couple of weeks ago, Gary and I decided to invite a couple of couples over on a Friday night to play some of our new Christmas games.  We invited two couples that are good friends but our lives are busy and we rarely get to talk or visit anymore.  Then on Friday morning, Jessica called to see if we wanted to go to dinner and the movie with her that night.  We explained that we had plans so we had to pass.  After weeks of no plans, we had two things to do.  Then within a few hours, both of our friends called to say that they had things that came up that they had forgotten and couldn't come that night, and it was too late to go with Jessica.  We ended up staying home, but we were able to get a variety of things done that we hadn't planned on...which was good for me because I ended up getting a couple of migraines the following week, and it was good that I had things done.  So it kinds of worked out  (even though we still want to play games with our friends, of course.)

Then for yesterday, we had tried to put together a Cub Scout Committee Meeting/dinner/game night to finish our plans for the Blue and Gold Banquet next month.  Mid-week, it turned out that more than half of the people couldn't attend so we moved it to a Sunday after Church meeting instead.  Later that same night, Jena got invited to go to a Jazz game on Friday (with one parent) with her Special Olympics team.  He was glad that our Scout meeting had been cancelled and they had a great time.  I decided to join our Families Supporting Adoption Chapter at a temple session at the Ogden Temple.  It was very nice and as it happened, my mother-in-law got asked to sub in the temple that night and she was able to come home with me after the session instead of waiting for her ride.  So even though our plans didn't work, other good things happened for us anyway.

Simple I know...but sometimes I need to remind myself that living in the present and enjoying things is the best way to live.

Scripture for the post:  I was reading in the D&C at the temple and reread this favorite scripture in section 64:33-34:

"Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work.  And out of small things proceedeth that which is great.

Behold, the Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind: and the willing and obedient shall eat the good of the land of Zion in these last days."

Important advice to busy me..............................

Around the "Halls" in 60 seconds....

During the week, I thought off and on of different things to write about, but now that I have time, I am not really sure what to write.  I will do an up-date first.

Gary and I got to help with the Rain Gutter Regatta this week.  Our Pack decided to do the "Soda bottle" boats this year.  Each scout and family member who wanted to race brought a sail with them to pack meeting.  Then they tape their sail on to a stick that was in a soda bottle (which contained a bit of sand as ballast).  Then the races begun.  Gary, being the clever one that he is, was in charge of setting the heats (we had six rain gutter race tracks.  He used an excell program and posted the times of each heat and randomally shuffled for the different heats.  It turned out great (and only one boy cried because he couldn't keep his boat moving fast enough).  Boys are such fun at this age (and other ages as well, of course.)  In a few minutes, I have to leave for the "Great To Be Eight" program.  We will have 14 new boys becoming Cub Scouts this year.  Fun times ahead........

Jessica continues with working at Head Start.  She has been seeing lots of movies lately and helps us figure out what movies we might want to see.  She and friends went to "Tooth Fairy" yesterday but we haven't heard the review yet.

Scott is not in school this semester.  All of the classes he needs required a math class so he is working on that only this semester and will be back in school full-time this summer.  He, Tosha, and Chantel are enjoying the scuba class (turned out Jessica couldn't take it because of some medication she is taking.  She and I will do it later.).  They will be swimming in "The Crater" in Midway, Utah, this week.  It will be their first real dive.

Ben is hangng in there.  He is working about 2 1/2 hours a day five days a week.  He spends a lot of time on the computer, buying and selling computer games.

Tosha is dealing with a cold this weekend.  She reported that she swam 80 laps on Friday.  That would send me to bed for days with sore muscles if I did that.

Jena is getting excited to get the wires out of her mouth in a couple of weeks.  I hope that everything is okay so that we can do it on Feb. 12.  We will found out on Feb. 2nd when she is x-rayed.

I am reading a biography of Thomas Jefferson.  It is very interesting expecially after just reading John Adams.  They were both brilliant men with totally different views of life.  It is amazing what was accomplished to establish our nation.  I have already gotten a book about Ben Franklin and one about George Washington.  (Great things about a Kindle...books at your finger tips.)

That is the summary of our lives at the moment. 

Hope you have a great week.

Jena's accomplishment

Since this is my blog and I have never read the rules of blogging and no one has ever stepped in and told me I can't do something, I am going to announce a great achievment by our own....Jena Hall!

We have been letting Jena stay home alone when we will be gone under 45 minutes or so, mostly during the day and if we are near by.  She has done well, followed our rules, only answered the phone when we call, no cooking, etc.  She appreciates the experiences "because she is a teenager and not a baby any more.".  Of course, I can think of a million things that could go wrong....but they didn't with the older children.  They had actually more trouble if they were together rather than one of them alone.....except for the story about Scott and the TV watching when he was grounded, but that is a story for another day.  Back to Jena's story.

Tonight was Pack Meeting--Rain Gutter Regada--which involved both Gary and I for set up and running the show.  Dinner was not quite ready when we left, so the plan was for her to stay with Ben and eat dinner.  I was to go pick her up before it started at 6:30 (and before Ben left for work).  As these things happen occassionaly (hopefully not just in my life) I forgot to go pick her up.  Ben headed off to work as planned and Jena waited for me to come and get her. 

After 7:00, I received a call from home.  I called back and Jena answered.  Of course, as soon as I saw a call from home, I remembered and started heading out the door  (during Gary's awesome pirate skit for the arrow of light--hopefully pictures will follow of that outfit),  Jena was just wondering if I could pick her up.  I didn't know that she could call my cell number.  We probably have not practised actually dialing my number for over a year.  She had remember that I posted the numbers inside the pantry door and had looked it up and called me when she knew I was late.  Isn't she amazing!  (And yes, Jessica, Scott, Ben, and Tosha, it was amazing when you first learned to call me, but you were 5 or so and I didn't blog then.)  I am so grateful that Jena was able to work this skill out when she needed it.

By the way, she realized a fourth place ribbon in the area meets and just missed out the last seat for the State Tournments.  Again we are not sure of the scoring system...she was in the only group of five--four from her own team and she bowled better in the scores than two of the other bowlers--it has someting to do with their past averages.  She is okay with it, as are we.  She doesn't like to miss school!