Blue & Gold and Fun

Life seems pretty busy and we've been doing activities here and there. Like always.  I think life will just get busier and busier as we get older....until we retire.  But then life will be filled with temple service, missions, visiting kids and grandkids....we'll just be busy! 

The annual tri-unit activity at Funky's Skate Center rolled around.  We had a fun time and thankfully no one was injured.  No one has been injured in the past, but Lee hurt his knee a few days prior so I was a little nervous about him hurting his knee again that night.


We played a game on the roller rink and Elden and his buddy Cash won some popcorn.  Pretty fun!


The roller-rink classic: the Limbo.  Shanna and Haley did a nice job!


Elden and Cal entered when it was harder and got pretty low too.








Lee, Elden and I with one of the young men, Matthew.


The young men had a great time.  At one point it looked like they had a dance-off with the young women. 






The next day I met up with two of my good friends, Jenn and Jenny.  Jenny and I both live in the area and we met Jenn at different times in our lives--each to do with schooling.  Jenny and Jenn met at BYU. Jenn and I met during optometry school. They lived in the same complex as us, eventually moved into a house, but all the while were in our ward.  It was sooo good seeing her!  I wish she could be a more frequent part of my life.  It's hard though when you live on opposite ends of the United States! We had lunch at Jenny's house and visited.  It was SOO fun.


The kids arrived home from school before I did.  I called Clark on my way home to make sure everyone was there.  He said Cal hadn't arrived yet.  I was a bit worried about that because Cal is normally the first one home.  When I got there I saw this note that Clark had missed.  Such a cute, thoughtful note! I'm glad he told me where he was going.  He has gaming club about once a month.  Normally he comes home, grabs a snack and a game and rides his bike back to the school.  Gaming club is pretty awesome too--no electronic games, no gambling, no deer hunting--just board games and card games.  Love it!



That evening I had our Blue & Gold banquet for cub scouts.  We didn't actually have a big dinner, just snacks.  We had a Star Wars theme.  I was busy getting stuff done so I asked Shanna to walk over to get some balloons filled for me.  She did!  It was so nice of her. 


Some fun treats.  I asked the parents to have their cubs bring some Star Wars themed treats.  The cake is the Sarlacc. 


This cub made a little sign and an oragami Yoda.  Very cute.


Hopefully it looked fun and festive for the boys.


One of the cubs brought the soda--very cute idea from his mom!


While we were gathering and waiting for people to arrive they decorated light sabers.


Oh, one more snack. 






And there was this before, after and during the meeting.  I am sure the parents are not thanking us.  Pool noodle light sabers aren't allowed inside our house.


After some opening exercises the boys broke up into three groups.  Jedi obstacle course.




Jedi Training.


Pin the light saber on Yoda.




The was an elementary book fair this past week and it ended on Thursday.  The kids wanted to buy some things but just need a little more money--a dollar or two.  I was going to give it to them, but then thought that they should just work for it.  So after school on Thursday I met them outside and we rode bikes over to Lee's office.  There were a bunch of branches and twigs in the landscaping and I had them to pick them up.  The bag is much bigger than it looks by Elden.  It was a super simple job and they worked for about 20 minutes.  But they earned the money instead of just receiving it.  I was happy about that.  Every Saturday they do jobs at home to earn money. It's been nice having Lee's business as he can occasionally find random jobs for them to do.  It's especially nice when I don't "have" any extra money to give them for extra jobs.



That night the kids had art night.  There are a bunch of art projects to do, and snacks.  It's a fun night.  I was visiting teaching so Lee hung out with the kids there. 




I was proud of Shanna--she rode her bike to and from two different activities that night and got herself to art night too.  We met her there. I love our location in town.  It's so convenient for the kids to ride their bikes to and from things like piano lessons. 






This was a cool paint tube display.  And the wooden mannequin is doing the dab.  Pretty sweet.


The girls and I are reading a Nancy Drew book together.  I couldn't find this particular book on CD so we are reading it.  One night while reading it Shanna wanted to fix her table leg.  It's fun because Lee will let her help with different things around the house.  It's given Shanna confidence to just do things...like hammer in a nail.  Pretty simple I know, but I loved the initiative.


Lastly, we are looking for a truck.  We drove to West Virginia one morning to look at one.  Lee had to be back to work by 9am so it was an early trip.  Some kids came, some stayed at home and got themselves to school.  The trunk's interior was really great, but underneath it was rusted badly, and it didn't drive so great.  The mileage was terrific though.  But in the end too many negatives to buy it.  We'll keep looking. 

Pennsylvania Trip

We all finally went up to Pennsylvania to see Darrell's new house.  I had already been up there once to help paint during the school day, but no one else in my family had been. 

On that Thursday I was a chaperone with the 2nd graders for a bank field trip.  We walked over to the local bank, where Lee and I actually do some banking.  It was fun seeing the rooms that customers never go in.


That Thursday night we invited friends over to eat dinner with us, then went to the play Annie at the local high school. Elden really was asleep.  Cal is pretending.


The high school did a nice job. It was fun seeing people there that we know too.  The benefits of small town living.


Out of order, but that afternoon someone from the McKee Group came to Elden's school to talk to Elden's school about some basic economic things.  They own Little Debbie.  Something that was really fun is Elden got to make his own Oatmeal Cream Pie.  There were oatmeal cookies and the "cream" filling and the kids got to assemble them. 


Friday night before we headed to PA we went went some other friends' to a different high school play, "Meet Me in St. Louis."  Also very fun.  I wasn't familiar with the story.  Now I want to check out the old movie of it.  I am sure there is one, right? 


Oh, quick, Shanna's vehicle she made for Ralph the mouse was put on display at school.  Pretty fun.


We left early Saturday morning, 5:20, to go to PA.  Lee was awesome and drove the whole time.  Normally that early we have to switch at least once. The kids had a fun time playing.




Eris is getting really good at the piano! I especially loved hearing him play primary songs.


We enjoyed a hike on the Appalachian Trail, about a 1/2 hour from their home.


Cal built a makeshift bridge across this creek.




Bridge complete!






That afternoon some of us girls had a nail party.






Darrell had stake conference that weekend, so he and Stacie were at that meeting.  Lois, Jeff, Lee and I hung out at their place.  Lois and I made a run to the grocery store for brownie sundae fixings. That night when Darrell and Stacie returned we watched High Strung....a weirdly intense "artsy" movie. I would recommend watching it on VidAngel.

The eve of Joseph's 16th birthday. We let the teenagers have dessert with us.


The next morning we headed to stake conference.  Lee and I and a group of kids left first and ldsmaps took us to the wrong place...where there wasn't even a meetinghouse.  I should have just listened to Jessica in the first place.  But we made it in plenty of time and got great seats.  Their chapel is HUGE! 




The broadcast feed did not work well.  We heard snippets of the talks on and off.  Darrell decided that we should drive the 1/2 hour to the stake center so we wouldn't miss any of the Stake President's talk. 


We had to sit on uncomfortable chairs here, but we made it for the last talk.  Glad we did!  Their Stake President gave a great talk.  He has a few difficult health challenges, but keeps pressing forward.




That afternoon we had two separate celebrations for Joseph---the big 16!!!!  The first round he opened presents.








Clark drew a picture of a simple smile with two dots for eyes on the whiteboard that Joseph received as a gift.  Then the guy just kept evolving.  It was pretty funny.




Then the picture reached boyfriend status.


It was pretty funny.




Later after a nice long walk and dinner, we had round 2: cake and ice cream!


The night ended sweet with two shoulder angels.  We left around 7:00pm to head back home.  We had a wonderful weekend there.  I loved seeing the changes they've made to their house so far.  They are in the works of getting new wood floors right now.  Pretty exciting!


I timed the oil change right and budgeted for it this month.  And we needed it when we arrived back from PA.  Our back hatch door has been operating weird for a few months now. Since it was already getting an oil change I called and asked them to look at the hatch to see what was wrong.  The screw on one handle was broken, and on the other handle missing.  So for under $40 they fixed the back hatch.  They soldered the broken screw and replaced the other screw.  I vacuumed out the Chevy when I go home and noticed burn marks in my carpet.  Immediately I thought my kids had been in there playing with matches...sorry kids.  But quickly thinking about it there was no way that could have happened.  And they were at school all day too.  Just as quickly I realized that whoever soldered the broken screw burned my carpet with drips of hot soldering.  I took the Chevy back and showed the receptionist what happened .  She took pictures and got back to me saying they would get me a cargo mat to cover the burn spots.  I told them that was a nice gesture and hemmed and hawed.  She then asked if I just wanted the carpet replaced.  I said yes, I do.  I feel kind of guilty asking them to replace ALL of the carpet in back.  But I kept thinking, what would I do if I burned someone's carpet.  If you know me, no question I would replace the carpet!  I am sure they are a bit annoyed that I want the carpet replaced, but he did burn the carpet.  And we haven't even owned it a year.  And we paid a lot of money for it...in cash. Well, cashier check because we tried to get a lower price, and then a personal check because they wouldn't take our original offer and we owed them a bit more money paid on pickup of the Chevy.  Not that you wanted to know.....  They haven't called back yet about the carpet replacement, but it just happened last week and I'll give them a little time. 


My kids occasionally do this with their pj pants.  Apparently they are "leg people".


I am so thankful I have some siblings living near me so we can see them often!