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!