Catching Up

Things of importance since I last posted to this blog are 1) girls camp, 2) new calling, 3) Brad and kids back in school, 4) Brad earning extra money, 5) going to Idaho.

1) Girl's Camp was great. This year instead of snow we had rain. It rained (poured) every day we were there but our ward had the cabin behind the pavilion which was larger than the others and we also could use the pavilion all we wanted so we were able to do all our activities without having to be cramped indoors the whole time. It was a fun and crazy week and I especially loved being at camp in August - the wild flowers were beautiful! It was also fun to be there with both of my girls.

2) About two weeks after camp I received a new calling - to be the second counselor in Young Women's. I was kind of sad to leave the camp calling as I already had some ideas of things I would do differently next year. However, I am loving my new calling. The beehive class is great. It is fun to have the same calling as Paula and to be able to compare notes with her. It is also great to continue to hang out with all the young women and the other leaders who have become good friends as well.

3) Brad and the Kids are back in school!!!!! Yea!!!! Yes, I am excited. The whole family was excited as well. Brad is always ready to be back to work and has been so busy that he hasn't quite caught up with everything he is trying to get done. Kent was going nuts because BYU didn't start when the rest of the family did. He was so ready to be in school he has even admitted that if he were rich he would be a student forever. BYU is working out great for him. He loves his classes, especially Calculus and Physics and the fact that the classes are more all at the same level rather than in high school where the teachers taught at the speed of the slower students. Laura is adapting to her classes. She especially loves her health sciences class and her music theory class. Joseph was very, very excited to be back in school. More so than everyone else but that is because he missed most of last year. It has been good for him to be back with all of his friends. Heather is loving jr. high and growing up. She has adapted very well and is the queen of volunteering/trying out for things. She has tried out for the school play (she will find out on Monday if she made it) and she volunteered to play the piano for one of her choir songs. Nathaniel had a hard time adjusting to school at first but now he is on track and doing much better. In many ways it has been good for him to be the only one of our family going to his school - it has helped him become more independent and improved his confidence. He is also biking to school every day with one of his friends and that is good for him. I am loving everyone being back in school. The first week I went to Education Week at BYU and it was wonderful. Probably the best thing I got out of it was at the devotional. Elder Hales spoke and he encouraged us to be "better than your best". If you can't figure out what that means let me know and I will tell you. It has become a great motto for me, especially as a mother. After Education Week I have been cleaning closets and cupboards and the storage room. This week my major accomplishment was to rearrange the kitchen cupboards. It all started because one cupboard was always a mess and things were always falling out of it. So far, I am liking the new changes and I think it is easier for the kids to keep the dishes in the correct spot.

4) Brad has been involved in evaluating test questions for Western Governors University. This has included many evenings of online meetings. For these meetings Brad would set up in the family room with his laptop and the phone on speaker phone for 2 to 5 hours and a group of teachers would evaluate physics questions. Brad enjoyed doing the work and we had looked forward to enjoying the extra money but it turns out that the piano decided to die and had to be repaired and Kent is working on his mission papers, especially the dental part and is having his wisdom teeth out next week. That pretty much takes care of the extra money, but it is nice that we have enough money to be able to handle the extra expenses.

5) Over Labor Day weekend we went to Idaho to Blake and Paula's house. Except for our Disney World trip this was our first vacation in a year due to Joseph's health issues. It was wonderful to get away for a couple of days. It was overall more relaxing than the Disney World trip. It was also fun to have Dad, Joanne, and Amanda come up on Sunday. Amanda stayed for the entire day and we had a blast. We played karaoke and then Cranium for hours. It was one of the best times I have had in a while. On Saturday, on our way up to Shelley, we stopped in Malad for a bathroom break and the joke was we could visit my family while we were there (of course, the only family left there happen to be in cemetery). Nathaniel didn't get that we were joking and kept wanting to know when we were going to visit the dead people. On Monday, we decided to stop at the cemetery on our way home. We bought some flowers and then went to the cemetery to put flowers on the graves of my grandparents. It was really a sweet moment and something I hope we find the time to do again.

Well, I think that about catches things up for now. Maybe it won't be so long before I do the next update.