Weekly Log

I don't have much to post, so I thought I would post my weekly note I ususally send to my family. I think it's pretty boring, but I don't mind boring my family, I guess. Some of my friends claim they want me to post them every week, but no promises. This one is a little long, so if you want to skip this post, feel free. Here it is....

Monday for FHE, we had a lesson on civility. What is civility? I thought I knew, but I was wrong. Here is the quote from Pres. Hinckley, "Civility carries with it the essence of courtesy, politeness, and consideration of others. All of the education and accomplishments in the world will not count for much unless they are accompanied by marks of gentility, of respect for others, of going the extra mile." I think the kids really liked it. (As part of an object lesson, we had balloons with faces on them, what kid doesn't love balloons? I read a description of the person according to their outside appearance, then we popped the balloons to see what kind of person they really were on the inside.)

Tuesday, I went shopping with my sister, Joleen. I got a pair of name brand flats for less than $20! Great deal. And they were very comfortable and pulled me through my shift on Thursday (see "Thursday").

Wednesday, Anders had his gold-cup recital (which meant he missed Cub Scouts). It was much more formal than our other recitals and there were kids from 5 or 6 different teachers that played one piece each, and they all received gold cups. Anders got the first gold cup level of 15 points. There were also kids there that earned a 30, 45 and 60! point gold cup. All the 45 and 60 point winners played some pretty difficult pieces, like Gershwin!

Thursday, Josh went and volunteered at the Temple open house for the 7-11am shift. He was assigned to be a floater. 5 out of the 6 floaters got to be in the temple as ushers. Josh was number 6. They stuck him in the stake center right next to the temple and he caught people who came straight to the temple instead of going to one of the other designated stake centers nearby where they are supposed to park, watch a video, then get bussed up to the temple to take the tour. He said he wasn't very busy at all. He came home and worked for a couple of hours, then his Mom came to watch our kids for us while we did a shift in the evening. We did the long shift of the day (4-10pm). We were both at the stake center next to the temple. Josh moved water bottles and did manual labor. I stood in the cultural hall where everyone comes after they take the tour to get cookies and water. I either stood and held a fancy tray to collect trash, or swept up cookie crumbs with a broom and dust pan, and tried to answer questions people asked. Some of the question I got were, "Who painted the picture of Christ?" (There were some extra temporary walls built with a bunch of paintings on them. On one wall there was a picture of every temple, a map with pins where all the temples are located and an alphabetical list of the temples and another list in order of dedication dates. On the other wall there was a HUGE (like 6' x 3' or something close to that) painting of Christ coming out of the tomb, I think it's by Simon Dewey, that was the answer I gave.) "Why did they build such a small temple?" Where are the bathrooms?", etc. It was a long night, but fun.

Friday, I went walking with Karen and Cindy for the first time of the season. It was nice, but there was a cold wind. My ears were hurting by the end because they were cold. Other than that we just sort of chilled out, the kids had friends over, ate pizza, stuff like that.

Saturday, the primary-aged kids had an activity in the morning. Josh went to fulfill his calling and be supportive. It was Kate's first activity and she cried most of the time, at least that was the report I got. Hadley and I went to the grocery store, and made it back before everyone else. Fischer had a soccer game in the afternoon. Josh went (Anders went to watch too) because the coach of the other team was a co-worker's wife. We won! I was so surprised because they got slaughtered their first game. I guess the first team they played was just really, really good. I'll have to go next week to show support. It was a nice day, but windy, so while the boys were at the soccer game, Kate and I played outside. We kicked a ball back and forth, and I did a little weeding. Then we got out her new kite (love Wal*Mart for $1 kites, not well made, but good enough for kids). When the boys got home from soccer, they got their kites out too and we all flew kites for an hour or so. That night we went on a date. Our regular sitter was busy on Friday so we opted for Saturday. I don't usually like going Saturday night so we can do baths since we have 9am church, but it was better than no date. Josh and I went to a new burger place in town called "Five Guys Burger and Fries". They have everything made really fresh, and huge portions (a "regular" is double patty) so I got a "little" and we shared a regular order of fries, but it was still plenty, and very yummy!

Sunday was pretty normal. Josh went to choir, while I stayed home and got the kids bathed and ready to go. I did a double french braid in Kate's hair which I'd never tried before and I think it looked pretty good. I wish I'd gotten a picture. I guess I'll just have to try again another time to get a picture. We had dinner with just us, which the kids don't like, but I think it's nice sometimes. We went outside after dinner and Anders got everyone to play four-square as a family which was a lot of fun. It brought back some fun elementary playground memories. I guess that's about it.