Weekly Review May 15 '26

There's been a whole lot going on this past week. I am writing this week's post from Brevard, North Carolina. I had no idea last week when I wrote that I would be here. We got word on Saturday afternoon that Frank's niece, Nicole, had just passed away. (Nicole is his sister Becky's oldest daughter.) She was only 29 years old, so of course this was a big shock. We don't know exactly why she died (her brother found her lying on her mattress and couldn't get her to wake up) but will probably have more answers when the autopsy report is available. Anyway, that is why we are here--Frank and I drove down for the funeral, which will be tomorrow. 

Saturday (May 9th) started fairly early for me because I woke up shortly before 5:00 am and couldn't go back to sleep. Frank took me to breakfast at the Silver Diner in honor of Mother's Day. I did a lot of Seminary stuff--finished preparing Monday's lesson and most of Tuesday's lesson as well, sent a few e-mails and texts, and sent an email to the stake Seminary supervisor to let her know about my decision to not teach next year. She did reply fairly quickly and it was a relief for me to know that someone at the stake level, at least, is aware of my decision. The email she sent me was really nice, too! I also did some reading in Moloka'i and called Mom. I knew she'd be busy on Mother's Day and that a lot of people would be calling her (since I have 7 siblings! 😄) so I decided to beat the rush and call her a day early. It was very nice to talk with her! Seth had a busy day, too--he was at work for a lot of the day, and when he got home he mowed the lawn. That evening we all (including Seth) went to a wedding reception for a girl in our stake. Her family lived in our ward for many years (and now lives in another ward in our stake) so we know them well. One of her younger brothers is in my Seminary class. Seth knows her pretty well because she went to the same charter school and was in the same middle school class with him; she also has been attending mission prep class and going to some of the YSA activities and meetings. (She actually received a mission call last fall but then she decided to get married instead, so she didn't go.) Anyway, it was a nice reception with a lot of people there and we ended up visiting with friends and stayed a lot longer than we intended. 

I woke up around 5:00 am again on Sunday May 10th. Before church I read scriptures, helped put food in the crock pot for dinner, did some reading in Moloka'i, and opened gifts. My boys got me a statue of a mother with children (Seth also got me a card) and Frank got me a mother's ring.

At church, we had a special RS meeting (including the YW), with treats provided by the Elder's Quorum. It was nice. We also had a RS / YW photo taken--the RS president asked Frank to take that. He had to get up on a ladder to get all of us in the photo. 

Frank attended our ward meetings but he also went to Branch Council and Sacrament Meeting for the YSA branch. We had FHE lesson after he and Seth got home from their meetings. I talked to all three of our older boys (although Tanner called after I had gone to sleep, so I didn't talk to him for very long).

I woke up at 2:30 am on Monday morning (May 11th) which wasn't awesome but I've had much worse nights! Seminary was frustrating because everyone was tired and didn't participate much. (It was a life prep lesson teaching a scripture study skill: making comparisons to find truths.) I ended the lesson with a good personal experience and I think they got something out of that, at least, but I felt kind of down a lot of the day. I took a short nap when I got home. Tanner called so I got to talk to him longer than the previous evening. I did regular chores and read through the Seminary lesson I will be teaching on Monday. (My last one!!) After Frank got home from work in the early afternoon, we picked up Genny (disabled daughter of one of the sisters I minister to) and watched her for about 3 1/2 hours. The sister I minister to wasn't feeling well, so we did this to give her a chance to get some rest. Genny seemed a little out of sorts, but it went okay. I sat on the couch with her and watched several episodes of "Leave it to Beaver". We also fed her dinner. After we took Genny home, we had FHE activity and treat. We got treats from Dairy Queen and we played a few rounds of Bananagrams. 

We also found out on Monday that the funeral for Nicole would be this Saturday, so we had to start planning this trip. We had a lot going on this week-end, so we were hoping that the funeral would be later, but this week-end worked out the best for Nicole's immediate family so of course that is more important. 

Seth had his follow-up interview with Chick-fil-A on Monday and they hired him, so that is good news. He has an orientation on Monday.

On Tuesday May 12th I woke up at 3:00 am, which is only 30 minutes early, so I was happy about that. My Seminary lesson went much better too, so I felt good about that. The topic was the first great commandment (loving God with all our heart, soul, and might). As part of the lesson, I asked them to make a quick list of ways God has shown His love for everyone or for them personally. Then I asked them to hand them in and we read all of them out loud. Everyone participated (even a few who usually don't), and there were some really thoughtful things written on their lists. I took a photo of all the papers when I got home. 

After class, Tammy and I did some planning--made a list of all the things we need to get done in the next week and divided it up between us. Then I came home and made another list of all the things I needed to get done over the next two days before we left for NC on Thursday morning. Then I got busy with Tuesday's list, which included: re-planning that week's meals (since we would be gone and Seth needed some things that he could make himself) and also planning next week's meals, getting someone to attend Seminary in my place on Friday, making treats for my Seminary class for Wednesday (I promised I would bring a treat for anyone who finished all of the semester's required reading by Wednesday), planning Monday's Seminary lesson, listening to the recent SA devotional done by Elder and Sister Stevenson (we're going to use some things from that devotional for our short lesson on the last day of Seminary), taking some things to the storage unit, checking to make sure no bills needed to be paid while we are gone, cleaning the bathrooms, and sending an email about getting our water meter replaced (because apparently it has stopped working). Somehow I managed to get all of that done, and I even squeezed in a short nap in the early afternoon too. Seth went to Chick-fil-A to fill out some paperwork and went to his classes; Frank was at the temple that evening so he got home late (but not as late as usual--he got to leave a little early). 

I didn't wake up until the alarm went off on Wednesday May 13th--that's always a big bonus for me! We had a guest teacher in Seminary. He did a good job. He is the father of one of the girls in our class and I thought it was interesting that she looked at her phone and talked to her friend through the entire lesson and didn't participate at all. She does that for us, too, but I thought she'd be motivated to behave differently for her dad--I guess not! Besides teaching a good lesson, he brought donuts, so the kids really liked that. 

Frank had a dentist appointment in the morning and Seth had one that afternoon. Seth didn't give himself as much time as he should have to get there (he had to leave his second class a little early) so he was late and they almost cancelled his appointment, but he got there in the nick of time, thankfully. 

I had another long list of things to do which included: laundry, dusting, grocery shopping (Frank came with me), finishing the lesson prep for Monday's Seminary lesson, writing a note in three birthday cards (for Seminary kids who have birthdays over the summer), contacting the missionaries to make arrangements for dinner (we were supposed to feed them on Saturday), sweeping & mopping the kitchen floor, preparing gifts for the four seniors in our Seminary class, preparing a game for Wednesday's Seminary class, and packing for our trip to NC. I did manage to get all of that done! 

That evening I had book chat and Seth had Institute. I didn't finish Moloka'i in time for book chat, but I did get about half way through it and I plan to finish reading it because it is quite good. Everyone at book chat (who have finished the book) had good things to say about it, so I am motivated to read the rest even though there were a few "spoilers" from the discussion at book chat. We talked later than normal, so I got home quite late. 

I woke up a little earlier than I needed to on Thursday May 14th, but it wasn't too bad. Frank had the day off because our plan was to leave for NC after I got back from Seminary. I exercised and showered. Right after I got out of the shower, I was very startled when I thought a dark brown bug of some kind was flying right in front of my face. I started swatting my hand at it and it moved, but not far. Then I realized that it wasn't actually a bug in front of my face, it was something in my left eye. I saw a dark brown jagged horizontal line move across my eye. Frank came & looked in my eye but couldn't see anything; I couldn't feel anything in my eye either. I realized then that it was actually a "floatie" in my eye, but a dark one instead of a clear one. I washed both of my eyes (I do that every morning anyway for my blepharitis) and after that the large brown floatie changed to small brown dots and then disappeared. Then I started noticing that I was seeing flashes of light from the outside corner of my left eye. I did a quick Google search and discovered that the symptoms I was experiencing could be associated with retinal detachment, which is an emergency situation that needs to be evaluated right away. We decided to call our doctor and we were able to talk to the doctor on call. She confirmed that my symptoms could indicate retinal detachment and said I should be seen that morning. She said I could either go to the ER or wait until their office opened at 8:00. We debated a bit, but ultimately decided to go to the ER since we had been planning to leave for NC around 8:00. At this point, we weren't sure we'd still be able to go, but we decided it would be better for me to be seen right away. The risk was that ER visits can sometimes (often) involve a very long wait, so we might end up taking more time than if we waited for the doctor's office to open at 8:00. We decided to risk it, though, and that did turn out to be the best decision. I texted Tammy about Seminary and she was (of course) totally understanding and said she'd ask one of the moms who is usually in the building to help with Seminary. I was sorry to miss Seminary since I have so few days left, but it couldn't be helped. 

At the ER, I was taken back to triage within a few minutes and was then taken directly to a room without waiting. I did have to wait a while for the doctor to come examine me, but it wasn't too long. He checked my vision, the pressure in my eye, and did an ultrasound of my eye. After the ultrasound, he said that my retina was not detached, which was good news, but didn't give us a super clear explanation about what else could be causing my symptoms. Just something that happens with age sometimes. He said I could get a follow up appointment with an eye doctor for later that day. When we explained that we had intended to leave for NC that morning to attend a funeral and asked if it was still possible to go, he said that he thought it would be okay for me to go and to follow up with our eye doctor after I got back from the trip. I was discharged and we were able to head back home around 8:00. When we got home, I ate breakfast and we got ready to go--we were able to leave the house around 9:00 am, so not a lot later than we originally planned.

The drive down to NC went smoothly and it felt shorter than usual to me although it took about the same amount of time that it usually does. I took a short nap early on. We made it to Brevard around 6:00 pm. We checked into our hotel and then went to visit with Frank's parents for a few minutes. Frank's dad had a doctor appointment and they had to leave soon for that, so we didn't stay long. After we picked up some dinner, we came back to the hotel to eat. Frank talked with his sister Dawn on the phone for a while; I was so tired that I kept falling asleep. 

We both slept well last night and both woke up around 5:00 am this morning (Friday May 15th). I know that is early, but for us, 5:00 am is sleeping in! We showered and headed down to the free breakfast buffet. After that we drove out to Dawn's house and spent the morning helping her with some preparations for the funeral. We helped create a program and then took Dawn with us to get copies of the program made and to buy some paper products for the snacks that will be served after the funeral. We also got some lunch and then took Dawn back home. We went back to our hotel and I took a very short nap (about 15 minutes) before I woke up because my stomach was hurting. Frank met Dawn and some of Becky's kids at the church to do some set up for tomorrow but I stayed here because of my stomach. Thankfully, I started feeling better after an hour or so and I feel fine now. When Frank got done at the church, we went to get some dinner. I have spent the time since dinner writing this post. 

I am still seeing occasional flashes of light in the corner of my eye (more noticable when I'm in a dark room) and I also occasionally see a faint dark floatie in my eye, but nothing as dark as the one yesterday morning. I've been kind of anxious about what might be going on with my eye, but I was texting Amy about it this afternoon and she had some issues with seeing flashes of light in one of her eyes a few years ago (but not the dark floatie). She said she did some research and came across a condition called posterior vitreous detachment, which has a lot of the same symptoms as a retinal detachment. I looked it up, and it does sound similar to what I experienced, and it also sounds like what the doctor was describing to me yesterday morning, so maybe that's what he meant even though he didn't give it a name. At any rate, after reading about it, I am feeling a lot less anxious about what's happening with my eye. I was able to get an appointment set up with our eye doctor for Tuesday (I called his office yesterday while we were driving down here) so I can talk with him about it then and I think having another exam will set my mind at ease even more. 

I guess I didn't specifically mention it, but Seth stayed home in Maryland. He had to work today and he works tomorrow too. Since we had signed up to feed the misisonaries tomorrow, we arranged with them to meet him at Roy Rogers when he gets off work tomorrow and he will buy them some food and they will eat together there. Frank has a whole bunch of meetings on Sunday that he is going to miss and I am going to miss a visit to our stake from Camille Johnson, the General RS president. There's a special devotional tomorrow afternoon at our stake center for all the women in our stake and 7 other nearby stakes. I am sad to miss it, but family comes first, of course. Tomorrow is going to be sad, but we will also see a lot of family members, so that will be nice.

I can't think of anything else that's been happening (that's quite enough, anyway, isn't it?!) so I will sign off until next week.

Weekly Review May 8 '26

This week was not as eventful as last week, but we still had quite a few things going on. I finished writing last week's post on Saturday morning. (May 2nd) Frank went to the church for a while to help set up some IT stuff for the RS activity. I went over in the early afternoon for a song practice before the activity started. For the activity, we decorated cookies using royal icing and learned about some of the faithful women in the Old Testament. (The song went with that part of the activity, and it went pretty well although I feel like we did better in practice than during the performance.) For the activity, everyone got a tiara to wear; that was kind of fun. The cookie decorating that we did was different than any kind of decorating I have ever done, and it was pretty cool, but I doubt I will ever do it again since it sounds like a lot of work to make the icing! The young adult sitting next to me really had a magic touch; her cookies looked amazing:

Mine turned out okay too:

We ended up getting Chipotle for dinner; I don't remember exactly why now. 

Sunday May 3rd was a busy day. Frank and Seth left the house around 9:00 am for their church meetings, which were held at the temple visitor's center. They had breakfast at 10:00, training / instruction meetings at 11:15, lunch at 12:30, and then the General Session of Stake Conference at 1:30. (They had snacks after the meeting, too--apparently YSAs are all about food! 😂)

Meanwhile, I read scriptures and worked on Seminary lessons. Then I went to our ward's sacrament meeting but left after taking the sacrament so that I could attend the YSA stake conference at 1:30. I met Frank there (Seth was sitting with friends). Frank was sustained, and after the meeting he was set apart. I was tired and had a hard time focusing during the meeting, but I was impressed with all the YSA speakers from what I did hear. Frank received a beautiful blessing when he was set apart; I wish I could remember the details, but I've already forgotten most of it. I just know he was blessed with things that I feel like he and our family need right now.

I briefly met the stake president and his counselors, as well as a couple of the other high council members. I was surprised to find out that the CES director for our area is also on the high council in the YSA stake. When they sustained Frank, he turned around and waved at us. Fun fact about the stake president that I didn't mention in last week's post: he was a guest on the Follow Him podcast last fall. The night that Frank got his call, he told me the stake president's name and showed me his picture and told me a little bit about him, and bells started ringing in my head. I said "Wait a minute...I think I know who he is! I think he was on the Follow Him podcast not too long ago." So I looked it up, and I was right. 

After Frank was set apart, we drove home. Seth rode with me and we talked to Jared while we drove home. After we got home we had dinner and family night lesson. Then Seth went to the church-wide broadcast for young adults (all the young adults who live in the Frederick area were invited to gather to watch at the house of one of the counselors in our stake presidency--the Frederick stake presidency, not the YSA stake presidency). Seth's friend Henry picked him up and they went together. (Henry has been at BYU for the last year, but he's home now, preparing to go on a mission in June. He is Tammy's son.) 

Unfortunately, this was another week with a lot of bad sleeping nights. I woke up just after midnight on Monday May 4th. Seminary went pretty well, though. I taught a lesson about facing challenges with faith instead of fear. It was based on the story from Numbers where the 12 Israelite spies returned from surveilling the land of Canaan and 10 of them came back fearful that they could never conquer the land, even though God told them that He would give it to them. For part of the lesson, I divided the class into three groups and each read about a different group of people--the 10 spies who were fearful, the 2 spies who had faith (Joshua & Caleb), and the rest of the Israelites, who believed the 10 spies. Then they were supposed to represent the group of people they read about while I interviewed them, as if I were doing a news report. It was kind of funny! Tammy took this photo while I was interviewing one student. (Of course I have my eyes closed!):

After I got home from Seminary, I took an hour nap. I got to talk to Scott briefly, too. When Frank got home from work, he went with me to get groceries. I finished preparing Wednesday's Seminary lesson and read through both lessons for next week but didn't have the energy to do much beyond that (and the regular chores). 

Frank started getting lots of emails as well as a phone call about YSA stuff. We are still figuring out what his schedule is going to be like but so far we know he will be speaking on the 3rd Sunday of each month and on the 2nd Sundays he has high council and stake council meetings (but this month those meetings are on the 3rd Sunday since the 2nd Sunday is Mother's Day). They didn't put him on the schedule for the speaking rotation until July, but we'll be gone in July so he won't speak until August. He will also be attending branch counsel for the YSA branch at least twice a month and attending their regular church meetings twice a month as well. I don't think I'm going to see Frank much on Sundays!

Seth had a job interview that afternoon via Zoom (with Chick-fil-a). They asked him to come back for an in-person interview on Thursday and now he has a follow up interview scheduled for Monday. Hopefully he will get a job there because they can give him more hours than he is getting at Roy Rogers. 

For family night activity we played Uno and Frank won every round but one. After we had our activity, Seth went to YSA FHE--they watched one of the Star Wars movies in honor of "May the 4th Be With You". 

We had a guest teacher for Seminary on Tuesday May 5th. It's always great to learn from a new teacher! I slept pretty well the night before, for once, but I still needed a nap after Seminary. After napping, I got all the regular chores done, planned one Seminary lesson for next week, and started painting the 2nd coat of the exterior of the dollhouse. 

For dinner, I made tacos in honor of Cinco de Mayo (plus it was "Taco Tuesday"!) Frank missed that since he was at his regular temple shift. 

On Wednesday May 6th I woke up at 2:00 am and my stomach was bothering me, but my Seminary lesson went okay. (It was a life prep lesson on overcoming obstacles to furthering education). I once again took a nap after Seminary (I've taken a nap every day this week--I've been so wiped out!!). One of Seth's classes was cancelled so he didn't have to leave for school as early as usual. I planned another Seminary lesson, did more painting on the exterior of the dollhouse, and talked to Tanner. I did some reading (just an old favorite book) and emailed my bishop to let him know my decision about Seminary next year. I tried to get an appointment to talk to him last week, but he was out of town all last week and this week too. I texted him on Sunday evening but didn't hear back from him, so I emailed him instead. I still have not received a response from him, so I'm not sure if he's getting my messages. Hopefully I will connect with him soon. It's been kind of unsettling to be in this state of limbo. 

Seth went to Institute that night; he went earlier than he usually does so that he could have dinner too. They always have a simple dinner for them, but usually Seth eats with us before he goes. 

I woke up about 2:30 am on Thursday May 7th and--you guessed it--took a 1 hour nap after I got home from Seminary. I got all the regular chores done, worked on Monday's Seminary lesson (Power Point slides, etc.--I'm not completely done preparing it yet), finished painting the exterior of the dollhouse while listening to the Follow Him podcast, and read some more. I started reading the book for book chat--Moloka'i by Alan Brennert. I tried to get a copy from the library, but still hadn't received one so on Wednesday I purchased one from Amazon and it arrived on Thursday. We have book chat this coming Wednesday so I'm not sure I'll be able to finish it by then, but I'm going to try. I've only read a few chapters but it is good so far. 

Frank had a zoom meeting for the YSA branch that evening (with the stake presidency and the branch president). I thought I'd be asleep before his meeting finished, but it was a quick meeting--nice!

Today (Friday May 8th) I went to the temple after Semianry. Thankfully, I slept fairly well last night (just a bit restless...I remember waking up briefly a few times). I did initiatories, so I wasn't worried about trying to stay awake. The traffic was bad going down, so I got there later than usual but it all worked out okay.

It was quite chilly this morning (and has been most mornings this week) but it warmed up and was pretty nice during the day. It's hard to believe it's May sometimes because it's been so cool in the mornings. We even had a frost warning on Tuesday morning.

After I got home from the temple, I got the budget caught up. Then I took a nap because I felt very sleepy even though I slept better last night. It's a good thing there's only a week and a half of Seminary left; I'm not sure I would survive if I had to do this much longer!

After my nap, Frank and I made dinner and then watched a couple of episodes of Once Upon a Time while we ate. I plan to spend the rest of the evening reading. 

That's all I can think of to report about this week.

Weekly Review May 1 '26

Wow, a lot has happened this past week and once again I had a lot of bad sleeping nights, so it's all a tired blur. Hopefully this post will make sense! In spite of the exhaustion I am currently feeling, my heart is full and I feel very grateful. I will talk more about that as I go along. 

After I finished last week's post (on Friday, April 24th), Frank and I left for our anniversary "get away". We drove to Baltimore and checked into our hotel, then we went over to the mall where Medieval Times is located. It wasn't time for the dinner / show to start yet, so we walked around the mall for a bit. Frank found a nice shirt at an Under Armour store that was on sale so he got that. Then we went to the dinner and show, and it was a lot of fun. 

We were on the front row of our section which was cool because we got to see all the horses and knights close up. The dinner was pretty yummy (you eat it with your hands--no utensils!) and we enjoyed the show. My only complaint is that it was hard to understand what the actors were saying a lot of the time. I got the gist of what was happening, but it wasn't always super clear what they were saying. Frank said it was hard for him to understand too, so it wasn't just my bad hearing. 

Saturday, April 25th: After a good night's rest (for once!) we had breakfast at the hotel and then got ready to go to the temple. At the temple, we did sealings. It was a really sweet way to celebrate our anniversary--to be reminded of the covenants we've made and the many beautiful blessings we've been promised.

After the sealing session, we went down to the distribution center to do a favor for Tammy. Her son had received his endowment the previous evening (we were sorry to miss attending that, but we had already planned this trip before finding out he was going) and he had decided that the garment tops he purchased were a little uncomfortably tight in the shoulders. She knew we would be at the temple that morning, so she texted me and asked if we could pick up a few tops for him in a bigger size. I wanted to get a few garments for myself as well, but they didn't have anything in my size. That seems to be happening a lot lately.

This little overnight trip was so nice! I didn't realize how badly we needed some time away until we were able to do just that.

The other important thing that happened on this trip was that I was able to make a decision about teaching Seminary next year. Frank and I talked about it a lot (actually, I did almost all the talking and he just listened). While we were on the way to the temple, I was talking about it again and I got this very clear impression (although it's going to be hard to describe). The gist of it was "you've been so focused on the reasons why you want to teach one more year and why you think you should teach one more year, that you are not focusing on what would be best for you and your family and that is the more important thing right now." We started talking about what things we would be doing if I weren't teaching--working in the temple together and a possible service mission for me, among other things--and I suddenly knew that those things are what need to happen now. I cried a bit because I'm sad about giving up teaching, but I also felt incredibly at peace about it. I don't know all the reasons why now is the time for me to make this change, but I feel like a lot of it has to do with Seth--for some reason, this is what he needs. Frank and I agreed that we are probably going to look back in a couple of years and say "Oh, that's why that needed to happen then." For now, it just feels great to feel like we are being guided to do what the Lord wants us to do. (And we already have a better idea of the "why" than we did last Saturday...but more on that later.) 

Seth was at work when we got home from our trip (and we were really happy that he got up and got to work on time without us there to help him!). We picked up a late lunch on our way home and ate when we got home. Even though we had a good night's rest, we were both feeling sleepy after lunch, so we took a nap. After dinner, I cleaned the stove and the kitchen floor. Then we went to the church so I could do some planning for Tuesday's Seminary lesson. This lesson was about the ancient tabernacle--the objects inside it and what they symbolized. I decided I wanted to set up a little model tabernacle, and I wanted to experiment a bit with different objects and get a feel for what was going to work in the room that I had. When we got to the church, the missionaries were having a Book of Mormon class (which they do every Saturday). When the class got out, we found out that an Elder who served here last year (and finished his mission in December) was visiting with his parents, so we got to talk to him and his parents for a while. It was fun to see him again. We stayed a lot longer at the church than I had planned because of the visiting, but I was still able to finish preparing Monday's Seminary lesson when we got home (mostly creating Power Point slides). 

On Sunday (April 26th), I spent the morning reading scriptures and practicing two songs--one that the choir was singing in Sacrament meeting that day and the other was the one I've been trying to learn for an upcoming RS activity. The choir song went well. After church, I had a practice for the other song--it was the first time we had practiced together as a group. I was happy to discover that my practicing at home had paid off and I actually knew the song pretty well. Everyone else seemed to know it pretty well too, so the practice went great.

After I got home, I talked to Jared for a while and worked some more on Tuesday's Seminary lesson. After Seth got home, we had dinner and family night lesson. I was really tired by the time bedtime rolled around!

I taught a Seminary lesson about self reliance & caring for others on Monday April 27th. I liked the lesson, but it was kind of a flop because the youth all seemed to be really tired. That just happens sometimes. I took a 1 hour nap when I got home and spent the rest of the day doing chores, reading (I finished The First State of Being), and finishing preparations for Tuesday's Seminary lesson. Frank and Seth went with me to the church to help me set up the model tabernacle. We set it up in the Primary room, and I think it turned out looking pretty cool! I had objects to represent each of the items in the tabernacle. I had to get pretty creative with some of them and they weren't incredibly accurate, but I also had pictures of each thing that were a lot more accurate representations so they could get a better idea of what the objects probably looked like. There were also scriptures to read about each thing, to help them understand what they might symbolize.

This was the Laver (I added water to the bowl in the morning):

Table of shewbread (I opened the package of pita bread in the morning and had 6 pita on each plate):

Altar of Incense (That's a Glade room freshener on the table; I couldn't have any real incense in the church, of course! I would have prefered to use an essential oil diffuser, but I don't have one of those. At least the room freshener made it smell nice!):

Veil (I have a shot that shows the whole thing later):

Ark of the Covenant (This one was hard to duplicate, but I found this gold disposable tablecloth at the store, so at least it looked like gold. I wish I had a couple of angel Christmas tree toppers--if I had, I would have put them on there.):

Here's the whole room. The table in front is the altar of sacrifice. It wasn't completely ready in this photo because Tammy was bringing some things in the morning to put on it. You can see the whole veil in this photo. I wanted it to be colorful because it's supposed to be blue, scarlet, and purple. I had been feeling frustrated that I didn't have any red, blue, or purple blankets or sheets but then on Sunday night (in the middle of the night when I wasn't sleeping well) I had this flash of inspiration to look for disposable party tablecloths in those colors. I didn't find any purple ones, but I did find blue and red ones and they were perfect! We hung the tablecloths on two rolling chalk / white boards and left a small gap in the middle (with a dowel across the top to hold up the tablecloths) so you could actually part the veil in the middle and walk into the "holy of holies" behind it:

I put this picture of the "gate" on the Primary room door. On the inside of the door, I hung another red tablecloth. I would have done one red and one blue, but I didn't have enough table cloths:

This is the Candlestick (Menorah). I had to get really creative with this one because I didn't even have a candlestick, let alone a Menorah. Even if I had, I couldn't light candles in the church. I really wanted to have something that lit up in some way, though. I kept looking at the two little Easter trees I purchased this year and I knew that the branches were really flexible and they light up using batteries, not flames, so I decided to see if I could manipulate the branches into a Menorah shape. It's not great, but I think it gives you the idea!:

I was really pleased with how the lesson turned out the next morning (Tuesday April 28th). I had a handout with all the objects written on it and the youth were supposed to go around and read the scriptures and write down their thoughts on what each object might symbolize. Most of them spent a lot of time quietly walking around and reading and writing on their papers. It was very calm and reverent.

When we went back to the RS room, they shared what they had written and there was a lot of good insights. Then we talked about some of the symbols in the temples today and what they teach us about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. 

Here is a photo I took after class, before we took everything down (you can see the completed "altar of sacrifice"), plus one that Tammy took of me during the lesson:

After Seminary, I talked to Tammy about my decision for Seminary next year and we were both sad but she was also very understanding and supportive. 

When I got home, I took a nap again (not sleeping well). I felt like I was sluggish and not very productive, but somehow still managed to get all the regular chores done. Seth worked that morning but his class was cancelled so when he got home from work he went with me to the storage unit to put away the Easter decorations. We also got a couple of large empty bins to take back home because I have convinced him that he needs to go through his room and put away some things that he isn't currently using (but doesn't want to give up). It will probably take him all summer to get it done (he hasn't done anything on this project yet) but hopefully he'll do it eventually.

Frank had a very slow commute to work that morning because a tractor trailer had overturned (swerved to try to avoid hitting a deer) and was blocking all the lanes on I-270 South. All the traffic had to be diverted off of the freeway to get around it. He left home around 4:00 am but didn't get to work until about 5:45.

Besides chores and the storage unit trip, I also read both of my Seminary lessons for next week and I had time to listen to a special episode of the Follow Him podcast that was talking about the ancient tabernacle (would have enjoyed listening to that before the lesson I taught on the same topic, but I didn't have time). There was this cool moment near the end of the podcast when the guest said this: "...it’s a portable tabernacle. How did they know when to move? When the cloud moved, they moved. And I wanna say this to anybody listening. Sometimes the cloud moves in your life and you move. And it might be hard for you, but whenever you move with the cloud, it’ll be sweet. Wherever you go where the cloud is, it’s sweet. And it might be hard, you might be giving up friends, you might be giving up some former thing, you might be giving up a house, you might be giving up something. But if you move with the cloud, it’s always going to be sweet because you’re where the Lord wants you to be. Sometimes if you’re like, I don’t know why I need to do this or I don’t why I need to do this or I have to go here. Cloud might be moving. Cloud might be moving. That’s teaching us as well, God directing his people to accomplish his purposes." When I heard that, I thought "That's exactly what is happening to me. My cloud is moving!!" 

Frank had his regular temple shift that night. I couldn't fall asleep so I was still awake when he got home. He told me when he got home that one of the other workers on the shift with him, who is currently serving as the stake president of the YSA stake that Seth is in, asked him "What are you doing tomorrow night?" When Frank told him he didn't have anything specific planned, he said "I'll probably call you." That left us both wondering what that might be about! In past weeks he has asked Frank questions about how many kids he has at home and what callings he's had, so we wondered if he might have a calling in mind for Frank.

We were supposed to have a guest teacher for Seminary on Wednesday April 29th, but our guest teacher had a death in the family and was out of town for the funeral. She let Tammy know the previous Friday night, and Tammy (bless her!) decided that it would make more sense for her to teach that lesson since it was Part 1 of Leviticus and Tammy was teaching the Part 2 of Leviticus lesson. She did ask me if I could help with part of Friday's lesson and I was able to find some ideas for that one that helped make that one easier for her, but she did all the teaching. Anyway, she taught a great lesson on Wednesday but it was a rough day because a lot of the kids were tired and not making much effort to participate. There were also 3 or 4 girls who were missing for a lot of the class--some of them like to go into the bathroom to finish doing their hair and makeup, but when more than one of them does that, they end up talking to each other and I think they lose track of the time. I ended up marking three of them absent that day because they didn't make it to class until less than 10 minutes before it ended. Just not our best Seminary day! 

When I got home from Seminary I took a 2 hour nap since I had been up so late the night before. I wasn't very productive at all that day, but I did manage to plan both of next week's Seminary lessons. After a few really hot days last week, the temperatures dropped again and it's been quite cool all week. Wednesday it was rainy too, so it felt particularly chilly. 

Frank received a text message from his temple worker friend that morning asking if Frank could meet with him that evening at our ward building, so Frank met with him and he called him to be a high counselor in the YSA stake (the Washington DC North YSA stake). He is assigned specifically to the branch that Seth attends and will need to go to their branch meetings at least twice a month (plus also attend branch counsel regularly). He will also be speaking once a month at one of the units (there are 8 units in the stake) and he will be working with the EQ presidents to help train them. Their stake conference is this weekend, so he will be sustained then and set apart after the meeting. We are still wrapping our minds around what this is going to be like for our family--big changes!! However, I am really excited for Frank to have this opportunity to serve, learn, and grow in this way and I know he will do a lot of good. I also feel that this change is going to benefit Seth in ways that I can't specify--I just feel like it's going to be a big blessing for him. 

Frank's meeting wasn't until 8:00 pm (which is my bedtime) but once again I had trouble falling asleep, so I was still awake when Frank got home with the news about his calling. Then of course, we talked about it for a while and there was a lot to think about, so I didn't end up falling asleep until around 10:30. Unfortunately, I woke up around 12:30 and didn't go back to sleep. I was very glad that I didn't have to teach that morning (Thursday, April 30th). The lesson was great, but a lot of kids were missing that morning. I decided to do grocery shopping and other chores later and instead went home to try to take a short nap. As I was leaving the parking lot feeling super exhausted, I had a feeling a great gratitude for all the growth I've experienced these past 3 years but also huge gratitude that I will not be getting up super early for another year! 

The reason I only took a short nap was because I had an event to attend at 8:30--a VITA breakfast to celebrate the end of the tax season. It wasn't just for the volunteers; there were a lot of United Way people there as well as a lot of local government leaders (Frederick County commissioner, Maryland state delegates, the mayor of Frederick). There were 36 volunteers this year but I was suprised that only 8 of us made it to the breakfast. There was plenty of good food and they shared information about the impact of the program this year (how many tax returns completed, the total refund dollars received, etc.) and we got a lot of "thank yous" for our volunteer work but there was more talking than necessary, in my opinion. 😉At the end, we all got certificates of appreciation from both the county and the city, and they took a photo of the volunteers with all the politicians:

Overall, I enjoyed it, but I was tired and ready for another nap when I got home. 

When Frank got home from work, he went with me to put gas in my car, get a car wash, and buy groceries. I really appreciated his help! When we got home, I finished all the other chores that needed to be done and I was able to finish preparing Monday's Seminary lesson before bedtime.

I did finally have a pretty good night that night--I remember waking up 3 different times, but only long enough to see what time it was before immediately falling back asleep. For Seminary that morning (Friday, May 1st), we had an "Assess Your Learning" lesson. Tammy divided the class into 3 teams and they did some activities / games to demonstrate things they've learned this semester. (I found the ideas for the activities and games). It was a pretty fun day. Also, one of the ward bishoprics provided breakfast for us. 

I went to the temple that morning but instead of the usual 10:00 session, I moved my appointment to the 11:00 session. I knew from experience that even if I slept well the night before (which I did), I would still have a lot of trouble staying awake (because of all the previous bad nights) unless I had a nap first. Moving my appointment back an hour allowed me to come home and take a nap before leaving for the temple. That did help a lot--I really didn't get sleepy during the session.

On the way to the temple and back, I listened to next week's Follow Him podcast, which I really enjoyed. 

After I got home, I updated finances and we ate dinner. I also got to talk with Scott for a while. (He just got released from the bishopric in his ward.) I started on this post last night but was too tired to finish so I am finishing it on Saturday morning. I had a haircut first thing this morning and I also practiced the song for the RS activity because that is happening this afternoon. I'll tell more about that next week.

So, it's been a challenging week in many ways, but it has also been so good! "The cloud has moved" for our entire family this week, but I have had such a strong feeling that we are seeing God's hand in our lives and that He is aware of us and putting us where we need to be and that it is all happening because He loves us and these changes are going to be a huge blessing for us. 

Weekly Review April 24 '26

This week was fairly busy and I also had a lot of bad sleeping nights, so it was kind of a whirlwind. 

When I wrote last Friday (April 17th), I was getting ready to make dinner for the missionaries. That went well and they seemed to enjoy dinner with us. Frank got home late from the temple. 

On Saturday April 18th I didn't have to get up early, but I woke up in the night and was awake for a few hours, so I was still tired. In the morning I worked on my Seminary lesson for Monday (still trying to make it shorter, but I finally gave up). Then I went to lunch with my friend Rebekah. After lunch I prepared my Seminary lesson for Tuesday and then took a nap. After dinner, Frank and I went to a Jazz band concert at one of the high schools. It was a fundraiser for the bands and one of my Seminary students was playing in it, so that's why I was going. Frank was kind enough to come with me so that I didn't have to go alone. The tickets were a bit more expensive than a lot of high school events, but the cost of the ticket included a beverage and a piece of cake. The first group to play was a jazz band from one of the local middle schools and they weren't very good (but they're still learning, of course!) The other two groups were high school students and my Seminary student was in both of those. They did a great job--really, quite impressive. I was surprised when I got there and got a program to see my Seminary student's name listed in the "special thanks" section at the bottom of the program. I was able to talk to his mom and found out that this student had done a lot of work planning which songs they would play and arranging all the rehearsals and so forth. Pretty cool! 

When we got home from the concert, it was starting to get dark but I could tell that it was also going to rain and the lawn needed to be mowed really badly, so I quickly mowed the lawn. I'm glad I got that done! I mowed it the previous Saturday also, but within a few days it looked like it needed to be mowed again. That's what happens when we get a lot of rain. 

Sunday April 19th was rainy. We had church as usual except that Seth came with us because he had a mandatory work meeting that afternoon which was during the YSA Ward time. I had choir practice after church and after that we had a little social with refreshments. Frank had stayed to drive me home, so he joined the social too. We didn't stay a long time, though. We came home and had FHE lesson and dinner and I talked to Jared. Seth went to mission prep class. Frank gave me a blessing that evening because I've been feeling anxious about some things. The blessing has really helped me, and I am grateful.

I woke up at 1:00 am on Monday April 20th, which I never love but I've come to accept that it just happens sometimes. My Seminary lesson that morning was on the topic of "God wants to have a relationship with you". This is the one I was trying to make shorter all week last week. It went a lot better than I anticipated--I somehow managed the time and we finished when I wanted to. We still got out a few minutes late overall, but that wasn't my fault. The stake Seminary supervisor talked a lot longer than the 8 minutes she had asked me to leave for her, so it was her fault we got out late. 😊Afterwards, she wanted to talk to us for a while but Tammy had to drive the carpool so she just talked to me. Her main question was to ask how we are feeling about teaching another year. Tammy and I have talked about this quite a bit, and Tammy had told me she's mentally prepared to teach another year. I know I could do it, too, and in some ways I really want to do one more year, but there are also reasons why it would be better if I didn't, so I've been feeling pretty conflicted about it. I talked with the stake Seminary supervisor about it, and even though she didn't say anything that I hadn't already thought of myself, I left that conversation with my thinking shifted quite a bit, which I wasn't expecting. Up until now, I've been thinking I would do one more year. Now I'm leaning more towards not doing another year. I will need to do some more pondering about it, but that conversation felt like an answer to prayers (because I've been praying about this a lot lately). 

After I got home and ate breakfast and finished chores, I took a 2 hour nap and then reviewed my lesson for Tuesday. I also started practicing the song that I'm singing in a small group for a RS activity and discovered that it is NOT going to be an easy song to learn. There are a lot of tricky rhythms and the accompaniment does not support the parts at all. (It's pretty, though.) I practiced it some more on Tuesday and yesterday and I am seeing some improvement, so that's encouraging, at least.

In the early afternoon, one of the sisters I minister to contacted me to see if I could help her. She had fallen earlier that day and hit her mouth on a wood piece of furniture and knocked her two front teeth in. Her husband had been able to take her to the dentist to get her teeth fixed, but he was recovering from a bad cold and both of them were feeling really wiped out so she wanted to know if we could have their daughter, Genny, over for a few hours that evening to give them a chance to rest. Her daughter is an adult, but she is disabled and is more like a 2 year old, mentally. We did our FHE activity and treat that afternoon and then Frank made dinner while Seth and I went over to pick up Genny. She is actually very sweet and easy to watch. We fed her some dinner and she likes to watch television, so we watched some television with her. She likes old shows from the 50s and 60s and currently loves "My Favorite Martian", so we watched a few episodes of that. I had not seen it before and even though it's pretty cheesy, I actually liked it a lot. 😂Seth went to YSA FHE, and Frank and I took Genny back home shortly before our bedtime. She really has a sweet spirit and we always enjoy having her in our home. 

Also on Monday, one of the boys in my Seminary class got his mission call! He is going to Farmington, New Mexico and starts his mission on July 1st. He texted Tammy and I to tell us on Monday and on Tuesday morning we gave him a few minutes to announce his call to the class. 

My lesson on Tuesday April 21st went well. The topic was using the For the Strength of Youth  guidbook to connect our choices to Jesus Christ and His doctrine. A new edition of this guidebook just came out recently and I was able to get some copies of the new version for the youth who don't have access to the gospel library app.  

Thankfully, I slept better Monday night--one of the few good nights I had this week. After some really warm (even hot) days last week, we had a cold front come in and we even had a freeze warning overnight from Monday to Tuesday. It was quite cold that whole day, but sunny. When I was driving to Seminary that morning, it was so much lighter than it had been on Monday morning (it was cloudy that morning) that I was worried that I was somehow really late! (I wasn't, though.) 

On Tuesday besides regular chores, I planned Monday's Seminary lesson and started planning Tuesday's. I also talked to Scott for a little while and I painted a few of the small dollhouse parts. That's ALL I was able to get done on the dollhouse this week, though. Hopefully I will find more time next week--that project has really stalled the last 2 weeks. 

I started reading a book this week called The First State of Being. It is last year's Newbery winner, and I received a copy of it for Christmas but haven't had a chance to start reading it until now. (I'm still waiting to get a copy of the book chat book, so I don't have anything else to read). It's kind of fun to read this book because it is set in Newark, Delaware in the late summer of 1999. We actually lived in Newark, Delaware in the summer of 1999! Some of the places mentioned I recognize (like the Christiana Mall). I also thought the name of the apartment complex where the main characters live sounded familiar, so I looked it up on Google maps to see if it was a real place, and it was--and it was even in the part of Newark that I thought it would be. 

That night was another bad night. I fell asleep around 8:40, but then woke back up about 30 minutes later and couldn't go back to sleep. I was still awake when Frank got home from the temple around 10:30. Then I drifted off for about 30 more minutes, but then Frank's blood sugar alarm went off and woke me up again. I was awake for another hour or so and then finally went back to sleep until the alarm went off, but of course that was only a few hours later. Frank went back to sleep after the alarm went off because his blood sugar alarm had gone off several more times in the night--thankfully I slept through all the other alarms. After Seminary I took a 2 1/2 hour nap. We had guest teachers for Seminary that morning--a recent YA convert and the Elders from a neighboring ward team taught the lesson. Well, sort of! We found out from the YA when he arrived that the Elders had never contacted him to coordinate. They still managed to pull off a pretty good lesson that appeared to be planned together, even though it wasn't! 

That afternoon I had volunteered to take a sister in my ward to a doctor appointment. That ended up taking over 3 hours because I had to go pick her up (opposite direction from the doctor's office), get her back to the doctor's office for her appointment about 15 minutes early, the waiting + appointment time took about an hour, and then on the way home she needed to stop at the post office to pick up her mail (she has a post office box). She doesn't have the key to her PO box (her son has it) so we had to wait in line and the line was very long and moved very slowly. After we finally finished at the post office, I took her back home and also had to look at one of her medications to see what dose she is taking because the doctor wanted to increase her dose for that medication but wanted to confirm the dose she was already taking. (The doctor visit was actually to see her cardiologist and I think it was a good thing that I ended up taking her because I knew exactly what the doctor was talking about, since I have experience with heart problems and I took this same medication when I was pregnant with Seth. This sister is older and gets confused easily, so she didn't always understand everything that the doctor was saying.) Anyway, I was happy to help her, but I didn't get much done that day. By the time I got home, Frank had started making dinner. I was still tired (in spite of my nap) and didn't get anything else done that evening besides cleaning up after dinner and I read a little bit.

Tammy planned a fun lesson for Thursday April 23rd. She was teaching about the ten commandments, and she divide the youth into small groups and assigned each group one of the commandments. She asked them to sculpt a representation of their commandment, and everyone else had to guess which commandment it was. They had a lot of fun with that. She also gave them some other assignments related to their commandment, and they really did a great job with that and shared some awesome insights. 

After Seminary, I got chores done and then went on a walk with the RS president in my ward, who is also my ministering sister. I enjoyed visiting with her, but the weather had warmed back up and was slightly humid, so I got pretty hot. We had to switch from heat back to air conditioning in the house that night because it was so warm! 

After the walk and lunch, I worked more on my lesson for Tuesday and finally managed to get it planned, although I still have a lot of work left to do on it because this one is going to require a lot more preparation than most. It took me longer to plan than it should have because I was really tired and not very productive. I really should have taken another nap before trying to plan!

That evening I went to a play at one of the high schools--one girl in my Seminary class was in the ensemble and another girl was playing the keyboard in the pit orchestra. The play was well done--I was impressed with the costumes, set, and the singing ability of some of the leads--but I didn't love the plot of the play itself (Mama Mia!). Tammy and I went to the play together and I enjoyed that.

The play was long and it didn't start until 7:00, so I got to bed very late last night and morning came much too early. 

We had a very small group at Seminary this morning (Friday, April 24th)--only 8 kids, probably the smallest class we have ever had. We had three different sibling sets who didn't make it today, plus a few others missing. We knew ahead of time that two of the sibling sets weren't going to be there and that another sibling set wasn't likely to be there, so it wasn't too surprising that the class was small. After Seminary I got the budgeting done but I was really struggling to stay awake so I took a short nap after that. 

Yesterday was our 34th wedding anniversary. We gave each other cards, but we didn't do anything else to celebrate because we planned to celebrate tonight. We are going to go to Medieval Times in Baltimore for their dinner & show, and since it ends pretty late we are going to stay in a hotel there tonight. Then tomorrow morning we have an appointment to do sealings at the temple. It should be fun! It is almost time to go, so I will wrap up for this week. 

Weekly Review April 17 '26

This week has felt busy and I don't feel like I have been able to accomplish much. Well, not since last Saturday, anyway. I did get a lot done last Saturday. After I wrote last Friday, I painted a bunch of the smaller dollhouse pieces while listening to the Follow Him podcast. That didn't work as well as normal because the painting took more of my brain power than I anticipated so I feel like I missed some things in the podcast, but overall I got the gist of it. The reason I had to think about the painting is because I'm not supposed to paint surfaces that are going to be glued to something else and for some of the small pieces, that can be a bit challenging to determine. I finally gave up on painting the pieces of the dormer windows because I couldn't figure all of it out and I was tired so I decided to wait until a time when I have more brain power (which may never happen, but hopefully it will!). Here's a photo of what I accomplished that night:

I let them dry overnight thinking that I could then turn some of the pieces and paint the other side (of the ones that need to be painted on both sides) but I got busy with other things on Saturday and I haven't gotten back to them still.

As I mentioned, Saturday April 11th was quite busy and productive. In the morning, I weeded the flower bed in our front yard. Then Frank helped me glue the left tower side, left front, and four fillstrips to the dollhouse. After gluing, we taped everything tight and weighed them down. I also put weights on the tower front piece because it looked slightly warped and it's one of the next pieces that needs to be glued on. The other thing I did on the dollhouse that day was to fit the top floor to the house body (not with glue) and trace around the house body so that I had a guide of where to paint that piece. (It's kind of hard to explain, but since the dollhouse has a porch & balcony, the top floor piece is a bit bigger than the lower floor pieces. The overhang helps create the ceiling of the balcony. Here's photos:

Two views of the dollhouse with added tower pieces, before adding the weights.

The top floor with pencil tracing (hard to see). I already painted the whole piece with the first coat and sanded it (don't worry--it's not supposed to look good yet; I will be adding more coats of paint later.)

The dollhouse with weights added (literally); plus, I had to get creative to find something to weigh down that narrow left front piece. Protein shakes are not super heavy, but they're better than nothing.

This is the top floor after I painted everything outside the tracing (underside of the top floor; the opposite side has the nicer finish that looks like a hardwood floor). The hole is for the staircase that will be coming up from the lower floor. 

I did all that stuff in the morning (except the painting), with Frank's help. He had to leave around noon because he was doing the AV / IT stuff for a funeral at the stake center. (I didn't know the woman who passed away. They used to live in our stake in a different ward but moved to Pennsylvania a few years ago. Sadly, she was right around my age and died only 9 weeks after being diagnosed. She had some type of cancer, I assume.) Frank got over to the stake center and found out he needed something else that we had at home (they asked him to do something that he hadn't anticipated) so he called me and I took that piece of equipment over to him. He was in the gym and they had a lot of tables set up for a luncheon and it was the most interesting decorating job I've ever seen at a funeral luncheon before--lots of colorful balloons and things like that. It was nice, though. There were a ton of people coming to the funeral from both Maryland and Pennsylvania.

Frank was at the stake center for several hours and Seth worked from 11:00 to 4:00. (I dropped him off at work so that I would have a car). Meanwhile, I finished preparing both of my Seminary lessons for this week which involved creating Power Point slides, a trip to the church, and a trip to the store. I also practiced ukulele for a bit. After Frank got home, I mowed the lawn. It needed it badly but I didn't want Seth to do it since he was recovering from surgery and not supposed to do a lot of physical activity. (I figured being on his feet for 5 hours at work was enough for one day.) By dinner time, I was quite tired so we ordered some Chinese food and Frank picked it up. I did cook some shrimp that had been thawing in the fridge and needed to be used but that was easy and the shrimp went great with the Chinese food. After dinner I cleaned the kitchen floor and then I was able to relax a little before bedtime. I was very tired and achy by then and I actually had sore muscles for a few days which seems ridiculous to me! I'm definitely getting old.

Sunday April 12th was more restful (as it should be). I read scriptures and we went to church. Both Frank and Seth taught the lesson in their Elders' Quorums. I went back over to the church when Seth's ward meetings finished so that I could set up tables and some other things for Seminary the next day. I needed the tables done differently than normal. I also had a long talk with Jared.

Seminary went well on Monday April 13th. It was a DM review and for most of the class time we were playing a game to help them learn the DM scriptures better. They seemed to have fun. The game involved earning cups, building a tower with the cups, and then earning points to use to try to knock down the other team's tower. The team with the most cups standing at the end won the game. (To earn cups, they had to correctly fill in blanks in the DM scripture references and key phrases.) 

I dropped Seth off at FCC for his classes that morning so that I could have the car to go on a ministering visit (he got a ride home with a friend). One of the sisters I minister to has a disabled daughter and her daughter had been sick most of the week. When I asked what I could do to help her, she said "Can you come visit with me? I just need to talk to another adult!" So that's what I did. Besides that visit and the regular chores, I went on a walk with Frank, read both of next week's Seminary lessons, helped Frank plan a short overnight trip for our anniversary next week, sent some Seminary texts, had family night (which included playing Mario Kart), and finished listening to the Follow Him Podcast (but also realized that somehow I was a week behind! I still haven't finished listening to this week's podcast). 

I woke up at 2:30 am on Tuesday April 14th which is an hour early but Frank had a really bad night (he was awake for hours...when he crawled back into bed was when I woke up) so he went back to sleep until about 5:00. My Seminary lesson that morning went pretty well. The topic was focusing on the Savior instead of on our problems. This is something that I would like to do better than I am currently doing! When I got home, I took a 1 hour nap. I started planning Monday's Seminary lesson, got regular chores done, and talked to Scott briefly. It was Frank's temple day, so he got home really late. A couple from our ward brought over some sheet music to me because I've agreed to sing in a small group at a RS activity next month. I was surprised when they also gave me a box of homemade cookies and a thank you card for Frank and I. (Frank has helped them with some IT stuff a few times). I was even more surprised when I opened the card later and discovered that there were two $50 gift cards for a restaurant in there. Why did they do that?? I don't feel like we've helped them that much, and I feel like they have done a lot of nice things for us. They are some of the best people I have ever known!

After a pretty chilly week last week, the temperatures started to warm up and we have had record high temperatures the last few days (all the way up to the low 90s on Wednesday and Thursday and it's in the 70s today). On Tuesday evening we had some rain off and on (at one point it was torrential, but only for about 30 seconds) and I saw two different rainbows about an hour apart from each other.

Around 6:00 pm:

Around 7:00 pm:

Right before bedtime, I talked to Tanner for a little while. He was driving up to see his girlfriend, Linsey. She had just texted him to tell him that her doctor called and told her she had to have the rest of her thyroid removed. They had been planning to meet for dinner that night, but she (understandably) didn't feel like going out. She did say she'd like to have him come over though. She lives in Tooele, so it is a bit of a drive. Tanner didn't know much info then but when I texted him on Wednesday he reported that Linsey was feeling a little better but she has to have another surgery (to remove the rest of her thyroid) and possibly a round of chemo. That doesn't sound so great to me. I think Tanner is pretty worried about her (naturally). He had finals this week too so he's been pretty stressed. Keep him (and Linsey) in your prayers!

We had a guest teacher for Seminary on Wednesday April 15th which is always fun. Our guest is one of the counselors in the stake presidency--the one who oversees Seminary. We never would have asked him to do that (knowing how busy he is) except that he told us he would love to teach our class anytime, so we took him up on that! He did a great job and brought donut holes for the kids which they loved.

Wednesday was also tax day and my last shift at VITA for this year. One of the other volunteers brought in little Pay Day candy bars to give to us. 😊It was pretty busy (not surprising) and I didn't get home until about 3:15. I will see at least some of the other volunteers in a few weeks because we are having a breakfast. They are a great bunch of people and I have really enjoyed working with them!

I had book club Wednesday evening, where we discussed the book Nation by Terry Pratchett. Now we are reading a book called Moloka'i by Alan Bennert. (I don't have a copy of it yet, though.) There was a lot to discuss about Nation, so we ended later than usual and then I had a hard time falling asleep and woke up a couple of hours early so that wasn't so fun. 

After Seminary and grocery shopping on Thursday April 16th, I took a nap but I woke up after only 30 minutes. My plan for the day was to finish preparing Monday's Seminary lesson and plan Tuesday's lesson, but instead I spent most of the day doing regular chores and a whole lot of Seminary related tasks. (One of them was to ask someone to guest teach for us in a couple of weeks and she did accept the invitation, so that was nice.) I did get a little bit more planning for Monday's lesson done Thursday night shortly before going to bed. I'm struggling with this lesson more than normal because our stake Seminary supervisor is visiting our class on Monday and she wants to have about 8 minutes at the end to talk to the kids so I'm trying to keep the lesson short. And this lesson doesn't want to be short! (Plus I'm not good at keeping lessons short anyway.) So I keep circling back around to this lesson, trying to change it so that it's shorter. Frank came home from work early so that he could do some work for one of his clients. 

This morning (Friday April 17th) I woke up shortly after 1:00 am, so it was another bad night and I'm feeling pretty tired. I worked some more on Monday's Seminary lesson this morning (but I still think it's too long). After lunch, I updated finances and after that started on this post. Seth went to work at 11:00 and he will be home at 5:00. Frank has been working from home all day but he just left to go to the temple. They needed extra workers tonight for a special event, so he volunteered to go. We are feeding the missionaries tonight which I couldn't do if Seth wasn't here but I asked them to come at 5:30 to make sure Seth will be home before they arrive. 

I am trying to grow out my bangs and I go around with my hair in a headband most of the time to keep my long bangs out of my face. I took this photo this week to record this fun phase for posterity. I was surprised when it actually turned out to be probably the best selfie I've ever taken of myself (which doesn't mean it's good, just not as terrible as all the other selfies I've taken). 

I need to start making dinner soon and that's all the news I have for this week.