Weekly Review July 27 '12

I certainly haven't been very organized this week.  There was so much going on that I just let the schedule go and just did whatever seemed the most urgent thing that needed to be done at the time.  I hope I didn't forget anything really important! 

Saturday was pretty eventful because I got to go pick up Scott & Tanner from Trek and later on Hans & Griffin arrived.  I'm really glad I got to go pick up the boys because it was really cool to see all the kids with their handcarts dressed in their pioneer clothes.  Besides that, there was just a really great feeling there. The kids were all happy and excited and I could tell they were feeling really good about what they had been able to accomplish.

I found Tanner first.  Here he is with his "family" and handcart.  He was part of the Fairchow family.

Two of these girls are in our ward.  Kaitlyn is second from the left; she recently turned 16 and moved into the Laurel class.  Elizabeth is on the far right; she is one of "my" MiaMaids.

Here is Scott with his "family" and handcart.  He was in the Heaps family.  (Turns out his "ma" is Daelynn Dorr (used to be, now she's--obviously--Daelynn Heaps).  She actually recognized me (even knew I was Annette, not Amy) and came over to talk to me.  She said that Scott was "a great asset" to their family.



Scott again

Looking at the whole group (as far as you can see).

I brought home four other kids besides Scott & Tanner.  You might remember that I was worried about Scott when I dropped them off because he wasn't in a very good mood.  He admitted that he was in a pretty rotten mood the first day but the second day he started feeling better.  The funny thing is, as I talked to a lot of the adults and kids who had gone, they all agreed that the first day most people were pretty grumpy but the second day everyone woke up cheerful.  The really remarkable thing about that is that they did, indeed, get completely drenched by a huge severe thunderstorm the first night and they all had to walk in wet shoes all day the second day, which caused a lot of blisters.  Apparently they were still walking when the storm hit the first night and they just kept going.  Everyone was so tired that they slept well the first night in spite of how wet everything was.  The overall feeling that all the kids who went seemed to have was "that was the hardest thing I've ever done, but it was SO worth it!"

When I was picking the kids up, I had several people (in our ward or in our stake) who know me stop me to tell me how amazing my sons' testimonies were.  (They had a testimony meeting the last morning.)  I'm still not sure what Tanner said (I haven't been able to get him to tell me much about it) but our bishop asked Scott to share his feelings in Sacrament Meeting the next day, so we got to hear how Scott felt about his experience.  Basically what he said was that as he thought about the things the pioneers went through--not just for a few days like he did--but for months, he cried and was really overwhelmed at what they were willing to do to make sure that they and their descendants had the blessings of the gospel.  Then he said it made him think about what he needs to be willing to do and to sacrifice on his "Trek"--which is really his life here on earth--to make sure that his descendants would have the same blessings and so that they could look back to him and be grateful the way he looks back to his own ancestors with gratitude.  He finished by saying "and I know this (slapping the pulpit) is the place I need to be to become that kind of person."  It was even better than that, the way he said it, but you get the idea!  As his mother who prayed the whole time he was gone that he would have a good experience and get something valuable out of it, I feel so grateful that my prayers were answered!  I was especially thrilled that not only did he gain a greater appreciation for his pioneer ancestors but that he went even further and made the connection to how it applied to his own life and the responsiblity he has to those who will come after him.  What more could I ask for?  I'm sure Tanner had similar feelings, too.  I'm really glad that the leaders in our stake decided to do a Trek.  I can tell that it had a huge impact on everyone who took part and that it helped to build tremendous unity among the youth as well as the adults who participated. 

After the guys got home, unpacked, and showered, Hans and Griffin arrived.  I don't think Griffin was too thrilled with the long drive from Boston!  We had dinner and relaxed.

The next morning Frank took Tanner and left for church early because Tanner had a meeting.  The rest of us went out a few minutes later and discovered that the Expedition wouldn't start!  Great, just what we needed.  I couldn't get in touch with Frank but thankfully Hans had his car so he took a carload over and sent Frank back to get Jared and I.  We managed to make it to church on time in spite of all that.  Frank had some stake work to do that day so he left after the sacrament to do that so he could get back in time to help get us all back home. 

Monday morning Frank had to go to work but we got one of our neighbors to give us a "jump" and then Hans went with me to Wal Mart to get the battery tested.  It turns out the battery was the problem, so I got a new one put in.  (And I'm really grateful it wasn't a bigger problem!)  Hans and I got some shopping done while they installed the new battery, then I ran a bunch of errands.  That evening Hans, Frank and I took the two little boys to a nearby nature center, which has a nice playground and a pond with fish and turtles. 

 Griffin and Hans feed the turtles.

 A turtle waits expectantly.

 Seth loved running up and down the boardwalk around the pond!

I'm giving fish / turtle food to Griffin and Seth.

Griffin tries out the zip line on the playground.

 More zip line!

 Seth checks out the telescope.

Griffin tries out the slide--headfirst, of course!

Happy cousins.

 Happy Seth.

On Tuesday Hans and I took Seth and Griffin to the zoo.  Scott and Jared didn't particularly want to go to the zoo.  Tanner wanted to go, but he was not feeling well most of the week.  He had a sore throat and congestion, and just generally felt tired and yucky.  Jared had a basketball camp from 9:00 to noon every day this week (a free camp done by a couple of members of our stake for all interested youth) so Scott took him to the camp and back while I was at the zoo.  We picked a very hot and humid day to be outside all day, but then, it's pretty hard to find a day that's not like that this time of year. 

Looking at the tiger.

Watching the orangutan.

One of the fun features of the National Zoo is the "O" line--some cables high overhead that allow the orangutans to move from one building to another as they wish.  They go right over your heads!

Seth loves the panda!  (And the frozen lemonade Hans got for us--it really hit the spot on that hot day!)  We stopped briefly to see the temple on the way home and arrived home very tired, but we enjoyed the day.  Frank was awesome and made dinner so that I didn't have to.  Scott was gone for the evening--he was invited by his friend Allie to go kayaking.  Fortunately, her parents decided it wouldn't be a good idea for them to go kayaking because another large thunderstorm rolled in when they would have been out on the river.  Scott went to Allie's house and hung out all evening instead.

On Wednesday Hans and Griffin went to a small local amusement park to play laser tag and so forth.  Then later they went to see Spiderman.  They offered to take cousins with them but Tanner still wasn't feeling well so he laid low and Jared was too tired after basketball camp to go with them.  Scott already had plans with a friend.  I took Scott and Tanner to their follow up eye appointments that afternoon and got caught up on things that needed to be done around the house.

Hans and Griffin had to leave Thursday morning, sadly.  We really enjoyed having them here and we are glad they came to see us.  I think Griffin really liked trying out our K'nect.  He got really good at a lot of the sports events, such as hurdles and long jump.  I think their plan was to drive partway home yesterday and then go to Six Flags today, returning the rest of the way home tomorrow.

Since they left, things haven't slowed down much around here.  I taught a merit badge class yesterday afternoon (Personal Management) to some of the boys in our ward, including Jared.  Last night I attended a bridal shower for a girl in our ward.  It was lots of fun.  In between the boys helped with vacuuming, laundry, taking out the trash etc.  Scott wasn't feeling really well but he still went to Institute last night.  He's been worse today, so he took it easy.  He seems to have caught the same thing Tanner has had all week.  Tanner is feeling a lot better now and tonight he went to spend the night with his friend Seth.  They are going to see Batman, to celebrate Seth's birthday this week.

Today I spent a lot of time on the budget again.  I want to make it clear that I am not complaining, but it takes a lot more time to update our finances now that Frank has a business!  I met with the Mia Maid advisor this afternoon to do some activity planning.  After I got back, Frank was home and we went together to get some documents notarized that we needed to send to the insurance company and then went to the auto repair place to finish cleaning out the Prius and to remove the plates so it can be released to our insurance company.  (It will be sold at auction for the parts.)  It was kind of sad--we are really sorry to lose that car!  Now we just need to find a new car.  We haven't had time to really look yet, although Frank has done some online searching and tonight he stopped at a dealership near our house to see what they have.

I have been writing this post while we've been watching the opening ceremonies of the summer Olympics.  We've been enjoying that quite a bit--fun to see the "history of England".  We've made it to the parade of nations now, but of course we'll have to stay up really late if we want to see the United States athletes march in.  Maybe we'll make it, maybe we won't. :) 

Weekly Review July 20 '12

Let's get the bad news over with first--our insurance company decided to total the Prius after all.  We got a call about it this morning.  We are not happy about it, but I guess we'll deal with it.  Just bummed that we're going to have to find a replacement that is probably going to cost more than the insurance is giving us, which means we are no longer 3 months away from not having a car payment.  But we know there are worse things!

We've had another busy week (what week isn't?).  Scott spent most of Saturday taking the driver improvement course.  Seth went to a birthday party for his friend Tyler--had a great time!  Tanner went to a dance that evening.  My friend Jeanine came over for a lot of the day--we ran errands, including getting our boys ready for Trek--and she and her son Kalvin stayed for dinner. 

Sunday I taught in YW and went to choir.  The day went by really fast--not quite sure where it all went!  I talked to Hans; we had things to discuss since he is coming to visit us.  (They will be here tomorrow--we're excited!)

Monday morning I had a presidency meeting over the phone.  Scott worked that afternoon.  The rest of the day was very busy, but not doing anything that you will want to read about--just errands and house work.  We got donuts for family night and the boys played Mario Kart.  I opted out because I had a bad headache and was feeling a bit nauseous--thankfully, that went away around bedtime and I've been fine since.

The three youngest boys and I went to the Koettings' house on Tuesday.  Jeanine and I visited while she packed some boxes (she knows they'll be moving sometime soon) and the boys played games.  Scott didn't go with us because he had a river rafting trip with the young single adults.  He was gone all day and didn't get home until late because after rafting they went out to eat and then he was trying to help his friend Allie get home because her car was having problems.  We agreed to let him follow her home, but they didn't get very far before her car died completely.  Frank went over to help them move the car out of traffic and stayed with them until Allie's dad arrived and they determined that the car was going to have to be towed.  Jared had gone with Scott, so it was a late night for all of us.  (I stayed up waiting for them and worked on Jared's quilt while I waited and Tanner was spending the night with his friend Seth and so he was doubtless up late as well.) 

We were busy on Wednesday with the usual household chores.  In addition, I worked on some cleaning / organizing in the laundry room and took Scott & Tanner to get their eyes checked.  Our new eye insurance is very good, thankfully, which helps out a lot.  They both need new glasses as well as contact lenses.  They ordered their glasses and we go back next week for a a follow up on the trial contact lenses they gave them.  That evening we cleaned out my car's trunk, which included a trip to Goodwill.  I knew I needed the space to transport Trek equipment the next morning.  It is nice to have my trunk space back!  The older boys did not have YM that night, but Jared did have a meeting at the scoutmaster's house to get all his scout stuff updated.  He's ready for his board of review for his 1st Class now.  We tried to get to bed early, but were only slightly successful.

We had to be at the church at 5:15 in the morning for Trek.  Unfortunately, I woke up at 3:00 am and never went back to sleep.  We made it to the church on time and everyone was pretty prompt so we were able to get on the road pretty quickly.  I had a carful of boys.  Here is a picture of most of the group, ready to go:  

It's not a great picture because it was still pretty dark, but you get the idea!  The kids actually looked really great.  Tanner is in the front row (kneeling) on the far left of the picture.  Scott isn't in the picture because he was in the car sulking.  He woke up in a bad mood and wasn't really enthusiastic about going on the Trek.  He cheered up a bit in the car on the way over, but he still didn't go into it with the best attitude.  I hope he snapped out of his bad mood at some point, because Trek is the kind of experience that you really need to have a good attitude to get something good out of it.  We drove the kids to their drop off point, which was at a camp (our stake and a number of other stakes recently purchased a camp ground) up in Pennsylvania, a little west of Gettysburg.  It's about an hour from Frederick.  When we got there, Scott reluctantly allowed me to take a picture of he and Tanner:

(That's their friend Taylor next to Tanner.)  It's not the best picture because Scott was yawning and Tanner made a silly face, but you can see how they looked in their "pioneer" clothes.  I found those shirts online and I should have gotten a size bigger.  The measurements made them sound larger than they really are, and then they shunk a bit when I washed them.  I was very careful--washed them in cold water and dried them on extra low--but they still shrunk.  I had to wash them, though, because they were quite scratchy before washing.  So anyway, their shirts are a bit on the small side.  The buckets they are holding is what they gave each youth to hold their stuff.  The bags in their hands has their bedding.  That's all they were allowed to bring.  The car seemed really quiet with just me on the way home.  I got home by 8:00.  I got household chores done, exercised, did some family search indexing, worked on personal progress and a personal history post, took Jared to meet up with some friends at a local carnival, and never got a nap!  It was a long day.  We had a very fierce thunderstorm blow in during the evening, and a lot of us parents with kids on the Trek were pretty nervous about them being out in that. It was not the kind of storm where you should be outside!  I was not all that worried about them getting hurt--I'm sure they were protected--but I was more worried that they were having a totally miserable experience.  I hope they got some sleep and that they found some way to stay at least slightly dry!  We've had more rain today, too, although no thunderstorms.  At least today the temperatures are a lot cooler than yesterday--we had a pretty high heat index yesterday.  I'll be going to pick them up tomorrow afternoon.  We are all anxious to hear about how it all went.

I don't feel like I've been very productive today.  I spent a lot of time on the budget and made lots of phone calls.  Frank is working on getting my budget spreadsheet changed so I can account for both bank accounts.  Seriously, that's all I got done--not quite sure where the day went.  I should do some more work on the laundry room tonight but I am wiped out (maybe more emotionally than physically) so I am going to watch a movie instead.  We just got a good "chick flick" from Netflix.  The laundry room isn't going anywhere, so it will still be there waiting for me when I get back to it!

Wish us luck car shopping--I hate car shopping with a fiery passion.  I'm glad Hans and Griffin are going to be here to cheer us up! :) 

My Parents

JoAnn & Gerald Pew--June 2005  (Bryce Canyon, UT)

My next set of questions is:  "Tell me about your parents.  Where were they born?  When were they born?  What memories do you have of them?  Who was more strict: your mother or your father?  Do you have a vivid memory of something you did that you were disciplined for?"

So before I go any further, I want to say that I wish I had better pictures of my parents to include in this post.  If I lived near them, I would raid their house and scan a bunch of photos, because I know they have some really nice ones.  But since I live thousands of miles away I couldn't do that.  I had to go with what I have from their visits to us and our visits to them.  And that was pretty slim pickings.  So maybe when I visit this fall I will scan some photos and re-do this post with better pictures!

My father is Gerald Pew and my mother is JoAnn Johnson Pew.  I think it's interesting that neither of my parents has a middle name.  (Unless you count "Jo" as my mom's first name and "Ann" as her middle name.)  I do know that she was named after her two grandmothers--"Jo" for Sarah Josephine Williams and "Ann" for Abigail Ann Webb.  Both of my parents were born in Mesa, Maricopa County, Arizona.  My dad was born June 30, 1933 and my mom was born November 14, 1935.  My dad is the next to youngest of eight kids (plus he had one living step sister) and my mom is the third child (and oldest girl) in a family of six kids.  Neither of my parents was born in a hospital.  They grew up around the block from each other so they don't remember meeting--they knew each other their whole lives.  It wasn't until they were in high school (my dad's senior year and my mom's sophomore year) that they started to think of each other in any kind of a romantic way.  They got engaged through the mail while my dad was in England, serving in the Air Force.  They were married on July 21, 1955.  My dad had just turned 22 and my mom was 19.  I don't have any early pictures of them except for this "picture of a picture": 

Sorry for the glare--this is the picture on the front of a photo album that Shellie made for their 50th wedding anniversary, and there's plastic over the picture. 

I have lots of memories of my parents, of course.  I have said it before and I will say it again--they are really great parents!  Not perfect, of course--but about as close as you can get.  I have big shoes to fill now that I am a parent--I hope I can do even half as well as they did!  I feel very blessed to be their daughter. 

The thing I appreciate the most about my parents is that they both have strong testimonies of the gospel and they live it to the best of their abilities every day of their lives.  For us, the gospel was a way of life and it influenced everything we did.  The other thing I really appreciate about my parents is they were very consistent in their discipline and they had very few rules.  They just expected the best of us, and that made me want to be good.

Here's a picture of our family taken around 1970-71:

I do not remember my dad with dark hair, and you can see why--he's already mostly gray in this photo, and you can see that I'm pretty young. 

My dad is very smart.  He worked as a computer programmer for most of his career.  My dad worked very hard.  He worked at his job Monday through Friday and when he was home he was usually working too--yardwork, or fixing something that needed to be fixed.  My dad is one of those rare people who can fix just about anything, from cars to toasters.  I do not remember people like plumbers or washer repairmen coming to our house, except on very rare occasions.  (Thankfully, my husband is a lot like my dad in this way!)  My dad was also always busy with church work.  He served in a bishopric for a while when I was young and when I was a teenager he was the stake clerk for a number of years.  I'm sure he held many other callings, but I don't remember the others.  On Sundays when I was little, I would get up and he would already be in his suit eating breakfast--or already gone to a meeting.

(Dad's always working!)

My mom worked hard too--she had 8 kids, after all!  She had to do all the numerous jobs that are necessary to be done in order to keep a household running smoothly.  She was always busy and didn't have much time for play, but she involved us in her work and taught us how to do all the household tasks.  We had jobs to do most days (like dishes) and on Saturdays we had to clean our rooms and we usually had another job to do--such as cleaning a bathroom or tidying, dusting and vacuuming the family or living room.  I didn't like to do those things, but I learned how to do them!  I remember taking turns being the "cook's helper" in the mornings when Mom made breakfast.  I learned how to make syrup and how to scramble eggs.  One time when I was helping make pancakes the griddle cord started throwing sparks.  I was terrified, but Mom just calmly reached over and unplugged it.  (Time for a new griddle!)  I also remember going grocery shopping with my mom.  I enjoyed that task and looked forward to the times when it was my turn to go with her.  (Sadly, I do NOT like shopping anymore, now that it is my job to do that all the time!)  Other things that kept my mom busy were baking (we had homemade bread and cookies almost all the time) and sewing (she made nearly all of our clothes herself).  She does not enjoy cooking at all, but she does really like to sew.  And she's good at it!  (I'm sure she made the dresses the girls are wearing in the family photo above.  And see the photo below.  Mom made all our dresses--and probably her own as well.):

Probably spring, 1971--Annette, Mom, Amy, Shellie

 

I'm really not sure how she managed to do all that!  I know watching her as a little girl, though, that I never wanted to be anything else more than I wanted to be a mom!  Mom is very smart too.  She has a talent for writing and she's really good at puzzles.  I still remember her walking through the room (load of laundry in arms or something else like that) while we were watching shows like Wheel of Fortune.  We'd been watching for a while and unable to figure out the answer to the puzzle, but my mom would glance at the screen and say "Oh that's..." and get correct answer!  It was so aggravating! :)  Besides sewing, Mom also is very good at embroidery and cross stitch.  Mom taught me a lot about managing money and about organizing a household.  I am really in awe at all she was able to accomplish. 

I'm not sure how to answer the question about who was stricter.  My parents were pretty united in discipline.  As I said--they had a few rules and they stuck with them.  My mom was with us more so she probably did more of the disciplining.  Both of my parents would raise their voices on occasion when they got angry although I remember being more intimidated by my dad's yells than my mom's.  (My kids are the same way.  What is it about dads?!)  I was a fairly timid and very compliant child, however, so I never liked it when either of my parents was angry with me.  I do not remember being spanked (although my mom says it did happen occasionally when I was very young) and I don't think I was ever "grounded"--this was not a discipline technique that my parents used, as far as a I know.

I guess while we're on the subject of discipline, I will tell my "vivid discipline memories"!  (Yep, this is the embarrassing part.)  I have two that have really stuck with me through the years--one with Dad and one with Mom.  The first one happened when we lived in Denver and was probably when I was nearly five because I know that Ben was old enough to be walking.  I remember we were all going into the house one day (through the door from the back patio to the kitchen) and I went running inside, carelessly letting the screen door bang shut behind me.  It so happened that Ben was right behind me and the screen door slammed in his face, scaring him enough that he started to cry.  (He would have been only one or a little bit older).  Dad got mad at me and yelled--and I retreated to my room in tears.  I remember thinking that it wasn't very fair that he had gotten mad at me because I hadn't scared Ben on purpose or anything.  A little while later, Dad came into my room and apologized to me.  He said he shouldn't have yelled at me.  But then he explained to me that he wanted me to learn to be more careful of Ben because he was littler than me.  I still remember how my angry, upset heart changed in that moment.  I truly wanted to be that careful, considerate older sister that my dad wanted me to be.  (Not sure if I really am--still working on that!)  Whenever I read D&C 121:43, I think of my dad.  He had that scripture down pat!

My second vivid memory of being disciplined happened while we lived in Houston.  I don't remember how old I was--probably about 7 or 8.  I don't remember a lot of details, but I do remember that it was one of those days when we (Amy, Tim and I) were feeling bored and having a hard time finding something to do.  Then one of our friends came by to see if we could come over to play.  My mom answered the door and apparently she had other plans for us because she told our friend that we could not come over.  I felt rather indignant, having this opportunity for entertainment snatched away from me, and when my mom turned around from closing the door, I said "You dummy!"  Well!  All the other kids were sent to another room while I got a lecture on respect for parents that I will never forget. (Ok, well I've actually forgotten her exact words, but the message came through loud and clear and I've never forgotten that!)  Then I got sent to my room.  I remember my mom's reaction came as a total surprise to me--it didn't occur to me that I was supposed to treat her differently from everyone else (although calling anyone a dummy is not a good thing).  The kind of funny part of the story is that my mom went shopping shortly thereafter and totally forgot that she had sent me to my room.  So I was in my room for a long time, and had a lot of time to ponder over my crime.  When mom came home, I sent Amy down to ask if I could come out of my room and a chagrined mom came up to apologize to me.  But that is one of the great things about my parents--they don't make mistakes often, but when they do they are not too proud to admit it and to say "I'm sorry".  I've tried to remember that when I have made my own parenting mistakes and to follow their examples.

Just a few more things I'd like to say about my parents.  They were always learning and taught us the value of a good education.  They encouraged us to be the best we could be.  As we moved around in my earlier years, they helped me learn to love and appreciate every place I lived.  I learned to embrace the unique things about each place we went--something I still do.  I've learned that it's important to live in the moment and to put down roots even if you're not going to stay somewhere long.  Yes, it hurts to uproot them later, but if you don't put down roots, you don't really live.  Some of my fondest memories are of little day trips that we took to see things nearby.  In Colorado, we went to places like Royal Gorge, Pikes Peak & the Garden of the Gods, Rocky Mountain National Park, and some indian ruins (but NOT Mesa Verde--I stand corrected!)  In Utah we took numerous trips up the nearby canyons and also visited Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon.  On trips to Arizona, we visited the Grand Canyon, Sunset Crater, and Wupatki (indian ruins).  When I was older, we took trips to Yellowstone (that one was with Erick & Liz) and to Mt. Rushmore.  I learnd to love nature and to have reverence for God's creations.  I learned to love going new places and seeing new things from them.           

On a trip to Bryce Canyon with me and my boys in June 2005--Tanner, Dad, Mom, Jared & Scott

We went on a hike to a small waterfall--it was beautiful! (Sorry for silly Tanner!)

They are wonderful, loving grandparents:

July 2005--Grandpa & Tanner

October 2008--Grandma & Seth

They have made an effort to go to as many baptisms of their grandchildren as possible, showing the grandkids by their examples that the gospel is important to them.

Visiting for Tanner's baptism in December 2004

Jared's baptism in November 2006

One of the greatest things I think my parents have done is to serve not one, but two full time missions!  What a great legacy to leave for their grandkids!  They have incredible faith, and it shows in all that they do.  I can never thank them enough for sharing their faith with me so that now it has become my own.  But I am trying to pass that same legacy on to my own children.  I think that is the best way to thank them for all that they have done.  I often tell people that when it comes to that scriptural phrase "Where much is given, much is required" that there is a LOT required of me, because I was given everything.  I am one blessed person!

Ben, Tim, Hans, Curtis

Amy, Mom, Dad, Erick

Shellie, Annette

June 2010

Weekly Review July 13 '12

We had a lot going on this week.  On Saturday I went to a baby shower, the missionaries came to dinner, Frank helped do the cooking for a wedding, Scott had to work, and Jared arrived home from scout camp.  Jared had a successful week at camp--he completed all six of the merit badges he had signed up to do.  We are proud of him for working so hard. 

After church on Sunday we had visitors--the McWhirk family from Washington state.  They have been good friends with Frank's family ever since Dean (the dad) served in Brevard while on his mission.  Dean was there several years before I served there, so he and his wife Amber have 3 grown childred now.  Their youngest son was with them and Dean's mom was with them as well.  They came out this way to visit their daughter, who is married now and lives in Maine.  They were nice enough to swing by our place on their way back home.  We had a fun afternoon and evening visiting with them and having dinner together.  They are delightful people.  It is nice to see friends!

Our activities on Monday included trips to the library and  to Costco, along with all our usual Monday chores.  I also made seat cushions for the boys to attach to their buckets for Trek, so that they can use them as seats as well as luggage. 

On Tuesday I took Scott to the dermatologist in the morning and I had book club that afternoon.  I think we ended up discussing other topics more than the actual book, but it was a very interesting discussion anyway.  It's nice to know that other moms have a lot of the same concerns that I do concerning their kids--espcially when it comes to motivation and education.  Tanner went to his friend Ryan's house that afternoon to work out and ended up spending the night there.  He didn't get home until late afternoon on Wednesday.  Scott and Jared went to see the new Spiderman movie; they really enjoyed it. 

I had shopping on Wednesday and I also took Jared to an orthodontist appointment.  My cleaning / organizing project for this week was the closet under the stairs; I got that done on Wednesday too.  I was not happy when I found a dead mouse in one of the boxes--yuck!  (Shudder!!)  Everything is all nicely organized now, at least.  We are missing quite a few camping items that I think we should have.  Maybe they will turn up when I get some other areas of the house cleaned out.  That evening we had YM / YW.  The girls did a fun competition that tested their knowledge of some of the standards in the For Strength of Youth pamphlet.  We had a small group of girls (many seem to be on vacation) but it was still fun.  The boys spent the evening washing folding chairs.  Jared spent the night with his friend Ian that night.

Yesterday I was supposed to have a presidency meeting, but the YW president had been up sick all night so the meeting was postponed.  Frank left for work, but then came back because he couldn't get the door to the gas tank on his car open and he was almost out of gas.  He looked online and figured out a way to fix it, but by then he was supposed to be on the phone for a meeting so he stayed home to do that.  He had two other phone meetings later which didn't give him much time to drive to work in between so he just decided to work from home.  I left to go get groceries and as I was checking out, Frank called to say I needed to get home because Scott had gone to pick up Jared from Ian's house and on the way he wrecked the car.  Scott was just fine, thankfully, but the car was damaged pretty badly.  We got over there as quick as we could.  He had looked down for a few seconds to change the radio and ran into the back of a 15 passenger shuttle van.  The Prius is a little car, so it went right under the bumper of the van and the only damage to the van was a tiny scratch.  The driver of the van was super nice; when we got there he said "I'm so sorry.  I saw him coming and I knew he was going to hit me, but I couldn't get out of the way because there were 3 cars in front of me."  Good heavens, he was apologizing to us!  The world really needs more people like that, don't you think?  He will not be filing a claim and he didn't call the police either--someone else who witnessed the accident must have done that because a trooper did show up.  We had to have the Prius towed and we spent a good hour on the phone with our insurance company before we had all that taken care of.  The policeman was annoyed--he wanted to call the tow truck himself and he said we were "wasting his time".  Well, we just wanted to make sure that we had it done right because we knew our insurance company would cover the cost of the tow.  Here are pictures of our poor little Prius:  

 The dark spot on the ground is leaking antifreeze and oil--our car is "bleeding"! :(

And here's the van that he hit...hmm, not much to see here!

If you look really close, you might be able to see a little scratch on the bumper:

It was obvious from looking at the car that it was going to need some major repairs--both body work and damage to the engine.  (The front passenger side door wouldn't open more than a few inches either.)  Because of that, we were really afraid that the insurance was going to rule the car a total loss.  Did I mention that we only have 3 payments left to make on this car?!  However, we feel so blessed because after the estimate came in today ($5300), the insurance company said they would pay for it to be fixed.  (Less our deductible, which isn't really small but it isn't huge either.)  We are so glad we are not going to have to go car shopping and that we are going to get our little Prius back!  Because we're pretty sure we were not going to be able to afford another Prius.  We got this one used for a good price.  The insurance guy told us that the Prius holds its value a lot better than most other cars, which is probably what saved us.  We will not be getting it back for 2-3 weeks, though.  Thankfully, our insurance also covers the cost of a rental car and we were able to pick it up last night.  It's a Prius, too! :)

We are very thankful that Scott is ok.  We know it could have been so much worse.  If he had been going faster, he probably would have been seriously injured.  The airbags did not deploy because the bumper was nearly untouched.  There are quite a few negative consequences from this accident though--of course.  He was charged with negligent driving so he has to pay a $280 fine and go to a good driver class (which we managed to get set up for tomorrow).  They put 3 points on his license although he may be able to get some of them waived.  I can't imagine how much our insurance premium is going to go up!  But no one is hurt, and we are very grateful for that.

Between one thing and another, we spent a lot of time dealing with the consequences of the accident yesterday, but I still managed to get all my work done.  I was even able to start working on Jared's t-shirt quilt, and we all went outside after dinner and got the lawn mowed and weeding done.  It went pretty fast with everyone helping! Scott went to Institute after that and the other two older boys stayed up watching a movie until he got home. 

Today has also been busy and I feel like I've been interrupted a lot so the day hasn't been as productive as I would have liked.  Scott worked this afternoon and Jared went bowling with some friends.  This evening the 3 older boys are all playing laser tag--there is a special deal on Friday nights that they are taking advantage of.  They went with other friends from the ward too, so they should have fun.

In between everything else this week, I've been working on a lesson (my turn to teach Mia Maids in YW) and reading a book called Tuesdays with Morrie, which is really good so far.  I've been exercising and doing some indexing too. 

Frank had a busy and kind of rough week.  On Sunday evening he started itching all over.  Scott and I had to go out and get him some Benadryl because we didn't have any in the house.  He was still itching in the morning and the medicine made him drowsy so he decided to work from home on Monday.  He went in on Tuesday but started itching again after lunch so he came home early and worked some more from home.  He finally started doing better on Wednesday and was able to make it to work all day.  We don't know what caused it and hope it won't come back.  In the meantime, he also had a client who got a bad virus on his computer so he spent a lot of time on Wednesday night fixing that.  He did monthly maintenance for two clients last night so he has been pretty busy with extra work this week.  I guess that will help pay for the car, though.

Weekly Review July 6 '12

When I left off last week, we were awaiting the return of Scott and Tanner from "Camp Helaman"--a 50 mile canoe trip for all the teachers and priests in our stake.  We found out they were going to be later than we thought, so we took the younger two kids out to eat at Red Robin while we waited.  They didn't get home until close to 9:00.  They were sunburned and dirty (and minus one Camel back backpack--Tanner lost his) but they had a great time, apparently.  I made them pose for some pictures before they showered:

I should have taken "before" pictures.  They don't look all that dark here, but trust me--they are a lot darker than they were when they left!

 In this one, you can see the places the life jackets covered and the places they didn't!

And here you can see the tan lines on their legs!  I should mention that they got this bright red in spite of going through an entire brand new bottle of sunscreen apiece.  They have much stronger muscles in their upper arms from all the rowing and they said the devotionals they had every evening were very inspiring.  On Sunday a lot of the boys (including both Scott and Tanner) shared their thoughts in testimony meeting and it was pretty amazing all the different analogies they were able to make between their experiences on this trip and life / the gospel.  So I think it was definitely worth the work and expense getting them ready.

The guys got unpacked that night and we put several things on the back deck to dry.  They took longer to dry than we anticipated, because within an hour a big thunderstorm blew in.  Frank and I turned out our bedrooms lights, pulled up the blinds, lay down in our bed and watched the show.  (There was a lot of lightning.)  I actually enjoyed it, but Snickers didn't--he spent the night in our room.  Seth slept through the whole thing and the older boys were too tired to stay awake.  I was surprised to find out the next day that a lot of damage was done and that a lot of people were without power.  It didn't seem that bad to me where we are.  We are lucky--we never lose power! 

Saturday was busy with a lot of the usual things.  Scott went in to work to get his paycheck and check his schedule and got talked into working for three hours that evening.  Before that, he went to a graduation party for a friend for about an hour.  I went on a couple of YW visits that morning with the other YW counselor.  After I got back, I spent a lot of time finishing up the preparations for my lesson.  Jared finished packing for scout camp.  That evening I watched Regarding Henry on Netflix (good movie) while everyone else (except Seth; he was asleep) watched the second Ghost Rider movie; no one liked it at all, though.

Sunday was a nice day of rest.  I think my lesson went pretty well.  We had another big storm that night although not as big as the first one.  It's been very hot and humid ever since, as you've probably been hearing.  I took this picture about an hour ago:     

That's actually not a very high temperature compared to some of the others we've seen the last few days.  It feels like August already.  I hope it's not going to be like this all the way through July and August, although I guess if it is, we kind of deserve it after the mild winter we had!  And at least we are getting some rain and aren't dealing with wild fires. 

Jared left early Monday morning for Scout Camp.  We didn't sleep well because of the storm so Frank went into work a little later than he had originally planned and took Jared to the church first so that I could get a little more sleep (much appreciated!)  In addition to the usual Monday chores (laundry, vacuuming, and grocery shopping) I ran a lot of errands--went to the bank and to the library and also to JoAnn's, where I finally remembered to get the supplies I need to make the seats for Trek.  I also got a rotary cutter, self-healing mat, and quilter's ruler--early birthday presents that will help a lot with making Jared's t-shirt quilt.  I've been wanting them for a long time anyway.  I'm sure they will be useful for a lot of projects.  I got a book with quilting projects from the library and there were so many beautiful quilts in there--I am really wanting to try another quilt, once Jared's is done.  Late Monday evening I did some online research looking for shirts for the boys to wear on Trek.  I managed to find some pioneer-type shirts for a really good price, but the company required a $100 minimum order.  So I sent out an email to some of the other moms with boys in the ward and managed to round up enough people who needed shirts for their boys to place an order, which I did Tuesday night.

On Monday evening Scott went up to scout camp--they needed another "adult" helper for that night and the next day and since Scott didn't have to work he volunteered to go.  He ended up staying longer than he'd planned because the dad who was replacing him Tuesday evening had an emergency come up but Scott did come home late Tuesday night.  I think he had a great time and would have been happy to stay another day!  He got to go kayaking again, for one thing.  Meanwhile, Tanner was invited to spend the night with his friend Ryan to help celebrate Ryan's birthday, so we only had Seth home with us Monday night.

On Tuesday I got the Wal-Mart shopping done (I usually go on Wednesday but wanted to avoid going on the holiday) in addition to the other Tuesday chores I normally have to do.  I have given myself a "de-cluttering" project for every week for the rest of the summer so I worked on that too.  Frank was gone that evening for a few hours--he was helping with cooking.  A family in our stake does a big 4th of July breakfast and program every year and they have the missionaries help with the set up the day before, then feed them all dinner.  He was helping with the dinner for that.  Then he got up really early on Wednesday to go help again--this time cooking breakfast!

I gave up going to the breakfast a few years ago because it isn't much fun to chase Seth around while Frank cooks (the older boys always want to hang out with their friends).  I thought this year I might give it a go since Seth is getting older, but when Frank got up to leave super early I didn't go back to sleep for over an hour and by the time I woke up again it was only 15 minutes before the breakfast started.  None of the other boys was up yet anyway--Seth slept until nearly 9:00--so I would have had to wake him up to go, which I didn't want to do.  We had a pretty relaxing day (Frank took a nap after he got home from cooking) and didn't do much except have a nice dinner and go see fireworks.  Unfortunately, the fireworks turned out to be a frustrating experience--we got there an hour and a half early to secure a good viewing spot, and then right when the fireworks started a family walked up right in front of us and totally blocked our view.  Then they acted like we were super rude for asking them to please move, and never did move so we missed a lot of the show.  Maybe we will pick a different place to go next time.  (Or even better--maybe we will be in North Carolina or in Utah for the 4th next year!)

I slept terrible on Wednesday night so I admit I wasn't in the best of spirits Thursday morning.  I pulled myself out of the dumps eventually, though!  Scott and Tanner went that morning to help put some wheels on some of the handcarts for the Trek.  A local newspaper agreed to do a "before and after" story about the Trek, so a reporter was there to take pictures and to interview some of the kids.  While they were gone I exercised, vacuumed the whole house, and showered.  Frank got home from work early, which was nice.  He made me a blueberry cheesecake in lieu of traditional cake (my request) as well as a strawberry cheesecake for his boss--he had just found out that his boss's birthday is the day after mine!  I received several cards for my birthday and my gift from my family is an iPod.  I was suprised about that.  Frank found one for me on eBay for cheap.  It's used, but it is the newest version.  The reason it is so cheap is the screen was cracked.  He ordered a new screen but had difficulty installing it and broke it too so I have to wait until he can get another screen before I can start to figure out how it works.  Everybody sang to me and I opened the box from Mom & Dad: 

I'm excited to start reading my new book, but I have to finish the one for book club first.  Last night I signed up to be a family search indexer, which I've been wanting to do for a long time.  I've already tried it out and I think it's going to be addicting!  But at least it will be a productive way to spend my time.  Really late last night, Jared called to wish me a happy birthday.  We were suprised to get a call at 11:00 pm!

Today I've been busy updating the budget--my usual Friday activity.  Frank and I are going to go set up a bank account for his business in a few minutes.  Scott just left for work.  There's not much to say about today! 

In between everything else I've been reading the book for book club.  It's a young adult book called High Wizardry.  It reminds me of a lot of other books I've read including Harry Potter, A Wrinkle in Time, Percy Jackson, and the Chronicles of Narnia.  It has it's own unique twist, though, so I'm enjoying it.  Definitely not heavy duty reading and it doesn't have the pull of some of those other books but still, it's pretty good.  I'm interested to see how it turns out. 

We hope everyone enjoyed their 4th of July celebrations!  We are looking forward to seeing Jared again tomorrow and hearing all about his adventures. 

Early Memories

What's your first, most vivid memory?

That is the next question I'm supposed to answer for my personal history.  But to be honest, I'm not sure what the answer is.  My brother Tim claims that I remember "everything", but I really don't--and the older I get, the less I remember!  I have lots of snatches of vague memories from a long time ago that I can't even place.  Some of them (like having a dresser fall on top of me and when Hans got "our" dog, Pierre) I'm not even sure are real memories but could be just images I created in my mind after hearing the story of the event told over and over--because I was less than two years old when those things happened and it's hard to believe that I could really remember that far back.

There are other little memory "snatches" that I'm pretty sure are real but I don't know where or when they occurred or what event (if any) they are tied to--such as sitting on a tricycle and being lifted over the threshhold of a door so I could ride it outside.  My third birthday maybe?  (I think I received a tricycle that year.)  Or how about this one--I remember being at a church meeting (probably a stake conference, because I remember I was in an unfamiliar place) and being taken outside by my mom to go find a restroom (of course--I always needed to use the restroom!) and stopping on the sidewalk while my mom talked to another lady, who had a very fussy baby clinging to her legs and this lady telling my mom that the baby was teething, and that's why he (or she) was crying.  It was sunny and warm and the grass was green.  I have no idea why I remember that!

(By the way, do you have particular events that seem to trigger--not memories, exactly--but feelings?  And you feel like those feelings go way back--so far back that you can't even remember when that feeling began?  I have feelings like that rather frequently when I walk into church and hear prelude music playing, which I think is so cool.  Sometimes I feel like I'm actually remembering Sundays from when I was a baby!)

Here's something I don't remember:  

Amy & I playing in a laundry basket--about 1970

Isn't it nice that we have pictures so we know about things we used to do, even though we don't remember them?  It looks like we are having fun!  It's hard to believe we were little enough to both fit in that basket at once.  This picture was taken in Glendora, California and all of my memories from that time period are pretty sketchy.  I don't start to have really solid, concrete memories until during the time that we lived in Denver.

So, back to the original question.  (I never can give a short answer to a question; you've probably noticed.)  One of the earliest memories I have that I'm sure is a real memory and that I can tie to a specific place and event is the day my baby brother, Ben, came home from the hospital.  This happened in early February 1972 and we were living in Denver at the time.  I would have been a little over 3 1/2 years old.  What I remember about it is my Mom and Dad coming into the house, with my Mom carrying Ben in a car bed.  Everyone crowded around to see the new baby, and since I was so short, all I could see were the backs of a bunch of legs.  I remember feeling frustrated about that because I wanted to see the baby too and besides everyone was commenting about how cute he was and so forth--I knew I must be missing something pretty special!  Then my mom bent down to show me the baby and (forgive me, Ben!) I was a bit taken aback.  He looked pretty red and funny-looking to me!  I wasn't sure what all the fuss was about.  I didn't know then that all new babies look like that!  He's a pretty nice looking guy now. :)

In honor of the 4th of July, I want to share one other very random memory that I have.  I think it is so funny that I still remember this--it makes me wonder why the brain holds onto certain things and not to others.  This memory is also from the time we lived in Denver, and yes--it was on the 4th of July.  I'm not sure which year, though.  Anyway, it was late and Amy and I had been put to bed.  We were lying in the warm, darkened room and outside, I could hear firecrackers going off.  Then I heard a male voice call out from somewhere outside.  It said "Somebody look out the window!"  Why do I remember that?  Maybe because I really did want to look out the window!  Maybe because I wanted to be outside instead of in bed.  I guess I'll never know.