Weekly Review October 30 '15

I'll start this week with some sunrise pictures from my Saturday morning walk:

Saturday was mostly dominated by our ward activity—either getting ready for it or actually going to it. Frank and I made some chili in the morning. We also picked up the donuts (13 dozen!) and cider (8 gallons) and took them over to the church. I was back at the church at 3:00 to help get all the tables and chairs set up. One couple and I were basically the only ones there so we set up about 20 tables and about 136 chairs all by ourselves. Plus put on tablecloths and set up centerpieces. We got everything done right about the time people started showing up for the trunk or treat. The activity had 3 parts…first, trunk or treat, then the chili cook off (dinner, basically) and the last part was square dancing. A lot of people came and there was a lot of yummy chili. A lot of people didn’t stay for the square dancing part but those of us that did had a lot of fun. Even people like me who have no dancing ability whatsoever. We had a professional square dance caller come in for the dance and he spent some time on instruction and then led us through different dances. I actually missed most of it because I was washing the dishes but I did get in at the end for the last dance and it was really fun. Jared did the same. He was at work for some of the activity and I had to pick him up during the dinner part of it. Those of us that stayed decided we should do it again and convince more people to stay next time because it would be even more fun with a larger group of people.

I taught Seth’s Primary class on Sunday and it actually went better than I expected. (It's a large and very energetic class.) I kept them pretty under control and they participated in the lesson and I think they actually learned something! We loved having Tim and Rachelle over for dinner that evening! We wish they could have stayed longer. It is always a treat for us to have family visit!! 

We love our street in fall! I think I take pictures of these beautiful trees that I can see from my front window every year:

The rest of the week has been a typical busy week with all the usual chores that need to be done, plus some extras. We got Jared’s Hill Cumorah work crew application in the mail on Monday. (The deadline to get it postmarked is tomorrow so we’re good!). Jared got accepted to NHS so we got his dues and information sheet in. He won’t be able to go to the induction ceremony because it’s this Thursday which is opening night for the play he’s in.  Jared’s birthday was on Wednesday, of course, so I had things to do to get ready for that. I finally got a list from him the end of last week so I got shopping done on Monday. On Wednesday I wrapped presents and made his cake. I had a visiting teaching appointment Wednesday morning and I went to lunch with a friend on Thursday. I helped with Seth’s class on Monday and yesterday I went back in for part of the morning for International Children’s Day. Seth picked Egypt for his country this year. (He says he picked that because he likes mummies and pyramids are cool). I remembered that a friend's daughter has been to Egypt so I asked my friend if her daughter had any objects Seth could borrow to share and she did, so he was able to share them. But since I didn’t want anything to happen to them, I took them with us in the morning, watched his presentation and then took them home with me. I didn’t stay for the parade or the assembly because I had the lunch appointment. (Plus I've been to the parade and assembly almost every year for the last 13 years. You can only go to so many of those!)

Besides International Children’s Day, Seth also had Minecraft Club this week (it’s at the library and he goes with our carpool family). Jared had a pretty eventful week because not only did he turn 17, he also had play rehearsals and yesterday he got his driver’s license! I took him up to Hagerstown to take the test. It’s a very pretty drive this time of year. The trees are beautiful colors right now. Jared got a nice lady for his tester. She talked to him the whole time and said it was her goal to help him feel comfortable. Isn't that nice? Anyway, I am glad Jared got his license because he was able to drive himself to rehearsal and back last night. Whoo!! He’s pretty happy about it too of course.

For Jared’s birthday we invited his girl friend Jessie over for dinner. She was here for him to open his presents and have cake too. Then they both went to the stake center for her YW / YM activities because our ward didn’t have any YM / YW on Wednesday (there’s a party at a family's house tonight instead). Plus, one of their friends in Jessie’s ward is moving to Utah this weekend so it was their last chance to do something all together. It rained a lot on Jared’s birthday. When we got in the car so I could take Seth to Cub Scouts and Jared & Jessie to the stake center, we discovered that the intersection at the end of the main street by our house was totally flooded. There was actually a good 5 inches or more of running water flowing across the intersection and up onto the street we were on. I’ve never seen it flood that much there before. We had to drive through it, too, which made me nervous. Especially because we were in the Prius! But there was no way to turn around and lots of cars behind us, so we went and we made it through okay. By the time Frank went to pick up Seth from Cub Scouts, all the water was gone. Below are pictures of the birthday celebration, plus some of the rain storm. The sky was this really amazing color that we couldn't capture in the pictures...it was kind of lit up because the sun was going down behind the clouds. But the pictures still look kind of cool:  

Today the boys don’t have school. Yesterday was the last day of the first term (already!). Frank is working from home today and he and I went out to lunch with another couple in our ward. Jared drove to Jessie’s house to watch a movie with her. She lives in Brunswick (about 25 mintues away), so it’s nice that he can take himself down there.

That’s about all that we’ve been doing. Frank’s back has been hurting quite a bit still. He is going to get a better chair for his office downstairs, so hopefully that will help. He talked to the owner at PVI (one of his clients) about getting a chair because they sell office furniture. Frank told him he wanted to buy a chair from him and asked his opinion of what would be best. The owner told him that he would give him whatever chair he wanted, free of charge. I thought that was nice!

Now I have a project I need to work on so I'll get going on that.