Weekly Review January 1 '16

This week has gone by fast. It’s hard to believe that the boys will be back in school and Frank will be back at work on Monday. I don’t really feel ready for that yet. I have been enjoying the more relaxed pace and having everyone home. But I guess it is good for us to get back to “real life’ soon.

The day after Christmas, Frank, Scott and Jared went to see Star Wars (I got them tickets as a Christmas gift). They all really liked it, and Frank decided that it was okay for Seth to see it so the three of us went to see it on Wednesday. Seth loved it, of course. I enjoyed it too…it had the humor and the feel of the “original” Star Wars movies (Episodes 4, 5, and 6), which I liked, but I wouldn’t say I was blown away by it or anything. Honestly, the plot line was not all that original. Basically the same plot line as Episode 4. Most people think it’s amazing, though, so maybe I am too critical! As I said, I did enjoy it. 

Anyway, back to the weekend. On Saturday evening Jared had Jessie over and Bo (a girl in our ward who went to the same mission as Scott) came to hang out with Scott so they were both here for dinner. It was nice having them here. Our house is a whole different place when there are girls here! Everybody is nicer, somehow.

Frank didn’t have any meetings on Sunday and that was nice for a change. We got to relax a bit more…and we tried to enjoy it since that was our last Sunday when we didn’t have meetings until 1:00 pm. This Sunday we are back to the 9:00 am schedule. (Although overall, I prefer 9:00 am to 1:00 pm.) Tim & Rachelle sent us a DVD of a Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert with the Sesame Street Muppets, so we watched that and it was really good. Another ward friend came over for a while that evening to talk with Scott. They were comparing their woes over girls!

Monday morning we were up early because we had to get Scott to the airport by about 7:00 am for his 9:00 am flight. It was rainy and foggy, as it has been most of the time for the last few weeks. We got him there on time and he made it back to Utah okay. Kind of a bummer to see him go, but we are glad we got to see him for a few days. After we got back home, I went to the grocery store and got laundry going, but then Frank and I both went back to bed for a while because we were sleepy! After a 2 hour nap, I felt a lot better. We got the rest of the work done that we needed to do. In the late afternoon, we took Seth down to the scout store because as a boy who joined Cub Scouts this year, he could get a free gift (turned out to be a t-shirt) and I wanted to get a few things at the store too. Then we went from there to see the lights at the temple. Jared didn’t come with us…he had already seen the lights and he wanted to hang out with some friends in the ward. The lights were beautiful, and I enjoyed seeing all the nativity sets from all over the world too, as always. We timed it really well because we got there shortly after they turned the lights on and well before the evening concerts started so it wasn’t very crowded yet. Here are some pictures:

Here are some of the nativity sets I liked the most. I love how so many of the sets reflect the unique qualities of the culture they come from:

Take this one from Tanzania, for example. Of course we all know that there weren't any tigers, giraffes, or zebras in the stable where Jesus was born, and that He was of Jewish, not African descent. But I love how different cultures make Him their own. He is, of course, the Savior for all people, so He really does belong to all of us, and I love how nativity sets from all over the world reflect this truth.

I also love to see all the unique materials used to make the sets. This set from Kenya incorporates corn husks:

These three sets from Nepal, Italy, and Belize are all pretty tiny:

I love how this set from Hawaii is inside a coconut shell:

I loved the bright colors of this painted wood set from Georgia (the country, not the state):

This one is from Ghana:

This one from Myanmar is made out of some kind of glass:

I love how this set from Alaska have the people dressed like Eskimos:

 I thought this fabric set from Kazakhstan was really neat:

 The pieces of this set from the Ukraine look like they nest inside each other:

I loved the detail of these fabric figures in this set from Bolivia:

As I was going through the exhibit, I noticed that they had sets from almost every country where someone in our family has served a mission, so  I'm going to do a separate post about those.

I don’t remember much about Tuesday…I got lots of housework done and also did a bunch of stuff for Cub Scouts. Our stake is going to have a day camp next summer so I am helping plan for that. The Elders came over for dinner that night. Jared worked on both Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons / evenings. We had the Sisters over for dinner on Wednesday. One of them was not feeling well, so Frank gave her a blessing. We saw her the next day, and she is much better! We've gotten pretty close to this set of sister missionaries. They call me "Mama Cleveland" and they call Frank "Uncle Frank". It cracks me up! I didn’t sleep well Tuesday night, so I slept in on Wednesday and didn’t get a lot done that day besides grocery shopping and going to the movie. One thing I didn’t mention about that is that we spilled soda all over Frank’s car on the way home! He had one of those huge drinks and he got it refilled right before we left the theater to come home. Then as he was pulling out of our parking space, either he or I knocked it over with our elbow. It happened really fast so I don’t know exactly what happened. I just remember trying to catch it and thinking I almost had it for a moment but it got away from me. Plus Frank slammed on the brakes so my seat belt locked and I couldn’t lean forward to pick it up quickly either so literally the whole cup spilled on the floor before I could pick it up! My pants and coat got soda on them, but surprisingly somehow most of the soda ended up on the floor instead of all over me. I was glad I didn’t get doused in ice cold soda, but it would have been easier to clean me up than it was the car. It’s probably going to smell like soda for quite a while!

Thursday I was busy, busy all day because besides the regular chores I also took down all the Christmas decorations. I wasn’t in a huge hurry to take them down, but we had invited some friends over for New Year’s Eve and Dad and I both decided it would be best to have more room with all those kids running around! I do love the Christmas decorations, but the house looks cleaner and bigger without them. The Elders came over around lunch time to help Frank and Jared put together the other storage cabinet for the other bathroom (we may get the bathrooms put back together someday!). Then we fed them some lunch before they left. For New Year’s Eve, we had our usual dinner of lots of appetizers and chips and so on. I also had some veggies and cheese in an attempt to have some healthy food. It was all pretty yummy. We played games and a couple of my friends helped me make the puzzle that Hans sent us. It was a puzzle that Uncle Hans sent us. It was fun and not too hard to put together. We all stayed up until midnight but we were pretty tired by then so our friends left shortly after midnight and as soon as Jared got home we all went to bed. Someone nearby set off about 4 aerial fireworks right after midnight. Jared spent the evening with Jessie and another couple on a double date. They went to dinner, then went bowling, and then went to a dance / party at our stake center. 

Friday I didn’t wake up until nearly 9:00! Poor Frank’s internal clock got him up at about 6:45, so by the time I got up, he was ready to go back to bed for a while, which he did. Then he spent a lot of the day working on some things for one of his clients. He's had a lot of work for clients over the last few weeks. I’m not really sure where that day went--I guess it goes by fast when you don’t get up until 9:00 am. I did get the budget all caught up which took a while, and wrote to Tanner. Jared went to a movie at the dollar theater with friends in the afternoon and Jessie came here after the movie for dinner and then they played games for a while. I read some Harry Potter to Seth (we are in the 4th book still). Then I made a long list of things I want / need to get done in the next month or two, so that I can start working on them. I had a lot of things in the back of my mind, bothering me. It helps me to write them down! 

One thing we are going to have to do soon is get either a new dining set or at least some new chairs. Our dining chairs have been falling apart over the years so the number of chairs has been dwindling. In the last week two of them have broken beyond repair and we are now down to 3 chairs! Since there are four of us living here and we often like to have guests over to eat (especially the missionaries), we really need some more chairs. My dilemma is this: I'd like to get a new set (matching table and chairs) because the table we have doesn't really match the style of the kitchen we have now (since we changed the floor, counter tops, and wall color). However, the table we have is a really nice, solid table. It would make a great craft / sewing table, so I don't want to get rid of it. The problem is that I have no place to put it right now. But if we ever buy a bigger house, I know I am going to want that table to use for crafts and sewing.That is actually why we've been putting off getting a new dining set for so long. So do I get chairs to match the table we have, and just not match the kitchen? Or give up the table? First world problem, for sure--I know!! We'll figure it out. Hopefully by next week! :)

That brings you up to date on us. We hope 2016 is very good to all of you!