We are keeping busy out here! One more week of school and I
think I am more excited about school getting out than Seth is. It doesn't help that everyone else all across the country is already out of school and going on fun vacations!
Last Friday we had the Elders over for dinner, along with a
family in our ward. They are a young couple with a 6 month old adorable baby
girl. The dad is not a member, but he seems pretty open about learning more
about the gospel. They are both really nice. We had hot dogs and hamburgers,
along with some salads and chips. After dinner, the Elders gave a short lesson
focused on Lehi’s dream, and it really brought a peaceful spirit into our home.
On Saturday we were running around to a lot of different
things. Jared went to work in the late morning and got home mid-afternoon. Frank was doing some work for some clients and Seth had a birthday party to go to. I
had to take Jared to work and pick him back up afterwards since Frank was gone
with one car and I needed the other one to take Seth to his party. After Jared
got home from work, he took three other priests with him out to the farm and
they got all the signs hung except for two that need to be hung in a special
way. The lady in charge wasn’t there and he had some trouble getting in touch with her to
set up another day to go out to finish up, but they finally connected and he
will be going out tomorrow to hang the last two signs. In the meantime, he went
to the school yesterday and got the wood cut and the pieces assembled for the
brackets he needs to hang the signs. He is also scheduled to meet with our scoutmaster on Sunday and we’re starting to work on getting his paperwork
finished up and the Eagle application filled out so hopefully by Thursday
evening he’ll have all of that done and will be ready to meet with the guy from the district. He’s definitely not going to have the luxury of putting off doing the
paperwork like Tanner and Scott did!
In between all the comings and goings on Saturday I also
prepared a Primary lesson because I was asked to substitute Seth’s class on
Sunday. I enjoyed teaching his class—I really like the lessons for the older
kids! The lesson was about the Zoramites and we made a list of the things they believed that were incorrect. The kids were so funny--they were all totally shocked that anyone would believe that there isn't a Christ or that a group of people would be saved because God chose them to be saved, rather than based on their obedience. It was pretty cool because I was able to point out to them that since they are going to church and praying and reading scriptures and things like that, they are able to immediately recognize false doctrine. I told them it's very important that they keep doing those things so that they won't be deceived.
Seminary Graduation was held on Sunday evening, so of course
we went to that. It was pretty nice. We learned about the change
this year with Seminary—no more Scripture Mastery! Instead, they will be doing
something called Doctrinal Mastery, because they want to make sure that
students thoroughly understand the basic doctrines of the church. I can see the
wisdom in that, in this crazy world we live in! I’m sure they will still be
encouraged to learn important scriptures, too. Anyway, we are proud of Jared
(as we are of Tanner and Scott) for being a diligent Seminary student and
graduating!
(I had my eyes closed in EVERY picture we took.)
Jared with two other graduates from our ward--Ian and Karolynne. (There were two other graduating Seniors in our ward, but they didn't make it to the ceremony.)
Besides all the usual things I need to do each week, this week
was extra busy because of lots of extra things going on. Jared and I went
shopping on both Monday and Tuesday and we managed to get everything on his
list for Pageant—BAM!! It was tiring, but I’m glad to have that major task
checked off my list. We had to order him a suit coat since they didn’t have the
right size at the store, but it already came in so we can go pick it up today.
Tuesday evening we had the Sisters over for dinner. One of
the sisters (Sister Olson) got transferred this week so we were glad we had a
chance to have one last dinner with her. We love her and we are sorry to see
her go!!
On Wednesday morning, I had a planning meeting for Girls
Camp with the leader for the 3rd year girls and with the Stake YW president who will be helping us with the 3rd year girls. We got through a
long list of things to plan and now we each have assignments to do to get ready
for camp. It was fun to plan, and we all seemed to be on the same page already
about what we want to accomplish, so that is great. I do have a lot to do, and
need to get going on that next week since we’ll be out of town for 2 of the
weeks in between then and now.
On Wednesday I also ended up spending some time helping the
Sisters with transfers, which I hadn’t really planned to do. They texted me that
morning to ask if I could give them a ride to the Frederick Sisters’ apartment,
which should have taken about 15 minutes so I said sure. Then when I got to
their apartment to pick them up, they had just got a text from the other
Sisters saying they were running late, so we had about 30 minutes before we
needed to go. We got Sister Olson’s luggage loaded up in the car and then I
suggested I take them to get some lunch since they (and I) hadn’t had any lunch
yet. We decided to go to Taco Bell since it was close to where we were going. I
also decided I could use Jared’s help and that he would probably enjoy going to
Taco Bell anyway, so we stopped at our house to pick him up and take him along.
We had a quick lunch and then went over to the apartment and still ended up
waiting a while for the other Sisters to show up. Then there was a lot of
picture taking and luggage loading and unloading and so forth! So in the end
that 15 minute ride turned into about an hour and a half. Oh well!
We didn’t have Cub Scouts that evening but I have been
trying here and there in between everything else this week to get a few things
ready for the Cub Scout carnival that we are having this evening (it’s our Pack
Meeting for the month.)
Yesterday I was a chaperone for the 3rd grade
field trip, so I was gone all day. Jared needed the car for a song practice
(all the Seminary kids are singing a song for church this Sunday) and also so
he could go to the school to get Eagle project stuff done, so he took us to the
school and picked us up at the end of the day. For the field trip, we went to
Fountain Rock Nature Center. The people at the nature center did a presentation
about wetlands and then they took the kids out to a creek and gave them nets so
they could catch little critters in the creek and then they identified them and
observed them for a while. (They caught about 4 crayfish, a couple of newts,
some minnows, and lots of bugs.) They also got to play on the playground, do an
outdoor scavenger hunt, decorate sun visors, make “edible ponds”, go on a
nature walk, feed the geese, and have grilled hot dogs and watermelon. I think
they all had a lot of fun. It was a beautiful day to be outside--just a bit
windy and slightly cooler than normal, but sunny and not humid. Much better than
being miserably hot and sticky! I enjoyed spending the day outside for a
change. Jared kept the laundry going for me so I was able to get everything
done I needed to do that day, even though I was gone for most of it.
Learning about wetlands
Scavenger Hunt
Catching critters
The catch!!
Getting a closer look at the critters
Visors!
Making edible ponds
And eating them!
Feeding geese:
Sketching in his journal while on the nature walk:
Frank got a new toy the end of last week. It’s actually an
early Father’s Day present—a really nice drone. He took it to the park to fly
and do some filming on Monday afternoon (Jared and Seth went with him). Then he
took it out again Monday evening after family night and flew it around the court
a bit. When I went out there, I wasn’t surprised to see several of the men in the neighborhood out
there with him! Haha!! Last night he was working late and when he finished, he
took the drone out to the pond by his work and flew it around some more and did
some more filming. He is enjoying it and has lots of ideas of different things
he would like to film.
Jared has been keeping busy as I mentioned already with Hill
Cumorah preparations and his Eagle project. He also went to Jessie’s house on
Tuesday and YM on Wednesday. He has gone to Seminary every day this week except
for Monday. He’s planning to go next week too.
Seth has been doing pretty well with his new medicine. Even
with the higher dose, he is still eating full meals and his sleep hasn’t
been too bad. He woke up super early yesterday morning but other than that he’s
done pretty well. He has also been mostly pretty pleasant and I would say even
more cooperative than usual and he hasn’t had any major meltdowns. I have no
idea if it is helping him get more school work done (probably not
significantly, or I would have heard about it from his teacher) but in general
when I have observed him at church and at home (as well as the field trip) he
is pretty calm and seems to be focusing most of the time.
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