Weekly Review December 16 '16

What we did this week: Last Friday we went to a Christmas party that a guy in our ward was having and it was really nice. A lot of people from the ward came and we had a lot of fun visiting and eating yummy food. Saturday was pretty busy. I made cookies in the morning and got the 12 Days of Christmas service project put together (we do this for someone every year). I went to a baby shower that afternoon. I went straight from the shower to Pack Meeting. Sam had come up that afternoon so he and Seth and Frank met me at the church. We gave out awards (Seth earned 3 or 4 belt loops) and had refreshments (the cookies I made) and then we went to a museum nearby where they were having Christmas activities as a part of an event called Museums by Candlelight. (They do this in Frederick every year and I've been taking my kids to various museums for this event nearly every December since we moved here.) We went to one museum and we were going to go to one other place too but we spent so much time at the first place that we never made it to the other place. There were lots of crafts and activities and demonstrations, so the boys kept pretty interested and busy. After we finished there, we (Frank, Seth, Sam and I) went out for dinner. When we got back, they watched a movie but I didn’t want to watch it so I cleaned the kitchen floor and then read.

Cub Scouts at the museum:

On Sunday we woke up to a dusting of snow on the ground. We hadn’t expected that! It all melted before church was over. I was looking at the front lawn and thinking that I was going to need to rake one more time this week and I was dreading it because it hurts my back. Then the next door neighbor decided to use his lawn mower to mulch the leaves all over his yard and while he was at it, he did our yard too. So I was grateful for that!! All the leaves are off the tree now so I won’t have to do any more raking this year. Sam had to head back to Fort Meade that afternoon, after church. I had choir practice that evening. I love the songs we are singing for Christmas! The rest of the week has been pretty busy with all the usual things, plus a few extras. Frank went to a homeowner’s association meeting on Monday evening. I worked at the school library Tuesday afternoon. It was busier than it’s been the other times I’ve volunteered there but it was nice to have something to do. That evening one of Frank’s clients had their office Christmas party at a restaurant here in Frederick, and they invited Frank and I to come too. It was a little awkward being at a party where I didn’t know anyone very well, not to mention that everyone was drinking, but they were all really lovely people so I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. They have been really great to Frank as he’s been recovering from the car accident, and I have appreciated their concern. They all call him “to the rescue Frank” because he comes in and saves them when their technology fails. After we got back from the party, we took the 12 Days of Christmas box and dropped it off.

On Wednesday I went visiting teaching and we had the Sisters over for dinner. I finished reading my book chat book Tuesday evening (great book; definitely worth reading), so I made a trip to the library to return it and some other books that I checked out for Cub Scouts. I did some planning for Cub scouts, too—we are having a Christmas activity for den meeting next week so I was looking online for ideas of things to do. I found a TON of ideas, so now I just need to figure out which ones will be best for our group.

Yesterday I got my hair done. I spent a lot of time in the late afternoon / evening on the phone with Jared because he had a couple of issues going on. For one thing, he dropped his phone and his screen wouldn’t work at all so he couldn’t use his phone (although he could answer it if someone called him). He had some information in the notes on his phone that he needed for a final he was taking today, so he was pretty stressed out. Anyway, we got that worked out. Frank went online and found a store there in Rexburg that he could take it to and they had the part to fix it and were able to fix it in about an hour, and it didn’t even cost a whole lot either so it all turned out okay in the end. Besides that, Jared’s ride down to Utah had fallen through but thankfully Scott was able to work things out so that he could drive up there to pick Jared up. (They did that today. Jared had one final this morning and his clean check this morning too and that’s all he had left to do this semester.) We were also trying to figure out getting Jared's interviews done so that he can be ordained an Elder and go to the temple while Scott is here for Christmas. And we are still working on getting Jared to the airport on Monday! I'm sure it will all work out, though.

Today has gone by fast; I’ve mostly been catching up the budget. We took Seth to see the new Disney movie, Moana, this evening. It was really good and we enjoyed it. Sam got here shortly after we got back to spend the weekend with us. He actually stopped at the same theater that we were at on his way up here, but he watched Rogue One instead of Moana. Yesterday it was SUPER cold here. The high temperature was in the 20s and we also had 40 mph wind gusts. Fun! Today is pretty cold too but not as windy so it’s not nearly as bad. Tomorrow we’re supposed to get freezing rain.

I guess most of you get Tanner's letters so you know that he was in a car wreck last week and that he is okay. When I told Seth about it, he said "Well, every time I say the prayer I pray that Tanner will be watched over, so that makes sense." We all pray for Tanner's safety, actually, and we are very grateful that he and his companion were protected!

That's all I can think of to report this week. Here's our outside Christmas decorations, to finish up (taken before our neighbor mulched the weeds and mowed our lawn):