Weekly Reviews May 19 & May 26 '23

 I didn't intend to skip a week but I ended up going to Utah unexpectedly last week so I wasn't able to write last Friday. I've doubtless forgotten a lot of things but I will try to give a decent review of the last 2 weeks. 

On Friday the 12th, shortly after I finished that week's blog post, Seth texted me to let me know he had passed the second half of his A+ certification exam. We are really happy about that!! We had to wait a while for the records to be updated, but we were able to print up a certificate a few days ago:

 

Jared & Jessie came over for dinner Friday evening and Jared also made some cookies for me for Mother's Day...they were so delicious!

On Saturday the 13th, Frank and Seth took me out to breakfast for an early Mother's Day gift. We went to a place called the Silver Diner which had really good food.

I remember it rained that day but I can't remember what else we did. 

Frank didn't have any meetings on Sunday the 14th so we were all able to go to church together again. (And I didn't have choir this time, so we all got to come home together too.) At church they had arranged for the men and YM to cover Primary and all the women and YW were invited to attend RS. We had a nice lesson where several people shared things they had learned from their moms or as a mom. I was asked to share something important that my mom had taught me and I said she taught me to love reading, and in particular to love reading the scriptures. The lesson ended early so that we could all go to the gym to enjoy some refreshments that the men had also prepared. It was nice.

After church, Jared & Jessie came by for a while and they gave me a card and a gift. Scott also sent a gift. Both gifts were not things I asked for, but were things they thought that I would like, and they were right! It was fun and I was impressed at the thought that went into choosing these gifts. (Jared gave Jessie credit for thinking of the gift that they got me.) Jared & Jessie gave me a book club journal and Scott gave me a "bucket list" scratch-off map of the United States.

The book club journal has room for me to record information about each book I read, including what I thought of it. The map has lists of important places (Grand Canyon, Pearl Harbor...) and specific adventures (swimming in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, hot air balloon ride...) that can be scratched off in addition to each state that I can scratch off as I visit them. I started scratching some things off but it is going to take a while since I have visited all but 6 states! It was a really nice day because Frank did all the cooking, I got to take a nap, and I got to talk to my Mom as well as to all of my boys. 

Monday the 15th was pretty busy although I don't remember many details now. I know that in addition to the usual chores, I went to Costco to stock up on chicken, salmon, and shrimp and I also got some muffins because Seth had volunteered to bring breakfast for the last day of Seminary (which was Wednesday). We also ordered some Costco pizzas for the breakfast because Seth wanted to have pizza for breakfast. I was also busy preparing for the next days combined YW activity, because my class was in charge. We decided to update the YW bulletin board, and I had ordered a kit from Etsy to do that. It was a downloadable kit, so I had to print up all the elements. That evening we took Seth to the store to get him a bike. He is going to need one for YM camp this summer and we want him to have time to practice more and get more proficient with riding. The bike wouldn't fit in the car so Frank rode it home from the store. (He had to go on some busy roads and Seth isn't comfortable doing that yet.)

On Tuesday the 16th I picked Seth up from school and took him to get a haircut. We had youth activities that evening and they went pretty well. The YW bulletin board looks really nice, but I forgot to take pictures. The YW also had a song practice because we had decided to sing a song in Sacrament Meeting that Sunday. The song was an arrangement of "The Lord Is My Light" and I really liked it but it's the kind of song that sticks in your head, which I didn't like. We were late finishing the bulletin board and didn't get as much time to practice as we would have liked. The YM went on a walk (preparing for Trek) and then got a treat at Rita's afterwards. 

Wednesday the 17th was the last day of Seminary and we took in the pizzas and muffins, as well as some juice, for breakfast. All of the pizza got eaten, but quite a few muffins were left over. Frank was working from home and I got the regular chores done and then went to the mall to do some clothes shopping. I feel like I am always cold at church in the summer (because of the air conditioning running full blast) so I was hoping to find some simple dresses and some cardigan sweaters that I could wear over them. I was disappointed, though, because I didn't find anything. I went to Macy's and they used to have a huge petite section but it's not there anymore so that makes me sad. I haven't had a chance to look anywhere else yet although I've done some online searching. There are some possibilities there, but I never know if things I order online are going to fit properly. 

After I got home and had lunch I was starting to practice the song for Sunday as well as the song the choir is working on when Scott called. He said that Darlee was in the hospital, struggling with some mental health issues, and after talking to both Scott and Tanner, we decided that I needed to fly out there for a few days to help out / offer support. It turned out that it was better for me to leave that evening rather than the next morning so within a few hours from when Scott called, I was on the way to the airport. It was kind of crazy...I only had about an hour to pack...but somehow I managed not to forget anything! My flight out of Baltimore was delayed about 20 minutes and then we sat on the ground forever so it was nearly an hour late taking off. I had a stop at Chicago Midway with a 2 hour layover so I wasn't too worried about the delay. That flight was supposed to take off around 9:00 pm and arrive in Utah shortly after midnight (Utah time). However, the plane I was supposed to board in Chicago got diverted to another airport and that delayed the flight significantly. At first they said the flight would be delayed 3 hours and wouldn't be leaving Chicago until midnight, but they were able to locate another available aircraft so the flight was delayed 2 hours instead of 3. That still wasn't great, but better than the first option. I arrived in Utah around 2:00 am and after waiting a long time to get my suitcase (I thought they had lost it for a while because no more baggage was coming), Scott picked me up and took me to Mom's house. I got there right around 3:00 am Utah time which was 5:00 am at home and I had been up since 5:00 am eastern time the day before. I tried to sleep on the plane, but only slept about an hour so I went 24 hours with only about 1 hour of sleep. I only got about 3 1/2 hours of sleep before I woke up again because the room was light and a lot of birds were singing outside the window. I did that pretty much every day I was in Utah...woke up around 6:00 am, and I got to bed pretty late most nights so it was a pretty exhausting trip.

I'm not going to give a play by play of each day of my trip because I really can't remember now! I was in Utah Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and spent Sunday travelling home. I stayed at my mom's house and it was good to see her, as well as Amy and her boys because they are staying with her right now until they join Nate in Texas (which is happening this weekend). I also got to spend a lot of time with Scott and some time with Tanner, of course. I didn't get to see Darlee at all. She was on a floor where they were doing construction and they didn't allow any visitors. Tanner was able to talk to her on the phone briefly each day, but that was it. Scott and I tried to spend some time with Tanner (when he wasn't working) and help him with a few household tasks. We helped him tidy up his apartment, made some banana bread with some bananas that were getting too ripe, and went grocery shopping with him. We also took him to lunch one day and to dinner another day and he came out to my mom's house to eat with us one night too. I was able to talk with him quite a bit, which in and of itself was worth the trip. Darlee was discharged from the hospital on Sunday, after I left, but I don't know what the plans are for her continued care. There is a long road ahead of them, though. Both Darlee and Tanner need your prayers, so please pray for them!

Tanner was at work quite a bit so when I wasn't with him, I spent a lot of time visiting with Scott, my mom, and Amy and I did a few other things as well. Tim & Rachelle were able to come visit with me one evening; it was great to see them! On Friday Scott took me to the openhouse for the Saratoga Springs Temple. It is very beautiful! There are flowers painted on many of the ceilings, flower carved wood panels over some of the doors, lots of stained glass windows, and a beautiful blue/ tan / purple / gold color scheme. I'm really glad I got to see it.

On Saturday, Amy and I did some weeding in Mom's front yard and filled a whole wheelbarrow full of weeds:

Here is Tanner & Darlee's cat, Penny, staring intently at a camera on the wall above her because Tanner had just connected to it and talked through it. I was really surprised how long she kept watching it (several minutes):

And here is the painting that Amy & I got for my mom for Mother's Day (I think it will be obvious why the two of us had to get her this painting! 😄):

Oh, and silly Everest (Scott's dog) trying to retrieve her ball from under the couch:

I failed to take any other photos, including photos of most of the people I was visiting! Well, I was sleep deprived, a little stressed and very distracted...those are my excuses.

I was up really early on Sunday because I forgot when I set my alarm on my phone that my phone had never switched from eastern time to mountain time, so it went off at 4:00 am instead of 6:00 am and unfortunately I never went back to sleep. I did sleep a bit more on the plane ride home, thankfully. I had a stop with a layover in Denver which ended up being a bit longer because we had to wait for the pilot to arrive. (It wasn't his fault...they had to pull him off the reserve list at the last minute, so we all clapped for him when he arrived!) I landed in Maryland around 7:00 pm and Frank picked me up. I was really happy to be home!!

Meanwhile, I don't know a lot about what happened at home except that Frank and Seth ate out a lot! Jared & Jessie ate with them on Friday evening and did laundry at our house too. On Sunday I missed a talk that Seth gave (I heard he did a great job), singing with the YW, and a fireside for Trek. Seth was at the fireside when I got home (our bishop's family gave him a ride there and back). Frank was able to work from home on both Thursday and Friday which helped a lot so he was able to get Seth to school and be there when Seth got home. The Trek food committee was in charge of the refreshments for the fireside, so Frank made 3 pans of his famous chocolate chip cookie bars for that. 

I've spent this week getting caught up on things after being gone, and trying to get back into my regular routine. On Monday the 22nd, Seth had a virtual school day instead of in person because it was his school's graduation day and they wanted the teachers and staff to be free to help with that. His teachers were supposed to post work for him to do, but none of his teachers did. He logged into schoology to check for work so by doing that he was counted present for the day. He had an orthodontist appointment that monring and next time he goes, he will be getting his braces off...finally!!! His appointment is set for June 26th. 

On Tuesday we had a youth temple trip. Frank met us at the temple and I was able to ride up with one of the other YW leaders so I got to ride home with Frank. It was great, as always, to be in the temple and it was a beautiful day:

I kept really busy Wednesday and Thursday, continuing to get caught up on things. Frank and I also needed to make some decisions about Seth's birthday and get some shopping for that done. 

Frank had two doctor appointments on Wednesday morning...one with our Primary care doctor (regular diabetes checkup) and one with a gastrointerologist (setting up a colonoscopy, because he's that age now). His blood sugar is not looking so great lately so our Primary care doctor put him on a new medication that helps with diabetes and weight loss. It has to be injected, but he only has to take it once a week. He did the first injection yesterday and so far he hasn't had any side effects. He says that he has not been feeling hungry today like he usually does, so that is good. 

Jared & Jessie came over last night for dinner and to do their laundry. We enjoyed visiting and played a game of Ticket to Ride. Seth won and I lost. (But it was still fun!)

Last evening we went on a long walk and enjoyed the peaceful scenery:

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It is still cooler than normal, but nice. My allergies are acting up big time, though. They started bothering me before I went to Utah and I still had some issues in Utah, even though the climate and flora are different there. I was sneezing a lot after our walk last night so I did not go with Frank on a walk tonight. I wanted to go, but thought I would probably regret it afterwards!

I spent quite a bit of time on the phone last night with the Trek food committe chair, going over the shopping list (Frank and I are in charge of buying all the food). We will begin purchasing the non-perishable items soon. It is a HUGE list!!

Today I spent most of the day getting the finances updated...I had a lot to do since I didn't do them last week and had 2 week's worth of things to go through. 

Seth has been lobbying to get a new Xbox for quite a while and since the new games coming out don't play on our current Xbox very well (it's probably 8 years old at least) we decided to get him a new one for his birthday. Since his birthday is on Sunday this year and he isn't allowed to play games on Sunday, we decided to give him the Xbox early so he can enjoy it today and tomorrow. We got him a digital game for it too...and that is ALL he is getting, besides one other small thing that we will give him on Sunday. When Frank got home from work, Seth was playing a game and Frank brought the new Xbox upstairs (it was in his office) and said "Hey Seth, can you help me set this up?" Seth was distracted by his game and it took him a few minutes to notice what Frank was holding in his hands. It was pretty funny when he realized what it was! Setting it up:

Now it is getting late and I think that is all the news that I have to report so I will sign off until next week.

Weekly Review May 12 '23

Yesterday I realized that there are only 3 weeks of school left...how did that happen? I knew we were getting close to the end of the school year, but somehow it didn't register that we are that close! I'm not complaining...I'm really looking forward to summer...I was just surprised.

Maybe part of the reason I was surprised is that the weather does not feel like end of school weather yet. Yesterday was pretty warm, but it is still quite chilly in the mornings and most of our days have been mild but not hot. Today we have a high of 86 degrees, so that will feel a lot more like May, but tomorrow the temperatures are dropping again and the high temperature will be only 71 degrees and today's temperature is the highest we're going to have for the foreseeable future. I'm not anxious for 90 degree weather, though, so that's okay. 

We've been keeping fairly busy...now let's see how much I can remember! When I wrote last week, Seth was home sick from school. He didn't have any more issues the whole day and seemed to be back to normal on Saturday.  

It was nice to see my mom and most of my siblings (and some spouses) on the Zoom call last Saturday. I'm looking forward to seeing most of you this summer! I can't remember what else we did on Saturday...mostly the normal Saturday chores, I guess, and I'm pretty sure I was working on YW stuff too. My class is in charge of the combined YW activity next week, so I've had a number of things to do this week related to that. Oh, and we went on a walk. We saw lots of rabbits and some pretty flowers so I took a few pictures:

Iris are one of my favorite flowers and there was a whole hill of them:

I'm going to have to visit this spot again very soon!

Frank didn't have bishopric meeting or ward council on Sunday because our bishop was out of town. That was nice for a change, and we all went to church together in one car...I was forgetting that I had choir practice after church! Frank had to come back later to pick me up after choir practice. Frank and I had a Trek food committee meeting that evening, via Zoom. Over 140 youth have registered to attend Trek, which is more than we expected (but that's good!). We got a lot accomplished at our meeting and plans are moving forward.

On Monday I went on a ministering visit. I was assigned to visit this sister several months ago but have never visited her because I wanted to contact my companion to see if she would go with me. (My companion is currently less active but she used to be very active and I know her well.) I know she works during the day so I keep meaning to contact her in the evening but I always forget! Anyway, I have been keeping in touch with this sister pretty regularly with phone calls and by talking to her at church (she usually sits right in front of me in sacrament meeting). She was not at church a few Sundays ago so I called her to make sure she was okay. She was...they had a family thing on Sunday...but while I was talking to her she mentioned that she really wants to get the temple work done for her sister, who passed away about 3 years ago. The trouble is, she isn't very computer literate and didn't know how to go about entering the information in family search. I'm not incredibly computer literate myself and I'm no expert at family history but I have become somewhat familiar with family search so I offered to visit her and see if I could help her figure it out. To my great surprise, I was successful! She thought she had a family search account but hadn't been able to get into it, but together we were able to get her into her account, enter the information for her sister, and reserve her ordinances. We didn't print up a card because this sister does not have a printer, but I helped her write down the information she needs to take to the temple so that they can print it there. I also offered to go home and log into her account at my house and print the card for her, and she said that would be great so I did that after I got home. During the visit, I also found out that she and her husband haven't been able to go to the temple since it re-opened because her husband isn't comfortable driving down there anymore (they are in their 80s and her husband does all the driving because she has never learned to drive). Since I go pretty often, I offered to take them with me sometimes and she said that would be great. So all in all, I felt like that was a very successful visit and it feels good to know that I am doing some concrete things to help her. 

Other than my ministering visit, Monday was just a normal day with the usual chores and a few errands to do. We went on a walk that evening before family night and then played a game and had a treat.

I had a YW presidency meeting on Tuesday which took the entire morning. We hadn't met since mid March so we had a lot to talk about! I was busy the rest of the day trying to get everything else done and somehow managed to do most of it. Our combined YM / YW activity that evening was a service scavenger hunt. We divided the youth up into 3 groups and each group was given a list of service items we could do with point values attached. We had one hour to complete as many things as possible. Some of the service options: help someone carry their groceries, compliment someone, "heart attack" a house, give away a coloring book to a child, leave money in a vending machine, give away a flower, write encouraging messages on sidewalks with sidewalk chalk, wash a car window, etc. (Each group was given all the supplies needed to do these things too.) The group I was in  was very competitive and energetic and they got a lot done. (Seth was in my group and so was the YW president.) In the end, our group got the most points. One of the girls in the group even succeeded in giving away a Book of Mormon, which was worth 30 points. I was impressed! My favorite part of the evening was when we pulled over to give a woman one of the flowers we had. She was surprised and touched and told us that she had had a very hard day but getting the flower made her day. It was really sweet!

After we got home from the youth activity, we tuned into a Zoom link to watch Seth's Seminary teacher open her mission call. (She is about the same age as Frank and I, but widowed, and all her children are independent; her youngest child is currently serving a mission.) She was called to the Utah Salt Lake City Headquarters Mission. She's not positive what she'll be doing there...could be any one of a variety of things. She reports to the Provo MTC at the beginning of July but only stays there 5 days, so she's probably getting some kind of specialized training to do a particular job. I guess we'll hear more about it when she knows! Frank and Seth have been her "ministering brothers" for the last year or two, so they knew she was going on a mission but a lot of people didn't know she had submitted papers; she kept it kind of quiet.  

Frank had some work to do for the University of Maryland on both Tuesday and Wednesday nights that needed to be done after hours so he was up until pretty late both of those evenings. Thankfully, he was able to work from home on both Wednesday and Thursday so he got to get a little extra sleep in the mornings (I took Seth to Seminary both days too, which helped.) I kept busy all day Wednesday since there were some things that I didn't get done on Tuesday that still needed to be done. Jared had to work on Wednesday so they didn't come over for dinner as usual. They are coming tonight instead.

Yesterday I went to the temple which was wonderful as always.

After I got home, I ate lunch and then hurried to the store to get groceries but didn't get home until after Seth arrived home from school. I still had a lot to do but somehow managed to get almost everything done by evening. There was a RS activity that evening. Originally, it was supposed to be learning about digestive health, but the person who was supposed to teach us was sick so that had to be postponed. Instead, we went on a walk on a nearby trail. It was a very small group--only 6 of us showed up--but I enjoyed talking with the other 5 and the trail was beautiful. We went pretty far and it was good exercise! 

There's not much to say about today yet. I updated the finances this morning and that's about it since it's only noon. 

I haven't had a ton of free time, but I have been reading the book for book chat which is a collection of letters written by Vincent Van Gogh to his brother Theo. (It's called Dear Theo). It's nearly 500 pages long and does not go quickly so I figured out how many pages I would need to read per day to get it finished before book chat and I have been reading at least that many pages each day. It's not terribly compelling, but there have been some things about it that I find interesting. For example, I can tell that Van Gogh has a painter's / artist's eye. His descriptions of scenery are very detailed and focused on colors. He even describes people sometimes as looking like a painting by a particular artist. I have found that kind of funny. 

It looks like we will be going down to NC for a few days in July and I will be going to YW camp for the entire week (leaving one day early) so this is definitely going to be a busy summer and I'm sure it will go by fast. I'm happy to have so many things to do, though. It will be busy but fun.

I can't think of anything else to say about this week so I will post this and go eat some lunch.

Weekly Review May 5 '23

When I look at my calendar, it looks like I didn't do much this last week. That is far from the truth, though. We've been quite busy and hopefully I can remember what we've been doing, since most of it isn't showing up on my calendar. 

After I finished writing last week's post, I took Seth to spend some time at a friend's house. Wesley is in another ward but attends the same high school as Seth and he usually carpools from Seminary to school with us. He's a really nice boy so I'm glad he and Seth have become friends. Right before I left to take Seth to Wesley's house, I got a phone call from the bookstore saying that the book I ordered for book chat was ready for pick up, so after I dropped Seth off I picked it up. I have not read very much of it yet. It is going to take a long time to read...it's nearly 500 pages and I've noticed as I've begun reading it that it takes a long time to read just a few pages. I'm not sure why...it's not difficult to read and it's fairly interesting. The font doesn't seem to be particularly small either, but somehow there just seems to be a lot of words on every page. 

I can't remember Saturday very well, but I know we were busy. We filled out the Trek registration forms for the three of us because they had to be turned in the next day. We also went to a local thrift store searching for clothing for Trek. We didn't want to spend a lot of money on clothes, since the clothes Seth wears on Trek will probably get ruined anyway. We were happy that we found 2 pairs of pants and 2 shirts that will work for Seth...he just needs to wear a belt with the pants, because they are too big in the waist (but great in the length). I also found a button up shirt that I can wear. Those of us on the food committee are not required to dress in pioneer clothes, but some are planning to do that and I would like to have something to wear when we are serving food to the kids. (When we are cooking we won't even be around the kids, so I'm just going to wear normal clothes then.) On Saturday we also did a little bit of cleaning in the basement and our outdoor shed. We cleared out enough space in the shed that there will be room for a bike or two now (we want to get a bike for Seth). In the basement, Frank went through some of his computer stuff but the main thing we did was break down all the cardboard boxes that have been accumulating since before last Christmas. That made a pretty big difference! Just a few boxes to break down:

On Sunday Seth, Frank and I were all together for the 2nd hour of church because it was a 5th Sunday and all the youth and youth leaders met together. We had a lesson on using family search. The teacher did a great job...she taught them how to do some things and then had a "scavenger hunt". They had to find things like a marriage certificate for one of their grandparents, where their 3rd great grandfather was born, etc. She also had food for us to eat, which was a big hit with the youth, of course. 

Monday was the first day of May but it hasn't felt much like May this week. We have had unusually cool temperatures with lows in the 30s or 40s and highs in the 50s. It's been rainy and / or windy some days too. So strange! Winter was so mild and now May is unusually cold. It is starting to warm up a little bit the last day or so, though, and it's supposed to keep getting a little warmer each day so by the end of next week it will feel a lot more like May.

I went to another thrift store on Monday and found another shirt that will work for me for Trek. Then I went to the fabric store and got some fabric to make a skirt that matches the shirts. I also got some thread to match some t-shirts I have because I'm going to alter them. A lot of t-shirts don't fit me well...they are too big and / or the neck is too high. (This is especially true of t-shirts for sale in gift shops at places like National Parks etc.)  I found aYouTube video that shows how to alter the neck of a t-shirt to make it a v-neck and another one that shows how to alter one that is too big in the shoulders, sides, and length so I am going to try to fix a few of my t-shirts. Hopefully I won't ruin them, but since they currently don't fit well I don't really like to wear them and don't wear them much. So I figure if I can improve them it's a win, and if I ruin them, it's not much of a loss!

On Tuesday at the end of the school day, Seth and I met with his counselor to discuss options for him to repeat Algebra 2. He actually ended up getting a C in that class so he doesn't have to take it again but since he feels like he didn't learn much in that class and his future math classes will build on what he learned in Algebra, he wants to take it again. The schedule for summer classes came out recently, so we were trying to figure out if it would work for him to take it this summer. The class would be online and he would only have to attend a Google meet session with the teacher once a week, so that seemed manageable, but he's going to YM camp for the entire week for the 4th week of the course (there are 5 weeks total) so we were concerned that wasn't going to work out. His counselor asked another counselor to join us, and after talking with both of them we all agreed that the best option would be for Seth to "double up" on math classes this coming school year (take two classes even though only one is required) so he can re-take Algebra 2 the first half of the year and take Pre Calculus the second half of the year. Originally, we didn't think this would be possible but his counselor said it is okay to bump Modern World History into his senior year, so that created the space to take the 2nd math class. Even with bumping that class into his senior year, he will still have plenty of room to take some electives his senior year. I am really relieved that we got this worked out. His counselor also said they would make sure he got a different teacher for Algebra 2 than last time. 

As usual, we had youth activities Tuesday evening. My class did relay races in the gym. (It was too cold outside). The YM celebrated Seth's birthday early because another one of the YM has the same birthday as Seth. (Go figure...there's only 7 boys and 2 of them have the same birthday!) This means that Seth got to choose the snack and the activity. He chose pizza for the snack and they played some of his favorite board games for the activity.

I spent Wednesday afternoon sewing my skirt for Trek. It was pretty quick and easy and it turned out well except I wish I had made it longer. Jared came over for dinner and to do laundry on Wednesday evening. (Jessie wasn't feeling well; we missed her!) Frank had some work to do that evening for University of Maryland (very unusual; it was something that needed to be done after hours) but Seth, Jared and I played a game together (a card game called Rat a tat tat, that Jared taught us). It was pretty fun but requires using your memory so I wasn't super great at it! Then Jared made some cookies too and left some here for us...they are delicious!

I went to the temple Thursday morning...I did intiatories. I was later than usual leaving home,  but thankfully the traffic was great so I got there in plenty of time. It's always great to be in the temple!

Last evening, Frank and I went out to dinner with another couple from our ward. It was a belated anniversary celebration...their anniversary is the day after ours. (We went to dinner with them in January because his birthday is the day after Frank's and decided then that we should go to dinner again for our anniversaries. And now we will probably go again in July because her birthday is July 11th, so close to mine. What are the chances??)

Today Seth is home from school because he threw up this morning. He doesn't seem to be feeling too bad, but we didn't want to take any chances. Unfortunately, it is a bad day for him to miss because they are doing standardized testing in his English class and he was supposed to take the second half of his A+ certification test in his CTC class. His A+ certification test will have to be rescheduled and he will have to do a makeup day for the standardized testing. I'm pretty sure this is the first day all school year that he's been absent, so I can't really complain, just wish it had fallen on a less critical day.

Tonight Frank and Seth were supposed to be going to a stake campout for the men and boys (they call it the "Priesthood Restoration Commemorative Campout" in our stake instead of the Fathers and Sons campout). They weren't planning to spend the night since Frank needs his CPAP but they were going to go up for the evening's activities. Maybe they will still do something if Seth is feeling up for it, but it's more likely they will stay home. 

I'll finish up with two photos I took yesterday from our deck. They were taken one right after the other...I turned to the northwest and took this photo:

Then turned to the northeast and took this photo:

Crazy weather!!