January is going by fast, which is fine since it's usually pretty cold and miserable. We are definitely having a colder winter this year than we have had in quite a while. We kept pretty busy this week but I don't think there is as much to talk about.
On Sunday evening all the youth from the 3 wards that meet in our building gathered to watch the youth devotional that was broadcast the previous Sunday, so Frank took Seth to that. I stayed home to look over my Seminary lesson for Tuesday (still hadn't done much to finish preparing it) and then went to bed. Unfortunately, I didn't sleep very well...I had one of those nights where I woke up after a few hours of sleep and didn't go back to sleep, so I had to take a nap on Monday. I did manage to get all the regular chores done and finished preparing Tuesday's lesson also. Seth had to work that evening, so we weren't able to do family night activity until Wednesday night (we did the lesson portion on Sunday).
Tuesday was Frank's birthday. He worked, but got to come home earlier than usual. We went out to dinner at Red Robin to celebrate and gave him some gifts. (He didn't go to the temple that night and Seth didn't have a YM activity because they had a temple baptism trip planned for Thursday instead.)
He got a bunch of fun socks and some items to help care for his new cast iron pans. (Btw, I am a fan of cast iron now. They do require a little extra effort to maintain them, but stuff doesn't stick to them and they are easy to clean and practically indestructable. Much better than the non stick pans we have been using the past 3 or 4 years, which just don't last long.) He also got some Crumbl cookies that Tanner sent to him.
On Wednesday I started working on Seminary lessons for next week but didn't get very far. We had Frank's birthday cheesecake that night because we were too full (after eating out) to eat it on Tuesday. Frank actually made it himself because he's better at making cheesecake than I am. It had an oreo crust and he wanted blueberry pie filling for the topping.
We did our family night activity that evening...we played a game that Seth got for Christmas called Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza. It was absolutely hilarious...we were all laughing so hard at all the mistakes we made!
On Wednesday evening the high councilor who talked to me last month about YW camp called me back to follow up and much to my surprise but delight, said that they had found someone else to be in charge of the food for camp! Remember that feeling I had when I was at the temple that it would all work out and I didn't need to worry about it? That's exactly what happened, and I am so grateful!! (And especially grateful that because of that spiritual impression, I have not been worrying about it for the last month...a tender mercy for sure!!) They also found someone to be the assistant, so I don't even have to do that. He just asked if I would be willing to be on the committee to help and I am more than willing to do that. What a relief!
Wednesday was the last day of the semester at school and Thursday and today are days off (and Monday will be as well, because of MLK Day). It looks like Seth will get As in all his classes (not totally sure about his CTC class because the grade doesn't get updated regularly). He had a certification exam for LINUX on Wednesday which unfortunately he didn't pass. He wasn't really far below a passing score so he probably could have passed it if he had put more effort into preparing for the test. I have been nagging him about it for weeks, telling him he should put more time into preparing. Maybe next time he will listen to me! He has one more class this last semester where he can earn a certification so I told him he should set a goal to do whatever it takes to prepare adequately for that test and he said he would.
One side note about Seminary: it is really nice to have a television mounted on the wall in the RS room. We use the television almost every day, and for the last year and a half we have been walking down to the library (on the other side of the building) to get a television every day and then returning the television to the library after class every day. It saves a lot of time now that we don't have to do that! They took down the blackboard when they put up the television and are replacing it with a white board but the white board hasn't arrived yet.
Oh, and another Seminary note: on Wednesday the lesson was on the First Vision. At some point last semester I watched a video of the members of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve reciting The Living Christ. (They each recited a portion of it.) I mentioned to my team teacher that I thought it would be cool to do something like that with the Seminary kids and she really liked the idea. On Wednesday she decided to do that: she gave each of them a few sentences from Joseph Smith's account of the First Vision (from the Pearl of Great Price) to memorize, and then she recorded them as they recited it. (I was actually in it too because we were one student short of what we needed.) It turned out really well and my team teacher shared it with the parents. It was actually really powerful when we went through it the first time and both my team teacher and I really felt a strong spirit and we both got teary eyed. It was beautiful! (I think the kids felt something too. 😊)
Yesterday I got all the regular chores done and worked a little more on Seminary lessons but I still have quite a bit to do. I teach two lessons next week and one is completely prepared but the other one is still just an outline. I want to finish it and work on one for the following week, if possible, because I'm teaching 3 the following week and next week looks really busy so I know I won't have a ton of time to prepare. Seth was supposed to go to the temple to do baptisms last night but when I drove him over to the church it was snowing and ultimately they decided to cancel the trip because it looked like the roads were going to be really bad between here and the temple, especially as they were coming home. Of course, they didn't make that decision until I got back home, but Frank picked him up so that I wouln't have to go back. We didn't end up getting much snow but I think they got more to the south of us (where the temple is).
Today I did not go to the temple as I usually do since Seth is home from school. The tax season starts the week after next, so I will probably go to the temple every other Friday instead of every Friday until the tax season is over. That's what I did last year, and it helped me balance my time so that I had time to volunteer, prepare Seminary lessons, get the household chores done, and also go to the temple regularly. I got the finances caught up this morning and Frank and I also met with a guy to talk more about life insurance...we're still trying to work out what to do about that. He gave us some good information so hopefully we will be able to make a decision soon. (Frank is working from home today, as he usually does on Fridays but between work meetings and doing work for clients I have not seen him except for the 30 minutes we were meeting about life insurance.)
In between everything else, I have been able to get some sewing done this week. On Wednesday I sewed the backs onto the February pillow covers, so they are done.
I cut out pieces for the strips and the backs for the March pillow covers on Wednesday too. Last night I sewed the strips onto the March quilt blocks, marked them, and got them ready for quilting.
After I get the March pillow covers done, my progress is going to slow down quite a bit because all I have done to prepare for April and May is to choose the quilt block patterns and buy the fabric. I still have to cut out all the pieces, so they are going to take a bit longer to put together. Hopefully I will still be able to stay ahead enough that the pillow covers are ready by the month they are needed.
I'll finish up with a few sunrise photos from yesterday:
And one more from this morning:
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