Weekly Review March 28 '25

 This week has been busy with lots of planned and a few unplanned events going on. I mentioned last week that I knew the weekend would be busy, and it was. 

On Saturday morning there was a stake Women's Conference. My Seminary team teacher was playing the piano for a musical number and she asked me to be her page turner, so I got there a little early to turn the pages for her while they practiced. The theme of the conference was "Rooted in Christ". There was a really great keynote speaker who talked about things we know about trees and related them to our relationships in our wards. Then we could go to two classes...it was hard to choose which ones because they all sounded really great. I went to one about helping people who don't feel like they belong and another one about scripture study skills. After the classes there was a luncheon and time for visiting. I really enjoyed all of it.

After the conference I worked on Seminary lessons, which included a trip to the store to get one item I decided I wanted for Monday's lesson. I also practiced ukulele and cleaned the kitchen floor. I had an interesting experience when I was leaving the store that I will write about later, because it connected to an experience I had on Sunday morning. 

That evening, Seth's friend Lorie was in a play at her high school so I took him to see that. The play was  a musical called Once Upon a Mattress. I remember Tim being in this play when we were in high school and I remembered the play being sweet and funny so I was happy to take Seth to see it. I did enjoy the play and it was really well done, although the quality of the singing didn't compare to the singing I remember from my high school. I always notice this when I go to anything that involves singing at the schools here in Maryland. I didn't realize how exceptional my school was for it's music program until I started attending high school plays and concerts out here. Some of the leads had really good voices, though. Lorie was in the ensemble and it was fun to watch her and she did a great job. We saw her for a few minutes afterwards. 

The play was in Brunswick...about 25 minutes from Frederick...so we got home pretty late and went straight to bed. (Frank was already asleep.) 

On Sunday morning I had choir practice before church because we sang in Sacrament meeting that day. We sang one of the new hymns, #1019 To Love like Thee. Here's the experience I had that I mentioned earlier. I sent an email to the choir director about it on Sunday evening (she's a good friend) so I'm just going to copy that email here:

I had an interesting experience with the hymn we sang today. Yesterday I went to the store to get a few things. There was a woman standing by the front door of the store holding a sign that said "Need money for food and diapers." She had a little girl with her. I very rarely carry cash, but I did happen to have some in my wallet. On my way out, I gave her some money. She was grateful and thanked me. When I got to my car, I had three thoughts come to me in quick succession. "I should have invited her to church". "Why didn't I give her all the cash I had? I don't need it." "Why didn't I talk to her for a while, ask her story, see her as a real person?" The truth is, I'm always really uncomfortable in situations like that. I want to help people, but I can imagine how difficult it would be to have to ask complete strangers for help. I know I would be really embarrassed to do that, so I feel embarrassment for the person who is asking. It feels awkward, and I just want to get out of the situation quickly. I've been pondering this experience (and others I have had like it) a lot. I'm realizing that maybe what will help that person the most to not feel embarrassed and to feel truly seen and loved, is if I don't act embarrassed, but take a few minutes to engage with them...to talk with them and show them that I see them as a person, not just a need. When I was thinking again about this experience this morning before practice, I remembered some of the words of our hymn: "None is so small, no soul so lost  That I should withhold my charity." and "Bless me, O Lord, to truly see  In each soul I meet Thy child divine." and "Help me, dear Lord, to love like Thee;  Grant me charity, I pray." I'm certain that the Savior would have given her all that He had, that He would have really seen her and taken the time to talk to her, and that He would have done whatever He could have done to bless her spiritually, not just temporally. In a very real way, I think that's what it would mean to love like Him in this situation. Obviously, I have a lot to work on in this area, but I'm grateful for the realization of what I could have done better because recognizing that is the first step to changing. This experience helped the hymn feel very powerful to me today. 

Since writing that email, I have also been thinking that the Lord is trying to teach me what it really means to love like He does in different situations in my life. I have a long way to go, but I'm working on it. That was a long tangent, but I didn't want to forget about this experience or what I learned from it.

Frank's stomach has been improving since last week but he still didn't feel too great on Sunday so he went home after Sacrament Meeting. Seth's friend Henry took him to mission prep class that evening which was really helpful. 

On Monday afternoon while Frank was at work, his left calf suddenly started to hurt a lot. He thought it was a charley horse at first...it was that kind of intense and sudden pain. When he was still limping and experiencing a lot of pain that evening, though, we started to wonder about it. To make a long story short, I ended up reading the inserts about the side effects for the two antibiotics he was taking for his stomach and discovered that a possible side effect for one of them was tendon damage. Some of the symptoms matched what he was feeling, so he called our doctor. Their after hours clinic was still open, but they thought he would need imaging done so they told him to go to the ER again. (Two ER visits in two weeks...this is getting old!!) Seth was at work and I needed to pick him up and I was also teaching Seminary Tuesday morning, of course, so Frank drove himself to the ER (thankfully it was his left leg, not right leg, that hurt) and told me to pick up Seth from work and then to go to bed. He kept me updated with how he was doing by texting me. I did manage to get some restless sleep before Frank got home around 10:30 that night. They tested him for a blood clot (which came back negative) but couldn't do an MRI because there was no one there to do it. (Not sure why.) They prescribed a different antibiotic for him, told him to keep his leg elevated and iced as much as possible, and told him to follow up with his doctor. Frank already had an appointment with our doctor for Wednesday, fortunately. When he saw our doctor, he sent Frank to get an MRI, which he was able to get on Wednesday evening. We just got the results of the MRI late this afternoon. He has a torn muscle in his left calf, not a torn or ruptured tendon, as we anticipated. I still think it must be related to his medication somehow because he was not moving in any way when the pain hit him. So strange!! It has not been easy for him to keep his leg elevated and on ice for much of the week--he's been working and he had to go in on Tuesday--but he has tried to rest his leg as much as possible and will continue to do that. It won't be easy, though, since he has a business trip next week. 

Frank needed to go into work on Tuesday because he had his interview for three possible positions. He feels like the interview went well. He was told on Tuesday that a decision would be made by Friday, but today he got an email stating that the decisions have been delayed. We have no idea how long it will be before we hear anything else. Frank came home after the interview and tried to get some rest. He wasn't up to doing his shift at the temple.

Meanwhile, I had a Dexa scan on Tuesday morning after Seminary. I got the results for that late this afternoon as well and the scan showed that I have osteopenia, which is the precursor to osteoporosis. I'm supposed to start taking calcium and vitamin D supplements and should get another scan in two years. 

Some friends in our ward came by Tuesday afternoon to check on Frank / visit with us. They had heard about Frank's injured leg. They brought him an apple pie, which I think was so thoughtful! We had a really nice visit with them but visited so long that there wasn't time to make dinner before I needed to take Seth to his YM activity. We ordered some food for dinner that Seth and I went to pick up. We also got some Crumbl cookies because it was Seth's turn to choose family night treat and that's what he wanted. (We usually do family night activity and treat on Wednesdays now because Seth usually works on Mondays and Frank is usually gone to the temple on Tuesdays, plus there are youth activities on Tuesdays as well). After dinner I took Seth to his YM activity and picked him back up when it was done. They played a Jeopardy game for the activity.

On Wednesday I did my VITA shift as usual. My first appointment of the day was a man who had four year's worth of taxes to do so I spent a lot of my shift completing those four tax returns. They weren't complicated, so I was able to get all four done in about 2 1/2 hours. Then I did one more return after that which was a lot more complicated, so I ended up staying late to complete it. I picked Seth up from school on my way home. Frank worked from home on Wednesday as usual, which was much easier on his leg. I started working on our income taxes on Wednesday afternoon and got quite a bit done but because we bought a new car for Frank last year and he uses his car for his business, there are some tax implications that are turning out to be complicated. The tax software is asking me a whole bunch of questions about the cars (former car and new one) that I don't always know the answers to, so I have been trying to track those answers down. Hopefully I will get all that figured out soon; I don't think there is a lot left to do besides that. This is the second time we have replaced his car since he started his business and I don't remember it being so complicated last time, but it was nearly 10 years ago so maybe I've just forgotten. We had family night activity and treat after Frank got back from getting his MRI. We played Sequence and it took a long time but I was the lucky winner at the end. 

My team teacher taught a lesson about putting on the whole armor of God on Wednesday morning and at the end she had the youth work together in teams to make things that represent each of the pieces of armour mentioned in those verses. They wrote phrases from the verses on the pieces of armour. Here are a few photos from that. The first two are of Seth and his partner, who were in charge of creating the helmet of salvation. The other one is one of the girls wearing all the pieces of armour that the class made.

 

Yesterday Frank got permission to work from home because of his leg. I spent most of the day getting all the usual chores done and I was also able to plan my Seminary lesson for Monday. This week has been so busy with things related to Frank's injury and so forth that yesterday was my first chance to put any work into Seminary lesson preparations for next week. (I was hoping to get the second lesson planned today, but things didn't go the way I planned.) On Thursday I was still trying to figure out if I would have time to squeeze in a trip to the temple today. The Seminary lesson I was preparing happened to be about the value of attending the temple throughout life and the more I worked on it, the more I felt like I needed to go to the temple whether I had time to do it or not. When I finished with the lesson, I decided to make myself an appointment for this morning but when I got online I noticed there were openings for initiatories Thursday evening. That usually wouldn't be an option for me, but since there was no school or Seminary this morning (it's the end of the term...Seth got out of school 2 hours early yesterday as well as having today off) I realized that going to the temple on Thursday evening was actually a good option. So that's what I did! I signed up for an 8:00 initiatory session. I was able to make dinner and we all ate together before I needed to leave for the temple. I loved going to the temple at a different time than usual. The sun was starting to set when I got there and the temple was bathed in this beautiful pinkish gold glow that of course my camera failed to capture adequately.

I got there a bit early for my session and they got me started early so I was done and leaving the temple by 8:30. By then it was dark and the temple was all lit up.

I'm really glad that worked out the way it did.

This morning I was awakened by my phone buzzing because I forgot to turn off the alarm I have set on my phone that reminds me to give Seth his medicine (and to wrap up my lesson on the days I am teaching). Even so, sleeping until 6:45 is definitely sleeping in for me and it felt amazing! I expected to get a lot done today...Seminary lesson prep as well as budgeting and this blog post...but I ended up spending a couple of hours this morning helping Seth rewrite an essay for his English class. I had a lot of other text message interruptions (mostly related to Seminary) and then Scott called...that's just how my day went. (I'm always happy to talk to Scott, of course!) Seth did get his essay turned in and I was able to finish updating the budget in time to get dinner made before the missionaries arrived (we had invited them over). We really enjoyed dinner with the missionaries--they are really hard working and sincere and they are teaching a lot of people right now. I guess I will be doing a lot of Seminary lesson prep tomorrow, oh well! 

It is still cold more than it is warm around these parts. The mornings in particular are really cold...I even had to scrape some frost off my car window yesterday morning. The days warm up a bit...sometimes quite a bit...but I feel like our house takes longer to warm up and since I am inside most of the time, I feel cold most of the day on many days. I suppose soon enough I will be complaining about how hot it is! I do see more trees budding all the time and our lawn looks like it needs to be mowed, so spring will get here eventually, I am sure. 

I talked to all three of the older boys this week and everyone seems to be doing pretty well. Scott had a really good week at work and he has a lot of appointments set up for the next couple of weeks. He feels like he is learning a lot and that things are starting to come together a lot more for him. Jared and Jessie just went on a weekend trip (Jessie was out of school for spring break last week) that involved some hiking and canoeing, which they really enjoyed. Tanner is doing well in school and work has been slow, but picking up a bit this past week. 

That's all I've got for this week.

Weekly Reviews March 14 & 21 '25

I have two weeks to cover so here we go...

When I left off two weeks ago (on Saturday March 8th), I was hoping to get some more Seminary lesson prep done as well as some sewing. I decided to do the sewing first. I was able to cut out all the pieces for the May pillow covers but that took a few hours so it was late by the time I finished. I didn't get any more Seminary lesson prep done that day, but I don't have any regrets. I got both lessons ready to go in time and I was also (miraculously!) able to get my two lessons for the following week prepared on Monday and Tuesday before I left for Utah on Wednesday morning (the 12th) so that all worked out great. I haven't been able to do any sewing since I cut out the pieces, but hopefully I will get back to that soon. Between going to Utah and getting caught up on everything after returning, I haven't had a lot of free time. Here is one of the pillow covers:

The other one has the same borders, but it is a butterfly in the middle. I couldn't put the pieces together to get a photo because they are not cut out in the exact shapes that they will be...I have to sew them togther and then do some cutting before they will start to look like a butterfly. Kind of hard to explain, but hopefully that sort of makes sense!

I'm not remembering details about Sunday the 9th except that we had church as usual and I had choir practice that afternoon. I also talked to Jared.

On Monday and Tuesday (the 10th and 11th) I was busy with all the usual things (Seminary, lesson prep, and household chores) plus I was packing and getting ready to go to Utah. Seth worked Monday afternoon but chose not to go to the YM activity on Tuesday evening (which actually helped me out...saved me some time driving him there and back). Frank went to the temple as usual on Tuesday after work.

My flight on Wednesday morning left at 8:00 am, which meant I had to get up as early as I usually do on weekdays even though I wasn't going to Seminary. We left the house by 5:00 so I would get to the airport by 6:00. I had arranged for Seth's friend Henry to come pick him up for Seminary so he wouldn't miss it. My team teacher texted me after class (I was waiting to to get on my flight at that point) and reported that we had our smallest attendance ever--only 9 kids were there! (We had a guest teacher that day and I asked two of the parents to help on the other two days I was gone so that everything was covered.) We've had better attendance since then although yesterday was also a pretty small group.

Back to my Utah trip...I tried a new airline called Breeze which flies from Dulles to the Provo airport. I was a little anxious about flying on a new airline out of an airport I had never flown out of and to an airport I had never flown into, but it all worked out great. I'm not sure if it was the early hour on a weekday or what, but Dulles was not busy at all. I did not have to wait in line to check in, there also was NO line at security (amazing!!) and I didn't have to take anything out of my backpack for screening either. Nice! I waited only briefly for a tram from the main terminal to the concourse, and then my gate was right next to the escalator from the tram station to the concourse so I didn't even have to walk far. The only downside was that there weren't any restaurants nearby (I probably could have walked a while and found one, but I didn't see anything close) so I didn't get a very substantial breakfast. I did get a yogurt / fruit cup at a small convenience store nearby and I had a granola bar and other snacks with me so I was okay although I was pretty hungry by the time I got to Utah. The flight went fine, though. The plane was new and clean and I had a seat with some extra legroom, which was really nice. It felt like the flight went by pretty quickly. I watched a movie and a few shows and dozed a little bit (I would not call it sleeping). 

The Provo airport is really small so there was no 2 mile trek from my gate to baggage claim (unlike the Salt Lake City airport!) I got my baggage fairly quickly and Scott picked me up and I as on my way to Mom's house. I have to apologize for the lack of photos from this trip. I didn't think to take any photos of anyone the whole time! I guess at least I'm not super self centered and taking selfies with other people all the time 😆 but I wish I had taken photos of Mom, Scott, Tanner, Hans, Shellie, Tim, Rachelle, Liz, Erin, Amy, and my friend Paula. I'm really grateful I got to see all those people, though!!

When I got to Mom's house, it was just she and Scott and Hans who were there but Shellie came to visit a while later and shortly after that Amy got back from BYU where she had been watching one of Jeremy's dance competitions. We had a nice long visit, and before Shellie left, Tim & Rachelle arrived to visit also (we had dinner in there somewhere too...Hans made some orange chicken with rice and veggies...it was good!). Scott wasn't working that day but Tanner was...he came home that evening so I got to see him too. We got to bed late and then Amy and I stayed up even later talking. When all was said and done, I was up for close to 24 hours by the time I fell asleep, but it was so nice to visit with so many family members!

On Thursday (the 13th) Amy and I started working on Mom's tax return. We got a lot of it done, but realized that one document we needed was missing. We talked to Mom's financial advisor who said that he would get that document for us either that night or Friday morning at the latest, so we did everything we could without it and planned to finish the next day. Tanner had school on Thursday but got the day off work so I got to see him a little more. I looked over his tax return that day, too. Scott was working most of the day so I didn't see him as much. Amy, Scott, Tanner and I did all go to Wal-Mart that evening together because we all needed a few things. I wanted to get a few snacks for the trip home, as well as a blow dryer because mine was sounding like it was about to die. (And the next morning it sounded so bad that I was scared to use it anymore so it's a good thing I had purchased a new one.)

On Friday the 14th we woke up to snow on the ground:

It melted before the day was over. Amy and I went to lunch with our friend Paula. We had a great visit and in honor of pie day, I got a piece of raspberry cream cheese pie. It was yummy!

After we got back from lunch, we discovered that Mom's financial advisor hadn't sent the document we needed yet, so we tried to call but the office was closed! After attempting to get a copy of the document we needed online and discovering that it wasn't available, we decided to start searching through a few piles of documents in Mom's office and miraculously, we found the document we needed in one of the piles! That means we were able to finish Mom's tax return and file it that afternoon. Mission accomplished! 😀

That evening Liz and Erin came by to visit us...they were in town because it was spring break in Idaho. I didn't anticipate that I would get to see them while in Utah, so that was a fun bonus! We enjoyed visiting and commiserating over the fact that all the JoAnn's stores are closing. 

I had another 8:00 am flight Saturday morning (the 15th) and Scott was kind enough to get up early to take me back to the Provo airport. On the way there, it started to hail / snow and the roads were quite slippery but at the airport there wasn't any snow. They did take a few minutes to de-ice the wings of the plane, though...I was glad to see that they did that. Some photos as I was walking out to the plane:

The flight home also went well and went by pretty quickly. I even slept a little bit (I am rarely able to sleep on planes). It was great to see Frank and Seth when I got home! Seth had driven to the airport and in doing that he completed his 60 required hours of driving so he just needs to make an appointment to take the driver's test now. 

After we got home from the airport and I had unpacked, I felt really tired so I took a long nap and didn't try to do too much the rest of the day. I knew Sunday and this week would be busy! I had church and choir practice on Sunday as usual and that evening I also went to the RS Broadcast from Salt Lake City to celebrate the RS birthday. We joined with another ward that meets in our building for that and had a sweet testimony meeting and then some refreshments afterwards. I didn't stick around for the refreshments...just went home to get to bed. Frank took Seth to mission prep class while I was gone and they got home shortly after I did.

Frank had Monday through Wednesday off this week because it was the University of Maryland's spring break. I taught Seminary as usual on Monday and then took a nap (I didn't sleep well Sunday night) before going to the doctor for a physical. After my appointment, Frank and I went to the grocery store and I got the other chores done. I also picked Seth up from school because he had to work from 3:30 to 8:00 that evening. I took him to work and picked him up too because by then Frank wasn't feeling very well. He was having pain in his abdomen and thought maybe he was getting a kidney stone. Since Monday was St. Patrick's Day, Seth was wearing a leprechaun hat when I picked him up from work:

Between Seminary, my doctor appointment, grocery shopping, picking Seth up from school, and taking Seth to work and back, I felt like I just went in and out all day!

Frank felt a lot worse on Tuesday morning so after Seminary I took him to the ER. (He called our doctor and they told him to go to the ER). I dropped him off so I could go home and change and eat breakfast and have a phone meeting with my team teacher (we meet after Seminary every Tuesday to plan the next week) before going back to stay with him. Fortunately, he was taken back to a room fairly quickly and before I got back to the hospital around 10:30 they had done bloodwork and a CT scan. (I had to park across the street from the hospital and walk in because there were no parking places available in the visitor's parking garage...frustrating!) When the results came back from those tests, they showed that he did not have a kidney stone but he did have an area of his lower abdomen on the left side (large intestine) that was inflamed. They determined that he was suffering from one of two things: diverticulitis or epiploic appendagitis. (You can look those up; I'm not going to try to explain them.) They gave him an antibiotic via IV and then sent him home with prescriptions for two antibiotics and a medication for nausea because he was feeling sick to his stomach too. They recommended a clear liquid diet for a few days and then a low fiber diet until he feels completely better. We got home around 1:45 and by then I was feeling really wiped out so both Frank and I took naps. (Seth came home from school shortly after we got home.) After I woke up, I went to the pharmacy to get Frank's prescriptions and also to the store to get some things for his liquid diet (chicken broth, gatorade, jello, etc.) 

A friend from our ward stopped by that evening so Frank could help her with her laptop. After I took Seth to his YM activity (they did orienteering), I came home and cleaned two of the bathrooms since I hadn't had a chance to do that earlier. I ran out of time to clean the third bathroom, but I was able to get that done on Wednesday.

On Wednesday we had a guest teacher for Seminary, which is always fun. Frank stayed home and tried to get some rest (he did do some work for some clients) while I did my VITA shift. I completed 3 tax returns and did a couple of reviews. We were busy, but not swamped, which was nice for a change! When I got home I had a lot of little things to get done (besides cleaning the 3rd bathroom) since I hadn't been able to get much done the day before. I ordered a prescription refill for Seth and made a couple of medical appointments for myself (checkups and routine screenings) and filled out paperwork for some of those appointments. I sent an email to ask someone to guest teach Seminary in a few weeks and dusted the house. I was supposed to have book chat Wednesday evening, but it had to be postponed because our hostess's husband had gone to the hospital the night before with a blood clot in his lung. (He's okay.) I was sorry that happened to them, but kind of glad book chat got postponed because I really needed the evening to get some things done and regroup. 

Yesterday things started to get back to normal, although Frank still isn't 100% better. He was well enough to go to work, though. (He probably would have asked to work from home, but the rest of the members of his team were on vacation so someone needed to be there in person.) I had a quiet day getting chores done and I was able to get one of my Seminary lessons for next week planned and read through the second one. Frank loaded Turbo Tax onto my laptop so I can start working on our taxes soon, I hope. 

Frank worked from home today as he usually does on Fridays which was good since he still doesn't feel great. I would have liked to go to the temple, but since I had two week's worth of budgeting to do and this blog post to write, plus a Seminary lesson to prepare and knowing that this weekend is going to be really busy, I felt like I'd better wait until next week. I decided to work on the Seminary lesson first and I was able to get it planned in about an hour, which was great. Then I got all the budgeting done and ate lunch. I started on this post shortly after Seth came home from school but didn't finish it before I needed to meet the missionaries for an appointment (they asked me to come with them to a teaching appointment). We were supposed to meet with a young adult girl and her mother, but the mom was sleeping so we just talked with the girl in her front yard for a bit. We read part of the Book of Mormon with her and talked about it and she agreed to come to church on Sunday. I'm really impressed with the missionaries serving in our ward right now...the meeting was great, and while we were walking back out to our cars, they invited three more people to come to church (basically everyone we saw). While I was gone, Frank and Seth made dinner and ate, but they left plenty for me. I did the dishes since they did the cooking. 😊Now Frank is doing some work for a client and I need to find some photos of Seth to send to the YW president for an activity they are doing next month to honor all the graduating seniors.

I think I mentioned a few weeks ago that they are doing a lot restructuring at Frank's work. He applied for four positions a week or two ago and today he was invited to interview for three of them, which is quite an accomplishment. His interview is on Tuesday (he'll interview for all three at the same time). I'm not sure how soon we'll know how those went, but it will probably be fairly soon because they need to fill these positions before they can start interviewing for a bunch of others. If he doesn't get any of these three positions, there will be more positions to apply for soon. No matter what happens, he will still have a job, thankfully. 

Yesterday was the first day of spring, but it hasn't been very warm. We had a few nice days earlier this week, but the last couple of days have been windy and quite chilly. We've had some rain this week too. The mornings are still really cold but the days warm up to the 50s or even the 60s and low 70s some days. A few daffodils have bloomed in our front flower bed and a few days ago I started noticing buds on trees and even one tree in bloom so warmer days are ahead for sure! 

That brings you up to date on us.

Weekly Review March 7 '25

 We had more going on this week and I am a day late posting, but I will try to keep this post a reasonable length. To start, here are a few photos from Seth's temple baptism trip last Friday afternoon:

On Saturday, my friend Rebekah and I went to lunch together (we were on the letter "K", so we went to Kentucky Fried Chicken) and then we drove up to Hagerstown (about 30 minutes from Frederick) to go to the Hobby Lobby store to see if they carry fabric and other sewing essentials. We discovered that Hobby Lobby does have a decent selection of fabric and sewing essentials. It's not as extensive as JoAnn's, but they have enough that maybe I can find a lot of what I need for future projects. Slightly encouraging! They carry a lot of other craft items and home decor items as well, so overall...a nice store. I just wish there was one in Frederick! 

On Saturday I also switched out salt & pepper shakers, pillows, and the door decoration since it was the first day of March:

I also spent a lot more time than I wanted getting tickets for a concert that Seth and I were planning to attend on Sunday because I ran into computer glitches and / or issues with the website. I was finally successful at obtaining the tickets, though. 

Seth worked on Saturday afternoon / evening. I finished up some Seminary lesson preparations and Frank and I watched some Madam Secretary. By 8:30, I was so tired I could barely keep my eyes open! I felt the same way on Friday evening when we were waiting for Seth to get home from his temple trip. That has been happening to me a lot more lately, for some reason. It's a good thing I only have about 2 1/2 more months of Seminary before I get a long break...I need it! 

On Sunday we had Church of course. I planned to take a long nap after church, but that didn't end up happening...I did get about a 30 minute nap, but that was it. I was glad to talk to Jared for a little while too. That evening, Seth and I went with my Seminary team teacher and her son along with another of the boys in our Seminary class to a Baltimore Youth Symphony Orchestra concert. We went to this concert because another boy in our Seminary class is in the orchestra (he plays French Horn). I really debated about going to this concert...I really wanted to go to support this boy in my class and to hear the music, but I knew I would be up really late. Ultimately, my desire to hear him play overroad my desire for sleep! My team teacher drove so I didn't have to do that, which was nice. I admit that I did doze off a bit during the concert, but never fell fully asleep...I could always hear the music, even if I wasn't fully awake! 😁The concert didn't start until 8:30 so we didn't get home and to bed until nearly 11:00, but I did take a two hour nap on Monday morning after getting back from Seminary.

Blurry photo of the boy in my class on stage (we were up in the balcony so he was really far away):

After that eventful weekend, I started the week feeling tired, so it's no wonder I needed some naps and got really tired by 8:00 every night. We mostly did the normal things during the week...Seth worked on Monday, Frank's temple shift and YM activity for Seth on Tuesday, I did my VITA shift on Wednesday, school, work, and Seminary every weekday, household chores, and I went to the temple on Friday. 

My Seminary lesson on Monday went great! Tuesday's lesson felt like a disaster. 😂 On Wednesday we had the Elders guest teach our class and it was soooo good! They taught about being willing to sacrifice and I got to be the Holy Ghost in a fun little skit / object lesson that they did. My VITA shift on Wednesday was unusual because we had several people scheduled who needed tax returns completed for multiple years. Some of them showed up and at least two of them didn't, so some volunteers had multiple tax returns to complete and others didn't have any (because of the no shows). I completed one tax return the first hour I was there but didn't have anything to do the second hour so instead I spent the rest of my shift reviewing tax returns for another volunteer who was completing four years of tax returns for one taxpayer. I also completed a fifth review for another volunteer. That kept me pretty busy for the rest of my shift. 

On Wednesday afternoon (after I got back from VITA) I went with the Elders to a teaching appointment, which I really enjoyed. The friend they were teaching has a baptism date set and she is a really sweet soul. I loved meeting her and felt an instant bond. It was really sweet to watch the Elders teach, too. They are really sincere and spirit filled missionaries (but fun too)! Frank has been helping the RS presidency get an online missionary meal calendar set up so he met with some of them on Wednesday evening to show them what he had done (they loved it!). It rained a lot on Wednesday and both Frank and I got caught in some pretty big downpours (I had a raincoat on, thankfully.) We've had a few milder days lately but only here and there...then it goes back to being cold. Yesterday and today have both been cold and windy.

In between everything else, I have been reading (finished the book for book chat on Thursday) and I have been trying (as always) to get Seminary lessons prepared. I got one lesson planned and the second one partially planned on Thursday. I was struggling with both of them, but then had some thoughts pop into my head about things to do with the first lesson and then it came together quickly...I'm always so grateful for those little promptings that come to me! This afternoon I did all the prep work for the first lesson (creating Power Point slides, printing and cutting things out, etc.). I still haven't finished planning or preparing the second lesson but will have time today, tomorrow, and Monday to work on it so hopefully it will come together. I did have a few thoughts about this one too which should help. I want to get it done as soon as possible so that I can start working on my lessons for the following week. I'm going to be in Utah from Wednesday to Saturday, so I won't have much time to work on lessons next week and want to get ahead now if possible. 

Here are some photos from the temple. After I finished my initiatory session, I went to the Visitor's Center because Seth came home last week and told us there is a really cool stained glass piece on display there right now. It is a replica of the large stained glass piece at the Rome Temple Visitor's Center, except this one is actually bigger. It has the original 5 panels that are displayed at the Rome Temple, but there are two extra panels on each side (total of 9 panels). The original artists created this piece with the intention for it to travel around because they realized that many people will never be able to go to the Rome Temple to see the original. It spent last year in a few locations in England and the DC Visitor's Center is the first place in North America that it is being displayed. I'm sure it will eventually be displayed many places in the United States and elsewhere. I took lots of photos; it is beautiful!

The reason I am writing this post on Saturday is because yesterday I was busy helping Seth get ready for a dance that he went to. Every year a few of the local stakes host a formal dance for all the youth in the area who are 16 and older. It's intended to be like high school prom, only a better atmosphere. Seth asked Lorie to go to this dance and a small group of kids from our ward went together in a group. Earlier in the week, I helped him order a corsage and I also helped him order a vest and tie to wear. There were some delivery issues with the vest that caused us some mild panic, but thankfully it arrived in plenty of time. Anyway, on Friday I picked Seth up from school and we went to pick up the corsage he ordered for Lorie. All the youth in our ward who were going to the dance met in the afternoon to take pictures and then they went to the Olive Garden for dinner before going to the dance. Frank worked from home on Friday but afterwards did some work for his client in Waldorf but he was able to meet us at the photo location to help take pictures (he brought his nice camera, so I will have to get some photos from him and share them sometime soon). We met at a local Civil War battlefield to take the pictures. Here are a few:

(Not all of the boys had dates. In my day, you didn't go to a formal dance without a date, but that has totally changed and now both girls and boys will go to these dances without a date. I think it's kind of nice, actually, but very different from when I was a teenager!) 

Lorie's parents brought her to the battlefield and stayed to take some photos. One of the boys drove the family van to the dance and back so we didn't have to drive. We did need to take Lorie back home after the dance, but Frank did that...I was already asleep! After we finished taking pictures and the kids went to the restaurant, Frank and I got some food for ourselves and then went home to eat and watch some Madam Secretary together. After 2 episodes, I was ready to go to sleep! I did wake up later and was awake when Seth got home. He had a good time.

This morning I got a haircut. Since getting home I have been working on Seminary stuff, this blog, and I also practiced ukulele and cleaned the kitchen floor. Now I am hoping to get some sewing done (I want to cut out the pieces for the May pillow covers) and maybe some work done on my other Seminary lesson. We have to "spring ahead" tonight so unfortunately that means I have an hour less than usual to get things done. 

I'm excited that I will get to see some of the Utah folks soon! That's it for this week.