Weekly Review July 31 '15

I just wrote to Tanner and discovered that there is not a lot to say about this week. Not because we didn't do anything, just because most of what we did was routine and not exciting to write about.

I do have a lot of pictures, though!

Saturday was busy because besides all the usual chores we had to do, we all got haircuts that morning. Then that evening was our ward temple night, so Frank and I went. 

Frank wasn't sure he was going to make it...his back was hurting a lot...but he went anyway and I really enjoyed it a lot more than I would have if he hadn't been there. We had a small group show up from our ward. Afterwards, we stopped for dinner with two other couples and that was fun.

Sunday Frank was hurting a lot so he only went to Sacrament Meeting. He had already asked someone else to substitute his class for him since his back had been giving him a lot of trouble all week. I think my talk went pretty well...at least, I had a number of people afterwards thank me for it, and a few even said it really helped them. So that was nice to hear. I talked longer than I should have, though. The choir sang that day also, and Jared directed us. He did a good job. We sang "Faith in Every Footstep". I did a food order that evening, so besides all my usual meetings, that made for a busy day.

I had the usual chores Monday and Tuesday and I was also trying to finish preparing my lesson for this Sunday and finish up VT changes so that I would have more time to spend with Ben's family. I did get the lesson finished up on Tuesday but not the VT changes. I got those done yesterday, though. 

I went to lunch with my friend Rebekah on Monday, which I always enjoy. She is my listening ear! On Tuesday morning I found this plant (with the note stuck in it) sitting on my doorstep:

I'm totally mystified, but that was very nice of somebody! Although it also made me feel a bit guilty because I was just whining a bit about all my responsibilities to my friend Rebekah the day before! I hope that I am serving willingly most of the time. Just sometimes I get tired! I also had a sister in the ward call me that night, just to check on me and to find out if she could do anything for me. Totally out of the blue! Which was also really nice, even though I couldn't think of anything I needed her to do for me.

Ben's family arrived here safely on Tuesday evening and the cousins tried to out talk each other. :) Seriously, it is great to see them having so much fun together. On Wednesday Frank went to work as usual but the rest of us visited Civil War battlefields. We went to the Monocacy battlefield in the morning and Antietam in the afternoon. Here's a few pictures from Monocacy:
 

We all fit in our car, so we were able to travel together which was nice. Jared did all the driving to, from, and around Antietam, so he got in about 3 hours of driving time. The drive to Antietam is through beautiful hills and quaint little towns; I loved it! Antietam itself is in a very beautiful area and I took lots of pictures. First we went to the visitor's center and watched a film about the battle. There was a small museum and a gift shop too which we checked out. On the upper level, there is a big observation room with windows all around so you can see the whole surrounding area. We listened to an intern talk all about the battle up in that room. A lot of what he said was a repeat from the film, but he did add in several interesting stories. Here are some pictures from the observation room:

After that, we went on the self guided driving tour around the battlefield. Here are all our pictures from that (It was super beautiful and I took an obnoxious amount of pictures):

We climbed a tower and got some pictures up there. Between the two rows of fences is called "Bloody Lane" because so many people died there. Sad!

At another stop, we saw this guy in a Union uniform re-enact the soldiers crossing Antietam Creek. He's holding a rifle over his head:

 This tree was actually there at the time of the battle, it was just a lot smaller then:

It was a very hot and humid day, so it got pretty uncomfortable at times, but we still enjoyed ourselves.

On Thursday morning Ben's family, with Jared in tow, left for NYC. It's been pretty quiet around here since then. I've been trying to get caught up on household chores and RS stuff. I got a lot of errands done and Seth had a play date with one of the girls his age in the ward.

Jared has sent me a few pictures and messages, and he seems to be having a great time. Dee sent me a picture of the kids too. They did some sightseeing and shopping yesterday and went to see An American in Paris last night. Jared says the play was amazing! They are doing more sightseeing and shopping today and going to see Aladdin tonight. They will be home tomorrow evening. They did get wet yesterday...a couple of big thunderstorms rolled in (we got them here too). It is a lot less humid today, though, which really helps even though it is still in the 90s. It's amazing what a difference even a small drop in humidity can make!

Frank has been busy with work all week. He went to physical therapy twice and he is doing a lot better than he was at the beginning of the week. He goes twice again next week and then they will evaluate again.

And that is it for this week!

Weekly Review July 24 '15

I only have one week to cover (instead of 3) so hopefully this post will be a lot shorter and more manageable to wade through. I wouldn't say this week was incredibly eventful, either.

Last Friday I did what I predicted--I spent all day updating the finances. Not a lot of fun, but needed to be done. Seth went to a birthday party that afternoon where they had a water gun fight, so he enjoyed that. Jared arrived home from Camp Helaman that evening. In spite of applying sunscreen 3 times a day, he was still pretty sunburned! He did have a good time, though. I haven't heard a ton about youth conference or Camp Helaman, but he enjoyed both trips.

Saturday was super hot. I tried to mow the lawn that morning, but our lawnmower wouldn't start. We did have the Elders over later, though, and they helped with a bunch of weeding and spreading mulch. Frank didn't do much because he still has to be careful so he just loosened some of the weeds with our big claw tool, but apparently even that was too much. He's had a bit of a setback, with his back hurting him quite a bit since then. He went to the physical therapist on Tuesday for his check up and because of the new problems with his back, they want him to do 3 more weeks of physical therapy and then see where he's at. Plus, they said he shouldn't do anything like yardwork for probably a year. 

Saturday evening I went to a birthday party for one of my good friends in the ward. She invited a bunch of her girl friends over and her husband cooked dinner for all of us. It was pretty impressive...he made steak, crab cake, scallops, mashed potatoes, asparagus, green salad, and bread. Plus appetizers and 3 kinds of dessert! It was better than a restaurant! I didn't know everyone there...she had invited a number of neighbors as well as a few women from the ward, but I enjoyed getting to know some of the other women that I didn't know. One of them mentioned that her family is "as Catholic as can be" but that her parents, who live in Utica, New York, LOVE the Hill Cumorah Pageant and they attend every year!

Sunday was the usual round of meetings and I came away with a decent list of things to do and people to call. Plus I also was asked to speak in church this Sunday. Why do I always get asked to speak in church right after vacation? So I've spent a lot of time this week working through my list of RS stuff, plus preparing a talk. I have also tried to work on visiting teaching changes and the lesson that I will be teaching next Sunday because I want to have some free time to spend with Ben's family when they are here next week. So all of that has kept me very busy!

The earlier part of the week was uncomfortably hot and humid but on Tuesday evening we had a short thunderstorm. Here are the clouds coming in; they looked much cooler in real life!:

Since then, the temperature dropped into the 80s and the humidity has been lower too so it has been really beautiful and we've enjoyed that. I think it is supposed to be getting hot again the next few days, though.

Another project I had this week was getting Tanner's room cleaned up. He actually didn't have as much stuff in there as I thought, so it didn't take as long as I had feared. We want to have his floor clear so the queen size air mattress will fit in there for Ben & Dee to sleep on. After I packed his stuff (which fit in one box), Jared helped me move some furniture around and  he also helped me move a bunch of my craft stuff (which has been in one corner of the room) up onto the bed. Then he took apart the desk that was in there. So now we have a nice big open floor!

Other things I did this week: I had book club on Tuesday and a Presidency meeting Wednesday. On Thursday evening I went to a farewell party for a family in our ward who's moving plus I took Jared to a play he wanted to go to. (A friend was in it.) I signed Jared up for Driver's Ed, ran errands to the post office and the library, took Seth to cub scout den meeting, and nagged Jared to work on his Eagle project. I did all the usual cleaning, shopping, and laundry.

Jared has been applying for some jobs. He also mowed the lawn for an older couple in our ward, and our lawn too (we borrowed a lawnmower to do that). He worked on his Eagle project when I nagged at him about it and helped another boy in our ward with his project (he did a basketball camp for kids with disabilities).

Last night Frank took me out to dinner as a belated birthday present, which I enjoyed. In between all the other things, I've been reading here and there. I finished the book about Orem and learned a few things I didn't know ( For example, during WWII there was a Japanese interment camp in Orem for a short period of time...right where Orchard Elementary and Canyon View Jr High Schools are now! Later in the war it became a POW camp for German and Italian prisoners, who were allowed to work at the nearby farms and orchards.) I finished The Language of Flowers, and mostly enjoyed it. All the birthday books I ordered from Amazon arrived, so I have more reading material. I already read this one, since it is mostly pictures:

I haven't started this one yet:

I've read a little bit of this fun book:

It opens up like a dollhouse:

It's all about many different historical dollhouses. I'm enjoying it!

I also started reading The Astronaut Wives Club, which I checked out from the library. I haven't been able to get our next book for book chat yet, so once I do, I will have one more book to read!

Scott is in the process of buying a car so we've spent a bit of time on the phone with him this week, giving advice about insurance and registration and so forth. Hopefully he will get it all worked out soon! He started a new full time job the day I flew back from Utah and so far he really likes it. Having a car to get to work and back will really help him out. Plus I'm hoping he'll be able to go to Institute and have more opportunities to date.

That's all I can think of for this week.

More Salt & Pepper--additions to the collection since July 2014

I've added 7 sets to my salt & pepper collection over the last year, bringing me up to 109 sets total. I know, crazy!! I think I will do an update every July so that I don't forget any sets.  Here are the new sets:

I received this set and the three following in November 2014. Frank's parents gave them to me when they visited us for Thanksgiving. I have a couple of other corn on the cob sets, but each of them is a little different!

This is a unique set--all in one piece. The silver piece on top comes off to reveal the holes for the salt and the pepper to come out.

These lighthouses are really nice! I have another lighthouse set but they aren't clear like these ones.  I'm sure Frank likes this set better!

These little birds are the shakers. The flowering branch they are sitting on has two holes in the top  The birds have little posts on the bottom that fit into the holes, so they don't fall off. This set is quite heavy! I think it may be made out of real silver...both the birds and the flowering branch look a bit tarnished. A very beautiful & unique set!

I got this set in May or June 2015 at Wegmans. I couldn't resist because I knew Frank would like the unambiguous "S" and "P". Plus, I thought they were really pretty and would be fun for spring and summer!

I got this set at Wegmans the same day I got the "S" and "P" set above. Again, I couldn't resist because I think this set is so clever! They even have their own little plate to sit on. Fun!

Finally, I got this set last Saturday while I was in Utah:

I have another BYU set, but the stoppers on that set are damaged so I can't use them. Plus these guys are so cute! Now if I ever get around to having a BYU game day party I have the perfect set of salt and pepper shakers for the occasion.

If you want to see the other 102 sets, you can go here. If you want to read about how my collection got started, you can go here.

Addendum:

I recently received two more salt and pepper sets so I thought I'd add them on here, before I forget. Right after I posted the above, I got a package in the mail with a late birthday gift from Frank's parents:

Frank laughed his head off at this set that looks like bullets! I think it is probably his favorite set to date.

Then when Ben's family were here this week they gave me this cute set:

Reminds me of my childhood...I used to love to read Peanuts comic books. We had a lot of them! Their feet have little magnets on them so they stick together like that.

So now I am up to 111 sets! :)