Weekly Review July 15 '22

 I'm happy to report that both Frank and I have stayed well and we are past 10 days since Seth tested positive for Covid-19, so it looks like he and I will steer clear of it this time. Seth is feeling better now too. He's mostly back to normal although I'd say his energy level is a little lower than usual. He has taken a few naps this week, which he normally doesn't do. 

He decided he didn't want to go to YM's camp, which I was disappointed about, but overall it's probably for the best. This week was a lot calmer than it would have been but it's been good to have some time to think about our upcoming Utah trip and do some planning for that. 

Last Friday I had a YW presidency meeting (via Zoom) so that took a lot of the afternoon. Along with my usual Friday chores, that took up most of the day.

On Saturday Frank and I helped clean the church. We wore masks and we left Seth at home, sleeping. Afterwards, Frank had work to do for clients and I kept busy with YW stuff and other chores. Late that night, I found out that the YW who was supposed to teach our class the next day was not going to be able to do it, so I stayed up late preparing the lesson. 

On Sunday we all went to church, but we wore masks and Seth did not help with the sacrament. The lesson with my class went better than I expected...the new advisor for my class chipped in a lot which helped a lot. I had a class presidency meeting that afternoon via Zoom...we planned a combined YW activity that we are in charge of at the beginning of August. Frank had Ward Council, also via Zoom, at the same time that I had my class presidency meeting. He also had bishopric meeting before church via Zoom because our bishop was having kidney stone trouble and wasn't feeling well. (He didn't go to church either.) He was supposed to be going to YM camp all week, so he was anxious about that. However, even though the kidney stone hasn't passed yet, he started feeling a lot better Sunday evening so he went to camp (very brave, I think!) and apparently he has been okay all week. I had choir practice before church on Sunday as well so it was a pretty busy day.

I realized on Saturday that since I wasn't going to Girls Camp, I would be able to go to Book Chat, which was scheduled for Tuesday. I was happy that I didn't miss it after all. Because it's summer, we met at lunch time instead of in the evening, and we had a yummy potluck lunch. Three of us brought salads and two people brought scones! I wore a mask, except for when I was eating. It was really fun as usual and we had a good discussion (not all of it about the book!). We discussed A Gentleman In Moscow and now we are going to read a book called Patriots by A.J. Langguth. (Nonfiction) I was able to pick it up from the library yesterday and I've read a few paragraphs but I have a long way to go because it's a long book. 

Frank got an unexpected day off on Wednesday. A big thunder / wind storm came through Tuesday evening which almost completely missed Frederick but College Park got hit head on and there was a lot of damage on the University of Maryland campus and the power was knocked out. He knew Tuesday night that there was damage and the power was out, but since he is an essential employee who is supposed to report to work even when there are weather issues, he got up early and went to work as usual. Right when he arrived at his office, he got an email from his boss letting him know that he didn't have to work. Too bad he didn't know that sooner! The power was actually on in the building he works in, so he took care of a couple of small things and then came home. We took advantage of Frank being home unexpectedly by going to see a movie Wednesday afternoon...the new Thor movie (Thor Love and War). As I've said before, I'm not a big fan of going to see movies at the theater but Frank really wanted to go so I went along and it was actually pretty good. 

Yesterday evening I went up to Girls Camp. All the YW presidencies and bishops were invited to come up for dinner and for some games and then to join our wards for their testimony meetings. Since Wednesday was our 10th day since Seth tested positive for Covid-19, it was safe for me to go up on Thursday. I went with the YW president and the 1st Conselor in the Bishopric from our ward (remember our bishop was at YM camp), plus the YW president's daughter (she just graduated from high school so didn't go to camp but wanted to see the girls in her class). I enjoyed visiting with all of them on the trip up to camp and back (about an hour drive, one way). We had six girls from our ward attend camp and it was nice to see all of them. We had dinner and then there was a fun "battle of the bishops" competition after that. Then we divided up into our wards for testimony meetings. We each had our own campfire although we really didn't need a fire at all. It was in the 80s so we all got pretty hot sitting around the fire!! The bishopric counselor brought Crumbl cookies for the girls and the camp also provided s'mores ingredients for each ward. We had a nice time together. That was my first time trying Crumbl cookies...I had a quarter of two different kinds and they were both really good. It was good to hear about the experiences the girls had that week. They were all very positive about camp and even though some of them had some tough times, they all talked about how glad they were that they had come to camp and that it felt good to know that they had been able to push through some tough challenges. All of them talked about the love and unity they felt for each other and they all mentioned the beauty of nature too, and how it helped them feel closer to Heavenly Father. 

I'm glad I got to go up, even though it was only for an evening. It's really pretty up there! We didn't leave camp to head home until after 10:00 so we didn't get back to the YW president's house until 11:15 and by the time I drove home from there and got ready for bed, it was midnight. 

Because I was up so late last night, I didn't wake up until nearly 8:00 this morning. I woke up very briefly when Frank was leavning for work. I continued to sleep well this week and slept solid almost every night. When I wake up every morning, I remember dreaming all kinds of different dreams! It is nice to be sleeping well though. 

One other interesting thing that happened last night at Girls Camp: I had a short conversation with a girl from another ward who is a twin. Actually, she is probably distantly related to me because her mom is from northeastern Arizona and her mom's maiden name is Webb. Anyway, I told her I have a twin sister and she asked if we are identical or fraternal. I told her identical and then said "you and your sister are fraternal, aren't you?" Her family was in our ward when they were babies and I remember her mom telling me they were fraternal. She said "Actually, we thought we were fraternal twins but we had genetic testing done recently and we found out that we are identical." She went on to explain how strange that was for her and her sister, that she was still trying to wrap her mind around it and that she felt like she was having a little bit of an identity crisis. She was amazed when I told her that my sister and I had the same experience! (I remember having those same kinds of feelings that she was trying to describe when Amy and I found out that we are identical, not fraternal, twins.)  I reassured her that after she had time to process the change, she would adjust to the idea and embrace her identity as an indentical (instead of fraternal) twin. She seemed to appreciate that. 

In my free time this week I read this year's Newbery winner book, The Last Cuentista. It was pretty engaging and I mostly liked it. I started reading the first book in The Dark Is Rising series (Over Sea, Under Stone) but I will have to put that book aside for now while I read the book for book chat. I also finished another color by number:

I have a good friend coming to visit tomorrow so this weekend will be busy. We are looking forward to seeing many of you soon! I'll finish up with a few more photos of one of our deer "friends":

Weekly Review July 8 '22

This week did not go the way we'd planned. I'll get to that in a little bit!

First I'll go back to last Friday. Frank has been wanting to go see Top Gun but I don't have a strong desire to see it (I'm not big on going to see movies, in general) so Frank went to see Top Gun on Friday night and I stayed home and talked to Amy on the phone. We hadn't had a chance to talk in months, so I enjoyed that a lot.

On Saturday morning Frank and I cleaned out the closet underneath the stairs in our basement. I've been wanting to do that for a long time but it finally got done because we have all the camping equipment under the stairs and Seth had YM camp coming up and I had Girls Camp coming up. When we were finished, we had a big pile of things to throw away and another big pile of things to give away. Now it will be much easier to find what I'm looking for in the closet, too. We are actually planning to get some shelves to go in there because right now all the camping equipment is in a big box. That means if we need a particular piece of camping equipment, we have to pull a bunch of stuff out of the box to find it. We think having shelves will make that easier. We didn't have time to buy shelves on Saturday, though, and we haven't had a chance to do it since then. Anyway, the closet looks much better. I was hoping that Frank would also have time on Saturday to go through a bunch of computer equipment that is cluttering up the downstairs hallway, but after all the work in the closet his back was hurting a lot so I decided that was going to have to wait for another day. 

Before we finished the closet project, Seth arrived home from FSY. He said he had a great time and that he made a lot of friends, but we still haven't heard many details. We sent Seth upstairs to shower and unpack. By the time he got out of the shower, Jared had also arrived to visit with us for a few hours (Jessie was doing stuff with her family). Jared helped us with the closet stuff too...it was nice to have his help. When we were done, we had lunch and then Frank and I took the large pile of donations to Goodwill. Jared stayed behind to continue playing games with Seth for a while but he had to leave before we got home. Shortly after we got back from Goodwill, I got a text message from the mom of one of the two girls who had gone to FSY with Seth. Her daughter had just tested positive for Covid-19! She started to feel unwell shortly after she got home. Since Seth had just spent 3 hours in a car with her, that meant he had been exposed. We decided to test Seth, but he was negative. We had planned to have dinner that evening with Jessie's family...they had invited us for dinner and swimming and fireworks. When I contacted them to let them know that Seth had been exposed, they were still willing to have us over if we stayed outdoors...they were mostly worried about exposing Jessie's grandma, which is totally understandable. The problem was, there were thunderstorms predicted for the evening. After looking at the weather forecast and the radar, we decided not to go because it looked like it was going to rain for most of the evening. (And it did.) This meant we didn't have anything for dinner except for cake, because we were supposed to take dessert to share with the Hatches. Frank and Seth went out and picked up some hamburgers and fries for us...and got really wet because it was pouring rain before they got home. So that's what we had for dinner, along with cake. We had made a flag cake, in honor of the 4th of July:

Frank decided that since we had the option of watching sacrament meeting from home that we should stay home from church the next day. Over cautious, maybe, but that turned out to be a good thing. Unfortunately the sound for the meeting was not great so it was really hard to hear what a lot of people said (it was testimony meeting so a lot of different people spoke). Originally, Jared and Jessie were going to come over for dinner on Sunday and we had invited the Elders serving in our ward to come for dinner too. Ultimately, Jared & Jessie decided they'd better not come. Not only were they worried about possibly exposing her grandma to Covid-19, but Jessie also works with a lot of elderly people so they were concerned about that too. I contacted the Elders to let them know Seth had been exposed to Covid and gave them the option of dropping food off to them, but they said they would prefer to come to our house to eat with us in spite of the risk. We did enjoy having them over and they helped us eat some of the flag cake too.

Meanwhile, we were starting to suspect that Seth wasn't well because he took a three hour nap on Sunday afternoon. He said he felt okay, but we wondered. At dinner he ate fairly quickly and then announced that he had a headache and went into the living room and laid down on the couch. He also said he felt nauseated. Since he sometimes gets bad headaches and vomits, we still weren't sure if he was just having one of those episodes or if he was sick with something else. I decided if he didn't feel better on Monday morning that we would test him for Covid again. 

When Seth got up on Monday, he said his throat and head hurt and that he hurt all over. I took his temperature and no wonder...it was 103.1 degrees. We tested him for Covid and this time he was positive. 

We weren't all that surprised, but we'd been hoping he'd avoid it. 

Jared and Jessie were heading back home Monday and if Seth had tested negative again they may have stopped by for a few hours to visit but since he tested positive they decided that they'd better not come spend a lot of time at our house. They did come by on their way out of town and stood in our yard and we sat on our front steps and we talked for about 15 minutes. And I took this picture of them to prove they were here even though we barely saw them:

It was just a real bummer that the timing of their visit and Seth getting Covid messed up all our plans to spend time with them. We were sad about that.

The other girl who went to FSY with them also tested positive for Covid on Monday. I actually don't think she and Seth caught it from the other girl in our ward...I think all three of them caught it from someone else at FSY, but I guess we'll never know.

Seth was pretty sick on Monday but thankfully his case of Covid hasn't been too bad. By Tuesday his fever had dropped a lot and by the next day the fever was gone. He has improved each day and today his symptoms are mostly gone except that he's really congested and he has a slight cough. He seems to be getting his energy back too. Today is his last day of "isolation" but he still needs to wear a mask around other people and not travel until day 10 which is Wednesday of next week. Frank and I have stayed well and I tested myself this morning since we're supposed to do that 5 days after exposure and I tested negative. Frank and I thought we were up to date on our vaccines and didn't need to quarantine, but when I checked the CDC guidelines I found out that technically we both should have had a 2nd booster by now since we're both over 50. But we are still considered "fully vaccinated" just not up to date. Frank was able to go to work, though...they just wanted him to wear a mask, which he did. I basically quarantined anyway...the only place I went was to the store for groceries on Monday morning (that was before I realized I wasn't considered up to date on my vaccines) and I wore a mask. I usually go to the store on Thursdays too so I used the online order and pickup service for that so that I didn't have contact with anyone. 

All the other things I needed to do this week either got cancelled or I was able to do them remotely. We were supposed to have a combined YM/YW activity on Wednesday evening but with 3 youth sick and 3 leaders exposed (besides Frank and I, the YW president was exposed because she is the one who picked the kids up from FSY on Saturday morning), we decided to cancel the activity. (There's really not that many youth in our ward, especially now with summer vacations happening.) I was supposed to meet with the sister in our ward about her finances last night but I had to postpone that. I did end up meeting via a phone call with another sister who also needs budgeting help. Today I had a YW presidency meeting, but we always do those via Zoom so that wasn't a problem. 

The other complication to Seth having Covid is our plans for next week. Both he and I were supposed to be going to camps--he to stake YM camp and me to Girls' Camp. After reading the CDC guidelines several times trying to make sure I was interpreting them correctly, I finally determined that Seth shouldn't go to YM camp until Thursday (if at all) and that I could go to Girls' Camp, but I would have to wear a mask until Thursday (including nights, because I would be in a cabin with several girls) and if I started having any symptoms while I was there I would have to come home and get tested. I was also worried about Frank or I getting sick between now and then...if Frank got sick, I would need to stay home and take care of him...and since Seth couldn't go to YM camp until later in the week, I didn't like the idea of him being home alone all day long (since Frank has to work). I finally decided on Wednesday to email the stake camp director and stake YW president to get their feedback. I told them I really wanted to go to Girls' Camp and I really wanted to make it work, but I described all the possible complications and asked how they felt about me being at camp. The stake camp director answered me fairly quickly and said that they thought it would be better if I didn't come. She was super nice about it...her actual words were "we want to acknowledge your love and willingness to serve the daughters of God in our Stake, but we feel that it's best to be safe and will find another sister to be a Cabin Mom." Part of me is really relieved not to be going but I'm also really sad to miss it. Other than the fact that I don't sleep when I'm camping, I was really looking forward to it!! Overall, I think it's good that I'm not going. I didn't really think about it until Seth got Covid from FSY, but there's a chance I could pick up Covid while at Girls Camp, which would mess up our plans for our trip to Utah. So I think it really is for the best, even though I'm kind of sad about it. 

As far as Seth is concerned, we decided that even if he wasn't supposed to wear a mask and avoid travel for 10 days, it would probably be best for him to stay home since YM camp sounds fairly strenuous (9+ mile hike, fixing roofs in the hot sun...) and many people who have Covid feel exhausted for weeks afterwards. After I found out that I wouldn't be going to Girls' Camp, I realized that meant I would be free to drive him out to YM camp later in the week if he wanted to go and was feeling up to it. If we do that, I would take him up on Thursday evening and he would stay until everyone comes home on Saturday morning. On Friday they are going to do some river snorkeling and caving, which doesn't sound as strenuous as the other things they'll be doing earlier in the week. I talked to our bishop about it and he said that they would be happy to have Seth join them for the end of camp but when I talked to Seth today he said if he was only going to be there for a few days he didn't think it was worth it. Maybe he will change his mind, but for now it looks like he won't be going at all. I feel sad about that too...I think it would be a lot of fun and spiritually uplifting too and I hate for him to miss out on that. But it is a really long drive to get there (3 hours one way) so I'm not going to push it if he really doesn't want to go.

Well! That's why our week didn't go as we planned. I have also been wrestling with our flex card / insurance to try to get that situation resolved and I was finally able to talk to someone who is helping me so hopefully that will be resolved soon. 

It wasn't all taking care of a sick child and wrestling with problems and decisions and uncertainty this week. We couldn't do much for Independence Day with Seth sick, but I did watch the Washington DC fireworks show on televison that night. It was actually pretty impressive, even though I wasn't watching it in real life, so I'm glad I did that. 

And I did have a birthday this week too! I received a lot of cards and a couple of friends brought me little gifts, which I thought was really sweet. In the evening I opened presents...Frank wasn't able to wrap them in pretty paper this year because he couldn't find them! He ordered things from Amazon for me and when they arrived I put them in a stack for him but they ended up on the kitchen table and were getting in my way so I moved all of them to the guest bedroom. I took a short nap on Monday afternoon and Frank thought that would be a great time to wrap my presents, but he didn't know where I had put them. So no wrapping paper this year, but that's okay. 

I guess I mostly got books, but that's mostly what I want! Plus those fun Maryland flag socks. (They are super comfortable and warm too. I wear socks in the summer as well as the winter because my feet and air conditioning don't get along!) Mom sent me a gift card which I used to get...more books! Plus a shirt. I now own all of the Newbery Medal winner books (until they pick a new one next year, of course) and I have read all but two of them. 

On Wednesday Frank made me a cake. I actually decided to be different this year and I didn't ask for a cheesecake. I love cheesecake, but I also really like other kinds of cake and I have been thinking lately how much I like lemon cake and how long it's been since I've had one so I asked for a lemon cake instead. 

It's really good! All in all, it was a nice birthday in spite of Covid-19 complications. 

I continued to sleep well this week, which is a blessing I never take for granted! I was going through a really bad spell for a while so I'm grateful that the last couple of weeks have been so much better. 

Frank is starting to have more to do at work and he likes that. They just hired an intern who will be working under him. The intern starts on Monday so I'm sure that will help keep him busy. It is really great that when he gets home, he is home...no phone calls or emails with more problems for him to solve! We are really grateful he has this new job.

That's all the news from around here so I will sign off until next week.

Weekly Review July 1 '22

 I'm sitting in my house listening to thunder rumble. We've got a bit of a thunderstorm going through right now. I am also cold...not because it's cold outside (it's actually pretty hot) but because our air conditioner works so efficiently. I am grateful to have air conditioning, but it's just too much for me sometimes. Frank gets hot a lot easier than I do though so instead of turning the A/C off, I put on some socks and a sweatshirt.

This has been another busy week and I'm sure I've forgotten half of it. Last Friday evening we took Seth to eat at CiCi's Pizza to celebrate that he had learned to ride a bike. I mean, he still needs practice but he can balance and pedal several feet at least. After we got home, I took him out to ride the bike again for a bit but this time he got going faster than he intended. He panicked and tried to slow down using his feet while I called to him "Brake! Brake!" He sort of crashed into the grass with the bike on top of him and hurt his knee slightly. He wanted to go in after that but fortunately he wasn't saying he'd never get on a bike again. He just wanted to rest his knee. Since his knee still hurt on Saturday he didn't ride the bike and he's been gone all this week so he hasn't tried again but we'll work on it some more next week.

On Saturday I took Seth to the store to get some shorts and other things he needed before heading to FSY this week. (FSY stands for "For the Strength of Youth". It's similar to youth conference except it's run by the Church instead of by our stake and it's attended by youth from several stakes in the area.) We got him some shorts and some snacks. We also got some hiking boots which aren't for FSY...they are for stake YM camp which starts in 10 days. We finally got registration information for that this past week and one of the instructions said they'd be hiking so they should have good hiking shoes and they should be broken in before getting to camp. Well, it would have been nice to know that a little sooner!! Two weeks isn't a long time to break in a new pair of hiking boots and since Seth has been gone this entire week, we have even less time. Our plan is to go on a walk every day next week.

Anyway, Frank was busy doing work for clients that day and I was busy with a lot of YW stuff, plus the shopping I already mentioned. In the evening we went to Rita's to get a treat. This was kind of an early FHE treat because it was Seth's turn to choose the treat this Monday but we knew he would be gone to FSY. 

On Sunday Frank and I team taught a lesson to all the YW. The YW president and her husband taught all the YM. The topic was "Why Is Chastity Important in God's Plan?" It's kind of a long story how Frank and I ended up teaching this lesson to all the YW so I won't go into that but I think the lesson went really well. One of the advisors told us afterwards "That was the least awkward lesson on the topic of chastity that I've ever been to." We focused on how this commandment is part of the plan of salvation and on the blessings we get from obeying this law, so really...it wasn't too awkward. On Sunday evening, I helped Seth pack for FSY because he was leaving fairly early Monday morning. 

Seth went to FSY at Frostburg State University which is about 1 1/2 hours west of Frederick. Two girls in our ward were attending this session as well as Seth (there were 3 sessions available for youth in our area...you sign up for the one that's most convenient for you). The mom of one of the girls offered to drive them all there and the mom of the other one offered to pick them all up so I didn't have to drive, but the mom dropping off invited me to come along and I decided to do that. It's a good thing I did because when we got to Seth's room we discovered that his sheets didn't fit the bed and that his room was stifling hot and I couldn't figure out how to open the windows. So we ended up going to a Walmart nearby to get him a fan and some sheets that fit the bed, as well as a pillow for one of the girls because she forgot to bring one. Getting them checked in took longer than we thought as well so even though we got there around 11:00, we didn't leave for home until around 2:00 and I didn't get home until nearly 4:00. So it turned out to be a long day, but as I said...I'm glad I went. I enjoyed visiting with the other mom on the way there and back...we haven't had the chance to get to know each other very well. It was also good to see where Seth was going to be staying all week. He did not choose a roommate because none of the boys in our ward are there this week, but I assumed he would be assigned a roommate. So I was surprised when we got to his room and discovered that there was only one bed and he would have the room to himself. I really wondered if he would be okay but apparently he is having a good time because we have barely heard from him. He did text me shortly after I got home on Monday asking if he could come home because it was "so cringy", whatever that means! But after that I didn't hear anything else negative and on Wednesday evening when I texted him to say good night, I also said "I hope you had a good day" and he replied "I did", so that was good to hear. I guess we will hear more about his week when he gets home tomorrow. Well, maybe...it's always hard to get boys to talk about anything!!

On Monday evening Frank and I went out to get some ice cream. We had "wooden nickels" from Roy Rogers which are good for free scoops of ice cream and Seth doesn't like the ice cream at Roy Rogers (no idea why...it tastes the same as ice cream everywhere else) so we decided to take advantage of his absence. It's been nice to have quiet evenings together all week, but we do miss Seth. It's strange to think that in a few more years we will be "empty nesters"! We miss our kids, but it will be nice in some ways.

On Tuesday my friend Sherrie and I (she's the other YW counselor who just got released) took our friend Wanda out. Wanda is my friend who lives in a nursing home because she is wheelchair bound. We took her shopping at Walmart and then went to get some lunch. It's been a while since we've been able to see her so we enjoyed seeing her again and she really enjoyed getting out of the nursing home for a while. 

I had lunch with my friend Rebekah on Wednesday. We went to another restaurant in downtown Frederick but I didn't trip over the sidewalk and fall down this time! (Btw, there is still a sore spot on my knee from that fall, although it's mostly better.) That evening I met with the RS and EQ presidents to talk a bit about the financial situation of the sister that I've been meeting with to help with budgeting. Then I went right from that meeting to the YW activity. My class and the younger class combined for our activity because the two girls that went to FSY this week are in my class. (And actually, the other two girls in my class didn't come either so it was just 3 girls in the younger class.) Although Sherrie just got released, she came to help with this activity because she helped plan it and we were doing a sewing project so the more helpers, the better. The new secretary also came to help so we had 3 adults and 3 girls which worked out great because they each got some one on one help. They made pillowcases and they turned out so cute!

They each decided to use a different fabric for each side of their pillowcase, which wasn't part of the original plan, but it worked and as I said...they turned out really cute.

Yesterday Frank and I went out to dinner together...again, taking advantage of Seth being gone! We went to a Mexican place because we love it but Seth doesn't like Mexican food. (I know! What is wrong with him???) We also looked over some information about insurance plans because we need to choose our new health insurance plan soon. We're still trying to figure out which one is going to be best for us.

In the meantime, we're having issues with our HRA account at Frank's former job which is preventing us from submitting a bunch of claims for reimbursement. I've been trying to get in touch with the benefit person at his former employer's office but she hasn't responded to my emails. That's got us both kind of stressed out because we only have 30 days to submit claims and there are a whole bunch of them for Jared's surgery. (I was up really late Sunday night talking with him on the phone to make sure we know about all the bills that still need to be paid so we can get them paid before time runs out.) Hopefully we will get in touch with her soon and get things straightened out. 

I got to talk to all three of the older boys this week and Jared and Jessie are on their way to Maryland for the weekend so we will get to see both of them soon. Tanner and Darlee just left on a cruise yesterday (they are going with Darlee's mom and step dad). Scott is hanging in there...he has a complicated relationship with a girl going on right now. They spend a ton of time together but she keeps saying they are just friends. But then she acts like she really likes him!! It's kind of driving him crazy, but I think he is handling the whole situation really well. We've had some long talks about it and his heart and head are in the right place. I'm proud of him for being so patient with her. We'll see what happens....

Frank has been fairly busy with work for clients again this week, although it hasn't been too bad. He is enjoying his new job but he doesn't have a lot to do yet so he sometimes gets bored. This is kind of a slow time of year for them...in August the couple of weeks before school starts he will probably be really busy! He got his first paycheck last week and then he found out starting today (July 1st) he gets a cost of living increase. I guess they usually get one of those at the beginning of July every year, but the timing for us is kind of funny. 😅

I am happy to report that I slept a lot better this week than I did last week. I have no idea why, but I'm grateful. 

I'll finish up this week's post with a few wildlife and nature photos. We are still seeing deer (and fireflies!) nearly every evening and I keep seeing rabbits also. And squirrels...althugh we see those all the time; there is a very healthy population of squirrels living in our neighborhood. Rabbits are not uncommon here either but I've been seeing them more frequently than normal. I figured out, though, that it's probably because our next door neighbor put up a bird feeder recently. I think the rabbits are coming to their yard to eat the birdseed that ends up on the ground underneath the feeder. At any rate, I see a rabbit or two nearly every morning in their front yard. Anyway, enjoy the photos and have a great 4th of July weekend!

Two of the deer on Sunday evening...a young male and a female

Rabbit on Tuesday morning

Sunset on Tuesday

Cool clouds I saw on my way home from the church on Wednesday evening

Sunrise and a squirrel on my neighbor's deck this morning

And finally, another rabbit shot...this one taken this morning.

Weekly Review June 24 '22

 This week turned out to be quite busy, although as usual I am having a hard time remembering many details. I really need to jot down notes or something. On Saturday I had an appointment to get my hair done and Frank and Seth both needed haircuts so the lady who cuts my hair (she's also in our ward) gave both of them haircuts while my color was processing. Seth hasn't been great at taking care of his hair (washing it properly or combing it) so we had her cut his hair really short. He prefers it long and messy but I think he looks so much better with it short! He will be cooler, too, with less hair on his head. 

I can't remember anything else I did on Saturday besides the usual chores, but I know I was pretty busy all day. Frank took Seth out to try riding the bike but they were both mad at each other before they even left so that didn't go very well. I told Seth that he and I would try again on Monday.

Sunday was Father's Day and our bishop was out of town so Frank didn't have a lot of meetings. They did have a brief bishopric meeting via Zoom that morning which gave Seth and I the chance to put out Frank's cards and gifts. I totally forgot to wrap them on Friday while he was at work so they weren't wrapped but Frank's not too concerned with the niceties so that's okay! I was still getting ready for church when he came back upstairs after his meeting so I didn't get to see his reaction to anything and I forgot to take any pictures. He was happy with what he got, though, which was a small cast iron skillet and a really tiny refrigerator (big enough to hold six soda cans...it's more like a small ice chest that can be plugged in!) I got the refrigerator because he needs to have healthy snacks at work and most of them need to be refrigerated. There is a refrigerator for all the employees at his work, but he was told that things get taken out of the refrigerator all the time. He really needs to be able to grab a protein shake or some celery or something when he feels like his blood sugar is dropping and that won't work if he goes to grab it out of the refrigerator and it has disappeared!

The 2nd counselor in the YW presidency and the YW secretary were both released on Sunday. The secretary hasn't been able to do much since she had a baby a few months ago and the other counselor is going to be a temple worker so doing that and being in a presidency was too much for her. (She is going to be a Primary teacher now). I will really miss working with both of them!! A new secretary was called, but we won't be getting a new counselor for at least a few months. We are also down one advisor still, but a new advisor was called for my class at least (and she is the RS president that was just released so that will be awesome!!) The new secretary is also great...she was my secretary and then one of my counselors when I was RS president so I've worked with her a lot and know she is capable, dependable, very kind, and spiritually strong. We have some great people, but it is going to be a bit of a juggle since we have 3 classes and need to have 2 adults for every class lesson and class activity. The youngest class doesn't have an advisor or a counselor right now, so the rest of us are going to have to fill in a bit.

Frank actually had Monday off work because the state of Maryland gives all their employees all the federal holidays off, and Monday was the Juneteenth observation. He didn't lie around relaxing all day, though...he had work to do for some of his clients. I kept busy with all the usual things I need to do on Mondays (laundry, grocery shopping, vacuuming...) plus I also took Seth to the park to try riding the bike. Before we did that, though, I watched 3 or 4 YouTube videos about how to teach someone to ride a bike. I had been thinking about taking him out and feeling frustrated because I know how to ride a bike myself but had no idea how to teach someone else to do it. (Our other three kids kind of picked it up on their own but Seth hasn't been able to do that.) Then I got the idea that I could probably find some instructions online and sure enough...there are a lot of videos about how to do that. There were some really good ideas that I thought might work, so off we went to the park. That first day we didn't make much progress. Seth wasn't feeling motivated to try very hard, so we didn't stay long. I talked to him about it afterwards, though, and explained that part of learning to ride a bike is mental. He needed to decide that he could do it and that he wanted to do it and be willing to stick with it. We talked about some things that might motivate him, and he agreed to try harder the next day.

Tuesdays are always really busy with household chores but Seth helped me with some of them so by early afternoon I had some time to take him to the park again. Things went better this time. I gave him some instructions and watched him for a while and gave him more instructions but then I just felt like I needed to stop telling him what to do and let him experiment a little bit--let him get a feel for the bike and what he was comfortable with. He was trying to ride on a path in the park and he kept veering to the right so he would end up on the grass. (At this point he was just "coasting" down the path...which had a slight incline...trying to learn how to stay balanced.) After that happened a couple of times, he said "Mom, I feel like it's easier for me to stay balanced when I'm on the grass." I had noticed that he was not putting his feet down as much when he was on the grass too so I told him to go ahead and try to pedal on the grass the next time. (He still started out on the path because it was too hard for him to get going on the grass.) He tried again a couple of times and the second time he was almost successful in getting both feet onto the pedals without losing his balance. After that he wanted to go home (mostly because it was hot and there were a lot of gnats flying in our faces) but I could tell that we were starting to make some progress. 

 (In the photo above, he has one foot on the pedal and he's using the other foot to push himself along, like you would on a scooter.)

On Tuesday evening I had another budgeting session with the sister in my ward I've been helping. We were supposed to meet on Saturday but she had some things come up so we rescheduled for Tuesday. That took all evening...she is a talker, so it is challenging to keep her focused. It was bedtime by the time we were done.

I decided to take Seth to the park first thing on Wednesday morning before it got too hot. This time he was able to start pedaling when he was on the grass! After he had done that a few times, I told him to try to stay on the path and try pedaling on the path and he was able to do that too. Sometimes only for a short distance, and he usually ended up in the grass eventually but before we left he was able to pedal several feet up the path, and I was even able to record it:

I'm thrilled that he is starting to get the hang of it, and Seth looked pretty happy about it too!! Now he just needs to practice a lot so he has better control of the bike and gains more stability and confidence. We need to work on braking and a few things like that too. But he's on his way! It's hard to explain what a big deal this is to us. Up until now, Seth would completely refuse to get on a bike at all (or if we could convince him to sit on it, then he would refuse to do anything else). He just wouldn't even try. I'm hoping that this experience will encourage him to try other new / hard things and that he is realizing that it feels really great to set a goal and to achieve it. 

At lunch time Seth and I did some community service. (Or tried to, anyway.) The county provides lunch service for children at some of the parks in the area during the summer. A group of area churches, including our ward, helps provide volunteers to serve the lunch. This week was our ward's week to provide the volunteers and I had signed Seth and I up to help with that on Wednesday. It turns out the lady in charge didn't know it was our week to help so she asked a couple of friends to come help her. There were two other members of our ward besides Seth and I that had signed up to help so there were 6 women and one teenager to help and they really only needed 2 or 3 people so there wasn't much to do, especially since not that many kids came to get lunch. We were there for 2 hours and only 20 kids came during that time. I have helped in past years and we were much busier and needed more people but it's really petered out for some reason...probably because of Covid. 

On Wednesday afternoon we went through Seth's summer clothes so we could figure out what he still needs. He is going to FSY next week so he needs to have enough clothes to make it through the week. It turns out that he has plently of shirts (although ALL of them are blue, black, or white) but he only has 4 pairs of shorts so we need to get to the store in the next few days to get him some more. 

There was a combined YW activity that evening and my class was in charge. First we did some service...we cleaned the church kitchen. That was my idea...I got the idea at the activity a couple of weeks ago when one of the girls injured her finger and we were looking in the freezer for some ice (there wasn't any). I noticed that the freezer was filthy / crusty. It was so nasty!! I was a little surprised but glad when my class's president agreed that cleaning the kitchen would be a good idea for an activity. I did sweeten the deal by suggesting that we go to Rita's for a treat afterwards (gelato / flavored ice place)...I think that helped! We actually had 8 girls show up even though a few were out of town so that worked out great. Enough to get a lot done, but not so many that we were in each other's way. We actually got a lot done in 30 minutes and I was surprised that the freezer cleaned up pretty quickly. It turned out to be a pretty fun activity and of course everyone really enjoyed the treat afterwards.

Yesterday was really crazy and I'm not sure why. I ran out of time to take Seth out to ride the bike. Thursdays are fairly busy with the chores I need to do but I was also trying to get a few more things done too and I felt like I was interrupted constantly by text messages that I needed to answer. A lot of those dealt with YW things...there was one conversation that came up between a couple of girls at the activity the night before that we needed to address, for one thing. I was also trying to send an email to the EQ and RS presidents with an update on my budgeting meeting on Tuesday night. Seth's friend Lyndon (from church) came over for the afternoon so they could play more of the new Star Wars game together. He wasn't any trouble and actually kept Seth occupied, so that was nice. One of my ministering sisters was scheduled to come over in the evening and I was still trying to get that email written to send to the EQ and RS presidents before she arrived when I got an email for the stake camp director asking me if I would be willing to be the Level 1 leader at camp instead of a camp mom. What???? Camp is two weeks away!!! I was an assistant level leader six years ago so I know how much work is involved. So then I was wrestling with that decision in my mind while I was trying to do other things. As someone who has been a leader and needed willing helpers, I really wanted to help her out. But I looked over my schedule for the next 2 weeks and really didn't feel good about it. My ministering sister was kind and talked it over with me. 😊 I finally decided that for a lot of reasons this is one of those times that I just have to say no. I sent off a response really early this morning and after that I stopped fretting about it and feel more at peace. I just got an email back and it sounds like they found a leader so I think things will be fine. 

This has not been a great week for sleeping for me. I have been awake a lot most nights. Last night I didn't get to bed until nearly midnight and I woke up at 3:00 am and have been awake since then. (I might take a nap later!) I had at least one other night that I barely slept (can't remember which night it was now) so after Frank left and I exercised, ate breakfast, and showered I went back to bed for a few hours. Even then, I was getting up for the second time around the same time Seth got up! (He sleeps until nearly 9:00 am most mornings although today he surpised me by waking up about 5:30.) He has a hard time falling asleep at night so even though he goes to bed when we do, he often doesn't fall asleep for hours.  

We are enjoying nightly (and sometimes early morning) deer sightings behind our house. We found out one of our neighbors is putting out food for the deer so that explains why we keep seeing them! Last night I got these photos of deer and just to make it extra fun there is a rabbit in some of the photos too!! (There were actually 2 rabbits out there at one point, and 3 deer, although I didn't get them all in one picture.)

(There are 3 deer in that last picture...one of them is mostly hidden behind the hill.)

Just a couple more pictures to finish up this week's post. It rained a lot yesterday and on Wednesday evening. I took this photo when a storm was coming in on Wednesday:

I've been working on a color by number the last few weeks and I finally finished it:

Weekly Review June 17 '22

This was our first full week of summer vacation, and we kept pretty busy. Seth is always asking me what day of the week it is...he's having a hard time keeping track of that now that school is out. 

As I mentioned last week, we all went to see Jurassic World: Dominion on Saturday morning. It was a pretty good movie; I thought they wrapped up the series pretty well. I liked the new movie theater a lot...much more comfortable chairs and more space, plus a tray for food attached to each chair also which makes snacks less awkward to juggle. I didn't actually get any snacks but I had a few bites of Frank's and Seth's. 

Sunday was fairly busy because I had choir practice before church and I also went to Ward Council with Frank in the afternoon. The choir sang in Sacrament meeting and I was asked by the choir director to say a few words to introduce the song before we sang. It wasn't our best performance...we could have used more time to prepare...but more than one person told me afterwards that they really enjoyed our song so that was good to hear. I went to Ward Council because the YW president had a lot of family visiting because her daughter just came home from her mission a few weeks ago and she spoke in Sacrament meeting on Sunday. The 2nd hour of church was different because the stake leaders wanted to have a meeting with all the adults so instead of going to YW as I usually would, I went to the adult meeting and another stake leader taught all the YM and YW together. And just to further complicate things, they taught the Sunday School lesson instead of the YM/YW lesson so now this Sunday all the youth are meeting together again and we're teaching them the YM/YW lesson they should have had last week. The meeting for the adults was a discussion about how we can make our homes a center for gospel learning and also how we can help our children develop qualities that will help them be more resilient. This discussion was prompted by the fact that our stake leaders are seeing a lot of missionaries in our stake struggling and / or coming home early from their missions. We could have talked a lot longer on this subject, but had limited time.

Seth met with our bishop for his annual birthday interview right after church, and I met with a member of the RS presidency for a ministering interview. Seth got his temple recommend renewed and the bishop also talked to him about setting some goals for this summer. Seth told him he wanted to set a goal to learn to ride a bike. Our bishop told me about this goal after the interview and offered to loan a bike since Seth doesn't have a bike anymore. (We gave up buying bikes for him after 2 or 3 of them never got used). I'm glad Seth has decided to give bike riding another try. I hope he is successful this time!

On Sunday afternoon Tim, Izak, and Zane came back to stay with us for a couple more nights. We took them on the same walk that we went on with Amanda, Jonathan, and Andrew a few weeks ago. All the boys (including the adult ones!) enjoyed skipping rocks and trying to hit targets across the river with rocks. Later on, we went out on our deck so that Tim could see fireflies for the first time. We saw fireflies and as a bonus we also saw a couple of deer! They were on the hill behind our house eating. It was hard to see both of them because it was fairly dark and one of them was standing behind the other one, but if you look closely at the picture you will see more than four legs:

Tim and boys were here until Tuesday morning but they had a packed schedule on Monday so we only saw them in the morning...we went to bed before they got back on Monday evening! As a matter of fact, I don't think Frank saw them at all after Sunday evening because he left for work before they got up on both Monday and Tuesday mornings, and as I said...we all went to bed before they got back on Monday evening. They were able to visit a bunch of people from Izak's mission. They also went to the Air & Space Museum and to Antietam. I don't know how they managed to get all of that done in one day! We enjoyed getting to see them, even if it was only for a little bit. We think it's so cool that Zane's ultimate frisbee team won the national championship!

I had something going on nearly every evening this week. On Monday there was a farewell gathering for a family in our ward who is moving (same family who have the 2 youth that we had a farewell party for last week). We met at a park and people brought fruit or desserts to share. It was quite hot and humid that day (actually it's been that way most of this week) so it was a bit uncomfortable, but still fun to visit with a lot of people. 

Seth went to play with the carpool boys on Tuesday afternoon, He was supposed to go last week, but I didn't put it on my calendar so I forgot!! We rescheduled for Tuesday and Seth seemed to have a good time. I had a class presidency meeting via Zoom while he was gone...we figured out what we are doing for activities the next couple of weeks. On Tuesday evening there was a RS activity. A sister in our ward who is from Peru taught us how to make a Peruvian dish called Causa Limena de Pollom. It is basically chicken salad between layers of mashed potatoes. It was really yummy! I admit I didn't pay really close attention to how to make it...I got distracted talking to other women...but I have the recipe if I ever want to give it a try. It's a bit complicated and I am a lazy cook so it's not incredibly likely that I will ever make it, but who knows? I did have fun and I'm always uplifted when I can spend time with other sisters.

While I was at the farewell party at the park on Monday evening, I was eating a brownie and my crown came off! I called the dentist on Tuesday morning and they got me in to have the crown replaced on Wednesday morning. I'm glad I didn't have to wait too long because my tooth was feeling really sensitive to cold after the crown came off. They polished up the crown a whole bunch to improve the bite (even though I just had that done 2 weeks ago). I ended up having to have that side of my mouth numbed up before they replaced the crown because they had to clean up the tooth really well and since I was feeling a lot of sensitivity to cold they thought it would be pretty painful. When I got home, I was thirsty so I drank some water and it was a really strange sensation to do that when part of my lip was numb. It felt like part of the cup's rim was missing!

On Wednesday evening there was a YW activity. My class combined with the older class and we watched a movie. It was a modern Christian version of Beauty and the Beast that someone in Utah filmed and it was incredibly cheesy and very mediocre acting but we had fun laughing at it. The YM are not having activities most of the summer but we in the YW presidency feel like it's important to have activities, even though we will need to combine a lot of times because we won't have a lot of girls around. 

Originally I was going to be busy last night too...I was going to meet with the sister in my ward to talk about budgeting again...but she wasn't feeling well so we postponed it to Saturday. Instead, Seth and I took some things to Goodwill and then stopped at our Bishop's house to borrow a bike so Seth can start trying to learn to ride a bike. Our bishop and his family are going out of town for a couple of weeks, so we thought it would be a good time to borrow a bike since no one else will be trying to use it. They have a son Seth's age, so that's the bike we borrowed. During the day yesterday Seth helped get all the chores done and he came with me when I went grocery shopping so he could pick out a Father's Day card for Frank and also help decide about a couple of gifts. After we got back from shopping, we went to a play group at the park. A sister in our ward sets this up every summer and even if you don't have kids, everyone is invited to come and visit. She has a son near Seth's age so he was interested in going so he could hang out with his friend. I'm in favor of Seth getting out of the house and getting some fresh air and exercise whenever possible so I was happy to take him. Plus I always enjoy visiting with the other women. There was only a small group there this week but it was still fun. We ended up bringing Seth's friend home with us so they could play Seth's new Star Wars video game together for a few hours. 

Today I helped with cleaning at the moving family's house. I signed up to help for an hour but they had everything almost done so after being there for 30 minutes there was nothing else to do. I came home and had a phone conversation with the YW president for an hour or so because we had some things we needed to discuss. Then I got the budget caught up. 

Frank had a fairly busy week...besides work, he had to help with tithing on Tuesday (they couldn't do it on Sunday because the church's website for that was down), he did maintenance for his clients last night, and he had other work to do for clients on other days as well. At work, his access was granted on Wednesday so he could finally start doing more things for his job. He's mostly just been going through training and learning some things but he hasn't always had a lot to do, so he's been a little bored. That is starting to change now and he is glad to have more to do. 

We are all adjusting to Frank's new schedule...we eat dinner an hour or more later than we used to so I always feel like the evenings are short. (It's time for bed already??) Frank usually calls me when he leaves work and we chat for a while so his drive home is a little less tedious. I've been trying to get up with him and make his breakfast while he showers, but I have had a lot of bad sleeping nights this week so a couple of mornings I have not been able to get up with him. I have been making his lunch for the next day every evening. It is challenging to come up with a healthy lunch that is either good cold or that heats up well but I am working on it. 

Frank just got home from work a few minutes ago. I need to go make dinner and I can't think of anything else significant that happened this week so I'll sign off now.

Weekly Review June 10 '22

 Happy first week of summer vacation for us! I am happy that I don't have to get Seth to Seminary or to school and that I don't have to nag him about homework. It is nice to be on a more relaxed schedule although I haven't been sleeping in. I actually keep waking up really early but that's okay because I prefer to get an early start to my day.

When I wrote last week, Seth was working on a homework assignment for his English class. He ended up putting in several hours getting it done and then I checked it and made him change some things. He wasn't very happy about that but he did cooperate and with my help he finally got it done and submitted. He wasn't fully convinced that the changes I was telling him to make were actually right or necessary and he told me he would be upset with me if I messed up his grade. But guess what? When I checked his grade on Monday I discovered that he got 100% on that assignment. So there you go...I think he is more convinced now that I know what I'm talking about when it comes to English assignments. 

On Saturday Frank and I got some shopping done at Costco (never fun to go there on Saturday, but we couldn't avoid it this time). I also cleaned out all the cabinets in our bathroom...we had accumulated a lot of stuff in there and they were a disorganized disaster. That turned out to be a bigger job than I anticipated so it took the whole evening, but it looks great now. I got so busy doing that, though, that I forgot to clean the kitchen floor as I usually do on Saturday evening so on Monday I cleaned the kitchen floor and cleaned all the bathroom floors too while I was at it. 

On Sunday morning I went to my first choir practice since before the Covid-19 pandemic started. It was really lovely to be singing with other people again! We will have another practice this Sunday morning before church and then we will sing during Sacrament meeting. Frank had both Ward Youth Council and Ward Council meetings to attend after church so he was pretty busy. This is his month to conduct, so he is also planning Sacrament meeting topics and asking people to speak. For Seth and I, Sunday was pretty restful once we got home from church.

I was quite busy on Monday. besides sweeping and mopping the kitchen and bathroom floors, I also vacuumed or swept all the other floors. I bought groceries as well and started laundry and read scriptures. I got all of that done before lunch time. I went to lunch with my friends Rebekah and Starr. Starr moved to Utah last summer, but she is visiting right now so we went to lunch so we could visit and get caught up on her life. I enjoyed having lunch with my two friends a lot, but I had a mishap on the way there. We had chosen to go to a restaurant in the historic downtown area of Frederick so I had to park in a parking garage and walk a few blocks to the restaurant. On my way there, I tripped over an uneven spot in the sidewalk and went down hard. I had so much forward momentum that even though I threw out both of my hands and was able to break my fall, I still hit my face on the sidewalk! It was really strange...I remember having this split second realization that even though my hands had hit the pavement, I wasn't stopping and I knew I was going to hit my face. I wasn't running or even walking very fast so I still can't figure out why that happened! Anyway, I landed harder on my left knee and hand than on my right knee and hand, so my left knee looks the worst. My right knee has a few small bruises and cuts but my left knee has an abrasion and large bruises all over it. Both hands got slightly skinned and I had small "road rash" spots on my chin and right cheek. The injured places on my hands and face barely show up and my cheek hasn't bruised either although it still feels slightly tender. I am really glad I wasn't wearing my glasses (I wear them more often than not these days) because it's fairly likely they would have been broken (and could have caused more injury to my face, too.) My screen saver on my phone did get a big crack in it...my phone was in my purse and my purse was on my shoulder when I fell. I'm glad it was just the screen saver instead of the screen...I've had this phone for only 3 or 4 months.

I was able to go on to have lunch with my friends and I was okay but I suspected I would feel worse later and I was right. By Monday evening I noticed that both arms were hurting from my wrists all the way up to my shoulders and into my chest. They felt even worse on Tuesday, which didn't surprise me a whole lot. And Tuesday night a spot in my upper back started hurting too so I didn't sleep very well that night...no matter which way I turned, something hurt! On Wednesday I spent a lot of the day walking around (more on that later) and although I didn't feel bad then, by the time I got home in the late afternoon I was starting to hurt all over and I just collapsed for a few hours. Then I had to go to the YW activity. When I got home from that, I took 2 Ibuprofen and went to bed. That seemed to help a lot...I slept well and when I woke up on Thursday my arms were barely hurting and they have continued to improve since then and are feeling pretty much back to normal now. I'm sure they just got really jarred from the fall and needed some time and rest to heal. Although my left knee still looks terrible, it doesn't hurt all that much, thankfully. It looked like this on Monday:

Like this on Tuesday:

And like this yesterday:

This seems to be one of the fun things about getting older. I don't think I've tripped and fallen down for a couple of decades, but this is the third time I've fallen and injured myself in the last 10 months! I feel like I used to be able to stop myself from falling when I tripped, but now I just go down...hard! However, I keep thinkng how much worse it could have been...what if I had broken both my wrists? I'm thankful it wasn't worse!

Well, I didn't mean to go on and on about that, but it had a fairly big impact on my week. Meanwhile, the last day of school for Seth was Tuesday. He got out two hours early on Tuesday but I had totally forgotten it was a 2 hour early release day so I was surprised when he showed up at 12:30 instead of 2:30! When he got home from school on Monday he had to clean his room because Tim's family was coming to visit and one person needed to sleep on the trundle bed in his room. He had so much stuff on his floor that there was no room to pull out the trundle. I did tell him weeks ahead of time that he was going to need to clean it before they came but of course he put it off until the last minute. I helped him a little bit and we managed to fill an entire garbage bag with just trash--papers and things like that--to throw away. We also filled a small box with items that he has outgrown to give away. There is still a lot of stuff in his room, as you can see from the pictures, but it is so much better than it was before. His entire floor as well as the upholstered chair (which pulls out and becomes the trundle bed) used to be covered with stuff:

Frank also had a busy week, of course...he started his new job on Monday. He has been experimenting with leaving the house at different times in the morning to figure out when the traffic is the best. He seems to be enjoying his new job so far although of course he is mostly going through training and getting things set up. His boss says after he gets through the initial training he can work from home one day per week and he can also choose a time to come in and a time to leave on his days in the office...he can start working as early as 7:30, or he can come in later and leave later. Since he wakes up pretty early most days, he will probably work 7:30 to 3:30. He has enjoyed being able to leave work at work...when he comes home, he doesn't have to do anything for work. He has continued to do quite a bit of work for one of his clients though so he's still been pretty busy. 

On Tuesday evening I had book club and Frank had a Bishopric meeting (his meeting was via Zoom). Tim & Rachelle and kids were coming to stay with us that evening so I left book club early. We discussed West With Giraffes which everyone loved. After I left, they chose the new book which is A Gentleman in Moscow. I read that book earlier this year and I loved it, too. The day they chose to meet next time is the first day of Girls' Camp so I probably won't be able to go unless I don't have to be at Girls' Camp until later in the day. I don't really know what the schedule is like yet. 

Tim and family arrived around 8:15 and it was fun to have them here with us! We're glad they didn't mind being crowded into our little house. Tim & Rachelle got the guest room, Zane slept on the trundle in Seth's room, Gwen slept on one of the living room couches, and Izak slept on an air mattress in the living room. Everyone claimed they slept great; hopefully they weren't just being nice!! We enjoyed visiting that evening and again in the morning. (Frank went to work before they woke up, though.) They planned to go to Gettysburg that day before heading to Philadelphia for a concert so Seth and I went with them. Or more accurately...we caravaned with them, since we took our car and they took theirs. Seth and I have been to Gettysburg many times, of course, but it is always very moving to visit there and it is so beautiful there as well! Of course our main motivation for going was to spend more time with Tim's family and we enjoyed visiting with them whenever we stopped. It was a really nice day...sunny and pleasant, not too hot. But as I mentioned before...it was a little too much for my still recovering body! I'm glad I went in spite of that, though. 

Seth and I got home around 4:00...we hadn't had lunch, just a few snacks, so we stopped to get some food on our way home. Then, as I mentioned before, I collapsed on the couch for a few hours until it was time to go to the youth activity. 

When we were leaving to go to the activity, we discovered that there was a beautiful rainbow. I took several photos both before we left home, on the way to the church, and once we got to the church. If you look closely, you can see in some of the photos that it was actually a double rainbow, although the second one was really faint. 

The youth activity was combined for all the YM and YW. We were having a "farewell party" for a brother and sister because their family is moving to Utah soon. (Have I mentioned that I am really tired of people in our ward moving to Utah?? Our ward has shrunk to half its size in the last couple of years!) I mean, I know people have to do what is best for their families but it sure is sad to see so many people move away. Anyway, for the activity we had a chicken dinner (from Roy Rogers...Frank picked up the food and they still gave him a 20% discount even though he doesn't work there anymore) and then played dodgeball, because these two youth really like sports. I feel like such a spoil sport, but there was no way I was going to play dodge ball with my achy body!! Besides, I was worried that I would fall and get hurt again. I can't even walk down a sidewalk without getting hurt, what are the chances I could play a game like dodgeball on a hard gym floor without getting hurt? It was fun to watch, though, and I wasn't the only leader who chose to watch rather than play. 

There's not much to say about Thursday. I got the regular chores done (grocery shopping, laundry, vacuuming) with help from Seth. I got some other little things done like trading out the salt & pepper shakers (I still had Easter / spring sets out). Even though I actually slept well Wednesday night, I was feeling sleepy in the early afternoon so I decided to take a quick nap and I was shocked when I woke up a couple of hours later! I have no idea why I needed a long nap like that. Today I had a YW presidency meeting which went really long so that took up the whole morning. Thankfully I was up early this morning so I got most of the budget done before the meeting started and I was able to finish it up quickly after the meeting. Tonight I am going to watch Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom because I haven't seen it yet and we have tickets to see Jurassic World: Dominion (the sequel) tomorrow morning. I'm getting to the point where I really don't like going to movies in the theater but Frank and Seth really want to see this movie and want me to come with them. We're trying out a new movie theater so maybe I will enjoy that more...I've heard it's pretty nice. 

Seth has been mostly vegetating in front of a screen the last couple of days but next week he will have much more limited screen time and we're going to set some goals for a few things for him to accomplish this summer. This summer is looking busy and I feel like it's going to go by really quickly. I am happy to report that I saw fireflies for the first time last night! That is one of my favorite things about summer in Maryland.