Weekly Review May 23 '25

Just have to start out by saying that I am done with Seminary for this year!! Wednesday was our last official day, but we did meet yesterday and today for the youth who wanted to meet. No more 3:30 am alarm until August. 😄After Seminary today, I updated the attendance and made sure all our records were correct and then locked our class records for this semester. Seminary graduation will be the first Sunday in June and the second Sunday in June I will be speaking in Sacrament Meeting, along with some of the youth in our class, so I do still have those things, but no more lessons to prepare. That's a huge weight off my shoulders. 

We've had quite a bit going on this week. On Saturday morning I got my hair cut. I did the regular Saturday chores, got both of the June quilt blocks marked, and we had the Elders over for dinner. (Seth missed dinner with the Elders because he had to work). We fed the Elders spaghetti and since we didn't want them to get their white shirts dirty, we gave them aprons to wear and also towels to tuck into their collars. Then we had to take photos of them because they looked so funny:

Sunday was busy with choir practice before church (we sang in Sacrament Meeting that day) and that afternoon my team teacher and I had a meeting with the bishop to discuss the Seminary Sacrament Meeting and he also asked us again about next year...how we feel about teaching, etc. Once again, we told him we are willing to teach another year but also told him some pros and cons of continuing. When we finished, he said "I've heard what I need to hear"...whatever that means! I'm going to assume I'm still teaching next year until I hear otherwise. 😂  We had family night on Sunday, including the activity because we knew our evenings were going to be busy this week. We've actually been struggling to have family night consistently lately because Seth always works on Mondays, Frank is at the temple on Tuesdays, and there have been a lot of other activities going on in the evenings lately...so we decided to have family night while we had the chance! We played Mexican train (dominoes) for the activity. We did the same thing last week but it is a long game with a lot of rounds so we continued where we left off last time. (And we still aren't done.) Seth is winning, by far, at this point. After family night, Seth went to mission prep. He could have driven himself there and back but his friend Henry offered to pick him up so he went with his friend.

Monday was Seth's last day of high school. He didn't have to go to the CTC that day (all the dual enrollment classes ended on Friday the 16th) so it was a short day for him. He was happy to come home and play games in the afternoon before going to work that evening. Seth still went to Seminary on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. I taught on Monday, my team teacher taught on Tuesday, and on Wednesday we played a Doctrinal Mastery game and had a nice breakfast. I made a breakfast casserole for that and my team teacher brought some donuts, fruit, and chocolate milk. 

On Tuesday Seth didn't have to go anywhere except I had scheduled him to get a haircut. I was busy with all the usual chores and I also finished preparations for the game we were playing in Seminary the next day and mixed up the breakfast casserole so it would be ready to bake in the morning. I went with Seth to the church that night for activities because I needed to rearrange the tables and chairs (for the game)...Seth helped me. Then I just hung out at the church, reading scriptures and listening to an audio book until Seth was done with his activity. For some reason, my allergies started really acting up that evening...I kept sneezing and my nose was running nonstop! My nose was really red and sore after just a few hours. It was crazy and caused me to feel pretty miserable. I was very happy to get home and go to bed. Fortunately, it seems to have been an isolated allergy attack. I haven't had much trouble the rest of the week.

The weather has still been strange. Tuesday was really nice, but Wednesday and Thursday it rained a lot and the high temperatures were in the high 50s or low 60s, so it felt quite chilly. Everyone was wearing long pants and sweaters...not normal for the middle of May! Today has been a little warmer, although it's still cooler than normal. 

As I already mentioned, Wednesday was the last official day of Seminary. One of our senior boys just got his mission call and on Wednesday morning he told us where he is going. (We all made guesses about where he was going first.) Turns out none of us guessed right. He is going to Ghana Accra West...wow! I actually have a good friend who has a son who served in that mission, so I got my friend and my Seminary boy's mom connected with each other so his mom can ask questions if needed. We gave some gifts to the Seniors in our class:

(The drink is Power Aid) My team teacher actually prepared these gifts...I didn't have to do anything except discuss ideas with her. 

Seth had graduation practices on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday mornings. They all started at 8:00 and he had to be there sometime between 7:30 and 8:00, so not much different from a regular school day except that he got out earlier. He could wear regular school clothes to the practices on Wednesday and Friday, but yesterday there was a Senior Awards Ceremony right after the practice and they all had to wear their dress clothes and caps and gowns for that (and for the practice). The awards ceremony was really long...it started at 10:00 and wasn't done until 12:30. I didn't go to it because I didn't think Seth would get any awards, but they had a live stream of the ceremony available so I did watch that while I did other things. Seth didn't get any awards where they read his name, but he did get to stand up a couple of times to be recognized--he's graduating with highest honors for his weighted GPA and he also has a high unweighted GPA and got an award called the principal's award for his participation in college dual enrollment classes. A lot of students got these awards, so they just explained what they were and asked everyone who received them to stand up to be recognized, but didn't read off all their names. The graduation practices on Wednesday and today were both over around 11:30, so Seth had the afternoons off. He did work on Thursday evening though. 

On Wednesday I went with the Elders to a teaching appointment. Originally, it was at 2:00 but it got moved to 5:00. They were meeting with a lady who has come to church a couple of times already. They always meet with her at a park. Fortunately, there's a pavilion there because it was raining most of the day on Wednesday. The lesson went well and I always enjoy being a part of missionary work!

I taught my last Seminary lesson for the year on Thursday morning. (Which I didn't get a chance to prepare until Wednesday afteroon, but it came together quickly). I planned a short lesson (did a shortened version of one of the scripture based lessons for the week) and then we played a game (an LDS version of Taboo). I also provided breakfast--I made cinnamon buns and also brought fruit and chocolate milk. Both Thursday and Friday were optional days and we agreed to do them because at least 4 youth said they would come. On Thursday we had 4 come and this morning there were 5. My team teacher taught this morning and she brought coffee cake, fruit, and hot chocolate (yes, it was chilly enough for hot chocolate). It was nice to teach with a small group...the kids were more willing to share their thoughts. I did miss all the kids who weren't there, though. I will miss the Seniors who won't be there next year and I will miss seeing all of them regularly over the summer. I have come to love all of them. But it will also be nice to get a break!

I haven't really felt the full effects of no Seminary yet (since we had it every day this week) but yesterday I did have some free time and got to talk to Amy on the phone for quite a while and I did some reading, too. 

I had a few late nights this week and Wednesday night I didn't sleep well at all. I didn't get a chance to get a nap yesterday but today I took a 2 hour nap after I got home from Seminary...that was nice!! I wanted to go to the temple today but I knew I would be fighting to stay awake. My left eye has also been red, sore, and slightly swollen the last few days and it hurts a little to wear glasses (and of course I can't wear my contacts, either, with an infected eye) so I decided to stay home and rest my eye and take a nap instead. Tomorrow Frank and I are going to a wedding, so I will get to go to the temple tomorrow. 

I did get quite a bit of quilting done this week also. Yesterday I finished quilting one of the June blocks:

I started on the second one and got quite a bit done (I was working on that while I talked to Amy). I should be able to finish quilting it this next week.

I'll finish up with a few more photos I took this week. Yesterday when I got home from Seminary, there were a couple of mallard ducks playing in some puddles in the parking lot:

 And this morning we had a beautiful sunrise:

Weekly Review May 16 '25

 When I finished writing last week's post on Friday the 9th, I was hoping that I would get some Seminary lesson prep done that evening. I did--I was able to get Monday's lesson planned that evening. On Saturday I prepared the rest of the lesson (Power Point slides etc.) and I also got a rough outline done for Tuesday's lesson. That lesson's topic was how to study General Conference talks, and the hardest part of the lesson preparation was picking which talk to use. I read about 6 different talks from April's General Conference and finally settled on Elder Kearon's talk. I did some more preparation on that talk on Sunday and finished it up on Monday. Both lessons went quite well; I felt particularly good about Monday's lesson. When I was preparing that lesson, I had an idea come to me for a different way to do some group work and it worked out really well. That was definitely inspiration, I am sure, and I am very grateful!

Seth spent most of Saturday working on his paper (I helped him a bit) and that evening he had to work. He successfully drove himself to work and back without any issues and it is nice that he can take himself places now! My back was hurting when I woke up Saturday morning and it hurt all day--it wasn't severe, but enough to slow me down and I decided not to sweep & mop the kitchen floor as I usually do on Saturdays. My back was hurting more by Saturday evening, but after a good night's rest it felt a bit better and by Monday it was pretty much back to normal. I don't know what I did to strain it, but I'm glad it healed quickly. 

Sunday was Mother's Day, of course. I got cards from Scott & Seth and Jared & Tanner called me. Tanner sent a gift and Jared sent a card but both of those arrived a little late. (They sent them with plenty of time to arrive by Mother's Day, but both got delayed.) Frank gave me a book about bird watching and Seth gave me a candle that he made at a YM activity.

The gift from Tanner was a puzzle:

At church, we combined with the YW for a lesson and the Elder's Quorum provided some fruit and pastries for us. We sat at tables with flower and balloon centerpieces. It was really nice. I got to talk to Mom on Saturday and Frank talked to his mom on Sunday.

On Monday I picked Seth up from school after his second block again so that he could work on his paper some more (I helped him with it too). He got quite a bit done and wanted to show it to his teacher the next morning before finishing it. When he came home from school on Tuesday, he said he had finished it and turned it in so I didn't see the final version (I'm not super happy about that). I'm sure it was not an "A" paper but it was definitely a lot better than his rough draft. Hopefully he did well enough that he will get at least a C in the class. He's ready to be done with school and I am ready for him to be done too! 

Before I picked Seth up from school on Monday I went for a short walk and took some photos of the river:

It's so amazing to me that this river is only a few minutes' walk from my house. 

On Monday evening I did some sewing and got one of the June quilt blocks sewed together:

On Tuesday it rained nearly all day long. We've had a lot of rain this week (including a thunderstorm about an hour ago) and the lawn really needs to be mowed but it's too wet! I went to JoAnn's (it's still open but will be closing very soon) and stocked up on thread in a lot of different colors. The thread was all 50% off. I did more sewing that afternoon and sewed together the second June quilt block:

There was a RS activity Tuesday evening at the same time as youth activities so that was convenient. The activity was a talent showcase--they invited everyone to bring things to display to show their talents. (This wasn't a performing talent showcase, but people with performing talents could bring photos of their performances.) I brought my afghan, one of the woven ribbon pillows I made, and most of the pillowcovers I've been making to display. It was fun to see all the different things people brought--artwork, pottery, photographs, and handicrafts. One sister designs book covers so she had photos of all the covers she has designed. We also had an ice cream with toppings bar and there was time for visiting. It was really nice, but I got to bed pretty late.

Wednesday was a busy day also. After Seminary I got chores done and then I got an outline done for one of next week's Seminary lessons. Then I went shopping for some clothes because most of my summer shirts are several years old and most of my shorts are uncomfortable because they are getting too tight. (Unfortunately, I've gained a lot of weight in the last year.) I went to Old Navy and found some capri pants and several t-shirts that I like. After that I went to the mall to go to a jeweler to get my wedding ring checked and cleaned. (It's been 6 months since I had it repaired and resized and I'm trying to get it checked every 6 months.) I got back home in time to eat a late lunch and then I picked up one of the boys in my Seminary class from school and gave him a ride to an appointment (except he did the driving because he's trying to get all his driving hours so he can get his driver's license). In the late afternoon, I cut out the border strips and back pieces for both of the June quilt blocks. I was trying to finish doing that so Frank offered to start making dinner and he made almost all of it by the time I was done. 

After dinner I went to book chat. I did finish the book (The Screwtape Letters) earlier that day. We had a good discussion about it...lots to talk about! Now we are reading All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy. I don't have a copy of the book yet, but hopefully I will soon. I got to bed late again...that happened a lot this week.

Yesterday was busy too but mostly with the usual things (grocery shopping, laundry, vacuuming...). I worked on my Seminary lesson a bit...made some Power Point slides and so forth. I have a lot of it done, but I still need to figure out a few things. I need to plan a game for another day and I have a few ideas for that but haven't chosen one of them yet. For my last day (more of a spiritual thought than a lesson and also a game) I haven't decided what I'm doing yet but that's not until Thursday so I still have time to figure it out. Last night Seth had to work and Frank was doing maintenance for his business. I sewed the border strips on the quilt blocks and cut out the batting and backing for them too. I pinned the layers together so they were ready to quilt...and then realized that I had forgotten to mark them! So I will have to unpin them and mark them and then pin them back together before I can start quilting, oh well! I am getting there. 

I was up a bit late again last night, finishing that project. 

We had a pretty sunrise this morning...getting up early isn't all bad!

After Seminary I was able to go to the temple which was particularly nice since I hadn't been able to go for a few weeks. I did initiatories and was done quickly so I went for a walk all the way around the temple before heading home. 

After I got home I had lunch and washed my hair (it was all oily) and then got the budget done. After school, Seth went to spend some time with his girlfriend Lorie...he had dinner with her family. (And thankfully he got there and back safely!) Frank got a haircut. After dinner I started on this post but didn't have time to finish it before I needed to leave for a concert. This was a band and orchestra concert for one of the girls in my Seminary class. I really enjoyed it but I also got pretty sleepy during some of the more peaceful songs. 😂

I talked to all three of the older boys this week and they are all doing well. Scott has some good things happening at work and Tanner just started a new semester of school last week. Jessie just started a new semester also. I totally forgot to mention last week that Jared finished his associate's degree from BYU-I online, and he got his diploma in the mail last week. 

He's planning to do more schooling later but right now they are focusing on getting Jessie through school. 

At Frank's work they have had a lot of budget cuts so they are not going to do any more interviews for new positions right now. When the reorganization happens in June, everyone will get assigned to a position. Eventually there will be a few more positions to interview for, but he's not sure when that will happen. He is, of course, kind of anxious about where he is going to end up and what he will be doing and who he will be working for / with, but the good news is that he will for sure still have a job and will have the same salary. That's a lot better than a lot of people working for the federal government can say, so we are grateful. 

It's pretty late and I am really tired so I will sign off for this week and go to bed.

Weekly Review May 9 '25

 It's been another busy week. Last Saturday (the 3rd) I finished preparing my Seminary lesson for Monday. I spent a lot of time quilting and I was able to finish the butterfly quilt block. I also finished watching the last 4 episodes of Madam Secretary (mostly while I was quilting). 

That evening, I went to a polynesian dance performance because one of my Seminary students was one of the dancers. The performance was really nice--reminded me a lot of the dances we saw when we were at the Polynesian Cultural Center. There's something about Polynesian dancing that is so heartwarming; I really love it! Frank came with me to the performance which I really appreciated--made it more fun for me to not be there alone. We were surprised when we arrived to discover that there was food too--that took care of dinner for us. 

Seth worked a little bit on his English paper that morning and that evening he was working (otherwise, maybe he would have gone to the dance performance with us too.) 

Sunday was particularly busy. Besides regular church meetings, I also went to a baptism and to an openhouse. Frank didn't go to anything except for regular church meetings because during Sacrament meeting his right leg started to hurt a lot. He had to go out to the foyer and sit on a couch with his leg up on a chair to get some relief. We don't know why that happened, but he spent the rest of Sunday lying down to rest his leg. It's been gradually getting better since then and he was able to go to work and to his temple shift as usual, thankfully. 

We had a particually sweet fast and testimony meeting in our ward. We had a lot of visitors so our numbers were larger than usual and that felt really great. When we started to sing the sacrament hymn, I felt this really powerful, beautiful spirit. I'm not sure exactly why, but it just felt really wonderful to be able to unite with many other believers in Christ to sing praises to Him. There was a powerful feeling of unity and love throughout the whole meeting, which was reflected in the testimonies and in how people were interacting with each other. It was just really sweet and inspiring.

The baptism was for a lady that the Elders in our ward have been teaching for months. She's been coming to church regularly and the Elders have also asked a lot of ward members (including me) to go with them to teaching appointments for her, so a lot of ward members know her (she's awesome!!) and a lot of people were at the baptism. (Her brother, son, and two grandkids attended as well, so that was great!)  It was a really beautiful baptism and when she was being confirmed she was crying because she was so happy. Afterwards, she shared her testimony and said things like "I feel like I've had a hole inside me for most of my life and now it is being healed". Really sweet!

I came home from the baptism long enough to eat some dinner and then I went to an openhouse for a boy in our ward and his new wife. They got married a year ago, but their wedding was in Utah so this was just a little openhouse to give us a chance to meet her. There were a lot of people there, too (many who had been at the baptism). This boy was one of my 94 Primary kids back when I was the Primary president. All my kids are so grown up now.

Monday was busy with the usual chores and I also finished preparing my Seminary lesson for Tuesday. Seth worked on his paper a bit before going to work. I sewed the backs onto the May pillow covers that evening so they are on the couch now:

The backs are made out of the same fabric as the outside border on the fronts:

I'm happy with how they turned out.

On Tuesday I was trying to get a lot of extra things done besides the usual chores. I can't even remember what they all were now, I just know I had a long list. One thing I tried to do was to get in touch with my cardiologist to get cardio clearance for a colonoscopy. It's been two weeks since I went to the gastroentrologist and they have not called me back to schedule the procedure which means that they have not heard back from my cardiologist even though they faxed over a cardio clearance request for me. They told me if I hadn't heard back from them in two weeks that I should call my cardiologist directly to try to get the clearance. So I tried...but I wasn't successful. I got through their menu to the line for "cardio clearance" but it rang several times and then a recording stated that the maibox was full and hung up on me. Then I decided to try the appointment line because I thought I would be able to talk to a human. However, I got a recording saying that all their receptionists were busy and that I should leave a message and they would call me back. I left a message, but guess who hasn't called me back? I'm not very impressed with the way they run their office! I don't remember having issues like this in the past with them. I haven't had a chance to try again but I will have to do that soon. I checked back in my records and discovered that the last time I was there (almost exactly 3 years ago) they told me that I should come back in 3 years for a check up, so I'm expecting that I'm going to have to go in for a check up before they will give me cardio clearance. I had no idea this was going to be such a long process!

On Tuesday after school Seth had a doctor appointment--his medicine check and a well child check up too. That evening after I dropped Seth off at his YM activity, I picked up his suit pants that we took to a store to be hemmed. He tried them on last night and they look a lot better now.

Wednesday I tried to prepare Seminary lessons but all I managed to do was read through both of them. I kept getting interrupted and after Seth got home from school I spent the whole evening either helping him or doing things that he normally does (but that he couldn't do because he was working on his English paper). He's been telling me that his paper isn't due until Friday the 16th, but on Wednesday he realized that it's actually due on Tuesday the 13th so he doesn't have as much time as we thought. I spent over an hour looking over his paper with him and trying to help him come up with ideas and to find some better sources. His CTC class is basically done (they aren't doing any new work) so I have been telling him that he should work on his paper during the hours that he's at the CTC, but he hadn't made much progress. He said that since no one has work to do in that class, everyone is talking and it's really distracting and hard to focus. That's when I got the bright idea to have him come home from school on Thursday after his first and second block classes are over so he can work on his paper at home. There doesn't seem to be much point in him going to the CTC when he's not actually doing / learning anything and missing a day or two isn't going to matter since he has hardly any absences this year. Anyway, after a few hours of working on the paper, we took a break and I took him to the church parking lot so he could practice backing into parking spots because that's one of the requirements to pass the driver's test and he was scheduled to take the test today. We spent about an hour doing that and he made a lot of progress and got to the point that he could consistently back in without going over the lines on either side. After we got back from the church, we had dinner and then Seth worked on his paper some more while I mowed the lawn (usually Seth's job). It really needed to be mowed and couldn't wait because of rain in the forecast for the rest of the week.

On Thursday morning I woke up at 1:00 am and didn't go back to sleep, unfortunately. I had a lot to do so I didn't have time for a nap. I did get a lot done--I got all of the regular chores except for laundry done before I picked Seth up from school after his second block. Then I spent quite a bit of time helping Seth with his English paper. (He's got a fairly good start on it now, but he still has a lot to do to finish it.) Frank had an employee appreciation lunch and activities that day at work, so he left work later than usual. Oh, I forgot to mention that earlier this week he had his annual performance review and he got "exceeds expectations" which is always great to hear. Thursday evening I took Seth to the church to practice backing into parking spaces for a while longer, and we drove around a while too. I was really happy to get to bed last night--I was exhausted!

Today it rained most of the day although it finally cleared up a few hours ago and we're even seeing a little bit of sun now.We had a lot of rain this week, actually, including some thunderstorms. The days are mostly warm but today it's rather chilly. It definitely doesn't feel like May today! This morning I went to another polynesian dance performance for the girl in my Seminary class. My team teacher and I went together. I wanted to go again because the sound system wasn't working great at the performance that I went to on Saturday so it was hard to hear the parts where they were introducing the dances. Besides, I really enjoyed the first performance and was happy to see it again. This performance was at an elementary school and it was a lot of fun. We also got to talk to the girl in our Seminary class before the performance, which was great. 

Yesterday I didn't have the brain power to work on Seminary lessons (too sleepy) so I still don't have either lesson ready. I wrote most of this post yesterday and also did most of the budgeting because those tasks are easier for me to do when I'm tired. I was hoping that would give me more time to work on lessons today but here it is 6:30 pm and I haven't done anything yet. After Seminary I dropped my car off at the dealership so they could fix my windows (the part finally came in). Then I had time to change and eat breakfast before leaving for the dance performance. After I got back from the performance, I finished the budgeting and added a little to this post before it was time to pick up Seth from school. (He got out 2 hours early today.) We drove over to the church so he could practice backing into parking spots a little bit more before we drove over to the MVA so he could take the driver's test. And he passed! 😄So all that practicing the last few days plus the hours of driving we've been doing the last year + paid off. Now we get to pay nearly twice as much for our auto insurance, but at least we have a 3rd driver in the family and we never have to go through all that again. The driver's test took way too long. His appointment was at 1:30 but we had to wait in line so long that he didn't actually start the test until nearly 2:30 and it was close to 3:30 by the time we finished all the follow up paperwork and made it home. We weren't home long before the car dealership called to say my car was ready so we went to pick it up. Then we started to make dinner and discovered that the shrimp we wanted to use was really freezer burned so we ordered some Chinese food instead and had to go pick that up. We are finally done with dinner so after I finish this post, maybe I will get a little bit of work done on Seminary lessons before going to bed. 

I'm happy that I only have a few more lessons to prepare this year. We have two weeks of Seminary left. Our official last day is Wednesday the 21st because that is the last day of school for the seniors that go to Walkersville High School (we have 5 of them in our class). Seth and the other senior who go to his high school actually get out earlier because their graduation day is earlier. Their last day of school will be Monday the 19th. Anyway, we decided to offer to have Seminary on Thursday the 22nd and Friday the 23rd for any of the underclassmen who wanted to come. We told them we would do it if at least 4 of them commited to come. Surprisingly, 5 or 6 of them said they wanted to come so we will meet those two days also but it will be a smaller group and a lot more informal. (We're thinking more of a devotinal with a discussion instead of a full lesson and then a game and some food.) The end is definitely in sight!

We're excited that Tanner is going to be able to come for Seth's graduation. Scott needs to work and Jared can't take time off, either, because he just took time off to go to Jessie's sister's wedding. It will be nice to have Tanner here for a few days, though. 

That brings you up to date on us for now. 

Weekly Review May 2' 25

This has been a busy week. Last Friday night we picked up Seth & Lorie from prom and took Lorie to her house on our way back home. It sounds like they had a really good time at prom. 

On Saturday I finished preparing my Seminary lesson for Monday and did most of the prep for Tuesday's lesson. Seth was busy preparing a talk for church and he worked that evening. Frank took him that morning to a local men's store to get the pants for his new suit altered. The suit arrived earlier last week, but the pants were too short. I do know how to unpick a hem and sew a new (shorter) one, but these pants look so professional that I don't want to mess with them (and finding matching thread would be a challenge, with no Jo Ann's here anymore). The hem isn't wide enough to add the full two inches we wanted to add, but they said they could add an inch and a half which is better than nothing. The pants should be done sometime this week. 

Seth did a great job with his talk on Sunday. He's always been good at public speaking...he doesn't get nervous and talks very naturally, just glancing at his notes and looking at the congretation for the majority of his talk. Not sure where he got that from--definitely not me! That afternoon we went to a missionary openhouse for Seth's friend Jarom who left for the Provo MTC this week (he'll be serving in Sacramento, California). Then in the evening there was a stake youth fireside which was focused on this summer's upcoming youth conference which will be in Kirtland, Ohio. The fireside was really great with some awesome talks and some of the youth in our ward did a musical number. I'm glad we went, but it meant we got to bed late. That was kind of the theme for this week, actually...I got to bed late every night and didn't get any naps either until today (and a 15 minute power nap yesterday).

Both of my Seminary lessons went pretty well this week, although I ran out of time to do everything I wanted to do both days. That's okay, though--I do feel like we ended in a pretty good place both times and I was the only one who knew that there was supposed to be more. 😊 The boy in my Seminary class who was baptized in January needed a ride on Monday so I helped him with that (although actually he did the driving because he is working on getting his 60 hours of driving so he can take the driver's test and get his license). He said he liked my car better than any other car he has driven which makes me laugh because it actually has a really sensitive gas pedal which takes some adjusting to get used to. 

I did a lot of quilting over the weekend and on Monday I finished quilting the flower block:

I'm still working on quilting the butterfly block, so they did not get done in time for the first day of May but hopefully I will get them done sometime in the coming week. 

Seth worked on Monday evening and I picked him up when he finished so I got to bed late again. (He gets off at 8:00 and that is my bedtime). 

Seth took the Security+ certification exam on Tuesday and passed it...hooray! To celebrate, I took him to get a milkshake on the way to the YM activity that evening. For the activity, they were collecting items from ward members to sell at a yardsale tomorrow (a fundraiser for camps this summer). Seth helped with this activity even though he isn't going to YM camp. It took longer than usual so that's why I was late getting to bed that night. (Frank was gone to the temple that evening, as usual.)

Frank had a dentist appointment early Wednesday morning. (Biannual checkup...his teeth look great.) He was on his way home from there at the same time that I was on the way home from Seminary. I had an appointment that morning to take my car to the dealer for a safety recall so we met there and dropped off my car and came home together. I wanted them to check a couple of other things on my car (low air warning light is always on, even after filling the tires and problems with being able to roll / unroll windows from the driver's seat) and I knew it needed an oil change and tire rotation and new windshield wipers so we just got all of that done at once. The window problem isn't fixed yet because they had to order a part but everything else is done. Of course, they found other things they recommended we fix and we did a few of those but not all of them. It still added up to a decent chunk of cash, but hopefully my car is good to go for several more years (besides basic maintenance like oil changes). Making decisions about the car took a lot longer than I would have liked but in the early afternoon I managed to sit down for a few hours and crank out plans for both of next week's Seminary lessons. I haven't done anything since then, but I should be able to finish them tomorrow.

Seth had a rough draft for a paper for his English class due on Thursday morning and he procrastinated and didn't get much done before Wednesday so I spent a couple of hours trying to help him with that on Wednesday. He also had a grocery store gift card that he got from his work at Christmas that expired that day and he hadn't used it yet so I took him to the store to use that too. (He got a chocolate cake from the bakery.) Another late night because of those things. I hope someday he learns that procrastinating is not a good idea! I'm certain he won't get a very good grade on the rough draft because he just ran out of time to do everything he should have done. 

Yesterday I took Seth to a dentist appointment right after school (his teeth also look great, thankfully) and then I went straight from there to a tennis tournament (stopping to pick up a salad for dinner on my way). I went to the tennis tournament to support a couple of the kids in my Seminary class. It was a little hard for me to follow what was going on because there were multiple games happening at the same time and the players keep the score but don't always remember to change the score cards as they go, but I still enjoyed watching. The girl in my class didn't play until the end, though, so I was there until nearly 7:30 which meant I got to bed late again. It was a nice day, thankfully...warm with a nice breeze...so it was very pleasant to be outside and I was able to sit in the shade so I didn't get sunburned. I was also sitting with the parents of all the kids who were playing, so we were able to visit while we watched. 

Today I had planned to go to the temple but unfortunately I woke up at 1:30 am and didn't go back to sleep and combined with all the late nights this week I knew I would be too sleepy to drive and / or stay awake during a temple session. After Seminary I took a two hour nap, and then I felt a lot better! I got the budget done and did some quilting and then took Seth to work. While Seth was at work, Frank and I went to a wedding reception for a boy in our ward. It was at a pavilion in a state park. It was really nice and we enjoyed visiting with other members of our ward there and eating yummy food from Olive Garden. However, sitting at the picnic benches for over an hour was really hard on Frank's back so he had to come home and lie down. His legs are still bothering him too but they are improving a little all the time. 

Throughout the week I had a list of other items I was working on...I sent photos of Seth in for a slideshow they are showing at graduation, I filled out the application to renew my passport (getting a photo that would fit the qualifications was the hardest part), I signed up to do a "Fun Run" while I'm in Kirtland for the BFJ reunion, ordered t-shirts for the reunion, and I got Seth's graduation announcements mailed. I quilted whenever I could and I usually watched Madam Secretary episodes while quilting. I only have four episodes left, so I shouldn't have any problem finishing it before it leaves Netflix. I'm glad I'm almost done because even though I have enjoyed it, I feel like it has taken up way too much of my time the last few weeks! I keep forgetting that I have a book I should be reading for book club. It's a digital book on my iPad so I don't have an actual physical book sitting in front of me to remind me that I should be reading. 

The weather has turned warm this week (sometimes even a little hot) but we have also had some rain and everything is green and beautiful. I guess summer is on it's way. 😊

Weekly Review April 25 '25

Well, here I am once again...trying to remember what I did this past week!

Last Friday (the 18th) I participated in an Easter Cantata (musical program). The three wards that meet in our building did this together...each ward provided a couple of musical numbers. I sang with our ward choir (although it was more like a small group because so many of our ward choir members were out of town for spring break). We sang a Shawna Edwards song called "This is Jesus". I think it went pretty well. Two of the YW in our ward had solos in this song and they did a great job. I enjoyed all the other musical numbers and afterwards there was refreshments. Frank and Seth came and they seemed to enjoy it, too.

On Saturday (the 19th) I went to lunch with my friend Rebekah (we tried a Mexican place that starts with the letter L, since that's the letter we were on...it was fine, but nothing special). Seth had to work that evening and we had the Elders over for dinner. I did the usual Saturday chores, worked on Seminary lessons, and did some sewing. I got the flower pieces basted and pinned to the block.

Sunday was Easter, of course. I had to get to church early for choir practice (we sang 3 songs in Sacrament meeting) and Frank had to get there early to set up a broadcast for one of the other wards. Most of our Sacrament meeting was musical numbers, and it was really nice. A couple of choir members got back in town on Saturday, so we had a bigger choir than on Friday, which was nice. 

After church, we hurried home to change and put together a dessert to take to Lori's house for dinner. We actually didn't eat at her house...they invited a number of families and we met at the park next to their house and had a yummy potluck dinner. They also had an egg hunt for the kids and a few Easter crafts. It was a little bit chilly in the shade (mostly because it was a bit windy) but nice in the sun. (The back of my neck got a little sunburned!) I am proud of myself for conconcting a dessert that eveyone loved. I wanted to make strawberry shortcake, but for a lot of people. I remembered that we have a recipe for a chocolate layered dessert that is always a hit, so I adapted that recipe to make a strawberry shortcake trifle kind of thing. I replaced the chocolate cake with pound cake and the chocolate pudding with vanilla pudding, and kept the layers of whipped cream that the original recipe calls for. Then instead of layers of crushed chocolate bars, I used sliced strawberries mixed with a little bit of sugar. It was really yummy and the whole large bowl disappeared fast and everyone said how good it was. I will have to make that again sometime!

We didn't do Easter baskets this year...Seth and Frank said they were both fine with just putting all the candy together in a bowl that we all shared. I tried to buy less candy this year too, but was not really successful. I asked them what kinds of candy they wanted the most and only bought those kinds but we all have different favorites, so it still ended up being a lot. Oh well, I tried!! We still have quite a bit left. 

Frank got sick on Sunday evening, unfortunately. He got to sick to his stomach, but he also came down with a fever. It hit very suddenly...so strange! He still wasn't feeling well on Monday morning, so he took a sick day.

Monday was the last day of spring break. I did all the usual chores...grocery shopping, laundry, vacuuming...and also finished up Seminary lessons, helped Seth finish an English assignment, and did some sewing. I appliqued the flower pieces onto the quilt block and also sewed on all the border strips. 

Seth worked on Monday evening. On Tuesday, it was back to the regular routine for all of us. Thankfully, Frank was feeling better. Not only was he able to go to work, but he was also able to do his shift at the temple. He had asked his shift supervisor to please give him assignments that don't require a lot of standing or walking, which really helped. He worked at the initiatory desk all evening. Meanwhile, Seminary went well and Seth had school as usual. I had a doctor appointment that morning...met with a gastroenterologist to set up a colonoscopy and got all the info, but still haven't set up the procedure because they say since I have A fib, I have to get cardio clearance from my cariologist first. Still waiting to hear back from the cardiologist. Besides finishing all the regular chores, I also marked the flower quilt block and got both quilt blocks ready for quilting:

After dinner, Seth and I went to a LaCrosse game because two of the boys in our Seminary class are on the team. Well, actually three of them are on the team but one of them broke his hand at the beginning of the season so he can't play. He helped with the score keeping, though. This was the first time I had ever been to a LaCrosse game and it was pretty interesting. I enjoyed seeing the boys in my class play. The two boys in my class are number 11 and number 15:

And this is number 11's twin brother (the one with the broken hand), acting as a scorekeeper (he's wearing a white tshirt):

I'm sorry he broke his hand and had to miss playing this season, but it has definitely made it easier for us to tell he and his brother apart! I admit that I just look for the cast on the hand so I know who is who. (They are both really quiet and they usually sleep through the whole class, so I haven't had a lot of opportunity to get to know them very well.) After the game I took Seth to YM and worked on some Seminary stuff until he was ready to come home.

Wednesday was our 33rd anniversary. Frank took the day off work so when I got home from Seminary, we went to breakfast. Oh, and while I was at Seminary he went out and bought some flowers and a card for me, which was waiting for me when I got home. 

On the way to breakfast, Frank got pulled over because he didn't stop behind the line before turning right on a red light (he did stop before turning, just not behind the line). Thankfully, the officer just gave him a warning...we were happy about that!! We enjoyed spending the day together, which included taking a long nap! We had family night that evening (getting to be the normal night because Seth usually works on Mondays and Frank has his temple shift on Tuesdays). 

Yesterday Seth was tired and didn't make it to Seminary. I was busy all day with just the usual things, plus I planned one of next week's Seminary lessons and read through the second one and I did some quilting. I have done a lot of the quilting for the flower block, but haven't taken photos of my progress. That evening, Seth and I went to a talent show to watch another boy in our Seminary class sing a solo. He sang "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" from Les Miserables, and he did a fantastic job! The talent show was two hours long and I really didn't want to go to the whole thing but fortunately he knew that he would be one of the last performers, so we didn't go over until the second hour. Our timing turned out to be perfect...we saw the end of one act, then there was one other performance, and then the boy in our class sang. After he sang, we left, so we were only there for about 20 minutes. I'm so glad I got to see him perform, but it didn't take all evening!

Today I went to the temple. I couldn't get an appointment at my usual time (10:00 am) so I went in the afternoon instead. That worked out okay...I got most of the budgeting done before I left and I also got to take a short nap, which I really needed! It's always wonderful to be in the temple and the temple grounds are particularly beautiful right now. 

The traffic coming home wasn't so great, but I got home in time to see Seth and Lori head off for prom. (They are going to the prom at her high school...Brunswick High). Lori's mom brought her to our house and we walked down to the river to take some photos:

Lori's mom dropped them off at a restaurant and ran some errands while they ate and then took them to the prom. We will be leaving soon to pick them up...we'll take Lori home on our way home. 

In between everything else, I have been trying to watch as many episodes of Madam Secretary as possible. I can't remember if I mentioned last week that we found out it is leaving Netflix soon so Frank and I are both trying to finish watching it before it's gone. We decided that we would need to watch it separately because it's a lot harder for us to find times we can both watch together than to watch it on our own. Frank is way ahead of me now (not surprising!) but hopefully I will get it done in time.

I keep forgetting to mention that after Frank interviewed for those three positions at work, they decided to put the whole thing on hold because of "budget restrictions" and other factors. He finally found out yesterday that he didn't get any of those positions, but they said he did a great job in the interviews and are encouraging him to interview for the next round of positions when they become available. (Not sure when that will be.) Frank is actually kind of glad because those positions would have been a lot less flexible hours than the position he has now. Probably for the best! We'll see what happens next. Originally, the new organizational structure was going to be in place by June 1st, but everything has been slowed down now. 

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