I needed more copies

I had to laugh at myself last week when my spring semester institute class was set up online.  We've been going for 3 weeks, and 6 or 7 students were coming each time (bless them!).  Out of curiosity, I checked the numbers--I had 9 students officially enrolled, out of almost 400 young single adults in Ridgecrest.

Eeek.

If I'd been feeling a little too prideful and a little too confident, that news certainly burst my bubble!  If you're doing the math with me--those 6 people coming represent 1 and a half percent of the people invited to the class.  Not a great statistic.

At the same time, out of that 400, several are away at schools out of state.  Some have married and moved on.  Some are attending Tuesday night classes at the community college or working.  Some are serving missions.  So, there's that.  It made me feel a little better, haha!

Well, I just kept plugging along, spending massive amounts of time on lesson prep for that special group who find the time to come.  Oh, how I appreciate them!  They brighten my day and lift my spirit with their comments, love, and participation.  It's a pretty good weekly gig I've got going on, and I am very thankful for it!

Over the past week I'd been stressing about the next lesson about the law of consecration and stewardship, from several sections in the Doctrine and Covenants. I chose to cover it in one lesson instead of the two available.  SO MUCH MATERIAL.  I felt like I was tripping over myself during the actual lesson and kept trying to find quotes and info I'd read to no avail.  There was just so much information it wasn't funny.

But here was the great part.

I started the lesson with those 6 wonderful people, and a few minutes into it, there were 13 of us!  So many there that I ran out of copies, haha!  A wonderful young woman, Emma, had returned THAT DAY from serving a mission and was getting released that night.  Instead of going home and spending time with her family she had missed for 18 months, she came to institute and brought her siblings and a friend with her.  I was amazed by her example and loved having her there.

It was a really special night!  I've said it before and I'll say it again--nice people make the world go 'round!

Wade spells his way to 2nd place at the district bee!

January 28th was a really fun night for Wade!  He participated in our district spelling bee and came in 2nd place after 17 rounds!  We are really happy for him--and you can see how happy he is in the photos below!

With our wonderful Richmond principal, Mrs. Glennon

Last year Wade got out in the first round and was pretty disappointed.  This time, without him knowing, Rhiannon and I put together a fun list of "prizes" for each round Wade passed.  He was pretty excited about this list and made sure we came up with 6 more prizes for the 16 total rounds, haha!

Wade made it into the paper twice--this was two days after the event and he made the front page!

Wade got great support from his sis and his lovely teacher Mrs Kyte.  Mrs. Kyte's son left his pack meeting early so that he could come, too--what a nice kid!!!

Jason was on travel for work in Arizona, so I was texting him the play-by-play.  I thought for sure Wade would get out on "susceptible" and "rendezvous," but he didn't!  And the crowd was audibly impressed when he got those right!

Look at that cute kid, smiling for his mom's camera! :)

Two weeks have passed and Wade is still feeling the love from this accomplishment.  Mrs. Kyte brought his favorite treats (Doritos) to share with his class the next day, and she presented Wade with his favorite candy bar (Milky Way).  His principal recognized him in front of a huge school assembly.  So many people have dropped off their newspaper copies, too!  He got a sweet card in the mail from his former Cub Scout master, Karen Grant, and the funniest of all--Mrs. Knehans, another fifth grade teacher at his school, bought some "sarsparilla" online and gave Wade a 4-pack to share with his family.  We had fun with that!  Sarsparilla was the word he got out on--he will never forget how to spell it now! :)

Way to go, buddy!

Rhiannon survives her first semester of high school...

WAY TO GO, RHIANNON!

We are so proud of her hard work and efforts during her first semester of high school.  She has a 4.1667 grade point average and is ranked #22 out of 404 freshmen.  We learned that even though she has solid B's in geometry and biology, those classes are weighted differently because they are honors classes and a lot harder.

Regardless, Rhiannon has worked her tail off, stayed on top of classwork and homework assignments, AND only missed two days of early-morning seminary due to sickness.

This girl is going places--we love her and are very happy for her!  Keep it up, girl!

Jason turns the big 4-0!

We love this guy so much!  And we think he felt that love from many on his 40th birthday on January 20th.  He got lots of Facebook messages and phone calls, and his group at work celebrated with not one but two birthday cakes, haha!  :)

For dinner, Jason kindly grilled some DEE-licious steaks, and we had baked potatoes and some other yummy foods on the side.  After I got back from my institute lesson that night, we sang Happy Birthday, enjoyed some cinnamon cake (always a winner!), and then we presented Jason with our gifts.  Rhiannon gave him a sucker and one of her famous handwritten notes.  Wade presented a Coke and some Wasabi almonds he'd bought for Dad at the gas station with his own money, yay!

The gift we'd all been waiting for was the top secret book of letters from family and friends--exactly 40 letters, and he LOVED it.  He set aside his half-eaten cinnamon cake (YES, believe it!) and proceeded to read the entire book from cover to cover.  We just sat there quietly watching him read it, enjoying his smiles and laughs and just being with him.

Happy 40th, babe!  we love you!

ps.  His big present is coming up this Valentine's weekend--he bought a few laps around the track at Willow Springs, in his dream car!  Should be a ton of fun and a GREAT way to celebrate 4 decades!