Today

Today's cloudy sunrise was glorious.

That beautiful sky helped me forget, for just a few moments, about our local weather.  Uncomfortable would be an understatement.  I melted into a puddle yesterday and plan to live in the pool during the next 7 days.  It's pretty awesome until 10 or 11 am, and then...it's not.

Today Jason is on the China Lake golf course, participating in a tournament with folks from his new work group.  He and others are doing some good things to promote unity and community with co-workers.  A few months back they had a low-key family barbecue and I mentioned to someone there that I was looking forward to the work Christmas party.  "Christmas party?  We haven't had one of those in years!"--was the response.  Jason is working on issues like this along with all the other million trillion things he has to do.  It's been a busy week with testing and out-of-town guests and retirement party mc-ing.  I'm glad he can relieve some stress today!!!

Today Rhiannon has 3 quizzes at school, but she gets a break from Friday night football and doesn't have to be up late playing in the band.  She enjoys doing that, but it's nice to have a free weekend every once in a while, too!  I'm looking forward to some quality mother-daughter time tomorrow when we go to the General Womens' broadcast.  For fun Rhiannon de-stresses with music, texts back and forth with friends, rocks out on the piano, and daydreams about Halloween costumes.  I believe she and her friend JenAi are going with a Star Wars theme this year...

Today Wade is going to a birthday/slumber party next door for his best friend Nick.  He has been looking forward to this for several days.  Middle school is treating him well, too.  He's getting used to moving around and being responsible for several different classes.  Band practice and piano practice at home are rarely missed--yay!  Oh, and he will start braces back up in a few weeks--he got molds taken again on Wednesday.  The dentist office gave him a break for the past few months while he lost SEVERAL baby teeth.

Today I recuperated from yesterday.  Thursday I woke up feeling yucky.  I didn't know if I was sick or just all kinds of nervous about subbing at a new school that day.  I asked Jason for a priesthood blessing and that helped so much.  Still, it was a long, hot day subbing for that first grade class.  I got lots of hugs and little "I love you, Mrs. C" notes, which I loved, loved, loved.  But a large group of first graders takes its toll no matter how hard you try to keep up.  I felt like I'd been hit by a bus!

We will enjoy this last September weekend as much as possible!

Stories from my iPhone

Just for fun, here were some pics from my phone that make me smile:

Wade took this picture for me on the drive to school one day.  I practically threw my phone at him:  "Take a picture!!!"

Samson and Oscar know EXACTLY when I should be feeding them dinner!  They let me know, too!

This was yesterday--it was a beautiful, blustery kind of day.  The 73-degree weather was heaven!

Partners in Crime, Dr. Who style

Yesterday Rhiannon went to her friend Tamara's home right after school and worked on a project with her.  Tamara asked her to be her "Partner in Crime" for one of the high school spirit days this week, and the girls had a great time decorating t-shirts together.  We're thankful for cute, kind friends like Tamara who are super fun, too!

Last Friday--highlights and frights

Friday, September 11th, was a busy day!

Wade and some other Boy Scouts helped with a special flag ceremony at school that morning.  (Thanks to friends Chris and Tami for the picture!  Wade is in the red shorts.)

That night we went to the high school football game and enjoyed watching Rhiannon play in the band.  She's on the end of the mallets.  (Many thanks to the Murphree family for letting me post this!)  During a second performance, one of Rhiannon's sticks broke--she just kept right on playing with her other hand, haha!  What a trooper!

I personally didn't take any videos because I was distracted by these...  Those are seed bugs, folks, and they were at the game in abundance.  It was crazy!

Despite the bugs, we had a great time and enjoyed being there.  The 9/11 ceremony at halftime was nice, too.  

Two other special events occurred that weekend.  On Saturday, Rhiannon and I went to her friend Nik's baptism.  He is the drum major for the high school band and has a lot of Mormon friends.  A few weeks ago Nik had attended the missionary open house that Rhiannon helped with, and he sought out the missionaries after that.  Rhiannon played the piano at the well-attended baptism and did a great job!  My favorite thing was that the whole front row at Nik's baptism was taken by high school friends, there to support him. 

The next day we snuck out of church after Jason's Sunday School lesson and drove down to California City for a missionary open house/luncheon.  Our friends the Okerlunds (of New Year's Eve party fame) are sending their son Brighton off to the MTC today to serve in the Philippines.  After he got his mission call, he and his family had just 3 WEEKS to get him on his way, but they made it!  He will be a great missionary!

Catching up on the last few weeks, list style

Since mid-August, here are some things we've been busy with:

--I gave a talk in sacrament meeting at church about following the Savior's example in our teaching

--Rhiannon and I joined several other moms and daughters from our ward and went to a music variety show at the high school put on by several friends of ours and members of the Ridgecrest Musical Enrichment Society.  Last year we went to their Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat production.  I'm always amazed at the talent in this community!  It was a great night.

--Rhiannon and I went on the youth temple baptism trip to the Los Angeles temple.  I snuck away and did an endowment session with others from our stake.  When we got out 3 hours later (LOTS of people in that Spanish-speaking session!), I found out that the kids had stayed in the visitor's center the whole time because a water main broke and the temple was closed for all other activities.  We drowned our disappointment in a tasty meal at Cheesecake Factory afterwards, haha!  I know those kids will be blessed for sacrificing their time that day.  Rhiannon stayed positive and said they had a good time watching Meet the Mormons.

--Our family went to Wade's first Boy Scout Court of Honor and were very surprised by all the badges and awards he got.  His 11-year-old Scout leader said he will miss Wade a lot when he turns 12 next month.  Can you tell Wade is growing in this picture? :)

--Aunt Lydia was on a roll one day making drawings for family members and friends.  She made our day with these:

I wonder what she'd come up with for Jason and Wade?  I'll have to ask her!

--general busy-ness with sub jobs, Back-to-School nights, band practices, piano lessons, decluttering a few things around the house, swimming (a little), gun practice with Dad, service projects and callings, and the daily grind.

--Other news to report:  the horrible seed bugs seem to have disappeared.  I'm not sure where they went, which is a little disconcerting!  We are also running out of things to replace--over the past few weeks we bought a washer and dryer, new computer, new printer, and new tires for the Infiniti.  Ouch!

--Labor Day weekend was wonderful this year!  Rhiannon played the cymbals with the high school band in our community's annual 9/11 parade.  It was our first time attending since it started 7 or 8 years ago.  We've been missing out!--it was really  neat to see so many American flags waving!  It was also cool to have a special guest at the front of the parade--our Congressman Kevin McCarthy, the House Majority Leader of the current US House of Representatives!

Other Labor Day fun included swimming, grilling (Jason's best steaks yet!!!), dinner with Howard Collins, and a fun pancake breakfast with our church family.  We all agreed that this long weekend was MUCH NEEDED and enjoyed to the fullest!

Life is good!

Symbols

It's bedtime around here after a very long, productive day.  I need to play catch-up badly on the past few weeks!

Tonight I just want to express gratitude for my institute class that I get to meet with each week.  We started a new course, Jesus Christ and the Everlasting Gospel, this fall semester, and it is fantastic.  Every week we focus on the Savior and learn something new through the scriptures and modern revelation.  At the close of class tonight, several shared their favorite symbols, ideas, and even people that remind them of the Savior.  Family, lighthouses, the moon, special items, the temple, sunlight...the list went on and on.  There was a strong spirit there and I was glad to be a part of it!

These young single adults are wonderful examples to me.  They are helpful, fun, funny, smart, and FULL of faith and hope. It's very inspiring to be with them!