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!

A rickety ladder sure puts things in perspective

This morning Jason climbed a really tall ladder to tear down some unused, unsightly wires that have been hanging from the eaves of our second story forever.  I am so glad the wires are down--it was a small thing, but it had been bugging me for a while!  Our neighbor John across the street loaned the ladder and Jason made quick work of the project today.

I was terrified, watching him climb up and down while I spotted him at the ground.  I wonder what was going through his head!  On the last climb, I kept my mouth shut and said a silent prayer to God that He would help me keep the ladder steady and help Jason stay on the ladder.  I was trying not to think about him falling, and instead tried to imagine God holding the ladder with me.  At the very least, it helped me to focus on what I was doing and try not to bother Jason as he finished up the project.  I'm grateful for that answered prayer and for my super-hero hubby!!!!

On to the week's update:

Rhiannon enjoyed Rally Week at her high school--each day had a different dress-up theme and then on Friday there was a huge pep rally, recognizing all the different fall sports teams.  She said it was loud and fun!  Friday night she went to the football game with friends and had a good time with them.  Yesterday she and Wade ran a marathon of errands with me.  As we were leaving the Stater Bros. grocery store, this store employee--a really cute, sharp-looking boy--was putting away carts and gave Rhiannon the biggest smile.  She smiled right back.  It was sort of an out-of-body experience for me as a mom, watching that happen, knowing that she would be walking on Cloud 9 after that.  We laughed and laughed and laughed!  Still makes me smile thinking about that, and brings back some funny teenage memories of my own!  It was a long, tiring week for Rhiannon that ended on some high notes.

Last night she joined me at our neighbor Kristin's home to watch the Church's General Women's broadcast and eat yummy food.  Kristin had invited several moms and their daughters over--it was a lot of fun and the food was delicious!  Everything from pumpkin bisque to homemade bread to salted caramel dessert bars.  TASTY!

Wade finished up his Athlete badge at Webelos on Thursday night which was a big deal because we hadn't done too well preparing him for that. Somehow he pulled it off--hurray!  On Friday he started in on his vice-president job and helped out at his school's Super Stars assemblies.  His teacher chose him as one of her two Students of the Month, AND he got the top Accelerated Math spot for the grading period with 75 objectives covered (this was pretty amazing--the next highest in his grade was half that amount!).  Yesterday he went to two birthday parties, to his teacher's son's bounce-house birthday party, and then to a movie with his buddy Nick in the evening.  What a life this boy leads--it's fun to see him in his element.  The big thing for him this coming week is his Arrow of Light ceremony on Thursday!

I subbed two days this week, for first graders on Thursday and Wade's fifth-grade class on Friday.  The days went by quickly and the kids were good.  The first graders were very loveable, asking for hugs and telling me they loved me, haha!  Most of the fifth graders knew me already and looked forward to the game we play at the end of a good day--they also enjoyed comparing their height to mine, knowing that many will be taller than me by the end of the year. :)

We had more construction workers here yesterday working on some concrete and brick work in the backyard, and we'll be getting the three outside gates replaced.  I am so happy about this!  The next project will be figuring out what in the world to do with our front yard landscaping now that we've turned the water system off.

The other very important thing to report is that we've had some cooler weather this weekend and it is GORGEOUS outside!  We haven't seen the end of temps in the 90's, but this break from the heat has been very, very welcome!

September has gone by so quickly!

Scouting for Food in the fog

This morning Wade, Rhiannon, and I met up with the Cub Scouts to hand out Scouting for Food flyers all over town.  The Cub Scouts hand out the flyers, and then the Boy Scouts go around the following week and pick up the canned goods for local food banks.  It's a good system! 

We got to the church at 8:00am, and Ridgecrest was covered in a THICK blanket of fog.  It hung around almost the entire two hours we were out, making our walk on the streets very creepy but fun!

picture taken from Google Images;
I wish I'd thought to take a picture of my own!

I was glad to have Brother Eggleston with me, along with his son Joseph and Wade's friends Ben and Jacob.  We had a nice crew and got 3 different routes done.  I told Rhiannon I'd take her to WalMart if she went with us--she was a good sport and a good addition to our group!  She was only too happy to help; she had some WalMart gift card money burning a hole in her pocket! :)

Dad's gotten his run in, and now we're all at home relaxing.  It's a nice day to stay indoors--cold and wet!