What Game?

Well, the day I visited my friend in San Francisco happened to be the same day the Giants were playing some sort of big game. I hadn't really been paying much attention, honestly, and if it hadn't been for carpooling to work with my sports-crazy friend I would have been completely clueless.

I called Cam to see if he and Cass wanted to meet us for dinner, then remembering about the World Series I added, "Do you need to stay home and watch the game?" And my son, in all honesty asked, "What game?"

My thoughts exactly. How I love that kid!

On our way to dinner Cass received a text from Sis asking if they were watching the game. When she texted back that they weren't Sis' reply was, "You guys are horrible San Franciscans!"

We went to a little hole in the wall Indian restaurant and of course the game was on. About halfway through our meal the other diners in the restaurant erupted in screams scaring poor Cass almost out of her chair. We looked at the TV screen and figuring that the game was over we then debated amongst ourselves whether they still had another to win or not. None of us were brave enough to ask one of the revelers.

Thankfully the players were soon wearing their World Champions gear, so that little mystery was solved.

As we were leaving we noticed that the folks from the bar down the street had spilled out onto the street where they commenced hooting and hollering and had stopped traffic. Luckily our car was parked facing the opposite direction.

Cam drove us up to Twin Peaks where we could overlook the whole city. We noticed that the dome of City Hall was lighted orange along with the other landmarks. From our vantage point we could hear sirens, horns honking and see illegal fireworks being lit off.

As we drove back through the city people were on the street corners celebrating while others, I think, just got in their cars and decided to drive around honking their horns. We saw one faithful reveler out in the street waving an orange and black bandanna. We obligingly honked for him. We were kind of afraid not to.

All in all it was pretty exciting to be in the city on such a momentous occasion (that I couldn't have cared less about). There's something infectious about city-wide enthusiastic celebrating.

Old Friends Are The Best Friends

Ah, old friends. There's nothing like them. They're the ones that know you best. They knew you when. They've been through it all with you. I was lucky enough to reunite with one of my best old friends yesterday.

I met K way back in 1975...(go ahead and say that in an old lady voice in your head). She was out from Wisconsin visiting her big sister (my neighbor) for a month. We became fast friends and spent a lot of time together during her stay. She was 14, I was 11. When she left we became pen pals.

Pen pals was much more popular back then. Long distance calling was only for very special occasions, and of course this was looooooong before email! We were very devoted pen pals. We wrote on a regular basis, probably at least once or twice a month, and never forgot to send a birthday or Christmas card.

I had 2 other friends that I also wrote to. I remember sitting down some days and writing out 3 letters, one to each friend, similar in content, but personalized to them. I can't even imagine my kids doing that. My girls have a friend that moved to Oklahoma about a year ago and I have to really encourage them to sit down and write and then to write more than a few sentences. I think it may be a lost art. Sigh...

So, doing the math, K and I have been friends for 35 years! Imagine that! (Dang! I'm getting old!) We've seen each other a total of 3 days during those 35 years. The first time was in 1996, when she was again visiting her sister (who was now in San Francisco), then 2 years ago, and again, yesterday.

For some reason we have a really strong bond, and we don't feel awkward when we see each other. It's like seeing a friend I just saw last week. Strange but really cool at the same time. It's never a feeling of "I need to get to know her again", we just start right in chatting and catching up on each other's lives (because we don't write as often as we should anymore!)

It was a beautiful day in the city yesterday, and we had a great time window shopping and visiting the beach. It was fantastic.

Funny when I arrived, her sister commented on how similarly we were dressed.

Hoodies, jeans and black boots. Yep, there's some sort of wacky bond going on with us for sure! What a blessing old friends are!

Apple Bowling? Apple Rolling? Apples to Applesauce?

I got the honor of walking the girls to school today. I'm usually out the door and on my way to work before they leave in the morning, but with Mike out of town, I had the job of getting them there.

I didn't realize there was a whole morning ritual to it, but the best part was the Apple Game. Here's how it's played: Everyone chooses an apple from a neglected overgrown tree that sits on the side of the road. Then everyone takes a turn rolling their apple down the very steep hill that leads to the main road. You get points for your apple making it to the main road, and bonus points if a car happens to run over it.

First up: Miss Moo
She chose a plump apple with a promising shape and cut loose bowling ball-style. Her apple was looking good till it hit a bump and veered left. While it made it all the way down the hill, it stopped before it hit the main road.

Next up: Me
I chose an apple from the ground with a nice worm hole in it. I did my best underhand pitch and watched it bump and roll all the way down. Did it make it? It veered right so we wouldn't know until we got down the hill.

Final Contestant: Nat
Nat chose a very small green apple in which I held very little hope. She gave it a toss and that sucker rolled straight and true all the way down!

Once we got down to the main road we looked for my apple, and lo and behold it had made it to the road! I also noticed quite the pile of bruised and beaten apples lining the roadside from past day's games!

Neither apple had been hit and squished by the time we got there, but on my return after dropping off the girls I found that Nat's was now a pulpy mess on the pavement. I guess that means she won.

Our neighborhood is very circa 1938, and this bit of fun this morning reminded me of something that children back then might have played too. (Is there such a thing as deja-vu nostalgia? I get that a lot living here, if there is such a thing.) I can hardly wait for tomorrow's game!

10 Terrific Things on 10-10-10

We met Cam and Cass at a pumpkin patch to celebrate Cam's 23rd birthday. (I had him when I was 23...how weird to think about that!) What better way to spend 10-10-10 than by doing 10 terrific things. (Not all 10 are illustrated below, I just chose the ten best photos for my post. And I'm sure we did more than 10...)

Zip line ride.

Cam and Miss Moo were the only ones who wanted to do it.

Shooting the pumpkin blaster was definitely a highlight!

Miss Moo and Nat both rang the bell in the nose of the pumpkin and were rewarded with a button. Here is Miss Moo with her button and her ammunition!

On to the corn maze. We were told, "Don't pick the corn, don't eat the corn" when we entered. Yeah. Notice the delinquent in the back with an ear of corn.

It was a perfect day for a pumpkin patch picnic. We had pasties (that's the Cornish pass-tee, not a paste-y, which is a completely different pronunciation and thing), pears, Pringles, peanut brittle, Peeps, and popcorn balls. Fortunately the water was labeled "Premium Bottled Water", otherwise I would've called it purified water.

(I didn't really plan the whole P thing, I just decided on pasties and pumpkin-pecan pie, and then Sis and I were shopping and she suggested the P theme, and we got all excited about it, and the next thing you know I got carried away and there was an embarrassing incident in Rite-Aide in which I yelled out, "Peeps!" at the top of my lungs.)

The birthday boy had pumpkin-pecan pie.

Sis and Trav joined us a little later (just in time for pie of course). Here they are at one of the bridges in the middle of the corn maze.

Snowcones were refreshing. It got really hot! Here Nat shows off her blue raspberry tongue and lips.

And my favorite bunch of pumpkin pickers. (I took the picture and then noticed Nat was absent. She took at least another 20 minutes trying to find the perfect pumpkin in the hot blazing sun.)

Here's the run-down on the Ten Terrific Things:

Zip Line/Pony Ride for Nat

Pumpkin Blasters

Haunted House

Picnic

Pie

Petting Zoo

Train Ride

Snowcones

Corn Maze

Pumpkin Picking

But a great day with my family is always a "10"!

By Gosh, I'll Make A Man Of You!

My dad called today, and as usual he went off on one of his old stories. Don't get me wrong. I love his stories, and he has a lot of them. That's pretty much what he's famous for. I prefer his stories over his end-of-the-world "Doomsday Dad" predictions. And that's pretty much your two choices when you talk to him. I definitely like to steer him towards recalling the old days.

Today he was reminiscing about the time his father dropped him, his brother and their friend off to go camping. He was 12, his brother 13, and the other boy about the same age. Their dad didn't drop them off at a campground mind you. He dropped them off at a spot where they would hike into a lake. He even gave them a rubber boat to paddle around. They camped by themselves for 3 nights and 4 days.

Dad said in all those days they never saw another person up where they were.

Of course he looks back now and thinks how dangerous it was to leave them there alone, and all the tragedies that could have, but fortunately didn't befall them. Burns, accidently amputating fingers or limbs with axes, drownings, were just a few of the scenarios he came up with.

My dad's dad was German, and very "Old World". He would sit down to dinner and expect to be served by his wife. She could eat after he had been taken care of. The family consisted of 2 girls and 2 boys, and my grandfather told my grandmother that she could raise the girls, but he would raise the boys. He wanted them to grow up to be MEN, after all!

So this story about the camping is just one of the many stories my dad has about how his dad tried to make a man out of him. Dad said his mother must have been worried sick about them the whole time, but she didn't dare go against anything my grandfather did.

Dad said the reason this event stands out so distinctly for him was because at the end of the four days when his parents arrived to pick them up, they had with them his first pair of glasses.

He says he remembers taking them out of the box and putting them on and he just couldn't believe it! He said he kept putting them down his nose and looking over them, then looking back through them in comparison. It was a memory he'll never forget.

It wasn't until his grown-up years did he look back on the trip as yet another risk his dad took with he and his brother all in the name of making men out of them.

Miss Moo's Birthday and My Swan Song

Miss Moo turned 11 on the 24th. She didn't get a party and a bunch of presents this year because she went to 6th grade coast camp and we had to fork out a chunk of money for that.

As her birthday was getting closer I told her we could do a special birthday dinner for her, but it would probably have to be done on Thursday because I would be working at the restaurant on her birthday.

She thought and thought about it, and as it got closer I asked her what she wanted to do for her birthday. She said she wanted to come to the restaurant and have me wait on her! Perfect timing since it was going to be my last weekend to work there.

Mike brought the girls in and Miss Moo ordered the three cheese raviolis:

Nat ordered chicken dinosaurs, but instead of French fries, mashed potatoes:

The thing Miss Moo was really looking forward to was dessert. She knew she wanted Chocolate Lava cake. (That's my girl). Me and the other 2 waitresses and my friend Mary (who was washing dishes that night) came out with the lighted cake and sang to her.

It wasn't too long before we could hear everyone in the whole restaurant join in, with a couple of "awww, she's so cute's" thrown in. (I swear if it had been me at that age I would have crawled under the table.) As you can see, she loved it! (She's wearing big Sis' special tiara for the occasion).

On Saturday night it was my last night at the restaurant. The chef's gave me a hard time when I served my last dinners. They love to tease. I'm gonna miss them.

The chefs always make us an employee meal at the end of the evening. It's usually pasta with leftover prime rib and veggies or sometimes they make us pizza or nachos.

On Saturday they asked me what I wanted for dinner. I said, "What do you mean?" They said, "Anything you want off the menu." I was kind of taken aback. I've never seen them do that for anyone on their last night and I honestly was really touched and got a little teary eyed.

Then I pulled it together and ordered Filet Mignon. Mama didn't raise no fool!

Yes, Teacher!

I swear, if my little Nat doesn't grow up to be an educator of some sort I will be shocked. I've never seen a kid who likes to play school so much.

Miss Moo, being a couple years older doesn't really like to be taught by her sister, so Nat has taken to teaching the dog. Suey can stay quite attentive when there is a treat involved, and barring that, she will stay in one place when she's napping and Nat brings the lesson to her.

Here is "Mrs. Berry's" lesson on the brain along with doggy vocabulary words.

The diagram on the lower left is Nat's estimate of the actual size of Suey's brain. Notice how she added "or smaller", as a disclaimer.

The other day I spotted an old style school desk on display in front of a thrift store and just had to get it. (When I say "old style" I mean it is exactly like the ones I used to have in school when I was growing up. Aww...nostalgia.)

At any rate, I figured both girls would enjoy it, and maybe Miss Moo would even play with Nat if she had an official desk to sit in.

Here is Nat on the phone to her best friend, telling her all about her desk.

The desk has definitely been a big hit for my little teacher! Let the lessons begin!

Keepin' it Short

My little Nat made me laugh so hard yesterday. She kind of reminds me of a comedian who states the obvious and makes it funny.

Anyway, some backstory first: My husband is a known "talker". He's Mr. Social. When he goes to the dump (which is 10 minutes away) with 3 bags of trash, we aren't surprised when he doesn't return for 2 hours. He's obviously found someone to talk to. He's never met a stranger, and will strike up conversation with anyone anywhere anytime. For the most part it's nice, but sometimes it gets annoying (to either those of us waiting on him to come back from a short trip to the store, etc, and sometimes to the listener.)

So yesterday Nat says, "I don't get why people call me Mini-Mike." And I told her maybe it's because their personalities are similar. She is also known for striking up conversations, and I told her that maybe it's because she likes talking to everyone she meets.

She says, "Yeah, I guess you're right. But I keep it SHORT!"

I Did It-I Quit it

I quit my second job!

That was not an easy decision to come to, I tell ya.

When I thought about the wages I was going to miss and the tips I was going to miss it was a very difficult decision indeed!

But when I thought about the evenings I would now be home with my family, the extra hours in the week I could spend with them, the weekends (actual FULL weekends!) that I could take off and do something...like go see my 81 year old dad and see my sister...I think I've seen them twice in 2010 and they only live 2 hours away...and having time to visit my son...

...well when I thought about those things, it was an easy decision. My heart felt lighter just thinking about it!

So, I'll finish up September at the restaurant, then I'll only have one job! I've been working two jobs for over 2 years now, and I'm so excited! I'm a little nervous about our financial situation, but hubby has a house to build so that should get us through the winter.

Yay!

More Scenes From My Wildlife Camera

I’ve had my camera out again with limited success. We have a very friendly doe that frequents our yard and surrounding area. I refer to her as “that crazy doe” because I’ve seen her trying to play with the neighborhood cats, and she doesn’t seem fearful of anything.

One night I hung the camera up just across the street and sure enough the next morning I had some 30 shots of the doe. It was very reminiscent of a fashion shoot. As I clicked through it was almost like watching a stop-motion film. She apparently loves the flash of the camera. This has done nothing to diminish her "crazy doe" reputation, I might add.





Towards the very end I saw a little something else pop into the frame.

Then he was gone. Camera shy, apparently.

And another night we got this handsome fella:

Of course he must have heard from the dogs that the rear view is the preferred pose.

Last night we again put the camera across the street. Our cats followed us, and I figured they would turn around and follow us back to the house. Ha! The ensuing cat herding is very meticulously recorded on film.

This is when I went blind. I swear I had an imprint of the flash on my eyes for an hour!

Success at last! You can see Bitty-Bit's rear tucked under my arm.

Today we brought the camera in and relived the frustration of chasing stubborn cats around in the dark...

but then...
wait for it...

Oh, yeah! (By the way the two small rectangles you see in the distance are our livingroom windows.)

Ok, so it's only part of a bear, and a not-so-exciting part of a bear, but at least we're getting closer to a great shot! We're definitely trying again tonight!

Anti-Christ Like

I got some disturbing news yesterday. It seems the large community church in our town, the one who's parking lot is filled every Sunday, has for a topic of their adult Sunday School class, Mormon Bashing.

Now I don't think that's the actual title, but that's essentially what it is. They spend an hour every Sunday discussing how horrible the Mormon Church is. Really. There's a website and everything for their parishioners to learn more, including hateful cartoons and misinformation. That's fantastic, isn't it?!?

In contrast, we at the Mormon Church spend our adult Sunday School time learning lessons from the Old Testament, and how we can apply those teachings to our lives. Hmmmm. We spend absolutely ZERO time bashing other churches. I know, amazing, huh? In fact I've never heard any disparaging words about other faiths in a lesson or in casual conversation at my church.

The really discouraging part is that this lesson isn't only taught at the community church in my town, but other churches around the country. Is this really teaching people to be "Christ-like"? Is it uplifting to go to church and listen to hate? Are they really this threatened by the LDS Church that they need to spend time convincing others that we're a bunch of whack-o's?

I'm so thankful that I attend a church that focuses on the teachings of Christ and not hate-mongering.

What Would Jesus Do, indeed!

Touched By An Angel?

I was working the snack bar one afternoon at the lodge, and my co-worker Linda, said to me as she was finishing up handing out soft serve ice cream cones through the service window, "I'm tearing up."


I had no idea what she was talking about and then she said, "See that lady?"


I did see the older lady who was in the group just at our window walking away, enjoying her ice cream cone.


Linda continued, "She looks just like my mom. And when I handed her the ice cream cone she touched my hand and it felt just like my mom's touch. She touched me real gentle like my mom used to and it gave me the shivers."


Amazing, right? That little old lady gave my friend a piece of her mom that day and she didn't even know it.

An Independent Dog is a Good Dog

It was back to school for the kids this past week and back to my special ed classroom job for me. I wasn't looking forward to the kids going back, but I was looking forward to me going back.

I was working all week fostering independence with the little one that I'm a 1:1 aide with, and getting us both back into the swing of things.

Apparently I took my work home with me, because on Friday I went to feed my dog, and had her dish in my hand. She was at my side, and we headed for the door so she could eat on the porch per usual. The door was cracked open just a little, and without thinking, I told my dog Suey, "Open the door!" She kind of looked at me and I repeated the instruction very enthusiastically and added, "You can do it!"

Being the smart dog she is, Suey nudged the door open with her muzzle, and I stood there laughing at myself when it dawned on me that I had treated her just like the kids in the classroom.

Now that she has the door opening figured out, I guess I'll build on her skills until she can fill her own dish and feed herself! Good Dog!

A Thousand Words?

Time off from work

last week before school

visiting all my favorite people

Japanese Tea Garden

Swimming

Taco Salad, Cupcakes, Panda Express

Then Camping

baby catfish, granite islands, Uno in the tent


dirt, filthy feet, bear raid, time with cousins

Red Vines, giant marshmellows, dark chocolate

Dakota smoked sausages

chipmunk friends, potty promenade, corn rockets

sand castles

kayaks, ready on the beach

A beautiful end to summer...

Wildlife Camera--There's Just No *End* To The Fun!

We are always seeing wildlife in our backyard, from deer to skunks to bears, so I was excited to get a game camera. I think these type of cameras are generally used by hunters, but I thought it would be really cool to get pics of our wild neighbors with it.

You strap the camera to a tree and it has a sensor that is triggered by motion. It has a flash for night photos too.

So far this is what we've captured

Dog butt--center of picture, tan, curled tail

Dog butt---black and white, possible border collie mix

Dog butt--our dog's. Checking out smells from other dog's butt left in her yard.

But wait, there's more. Here are some shots of me and the girls trying to herd cats. We always make sure all the cats are in at night, but last night two of them were being very "playful" and wouldn't come in. I'd just get within reach, and they'd take off. It was such a fun game to be playing at 10 at night, and then add to that the flash from the game cam going off every time I moved.

The glowing orbs are Princess's eyes, and just to the right you can kind of see a gray Jo-Jo running away from me. I'm pretty sure he's laughing. And because no photo is complete without a butt, we have a picture of mine this time.

Here the girls came out to help me. I like how Sis has glowing eyes in this one, and of course we have the obligatory dog butt again.

I think our next plan is to put the camera up in the forest across the street from the house. Hey, we may even get lucky and get a picture of a deer butt! Wish us luck!

Favorite Wildflowers and Stick Horsie

This is my favorite wildflower

the Leopard Lily.

I'm fortunate to have them growing in my backyard right now.

I have fond memories of seeing these flowers on hikes with my dad. He was big into identifying plants and flowers, and I think this was one of his favorites too.

Dad always called it a Tiger Lily, or "tagger lily" as he would say. I still call it that as well, and was kind of disappointed to know that it had a different name.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And here is our little Nat. Our friend had this old broom when we were camping and told us just to throw it away when we were done with it. That was all well and good until Nat saw the potential of a stick horse in it.

She gave the broom a bath and then created the face, mane, tail, reins and even a saddle out of paper, and transformed it into Cupcake the stick horse.

I was proud of her ingenuity. What a funny kid!

Camping, Finally!

I swear, with my schedule it is so hard to go anywhere, but we finally were able to make a camping trip.

Such a gorgeous lake!

My friend made Pineapple Upside-down Cake in her Dutch oven. It was fantastic!

And no, my dog isn't dead, she's sunbathing. I'm surprised there weren't buzzards circling! She's such a freak!

Of course we did lots of kayaking. We explored the granite islands, and saw a bald eagle and lots of osprey. The waves and wind challenged our paddling skills which was fun too.

And we went for a hike. What a wonderful few days.

Fellow Bloggers....Help!

I keep getting comments in an Asian language. Possibly Chinese. I am not sure. I think this person is really a devout follower of my blog because they never miss commenting on a post.

Anyone else have this happen? I finally have changed my comments to moderated so I can choose to reject them. It's not that I dislike my Asian admirer, but because this is the internet and my blog is rather mundane, I doubt the commentors intentions are pure.

Does anyone know if this some sort of scam or spam or phishing or whatever else? Does anyone else have such an avid foreign admirer? Help please!

(Oh gosh, what I would give for an interpreter to read the comment I get from them on this post! Although I deeply expect the comments are trying to get my to buy a penis enlargement cream.)

Good News, Bad News

We were at a river on Monday for a picnic, and there was a campground nearby. I took Nat, who has always had a flushing phobia, to the bathroom. It was a pit toilet.

She wasn't that thrilled about that prospect at all, so I told her, "The good news is you don't have to flush!" Which she did really appreciate, and it made her experience more "enjoyable", shall we say.

Then I broke the bad news to her, "The bad news is nobody else had to either." And then I was regaled with lots of "Ewww! Gross mom! Don't say that! Ewww!"

Oh, man, how I love a set-up like that!

Baptized on the Fourth of July

Well, Nat got baptized today. She is such an awesome little kid. When asked just before if she was nervous, her response was, "Nope!" She was just ready to get the show on the road!

Nat in her 4th of July baptism dress

(Here she is in her church-issued jump suit ready to take the plunge!)

When she went a couple weeks ago to see the bishop for her interview before getting baptized, he told her she could choose anyone who was a priesthood holder to baptize her. We made a list of all the men in church that she knew. She looked at the approximately 12 names, and immediately narrowed it down to 2. One was our home teacher, and one was our former bishop.

Since the former bishop's health isn't that good, I suggested our home teacher, and she was very comfortable with that choice. We asked him, and it was a go.

I absolutely love our home teacher and his wife. He's been visiting us now for about 6 months, and he is so diligent about seeing us every month, bringing a lesson, and saying a prayer for our family. It's just wonderful. His wife is very spunky with a dry sense of humor and a sassiness I didn't expect, and we hit it off immediately. I was surprised to find out that he was 81, because he certainly doesn't seem that old.

At any rate, when we were at our ward's 4th of July party I found out from someone else that our home teacher was so excited to be asked to baptize Nat. They said he was just beside himself, and that this was his first ever baptism. That was so cool. I'm so glad Nat chose him and gave him that honor.

I French braided Nat's hair, just like I did with Miss Moo on her big day. That way it eliminates the issue of hair not going fully under the water,which would mean getting dunked again, and it also makes it easy to just dry off and go back for the rest of the baptism ceremony. In fact, she was the first one dressed and back in the chapel. She beat the young boy who was baptized and the two men who did the baptizing. No one's going to wait around for that girl!

Our former bishop was the one who did the Confirmation after her baptism, so she was able to have him participate in an important part of the ceremony as well.

It was a great day and we're proud of our little girl.

Psychic Dreamer

We have been looking forward to going to our ward's 4th of July pancake breakfast and pool party all week, so it wasn't too surprising that I dreamt about it last night. However, it was one of those dreams where I was trying to get somewhere and it just wasn't happening. In my dream I was trying to make it to the breakfast, but I ended up running late and I was driving on dirt roads with lots of forks, and couldn't find the right road to turn on. It was very frustrating.

This morning the girls and I got up and headed for the ward breakfast. I knew ahead of time that part of the highway would be shut down for the town parade, but I figured I would be able to get to the detour and get around just fine. Well, no such luck. I could not get out of my own little neighborhood.

I asked one of the guys at the road block if there was a way around to the detour, and he said, no, you're just going to have to hang out for an hour and a half. Easy for him to say! We had pancakes calling our name!

I did some quick thinking and decided to drive on the back roads up the hill to the next town (some 10 miles) then drop back down into our town, hit the detour and make it to the party.

As I was driving on these DIRT ROADS and RUNNING LATE I remembered my dream. Kinda freaky really. It was pretty darned accurate!

Well, we were only 45 minutes late, there were still pancakes left and we had a great time. I don't ever recall having a dream that close to predicting real life though. Weird.

Fourth of July Baptism

We're planning a Independence Day baptism. I'm really excited for my little Nat. She finally made the big decision to be baptized.

She didn't take this decision lightly at all. We had talked about it as her 8th birthday approached, and she really wasn't sure. I tried to nail down what the issue was. When she was 6 and Miss Moo was baptized she said she didn't want to when she turned 8 because she was afraid of water getting in her nose. I asked if that was still the reason, and she said no.

After much prodding, she finally said, she didn't want to because if she got baptized she would always have to go to church. Smart girl. She knows it's a commitment. (Also there has been a lot of changes in Primary lately, and Nat doesn't always adapt easily to changes. One of the biggest changes is that I'm no longer in Primary with her. So, with all that church isn't as fun anymore.)

I then explained to her, that baptized or not, as long as she was under my roof, she'll be going to church anyway. Then I told her that I didn't go to church for a very, very long time, but because I was baptized I always knew Heavenly Father was with me, and that I was a member of the church, and that got me through some tough times.

Well, last week we were offered to participate in a double baptism with our former Bishop's grandson, and that's when Nat decided to "take the plunge" as it were.

I'm proud of her for thinking this through, and not taking it lightly. I think her baptism after church on our Nation's Independence Day will be a wonderful day for lots of reasons.

Their Compasses Work

We've always had a health club with a pool in our town, but at the end of summer last year it closed due to financial reasons.

No one was happier than my kids to see that it recently aquired new owners and was once again going to open to the public.

They advertised everywhere with a flyer that read, "Grand opening pool party, everyone welcome". It then listed the membership prices. Well, to me, it read like there would be free swimming, so we showed up on Saturday ready to swim. We soon found out that it was not free at all but $9 for the first person, and $5 for every person thereafter in our group.

I told them I wasn't interested, but took a minute to go say hi to a friend I saw sitting poolside. She said she read the flyer and thought the same way I did, that swimming was free, but since she already told her kids they could go, she paid $24 to swim for the afternoon. She said she was even charged for her infant.

The girls were pretty disappointed. We left and headed for the car and to go swimming at the pool where I work, which is free for us, when the owner came out and said, "Hey, what's it worth for you guys to swim today? Five bucks?" I thanked him, but told him no, I misinterpreted the flyer and we were just going to go somewhere else. Then he said we could just go in for free. Again, I thanked him, but at this point was feeling a bit awkward.

He finally left, and I asked the girls what they wanted to do. They had really wanted to go to this pool with it's fun slide and everything, but to my surprise they said no, they didn't want to go in for free because it wasn't fair. They said how could we got sit next to our friends and use the pool for free after they had to pay so much money?

I was pretty proud of them all. Their moral compasses are working.

I've Finally Graduated!

I went to church for the first 11 years of my life, then I was inactive for the next 27. About 8 years ago I started going again, and because the girls were little, I hung out in Primary with them, and was soon called as a teacher and then a counselor in Primary. I only got a chance to go to Relief Society a handfull of times, so when I was released from my Primary calling, I was pretty excited about getting to go to Relief Society and hang out with the rest of the ladies.



That first Sunday, as I enjoyed the freedom of going to Relief Society with the women and not having to teach in Primary, I left the room and was immediately motioned over by one of the Bishop's counselors who wanted to "meet" with me. Well, he of course had a calling for me. Dang, those Relief Society women act fast! They just snatched me up before I knew what was going on.



I only have to teach every third Sunday, so it's not as demanding as my Primary calling, but it IS so much more intimidating to teach my peers. Actual GROWN-UPS. Yikes. This past Sunday was my first time to teach, and I was quite nervous. I told the ladies that if they messed with the person sitting next to them, or asked me if they could go potty, it would definitely make me feel more comfortable!



I always felt like my calling in Primary was perfect for me, because after having been inactive for so long, I really needed to start over from the beginning, and teaching the very basic lessons to the kids was perfect. Now that I've got that down, I guess Heavenly Father felt it was finally time for me to "graduate" to Relief Society!

Nuthin' to See Here...

But there's new stuff at my other blog.

A Heart That Was Heavy And Full At The Same Time

We live in a small community in a small county. Our county has somewhere along the lines of 50,000 residents, so we're kind of a close-knit bunch. The small towns often come together to support families through cancer or loss of a home through fire or any number of other hardships.

Recently in our little town, we lost one of our young men who grew up here. He was a Marine, killed in action in Afganistan.

Our town puts up flags all along the few miles of highway that serve as our main street, during Memorial Day, Veteran's Day and Independence Day, and as soon as word got around that this young man lost his life, the flags appeared.

Soon thereafter storefront signs changed to show their support of this Marine and his family and we heard that everyone planned on gathering on the highway on Sunday afternoon when the family returned to town to show their support.

After church on Sunday we gathered the girls and headed down to the designated area on the highway. It was overwhelming to see the show of support from our small town. There was an estimated time of arrival, but we were soon told that it would be delayed. The county sheriffs met the family at the county line to give them an escort, and it seems that not only was our town out on the highway, but every town from the county line on in, was out in force, lining the highway, flying flags and showing their support.

Many of us stood in the sun on the side of the road for a good hour and a half to two hours to honor this family and the sacrifice their son made for our country. It only took a few seconds for them to drive by, but it was the most worthwhile afternoon I've spent in a very long time. To see this young man's mom put her hand against the car window as she passed by as if to reach out and touch all those who were there for her was worth it.

My heart was heavy and full at the same time.

A sign in town said it best, "Let us insure that our future was worth all his tomorrows".

It Sure Beats Being T.P.ed

I had a conversation today about having campaign signs stolen that reminded me of an incident from my teen years.

It happened in the early 1980's. It was election time and there was a candidate running for supervisor who's last name happened to be the same as my first name. All around town were signs proclaiming, "MOODY" in big bold letters and under that, "supervisor".

Well very early one morning, round about 2am, My dad is awakened by someone knocking on our front door. He gets up to answer it, opens the door, and is astonished to see at least a hundred of Mr. Moody's campaign signs in our front lawn, along with a few of his 4'x8' plywood signs propped against the tree and cars.

Dad woke us all up to see this amazing display. I must say I was quite flattered to see my name all over our lawn. It was quite the tribute. However, my dad was FREAKING OUT. He knew we'd get in big trouble if anyone saw all these stolen signs, so unfortunately he plucked them all up out of the grass and stashed them in the garage before anyone else woke up and saw them.

I'm pretty sure my dad surreptitiously got rid of the signs, but thinking back I don't know why we didn't just call this candidate's office and tell him what happened.

None of my friends would ever admit to the mischief, but I pretty much knew who had done it.

At any rate, the gentleman in question went on to be elected and is now a senator, so I guess all those missing signs didn't hurt his campaign too badly. It did however, make a very shy, awkward teenager feel very special.

A New Blog

So, I decided to start a new blog on kayaking, because I'm such an expert and all now. It's called The Unlikely Kayaker. It has a total of two posts right now, the one featured here yesterday, and a kind of introductory post. Go on over and check it out if ya want...

Being a Dork Pays Off (Finally!)

(Being nagged by my teenager to update my blog also motivates me, so here I go.)

Back in August when I started my job at the school district, I received my first paycheck and immediately knew they had made an error and paid me WAY too much for just a few days work. So I called the office and told them that they made a big "whoopsie" on my paycheck, but they shouldn't feel bad, because nobody's perfect. The kind office lady told me no, it wasn't a mistake, that they spread my pay out over 11 months and that my check reflected that. Alrighty then!

Well, a couple weeks ago, someone from the office called to talk to me to let me know that when they upped my hours in November that that wasn't included in my regular pay, and I should've been sending in time sheets each month. By the way, she wasn't near so kind and understanding and I got the distinct impression that she couldn't believe someone who worked at a school could be so dumb. (In my defense, I work at the preschool level, so we don't do the higher math!)

Ya see, after the first paycheck incident, I figured the district office knew what they were doing, and so I never worried about my extra hours, because the nice office lady was going to make it all work out, being that she's so smart and all.

Well...luckily I log in every day in the class room, so I had a record of all my hours and I proceeded to fill out time sheets for the last 6 months and turn them in.

Anyhoo...this all coincided with spring weather, and my own case of kayak fever, and a pretty new tandem kayak that I'd been looking at, but couldn't figure out where the money to buy it was going to come from...and that's how being a dork paid off for me! The girls and I brought our new kayak home yesterday thanks to my inadvertent "kayak savings plan".

All weekend the weather had been spectacular (and I of course had been working double shifts at the restaurant so I couldn't enjoy it), but yesterday (heretofore known as "Kayak Day, Woo!"), was cloudy. It was still warm though, so I had no worries that when we got back from our kayak retrieving errand we could still go out for a paddle.

Just about the time we pull up to the house with our pretty new kayak strapped to the top of my car, it's starts to rain. Sigh. I was surprised though, that Miss Moo and Nat still wanted to go out. We put the seats, life jackets and a towel in a plastic bag to keep them dry, put the kayak on it's little cart and took off for the lake (about 2 blocks away).

We only got a couple weird looks for taking our kayak for a walk through the neighborhood. You can tell that Miss Moo is so thrilled to be helping me.

Here is my hearty "crew". As "captain" I sit in the stern of the boat (looking stern, of course) and the crew has to launch us, so I never get wet (hee, hee!). Also of note: this boat has a center seat area in case one wishes to paddle it solo, but I found out that if I strap the seat from my other kayak there, all three of us can fit. It was really a treat to all be in the same boat (cuts down immensely on the whine factor!)

You can see the rain on the lake. It never really amounted to much, or got us very wet, and we had so much fun!

Now don't you wish you were a dork like me?

(Side note: Sis, who was home on her lunch hour from work, had to help me unload the kayak from the top of my car because the little girls wouldn't be able to, and that's why we ended up walking through the neighborhood with the kayak, rather than driving it down to the lake, which made us look like DORKS, but since being dorky is working for me now, I didn't care!)