Hello Dear Sister Bocanegra,
Dad and I ate at Tarahumara (in honor of you). Boy, they are still trying to figure out what works best for their ordering system. Now when you walk in there are those walkways (like at Cafe Rio) up to the ordering counter. If you want to be served by a waiter/waitress you sit in the Cantina. We chose the latter and listened to Crazy Annie (from the train) serenade us.
Fall Harvest
I feel like where I sit in Relief Society I get the clip boards first. This is great because I get to hog the service opportunities ;) I was excited to take the four kids with me to Lindon where we worked in the fields to harvest zucchini, tomatoes, and banana squash. It was very enjoyable and I took advantage of the Senior Missionaries gardening knowledge by peppering them with questions.
It was also a great teaching opportunity to show the kids the vast efforts the church puts forth to make sure the hungry are fed. I told them it is for EVERYONE. Anyone who needs it can use it!
Earlier in the day we had had rain, hale, thunder, and lightening. I filmed the rain on my phone because it was literally coming down in sheets.
The skies cleared long enough for us to fulfill our assignment and then it started up again as we walked to the car. The kids were starved so we ate at Kneaders and watched the rain. We were just down the street from Granny and Grandpa's so we stopped there but only for a bout 20 minutes. It was a school night and we had homework and baths still ahead of us. Plus, I had a presidency meeting at 8:30 pm.
Nights like that are tricky when Dad is out of town. He has been traveling like a traveling fool lately. I think he's been gone 8 out of the last 14!
I also took Grayson to get his hair cut for Picture Day at Rocky Mountain Middle School. I asked him how picture day went. He said, "I sat down and smiled normally and then they said, 'Now sit up, put your shoulders back, stick your chin out, tilt your head, put your glasses down.' By the time they took the picture I was not smiling naturally anymore." (I totally thought of you and your disdain for a photo shoot as well.)
The school bus is so crowded that he and Ava ride. They said there are three, sometimes FOUR kids to a seat! The driver sent home a safety disclosure that we had to read over and sign. I signed Ava's and told Grayson he better find his so I could sign it (I wouldn't have even known he had the paper if Ava hadn't shown me.) Gray pulled his out of his backpack in a crumpled ball.
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| L: Grayson's paper. R: Ava's paper |
We had more rain the next day. It put me in the baking mood. I used the recipe Romney wrote down when she babysat last year. It makes so many cookies! It is going to the demise of me. When I picked up the babies from school Graham said, "I feel like a peanut butter bar so bad!" I said, "What about a chocolate chip cookie?" He said, "No just a peanut butter bar." I asked, "So if someone gave you a peanut butter bar OR a freshly baked warm gooey chocolate chip cookie, you'd choose the pb bar??" He said, "I don't know...." Well he saw what I was getting at as soon as he walked in the door. He was not disappointed.
School Board Meeting
It wasn't as boring as it sounds...it did go on for two hours though. I mainly just wanted to go and sit in the back and be educated on both sides. There will be a bond proposal on the next ballot for two new schools and a pool in our community, which is ever growing. I learned a lot about year-round school and the advantages of building new. The bottom line is that something needs to be done to accommodate our schools, which are bursting at the seams!
I met a nice man at Walmart who just moved into our valley from Vernal because he thinks its more "small town." He said, I want to live in a place where I can keep my doors unlocked." I didn't want to burst his bubble but I told him, "We've had our tires slashed and neighbors who have been robbed. Go ahead and lock your doors."
Pleasant Grove Meet
I thought I knew exactly where PGHS is, after all I pass it every time I go to the Mt. Timponogos Temple. However, once I got there on Saturday morning and saw only kids soccer games going on I realized I was at the JUNIOR High. I will forever be a ding-bat. I had a bit of trouble getting to the HS with all the detours but was able to park, run to the field, and be there just as the gun went off so I could cheer, "Mallerie! Go Mallerie!!!!"
She got her best time! The team is so glad to have Vickie back. She is the girl who moved onto 110 North. Since Aubrianna moved, she is the new Aubs (though no once could replace a bff). I got to talk to Ian and Antjia. Pearl is the fastest girl by a long shot. I have to remember, they are Olympians.
Biking Provo Canyon!
What a joyful tradition this is! This year we had Eliza and kids join us. I had to laugh at pregnant Ashley who was on a BMX bike (she had to stand up and pedal to get herself up the hill...picture that!;)
We saw Marcia Holmes at the falls and I told her the big group up ahead was with us. She said, "The ones who dropped their bikes right on the trail?" I said, "I can guarantee it." Birdbrains.
It was cute to see the giddy babies in their bike trailers being pulled along: Henry and Christian, Sam and Oillie, Ivy and Cal. The plan was to end at Riverwoods. "Chalk the Block" was going on and it was nice to see actual crowds there. The cousins, including Grayson wanted to keep riding till we reached the Geertsen's. I asked him how badly he wanted to do it on a scale of 1-10 (I like my scale!) and he said 10. I knew at that point we needed to make it happen. I was game to ride on so we did! Minus Dad, Cade and Ash's family, Eliza and the boys.
I thought we made it through the day without anybody falling off their bike until Gray told me later that Adren fell. All Adren said was, "Did anybody see that?" Then he got right back on and peddled away.
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| PVC |
Callie was not without incident either. I was behind her on University Ave when she started peddling real slowly, she pulled over and I let her rest and get a drink. When we started riding again she still couldn't peddle and I saw that her back tire was beyond flat. It was practically falling off the rim. There was really only one option. We ditched the bike in the bushes and Callie hopped on my bike with me! I wasn't sure how or if it was going to work, but it did, it totally did. And what I loved about it was that because our faces were so close together we could chat the rest of the way. The trail is 14 miles total.
This bike probably looks awfully familiar to you;) There is still that bike lock in the basket. While we were at Vivian waiting to go Eli asked what the combination to the lock is. I told him that none of us know. He said, "I'll crack it!" Within ten minutes he had it open as I watched dumbfounded...and a little disturbed!
Back at the Geertsen's we had to pile all the bikes in the truck to go back to Vivian to get the other cars. We had ten bikes in the back and five of us in the cab. The Geertsen's van was so full of people that boys were sitting in the trunk. We had to laugh when we pulled over on University to pick up Callie's bike. People were staring and no doubt thinking, "No wonder they have so many bikes, they are just picking them up off the side of the road!"
Church Lady
I was fortunate to be able to go and listen to Dad speak in the 9th ward on Sunday. He was inspired by your farewell talk format and named the four areas he would be speaking on at the beginning of his talk. He was also inspired by the talk I mailed to you and referenced it. Subsequently, his talk was inspiring.
I came back to our ward for Sunday School and Relief Society. Our lesson was on out of the ETB manual on Mothers/Fathers. There were ten tips in the manual. #7 said: "Take time daily to read the Book of Mormon together as a family. It will bring increased spirituality into your home and will give both parents and children the power to resist temptation and to have the Holy Ghost as their constant companion. I promise you that the Book of Mormon will change the lives of your family."
Last night at family night I shared that quote. We talked about how the promises aren't what you would expect. It doesn't say that your family will be master scriptorians or that they will be the ones who know all the answers in Sunday School class, rather the promises are so much more! The promises it lists are the reasons we read it as a family. Thank you for your testimony you share each week as well!
We also did an object lesson from the September New Era by making an egg float in water when we added salt. The egg is us, the water is the world, which can sink us. The salt is all the 'little' things we do over and over through our lives "And thus we see that by small and simple things the Lord can bring about great things" (1 Nephi 16:29). As we added more and more salt, the egg was able to float. We too can rise above the world.
*side note on salt. You no doubt you saw ALL that salt in the storage room (I did not know that when I ordered a case of salt it would last me the rest of my life!). Anyway, last time the boys were down there Graham saw it and said, "Grayson! We can make a lot of no-bake cookies!" We laughed because that is only one small ingredient of what no bakes call for.
Speaking of No Bake Cookies. Graham and Callie tried their hand at them on Sunday....no bueno.
Lots of Love, M!
PS: I figured out a secret to getting coconut oil out of my hair if I use it for an overnight hair mask. I work some Dawn dish soap through and let it break down the oil before shampooing.
PPS: You might wonder why I don't send more Dearelders. The truth is my letters are too long!
