Labor Day
We joined up with Matt's side of the family for a picnic up South Fork Canyon. The group really snowballed on both sides with extended family bringing extended family. We picked up Katrina and her mother-in-law Laura at the Trax station in Orem. While we were at Lee's market getting luch supplies I got blind spots so I bought stuff to nix the headache. I was a bit loopy still when we picked them up. Well not loopy, but quiet. As soon as the meds took effect I could go back to being loopy. Romney was in town so we picked her up in Provo at John B's. I didn't realize Kat didn't know why we were going there. After some of us went inside she asked Matt, "Who lives here?" She was so delighted with the surprise.
It took two hours of driving to get everyone back to where they needed to be afterwards before we got home!
Just Life
With school in full swing I started finding bugs in the freezer. They were for Grayson's biology class. This made me sad for the bugs. If we were outside and I saw a beautiful praying mantis on the deck I'd say, "Help it get away before Grayson sees it."I just can't.
Grayson's favorite class is marketing. He said the teacher gives out so much food and candy. Gray thought he was a great teacher because of this. At the end of the semester the teacher told them, "I have been marketing myself to this class with all the free stuff, and by doing so you thought it was a great class and that I am a great teacher." Touche`
Sunday afternoons became my time to reflect on the week and write to Mal. I had intended to just copy and paste the letters here but so much of it is just the mundane. So I will pick and choose what I include, but be warned, it probably is ALL mundane. Like what we had for Sunday dinner...
This was clever though, Graham and Callie put on a movie theatre for us downstairs: Growlie's Theatre. They made concession stands out of cardboard and served real treats. We watched Ava's birthday movie "Beauty and the Beast." They were so excited to put the theatre together again for Grandma Donna and Granda Mike where we watched Nine Lives. We had an area conference with Elder Stevens. It only lasted an hour and a half so that left the whole day for the little ones to pull out every forgotten toy we own. Graham had his cars lined up at conference and it made me happy that he still likes to do such things. Gray outgrew childhood so fast I hardly remember it. Graham and Callie play so nicely together. Graham was in her room one night when it was time to go to bed and I heard him say, "I love you." Then Callie answered back, "I love you too."
Graham has decided that Football is not for him. It was a tearful decision but he HATES the tackle drills because they hurt. He jammed his finger pretty good. I think Football is different than what he expected. We told him it is okay with us if he doesn't finish out the season but he would need to call his coach. Dad told him he can't just quit showing up, which I thought was good advice. It tugged at my heart strings to hear Graham's shaky voice talk to his coach on the phone. Graham seems at peace with his decision and I always say, "If a lesson was learned then it wasn't a waste." I helped again with cast meals on Thursday and I was telling this to another mom. Her son is Carl, the current student body president and lead in the play. She said, "Carl also quit football in the 5th grade, and look at him now. You can tell your son that." You bet I will!
Grayson did Baptisms with the Young Men. Here is how that went:
Five guys met at five then did five names each and then ate at Five Guys. How about a high five for that!
Ava was Performing on the Mary Poppins train so we took the babies out to eat with us at Antoios on Main. Our tacos took FOREVER. Matt helped pass the time by time by telling us that the car that drove by in the next amount of seconds would be ours.I kept getting minivans! Finally our food came and Graham exclaimed, "Quality can't be rushed."
As I was tucking Callie into bed I remembered, "Callie! You are giving a talk in
Primary tomorrow!" Her topic was the 10 Commandments. I named off
some but couldn't think of all ten. I asked her if she could think of some
things she does to keep the commandments. I found myself singing, "Keep
the Commandments" to her. So for her talk today she read that hymn and
also shared, "I will keep the commandments by coming home from my friends
house at 6. I will be ready for church on time. I will play with quiet
toys on Sunday and read the Friend. I will try to keep the
commandments." I had to stand in the hall to listen because she said it
makes her nervous when I watch. Fair enough. I took her to the local production of HOLES. I love the story (even though they don't all keep the commandments) but mostly I was curious how they would portray the dirt! Oh, and one of my Young Women was in it.
When
I was at the library looking for a book to check out I went to the Classics section. There was a tiny book with gold pages that
was so adorable that I checked it out. I thought, "Even if I don't have
time to read it in the next three weeks, it'll look cute on my
nightstand." The book was, "Dracula." Haha. I started reading it
and actually got into it. I have been seeing Dr. Frogley for my back and he
came to get me in the waiting room. He asked what I was reading. When I told
him "DRACULA," he said, "That is the last thing
I would have guessed." Anyway, I happened to notice on the library
flyer that the book club book for Sept is Dracula! I have never been to a book
club but thought that was pretty ironic that I happened to check out that book just
days before so I was excited to attend my first book club. However, my friend
Dulce texted me that she was interested in attending the Provident Living
Devotional with me at the Stake Center that same night. I also learned that it was
Pack Meeting that night. I had three good things going on all at the same time.
My life isn't really about choosing between right and wrong at this point, but
distinguishing good, better, and best. I was reminded of that in my scripture
study that morning and knew that attending the devotional would be the BEST,
even if it was not my first choice. Now I will be attending the Self Reliance Course for the next 12 weeks!
I finished reading Dracula out-loud to Graham in the car one afternoon. He had a doctors apt and didn't want to go back to school afterwards (having to listen to Dracula ought to teach him;) Graham thought he had pink eye. He also said it was hard to breathe and that his finger still hurt. The doctor said the eye was red from irritation related to his cold, as was his breathing. His finger was just sprained. (I learned from the school secretary that is popular to have your hand wrapped as of late). As we were walking out to the car Graham said, "She is a horrible doctor. She didn't even do anything!" I asked him, "So if we left with eye drops, an inhaler, and a sling she would be a good doctor?" He said, "Yeah, pretty much."
I went to Graham's class and taught Meet the Masters I was curious to see what all the fuss was about that Graham has made about is class
being so cray-cray. When he came home from school I told him, "I can see
what you mean!" He said, "Actually, that is the best the class has
ever been." He had called me that morning to bring his computer, which he had forgotten. But I forgot it too. When I told him that he said very responsibly, "That's fine, it isn't your responsibility." At least he gets it, I don't even go to that school.
Happy Birthday to President Monson!
We watched clips from "On the Lord's Errand" and had orange sherbet, his favorite dessert. Then the girls thought of a service they could do for someone that started with a letter of his name M.O.N.S.O.N.
David Archuleta September 23, 2017
I hadn't realized his concert was the same night as the General Women's broadcast and wondered just what I was going to do! Then I saw him on GTU and he said, "The show doesn't start till 8 so you can do both!" We did! We busted a move up to Kamas and sat down just as the lights dimmed and out came David. Ava did her signature dance moves during the concert so I did the signature Mallerie dance. She has never been to a concert so now she sort of has. Loved David, loved being with Ava.
Oh sNOw!
I am glad I got one shot of the beautiful leaves in the canyon because by the end of September we had already been dumped on!
In hindsight I am glad the kids took advantage of playing in it because that was pretty much the biggest storm of the season. What a tease.
