the internet is a wonderful thing...

 This morning it brought to my attention some photos that I haven't looked at in four years.  Jenna and Clayton's wedding!  It was so fun to look thru them and to remember that special day.  Their wedding really was so beautiful.

 Ethan and Tatum dancing is one of my favorite shots.  Look how happy she looks.  He is a sweet and tender boy and always kind to everyone.  I love that.  Also look how small he looks!

 We had the dinner catered and it was yummy and fun to have the chefs right there!

 I love these beautiful shots of these two.  

Mystery, murder (of the hamster variety) and scripture

It's been a kind of crazy week. My good friend Karen got into a pretty bad car accident. She is also the jr class seminary teacher so when she asked me to sub for her, even though I knew it wasn't going to be an easy week, I said yes. Because that's what you do. I do like teaching seminary. It's hard and early though. Today we were in 2 Nephi 4 where some beautiful ideas are discussed. We talked about the importance of scripture study. Nephi said his soul delighted in the scriptures, I am not always there. I do honestly love them but sometimes my reading is mechanical and obligatory. Sometimes I forget all together. And sometimes it's a delight. I am trying to tip the scales more and more to the delight side of the spectrum. 

We talked about the importance of letting go of our sins and our past and putting our trust in God's plan. Nephi eloquently described this process as he talked about feeling anguish at his wretched soul (he as a little hard on himself...like we all are) and the peace that he feels when he forgets himself and remembers God's goodness and grace. This is one of Satan's most effective traps. He wants us to get so down on ourselves that we don't forgive ourselves and move on after we repent. There are two voices in our heads: one that says "you are not good enough, you can not be forgiven. Everyone is better than you and if they really knew you they wouldn't like you". That is Satan's voice. Christ's message is the opposite. He says "I atoned for you, personally, so you don't have to keep suffering. Believe in me and in what I can do. Do your best. You are good enough." We have to choose Christ.

The last concept we covered was personal prayer. This chapter has a beautiful, heartfelt prayer in poetic prose that can't help but touch the readers heart. It also schools us in what elements we should have in our prayers. To introduce this idea I brought a bag full of random things: a flashlight, a can of soup, a name tag, etc. The kids pulled an item out and said prayer is like _________ because __________. They came up with some great ideas. 

It was a fun morning except Grace tried to FaceTime me like 6 times. Finally I became concerned that she was trapped under something heavy or the house was flooding or something so I gave Kelly the phone and told her if Grace called again to step out and talk to her and to give it to me IF it was an emergency. 

It turned out that Sophie was eating her babies. All but 3.  Gross and vicious and upsetting. Yikes!! Ugh! 

I have also been subbing a lot this week so I have to rush home from seminary grab Grace, who is supposed to get ready while I am gone, but who so far has not, drop her at  school and rush to my job. It has been a little too rushed! 

One more day! I can do it.

This month it was the Laurel's turn to plan the combined activity. They wanted to do a murdur mystery dinner. We invited the Somerset ward and had almost 50 kids there!

We went early to set up and brought Noah and Rylie with us. Everyone helped and it looked great.   We had a 3 course meal with an introduction to set the scene and then clues revealed at each courses. In the end several kids figured out who the murderer was.

After everyone's guesses I read a wrap up that basically said: this wasn't taken from a modern day drama but from the greatest book in the world "the Book of Mormon". We took the story from Helaman  1 & 2 about the gadianton robbers, the murders of Pacumeni and Pahoran and the traitorous attempt at  Helaman's life.   The evening was a big success. The kids enjoyed it. Were surprised at the connection and listened with rapt attention to the scriptures to find out what happened. Also the dinner was good :)

Also, in the middle of all that Rob is on a camping trip with Wes and Larry and Marc. Hope they are having fun. It's supposed to be pretty cold where they are (in the high 20's at night and 50's in the day).  I'll be happy to hear all about it when they return. 

donuts

Bub's evening snack

Today I subbed special ed.  It was a boring, long, hard day.  There were only 6 kids but it was like being on a jail cell block.  6 boys, posturing, swearing, not reading, threatening each other, bad "english" speaking, hours and hours of torture.  You win some you lose some.

Rylie and Paige

The Come Follow Me curriculum calls for the girls to teach lessons from time to time.  We've really been slackers and gotten away from that but recently repented and have started having them teach again.  Paige taught last month and did really well. Yesterday Rylie taught.  It was her first time ever.  She did a really good job too and since she and her dad went to the USC game the night before they stoped at VooDoo donut for treats for her lesson. Sweet!

Saturday nite

Ethan and Rob are watching the Ohio State vs Oklahoma football game. Not the "holy war" BYU vs Utah.  There is a lot of shouting. 

Z and I are on my bed, blogging, watching Moana and the lightning storm out the window (with equal attention and enjoyment) and Grace is in her room watching her little litter of hamsters. Sophie had 15 babies today. Luckily it is Saturday and she could witness the whole birth!

Today is Penny's birthday! She is 5 and what a delightful & happy, sweet, kind, little girl she is. 

Rob and I went to the temple this morning. I recently scratched my sunglasses :( so I am back to squinting.

Sister Petit broke her ankle. I was asked to bring in dinner so I made Hannah's apple and sage pork chops and mashed potatoes. Also salad and apple pie and we brought a gallon of ice cream to go with. Grace kind of helped me in the kitchen. Hannah was my best kitchen helper daughter but at least Lu kept me company. She also went with me to deliver dinner, which was nice.





I've been enjoying seeing the move-in pictures from Idaho. Hannah used post it notes and wrote "date me" on her window that faces the boys dorm. Several boys have post it noted responses. This was my favorite;)
Also exciting Hannah got to meet Al Carraway. She (Han) loves her (Al's) books. 

Now it's raining like crazy. Which is nice in the desert. 

The east is still suffering from Irma. My prayers are with them tonight. 

The end of the week

Grace had some friends over tonight. Actually they came right after school and swam and played. We grilled some burgers and also had one-day-a-year only krispie kreme glazed pumpkin spice donuts. 

She's got some really nice friends.

 Rob had his off Friday. We went on a daytime movie date and also had errands and stuff to do.

Rylin and Grace
Aubrey and Brynn.

In other news the world continues to be rocked by disasters. 

Hannah's new roommates moved in and fall has started. 

And I am reading the Pathfinder series by Orson Scott Card. I am on book 2. Ethan recommended it to me. We often read the same books and then talk about them, he is anxious for me to finish so we can discuss.

Soccer night

Ethan had a game tonight. He didn't play well and was very frustrated with himself. On the up side the weather was perfect and after the first 15 min or so the sun sunk behind the hills and we could see without squinting.

My niece Katy and her husband Taylor and also Rob's cousin Jess and Isaiah both live in Orlando. That side of the world has been hit hard by crazy storms. Last week Houston was put under water by hurricane Harvey. Now the Caribbean is being leveled by Irma. Florida is next and then on up the coast. Meanwhile in the west we are having blazing fires. And Korea is having nucs flying overhead. The world is crazy and full of unrest and refugees and wars and terror. It is a dark and difficult time. Rob is much more of a news follower than I. I get depressed if it's on 24/7. It is important to keep aware though. 
The important thing is not to lose hope, but to look forward with a perfect brightness of hope. The Lord is in charge and I am grateful that we can find peace even in trouble.

Hannah moved apartments today. She takes her finals this week and the new semester starts next week. Moving is a lot of work and it took her all afternoon, at the end she was rewarded with this view from her window. Nice!

I subbed 3rd grade today. The class was really good and we had a fun day. One little guy had some trouble not throwing things on the floor. The first time he did it  I had him pick up 25 pieces of trash. The second time 50 and the 3rd 100 pieces of trash. After that third time he came up to my desk and said he wasn't going to throw any more things on the floor. To which I said "good" and then he had a good afternoon, so I was glad. 

Grace had choir this afternoon. She had to wear her concert dress to see if it still fit. It did. I'm glad we don't have to buy a new one. They are working on Christmas music and I can't wait for her concert!

After dinner we went to Farley's for gelato. I always get the grisbi flavor, it is so delish!

I read a good book this week. It's called "the midwife's revolt", set in the days of the American Revolution. She's a midwife, a young widow, and a patriot. She  ends up dressing like a man and being a spy. So there is midwifery, revolution, historical fiction, strong women, women's friendships, romance and spycraft. How could they go wrong? :)

Tonight Grace and I took Z for a walk. She is fully recovered from her knee surgery and is doing really well. I am grateful and glad.