Conference Weekend, Farmstead, Maisie
I worked on hemming 23 choir dresses for CHS, it’s hard to pass up the $15 per item gain! Amelia will use the funds for her Utah trip in March. We watched the new Inside Out 2 movie while I measured, cut, serged, sewed, and ironed the dresses. While my sewing supplies were out I also caught up on the pile of alterations that collected in the laundry room. Evelyn and Josie had quite a fun time with the black dress scraps.
Josie is loving her new violin teacher. Eliza will be teaching Josie for now, Emma (the mom) will help out when necessary. We got two new fiddling books Josie can learn from. Emma had me download StrumMachine to use for practice sessions. It is accompaniment for Josie to play along with, it’s pretty cool because you can easily adjust the style of instruments playing along. I love that it teaches her to listen to the music and feel it instead of just reading music. Josie has two difficult tasks to work on: not breaking her banana and to not squish her koalas. She’s held her violin incorrectly for two years with her thumb and palm flat against the violin neck. Her thumb is the Banana, so she needs to work on not bending her thumb. Koalas live in the space between her thumb and palm, if her hand touches the neck her koalas die. It’s more intense for sure but hopefully, she will improve and love it. Everett came along to play chess with Andrew. Andrew belongs to several chess clubs and earned several awards so far. Everett was thrilled he could hold his own, the match was thrilling for both boys. Eliza and I discovered we both love crochet! I foresee a crafting day with the girls and Amelia.
Evelyn and Josie came with me to my pre-operation appointment on 04 October. At the end of my appointment I was given a set of crutches. Oh boy, the girls immediately turned them into a galloping horse. They hopped and galloped up and down the halls while I waited to pay my bill and get scheduling completed. Their laughter filled the atrium, made us all laugh and smile. How is it that a pound of hamburger costs $8-11? Grocery shopping is so expensive. I bought some candy for conference, the total was out of this world. Evelyn really wanted to make trip to the Dollar Store to get Jim-bo, Oliver's Skeleton, a girlfriend named Jimbarita. We had another crazy wedding, this time skeletons. The new couple had 4 baby skeletons before the ceremony even started. Evelyn had me sew up a fancy dress for the grand occasion.
Conference Highlights:
Hope. His talk was so good. Splash hope everywhere you go -Renland
The commandments are like a kite’s string, provide us a steady guide and anchor us against the buffeting winds. -Oakes
Elder Alvarado was so excited he was almost bouncing! That was awesome
Told about a painting she accidentally smeared, it was better after fixing it. -Sister Yee
Elder Holland fulfilled his promise to boldly bear testimony, his talk was powerful
Mortality Works! -Brooks Hale
Being still is an act of faith that takes effort. Make quality time with the Lord. -Budge
Our birthrights come with great responsibility and privelidge (cruise ship example) -Wilcox
Be intentional about what you view, avoid doomscrolling -Cook
Now is the time for all to prepare for His coming and make discipleship their highest priority, we will find him int he temple. -Nelson
Sunday Phillip got home from his Utah trip around 3 pm. They left Friday morning after a warm-up session. He went to Lagoon with all his best buddies, Ben, Bodhe, and Johvanni. I hear they had a really fun time on all the coasters. Saturday the band was at USU stadium for most of the day. They warmed up several time and went through their routine. Stephanie said it was a challenge to feed 50 students plus all the chaperones in the parking lot. The band won first place out of 15 other marching bands in their division 3A! They won Outstanding in all 4 categories: color guard, percussion, visuals, and music! I learned later that there are several divisions, awards are given within the divisions only. When I picked up the boys on Sunday the smell was out of this world, blech. I asked Phillip to send me any photos he took, he sent me ONE of a peacock he took at Lagoon. That was it. Boys are so different! Amelia would call/text me photos everyday while on a trip. Phillip did not call, text, or take any photos. Yesterday he texted me an awkward selfie, that’s a little improvement!
This week we had a break from MCO, with a free Thursday evening we decided to enjoy a family night out at the Farmstead. It’s hard to find a free evening without commitments. I invited Jennifer Gingerich as my plus one! Everett invited Kyran and Phillip had Ben and Johvanni along for the evening. I tried to find friends for Josie and Evelyn but everyone was busy. Amelia took the boys and Evelyn early at the regular MCO time. Justin drove in the truck, he picked up some Del Taco for dinner. Josie and I rode with Mrs Gingerich. We had a lovely evening exploring all the fun attractions. Amelia said it felt really strange to walk around instead of going straight to the Cookie Creamery or the Orchard Stop. Justin arrived with dinner, we took a short break to chow down burritos and tacos. Everett and Kyran were late to the meeting point, I shoved some burritos in my purse, hoping it would not appear too obvious. The refried beans were quite disappointing, someone forgot to salt the beans. Yuck. The corn pit felt so lovely on the feet! It was cool and gave a great foot massage. We loved trying Amelia’s favorite treat, the orchard something or another, ice cream with fresh cider and an apple doughnut in a cute mason jar. The animals were the little girl’s favorites, especially the fluffy cows and the ponies. I had a touching moment conversing with a turkey, we connected. The corn maze was epic this year because the corn stalks were about 12 feet tall. Josie started a trend using a fallen stalk as a moving place marker. It was not too hard to get lost because we had a map on our phones that updated at certain geotagged locations. The sunset was quite lovely from up over the top of the corn. Amelia wanted to ride the wagons so we headed over there as dusk fell. We finished the evening off going through the dragon thing, the ninja course, and the corn popping pillows. I was beat tired by the time we arrived back home.
Friday I had a half day of work, with staff meeting first off. I worked on updating my substitute plans while I am out after surgery. That took most of the time I had left. Josie and I picked up the band kids for their afternoon practice then went grocery shopping to Winco. Hooray. I barely had time to get situated after shopping before I had to leave again for a photo session in Eagle, ID. I got to photograph two of my piano students from a couple years ago! They chose a popular spot right next to the Eagle river, it was so pretty.
The fridge got some much needed attention, Everett spilled half a bottle of green salsa down the side of the fridge a few days prior. We took apart the fridge and cleaned it up more thoroughly than is customary. Justin took a motorcycle ride down to Kuna where he watched Phillip and the marching band perform again this time for the Kuna Competition. Once again CHS Marching Band swept up the first place titles! Good job. Those students are working very, very hard and it shows. Amelia had a very busy evening shift, she said there was a line 1/4 mile long her entire shift! That is BUSY. Josie wants to be Bright Stars for Halloween this year. I found a cute costume on Amazon that fit her vision perfectly. She wore the costume all Saturday. She played Indians in the backyard for a few hours, using prop tent I have. She was roasting an antelope at one point. I love that she chose a book character! We recently finished reading all of the Indian in the Cupboard series.
I’ve had choir on my mind, it’s my new calling after all. I must say mostly I feel overwhelmed and not at all excited about choir. During conference I had several ideas rolling about like only doing a formal choir twice a year then fill in with special smaller choir groups (youth, Primary, men, ladies, etc) and pop-up choirs. Brother Bledsoe listened to my mental notes and said he thought that plan sounded great, he will pass it by the Bishop.
Bill Ivey, the breeder who sold us Fergus, posted a 5 year old female for sale earlier in the week. Justin thinks Fergus needs a friend. So off we went this evening to meet Heather. She is a sweet girl, a little feisty and protective, but also very snuggly. I asked where Bill’s wife where Bill was, quickly learned he passed away earlier in the year. His wife does not speak English, we used Google translate to communicate. I gave her a huge hug, poor thing was crying after talking about Bill. She wanted to give us Heather free of charge, she has some kidney stones and needs some care from the vet. Heather does not like Fergus at all…yet…hopefully that changes. We are going to call her Maisie instead of Heather. Yay for more tippie taps.
Comments