Veteran's Day Program, Justin turns 49

Josie kicked off the week with a cute Veteran’s Day program with her 3rd grade friends. Each class recited a poem and sang a song! Justin said Josie gave her the “I’m watching you” finger signal when he sat down. Made him chuckle. After the program the kids went back to their classroom where students shared about their family veterans. Josie was very excited to share about her family using the classroom microphone. 

Justin headed to SLC Monday evening until Thursday for some leadership meetings. He said the group got to tour the Olympic facilities up in Park City. Most of his time was spent in meetings, the lull before the crunch that the next quarter brings. 

We survived at home. Maisie trotted over to the playground again. Our area is getting upgraded internet, so we’ve had workers in and out of the yard for weeks laying cable, conduit, and digging. Sara closed the dog door but didn’t latch it. Fergus let Maisie out, he stayed inside. Sara had to come pick up our AWOL dog. I heard on the radio about a dog on the playground, had to giggle that Mr. Obert got quite a workout chasing her around. He was about to call the pound when the office ladies recognized Maisie. She came to hang out with me until Sara came, my students were thrilled. 

The kids were a big help with dinner and clean up! I’ve got 1-2 sous chefs every evening to help out. Wednesday the activity was a potluck and talent show for the YM and YW. Amelia made a pasta salad and Everett made potato wedges. Phillip said he tried to play Pink Panther, his nerves got the better of him but he pushed onward. Everett is busy learning new card tricks. He has fine-tuned several tricks that are quite impressive. He showed off two tricks at the activity. 

Sara drove me to MCO Thursday so I could be present at MCO for attire rechecks. Amelia took the other kids at the normal time. That was super nice to be there. My assistant, Cara, was all set up when I arrived. Earlier in the week I talked with Jenn Spackman about how difficult attire is with so many emails that need to be sent and read, plus all the data entry. It’s a challenge. I suggested MCO adopt a google forms method that attire volunteers can input at the attire check, this would remove all the data entry and subsequent errors (like losing 4-6 pages to the wind during transit to me). She also suggested having an attire coordinator per choir, with me as the head attire lead. I like that very much. While sitting with Cara I mentioned that one young man was in Portugal for a student exchange program this semester. We both said, I served a mission in Portugal! Yep, same mission. She was left about a month before I arrived. That was fun to talk about our favorite mission memories. 

Justin’s flight was delayed due to some engine malfunction. He finally arrived home 3 hours later than anticipated. He celebrated his 49th birthday on Friday. Amelia and I were gone early that morning for a post-op appointment. Dr Walker said everything looks good. I asked if I could use a “foot balancer” on my left foot so my right foot doesn’t touch the ground. Most of the time a foot balancer is used when someone is wearing a boot on one foot, the balancer goes on the other foot. He said that thought never crossed his mind, I volunteered to be a guinea pig. I spent a few hours at work doing all the things I don’t have time to do when students are around. Amelia picked me up so we could go grocery shopping. Josie joined in the fun. Amelia was a bit testy, didn’t want to follow me around with a grocery cart. Sigh, back to online shopping I guess. Justin and I went to get shrimp tacos for his birthday dinner celebration. Wahoo! 

The task of the day Saturday was cleaning the kitchen. There was much crying and gnashing of teeth. The kingdom wailed. The fighting got so bad I declared the silent game, the winners would earn a gas station treat. The silence was magnificent. Sara took the younger kids to help clean up the Smith’s yard. Amelia and Justin wanted to try grooming Maisie. That task took about 2 hours. She ended up looking a bit wonky but pretty snazzy considering our only experience was watching a couple YouTube videos. It took the 3 of us to get her shaved and cut. She was testy the rest of the day, we have another Eeyore dog, Miss Peabody is Vader reincarnated.