October 27, 2009

These are the purses I designed, then made yesterday and today. It took me quite some time to figure out what design would work best for me to do well. Hopefully the woman who expressed interest in buying them from me will find them to her liking and keep me busy for a while. Ron has had his hours cut again (he is now getting 6 hours a week; thank God for his pensions). Any extra income I can come up with while keeping an eye on the kids could really come in useful just about now. The kids are doing MUCH better on their schooling with me home to act the drover. . .who would'a thunk it?

Our water was turned off all day today so work could be done on the water main down the street, hopefully the water service will return soon.

Not much else doing. . .insomnia continues to drive me crazy. . .

Oct 19, 2009

We are back from soggy Seattle. Ron and I met the bus at 6 am Friday for a church trip to the Seattle Temple. It was a damp, but otherwise uneventful trip over the pass to the border. This photo was taken at a rest stop just North of the US on Friday. Just as we reached the border, the older couple across the aisle from us realized they didn't have one of the required passports with them. The border agents got on the bus and began the routine checking of passports, one from the front and one from the rear. They happened to meet right at our seat near the front of the bus. The agents checked Ron and I for passports, but managed to miss the older couple across the aisle. . .whew!!! No hold-up there. On the way back in to Canada on Saturday, the agents only checked the permanent resident cards of the 4 non-Canadian citizens on board, so that was clear sailing too.

It alternated between pouring and simply raining most of the time we were in Bellevue (where the Seattle Temple is actually located).

It has been gray and damp here, but the kids managed to keep the house in good shape while we were gone. I had cooked a turkey and they had other leftovers, so I think they just grazed for two days instead of fixing any formal meals.

Yesterday, Ron worked while the kids and I attended church. I am sorry Ron couldn't be there, as Dax and Adam blessed the Sacrament together for the first time. It was Dax's first ever chance to Bless the Sacrament, and he did a great job of being reverent and speaking clearly.

Oct 13, 2009

Yesterday we I got to bake most of the day, though Kaili helped me with making the pumpkin pie filling and she and Dax also helped me with making some snickerdoodle cookies for our empty cookie jar. In the evening we went to celebrate Thanksgiving at Jim and Linda's place with 4 very nice Japanese women and girls who shared the evening with us. Linda served us quite a feast and I was able to supply the pies. Jim is looking MUCH slimmer and healthier these days, though his heart is still causing him problems. After dinner, we all played Wii Resort. . .it is a lot of fun. We were out pretty late last night, so after I made breakfast for Ron, Dax, Kaili and myself at 6am and Ron the kids got back from morning seminary they went back to bed for a nap: they are still having a hard time getting going this morning. Adam and Elizabeth slept straight through 'till I woke them at 9:30. It is looking like we may get some rain showers today and is has warmed back up a bit after our brief cold spell.

October 3rd, 2009

Last night the three older kids had a dance and didn't get home until late. Of course this means everyone in the house (Elizabeth excepted) was up late.

We had General Conference today. We got to stay home and watch the leadership of our church speak to us over the internet. There is a 2 hour morning session, a 2 hour afternoon session, then a 2 hour priesthood session at the church in the evening. Tomorrow there will just be the morning and afternoon sessions. I always learn something from these conferences and there is usually a couple of general themes they emphasize at each conference. This time the themes I picked up were; Love (God, one another) and following the Lord's commands. I really appreciated one statement about paying attention to the big stuff (Love) and not letting the small stuff distract you from what is really important. If you are interested (or just curious) you can watch the conference on the internet at LDS.org (live or anytime)or live on BYU-TV at 10 am MDT and 2 pm MDT tomorrow. We usually take notes, but I'm not sure how complete Adam, Dax or Kaili's were today.