Birthday Weekend

Saturday was Melanie's birthday, however we didn't get a chance to celebrate it. I figure she's too little to know the difference. So when Aaron had the chance to go fishing I told him to take it. Br. D* told him of a guide that wants people to use his boat, so it was basically a Bishopric fishing trip. Aaron and Br. S* both caught a nice sized fish.
This is Aaron's:

He caught a big salmon (they guessed about 20 lbs).

 

Meanwhile David was out picking pumpkins and selling them for the scout fundraiser. At home we did chores and played. Melanie napped. Amy, Timothy and I cleaned out the van. Then Aaron got home and got ready to go to the leadership meetings for Stake Conference. Melanie woke up from her nap. I got a call from David saying he was at the church. So Melanie and I went to get him. By the time I got back Aaron was ready to go. Basically I got home, removed Melanie's car seat. Vacuumed the mess under it, then Aaron left with the van. He drove four other people up there. Hopefully it was clean enough.

Once I got back, I got everyone ready to go to an open house. Chelle's daughter Abby got married a couple months ago, and they were hosing an open house for her and her husband. I knew we would be coming toward the end, but I still wanted to be there. Eventually we were all ready and we arrived around 4:00. There was still an hour left. I congratulated the happy couple and the kids wanted to eat. You know the food is going to be at the B*'s. The boys got their own plates, and I helped the girls. Melanie only wanted a roll, Amy was just as picky. Melanie didn't want me to go anywhere without me, and Amy whined because she wanted a place to sit at a table. She didn't want to sit at the bar, and she refused to use the computer desk. We even set a chair next to the actual table, but she wanted me to clear off the tablecloth and the desserts!  What a stubborn and sassy girl. Eventually she ate something, chocolates and brownies I think. That's about all Melanie ate too. I also enjoyed the ribs, brisket, baked beans, veggies and Carol P*'s famous cake. Eventually Amy went downstairs with Timothy and found the toys. David found the massage chair. Later Melanie went downstairs too. I got to talk to people for a bit. I secured a babysitter for the evening, and secured a ride to Stake Conference. It was a little after 5:00 when we left.

I had eaten enough already that I didn't need any dinner. I had to bribe David with dessert for him to come to the meeting willingly. Carol S* picked us up and we got there right on time. We had our seats saved for us since our husbands were at the earlier meeting. We squeezed in and enjoyed the meeting. Even David liked it. I knew he would, he just needed to be motivated to come. He even jumped up with the youth and sang the musical number with them, even though we missed the practice. After the meeting we drove Aaron S* home, and we stopped to get half price milkshakes at Sonic on the way. David was disappointed they weren't serving the salted caramel anymore. He settled for Oreo caramel, but I think they forgot the caramel. Aaron got a chocolate jalapeno shake, Aaron S* got a chocolate shake, and I really enjoyed my cookie dough shake.

Sunday morning Aaron needed to be at the Stake Center at 9:00, so we had breakfast and then we had Melanie open her presents.

 She some little animals

 and a doggy in a purse - she loves both

 showing off her cow

 lots of books!

 then she started throwing them - um not so cute

 a puzzle

 and a broom set - since she follows me around trying to help me when I sweep

 she loved it!

 she got another baby doll

 Grandma and Grandpa G* got her a puzzle blocks set

I had woken up a little achy, but it was progressively getting worse. I had sent Aaron off to his early meeting, and then I got the kids ready to go. I had a head ache by the time we left. We got there a little later than I had anticipated. Luckily Aaron saved us enough chairs, and we were still 20 minutes early. Stake Conference went well for the most part. I had neglected to bring snacks, but the Cheerios I brought for Melanie were enough for Amy too, and Melanie force fed me a few as well. I enjoyed the talks, but I couldn't sing without my head feeling like it was going to burst, so I just whispered the songs. The kids were pretty well behaved, but honestly I couldn't focus on them, so really they could have been really distracting, but I wasn't even aware. Aaron took Melanie out to change her diaper once. Aaron stayed for some priesthood ordinations among other things, and said he'd be back around 3:00. We needed to have dinner and cupcakes for Melanie's birthday around 5:00 so I could go to choir. I would have loved to stay and talk to people, but I felt awful. In fact I was snarky to Philip I* on the way out and I apologized, but I still feel bad about it. The whole drive home I could barely keep my eyes open because my head hurt, and I ached all over. I was glad I made it home. Melanie fell asleep on the way home as I expected, so I told David to make some lunch for the kids while I took a nap. I got Melanie in her crib and then I crashed in my bed. It was then that the chills started.

I napped off and on for the next 3 hours. I heard the kids squabble a few times, and Melanie at my door a few times, but David took care of everything, and no one came into the room. About 3:00 I woke up and decided to take some ibuprofen. That's when I heard Aaron come home. I waited for him to come upstairs, but I must have fallen asleep again waiting for him. When he came home he was busy taking care of the kids and starting dinner.  I later found these pictures on the camera that David must have taken.

 They had fun playing with all of Melanie's new toys

When I woke up again I had a head ache, but my body aches were dull. So I decided to venture downstairs. I was still talking in a soft voice, and walking very slowly. I was hoping I would feel back to normal after my nap, but I was not normal at all. I realized I wasn't going to make it to choir. I could barely walk, and I didn't trust myself driving. I still needed to make frosting for Melanie's birthday cupcakes. However Aaron kicked me out of the kitchen and said I needed to rest. So after making dinner (acorn squash, baked potatoes - in our new convection oven! - T-bone steaks and fresh caught salmon) he also made some frosting for the cupcakes. I had some grandiose plans to do some fancy decorating with my tips, but that didn't happen. Melanie's lucky I made the cupcakes the day before. So after dinner we had FHE and then cupcakes.

 Amy wanted to be in the picture of the cupcakes

 Melanie was a little unsure of the candles

 So Aaron blew them out

 She did eat the frosting

And left the cupcake :)

Since I was staying home Aaron decided to got visit someone and took David with him. So I just had to take care of the three kids for about an hour before bedtime. They helped me clean up the mess in the living room, and then they played downstairs while I rested upstairs. I changed into my pajamas the same time they did. I fell asleep about the same time Melanie did. Aaron woke me up when he got home. By then I had a fever and more chills. So more meds, and into bed I don't think I even brushed my teeth. I dozed off just as Drew arrived. Aaron was showing the new scoutmaster all of the stuff he was handing over to him. I slept OK, but Melanie who had been sleeping great for almost a week woke up twice, and I had to nudge Aaron and ask him to get her back to sleep. He did, and came back sooner than I usually do, probably because she knows she can get me to pick her up ;). I still had a head ache in the morning, but the body aches were almost gone. I'm glad it didn't last longer. What a weekend!

Melanie is Two!

Saturday Melanie turned two years old!  She is growing up so fast! She wouldn't sit still for pictures. At least she said cheese!

She was pointing at an airplane

She is the only kid I remember at this age who likes to clean up, she throws garbage away when she's done, puts her clothes in the laundry, even cleans up toys after she's done playing with them. She also likes to put things in straight lines like stickers, or blocks, or magnets. The other day at Joann's an employee watched her straighten a row of paint bottles and exclaimed, "She's hired!"

Melanie also loves to do things for herself, specifically:

1. get into her car seat, and buckle the top buckle
2. get into her high chair and buckle herself in, and put the tray on. Oh, and it has to be in the middle tabs or she has to do it again.
3. Get dressed by herself, meaning she picks out the clothes, then she puts the shirt over her head and I help her pull it down, and snap it if necessary. Then she puts her legs in the pants by herself and I help her pull them up. Sometimes she does socks and shoes by herself, but she's not as insistent about that.
4. Throw her diapers away.
5. Brush her teeth.

Yet she still wants me to carry her up and down the stairs if I'm next to her. She wants me to stay with her at nap time and bed time until she's asleep. She doesn't like it when I leave her with a babysitter or David, or Aaron, but usually gets over it pretty quickly.

Melanie doesn't have a huge vocabulary. I wanted to finally write down all of the words she can say and see how many she actually uses. So here goes.

Mom and Mommy
Dad and Daddy
Amy
Anna (yes from frozen)
Dani (Amy's friend)
dat (that)
dis (this)
uh-uh (no)
uh (yes)
ai (hi or bye)
appy (happy)
aduduh (another, more, again)
ah duh (all done)
ot (hot)
at (hat)
ice (water, milk, or anything to drink)
cheese (cheese)
uhnee (honey, or a peanut butter and honey sandwich)
ease (please)
up (for up or down)
shoes
seeta (seat, chair, stairs, place to sit)
baba (ball, or anything round e.g. bubbles, polka dots, bubbles etc.)
baby (any person smaller than her, a doll)
knee (anywhere on the leg)
owie
eyes
doy (droid - yes the phone)
die (die - when mimicking someone else, tie)
me
baa (bra)
bee (fly, bee, spider - or any other bug)
ee-ah (yeehaw: for horse and when she rides the rocking horse)
animal sounds:
dog: panting
horse: nee
cow: mmmm
lion and tiger (roar)
Phrases:
uh dat? (what's that?)
ere...? (Where's ...? )

So really that's only 38 words. I don't think that's close to the average, but then again the other kids were way above average in talking, so it's hard to compare.

As I've said before Melanie misses her siblings while they are at school. She has to be by my side, or rather on my lap or in my arms. I can't do anything at the computer for more than 2 minutes. She either wants me to pick her up and carry her somewhere, or she starts asking for a snack - the computer is in the kitchen. She will sit and watch a show but only if I'm in the room. At least that allows me to exercise on the elliptical. Of course as soon as I lay on the yoga mat to stretch, do crunches etc. she has to sit on me. She still follows me to the bathroom when I take my shower and empties my nail polish onto the floor until I'm done. Then she wants lotion just like me, and has to brush her teeth just like me. At least she hasn't asked me to put make up on her.

The rest of our day is occupied with reading books, and playing with whatever she finds, stickers, paper and pencils, etc. Sometimes she just wants to wander around outside, or cuddle while she babbles and says, "Mommy". She does the typical toddler things of saying "Mommy" 20 times in a row. With no other question or statement. Usually just, "hi". She also likes to "count" things. She points to  each one and says, "ee, ee, ee".

She is now 25 lbs, and about 33 inches tall. I don't know for sure because she wouldn't sit still long enough for me to measure. She has her favorite foods like cheese, yogurt and peanut butter and honey sandwiches. She also loves tomatoes and red bell peppers. Of course she also loves ice cream, candy, cookies, anything sweet.

Her favorite song right now is "Popcorn Popping". She can do all the hand motions. Sometimes that's the only way I can get her to sit still during diaper changes. Speaking of diapers, if only she could talk more I think I might have her potty trained earlier than any of my other kids. She will tell me that she has a messy diaper, but saying "Mommy, uh" and pulling at the back of her diaper. Sometimes she'll even tell me if it's wet, or even before it's messy. One morning she woke up completely dry, but she wouldn't sit on the potty, even with the smaller seat on top. Oh well, eventually she'll get it.

Melanie is an amazing 2 year old! I can't wait to see what this next year brings!

Busy Sunday and Pancake Party

It was another busy weekend. Starting with Aaron harvesting going into work early, and then continuing with dropping David off at the church to pick pumpkins for the fundraiser. We stayed at the church to do our cleaning. Aaron came and joined us at the end. Then stayed to do some cleaning on the outside of the building. We headed home to do chores. I also did a little more yard work. Aaron later went back to the hospital and over to where the scouts were selling pumpkins. Just before noon I gathered up the 3 younger kids and we headed over to the pavilion at the church. My friend Kelly and her siblings planned a surprise party for their mother 9and my friend) Joan. She is turning 80 later this year, and they really surprised her. It was really fun. Dave S* and his wife Holly put together a great lunch, brisket, pulled pork, rolls, baked beans, and cole slaw. Of course all the girls wanted to eat was the candy on the tables. It got really windy and the kids had fun taking the big polka dot table decorations and letting the fly in the wind and get caught in the back stop on the baseball field. Timothy ate a healthy lunch and plenty of candy too. It was good to talk to people and celebrate Joan. Aaron wanted to make it, but got called into the hospital.

We left about 1:45 way past nap time. Just as I left I saw Justin B*, who was with the scouts selling pumpkins. I flagged him down and asked if David was with him. He told me Br. S* was dropping him off at home. So I had to hurry back so I could let him in. Br. S* was just leaving the property and David was at the front door. I turned off the alarm with my phone in case he had found an unlocked door I had missed, but we were fine. I got Melanie down for a nap and then we did some more clean up. Aaron went from the hospital to a baptism. His first as a Bishop. Meanwhile at home we played and got some dinner ready. The missionaries came over at 5:00 for dinner. We met the new sister, and got to know her a little bit. We enjoyed dinner and I can't really remember what else we did that evening.

Apparently David took these pictures of Melanie with my phone.

Sunday Aaron left at 5:00 am to see patients because he had a Bishop's Conference at 6:30 - luckily it was at our building. Then he proceeded with his normal Sunday meetings. We got to church on time and enjoyed the talks about various General Conference addresses. I talked with Aaron for a minute afterward before I got pulled away. Sunday School was great and so was Relief Society. I had to leave to change Melanie's diaper. That seems to be a regular thing now. At least she is happy to go back to nursery. I made sure I saw Aaron for a brief moment before I took the kids home. Lunch, nap (for Melanie) and making dinner - pretty normal Sunday. Aaron ended up going back to the hospital after meetings at the church, then back to the church for another interview at 4:00 and then back to the hospital. We had dinner without him, and I left David in charge while I headed to the stake center. I am participating in the Stake Nativity event this year, and we had our first practice as a choir. Aaron got home about the time I arrived at the stake center. It was great to be part of a choir again. I love singing the 2nd soprano part, however there were more sopranos that opted to sing 2nd soprano because they can't hit the high notes. Since I can actually hit them I decided I should sing 1st soprano. I hope the one soprano that wasn't there can hit them too. We ended just a couple of minutes late and I was on my way home. By the time I got home at 8:40 it had been 15 hours and 40 minutes since Aaron and I had been in the house at the same time. What a crazy Sunday. With tithing settlement coming up and more Nativity practices, I doubt it will settle down any time soon.

 I don't remember taking these pictures either, but that's Melanie walking on the curb and climbing into the van.

Monday was a whole new day. I got in my elliptical workout and spent most of the day at home. I took the kids to their respective classes in the city. After I got Amy into her ballet stuff I tried to get her hair into a pony tail so it wouldn't be in the way. She flipped out and refused to go to class. After she finally calmed down and came out of the bathroom, we waited in the waiting room where Melanie was playing with toys. Amy wanted to go outside to the play ground. Not going to happen. She's not going to miss her class and then play outside in her ballet clothes. So I made her stay inside. Next week I won't mess with her hair and if she refuses to go to class I may have to withdraw her. I'm not going to pay for her to go to class only when she wants to. Too bad I already paid for the costume for the recital in June. What was I thinking?!

I picked up David on the way home. Aaron called to let me know they had lots of leftovers from lunch (Indian food). I had already the main dish in the crockpot, but it was easy enough to save that for the next day.

Tuesday was a pretty good day as well. After exercising I was able to get a few things done around the house and did a load of laundry. Timothy wasn't too happy about that. When I usually do laundry on Thursdays he complains about having to put his clothes away, and says "I hate Thursdays!" I thought I'd make his Thursday better, but instead he complained because he wasn't expecting to have to do any "work". I can't win with him! David had a cross country meet, and I had thought about going, but it was raining, and wrangling 3 kids while they complained about the rain didn't sound like a good idea to me. We also wouldn't have made it in time. That night I gave the boys haircuts.

Wednesday I went up to the city for some shopping. I ended up getting presents for a birthday party, presents for Melanie's birthday and a Christmas present for Amy. I went to Joann's to get some thread, and ended up getting things for Timothy's Halloween costume and a few other things. I still have no idea what Amy is going to be for Halloween, because she doesn't like the Rapunzel costume I got for her. She doesn't want to be a princess apparently. I think it's more about the itchy costume than dressing up like a princess. Melanie fell asleep on the way home like she usually does. However that allowed me to pick up Amy after school so she could made it to Emma's birthday party in time. I dropped Amy off at the birthday party and then got home before Timothy got off the bus. I picked up David from cross country, and then picked up Amy from the birthday party. Just after I got home Aaron arrived and needed to eat before going over to the church. My original plan was going to take too long. So I threw together some taco soup quickly. Aaron and David left early. The mutual activity was going to a corn maze, so they had to be there by 6:00. David invited Taevon to come, so they had fun. At 7:00 The rest of us went to pack meeting for cub scouts. Aaron came in about halfway through. We had fun. Melanie was being way too noisy though. She and Brooklyn were having fun together playing with the broom, but she kept shrieking, and dropping the broom. Then when she noticed Amy sitting on my lap she loudly protested and tried to push Amy off my lap. She's a feisty one! Eventually we went home, and I got the kids in bed. I was trying to figure out how I was going to pick up David with the kids in bed. I texted Aaron to see if they were back yet, and they weren't. I let Aaron know when the kids were asleep so I could pick up David when they got back. I didn't get a response so I just waited. Aaron and David came home around 10:00. David had been back for about 45 minutes or so, and waited until Aaron was done. It was a late night.

Thursday I got in my exercise and some laundry and other stuff around the house.  I can't really remember what though. Melanie is demanding a lot of my time right now, so sometimes I just read to her, or play with her. Nothing else important that I can think of. Oh, Aaron did harvest the rest of the pumpkins and put them in the truck to sell at work the next day.

Friday was fun. It was the pancake party in Amy's classroom. I got up early and showered. I knew if I didn't get there early there would be nowhere to park. There were only 2 spots left when I got there. I really didn't want to park on a side street and walk with my hands full and not be able to carry or hold hands with Melanie. In Amy's class they've been working on the letter "p" all week. They got to wear their pajamas to school, and we made pancakes for them. There are 24 kids in her class and we had 10 parent (or grandparent) volunteers. We had three griddles (including mine), and other parents poured juice, or put syrup on the pancakes etc. It was fun.

Then they got their blankets and loveys and sat or laid on the carpet to watch "Spookely the Square Pumpkin", an animated show made from the book they've been reading this week. Melanie had fun eating pancakes with Amy and sitting in one of the reading chairs. She sat with me while they watched the short movie, but kept asking where Amy was. Eventually we left and ran to the bank on the way home. Aaron made it home just before I put Melanie down for a nap. While she slept, I cleaned up the kitchen. I listened to several more conference talks while I did that. Meanwhile Aaron fixed the gate. I had left it open on Wednesday while I was waiting for a package, but it was really windy, and now the gate wasn't opening properly. He spent about 2 hours out there, but finally got it fixed. Then he mowed the lawn. Eventually Melanie woke up and the kids came home from school. David was done early at cross country, so I picked him up with just Melanie. I deposited another check - the one that will just about cover the cost of the appliances. It was the check from the hospital for going to the conference in Nashville 2 months ago.

 We harvested all of the butternut squash finally.

and there were a couple of late blooming lilies!

I was about to take the boys to piano and Aaron was going to get gas in the van and fill up the gas cans for the mower, when Aaron got a call. Our dishwasher was finally fixed! So he took Melanie with him to go pick up the dishwasher. I started on dinner while the boys were at piano. When Aaron got back dinner was ready. After dinner Aaron starting installing the dishwasher. I helped where I could when I wasn't helping the girls with their bath.

After 3 weeks of washing all of the dishes by hand I'm glad to have the dishwasher back! There's no way I would have waited that long to get it fixed if it weren't a free repair. If it breaks again I don't think it's worth fixing. And that's about it. I'm finally all caught up!

Another Busy Week

Monday it was back to school for the kids. I can't recall anything out of the ordinary. David went to cross country after school, Timothy went to drama, and Amy went to her ballet class. I snapped a few pictures.

She doesn't want me to put her hair back like all of the other ballerinas, but she's enjoying her class.  After the classes I picked up David at Kyle's. Aaron called to say he'd be home before me and asked what he could do to get dinner ready. I told him what I had prepared and where the find the recipe, and when we got home he was busy pulling things together. We watched the Studio C season 5 premiere that night. Then it was off to bed for the kids.

Tuesday was a fairly normal day. I'm doing better at exercising on my own with the elliptical. I think we had Pilates that morning too.  The rest of the day was normal until I got a call from David at 3:00. He had made it through the school day, even though he wasn't feeling well, but now he had a fever so instead of practice, her came home. I had to wake Melanie up, but she'd been asleep for 2 hours. I didn't look well at all, and he had a fever. So he was quarantined to his room. The kids came home and had a snack and then I got read for dinner. We were having taco salad, one of David's favorites.  I felt bad he didn't get to have any. Aaron got home in time for me to make it to book club. I enjoyed book club. My neighbor Ruth came. Carol P* invited her. It was fun to have her there. We had a great discussion.

Wednesday morning David still didn't feel well, and still had a fever. I had planned to go up to the city, but those plans got postponed. Instead I stayed home and did things around the house, including two loads of laundry. David slept for a while in the morning, and missed breakfast. However by about 1:00 he was feeling fine and was getting bored. He wanted something to do. He'd already watched a movie, so he did a science experiment, I think. Eventually the kids got home from school and we had to have an early dinner. Round Robin Conferences for the middle school started at 5:30, and there was scouts for the boys at 7:00. Aaron needed to be there at 6:30. So I talked with all of David's
teachers, and got the scoop on his good grades, and found out what he'd missed that day. In the mean time Aaron came home, ate some dinner and went to the church for meetings. I got home in time to take the boys the church for scouts. After I bathed the girls, I picked the boys up at the church again.

Thursday Melanie and I went up to the city for some shopping. I stocked up at Costco. Lots of food and lots of other stuff. Hopefully I don't have to go back for a while. The fridge was really full after that trip. That afternoon David had a cross country meet. It was up in the city, but there was no way I was going to make it up there in time after the kids got home from school. I'm trying to remember what else we did. David got back in plenty of time from his meet to have dinner. That's about it.

Friday there was no school. However we didn't do anything really exciting because Timothy woke up at 2:00 am and threw up, and again at 5:00 am. He missed breakfast and threw up again at 7:00. He took a nap that morning. I ended up weeding out in the garden for a while. It was pretty bad. I got several tomatoes and peppers as well. Melanie ate several ripe strawberries too. Eventually I went inside and got some lunch ready for the kids. David mowed the grass after that. Melanie went down for a nap and Timothy was feeling better - I was glad. We had a fun evening planned. Aaron got home around 2:30 and mowed the lawn when David was finished. There were no piano lessons, but after dinner Aaron and David went to the football game early so David could play with the pep band. Aaron had to drive separately because he was on call. Then I came with the rest of the kids as soon as they were ready. Everyone had jackets, but Amy left hers on the floor of the family room. It wasn't too cold, and we had a blanket. The game was fun. We didn't get off to a great start, but we were still winning, and then in the 2nd quarter, our quarterback went down. We didn't know if it was a separated shoulder or a broken bone. The trainers put it in a sling and he walked off the field. It was homecoming. So at half time the princesses of each class arrived in their gowns and fancy cars. Madelyn K* was the sophomore princess, and her dress was gorgeous and modest. I was impressed most of the dresses were modest, including one of the senior princesses - Natalie W*. Yep two of the princesses were in our ward! Natalie didn't become homecoming queen, but that didn't matter to me. Homecoming King was the quarterback that was out with an injury, so a friend jumped in and "escorted" the homecoming queen. We continued the game with the back up quarterback. While he wasn't quite as efficient he did a great job, and we still won the game by a good margin. Amy and Timothy survived the game with minimal complaints. Melanie on the other hand, was fidgeting and didn't want to sit at all. As soon as the game was over I took the younger kids home and Aaron and David followed. It was a longer game than usual and we were all pretty tired.

General Conference

Saturday Morning before the first session, Aaron went over to the hardware store to get the box to house the wires, and was able to hook it up just before the morning session of General Conference. We were able to get rid of the old microwave as well. The rest of the kitchen was a mess though :)

We also removed the solar cover from the pool and cleaned it off, dried it out and put it away in the shed. Our printer was giving us fits (printing 20 pages even though we only asked for 1), so we didn't have the print out we usually did, and I drew pictures for the candy buckets.  The kids get a piece of candy (whoppers, M&Ms and candy corn) each time they say one of the words we picked. I think the words for that session were scriptures, prayer and love.

We enjoyed the session. There were so many awesome talks it's hard to pick a favorite. President Monson opened the Conference and reminded us of all of the temples that are being dedicated. There are still over 20 announced or under construction, so there were no new temples announced. Elder Packer's talk on hope was amazing! I loved Elder Robbins talk entitled Which Way Do you Face? Sister Esplin's talk about the Sacrament was a great reminder. Elder Wong's talk about unity was so poignant. Elder Christofferson's talk was about agency, but also our responsibility. President Uchtdorf's talk on gaining a testimony was also amazing. All of them were amazing.

The kids were mostly listening and mostly well behaved. Melanie was hard to contain. After the session was over Aaron, Br. B* and Br. S* loaded up the fridge on the truck to take over to Br. S*'s house. I finally got to shower. Then we made some lunch. Before the next session David and I helped Aaron put the range in the back of the truck.

I put Melanie down for a nap before the afternoon session started. I made it downstairs at the end of the sustaining. Unfortunately she didn't sleep very long - about an hour. Once again a great session. Elder Oaks talked about diversity and loving others. Elder Anderson's talk was about Joseph Smith. Elder Tad A Callister gave one of my favorite talks - mostly because it talked about family and that's my main focus right now.  My next favorite talk was by Elder Jorg Klebingat. He spoke about the atonement. While I am focused on my family, he reminded me that I need to take care of myself, spiritually and physically.  Elder Eduardo Gavarret spoke in Spanish, but we heard it in English. Aaron would have liked to hear it in Spanish. His talk was about following Christ. Elder Holland talked about taking car of the poor and needy - so powerful! The last speaker was Elder Perry. He spoke on finding peace and raising eternal families.

Aaron took Melanie with him to deliver the range. They brought home some huge Fuji apples in return. Delicious! I had to come up with a quick dinner before Aaron and David left for the Priesthood session. I didn't do anything really exciting while they were gone, playing, baths etc. When they came back we had some ice cream sandwiches left over from the refreshments Aaron provided. After the kids were in bed Aaron shared with me some of the things he learned from the session. You can read all of the talks here.

Sunday Morning we went over to the I*s for our traditional Conference Brunch. It was another great session. We switched the words for the candy to temple, prophet, and faith (I think). The opening talk by Pres. Eyring about revelation was wonderful. Elder Nelson's talk was the kids' favorite because it was about sustaining prophets - they got a lot of candy. Sister Carol McConkie also spoke about prophets, and living by their words. Elder Hales talked about coming to know Christ. Elder James Hamula spoke on the sacrament and the atonement. President Monson talked about our path back to Heavenly Father.

We had a great brunch. It was just Julianna and the little man, Phillip was on his way out of town and the little princess was in respite. Br. G* was there too, but his family was out of town. Aaron had to leave quickly to give a blessing, and then be at the church for the afternoon session. We left in time to get home and put Melanie down for a nap before the afternoon session started. Br. G* left at the same time.

Aaron was at the church for the last session of Conference. I got to enjoy most of the session, until Melanie woke up and then it all kind of fell apart. The kids were noisy, and restless. I'm glad it didn't take long for the talks to be available on the internet. I am enjoying reading and listening to them again. I loved Elder Ballard's talk about staying in the boat. Elder Scott's talk gave some great tools about Faith. Elder Godoy spoke about the Lord's plan for us. Elder Allan Packer talked about family history and temple work. Elder Hugo Martinez gave a great talk about our personal ministry. Elder Larry Kacher had some powerful examples about choices we make in his talk Trifle Not With Sacred Things. Elder Bednar invited others to Come and See what the gospel is about. President Monson Closed the Conference with a few words.

Aaron had some interviews after the session was over. He was supposed to be back around 5:00, so I could take dinner to someone, but he was running late, so I left David in charge and took the dinner over. Then we enjoyed our own dinner. Aaron was home by the time I got back. We had FHE and dessert, and that's about it.

The End of the Garden

On Tuesday I took pictures of what's left of the garden.

 roses

 orange roses still in bloom

 golden raspberries

 red raspberries

 there's a few goldens still producing

 strawberries and cherry tree

 rhubarb survived yay!

 the back garden - lots of pumpkins

 the one sunflower I let grow

 strawberries still producing

 some butternut squash

 still a few watermelons

 tomatoes plants are still thriving

 found a pretty butterfly - actually I think it's a moth

 a huge tomato, too bad it was rotting already

 can you see the huge spider in the peppers?

 corn is gone

 one of the huge pumpkins

 braeburn tree

 the apples are ripe now

 the front garden

 cucumbers plant is done

 zucchini is almost done

 parsley is still growing still

 chard is really overgrown

 carrot

 kale is too big

beans are dead

That's about it