Fun with Grandkids

We continued to have fun with Camden and Ethan this week. I left Monday morning and drove to Jonathan and Kristy’s house. We got to see their new little piglets. So cute and tiny. But boy they squeal when you pick them up!  The moms seemed pretty laid back about our being around their babies.

The boys had a great time there. Isabelle took them around on the four-wheeler. They shrieked and ran about the house like banshees with Zachary. And Kristy and I had a fun time talking. I left Tuesday morning about 9am. I wanted to get Camden back to at least some school on Tuesday.

It poured rain- sheets of rain—on the whole drive except for the last 10 minutes. That was nice. We were able to drop Camden off at school in just a drizzle. He seemed happy to go to school.

Ethan and I hung out most of the rest of that day. On Wednesday after Camden left for school we went out shopping. I’ve been looking for Red Vines candy (like red licorice) and can’t seem to find it!  I went to Walmart and Target, both of which said they had it online… but they didn’t in the stores. We went to Sprouts and stocked up on chocolate covered cherries and almonds and other healthy stuff.

In the afternoon the missionaries knocked on the door. They wanted to do service, so they raked the front lawn. Camden and Ethan enjoyed playing in the leaves and then riding their bikes up and down the sidewalk in front of the house. I went out and helped rake and bag.

Sister Burt is from El Centro. I told her the best Carne Asada I ever ate was in El Centro and I’d looked for years for a recipe that tasted like that. She said, “Oh, you just need carne asada seasoning. I have a big jar. I’ll bring you some.”  Oh Joy!  I’m so excited. She said, usually you marinate flank steak with lemon and the spices, but I just sprinkle it on my hamburger. I need to try it and see if it matches my memories.

Miranda and Dan arrived home about midnight on Wednesday. The boys were up early on Thursday, just delighted to see them. Miranda shares some of her loot and some of her pictures. Then she left about 10 to go and pick up Alex and I left to head home. I stopped at Deborah’s for lunch and a visit. Then I stayed to listen to a 2-3:30 webinar with Clayton Makepeace. I needed the computer to do that. When I got home, Tom was off doing tithing settlement.

Friday I sort of puttered and played catch up. I should have been more productive. Saturday night was a freeze and any remaining tomatoes are not toast. I helped Tom move a rick or two of firewood from under the barn overhand to under the side overhang. It was the last of the wood from the 2009 ice storm. With most of the leaves gone from the pear tree, I saw there were still some green pears hanging. I meant to get them, but they were out of reach. Now, they are frozen, too.

Saturday and Sunday were stake conference. Saturday morning I went shopping to get food to make lunches for the visiting guests to the conference- mission president and wife, Temple presidency member and wife and visiting 70. I wanted to find cute little cloth bags to put the lunches in. The only ones I could find that were a perfect size were pink with princesses on them. Somehow, I couldn’t envision a general authority with a pink princess bag. I chose ones slightly larger and a little more subdued.

Saturday afternoon we drove to West Plains. Tom had meetings from 2pm on. I had a stake relief society presidency meeting from 4-6. The Mountain Grove ward prepared a delicious taco salad dinner for the leadership and served it between 6 and the 7 pm evening session of conference.

The talks were great both Saturday Evening and Sunday morning. We learned about keeping the Sabbath day holy and making it a delight (Isaiah 58:13). About how our reverence of the Sabbath is a sign between us and the Lord (exodus 31:13).  It’s our way of showing that we know the Lord sanctifies us and we appreciate it.

We were blessed that the Sunday session of conference was again held in Mountain Home at Dunbar auditorium. I feel like I’m getting to know some of the other people in the stake and it’s nice to gather together.

Camden and Ethan week

This week we spent at Miranda’s house caring for Camden and Ethan. It really worked out better than I’d expected. For the most part the boys played well together. When Camden was in school, Ethan was pretty good at being self-entertaining.

We tried to keep them in a routine. It was interesting to go back and have to decide each “yes” or “no” very carefully. Because we were stuck with that decision once we made it—whether it was yes, you can have a snack, or no, you can’t climb on the walls with nails poking out, or if you swing that toy and hit your brother again, the toy is going away. And be willing to accept the drama that accompanies each choice.

We really didn’t even have a lot of drama. Yes the kids didn’t always like our decisions. But we essentially said, “Too bad. This is how it goes.” And gave them space to wind back down. And then tried to do something different to distract.

We were overjoyed that Ethan potty-trained himself while we were there. There was lots of leftover Halloween candy and he got a treat each time he went. Goodness!  Every 15 minutes!!! That boy produced. So on Wednesday we said, “It’s sticker time. Every time you go you get a sticker and tonight we’ll go out for ice cream at Andy’s.”  While the stickers were met with less than delight, the thought of ice cream soothed the transition. Then on Thursday, we said, “You’re wonderful!  You’re great! No more treats.”  And the bathroom trips dropped down to maybe 4 a day!  He even transitioned from the potty seat to the real toilet to standing up to pee. Maybe more than you want to know about potty training. But I always felt like such a failure as a mom getting my kids trained, it was a delight to step into a totally ready to be potty-trained kid. I can take the credit without any of the work! 

Some afternoons we went on walk/bike rides around the neighborhood. And I got a fair amount of work done. Tom also kept busy. The kids helped him strip wall paper off the hall and he texturized it so it’s ready for painting… mostly. He also did some work in the bathrooms, planted bushes, and fixed the sagging fence. This was most interesting--- involving climbing over the 6’ fence to screw from the other side, without the big, barking dog bothering him. He also spent time on the garage door installing a high-tech coded door entry lock. Alas, it was so high tech, we couldn’t figure out how to make it work. Took it back to Home Depot and they spent 1.5 hours trying to figure it out. Eventually they concluded the outside gizmo is supposed to spin freely unless the proper code is given or the key is inserted, then pressed even further in and turned. Who knew?

Friday we skipped school and drove back to Mountain Home. We had a lovely lunch break at Deborah’s. It was a chance for Camden and Ethan to play with Christopher and Simon. I think Christopher and Simon are used to a gentler kind of play. They may have been happy when we left. I enjoyed baby Hailey.

 We got back to Mountain Home in time to go to the Ward Thanksgiving Dinner. It was a nice affair and the boys were remarkably well behaved. We rewarded them by allowing them to run like banshees up and down the cultural hall after they cleared away the tables. Following Miranda’s recommendations, we got them into PJ’s before heading home. I think it did make it easier for them to drop off to sleep.

 Saturday we dinked around the house. They boys delighted in playing outside. They loved the cats. We’d sit them on the chair and put Athena in their lap. They’d just pet the cat for like 20 minutes. She’s such a great purrer, and petting cats is very therapeutic. Camden would swing the zip line to Ethan then climb up the tree house and zip down. They’re pretty coordinated kids. They helped us prune some bushes in the front, too.

Can you find the two hidden boys?

Today at church I went to choir practice late. They boys played in the back of the room until Tom got them. Then a family offered to sit with us so I could go up and sing. I planned the bribes… er, snacks… just right so the boys were happily munching while I was singing. They went to nursery and Primary and I felt the joy mothers feel to be free for 100 minutes.

Tom had Bishop’s Youth Discussion here after church. The boys and I hung out upstairs and they were happy playing with beads, pipe cleaners, crayons, and cars. Tomorrow we will go and visit Jonathan and Kristy and then head back to Broken Arrow. Tom will hold down the fort here and take the cat in to be neutered on Wednesday.

Visitors

We’ve had a good week. On Monday I worked on writing. Tom worked on getting the chicken run ready for chickens and inaccessible to hawks or carnivores. He ran a 6 foot fence around the exterior. He was tired of trying to mow while bent over under the 4 foot netting. Plus, the netting deteriorated so then there was no net… and therefore no way to keep chickens in.

So he got the taller fencing and placed three wooden posts into the ground in the middle. Then he strung wires between the posts and the fencing.

Creekside had the dismal net fencing that got the city angry at them. When they replaced the 6 foot nylon mesh fence with chain link, we got to keep the nylon mesh fencing. It was ideal to put over the chicken run. We had to stitch four runs of the 6 foot fence together for about 50 feet. Talk about laborious!

Monday evening was Empty Nesters Family Home Evening. It’s always enjoyable to visit with others from church and eat good stuff. We always learn more about each other. This time we shared blessings from this year and told about a scary or inspirational experience we had.

Steve and Kathy came to visit on Monday after we got back home. We were so delighted to see them! They are restful company… except for playing Pickle Ball. Tom had tithing settlement on Tuesday evening, so we went into church and set up the Pickle Ball court. Initially my paddle had a really hard time finding the ball. But as time progressed we got ball engagement. Directional control… that is yet to come.

Wednesday morning we got Tom to come back and the 4 of us played for about an hour. It’s good exercise but you’re having so much fun you don’t realize it. Well, until you stop and then you start to feel the muscles complaining.

My neighbor who is doing the necklaces was planning to drive to some craft shows. But her car is so awful, I was really worried. Bad brakes, bald tires, leaking radiator…  Then Tom heard about a ward member willing to give a car away. What a blessing to her!  She was SO grateful. I was too. And the people giving it away got the oil changed, put on a new steering wheel cover and a few other things done before they turned it over to her. It makes you realize the good in people.

I wanted Steve and Kathy to take some of our sweet potatoes home with them. So Steve and I went out and dug potatoes. We found some monster ones… as well as some that had been gnawed on while underground. We still have many more to dig and a great need for sweet potato recipes. But we had ham and sweet potatoes and broccoli for dinner and the baked potatoes were very good. The ones I foil wrapped were better than the one I microwaved unwrapped.

I planned on digging some more on Thursday after Steve and Kathy left… but it was raining when we awoke. It never really quit. 2.9 inches later—by Friday morning, the rain stopped. Unfortunately, it was time for use to head out.

I had been promoting a goals program in our stake for over a year. George Dyer, a performer in Branson and a church member had very generously agreed to let anyone who had completed the goal program come to his show for free. Friends and family could attend with a goal completer for half price. So Tom accompanied me. We had maybe 25 people attend. I had hoped for a hundred. But I’m pleased some came and they enjoyed it a great deal.

He really has an amazing voice. He can sing at least 4 octaves; he did some impressive opera as well as Broadway and Christmas songs. His wife and daughter also sang. After we left Branson we drove to Miranda’s. They had headed out to Japan and we agreed to watch Camden and Ethan.  They were happy to see us.

Saturday they played well together. In the afternoon we went to a park. They played on the equipment and we went for a walk. Interesting. I wasn’t sure where we’d come out. But Tom directed us back to our car.

Today we had a Regional Conference broadcast. It was broadcast both in Mountain Home and in Broken Arrow… and points in between. Good speakers with talks about simplifying our lives and having faith in essential truths and trusting that eventually we’ll know the side questions that concern some.

The children got to Skype with Miranda and Dan that evening. Up until that point, they’d been pretty loving toward one another. And after they settled down, mostly. And now they are quiet in bed. I am grateful that we just have two darling children and Kera is having the joy of keeping Alex.  At this stage, one adult per child seems to be a good ratio.

And the beat goes on

This week I finished up my visiting teaching.  I write and call earlier in the month… but actually visiting, sometimes seems to come later in the month.

Last Tuesday Tom went to Andy and Kera's.  It was on exchange.  He gave them back their tile cutter, and they gave him back his power washer.  He then power washed the house and the porch in the hopes that he could re-stain the porch decking before winter.

The kids were having fun in their tree, so he took some pictures. (Rebecca some of these are especially for you.)

I spent some time researching Swarthout Family Reunion sites.  It’s really hard to find the perfect site.  Some places have commercial kitchens… but not good lodging.  Others have great lodging… but no play area.  Some have great activities, but no good central meeting place. Akk. What is most important?  Do we want to have lots of places to go… or do we want to spend more time doing things together?  Feedback appreciated!

Our tubby cat, Murphy has adjusted well to our house. We let them out of the barn during the day for a few days and he timidly explored and stayed close to the house and barn. Last evening as I went to feed them, Athena was sitting in the barn door. When I called, both of them ran out to greet me. It’s nice being loved.

I’ve continued to help my friend with her necklace making business. She has some gorgeous colors in necklaces now. She’s looking to do some craft shows and also exploring places where the necklaces can be sold on consignment. Any ideas are appreciated.

This was the week to get out the HVAC newsletter. It actually went pretty quickly. I think maybe I’m getting into a routine with it. I haven’t gotten revisions back yet, so maybe everyone else liked it, too. I think I have a job ghost writing a book for my life insurance agent and a booklet for my heat and air marketing guy. If so, that will keep me busy through the end of the year.

Friday we drove through Branson for some shopping and then on to Jonathan’s and Kristy’s to celebrate Miriam’s birthday. It was fun to see all the children and have a chance to visit with everyone. Tom made himself useful fixing small things around the house and helping build another pig house.

We got to see their new pigs and new dog. The pigs are quite friendly and hairy enough to pet. Being gone Friday night meant we missed our ward’s Fall Festival, which apparently was quite successful. We returned on Saturday to find cats and chickens had survived just fine without us.

Sunday we had a very nice fast and testimony meeting and a great Relief Society lesson on forgiveness.

Copywriting Crunch Time

I had a fabulous time at Bootcamp, then a whirlwind to West Plains Ward Conference, and returned home with a determination to be more structured in my work. That meant getting up at 6am every morning and trying to be in bed before 10. For the most part it worked.

I had this super-huge deadline by Friday. I had to revise these emails and direct mail pieces for my financial publisher. Really that meant rewriting two completely—as they didn’t like the offer—and substantially revising 2 more. I really liked one of the two in its more original form, so I rewrite it and then used the three magic words in copywriting: “Let’s test it.”  Until we get reader response, we are only guessing what will be attractive to them. So I hope they will do an A/B test and we can see which one draws better… and it would be satisfying if it were mine.

I did get the project mostly done by Wednesday, and then most of Thursday was spent reviewing it for all the little typos and consistencies. Did I ALWAYS italicize the name and add that essential plural to the last word?  It’s the crazy detailed work that I like least.

I also got two articles out for my executive coach, researched technologies for my start-up, finalized and revised a website for them, and very quickly wrote a class description for my life insurance agent. She’s teaching how to use Living Benefits life insurance to invest in Real Estate. They were thrilled with my write up. Then I needed to revise it into a much more boring format… sigh. Next week: the HVAC newsletters must be completed.

Tom finished the porch roof and it looks great. The sad thing is that no one can remember what the old ugly metal roof looked like. The porch roof looks like it’s always been there.

They predicted bad rains coming up from Texas. We had Texas sized weeds in our garden and wanted to get them out before the rains. Well, we only got perhaps a third of them out… but we also only got some sprinkles. We had allowed the sweet potato vine to grow all over the garden. I pulled up the vines willy-nilly. Then I discovered that every place it put down roots… which was everyplace it grew, I think. It also put down sweet potatoes. I think we’re going to have to hand dig half the garden to find all the potatoes before we rototill. And it’s likely we’ll have volunteer sweet potatoes for years to come!

Tuesday, the tree trimmer called and said they could trim the tree at 1111 S. Church Street. The tenant was concerned the tree was diseased and would fall on the house. I didn’t want to lose all the shade. So they came and trimmed limbs back and cut out all the dead wood. While they predicted a kind of lopsided tree, it actually still looks quite good. I hope the tree will stay a live a while longer.

Friday, Tom was about to go shopping in town, when he got a call. One of the ward members wanted to cut down a tree close to his house because he was afraid the next ice storm would drop it onto his house. Alas, in the cutting process, the tree shifted and crashed onto the roof of his house. The only up side?  It wasn’t cold, icy, and raining. The down side was two new skylights in his house from tree branches, broken trusses and the back wall pushed out several inches. So Tom went over and spent 4 hours with about 7 other guys chain sawing, and dragging limbs off the roof and out of the house.

My friend has been working on her necklaces and we went to visit her at a local craft show. She’s excited about the prospects of the business. Lots of pretty things there. I had to ask myself, why will I pay extra money for a great front door keypad lock… but not $30 for a beautiful knitted and beaded scarf?  Warped priorities, probably.

Today I went to our ward for choir practice and sacrament meeting. Andrew Jiles had just returned from his mission in Provo, UT and was speaking. It was a good meeting. I left right after to drive to Ava and arrived just as the Relief Society lesson was starting. After church I taught a teacher development lesson for the Relief Society teachers. My basic question was: Do you know, when the sisters walk out of the RS room that they have understood the lesson and will apply it in their lives?  Then we spent the rest of the time talking about how we can get the Gospel principles into the hearts of the sisters and what evidence we might have that this was occurring.

It was a lovely drive through beautiful fall colors. The ward had a gorgeous maple tree.

After I got home, I took a short nap. Then our home and visiting teachers came, and we had various phone calls and letters to send out.

AWAI Writer's Conference

Monday Tom and I packed and did last minute things. Mom, Cynthia and I joined Sally at the Swiss Ladies Luncheon near Downey.  This is the second time I've gone and the ladies are all so friendly.  Wendy and her two children visiting Sally and came as well.  And Mom invited her friend Gloria, who has Swiss heritage to come, too.  It was a nice mid-day event.

In the evening we went out to dinner with Cynthia and Jim.  Lovely restaurant, good food, and good conversation.  We tried to get to bed early.  On Tuesday we were out the door by 8:45 to go to the airport.  Tom flew home.  I flew to Florida for my writer's conference.

I got in to Ft Lauderdale at 9:30.  I'd planned to take the shuttle, but it wouldn't leave for about a half hour and would wander all over dropping people off.  Yuck.  I was tired... and so forked over 3x as much money and took a private car that got me there in 35 or 40 minutes. That was SO much nicer.

My roommate was already checked in.  She is lovely and delightful... and also very chatty. So I probably slept less and got less work done than I might otherwise have.  But I know a lot more about her than I did before this event.

Picture of me and my roomie.  Below: Pictures from our hotel room balcony.

 At the awards ceremony-- Clayton and Wendy Makepeace.  Carline Cole -r- was the copywriter of the year.  They were seated at the table next us.  Really genuinely nice people.

I know a number of people who have come to the event on a regular basis.  It's really exciting to see their careers progress.  Diligence pays off.  One of my major take-aways from the conference was the path of learning-- learning copywriting or any effort.  Mike Palmer showed a graph-- like a sine wave.   At the top of the first wave is "Uninformed Optimism." Basically we're enthusiastic and clueless.  It's needed.  We wouldn't start without this.  But the wave starts to dip with "Informed Pessimism."  It's harder than we think.  We realize there's a lot to learn and it takes practice.

The wave bottoms out with "crisis of meaning."  It's sink or swim time.  It's when the going gets really hard and we have to decide to quit or push through.  Many people fall off here and decide it's not worth it.  But as we push through, we go on up the other side of the wave to "Informed Optimism." This is where you see the result of your efforts and have accomplished the task.

The interesting thing is that there is a diagonal line running from the bottom left through the sine wave angling above the "crisis of meaning" dot and hitting somewhere around the "Informed optimism."  This is your skill level.  The importance of this is that by the time you  reach your crisis of meaning, your skill level is getting high enough to solve the problem.  If you just stick with it, you'll win.

I appreciated learning this because with every new kind of assignment, we go through the same emotions.  I thought I was the only one who would get into a project and think, "I suck!  I can't do this."  Now I know that's just part of the process... move on. Keep going.

One measure of my growth as a copywriter is that while I was at bootcamp this year, I had 5 current clients wanting to have me do something.  So I was fielding phone calls about editing, finishing web pages, doing articles, and pushing phone calls back until I returned home.  I've never been that busy with clients while at bootcamp.  And I'm coming home to a very busy next week.

I had a wonderful miracle of running into an editor I'd submitted a proposal to, and learning she still liked me and wanted to do business... but the new boss was slow to make decisions.

They were great, busy, exhausting, exhilarating 4 days.  I flew out on Saturday afternoon and got to Springfield at 9:30 that night.  Alas, my luggage didn't do the same thing.  Fortunately I had packed my dress, slip and church shoes into the carry on.  My first counselor in the RS presidency picked me up and took me to her house in Ava.  Sunday we got up early and drove to West Plains for their Ward Conference.

As a presidency we shared in teaching the 8:30 training meeting, but I'd asked my counselor to teach the RS lesson.  After we had a "linger longer" lunch and went out to visit a sister.  I was a bit sleepy... but the visit perked me up.  Tom had left a car there for me on his way to the Temple with the youth.  So I had a car for the trip home.

It's good to be home... and my luggage caught up with be about 7pm.  I'm going to try to get to bed early and catch up on some sleep.

Two Weeks-

We’ve been keeping busy. On the 27^th of September after church in the evening I drove to Deborah’s house and spend the night there.  She had a small out-patient procedure done and needed someone to be there and then watch the kids for a little bit.  I spent Monday with her and enjoyed the children.  Deborah seemed to recuperate pretty quickly.  They said she likely would… but it’s always nice when it actually happens that way.

I came home on Tuesday.  I’d planned on stopping at ½ of ½ on the way out of town… but they are closed on Tuesday.  I wanted to try and find something dressy for Tom’s 50th high school reunion.  For the rest of the week, I was busy trying to finish projects and get ready to go and visit Mom.

Tom worked hard on trying to finish the porch roof before we left.  He got it shingled.  Just needs some flashing and some of the siding from the Living Room wall put back on. We haven’t had rain in about 3 weeks… so these small things won’t matter.

I’d been working on these emails for a financial newsletter.  They were harder than I thought they should be and I finally got the first draft done the evening before we left for the airport.  I also had a web page to finish off.  Sometimes the technology almost makes my head ache.  It’s hard when you have to “translate” a sentence word by word to understand what the inventor is actually saying.

Friday we drove to Deborah’s house. It’s nice to have Barb there to watch the house and care for the chickens and the cat.

I shopped at ½ of ½ for about an hour while Tom went to visit Deborah and play with the kids.  I did find a glittery knit top that was marked down from $65 to $.99.  I like those kinds of sales!  It did have a spot of dye on it from a tag… but I was able to get 95% of it off with rubbing alcohol and it was in an inconspicuous spot. (And she looks great wearing it).

Deborah drove us to the airport and we headed off to Mom’s. We had a ½ hour delay leaving North West Arkansas airport and only a 40 min. layover in Minneapolis.  The pilot made up some time, but Tom and I ran across the airport and just made the next flight.  I really thought we were going to miss it.

Cynthia and Jim picked us up in Santa Ana and loaned us their car.  So nice of them!  Jim was having vocal cord surgery a few days later.  So we visited while he could still speak.

Saturday and Sunday were General Conference for the church.  Wow!  Great talks.  I felt many of them dealt with becoming more spiritual, having the companionship of the Holy Spirit, being strong and sure in Christ in a wicked world, and having the confidence we can make a difference.  I am reminded that having joy is a commandment. So in spite of the doom and gloom we hear on the news, we can have a joyful attitude and spirit.  And that which we focus on we enlarge.  So as we focus on joy, we can increase it within us and around us.

It’s been a delight to be with Mom and the family out here.  Saturday night we went to Cynthia and Jim’s for dinner.  Sally and Steve came down for dinner on Sunday and Cynthia and Jim came over.

Tom spent the week doing honey-do things for Mom and a one for Cynthia and Jim.  Saturday we went shopping with Mom… and just had to stop at In-N-Out Burger for lunch. Monday we shopped again. Tuesday morning Tom and I went to the Temple while Mom went to a 90 plus luncheon.  It was lovely going to the temple here.  It only takes ½ hour or less to get there instead of the usual 4.5 hours.  When we arrived at the temple the first few people we met, Tom recognized from when we lived in El Toro 40 years ago.  We did initiatories for family names and then back to back sessions.  It was a delight.

I had send my financial emails off to a copywriter friend to critique.  When I got those back, I needed to finalize them and send them off.  I’d hoped to do it earlier in the week, but it actually took me until Friday night to get them polished and off.  In the meantime, my start-up group “leader” called.  He kindly and very nicely said they needed web pages done faster, how could we make that happen?  So in discussing it he said, “Oh!  Your best use is as a copywriter, not a researcher.  If we can get this material to you in a more concentrated, ready–to-use form, that will help things move faster.  YES!!!  So I created a template and sent it off.  I hope that will help.

Right now I’m eyeball-deep in learning about algorithms that will help predict when part of an airplane might be close to failing so maintenance can be planned and safety improved… and planes can be more on-time.  When I read the patent, it sounds like it might also be able to tell the pilot in real time that they’re doing something unsafe… but I’m not sure that’s true.

I’ve also come across inventions that propose to recharge cell phones with clothing that collects electricity and by grabbing electricity from existing energy transmissions.  Interesting stuff.

Thursday Mom and I went shopping to see if I could find a better top for the reunion. I found a lovely sweater… and I bought it.  But with 90+ degree weather, I decided to save it for another time.  We went out to dinner at a lovely Chinese restaurant that night.

Friday Mom and Cynthia celebrated Geneva Presbyterian Church’s 50 anniversary with great festivities.  Tom and I took that opportunity to go back to the temple.

Saturday Tom and I drove to Universal City for his 50^th High School reunion.   

We had pretty heavy traffic on the way up. It was at the Sheraton Universal on the 21^st floor with floor to ceiling windows on three sides and a lovely view of the night lights.  There were probably 200 people there from both the class of ‘65 and the class of ’66.  Tom met some people who had lived on his street and who had been in his scout troops and others who were in his class.  At the table where we sat, one woman asked if Tom’s dad had taught Sunday school at Panorama Pres.  She said he looked just like his dad.  

 

We made better time on the way home.

Today we went to the Alicia Park Ward.  On their list of missionaries serving, one was serving in the Peru, Iquitos mission where Nathan is.  One was leaving this week for Botswana in South Africa, and one was leaving for the Arkansas, Bentonville mission- where we live. It makes it a small world. Oh, and as I chatted with one of the sisters, she was best friends with our Mission President and wife from the Kenya, Nairobi Mission.

We came back and had grill cheese sandwiches with Mom, Cynthia and Jim and then hamburgers tonight. Somehow they tasted just like the hamburgers we used to have every Saturday night growing up.  That was a great tradition.