Thanksgiving 2017

We spent Thanksgiving in Mapleton. We went down tha morning and came back the next night. Those in attendance: My parents, Mike/Sarah and kids, Dave/Becca and kids, the Cannons, the Stokers, Tristan, and obviously our family. We had over thirty people there. It was great to see others and I'm grateful people were about to make it. We don't get to see those from out of the state very often - so it was nice to have Cyndi's family and Nicole/Danny there. Nicole is pregnant with their first - fun to be excited with them about that. Baby boy is due in February 2018.
I had some issues with the menu because of my missing Layne. Odd how things came about this year with not having Layne around. I'm going to write more about that on my Widow's Might blog.
We had beautiful weather. It was around 60 degrees (F) during the day. There was a little breeze. It wasn't exactly hot - but, definitely seemed warm/nice for the end of November around these parts.

Missing The Point

I took the van in for an oil change today. I talked with the guy about what the service will look like - you know...the time when they try to sell you stuff and have you commit to every service possible. Anyway, I said no to several things and I didn't feel like he was a big fan - but, that's the way it goes. 

As I was speaking with him later...he asked what book I was reading and when I answered he started telling me about his girlfriend and how she reads all the time. How even when they're in bed for the night...she's reading, he asks for attention, is told - "I'm reading"...he told me of his frustration. I feigned interest. He already had someone that was ignoring him - the least I could do was give a listening ear to a stranger that was taking care of my transaction at the same time (read: taking my money:}). I wanted to tell him that the problem isn't that she's reading...it's the fact that she's ignoring him that's the problem. It's a relationship thing. Ask her if you've done something that bothered her. Ask her what you can do to make the relationship better. THAT will get her one step closer to not reading (according to him) 'all the time'. It's not rocket science. I hope he figures it out sooner rather than later. 

Disclaimer: I am not against reading. I love reading. I probably do too much of it myself. Although, the only thing I'm losing is sleep. My partner isn't around to ask for attention. If he were - well...where's my bookmark?:}

Travel Log 2017

We've done a little bit of traveling this past year. We went to Arizona in March for Grandpa Williams funeral. We stopped by a rest stop that bridged over the Colorado River. In the middle of April we left for a trip back east...returning the first week of May. We took some time going up the coast and seeing sites. We then took a small trip up to Idaho Falls to participate in the temple open house and see some good friends. I then went to a reunion with my family where we stayed at a beach house in Oceanside, CA for a few days...taking in La Jolla and San Diego while there. We'll be heading out to Zion this coming week-end to camp with some relatives. After that we will be home for a bit with all the other things going on this summer. The kids will have camps, Bishop's Youth Retreat, and EFY. Rachel and I will figure out something to do while they're gone.:} We'd like to fit in a trip to the Ranch (in Panguitch) and a showing of Newsies at Tuacahn later in the summer...possibly early fall. We'll be up in Idaho again in early October. The next multi day trip I'd like to fit in is up to Mount Rushmore. I'm not sure when that will happen.
I've been working on putting a travel web site together. It's not going very well. At some point, I'm going to try have all the above trips on there. After that, we'll see where the road takes us.

Heading East

Trying to put together a travel site and post about our trip. We're going to be taking our van all the way to North Carolina and then up the coast. We'll get up to Maine and then start heading west again. We're giving ourselves three weeks...returning the first week of May. So many adventures to be had along the way! We'll also have a chance to see relatives in Texas...Dallas area...and others in the DC area.

The boys are sledding this morning. Jacob drove several friends in our van. I'm hoping for the best. A group of kids, snowy conditions, a driver than was just barely allowed to drive friends in the vehicle. I think it'll be okay. If I had serious concerns, I would have helped them figure out a different solution. He typically does pretty well. So, we'll see how it goes.
The girls are here with me. We're having a quiet day at home. Those are my favorite kind when it feels like a wintery day outside.

A Song and A Search

The other day I was listening to this. It's by Peter Hollins and friends.

Jonny came and listened with me. He started asking questions. He looked this guy up on Wikipedia. We both learned some things that we didn't know. I was also reminded of a couple of things that I thought I'd forgotten. We continued the discussion with politics and politicians now. We both have a great respect for the Founding Fathers and their ability to focus on their objectives. They didn't always agree. But, I believe respectful and meaningful discussions happened. They worked together - even though they might not have agreed. There was a willingness to come up with the basis for a country where all could agree. It wasn't a perfect scenario - but, it does seem better than what we have now.

It's That Time

It's that time of year again. We're moving into Fall. It's nice to think of the weather being a bit cooler. It's also that time of year when others talk about starting school. It's nice to not have to worry about changing our schedule in order to rush everyone out the door in the morning...or deal with the afternoon/evening routine.

I still look forward to starting new routines. We need them after a summer full of camps, reunions, and adventures. I do better with routines - this summer felt like getting the kids ready for one event after another. I'm hoping that getting back to the routines will help us a bit. We'll see. I just want some down time. We homeschool - but, still feel the effect of the changing of the seasons.