10/17/10-10/24/10

Sunday, October 17, 2010

The Bottema family came to our ward today.  They were put to work right away when Taylor was asked to help pass the sacrament with Juan Fer.  I am amazed at his willingness to participate on his first Sunday!  What a great example he is to everybody around him!
During Relief Society, I got to introduce Polly.  I managed to do it with only one major mistake...I said she'd be here for about 3 weeks instead of saying 3 months!!  I quickly corrected it though!  The teacher for Relief Society has definitely become my favorite teacher.  She uses visual aides and writes on the board, which really helps me to follow!  She has also been coming to the quilting class, so I've gotten to talk with her a lot more and I am getting more used to the way she talks.  She's a really nice lady!

After church, it got really rainy and everybody was tired and had headaches.  I was loving that we had so many leftovers!  

Monday, October 18, 2010

It was Juan Fer's 13th birthday today.  He got his mom to make his favorite type of cake, Tres Leche cake.  Chris was still working and Morgan wasn't feeling too well so the 3 younger kids and myself went.  Cole was ecstatic when Lily's sister, Claudia, brought him the first 5 Harry Potter movies.  I told him he can't watch them until I finish reading the books.  I started the 4th book after we got home!

Cousin, Juan Fer, Fernando, Georgie, Claudia

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

I am definitely not used to lots of boys!  Cole has always been the lone boy, but not today!  I dropped Alysa, and Laina off at Lily's when I picked up her 3 boys, then went home for piano lessons.  Paul dropped off his boys so they could have a chance to play also.  Cole was so excited to have so many friends to play with!  After I was done with piano lessons, we went to pick up the girls and take all of the boys home.  Instead of dropping off the Orellana boys, we took them with us to the Bottema's for lunch.  I had 8 kids in the back of the van while we were driving up a crazy road to their house.  I also made the mistake of introducing all the kids to my kids favorite Christmas song, "I Farted On Santa's Lap"  Wow, that was a noisy car ride!!
The Bottema's house is gorgeous and it has a great view.  I don't know that I'd ever be able to find my way back up the road again though!  The kids played for 3.5 hours!!   They killed spiders, played basketball, played the wii, etc.  When we went back to drop off the Orellana's, nobody was home so they went back to our house for some more playing.  They flew kites while I rushed to make dinner.  It wasn't until about 5:15 that the boys went home, and then I left at 5:45 for piano class and choir.  What a marathon day!!  Needless to say, I didn't get much homework correcting done today!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

I was a little surprised today to only have 3 adults and no children show up for the quilting class.  The ladies that did come, told me that it was a festival day and people didn't go to work or school.  Two of the three women that showed up were nonmember friends of my visiting teaching companion.  I was quite shocked that they felt comfortable enough to go to a gringas house without their friend!   The other lady is one of the Relief Society teachers. During the class, she finished her quilt.  She had such a look of accomplishment on her face and she said that she is going to take the quilt to church to show everybody what she had made.  

All of my kids were pretty disappointed that none of the kids showed up to play with.  They had even taken the big box of balls/rackets/jump ropes, etc to the park.  Maybe next week!

Since there were so few people who came for the quilting class, I doubted that anybody would show up for piano lessons.  I was surprised to have two of them show up!  We are starting to get ready for our Christmas recital.  It has been fun trying to figure out what Christmas songs they have in Spanish!  There aren't as many people still taking the class, so I think after December I'll start a new piano class.  The people that have already taken the first class can just come over for private lessons.  It works out better for everybody....I think!

After we finished all of our activities for the day, we started packing to go to Mexico.  I am definitely in need of a little break! 

Thursday, October 21, 2010

We headed off this morning for Mexico.  It is amazing how much our family has changed since our last trip to Tapachula about 1 1/2 years ago.  (Yes, it has really been that long ago!!)  We are all so much more confident and more familiar with the way things are done here!  There were no problems with sick kids on the drive (thanks to the best invention, Dramamine!), no wrong turns sending us into unchartered territory, and no difficulties with crossing the border!  The stress level was so much lower for everybody.  It was actually a pretty pleasant trip!

About 5 miles past the border, we stopped at an archeological site called Ixtapa.  I have to admit that it was a huge let down!  The only thing that I was glad to see were some stone carvings.  Morgan is studying sculpture in art this year and so we were able to make our real life application of her lessons.  

Once we got into Tapachula, we found our hotel pretty quickly.  It is a newer hotel that is right next to a new Walmart!  I never thought I would be so excited about shopping at a Walmart!  There wasn't anything that I was looking for in particular but it was still fun.  

After getting settled in the hotel, Morgan reminded Chris about the doughnuts that we had had on the last trip.  He got so excited so we all got back in the car to try to find the grocery store with the yummy doughnuts.   I don't think anybody was disappointed!

Friday, October 22, 2010
We decided to go to the beach today so that it wouldn't be as crowded as the weekend.  We were not expecting to be the only people along the entire coast!  The only people that we saw the entire time were the people working in the little restaurants by the parking lot!
We only had a couple of minor spills in the water.  I had forgotten how incredibly salty the sea water is!  Cole was disgusted when he got a mouthful of it!
We spent the morning building sandcastles (which quickly got ruined by the incoming tide), searching for lots of shells, and playing in the  water.  It was great family time.  It amazes me every day to see how close the kids have become.  It really makes me feel blessed that we've been able to come on this "adventure".

Morgan being buried in the sand.

Getting some air!

So, after a fun filled morning in the sun, we headed back to the hotel to get the sand off of us when Chris  realized that he didn't put any sunblock on his back!  The poor guy is going to be hurting!  He even had a shirt on for most of the day but his back is as red as an apple!!

Once we were free sand clinging to us, we headed to the mall for lunch and a movie.  Usually when we go to a food court, we pick one restaurant so that Chris can order and pay once.  Today he was wild and crazy and said that everybody could pick whatever they wanted.  We walked circles in the food court trying to decide what to eat.  Everybody ended up very happy....and full!  After we finished, we went to see the Legend of the Guardians.  It was a decent movie.  I liked it especially since it was was in English and I could understand it all!  

Saturday, October 23, 2010
The morning was spent playing at the pool.  Chris went to Walmart and got the kids some water toys and kickboards to use.  I gave each one of the kids a new swimming challenge and was amazed to see how excited and determined Cole and Alysa both got.  By the end of the morning, Alysa was swimming across the pool with the help of a kickboard and trying to put her face in the water without plugging her nose!  Cole finally learned how to float on his back and was determined to do it for 20 seconds!

The afternoon included a shopping trip to Walmart.  I was most impressed by the Halloween selection.  In Xela, there is hardly anything to celebrate Halloween.  In Mexico, there were decorations everywhere!  I had self control and didn't buy anything for Halloween but we did splurge on Dr. Pepper, different chips, baking goods, etc.  I am getting to the point that I don't want to buy anything that won't be consumed before we finish the job and move.  It is crazy to think that we are getting that close to the end!
We had dinner at my favorite restaurant from our last trip.  We have been calling it the soup/Mexican/steak place.  They have the best soup with cilantro, avocado, tortilla strips, and some weird cheese.
Of course the kids wanted to swim more after dinner, so Chris and I joined them.


Sunday, October 24, 2010
I haven't mentioned the huge difference in the cars between Guatemala and Mexico.  In Guatemala, everybody drives an old Toyota pickup truck.  I have so much respect for what those little trucks are capable of!!  In Mexico, it is slug bugs that everybody drives.  We were only across the border into Mexico for about 1/2 an hour when Chris made a rule that we couldn't "slug" each other. He said we'd all be black and blue if we kept up the pace!  To show everyone a little of what I am talking about, we took pictures of the slug bugs that we saw on the way from our hotel to the edge of town.  It took us about 15 minutes to drive the distance.  These were only the slug bugs that I was able to get pictures of.  I'd estimate that this is only 1/2 of what we actually saw!

Our trip back to Xela was really good also.  Once again, no problems at the border, the kids did great,  and we only had one "scenic" trip.  I don't know how Chris does it, but he manages to get us where we need to be.  I get so turned around and loose all sense of direction! 

I am continually impressed by the vegetation in Guatemala.  It is so unbelievably gorgeous here.  (If you look past all the garbage that people throw everywhere!)  It is also incredible to me how quickly stuff grows.  We were driving along and vines had grown around all of the electrical wires.  It was also amazing to see how quickly the temperature dropped as we climbed back up into the mountains!  It dropped from 32 degrees celsius to 16!   Chris and I had talked about how lucky we were to come to Xela for this job rather than one of the hot, crowded places where the people aren't quite so friendly.  Xela has been a wonderful home for us.

I worked so hard all afternoon to get the blog updated.  I was all done and somehow got kicked off of blogspot and couldn't get back in.  UGH!  Every time I tried to logon, I got an error page.  It doesn't happen on Chris's computer.  I hope I didn't mess the computer up too bad!

10/10/10-10/16/10

Sunday, October 10, 2010
We are having continual problems with Laina!  She has definitely been acting up lately.  Last week she took it upon herself to cut her hair,  last night she decided to let her inner artist shine.....all over her bedroom wall, and today she wanted to show her independence by refusing to go to primary.  She goes from being a little terror to being a complete sweetheart saying how sorry she is.   I am definitely not looking forward to her as a teenager!!

Monday, October 11, 2010
Even though I am still trying to recover from the end of the school year last week, we went ahead and started the new school year today.  The kids get bored if they don't have something to do and they are really eager to get caught back up with the states school system!   The kids really seem excited to learn which makes it a lot easier for me!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010
After school today, I took the kids swimming.  Laina was throwing another fit so she sat and did homework with me because she didn't want to swim.  Alysa and Cole are getting more used to the water.  They like to use the 'noodles' to float around the pool.  Morgan is getting a lot more confident with her swimming and soon will be able to out swimming me!  (Doesn't take much to accomplish that though!)    The dog, Smiley Dog, that has taken over our development seems to have become attached to us.  He walks us to the country club and then waits for us to come back home.  Today he wanted to play and kept bouncing around and barking at Laina and I.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010
The weather was good today and there were no cranes overhead, so Morgan and I went to the job site to finish painting the entrance sign.   It turned out pretty nice.   It was pretty fun to get to do something with Morgan.  She is growing up so fast and turning into quite a young lady!

After painting, we rushed back to pick up the girls from Lily's, then headed home to clean before the quilting class.  I could not believe how many people showed up today!  There were about 12 adults.  Most of them were nonmembers that came with my friend, Vilma.  Luckily the weather was nice so the ten million kids that came with them were able to play outside.  Once again the kids had a blast!  Morgan and Cole told me that Smiley Dog helped them babysit.  Any time the kids started to wonder off, he would start barking at them until they went back.  I guess the dog is useful for something!
So, last week I told some of the ladies that I wanted to do a humanitarian project for Christmas and make blankets to donate to a hospital.  Well, they must have liked the idea because they kept asking me questions about it today.  They suggested that we take the blankets to an senior home where there aren't as many people so that everybody could get a blanket.  I am pretty excited that others are excited to help out.  It should be fun!
The house was so packed that I didn't even see my piano students come in.  I kept wondering if they were going to make it, and I finally noticed them sitting in a corner patiently waiting for me.  I felt horrible!!

Thursday, October 14, 2010
We woke up to dreary weather again.   We haven't had rain for about a week and we thought that the rainy season might be over.  Nope.  It was good though because it helped me to stay inside and do a lot of catching up on homework.
I have decided that even though it is extremely hard to homeschool four kids, it is so much fun to be spending time with them.  It is fun to feel like I know them a little better and to have a better relationship with them.  I think back to being in Vegas and having the kids come home from school, rush to get homework done, rush to get dinner made, rush to take care of other activities, and rush to go to bed just to start again the next day.  Our lifestyle is so different now and I think it is good for us.  The kids can do their work at their own pace, I get to be involved and learn what they are learning, we can do other fun things during the day, we can take a day off if we want to, and we get to rely on each other to help out.  It has definitely been a blessing for us.  I wonder what it will be like when we end up back in the states and the kids go back to public school.  I think I will be a little lonely!

Friday, October 15, 2010
All of the kids joined me for a trip to the market today.  They are such good sports.  Each kid carries a bag to distribute the weight of all the food.  We also went searching for some flowers.  We couldn't remember which street the entrance to the inside area where the flowers are, and we ended up going in on the wrong side.   After finally conquering the crazy maze, we found the flower section and picked out what we wanted!
The kids all got to go swimming again today.  We are counting that as our physical education class.  Today, each child received a challenge, and I was very impressed at how well they each did.  Cole actually was swimming with his face in the water with the help of a kickboard.   Candy bribes seem to work wonders for him!
We returned to the club later for dinner.  They have a little Mediterranean restaurant that the kids have wanted to try out.  It was so fun to hang out as a family without any teasing, fighting, arguing, etc.  The kids were all hanging out and helping each other.  It was a lot of fun.

Saturday, October 16, 2010
Paul's (the owner of the company that is doing all the tile work for the temple) wife and two sons arrived in Guatemala this week.  We invited them over for dinner, as well as the Orellanas.  We thought it would be a good chance for all the kids to get to know each other and help the Bottema boys feel a little more comfortable here.  I remember too well how nervous the kids and I were when we came to Guatemala and not knowing anybody!
The dinner was hectic, but enjoyable.  We grilled salmon and had a bunch of other stuff.  After dinner, all the kids took off to play.  Poor Morgan was kind of by herself.  There were 6 boys and 3 smaller girls, and then Morgan.  She spent most of the time by herself or hanging out with the adults.
After dinner entertainment consisted of a LONG Whitney family picture show.  Lily hadn't seen our pictures from Alaska, so I told her I would show them to her.  It turned into me getting a little out of control and sharing our life history.  Yes, I guess I do miss my family a little and really enjoyed our time together this past summer!
When everybody was ready to leave, we said our goodbyes and went outside to find all of the boys (including a couple of dads!) playing football.  They were having so much fun that nobody had the heart to tell them to stop!    I think we have the makings for a Thanksgiving football game next month!!

10/3/10-10/9/10

Sunday, October 3, 2010

While we were watching general conference today,  I was thinking about Chris's Grandpa Whitney.  He wasn't a member of our church and didn't understand the importance of us being here in Guatemala building a temple.  He passed away a few months back and I wonder if he has changed his outlook on the temple.  He was always so worried about us being in Guatemala, but I wonder if he now knows what a blessing this experience has been for our family. 

Monday, October 4, 2010

SLOW DOWN LITTLE BUDDY!  Cole is so excited to finish this school year that he is halfway through the week's lessons already.  I can't keep up with him!
The kids and I took advantage of the country club today.  We didn't know if we'd be able to get the basketball so we took a few other items to keep us entertained in case.  Fortunately, we were able to get the basketball so Cole and I played a game of Horse, followed by pig, and then sheep.  Cole wanted to do the whole farm!  Morgan joined us for a game of Around the World.  Cole was not too happy when Morgan beat both of us!  While we played basketball, the little girls were playing on the jungle gyms, jump roping, and playing with bouncy balls.  When we were tired of basketball, we headed down to the soccer field to throw the frisbee around.  We ended up trying to "practice" for ultimate frisbee.  I was shocked at how into it Morgan was getting.  She's always been very reserved when it came to playing any sports!

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Laina woke up cranky and didn't want to go to school, so I took Alysa and left Laina with Morgan and Cole.  Lily was still in Guatemala City, so Alysa and I went grocery shopping instead.  When we returned, we found out that Laina had cut her hair while I was gone.  Apparently she wanted to have bangs.  I did my best to fix it and in my opinion, it didn't turn out too bad!

Morgan is catching the bug to finish the school year and she is trying to catch up to Cole.  Those two crack me up with how excited and competitive they are!
With extra encouragement from Morgan, I agreed to go play frisbee again today.  WOW!  I didn't realize how sore and out of shape I am!! 

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Cole is determined to finish all of his school work and tests today!!  Why today?  Does he not realize that I have a ton of other stuff to do?  Every 5 minutes he was begging me to let him take another test!  How do you tell your kids to quit studying and doing homework? 

The quilting class was great.  I am learning new words, building more confidence, and making more friends.  We even had two investigators come today.  There were a TON of kids also today.  Luckily it was nice outside so Morgan and Cole took them all down to the park to play.  I don't know who had more fun, the moms or the kids!  Morgan loves taking care of babies now.  One of my friends has a little boy that is almost 6 months old.  She is so happy when she gets to watch him.  The kids also love serving the refreshments.  I made two extra long loaves of banana bread.  I had one loaf cut for the class. Afterwards I found out that they had used both loaves!  I didn't get a single piece!  I had to beg a bite from Laina!
Lilian came for her piano lesson today with her mom, Emiliana, and her brother, Alex.  I felt bad for Alex having to sit there while his sister had a piano lesson, so I gave him a tennis racket and told him he could go play with my kids.  He went down to the park and was playing tennis with Cole.  I was so proud of Cole for going out of his comfort zone and playing with a kid that he isn't very comfortable with!  

Thursday, October 7, 2010

What an amazingly fun day we had today!  We took Alysa to school (Laina was throwing fits and wouldn't go again) and then the rest of us headed off in search of a book store that Lily told us about.  It is down in Central Park (remember, I don't drive down there without crying!) so we parked in the Democracia area and walked.  It is such a different place when you are walking and can see in the little shops.  It was really fun to just walk around.   The funniest thing happened when a group of Guatemalans stopped us to ask for directions.  Are you serious?  Why in the world are you asking the gringos for directions?  The coolest part though was that I understood the questions and I could answer them!  And then Morgan said my Spanish was good.....not just less embarrassing, but good!!
We found the bookstore without any problems.  It is a used English book store.  They buy used books, sell used books, and if you return a book after you've read it, you get 1/2 credit back!  Well, Cole has been waiting to get the last two Harry Potter books, so I asked the girl if they had any.  She showed me the section where the Harry Potter books were, but unfortunately they only had books 1 and 3.  Most of the books are from tourists that have come and wanted to exchange their books, so there isn't a ton of kids books.  I did find a few good ones for Alysa since she is really getting into reading.  Laina of course wanted to get half of the store, but I limited her to three books.  While I was trying to stop Laina from getting more books, Cole yelled at me to help him.  I looked over and he was up on a ladder.  He had miraculously found two lone Harry Potter books up on one of the top shelves, but he couldn't reach them.  They were the last two books that he was searching for!  What are the chances of that??   - had the two books we needed....what are the chances?
It was getting warm so we stopped for ice cream before heading to the fabric store.  I found some fabric for the backing on a quilt.  It actually matches but it isn't the type of fabric that I wanted.  Oh, well, at least we were able to find the right color finally!
We then continued to lug our books, and fabric and walked to the market.  We wondered around a bit, got some produce and then decided it was time to head back to the car and go get Alysa.  We got stopped by some crazy noise that got the kids attention.  There was a guy with two big bins of little chicks that he was selling.  The crazy part was that they were all painted different colors.  They were selling them for Q1. ($.12).  The kids were so excited and were begging to get them.  I am not sure what came over me but I finally agreed to let them each get a chick.  I did say that they would probably die and that they would be responsible for taking care of them.  So, we left the market with little bags of cheeping chicks!

The chicks were a big hit at the school when I picked up Alysa!  All of the kids were playing with them.  Lily told us where to get food so we went to the store afterwards.  Wow, I am becoming a little bit more independent again!!

Cole named his blue chick, Percy after The Lightning Thief.  In the book, Percy's mom always made him blue food.

Morgan named her green one, Palm like a palm tree.

Alysa named her orange one Annabeth who is friends with Percy.

Laina named her pink one Flower because she likes pink flowers.

Flower, Palm, and Percy playing in the backyard.

So, not a single kids said they were bored for the whole day.  They didn't ask to watch t.v. or play video games.  They played at the park together, played with the chicks, and stayed entertained all day! 

Morgan finished all of her tests today and the kids are officially finished with 3rd and 5th grade.   The next step is to clean out the school room, put away all of their old work,  and get their stuff ready for the next "year"!  4th and 6th grade should be interesting.  I am so dreading Morgan's HUGE grammar book.  I can't stand grammar!

In addition to fluorescent chicks, we bought some jalapenos at the market today.  Cole found a recipe and helped make jalapeno poppers for the first time.  They were delicious!!

Friday, October 8, 2010

Yeah, all the chicks are still alive.  I was shocked to get up this morning and see all 4 still wandering around in their little box.  I wonder how long they'll last!
So, last April, there was a Relief Society activity on gardening.  We bought little starts in a cup.  There were four different plants all in one small cup which I was supposed to replant when I got home.  Well after sitting on my window seal forever, I finally told Cole and his friend to plant them for me just to give them something to do.  When they replanted them, they took all of the plants and stuck them all together in the same spot rather than taking them apart!  I didn't really care since I had no hopes of growing anything.  (I don't seem to have the greenest thumb!)   We left them and went up to Alaska.  When we came back, we had a little lettuce plant, broccoli, and tomato.   They were all growing out of the same spot.  I was shocked!  Well, a couple more months later, there is actually broccoli growing and there are two tomatoes on the tomato plant!  I still laugh everyday when I see them out my window.  If those plants have survived with the lack of attention, just think what could have grown if they had been cared for!!

Laina was talking to Chris on the phone today and he asked her to ask me what somebody had told me.  I told her in Spanish and when she went to tell Chris, she translated it all back into English for him!  I was shocked!!
To celebrate the end of the school year, we took the kids to their new favorite Italian restaurant.  Cole was really wanting to try octopus.  If Cole is wanting to try anything new, we are all for it! We ordered the same dish that Chris and I had had before but it didn't have any octopus.  Cole was disappointed but recovered quickly when he tried calamari and some other food.  Everybody was in pretty goods moods even though it was very late by the time we got home.

Saturday, October 9, 2010
We woke up to chirping chicks again today.  Unfortunately there were two that were dead.  Morgan and Cole's both passed during the night.  Alysa's was looking pretty bad when we left the house.  By the time we got home, it had passed as well.  Lily had told us that the chicks usually don't make it through the night without their mom to keep them warm.  Poor little chicks.  Poor little kids!  The only remaining one is the pink one that Laina keeps dropping!!
The family went to the temple site so that Morgan and I could work on painting the entrance sign.  It was going pretty well except that we were right where the big huge crane was being disassembled.  We were right under the equipment and for safety reasons we were asked to leave.  I am very impressed with the company being concerned about safety.... usually safety isn't the biggest concern here in Guatemala!!
It was really hot also, so we're going to wait until next week and try to finish it.

Break time! 

Last night when we were heading to dinner, we passed a new restaurant that looked fun.  So, for lunch we went to the new taco place.  We weren't sure what to ordered so we just got a bunch of stuff and shared it.  It was pretty good.  They had the best flour tortillas that I have found in Guatemala.  It made me really excited for our trip to Mexico soon!!

We are all looking forward to some new friends coming next week.   Paul's wife and kids will be arriving this week.   We wish them a safe trip!

9/26/10-10/2/10

Sunday, September 26, 2010
I have never felt so involved in a ward conference before!  I was asked to make new table clothes for the sacrament table, which turned out pretty good.  (You can't really go too wrong when you are just hemming and adding lace to a piece of white fabric!!)  I also had to be at the church for choir practice at 7:30, play the prelude, play for all the songs during the meeting (usually another girl plays the sacrament song to give her practice), as well as postlude.  The entire new stake presidency even spoke to me...in English!  Wow, they all speak English!  One of the new counselors is the husband of the ballet teacher at the school we used to go to.
In Sunday School, I was even given a scripture to read.  I said that I didn't have my Bible in Spanish so they gave me theirs!  Dang it, that's our standing excuse not to have to read!  So, when it was finally my turn to read, I start to read but another person starts reading at the same time.  I thought I had gotten out of reading but then my friends had the teacher (her husband!) have me re-read it for everybody.   I couldn't even count all of the thumbs up and pats on the back.  Chris asked if I ever thought it would be such a big deal to read a scripture in church!  Oh, the small things in life that we take for granted!!
Relief Society went really well also.  I seem to be understanding a lot more and not getting quite as overwhelmed and frustrated.  I'm not sure why but I have noticed a definite change in my level of understanding the past few weeks.  I even think I got the main ideas of the lesson!!   It was pretty funny when the speaker asked two sisters to come up and then they compared the differences between the two.  I asked my friend why they didn't have me go up.  Everybody around me got a good kick out of that and kept telling me to go up.
After the lesson, I was mobbed by people asking questions about the quilting class.  I have a feeling that there might be a few more people than I was expecting.  I've even had people ask if they can bring their nonmember friends.  

Monday, September 27, 2010
I am so burnt out on storms.  After a month of nonstop rain in Alaska and what feels like tropical storm after tropical storm here, I am ready for the dry season!  I was so sick of the rain today that I did not want to get out of bed.  Luckily the kids were more motivated than I was and did all of their homework....in bed!!
Since I wasn't about to walk over to the country club to play in the rain or to swim in the cold pool, I had to get a little more creative today.  We made homemade taffy.  Morgan especially, is enjoying cooking more and is learning a lot more.  All the girls helped to "pull" the taffy while trying not to burn our hands.  We also had to be careful not to break our teeth when we ate it!!  It definitely isn't a soft taffy!!  It was delicious though.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Today was another typical rainy day filled with piano lessons, preschool, piano class, and choir.  Due to the large quantities of rain, there weren't as many people today.  I don't think that I am the only one that is getting sick of these crazy storms!  I don't remember any tropical storms last year!

Wednesday, September 29, 2010
When I arrived home last night, there was a note taped to the door saying that there was a surprise for me.  While I was at the church, the kids had all worked together to clean up the downstairs and set it up for the quilting class today.  They were so proud of themselves.  They had an entire bucket of rags from their "skating" party to mop the floors!  It was a good welcome home!  We still had more to clean before the quilting class so that's what we did for most of the morning.  Five adults and four children showed up.  I was a little surprised that there weren't more after the response that I had on Sunday, but it was the perfect amount for the space that we had!  We had lots of fun and everybody seemed to be happy about the class.  I even learned some new words!

Thursday, September 30, 2010
Yesterday at the quilting class, my visiting teaching companion asked if I had a clown costume that she could use for kids day at school on Friday.  I told her that I didn't but Morgan decided to make a costume.  I took it to her house today and when I got back home, Morgan had created another costume.  She is in high heaven when she has free reign of the craft supplies!

The ladies bringing in food for the workers at the job site!

Morgan and Cole worked extra hard this week in their schooling.  They got all of their lessons done today so that they won't have school tomorrow so we can go see Angel Moroni put up.  They are also very excited that there is only one week of school left for this school year.  The end is in sight!  I can't believe that we have almost finished an entire year of homeschooling and everybody is still happy!!

Friday, October 1, 2010
Everybody had to get up extra early this morning to be at the temple site by 7:45.  At 8:00 they started to open the crate to get Moroni out.

 Once the crate was open, the workers had to do some modifications to the bottom of the statue so that it would fit properly once it got to the top of the temple.  It took FOREVER!  I had to keep calling my friends to let them know that it was really happening.  The people that weren't on the job site couldn't see what was going on and a lot of people had to leave.  In order to touch Moroni, everybody had to wear white gloves so that it didn't ruin the gold plating.

Before sending Moroni up, they had to put some foam over his head for protection from the crane.  Chris said that it looked like he was wearing a toupee.

 

Chris had to climb up this scafolding in order to secure Moroni at the top!

The kids and I running around the jobsite.

Chris is the one on the right.

All of the people who were still around after over 2 hours of watching.  Sully and two of her kids are the ones in the very front!  I hadn't had a chance to see how many people were there from the beginning but it was very touching to see how many people were there.  There had been no formal announcement, so everybody had just heard by word of mouth.  It hits me hard every time I think about what this temple is going to mean to the saints here.  The small sacrifices that our family has made will be great blessings to more people than we can imagine!

Laina got to use the camera!!

After Moroni was in place, Chris had to go up in a basket on the crane to put the lightning rod in Moroni's head.

Thank goodness for safety harnesses!!

Following the placement of Moroni on the temple, we took Alysa and Laina to Teacher Lily's for the Kid's Day festivities.  They had a pinata, snacks, and a gift exchange.


Saturday, October 2, 2010
We were blessed to watch general conference today.  We were especially blessed that the internet actually worked so that we could watch it!  It was very exciting to hear of five new temples.   I wonder if Jacobsen Construction will be doing any of them!!
I was very pleased that the kids sat and listened to conference with very little interruptions!  Morgan just started cross stitching this week so she kept her fingers busy.  Cole and Alysa were each working on making a hat on the looms.  It is amazing how much better they listen when their hands are occupied!