cleaning the temple

Last night I went for the first time to help clean the temple. I had been told the usual jobs were things like polishing furniture, vaccuuming, etc. We ended up on a detail to polish and scrub the kitchen and bathrooms in the ancillary building. It was HARD WORK! Leslie Nelson and I were scrubbing the walls, grout in the floor, toilets, baseboards, etc. etc. etc. Whew! My house is never that clean! It was good, hard work and we came home tired. Even though it was a harder job than I was expecting, I was still glad to be able to do my part to help maintain the temple and grounds.

Activity Days

Had the activity day girls over to my house today from 10 to 3. Sister Davis came and helped the girls learn to use the sewing machine, and they each made a pillow. I taught them to make the little origami books, and we all made peach jam together in the afternoon. They had a little time to just talk together and hang out, too, which they always like. I think it was a pretty successful day. The jam turned out yummy, and was soooo easy! I'm going to get some more peaches and make some just for us.
Yesterday we went to the pool again and met our neighbors and the Andrews family. Kids had fun splashing. The pool feels really good on these hot days.

We have a pet toad now. Max found him at the Nelson's house. We bought a terarium (sp?)for him, and crickets from the pet store. Never, ever, thought I would be buying a dozen crickets! Max is thrilled with him--and first named him George, but has now changed the name to Trevor. (not sure why the toad is named after his Dad...) For Max's sake, I hope the toad will live.

Pictures of weekend with Wheelers

Here are some pictures of this past weekend with the Wheelers. The city museum was really fun. We really wore everyone out! Lots of running and climbing, and it was hot, hot, hot! Thanks for sending the pictures, Julie!

Count your many blessings...

Count your many blessings, see what God hath done! After a week with the air conditioner hardly working, then a huge thunderstorm, followed by almost a whole day without electricity whatsoever...and sweating, sweating, sweating in the heat....today I am thankful for electricity! And all the luxuries associated with it, washers, dishwashers, air conditioning, lights, garbage disposals, etc. We take these things for granted, but they are truly great blessings!
p.s. air conditioner only half working now--but we think the home warranty will pay for a replacement. Another blessing to be thankful for!
p.s.s.--another grand blessing is the great friends that allowed us to escape the heat at their house for two days in a row! Thank you to the Nelson family!

Catching up

Haven't written anything in quite awhile. It almost seems like there is too much to write about now...maybe I'll think of things a little at a time and add them later. Here's a short re-cap of the past few weeks.
Long drive to Utah--not so bad on the way out, VERY long on the way back!
We had a great time at the Allen family reunion. Trevor's mom and sister were there from Oregon, and his brother from California. We don't get to see these families very much, so it was really fun to catch up and the cousins all had a great time visiting each other. We had a family talent show that was really fun--and a luau at Lundstrom park. I had prepared some games and crafts for the kids which went pretty well, and we appreciated the yummy food that Trevor's aunts and Tutu worked so hard to prepare.
The next day Trevor's dad took him back to the airport, and he flew home to work hard the rest of the week while the kids and I stayed to visit with family. Trevor did get a chance to go flying with my dad. Dad was really excited about the flights. Emily and Max were pretty brave and went up, too. Sam was dying to go, too, but we thought he wasn't quite old enough, but Papa took him on a little taxi around the airport. We took some cute pictures, which I will post later. I spent the next few days mostly with my sister--the girls all played American girl dolls, and the kids all put on skits and dances for Papa and Grandma Ann. We went to the pool one day, and my Dad took Max golfing! Max loved that! In fact, he wanted to hold the clubs all the way home! We had a birthday party for Dad--the kids made him some hats, and we had his favorite roast beef dinner, and played a game to find out more about Grandpa's life. Great fun. I met up with some friends at the park, and we went to get Aggie ice cream with Tutu and Papasan. We visited with Gladys and Grandpa Steve and his new "friend" Suzanne. (looks serious!) It was good to see Gladys, but I 'm worried about her. She seems very depressed, has lost a ton of weight, and just doesn't seem her usual self. She's still grieving and will be for a long time, I'm sure. On Saturday after we picked Trevor up at the airport, we went to visit my Great Aunt Elaine, whom I hadn't seen in 10 years! She reminded me a lot of Nana, and boy is she sharp! She remembers absolutley everything!
Trevor and I had a hard time staying awake on the long drive home, but we did have a fun stop in Iowa to visit our friends the Greifzus. We miss them! I think they may come here to visit us over Labor Day weekend. We finally arrived home at about 1:00 a.m. Monday morning, and poor Trevor had to get up to go to work! We spent the next week just recovering. We did get Emily's 4-H projects back from the fair. She got all blue ribbons, and her sewing project was selected for the state fair.
On Friday afternoon, our friends the Wheelers from Normal came down to visit us. We went to the temple, which was really nice. It had been way too long since we last went to the temple! On Saturday, we went to the City Museum, and did a good job of tiring everyone out. The kids always love the tunnels and caves, etc. there. It's a good place to run! In the extreme heat we all got hosed down by the fire hoses at the end of the day. Sam and Matthew had a great time playing together. It was nice to visit with the Wheelers. We miss all of our friends from Normal. We're having a major heat wave. Heat advisories for the next several days. And our air conditioner isn't working right. It got up to 90 degrees in the house! Trevor defrosted the system, so it's a little better this morning, but I think I'm still going to call the repair guys. Hot! We all slept in the basement last night!
Well, I think that's a pretty good summary. I'll post some pictures later.