Semper Fi

Eighteen = 2 months until 2 years begins

Today being the 18th day of this 30 day blog fest reminds me that Steven is 18, and he is going on a mission on May 18th, 2 months from today. We have this missionary savings can that either Steven or one of his older brothers made in Primary, it's quite heavy with coins, and I'm really not sure how long it's been hanging around. Maybe we should open it up and see what's inside! Also, I recently ran across this necklace/charm/coin type thing that Kerry got from a girl in El Salvador when he was on his mission there 35 years ago. I wonder if that girl is still there, and if Steven might meet her too.

Steven and I the night he opened his mission call, 2-3-11

Groupies

We're in a dinner group, tonight was our turn to host. It's St. Patrick's day, so we had Italian.

Unfortunably when we scheduled this, we didn't realize it would turn out to be during the 2nd half of the BYU game, but it was still fun having dinner with these nice people. BYU won/did not bust my bracket, and Thomas came over to watch the game downstairs with Emily.

Thomas Edison

We're reading a book on Thomas Edison at school, my reading students and I, and it just amazes me how many things he invented. 1093 different patents. Movies, cars, tvs, aspirin, light bulbs...so many things he had a hand in. I guess I appreciate how brilliant he was much more than I did when I was a kid in school. I learn a lot when I'm teaching little kids.

Also I really think there were
light bulbs that looked like these
in our old house on Sherman Avenue.

Recess

Part of my job each day is recess duty. We go outside to play as long as it is above about 10 degrees. Looking forward to Spring!

Puzzlement

This is a puzzle that Lynne painted and Ed cut out, way back when Veronica was a very little girl. A few pieces are missing, but isn't it so cute? My sister Lynne is a gifted artist, I love the little detailed animal paintings in each corner. I found it a few weeks ago in the basement when we were cleaning up for Emily to have a party, and hatched a plan to surprise Veronica by sending it to her for her birthday. But fortunately I couldn't find a box the right size to send it, and at the last minute I decided to save it for another time. I say fortunately because, the zip code that Kerry had saved in his ipod-phone for their address in KY was kind of mixed up...some numbers were right but not in the right order, so as a result I believe I sent her birthday gift to Wapiti, Wyoming. The puzzling thing is that it didn't occur to me that a zip code starting with an 8 would not be in Kentucky, and it didn't occur to the postal worker who took my small parcel either. (But in her defense, I guess since it was a flat rate parcel, she didn't have to look up the rate for various locations, so she just took it and that was that.)
One day maybe that little gift will get to Veronica, or maybe one day it will come back to us since the return address and zip was correct, but in the mean time, here is the gift that was given once, not given this year, and may show up at some point in the future.
If you're ever in Wapiti.

Plus Three

Today I pay tribute to the people who married into our family: Caley, Kyle, and Doug. I couldn't ask for better spouses for my children.